The story of “RECAL 97 – Rekindle the Yadein” - Reunion of the NITC batch of 1997- Final Part 3 - Celebration of friendship

Final - Part 3 of the fascinating story of the 25th-year silver Jubilee reunion of the 33rd batch of CREC - The Grand Finale ……. Celebration of friendship in the truest form

December 27th, 2022, will be a day that will be hard to forget for those assembled at Raviz Kadavu (meaning Riverbank). It was a perfect setting to see the friends arriving from over 22 countries. Just to see the smiling faces that came running over to give you a hug and you knew at that instant that nothing had changed over the past 25 years. It was hard to describe exactly the reason why there was so much warmth and happiness to see your friends after such a long time in your life. I guess that is the very essence of these reunions and it was meant to rekindle those memories of a friendship that were once lost. To me, it was the sheer joy of being amongst friends that made you feel comfortable and be yourself in their company. I guess everyone that came wanted to be that 22-something kid who wanted to be themselves for those 60 hours that we will spend together. As one of the guys rightly said “one tight hug” was all that was required, and no ice-breaking session was needed to know each other. We had a fun time dancing our way into the night getting ready for the next day to reach REC…now NITC for a day to remember for the rest of our lives.

For the 250 people that showed up on the REC campus on 28th December, it turned out to be a fascinating day with everyone turning back the clock into that 22-year-old kid that roamed this campus 25 years ago. For me, it brought up nostalgic memories of my late dad, dropping me to the campus for the first time, the moments in college that molded me as an individual, the beautiful friendships that I had built with many, a few closest friends that I knew will back me come what may, the sheer serenity of the campus memories of the naughty things that we did, the professors with their smile doing their job to get us future ready and the many support staff that helped us during our 4 years at the campus.?

We happily roamed around the campus from the moment we arrived there and did everything that we set out to do.?

• Go on a procession from the main gate to the MB and take a batch and branch-wise photographs
• Hear a heartfelt welcome prayer by our batchmates
• Pay our respects and regards to the 35 retired and current professors that were present to meet us accepting our invites
• Give a standing ovation to our dearest senior professor, who has now retired, Professor K.B.M Nambudripad
• Listen to the address by the first student-faculty advisor and now Deputy Director, Sathidevi madam with great enthusiasm
• A fantastic address by the Dean Alumni Dr. Anil Kumar PP on how to take this alumni relationship forward
• Gladly, inaugurated the new website design and prototype by Dr. Sathidevi, Deputy Director, NITC
• Proudly, launched the student plaza that our batchmates designed, 97th avenue, video by Dr. Sathidevi, Deputy Director, NITC, and Dean Alumni Dr. Anil Kumar PP
• Launched the Yaadein eBook Dr. Sathidevi, Deputy Director, NITC
• Happily, presented to the college a token donation of around 62 lacs on behalf of our batch
• Very proudly, laid the foundation stone of 97th Avenue by Dr. Sathidevi, Deputy Director, NITC
• Ate a sumptuous lunch sponsored by the college in our honor at the Guest house (which I have seen for the first time)
• Attended the Industry Innovation Council and met over 50 students for an interactive session
• Honored the mess staff( fondly remembered as our chettans and Chechi's) and we served them tea/coffee and snacks to them. All became nostalgic.
• Went and knocked on the door of my A hostel room where I had stayed back then
• Happily, went to my S7 & S8 classroom and sat on the bench with my buddies, and relived some old times

We wrapped up the day at college by felicitating the ex-support staff at our hostel mess. It was an emotional moment for us to be with them and serve them tea/coffee and snacks and return the favor they did us 25 years ago. We were able to provide financial support to the 51 staff that were present. Some give us emotional hugs.

It was a packed day. It was such a roller coaster of a day and was filled with so much goodness and I was able to enjoy every moment I spent on campus. We had a fun ride back to the resort with some hilarious dance moves (Nagin dance) on the way to go with (with an exhaustive day like this I really do not know where the energy came from). We got ready for the last act of the reunion which was our Gala dinner, and it was just sheer magic that happened on that night of the 28th?

It was a cool evening with the moon glazing at us and there was a gentle breeze along the river (there was a light drizzle in the evening). We had some brilliant performances – group dance, spouses singing, daughters and sons performances, Bollywood dances, solo singing, and some impromptu performances. Alongside the pool, with the dinner, more conversations, and more memories were being created and it was a sight to behold to see your best friends for life and reaffirm the friendship. For me, it was magical to see the friendship unfold in its truest and purest form which words cannot describe. Having live-streamed the entire activities to friends & family worldwide that could not make it, we told them that they were truly missed.

Along the sidelines were friends from the past starting to talk about how they are going to miss each other, some teary-eyed and saying their byes, some sitting on the sidelines watching all the fun unfold, kids who never knew their parents this wild partying, spouses making new friends along the way. As the organizing team, what mattered the most to us was the fact that we stuck to our objective and achieved everything that we set out – “Be there, meet your classmates, party, relive old memories, have fun, take back fresh memories!!!.” I took away memories for a lifetime and as some of my friends said, these 60 hours will be right up there till they die. For this crazy batch of 1993-1997, knowing us, we sure will return one day to have another wild party as we had. We said back in 1997, Hasta La Vista (goodbye; see you later) and we sure will return & see each other. As one of my friends said,” From the time we doubted if it would happen to have the happiest reunion. Really feel like we all got back our REC family back again ??”. The 97th REC family will be back soon…