BITS alumni meet at Creek Golf Club

Nostalgia ruled as alumni of the BITS Pilani and its Dubai campus met at the Creek Golf Club here on Tuesday night. Reunions of graduates from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, one of the leading engineering colleges in India, have been held since 2004.

BITS Alumni Association (BITSAA), UAE Chapter, was formed in 1991, said its Founder-Chairman Bharat Narayan who belongs to the first batch of graduates dating back to 1965. “Its like a family bonding and everybody here knows everybody else. I had a chat with Ashok Galgotia in 1991 and we decided to float the alumni body as we realised that so many of us were living and working in the UAE,'' he told XPRESS.

Galgotia who graduated from BITS in 1975, recalled that back in those days, there were just 20 girl students at the institute in Pilani in the western Indian state of Rajasthan. “Today there are an equal number of boys and girls. I was shocked to learn that tea is no longer available at the institute's canteen as the students now consume juices and milk shake,'' he said.

Galgotia was quick to strike a down to earth note regarding the BITSAA party describing it as a great opportunity to network to promote business and organise finance for projects as there was tremendous trust between alumni.

Woman alumnus Aditi Vyas who graduated from the BITS Dubai campus in 2005 said the party was significant in the light of what she called “a primordial distribution of graduates spanning the 1965-2008 period. “Its amazing this annual event as nostalgia is triggered with music of the sixties and seventies. We really look forward to the BITSAA party,'' said Aseem Yadav from the 2006 batch.

Anilesh Kumar and Manojeet Chowdhury, BITS senior alumni, ragged the members of the Dubai BITS music band which came on mid-way through the party, demanding that they play some old numbers which the juniors were ignorant about. Local singer Saif came to their rescue rendering some romantic hits from the 1970s Bollywood movies.