Saturday, August 24, 2013

SIMSREE Alumni Batch Meet (1986 - 1988 Batch)

Twenty batch-mates and a professor gathered at their college seminar hall on August 24, 2013. What is special about that, one might ask. The occasion was the celebration of 25 glorious years of their graduation as the 1986-88 batch of SIMSREE. The venue had all but changed for the attendees. The seminar hall was new to them, as was the Sydenham Management Excellence Centre, the auditorium. Even the staircase was not the same as it was back in their day. A quick tour of the institute made them realize how much it had progressed in the last two-and-a-half decades. It made them nostalgic and evoked memories of their time in the B-school. Friendly banter and cheerful catching-up sessions followed. Among the attendees was Prof. Lad, who was unanimously credited by his students as being the man responsible behind the letters ‘R’ and ‘E’ (Research and Entrepreneurship) in SIMSREE. The batch comprised a diverse mix of entrepreneurs and professionals from IT, BFSI, healthcare and packaging industries. 

Dr. Sandhya Dhabe, (Director, SIMSREE) and Dr. M. A. Khan (former Director, SIMSREE and presently Registrar, Mumbai University) welcomed the guests to the batch meet event, conducted by the Alumni Committee of SIMSREE. Mr. Ashish Bhasin, Chairman India & CEO - South East Asia at Aegis Media and Chairman, SIMAA (Sydenham Institute of Management Alumni Association), addressed the gathering, and enlightened the group about the alumni association of SIMSREE, its membership and activities conducted towards the betterment of SIMSREE. The former students of the institute were more than happy to sign up for memberships and opened their hearts and wallets to contribute funds to the SIMSREE corpus. One of the guests, Mr. D. V. Ashok, Owner - Access Devices volunteered to head the Bangalore chapter of the alumni association. Much to the delight of everyone present, they announced a contribution of Rs. 2 Lacs to SIMSREE, to be used in the best interests of SIMSREE. 

The celebrations included a cake-cutting ceremony to commemorate the silver jubilee of the batch of 1986-88 and an interaction with the current students of SIMSREE. The evening concluded with a round of games themed on nostalgia. It was endearing to see the child-like enthusiasm of the guests when quizzed about the good times they had as students of SIMSREE. The guests had a great evening connecting with former classmates and taking the proverbial trip down memory lane.

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