Each of us have umpteen frenzied moments associated with BITS, its time to put all the reminiscence onto paper and embellish the first ever "BITSIAN Experience Book" - one stop point into which any cherished moment of any bitsian from any batch/discipline can share. Dr. Nagendra Parashar, Asst. Dean Practice School Division is steering this initiative and here are his words slightly paraphrased!!! -

"It is proposed to bring a book where each of us can share our experiences during our stay at BITS. You can share your treasured snippets related to hostel life, classroom pranks, or any other unforgettable moments through articles which would go into this book. Please feel free to divulge and write on anything which talks about your BITS connection. The article length can be between 1000-1500 words."

With loads of creative blogs and annals of BITS nostalgic literature found all around, let's give the hidden dormant writer inside each of us yet another shot and send our write-ups directly to Nagendra Parashar [mail: bsnagendraa@yahoo.co.in] or call him at +91-09929095387 for more details.

The government of J&K identified the eclecticism of Khursheed Ahmad Ganai, a mechite from 74-79 batch pertinent and asked for his services as the principal secretary to the Chief Minister of J&K. Ganai did his post-graduation from IIT and MBA from UK. He later sat for the 1982 IAS examinations and secured a nationwide 2nd rank.
He received the J&K CM's Gold Medal for his 25 year tenure in public welfare activities and various radical reforms he initiated in general administration. Proud to be BITSian, Ganai is also credited for formation and logistics of new districts, creation of GAD website and file tracking system and proposals like the acquisition of land for railways and road widening in many districts.

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Ravi Menon, from the batch of 1979 recently became the CEO of HSBC, Internet Banking. He holds a Masters degree in Economics and earlier worked as Managing Director & Co-Head, Global Investment Banking. Earlier Ravi was the Managing Director & Co-Head, Global Investment Banking in India. He was responsible for organization and execution of Equity Capital Market and Corporate Finance transactions.
Ravi has over 17 years of experience covering a wide area of banking products and joined HSBC in 1998 to set up and Head the Debt Capital Markets team.

Cellebrum, a value-added-services and solutions provider from Spice Group, has appointed Mohit Rampal as its chief sales officer (CSO). As the CSO of Cellebrum, Mohit will be responsible for sales of Cellebrum Technologies Limited. Rampal holds a a masters of Science in Systems from BITS Pilani and is also a CISSP. We believe that Rampal will infuse new strength and direction to build and enhance sales operations division of the organization. He has over 17 years of experience in the domain of IT networking. Wishing Rampal all success in his new role.

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While Achyut, the humanoid was dancing to the tunes of Dhoom :)) - a new class of BITSians teamed up across disciplines to get a 4 wheeler onto road. All the individual parts of the ATV will be designed and fabricated in BITS Workshop. The team - "Inspired Carters" comprising of 15 members is truly multi-disciplinary with students from Mechanical, Electronics, Economics and Civil streams as they attempt, not to finish a project but to introduce a working product. Tires from USA, steering system similar to the one used in Lotus Elise, the team is all ready to display their vehicle during BAJA 09 competition. Wishing our BITS team the very best ...

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The entire gamut of BITSians spanning from 1960's to 00's who were living, studying and working in and around UAE made themselves available for the Reunion party organized by the BITS UAE Alumni Chapter on Dec 2nd 2008. Unlike other Alumni reunions hosted by our chapters, this reunion included students who were currently doing their education. Bharat Narayan (in the pic), Founder - Chairman of UAE Chapter who is from the 1965 batch, was instrumental in getting the event on rolls.

The party included fun and frolic in form of plays and music numbers from late 70s Bollywood movies. Students who were present at the party gave commending testimonials and promised to take leads in organizing such reunions in future.

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The Star Spangled Banner exhibit went on display in a monumental, inspiring new gallery in November 2008 at a Gala Reception at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian. Proud to be a BITSian George Jacob who graduated from BITS Pilani was Project Director to produce exhibits for America's most treasured national icon -the STAR SPANGLED BANNER gallery at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.
He has served on various professional boards and has been an adjunct faculty for Museum Studies and Business Administration at various universities. With a successful track record of over $160 million in completed museum projects, he is also the founder and publisher of MUSEUM DESIGN the only global professional magazine on museum exhibit design, production and architecture.
"The entire BITS community is proud of you in your achievement."

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The memorial lecture was instituted in 2001 in memory of the former Deputy Director of BITS Pilani. This year, the lecture was conducted on 9 January 2009 with Welcome Address by Dr. R Mahesh, Pharmacy Group Leader. Dr. L K Maheshwari briefed Prof. B M Mithal's contribution in making BITS Pilani as one of the top ranking universities in India. The speaker for the day was Dr. S K Kulkarni who is a distinguished professor of Pharmacology from University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Punjab University, Chandigarh. He captured the attention of the audience by speaking about the Issues and Challenges pertaining to discovering drugs from Natural Sources. He also highlighted the fact that India is undoubtedly a destination for Pharmacy and Clinical Research. The lecture ended with the distribution of awards for the best students in Pharmacy.

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We have long been hearing of get together, reunions and diwali bashes. BITSAA Delhi, an ever ebullient chapter is organizing something new among this pool. If you are around Delhi, get ready and pack you hampers for BITSAA Family picnic 2009. Below are more details and contact information for registrations -

Date: Sunday, 1st February 2009
Venue: SKN FARMHOUSE of our fellow BITSIAN, Kapil Chopra, EEE (1973-78)
Time: 11.30 AM to 3.00 PM

BITS has a healthy balance in the number of boys and girls enrolled every academic year, as it constantly tries to diminish the glaring gaps between men and women in the areas of education and quality of life. CWS , Centre for Women Studies sponsored by the University Grants Commission was founded by Prof Nirupama Prakash at BITS in 2005. The centre is primarily involved in establishing collaborative research with other universities, organizing training sessions and lecture sessions with focus to economically empower women in developing India.

Dr Nirupama was nominated to chair a session for an International Workshop on Economic Empowerment of Women through Science & Technology Interventions held in Tehran last December. She gave an invited talk on the topic "ICT as a Tool for Empowering Women-A Case Study of Rural Rajasthan" representing CWS.

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Food King Sarath Babu, a Chemical Engineering graduate from Pilani campus was chosen as MTV Icon for India's Youngistaan :-) He personally thanks BITS alma mater for their votes, overwhelming support and invaluable blessings which aided him to wrest victory from 7 other finalists.

Featured earlier with this honor were Anil Ambani (2003), Rahul Dravid (2004), Shahrukh Khan (2005), M.S.Dhoni(2006) and Orkut(2007). Having a BITSian appended to this list unquestionably speaks a lot of Sarath and BITSians in general. Newsletter Team and the entire BITSian fraternity congratulate Sarath on his inspiring achievement.

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