Quarter century later........."Older, bolder & naughtier"

This was the tagline that summed up our epic reunion, and that's why we slapped it on the cool black hoodies that made us feel like rockstars. It was also the theme that our singer and comic genius Ashish Sharma kept hammering into our heads, as he cracked us up with his hilarious jokes and song performance on the stage.

Unlocking the portal to Nostalgia

This event had a magical effect - I haven't felt so recharged, refreshed and rejuvenated in a very long time.......I guess this has to do with the human connections and the social interactions which binds us. Or maybe it was the magic potion that our Alumni relations and S.A.R.C. NIT Jalandhar secretly added to our drinks. Who knows? ????.

I don't think I will be able to capture all the high points (which of course were plenty) of the spectacularly orchestrated event but let me try and jot down some that left an indelible impact on me. For those who were unable to attend, let me try and provide a summary. Here are a few........highlights......in the sequence they happened :

• Unofficial dinner bash (15-Dec) : We had a blast at the pre-event party, where we got pumped up with some awesome vibes and rocked the party room with an awesome DJ and the early birds. It was a great way to get our sip of adrenaline and double dose of dopamine to build our excitement sky-high and ready for the main event. Some of our batchmates I spoke to are still repenting that they missed this awesome pre-reunion celebration.
• Bus ???? ride to the campus (16-Dec) - The college had arranged a bus ride from hotel Tulip (which was the temporary residence for many of us) to the event venue (REC-J / NIT-J ) campus. Kudos to the two student organizers [Thanks to Er. Ehsaas Garg & Shubham Grover ] who had loads of patience while herding the cats (read seniors / alumni) to get on the bus to the venue. A dozen of us got an opportunity to take the college bus. The bus ride was a roller coaster of fun, zooming along the GT Road and watching the railway line. We noticed that the old Bidhipur Faatak (Railway crossing) was gone and a flyover had taken over. How times change!
• Breaking-the-Fast : We felt like stars as we entered the 1st year boys hostel, greeted by students, alumni and faculty. They welcomed us with lavishly laid out red carpets and traditional tilaks (#IndianHospitality) on our foreheads. The whole campus appeared quite green with lush grass on the lawns and multitude of mature trees. The vibrant colors adorned the 1st year hostel lawns. It was a great opportunity to network with the students over the sumptuous breakfast. It was quite fun interacting with young and curious minds and reconnecting with the college staff (familiar faces) and some of the professors.
• Enthusia : Cricket matches were made more fun by the live running commentary from our in-house commentators Mridumesh Kumar Rai and Ashish Sharma . For the tug of wars .......the seriousness with our opposing team were building strategy reminded me of #SquidGames #Netflix . Manish Nagpal added an extra edge of professionalism on the sports field with his drone photo and video shoots. Towards the end the whole motley crew got together for a class photo in our sharp cool looking black hoodies that were manufactured by our in-house Textile expert Ramnik Singh .
• Luncheon : We were fortunate to be invited to one of the newer hostel mess (MBH). It seemed we got transported in a time machine to our good old college days. We ate out of steel thalis (the stainless stell compartmentalized plates). The highlight was the delicious paalak paneer (Indian cottage cheese simmered in spinach gravy) complemented with makke di roti (Corn Pone / cornmeal flatbread).
• Campus Safari : We got a mini version of campus tour as we headed to meet our department professors from Textile Technology. It was priceless meeting you : Dr. Monica Sikka mam, Vinay Midha sir, A. K. Choudhary sir, Dr. Niranjan Bhoumik sir.
• LaCanferencia & Conclave - I was thrilled to see how much our alma mater had progressed in the past 25 years since we graduated. RECJ / NITJ achieved impressive rankings in Engineering and Overall categories. I was also happy to see that our rank had improved over the years. I was engulfed with a wave of nostalgia when I saw our quarter century old black and white photos of batchmates on the screen, along with their names. Also there was a cool presentation by the R-tist club [Thanks to Jasmine Kaur & her counterpart - name TBC] . The best part of the event was listening to some of our classmates share their wisdom and stories. Well done, Ajay Kumar , Mridumesh Kumar Rai , KARTIK Santhanam , Ashish Sharma for your interesting, inspiring and funny speeches. I will never forget the shudh (pure) hindi start of speech by Kartik. I almost felt like I am in a Sanskrit class when I heard ????? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? NIT ?? ???????????? ????? .........and all amazing hindi ??
• Euphoria - I guess our juniors had saved the best for the last. The cultural event was sprinkled with lively performances by the music club and the dramatics society. When some of our batchmates adored the stage with lovely performances; I realized that though we have aged.....we haven't lost the edge. Vivek Srivastava , Sanjeev Sharma, Ashish Sharma , commando - you guys set the the stage ablaze with melodious songs, urdu shaayari and cracked us up with hilarious mimicry and stand-up comedy. Anupam Anupam - loved your blurb on the process of donation, the structuring of proposal by student contact and governance and monitoring of fund spent.Encore "Once more" - Some of the performances by both students and alumni were so amazing that the audience (juniors and seniors alike) made it like a fun chant theme. What really pumped us up and got us off our seats were the Electrifying performance by the dancing troupe Criminalz Crew (Tushar T.) and the euphoric & energetic performance of the bhangra gang (Manjot Singh). Gursimran Singh - you guys complemented the Bhangra team quite well.
• Jam session & dinner - The infectious enthusiasm of our juniors, the vibrant music collection of the DJ and the culmination of the party on the dance floor was just too much fun. Music ranged from nostalgic 90s to latest foot tapping numbers. We re-lived old college days by making dance trains, naagin (snake on the floor) dance [thanks to our alumni Mahesh Sankhla ]. How I wish the party never ended. However, we had to listen to our aging bodies......we couldn't keep up with our 25 years younger juniors.
• Morning Goodbyes (17-Dec) - We did say goodbyes in the morning with mixed feelings.........A very strong positivity of reconnection fuelled by the thought that we will meet again; with tiny sprinkles of sadness of parting.

