3 June 2003
The Mumbai alumni meet was held on 31 May at Lotus Suites, Andheri East. It was a roaring success with the attendance of 138 people, including one fresher. Our sponsors were the U.B. Group and ICICI Bank. The best thing to come out of all this was the formation of the Mumbai Chapter and a commitment from the senior alumni to work towards the improvement of the Institute in terms of better placements and academic input from the industry.
It was really encouraging to see our alumni from the best companies there. We had attendance from NSE, JP Morgan Chase, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, ICICI, Star TV, and BBC Worldwide, among others. Our Director Father Abraham was also present for the meet. It was really nice to see old friends share a drink and boogey late in the night. I would thank everyone in Mumbai for making the meet a successful one.
Gaurav Sood, PGP 2004
Member, Student Alumni Committee
<gauravsood18@hotmail.com>
21 May 2002
[There are two reports on this event. The first report is by Jagannath (1993) and the second one is by Subhasish (1999).]
Report 1
Bombay rocked like never before on the 18th evening, as promised. The event on lawns of Razz Rhino was attended by more than 165 people (the largest ever). One could see people hugging one another and getting back to their elements all over the place. We had representatives from almost every batch, including three guys form the batch of 2004 (yet to join the Institute).
The event started with an address by Fr. Abraham, Director, who updated us on the great things that are happening to the Institute. It was followed the mandatory Mumbai Chapter update. And then we all were given some 'Gyan' by the 'C' Company... Chandresh Mehta... one of the main sponsors of the event, about buying houses and surviving in Mumbai.
The bar always looked crowded, thanks to UB (Sushant Pati, PGP 1992 and Fosters); the spirits were really high. There were some surprise guests from Bangalore and Chennai....who added some glamour and glitter literally. (Priyadarshi of the Oyzterbay fame was spotted...)
The flash bulbs were going off very busily... capturing every special moment... by our very Kodak man... a very big hand for Raghuvir, PGP 1992. (We all hope to see some pics this year at least...)
Then started the groovy part of the party... when it caught momentum... people danced to some latest English and Hindi tunes... reliving the wild and noisey commonroom paries. The food was excellent... and so was the ambience... with the lovely sea breeze and the sound of the lapping waves.
A special mention about the lovely 'Nostalgia' film... it was really good and thanks for showing everyone the lovely place we all belonged to. Let me also thank Subhasis and his team (Deepika, Gautam, etc...) for all the effort and making it really happen.
I should be moving to Bangalore shortly (by early next month), but my heart belongs to Mumbai. I have attended meets here even when I was in Ahmedabad... I have very fond memories of this place. I wish everyone the very best... and good times ahead.
Please do keep in touch.
Cheers!!!
Jagannath (Eli), PGP 1993
<aljagannath@hotmail.com>
98213 15219 (Mob); 2684186 (Off)
Sponsorship Credits
Key Stone
Group | Prudential
ICICI | Standard
Chartered | Britannia
| United
Brewries | Fosters
India | Kodak
India |
Report 2
The setting couldn't have been more ideal... Crimson-splashed western sky atop the Arabian sea... a half-baked moon peeping out into the sky. Sea-side lawns of the Razzberry Rhinocerous, lonely guitar strings belting from the mammoth speakers, perhaps indicating what was to follow in the night...
Friends, finally, the much talked about 'Bombay Blast' came knockin' with its full fervour and vigor.
The meet kicked off to a befitting start with Father Abraham's presence and his thought-provoking speech... which touched the entire gamut of developments that XIMB has embarked upon. Fr. Abe shared his vision of lifting the meaning of alumni to a different level altogether, when he said, a representative alumnus would be in the Board of XIMB!
Acting on Fr. Abe's recommendations, we created a committe of alumni consisting of representatives from each batch, who are going to spearhead all the alumni initiatives in Mumbai. This model will be replicated in al the other cities, which then will go on to the formation of a national (and global ) alumni body!!
One of the many firsts this meet saw was an awesome presentation created by the PGP 2003, which took all of us back into those glorious days of the past... the nightmares of 'F's , the highs of the groovy parties... the night-outs... et al. It got a fitting round of applause from the entire crowd who were slowly getting into their elements.
We had one of the budding entrepreneurs XIMB has produced, Chandresh (PGP 1993 ) making a presentation on his business and how it would help the alumni (he is in the business of building buildings).
