Down memory lane

Updated on: Monday, July 26, 2010

A faint smile followed by an enquiring “You recognise me?” was a scene that repeated itself over and over at the first reunion of the 1975 batch of the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) organised here on Sunday.

“You smile and shake hands as if you know. But then, you end up wondering who that person was until a flash of memory strikes,” said A. L. Vasudevan, one of the 100-odd alumni who participated in the event.

With former classmates meeting each other after 35 years, it brought back memories of tearful farewells, proxy attendances and funny nicknames.

“When we were there, the college did not have this many facilities,” said N. Prabhu Ramakrishnan.

“But, the university campus is not just about the brick and mortar and other facilities. There are so many memories. I still remember the time when I won the college union election. It was a tradition to successfully drown the winner in the swimming pool. The pool is no longer there,” he added.

Anna University Vice-Chancellor P. Mannar Jawahar said that the CEG campus had gone through tremendous changes in the past 35 years. “While the student strength was only 2,000 in 1975, it has increased to more than 20,000 today. There used to be four branches. Now, counselling is going on for 39 branches.”

The alumni members handed over a cheque for Rs.12 lakh towards setting up an endowment fund to the Vice-Chancellor for a merit-cum-means scholarship. Students of the CEG will be eligible for the scholarship.

A contribution of Rs.3 lakh was made towards the Alumni Association Building fund.

Apart from monetary contributions, Dr. Jawahar said that the alumni can also make a valuable contribution by giving their time. “Not all qualified engineers have employability skills. If the alumni can come back and give students insights on issues that the industry look for in students while hiring, it will be help their juniors a lot,” he added.

Down memory lane

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