It was a walk down memory lane for the 160-odd people of the 1987-91 batch of MIT on the 18^th of December, the day of their Alumni Meet. The campus tour that they went on, however, revealed a lane different from the one retained in memory.

The tour, scheduled to kick off from the Food Court at half past nine, was delayed quite a bit as the alumni indulged in taking photographs. It covered the student-project workshops where the alumni were offered glimpses into the pursuits of MIT’s current students outside of class. The Innovation Centre, the Central Library, the Experience Theatre in the University building, the Health Sciences Library, and Melaka – Manipal Medical College were visited. Apart from these sites, they were also re-acquainted with the recreational aspects of the town with visits to the scenic End Point and Manipal’s state-of-the-art sports complex, Marena. With time running short, the walk-through of MIT was pushed to the next day.

PC: Manipal University

The silver-jubilee batch seemed impressed at the tremendous changes that Manipal had gone through in the twenty five years since they’d left. “I was freaking out and was very confused when I came here yesterday. There was no K-Block, and a lot of new buildings all around”, said Jaison Manian, now working in Exert Digital Chicago. The tour brought back a lot of memories which fueled conversation along the way.

“It was an amazing experience, and this tour will always be among the best I’ve been on,” said Naveen Raj S, a 5th semester student of the Aeronautical and Automobile Engineering Department of MIT and an intern at the Volunteer Services Organization, who was one of the four tour guides.

The tour was followed by the official meet in Fortune Inn Valley View. Speeches by Prasanna R Kailaje, Director of Alumni Relations at Manipal University and Ram Narayan, former Vice-Chancellor were followed by a Jazz concert. Many of the alumni took to the stage to share their experiences from their days in Manipal while a slideshow of their pictures added to the nostalgia.

PC: Manipal University

“In Manipal, we didn’t just learn engineering. We learnt about life. We made deep rooted relationships which are strong even after twenty-five years. We had the opportunity to meet people from different parts of the country with different cultures. Manipal is the Microcosm of India,” said Sathish Chaganti who works at Saee Trafoline Pvt Ltd, Andhra Pradesh. It was clear that even after all these years, they still had sentiments associated with the college. A lot has changed since their time here, but MIT still remains the home that it was back then.