A recount of the Alumni Meet Convergence'09:

[Rajeev Tivari]

The Alumni Meet on 31st May was a rousing success. If attendance and enthusiasm is any indication, Alumni activities @IETL have a very bright future. The 'first alumni'  that is '88 and '89 batches were specially felicitated. The '89 batch was present in the biggest number. There was sizeable representation from 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96 and many recent batches like 06, 07, 08 as well.

The weather had spread its own red carpet to the Alumni, as by 10:00am, the temperatures had stood down to 22degC from near 30s a couple of hours before. VC of UPTU, Prof Premvrat, flankd by Director Dr SK Srivatava, Dr B Kunwar, Prof RC Gupta, Sh SRP Sinha, Mrs Neelima Srivastava, Sh SP Tripathi, Prof VK Singh - the generous and indulging host - arrived at the Sprawling mansion like Scientific Convention Centre Auditorium on time at 9:00am. As most of the Alumni were arriving from out of town the very morning, they started trickling in by 9:30am. Initially, a streak of panic was visible in the Convergence'09 Team as it was a bit embarrassing to have the chief guest waiting. But By 10:30am, about 50 alumni alongwith families had filled up the auditorium.

The registration was carried out very professionally and swiftly, as soon as one was escorted to the desk. On registration the guests were handed over a kit which contained the schedule, a beautiful IET Key ring, a collaged college Photo and some stationery too. Turmeric tika was placed on the foreheads and a rose was presented to each Alumni by lovely juniors 

The Inauguration speech by respected VC of UPTU Dr Prem Vrat also contained a stirring comment. He wondered why so far there had not been any alumni association of IETL. He also advised that Alumni as well as the Institute can do much better in creating environnment conducive to Alumni supported activities at the institute. He also expressed his pleasure at the planned formation of Alumni Association in the second session of the day. Dr SK Srivastava, Director  IET, informed that the Institute had extended all cooperation in formation of the alumni association and in future also it would continue to cooperate. Dr RC Gupta HOD Mech expressed that happiness resides inside oneself and one need not look outside for the same. 

After this all the guests and dignitaries were taken for the high tea at the lower floor, while alumni were still flocking in. By the time the sumptuous and tasty snacks were over, the house was full. The next session was the Sharing of remembrances by Alumni. Alumni were called up on the stage batchwise. They recalled the lives and times of IET when they were @IET. Professor VK singh also Chipped in at various instances with recollection of sweet/sweat moments. It was all open to public how the labs were set up, how the playground was prepared by a finest example of teacher student collaboration. How Prof Nirjhar would 'snoop' behind the Ganjing students and how he had mentored them to be what they are today. It seemed everyone had a story on Prof Nirjhar and Late Dr Jawahar Singh. 

During this session, everyone present remembered the alumni like Late Sh Rajeev Sharma, Sandeep Kumar-II, Puneet Agrawal and others who had since embarked on their journey of beyond. The house rose in silence in a gesture of honor to the departed souls.

 

Most of Alumni expressed a very strong desire for having an alumni association.They were assured by the people in the know that in the second half of the day, their desire was going to be fulfilled. In between the Alumni interaction, a very mesmerizing rendition of songs like Maairee, Teri deewani with  a fantastic accompaniment of Electric Guitar were done by the current students. It was a very remarkable display of talent that IET always boasted of. The Alumni like Mrs. Leena Kohli, Col RS Bhoomla, Mrs Parul Agarwal (Sangal), Mr Sanjay Yadav, Mr Vikas Gupta, and so many more multifacetedly talented alumni bore testimony.

After this Session, Alumni were taken to the Alma Mater where the messes were waiting with tasty food more than ever. The bus ride to college took us past the Lamboo ka dhaba which has changed its orientation since. Alumni were spread over the B block and C block messes. It was a some feeling to see the old chaps and the families on a luncheon in the boys hostel. I am yet to ask the feeling the old girls had when they sat in those messes for a late lunch with their batchmates. For the boys it was a dream come true, very late. Girls, what do you have to say?

The first morsel of custard triggered open a feeling of deja vu. The mini drafter, the after noon sessions at labs and workshops, the tuts, The short post lunch siestas those made one miss the classes...You name it... Custard had it all..

The staff that was there 20years back was thrilled to tears to see us. After the lunch was over, no wonder they were handsomely tipped by the alumni. 

Then we were taken to the faculty building, wherein workshop and AS labs staff was waiting in full strength. They received us with so much affection that it was a goose bumps moment. It was as if one was visiting the old village of Nani after a gap of decades, where everyone bursts with joy seeing the kids with their own kids. 

