ITBHUGlobal.org: The Chronicle: Silicon Valley Alumni meet-Report

Silicon Valley Alumni meet-Report

@ Mar 28, 2009

The report on Silicon Valley Alumni Meet on March 8

(Forwarded by Ratnanabh Sain, Mining 2005. Email: ratnanabh.sain@gmail.com)

The Silicon Valley Alumni Chapter organized a Holi Milan Alumni Event on Sunday, 8th March, 2009 at Sneha Restaurant, Sunnyvale, California. It was truly, as promised, a blast! We would like to thank all the alumni who joined us for the event along with their families.

The main event started with Kulgeet, led by Mrs. Sunita Babbar (PHE 1985), and the newly formed "IT Music Band". All other alumni joined in the traditional rendition of Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar's song. This was followed by Shloka and Holi Dance by Mrs. Jaya Sharma (CSE 1995).

While the registration desk continued its work of signing up alumni joining in and putting Gulaal Tikaa, we had a wonderful dance Tarana from Jaya and Anisha. Next big attraction (and possibly the main attraction) was Kid's Medley dance, performed by Tavishi Sharma, Aashna Agarwal and Amisha Agarwal. This was thoroughly enjoyed by all other alumni (and families) and set the tone for the future events.

Finally, our dance group performed a Bollywood number which was performed by Jaya Sharma, Firdosh Agarwal, Minal Agarwal and Anisha Agarwal. A lot of thanks to the whole dance group for putting things together and truly entertaining the families. The dance group would be happy to learn that several alumni found the presentations far better than other cultural programs at Bay Area events. We hope to continue the good work; at the same time, we would ask for more active participation from other alumni and families to make future events even better!

Before starting our next event, we had a short decade-wise alumni introduction, followed by break for Indian Buffet Lunch at the restaurant. Mr. Padam Jung (MET 1955), probably the oldest alumni in the area, recounted his old stories about Broacha Hostel and its rooms. Many other alumni recalled other memorable events. The next event was a short trivia of BHU and Varanasi locations, as they look right now. Many old alumni found it interesting to see their favorite locations and surely many fond memories were tickled.

Finally, the stage was set for the IT-BHU Music Band to rock the show! Led by Vivek Agarwal (ECE 1986) and Sunita Babbar on vocals, percussionist Alok Agarwal (Vivek’s brother) and guitarists, Ambrish Srivastava (CHE 1987) and Shalabh Goyal (EEE 2002) wove their magic on our favorite songs. The culmination point was "Khai Ke Paan Banaraswaala", which was joined by all other alumni and kids. All alumni danced in their good old-fashioned hostel ways and it was truly a sight to capture and enjoy! If we can add, we found a new performer in the form of Jaiom Sambyal (MEC 1981) and we are sure Sambyalji would be glad to present during the next big family event.

Truly, everything put together, the event was a memorable one and possibly the best alumni event in SV area till date. We surely hope to bring more and more enjoyable family events in the future. We sorely missed alumni whom we know in the area but who could not attend this event. We hope you would be able to join us in the future. Along with that, there are many more alumni in the area who are still outside our network and mailing list. Please help us connect to them. There were a couple of alumni who drove all the way from UC Irvine and Santa Barbara to attend this meeting. We have a special note of acknowledgement for them. We sincerely hope that they enjoyed the event and would expect their presence in future!

Some of the photos from the event are at the following link:

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=09d0b801e8b3821e&sid=0CbOXLds0bsWMJ

We would urge other alumni who took photos and videos to share them with the junta!

We have a special note of acknowledgment for Ranen Chakravarty (Mechanical 1977) and Abhijeet Solanki (MEC 1994) for their contributions. Lastly, thanks to the volunteer team for putting the program together, which included the Dance and Music group and a list of other members. We look forward to bigger and better events.

With sincere regards,

The Volunteer Team,

Mr. Vikram Jung (ECE 1985),

Mr. Vivek Agarwal (ECE 1986),

Mr. Gagan Bhatia (EEE 1998),

Mrs. Jaya Sharma (CSE 1995),

Mr. Anshuman Singh (EEE 1998),

Mr. Shalabh Goyal (EEE 2002),

Mr. Siddharth Gupta (ECE 2005),

Mr. Ratnanabh Sain (MIN 2005)

*****************************

Ratnanabh Sain (~Ratna)