1989-1992 Batch

John P. Varghese, (1989 -1992 Batch)

Operations Manager, Sun Branding Solutions (India) Pvt. Ltd., Chennai

I came to know about SIGA through our then parish priest, Fr. Koshy Varghese who at present is the bishop of Mavelikara, His Excellency Dr. Joshua Mar Ignathios.  Since he was my teacher till higher secondary, I had informed him about my interest in pursuing technical studies.  He, being a very close friend of Br. Santi, got me admitted in SIGA.  As per Br. Santi’s intervention I joined SDC, the non-formal course offered by SIGA even though I had a first class in higher secondary.

I was good at drawing and designing and these skills were identified by the teachers and I got an opportunity to work with Br. Francis Xavier, SDB of Salesian Bulletin Magazine, both English and Tamil.  Since I did well in layout, I was also taught camera and typesetting.  The vast exposure to the latest technology and the open mindedness of the religious as well as the teaching staff at SIGA made me shine in Pre-press which was in demand then. I did my industrial exposure training at Ms. Prasad Process as a camera assistant for six months.  In a career span of almost 26 years in the field of Printing, I joined Emirates Printing Press, Dubai, as a camera assistant through campus interview conducted at SIGA.  Later I started learning and climbing the steps of state-of-the-art printing technology and was elevated as scanner assistant and I was fortunate to have worked in Sigma2000 by Dainippon, the computerised page mixing station then.  Finally, I got promoted as Mac-operator and left EPP.  I was a manual pre-press technician when I joined EPP and left EPP as a digitalised person.  This evolution, in par with technology, got me a job I dreamt as a student at renowned ITC Chennai, where I learnt corporate management and manufacturing techniques under the able guidance of Mr. Shankar Kumar, my senior at SIGA.  Later Mr. K.G. Prasad called me up and placed me in a senior level for their dream project of pre-press outsourcing which was later acquired by Ms. Sun Branding Solutions, a sister concern of Ms. Dainippon Inks-Japan (DIC) and Ms. Sun Chemicals-USA.  At present I am working as the Operations Manager for Ms. Sun Branding Solutions at Chennai.

No doubt, SIGA is a place of opportunities for the underprivileged students to shine in their life. The machinery, dedicated and experienced faculty make it the best place for anyone to grow.  As a Christian institution, SIGA stands firm in imparting knowledge and discipline to the students.  As a special mention, the continuous service rendered to the poor and downtrodden children of the society in academics, sports, music and other life skills is much appreciated.  At present most of the students come from rural areas of our state.  They are not able to communicate or write well in English.  I have noticed this during interviews.  Though they are willing to work in MNC’s, due to their poor English, it is not possible as they have to have good communication skills.  Hence, I feel that spoken and written English has to be taken care at least during the final year of their studies so that they can communicate well.

I would like to fondly remember and thank Late. Br. Santi SDB, Mr. Micheal Raj (Camera) Fr. Francis Xavier, SDB (Layout and Design) and Fr. Raj, SDB (Dean).  My advice to the students would always be, “Do what you are supposed to do and give it your 100% and never give a chance to anyone to find fault in your work.  I would say this is what drives me and keeps me going till now.