The IIT Alumni association in New England held their annual gathering at the Lexington Lodge of the Elks on April 5, 2008.  Alumni from different IITs gathered to celebrate their friendship and reminisce about their time at IIT.  IITs in their 50+ years of existence have created a great impact on the world. IIT Kharagpur was the first IIT that was created right after independence. IIT Bombay is the second IIT to be formed and there is a golden jubilee celebration event to be held on July 18, 19 at New York city. (http://gj2008.iitbombay.org)

A cultural event coordinated by Neeta Agarwal showcased music and dance by many talented youngsters.  The event opened with a Todaya Mangalam by Sweta and Swathi Subramanium in Bharatanatyam style.  Sheetal Lad and Monica Rajinikanth presented a Bollywood Medley while Sheetal’s younger sister presented Chaiyyan Chaiyyan.  The Neogy brothers presented wonderful Hindustani classical numbers.  Vinayak and Karthik Sharma presented a Violin Viola duet while Khel Mel presented a lovely “Ode to Spring ”.  Manju Agarwal  and IIT Roorkie alum and Shikha Bajpai were adult performers who treated the audience to a few Bollywood numbers. IIT SINE parties are famous for their “fun” element and a quiz on the  five IITs conducted by Dilip Subramanium brought a touch of nostaligia and lots of laughter to the event. 

Puran Dang, the founder member of IITSINE urged people to think about giving back to the needy in India  and specially discussed Akshaya Patra  (http://www.akshayapatra.org) an organization  which is feeding nearly a million underprivileged children every day.  Ranjani Saigal also spoke about Vision Aid, an organization providing free eye care to the needy in India and talked about her effort to support this cause. (http://visionaid.org/ramayana.html)

The event ended with a Bingo conducted by Anil Saigal. For more information in IITSINE check out their website at http://iitsine.org/

|