Unfortunately, rest of the rooms of the building had been closed as we reached late by an hour. We took a round of the whole places and then were taken to the LT11 where the students were eagerly waiting for us to share our experiences and answer their questions. A panel of 6 seniors convened by Mr Shashikant Katiyar, who had flown in from USA for this meet, answered the queries of the students most of which were concerned about the job scenario in these times of recession. Self employed alumni also assured them of support and promised to employ a certain number of students.

After this we bade a sentimental good-bye to the Institute, that was probably calling from behind 'Na Jaa' and rode in the bus for trip back to the science convention centre for rest of the  activities. The bus trip was a memorable journey with Jawabi songs being sung with full force by teams of students and alumni lead by Col RS Bhoomla and Mrs Parul Sangal. What  a melodious ruckus it was!

once we were back in the auditorium, the first item was the song by Mr Sandeep Asthana and Mr Mayank Pant who sand the duet Hans Ke bitayenge....Haal e dil ga ke sunayenge..Then Mr Sandeep Asthan also sang a beautiful and sentimental solo Dil ka soona saaz tarana dhondega...Mrs Parul Sangal sang the classic Hothon se choo lo tum. It was a pleasure to hear how melodiously they sang despite not being in any major musical action currently. A couple of other performances later, it was time for the Alumni Association formation. This session was to be anchored by Ms Maushmi.

IETL Alumni Association Formation

The Office bearers had been nominated by the team that had been working towards Association registration. The association had already been registered owing to untiring efforts of the alumni like Mrs Sunita Sharma, Mr Vinay Chandra, Mr. Ravi Agrawal, Mr Tanvir Tahir and a few more. The certificate of registration was presented to the interim President Mrs Sunita Sharma, who expressed her gratitude and hope that she would be able to meet the expectations.

Then Mr Sanjay Yadav carried out the ratification of the interim executive committee by clapping vote. The house ratified the interim EC with a rousing applause. The First EC is as below:

Mrs Sunita Sharma, President

Mrs Bandana Sinha, vice President

Mr Ravi Agrawal, Gen Secy

Mr Vinay Chandra, Secy

Mr Tanvir Tahir, Treasurer

Mr Rajeev Tivari, Secy

Mr Robin Lodhi, IIICSE, Placement cell rep

Mr Tarun Krishna Jindal, IIIChE, Placement cell rep

Copies of constitution & Bylaws of the association were also circulated among the alumni and they ratified it by signing on the attached sheets.

A noted dramatic personality of the place, Sh Pravir Chandra was awarded honorary membership as per the constitution. The website of the Alumni www.ietalumni.org association developed by Mr Shivam Patel, Mr Sankalp Chugh and the team was inaugurated by respected Dr Bharati Dwivedi. Mr. Sankalp elaborated on the current and planned features of the website. Dr Bharati Dwivedi also gave her blessings to the association. 

A unique feature of the association is the advisory committee which would take over during the elections and any interpretational  crisis. Its constititution is as below, which was laso ratified by the General Body.

Advisory Committee Mr. Shashikant Katiyar EC 1989 Member Advisory Committee shas...@yahoo.com Mr. VPN Maurya EE 1990 Member Advisory Committee vijai....@tcs.com Mr. Shivam Patel CSE 2006 Member Advisory Committee shi...@shivampatel.net

Chapters and the office bearers for them were announced by Mr. Shashikant Katiyar. The details are as below:

NCR Chapter: Chairperson : Ms. Amita Arya EC '91 amita...@airtel.in 9810309275 Secretary: Mr. Sanjay Yadav EC '92 tiger...@yahoo.com 9871108971

Mumbai Chapter Chairperson: Mr. Vipul Srivastava CE '91 vipul_sriv...@yahoo.co.in 9967517581
Bangalore Chapter Chairperson: Mrs. Bandana Sinha CSE '89 bandan...@tcs.com 9663325484 Secretary: Mr. Vikas Pandey CSE '03 pandey...@gmail.com 9886675249


USA Chapter Chairperson: Mr. Shashikant Katiyar CSE '89 shas...@yahoo.com +19162208902

UK Chapter Chairperson: Mr. Gunjan Ghai EE '95 gunja...@aig.com +447974003948

At the end of the first GB meeting of the IETLAA , a very meticulous and emotional vote of thanks was proposed by Mr Amit Ranjan Chitranshi.

