The news about the launch of BITSConnect 2.0 is all over the place. It was an apt moment to get together and celebrate. The first of the celebrations happened at Fremont, California hosted by none other than the chairman of BITSAA Mr. Raju Reddy at his residence. The event, not surprisingly, witnessed BITSian enthusiasm with BITSians like Sarath Kolla flying in from the east coast or Ravi Varanasi making it to the event straight from the airport after a business trip in London, just to mention a few. Also the participants included BITSians from batches spreading over three decades from a variety of professional backgrounds like engineers, entrepreneurs, academicians and venture capitalists bringing together a degree of diversity that BITS campuses are known for. Also present were non-BITSians who enthusiastically contributed to the project like Mr. Kanwal Rekhi and Mr. Srini Madala. With awesome dinner coupled with drinks and to top it off wonderful conversations about a variety of topics made the evening an unforgettable one.
Mr. Raju Reddy thanking the guests. Also seen is Mr. Kanwal Rekhi
Raju Reddy, the host thanked the participants and donors and a special mention was made about the champions of the project – Prem Jain, Sarath Kolla and Shashikant Khandelwal. Each of the champions shared their experience and encouraged others to show the same amount of enthusiasm for future projects. BITS alumnus and NYU professor Nasir Memon, who also delivered the very first lecture for the Embryo project thereby sowing the seeds for what we see today, shared his thoughts. Sarath is already preparing for the next BGM enthusiastically, while Shashikant is coming up with interesting ways to use the BITSConnect 2.0 facility truly testing the limits of its potential. The guests applauded the efforts of these gentlemen and we look forward to a stronger participation from the alumni in getting the best out of this facility. Along with the drinks and the dessert many potential opportunities for collaboration were also chatted about.
The champions of BITSConnect 2.0 – Sarath Kolla and Shashikant Khandelwal
The evening ended as happily as it began with people parting with excitement and hopefully pondering about lots of ideas that we will see pouring out in the days to come. The first milestone has been achieved but the journey is still on and its imperative that each BITSian has a role to play, and together we can achieve greater heights. And also pose for a nice photograph!
