Outreach

'Indiana Jones' at Chennai

June 14, 2008

The Alumni came with family eager to catch up with old friends. The occasion was graced by some 300 odd members. Alumni met not only their fellow batch-mates but also seniors and juniors across all the IITs. The atmosphere was charged with nervous energy. A regular "Hello", "Hi", and "Vanakkam" were punctuated by resounding laughter and joy of having found a long lost buddy. Visiting cards exchanged hands frequently. PANIIT has succeeded in creating a unique ecosystem for such interactions. After a high tea, some catching up and private conversations, the Alumni headed for the recently renovated Central Lecture Theatre. A battery of Volunteers from the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras ensured the alumni are ushered and are at comfort.

The evening began with a 'Lighting the Lamp' ceremony. Prof. M. S. Ananth, Director IIT Madras did the honours.Mr. B. Santhanam, Chair-PANIIT-2008, Mr. Chand Das, Chair-Marketing and PR Committee, Mr. D. Chandrashekar, Chair-Finance Committee, Mr. Sarath Naru, Chair-Program Committee, Mr. Ananthkrishnan, Chair-IT Infrastructure Committee and Mr. Raj Varadarajan, Chair-Participation Committee followed the suit. The auspicious beginning was carried forward by the Welcome address by Mr. Srini Nageshwar, President, IIT Madras Alumni Association. This set the tone for the evening. Prof. Ananth then spoke for a brief while and shared the events lined up leading to PAN IIT 2008. His talk was marked with wit and humour and drew rapturous response from the audience.

Mr. B. Santhanam, Managing Director, Saint Gobain Glass India and also Chairperson, PAN IIT-2008 made the presentation highlighting various facets, aspects, avenues and opportunities for the participants. The presentation climaxed with the Curtain Raiser movie. The frenzied applause that the Movie and the presentation elicited was heart warming for the Organizers and Audience alike.

The evening's cultural program featured an innovative blend of the classical and folk Indian arts, focusing on dance and percussion. Swathi Kamakshi Ravi and Ravi Balasubramanian, a dynamic duo with extensive experience in the Indian arts presented the program. First we had two popular dance pieces where Swathi set the stage alight with a classic from Tamil films Punnagai Mannan and the recent Devdas. This was followed by an explosive percussion duet between Konakkol or vocal percussion and the Ghatam, or the claypot presented by Ravi. Gears were then switched to a more classical piece, in which Swathi brought out the beauty in the age-old Carnatic song "Krishna Nee Begane". Even a Non-Tamilian was astounded by the mathematical precision with which the artistes performed.

Mrs. N. Alamelu delivered the Vote of Thanks. PANIIT 2008 is grateful to Firstsource, a leading provider of business process management services for sponsoring the Chennai Outreach. The IIT Authorities, Artistes, Volunteers and all the other concerned parties who had put in their efforts were generously thanked.

Dinner was served in the next building at IC&SR. Dinner had wide range of delicacies catering to all the tastes. Slight breeze, cool evening, colourful canopy and scrumptious food were just the right ingredients before the families headed towards Open Air Theatre (OAT) for the Movie "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull".

The rain gods kept away. Just like PANIIT, Harrison Ford too maintained the tempo and gave all an experience to take back home.

As we all were leaving the OAT, I overheard a Kid expressing to his Dad.

PANIIT promises to be ONE BIG Carnival. Be there!!