Reunion Impressions

Impressions
Re-union 2003

Friday – People arrive from their respective places.

Some of us reached Delhi on 26th and mutually it was decided to meet at Essex Farms, IIT gate. It was nice to meet Kallu, Pankaj, BMD, Raja, CC, and surprisingly Nara.

To quote him " The evening of Wednesday 24th, with a drink in hand, I decided to call up Anusheel to say “Have a good reunion”. All of a sudden, visions of meeting folks after 20 years, the impending ‘halu’ on the horizon, and a sheer feeling of “intoxicating enthusiasm” culminated in an impulsive decision to throw caution to the wind and fly out -- to what was to be the HALU of 2003."

Beer flowed.

Early to bed was the call of the day in anticipation of what was to come.

Saturday – Assemble at Vishwa Yuvak Kendra 7.30 AM (Bus 1)

All the built-up excitement over the preceding few days was finally going to turn out to be ‘real’.

“Kaisa hai re? B.....C..d!!!!
“Arre Saala, Bilkul nahin badla Re!!!”

Shouts like those were quite common at the bus stop with all familiar bear hugs.
The more sophisticated conversations were like

“Hi !, How are you? Nice to see you after such a long time.”
“Oh! My God; It’s been such a long time.”

All this while, the wives were trying hard to remember names & faces that were being introduced at a frenetic pace.

Could not recognize RNT but for his intro. He has lot in the middle and almost nothing on top. Some like Sanjay Neema also needed re-intro. After taking a headcount, the organizer(s) decided it was time to board the bus for a journey that would turn out to be the longest time spent ever while traveling from Delhi to Pilani.

On board bus 1 were Bajaj, Lengta, Raja, Kaul, Tripathi, Sukumar, Danny, & Pankaj with their families. Others were Pragnya, BMD, Kallu, Ravi Thussu, CC, Sanjay Neema, Nara, & Ujjal. One key person missing was Chai Bagchi, who unfortunately could not make it for personal reasons.

The bus finally departed at 8.15 AM.

Met R.M Javed (The Kid) somewhere at Bahadurgarh enroute to Rohtak. Kid promised us all to make it by 9PM to Pilani. He just didn’t specify whether it would be 2003 or some other time. He never did show up eventually.

HALU BEGINS...
After a quick stopover for chai, around 10 am, somewhere near Rohtak, we headed to Bhiwani. At 11.40 am, we realized that we were STILL in Rohtak because someone gave the driver wrong directions and hence the “Rohtak Darshan”.

It didn’t take long for someone to say “The HALU Continues…..”

Lunch was had at a restaurant in Bhiwani. KK alias Karun Kumar and Bhutani joined us for lunch. After beer and lunch, it was time again to move on to Loharu and Pilani.

Eventually reached Pilani amidst the war cry "Yamunda" around 5 pm.

A banner on top of the main gate read something like this. “Welcome Reunion 2003 -1978 Batch admissions” This brought some tears down the eyes of many. Kasiramka and R K Mittal (not the 3 jaw chuck and 4 jaw fuck) welcomed us. Some guys of 1978 batch were already there to welcome us – Amit Sheth, Rahul Pal & G. Mukh. The VFAST hostel is good . After an hour or so ,the 2nd bus with the mumbaikars and indore-Nagda junta arrived and it was reunion all over.	VFAST HOSTEL

There is a departmental store after the gym before Dr. Bisht's chamber! The hostels have grills in the ground floor corridor.The open portion of Vyas has been joined to construct 2-seater rooms. Malviya , as you know,is a girls' hostel! There are 1200 girls in BITS now. Vinod is still there at C'naught. Somosas and chai are not available. You only get south Indian snacks and cold drinks. Bajaj advocated Chocolate MNB(mid night beauty) for everyone, I do not know why. I think he is still getting a commision from Vinod.	"Wal-Mart of BITS"