With this, the much awaited, sought, debated and discussed IET Lucknow Alumni association came into a full-fledged existence. A meeting of EC was held on 01.06.09 whose minutes would be shared separately. Mrs Bandana Sinha acknowledged the efforts put in by Mr. Amit Ranjan Chitranshi in this activity of IETLAA formation.

After this mementos were presented to the alumni by director sir and other esteemed faculty members. The function in auditorium came to a close with a stunning collage of images from IET life, putting on display a plethora of emotions, set to a hear wrenching song, Ham rahen ya na rahen yad ayenge ye pal. We all remembered people like Rajeev Sharma while this played. Then the college anthem Na Jaa was played to applause of the house.

Afterwards alumni and faculty members joined for a lavish dinner laid on the lawns of the convention centre. The party continued till late hours and was a fitting curtains to an affair to remember.

The snow ball will only grow bigger as it has already started rolling. You can help and join this movement by registering at the IET alumni site www.ietalumni.org and telling the alumni in your touch also  to do so.

[Parul Agrawal]

Hi Rajeev,

Thanks for a detailed and beautiful recount of the GREAT DAY. I'm still living every moment of it and am glad that I was part of the same.

 

When I first heard of the alumni meet , I got thoroughly excited and started contacting my other batchmates. Slowly, my enthusiasm started fading when I realized that there didn't seem much interest....

The organizers including you and the current crop of students continued with the good efforts, even coming to Noida for ease of registration for NCR alumni!

 

I got a call from Lt Col. R S Bhoomla telling me that some of our batchmates including Capt Vikas Gupta would be travelling for the meet. I thought what the heck, yaar! Why am I having second thoughts. It is my college, I am being invited, its a wonderful opportunity to visit and meet, so go for it! Little did I realize that I will turn out to be the only female from my batch, when our batch boasted of having largest number of girl students alongwith 92 batch. Well, I found that Leena ma'am was the only female from 92 batch too :-))

 

All my doubts vanished upon reaching the venue, when I received a hearty welcome. It was such a nice feeling, I just do not have any words to describe! It was overwhelming experience overall, attending the meet, meeting with batchmates Pankaj, Amit, Amit, Sandeep, Bhoomla, Vikas, seniors like Leena ma'am, Shashi Kant Katiyar Sir ( of whom I have been an ardent fan via his emails and became even a bigger fan by meeting him and hearing him), Ravi Sir, Vipul Sir, juniors like Meenakshi, Nitish & Preeti, Shakti & Sunita ( these two sets of couples were especially v warm and helping), not to forget our very own Rajeev Tiwary & family.

 

There are so many other things I remembered about my IET days than the ones I could recount on stage. My participation in relay hunger strike ( this was a big one for me...I had to sit on this hunger strike at the time of Mandal commission and I was not sure how I'd do it, since I was and am a big foodie :-) When I was told it was a relay strike with  6 hour batches, I was relieved and joined :-)), our batch picinic, the midnight B'day bashes, how Preeti and Dipika helped me when I broke my leg and how they assured my parents that I 'll be fine in the hostel...taking attendance for Bajpai Sir's classes, "ladki teri naak mei rassi" & 'nobel prize " by Dr I K Bhat, strolling in the evenings, Dipika's and Nidhi's songs, Namita and Priyanka's dances, Rakhi's performances, sincerity of Bhattacharya Sir, fun during Neelam ma'am's classes etc etc etc

 

Rajeev, you have recounted everything very well, just missed out on some very enjoyable part that's the songs by yourself ! Hearing you again after so long , such melodious voice, I wish you could go on and on....You are welcome to take out even more "bhadaas" as you put it :-)

 

Best Regards& thanks once again to the organizers,

Parul ( Sangal) Agrawal

1989-93 EC

[sandeep asthana]

Dear Rajeev,

A very meticulous and lovely recount of events, but you forgot to mention that you too sang two most beautiful numbers of Kishore Da, One Chukar mere mann ko.... and the other one was Khilte hain gul yahan...... and that too on Karaoke. Your voice quality is very good, keep it up.

Rajeev, can you send me the karaoke of the above two numbers on e-mail.

Sandeep




--- On Thu, 6/4/09, Rajeev Tivari <rti...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Rajeev Tivari, SecyMr Robin Lodhi, IIICSE,

[Rajeev Tivari]

Dear Sir,

Thank you so much, Sir. For past one year I have observed that my abilty to sing and voice quality is on a decline. It is commendable how you have maintained your voice and control.

 

I would try it. I think these are not in MP3 format, but I will do something.

 

Regards

Rajeev Tivari