GAM 2020 - wow, what a day it was...

What happens when close to couple of thousands of alumni from your alma mater turn up at a resort lining the beach in Chennai for the Global Alumni Meet (GAM 2020)..

You are taken down memory lane right from the resort's entry. Nuances reminding us of campus life strewn all over the venue. Poles sporting names of city bus stops in Trichy leading to the RECT bus stop, miniature clock tower, nicely done boards of hostel names lining the path, session halls named after the halls in the campus - Barn, EEE Audi ( remember saturday evening movie shows), A13, A2 hall - nostalgia at its best. Get excited, pose, click.

Go back in time 20+ years, feel younger, catch-up with batch-mates, seniors, juniors, crack jokes, laugh over memories and nothings - the joyous nothings, click, post to Whatsapp groups of friends who couldn’t make it, gang up, take seats at the Barn, get set for the inaugural. 

Dr.Mini Thomas, the first woman director of NIT-T, presents the institute’s progress over the decades - the steep growth in NIRF ranking, numerous recognition, patents, incubation and research work, social initiatives et al. Be filled with pride. Listen in rapt attention to Pullela Gopichand’s keynote - his journey from humble beginnings, lack of basic amenities to pursue sporting career during his growing up years, hardwork and discipline behind winning the All England Open Badminton Championship, pains and travails in setting up the badminton academy - deeply inspiring journey, delivered in a down-to-earth tone with a smile. Humbled.

Keep rolling your head 180 degrees all the time, spot known, familiar looking faces, walk up, see who recalls the name of the other first, tap into Radhika’s impeccable memory in your favour to reconnect quickly. Move away AI, we got Radhika with us, She is our live, in-person, walking AI who pattern matched faces to their 20+ years ago selves and recalled names and shared experiences in no time. Was 100% accurate with every one of them. Miraculous. 

Spot Bennet sir in the rear row. Catch up on the happenings over tea. Scan the green-tag sporting faculty for rest of our profs. Run into Umapathy sir, ever humble and inspiring person he is, briefs us on the ICE dept’s journey, walks us to the dept stall, we listen to the preso, understand how we can contribute and commit to contribute in ways we can. Click, groupie, laughter, reminisce class experiences, laugh some more. By the way, max attendance from class of 1998 was from the ICE dept :-).

Sun wasn’t kind by noon and we dealt with it as yet another reminiscent of campus life - the Trichy heat. Grab lunch, cool-drinks, back to the Barn. Fill up the give back to campus pledge form, drop into the box. GD, the leader helps the late comers among us to get our pledge forms. 

Move to EEE Audi for the panel discussion on “Where are NITTian Women CEOs?” with a bunch of distinguished / CXO alumni. Srimathi Shivashankar’s anchoring, Anurag Behar’s insights from his work at the grassroots level as part of the Azim Premji foundation - with government schools in rural India, Ponni’s ( the first woman NITTian, Class of 1987) inspiring story starting with confronting Manisundaram sir to claim her seat in the college as the first woman entrant, travails of having to stay outside the campus and travel 40 KMs round-trip through mofussil buses to get to college daily (the girls’ hostels would come up later) topping the class to prove her mettle, changing the perception towards women engineers, paving the way for the campus to adapt to welcome more women from then on. NIT-T director’s insights based on her personal experiences in growing up to be the first woman director. Goose-bumped. Launch of a promising alumni community initiative for women of NIT-T, “Women Inclusivity Initiative for NIT-T - WINITT”. Both men and women alumni commit to come together in support of helping women NIT-Tians grow into CEO positions.Thumbs up. 

Understand personal finance nuances from the following panel discussion on Personal Finance and Investment Strategies. Get back to the Barn, listen into an alumni in IAS share his insights on contribution / participation / support needed from citizens for public services to be effective. Move to A13 hall, just in time to cheer for Dushmant and Shrinath’s pitch session - a fully packed hall, squeeze yourself in. Listen in. Clap, Cheer. 

Back to strolling and catching up in the lawn, photoshoot with the batch in front of the over crowded GAM 2020 signage. Sun a lot kinder now as it calls it a day and we start enjoying the cool breeze. GD coaches the rest of us on fitness, yoga, mindfulness, agile, digital transformation and all things under the sun, Sankaranarayanan talks of birding passion, Dushmant and Shrinath educate us on their entrepreneurial journey, Sabari on his business with the operators, we get more acquainted with Karthikeyan than we were while in college.

Collect return gift, memorabilia, enjoy the fireworks and music ( the ‘mustafa, mustafa, don't worry mustafa” song and the hands waving in unison is back.. Or did it ever go out of vogue? ), sit on the lawn, munch dinner and finally we drag ourselves out of the venue. Four of us were on the same car back to the city and hence the joking and laughter continued through the drive as well. Cheers to friendships, cheers to common pasts, cheers to the prestigious institution that NIT-T is, cheers to RECAL and the entire organizing community behind this massive and well executed event. Left us totally pumped up, batteries super-charged. What a fabulous start to 2020.. Way to go..We loved the sling bag, the thoughtful munchies, drink and wet-tissues packed in it, the memorabilia in the return gift. Above all, we left with elated pride, humbled by the stories that unraveled and with an inner commitment to live up to the legacy of this institution.