Vinod is still there at C'naught. A few chatted with “Kapoorji”. Blue Moon was visited. Found out that current folks at Pilani do not eat Samosa’s and drink chai. They come to have dinner!! Guess What does one find? Hot South Indian Meals ; Annapurna Restaurant – Andhra Meals available. No “Modas” – Only plastic chairs. Connaught looked rather deserted at 8PM in the evening (maybe because of the play at Audi). Many shops have STD/ISD facility. You can book Train tickets from shops, rent Cars/ 4-wheelers right there at CP.	"C'nnaught at Night"

After an hour of introductions and general halu; it was now time for dinner in the lawns of VFAST hostel. Booze was got and general halu followed with Wad’s son entertaining us with songs. The dinner was elaborate. The Jaipur gang arrived late making the attendence to 47 Bitsians. With family members ,the figure stood at approx 106.

After drinks-n-dinner, the general halu continued with a visit to Nutan. Tripathiji entertained us with his “Mayawati-ji’s episodes”. Junta, I think, retired by 3 in the morning.

Sunday – Scheduled Activities at BITS According to Anusheel, we had to follow the “prepared schedule” for the day. 8.00 – 9.30 AM -- Breakfast at VFAST hostel canteen 9.30 – 12 noon – Tour of the Institute Visited the various blocks, the computer center, the new lecture theatre complex, the new library building (someone said – the 2^nd largest in Asia) etc…
Junta finally landed at Skylab by 11.30. By which time, a chhota gang ably led by Sir BMD and Laddha were in animated conversation with a captive audience comprising of a few current Bitsians. Laddhaji’s final piece of advice to the youngsters “Topper, Shopper, Grades, Shades will get you your first interview faster. That’s it. What you need to do is LIVE YOUR DREAM”. It was then time for the much awaited group photograph. Everyone posed with synchronized screams of “YAMUNDA”.	"Interacting with current Bitsians"
1.00 – 2.30 – Sunday Lunch at RPA mess All familiar Sunday lunch with pulao, chips, Aloo matar was had with junta rushing into the kitchen to get “chips” even before the plates were laid on the tables. The finger chips were the same. But the pulao was disappointing because too many cherries were put. The ice cream came in cups. I am sure the wives and the kids found it very amusing. After lunch, screams of “let’s CRAA…..SH for some time” were heard.	"Sunday Lunch"
4.00 – 6.30 PM – Formal meeting with Diro & Faculty. Prof. Mittal started off the proceedings by welcoming the batch of 1978 and of course how instrumental he was in getting things organized especially liaising with ANUSHEEL BAJAJ. Diro’ speech was all about the directions BITS has taken to keep its flag flying high namely industry linkages, program offerings, Alumni linkages, BITS Connect program, opening of new campuses at DUBAI and the upcoming one at GOA. Nilay Yajnik spoke on behalf of the 1978 batch. A few cheques were presented for the BITS Connect program with a promise of a lot more to come. Gifts were presented to Diro, deputy diros and all faculty present at the meeting. Staff present were (what I remember now), Diro, VS Rao, Prof. MMS Anannd, Prof. Mundra, Prof. KE Raman, Prof.Kashiramka, Prof. LK Maheshwari, Prof. BR Natarajan, Prof. Mittal and other faculty members.
	"Answering a Question"
7.30 – 10.00 – Dinner at VFAST hostel lawns with Staff Junta was absolutely thrilled when Diro walked in for the dinner with the BITS ’78 reunion T-shirt. Anusheel was so afraid that others would disappear for their own private halu, that he went around telling people to “MINGLE” or ELSE!!! Dinner was followed by Nevri taking center stage with Lengta on the guitar. We also had Wads and his son entertain the junta who were present there. A small minority were cooped inside a room for their own little “you know what” . After Diro and faculty left, Prof. BR Natarajan stayed around and the halu continued long into the night.	"Impressing Diro or is it the other way around!!"

All said and done, the time spent brought back memories of days gone by. We did miss all the guys who couldn’t make it and really wished they were there. All credit must go to the organizers: Bajaj, BMD, Nevri, Sunil Mehta (Jaipur) – Coordination and generating enthu Nevri – For bringing the reunion mugs Danny – For a wonderful job on the Reunion T-Shirts And all other junta for making it happen! LET THE HALU CONTINUE.....