The meet, after this, was let loose... the crowd got slowly immersed in the cocktail of... the sweeping breeze, the belting beats, the flowing spirits, as the DJ scratched more n more discs, the entire bandwagon jumped onto the floor... so much so that Mr. Jagannath discovered his singing talent and let out 'We didn't start the fire'!
All that one could see was the enlivened souls, trying to rediscover each other, revisit those exploits of the past, and relive the moments... to their fullest glory...
People cancelled their meetings, postponed their travel plans, rescehudled the flights, yongsters brought their friends, fathers brought their toddlers, and all came in full strength to be there. The attendance struck an all-time high of 170 (the previous highest was 158, as told by Nihar). Siddhant Taneja, who did only 1 year in XIMB (1998-1999) and then went on to join IIMB, also made it for the meet (he says this is closer to his heart ); Priyadarshi (PGP 1997) from Bangalore made it too.
The party flowed till the wee hours... with Mohan (PGP 1999 ) strumming his much famed 'halka halka', and Nilesh (2004!) jamming the floyyds and the eagles on the unplugged guitar...
So there u are... the lethal combination of Mumbai and XIMB stood tall again... the meet left people asking for more and more... to the extent that we've already planned a party to celebrate the success this weekend (the inventory of liquid looks enough to hold another couple of meets like this!) , and also there are a lot of activities on the anvil this time round... includes a placement fair in Mumbai, a mid-year alumni meet...
Time to say thanx to all those who said in various ways that they care:
Chandresh Mehta - 1993 - has been an amazing support to this entire meet apart from the sponsorship money
Nihar Das - 1997 - for his amazing gesture of helping the sponsorship for the brew, being far away in Singapore
Sushant Pati - 1992 - for the liquid from UB
Ashwin Kumar - 1997 - for the sponsorhip from Standard Chartered
J H Bosco - Ex1996 - for taking the entire responsibility of Fr. Abe's visit
Aloke Bannerjee - 1992- Sponsorship from Britannia
L Jagannath - 1993 - for his inimtable energy and enthu and being a driving force of the meet
Raghuvir P N - 1992 - for helping us freezing the rare moments--sponsorship of photographs - Kodak India
D P Dash - Alumni co-ordinator, XIMB, for his amazing support on behalf of XIMB
... and the bunch of dynamites from the batch of 2003: Neeraj, Dipankar, Madhav, Deepika, Naqueeb, Labs, Jesal, Ruchika, Karishma, Sidharth (guys, get ready for the party this weekend)... and of course all the spirited XIMMERS, who made it to the meet. Great show guys!
Till we meet again... Please be in touch and keep writing. I urge you all Bombayites to join the XIMBMUMBAI yahooGroup (visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ximbmumbai) The snaps of the meet are getting processed... should be up in the next couple of days.
Subhasis (Raja) Mishra, PGP 1999
<Subhasis_Mishra@pruicici.com>
Regional Co-ordinator, Mumbai
OLD REPORT
4 June 2001
1st of June 2001, Friday evening... the weekend fever was catching up in Mumbai... and what a beginning to the weekend! Over 150 (153 to be precise) XIMMERS packed under one roof (and on a roof top)! From 1989 to 2001, from Ex-PGPs to to-be PGPs, uninhibited and refreshingly cheerful! Meeting people from one's own batch, getting to know super-seniors and sub-juniors, seeing new faces added this year...
Then, there was Ashwin (1997), a boot-legger who has recently become a Banker, who played a merciless host to the crowd, grabbed the attention of the partying and dancing junta for a good while--till he was intimated about his wife's arrival. Vinay Chak won the bumper of a case of Foster's for being the most creative wearer of the T-shirt. He tied the T-shirt like a farmer does around his fore-head (few noticed that it was his ploy to hide his receding hair line!). Congrats Chak! Your bumper prize will be home delivered; you need to tell us your home address (at present he does not have one!).
One good thing was the attendance--every year it is on the up swing. And we do better than other institutes in this regard. Consider this: Statistics from the other get-togethers this year: IIM-C had 200 people, XL had 120, and IIM-L had 140. Considering we are barely 10 years' old, the number being 150+ is a sign of a well-knit and compact alumni body. Let's get together and be of use to each other (and the Institute) in whichever manner we can. Thanks to All! Waiting to hear more from others and other chapters.
Nihar
1997 Batch