Class, contacts, comrades

Surbhi Gupta / TNN / Jun 21, 2007, 00:00 IST

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Miles away from the alma mater, alumni meets are increasingly being held across cities and countries nowadays.

Miles away from the alma mater, alumni meets are increasingly being held across cities and countries nowadays. Traditionally, alumni meets took place every 10, 25, 50 years, and so on. Held within the premises of the alma mater, they were attended by former students of the institute, with their family in tow. And for most, the evening was restricted to meeting one's long lost pals and reminiscing about the 'good old days'.
Now, they have become commonplace for reasons more than one. Their increasing regularity , often across cities and countries, can be ascribed to the fact that besides giving members a chance to socialise, they provide them the opportunity to network professionally.
It won't be entirely wrong to credit the emergence of the trend to premier institutes like IITs and IIMs. In fact, Hillary Clinton is scheduled to give the keynote address at the pan-IIT alumni meet in California next month. Revealing how the process works, Sourav Ghosal, co-ordinator of the alumni cell at IIMA, says, "The alumni cell initiates alumni meets in different cities and countries, for our students are placed across the globe. Most of these are organised during the summer internship period, so that away from a corporate setting and an evaluatory mode, former and present students of the institute can interact and exchange freely."
Other institutes and colleges are also now organising reunions in various cities in the country. Abhishek Bishayee, an alumni of the K K Wagh Institute of Engineering Education and Research in Nashik as well as Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai, recently attended the alumni meets of both in Bangalore. "While such reunions give the older generation a chance to find out about new happenings at their alma mater, for young graduates like us, they are an opportunity to network with senior executives in the fraternity ." Such meets can also be placement-driven , he adds.

While often the institute oversees the functioning and funding of the alumni meets, there are times when the alumni themselves take the initiative. Anand Mahesh, a post-graduate from the Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication, Pune, started its Delhi chapter a couple of years ago. "We've had three reunions till now. Such informal get-togethers can be beneficial from a personal as well as a professional point. You can easily ask your seniors for personal support, especially if in a new city, and professionally, you can seek their guidance and contacts ," he says.

The trend has now trickled down to the schools as well. Pranali Mehta (name changed), an alumni of CN Vidyalaya in Ahmedabad, informs that they have alumni chapters in all the major cities as well as in US, UK and Australia. Meanwhile, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan also held its first national alumni meet in Delhi last year. Debashish Bhattacharya, president of the Sangathan, says that they're in the process of registering the alumni association , following which they will open official chapters in all major Indian cities. "Then we will hold alumni meets through all the chapters. The purpose will be to provide a common platform for all the KV students to meet and benefit from each other's skills and contacts," he says.
Now you don't have to travel too far to be close to your alma mater.
surbhi.gupta@timesgroup .com

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