Before closing; I would like to point out where the credit is due - It would be unfair not to mention the brains and brawns behind the great event :

• Dilpreet Singh - He is the trailblazer who set the ball rolling organizing a mini reunion in Vegas early this year in spring.
• Ramandeep Singh - What a spectacular job of creating the Alumni portal for our batch to share alumni snapshots securely and privately. Some of the organizers agreed this could become a platform for other alumni groups too.
• Vandana Dogra - Wasn't it you who sparked the fire for the Alumni Book and were one of the catalyst who kickstarted the planning and organizing of the grand reunion in December
• Munish Sawhney - The man behind the scenes, he was the organizing team's silent crusader, who avoided the limelight but was burning several night lamps to get so much thankless work to smoothen the ride for rest of us and ensured the well oiled machinery operates. His uncanny ability to filter through noise and unwavering focus on progress over perfection ensured the alumni were able to experience reunion without hiccups.
• Manav Anand - The man.....the machine...........Hats off to his unbound energy, his impeccable execution, his thoughtfulness, sensitivity and inclusiveness in organizing such a wide variety and motley crowd of batchmates and being the local anchor in Jalandhar to work with college.
• Manoj Singh sir - The warmth you showed in welcoming us and taking care of us alumni members throughout the day on 16th is admirable and so adorable. I am sure there were many more hard-work that went behind the scenes that is not visible to all of us.
• Manav Jindal & Tushar Sublaik - Bravo to you and your amazing crew of S.A.R.C. NIT Jalandhar (@Hardik Singla) for pulling off such an amazing event that we will remember for years to come. You guys (including the dance, music teams) did an amazing job organizing the alumni meet at such a grand scale. The whole day seemed like a wonderful dream.......a beautiful walk through our memory lanes. Thanks for organizing this spectacular event with brilliant professionalism. Going by the sample we interacted with on campus,I can foresee a super bright career trajectory for the current students NIT Jalandhar .

I invite and welcome my classmates, juniors and college staff to add their thoughts in comments. I am sure I have been unable to capture all the amazing magic we experienced at our #AlmaMater.

Some of our friends expressed a feeling of Hangover after the event.....and I can bet that it not the kind of hangover we get from special beverages ???????????????? or spiked drinks........but it is a lingering taste of togetherness which keeps us on a sustained high....... contagious smiles and leaves us with a long lasting sense of fulfillment and happiness. It’s the kind of hangover that comes from being with your old pals who make you feel young again. It is the spirit that fills you with joy, laughter and gratitude. One of our dear batchmates we fondly nicknamed commando because of his daring exploits said "I am still feeling the Hangover of meeting all the friends and want it to continue forever. Reunions are so necessary because u can't get a 'Jadoo ki jhappi' (Magical hug) on facebook. Taking great memories along. Let's keep building memories , meet more often and keep celebrating." I totally agree Gurvinder Pal Singh - You can’t feel their warmth, their heartbeat, their presence… I bet you get the drift. I’m taking great memories with me. Let’s keep making memories, meet more often and keep celebrating.

Disclosure : I want to call out that I have written this blog with my own narrow perspective and this blog post in no way is exhaustive and comprehensive description of RECJ's alumni reunion weekend. My intention was not to exclude anyone or any other aspect others might think as important.

I therefore invite my batchmates and organizers to please add comments or send me a personal note on Linkedin or WhatsApp; I will be glad to include the feedback.

N.B. I am dedicating this article to my ex-roomie and good friend at RECJ Anindyo Roy who was unable to make it to this event. Also to other batchmates who could not join us on this event but hopefully will be able to join in the next one Ajit Borundia , Arun Kumar , Bhargav K V R K , Deepak Jindal PCC ICF , Gaurav Kumar , Jaspal Singh , Jaydeep Solanki , KAMAL CHANDNA , @Kiran Kumar (Karnataka), Kislaya Kunjan, PhD , Mohan G. , Prashant (Pete) Dhiman , Pankaj Mohan , Prabal Roy , Rohit Badal , @Shailendu Mahajan (Sid Gupta), Sougata Dey , Sudhir Mandava , Umesh Kumar , Vinay Mehendi, PhD , Vinay Sharma