Over 150 people attended the IIT SINE gathering held at the Lodge of the Elks, in Lexington, MA on Friday February 20, 2004. The list of attendees included IIT alum, their friends and family. Author Ranjan Pant and Guitarist Prasanna were the guests of honor at the event.

The event began with a welcome by Mr. Puran Dang, founder and president emeritus of IIT SINE. Dang’s characteristic warm welcome sent the right “feel good” tone for the evening. Dang reminisced about his days at IIT Kharagpur and applauded the vision of the founders of IIT to come up with such fine institutions that have served the world well.

A short cultural presentation by local artists followed. Sangeeta Saxena presented a bhajan followed by the famous dance number “Madhubhan Mein Radhika” performed by Amrita Saigal and Abritee Dhal. Arun Saigal gave a short Mridangam presentation. Seven year old Rohan Rastogi entertained the audience with a few jokes. Monali Gidwani and Sonam Gupta presented the popular Punjabi folk number “Peeche Peeche Aaja”. IIT Bombay alum Uday Nadkarni presented a Marathi Natya Sangeet and IIT Roorke alum regaled the audience with some wonderful “Sher-O-Shayari”.

The highlight of the evening’s entertainment was the presentation by Prasanna. An IIT Madras alumnus, Prasanna says he has “since opted for a dedicated life of madness in music”. He has shed his technology hat and donned the hat of a musician and composer and in the process he has stunned audiences all over the world with his genre-defying musical versatility that characterizes his prolific output as a composer and improviser. Among his highly acclaimed works include the orchestration, arrangement and conducting credits for the title score of the Oscar nominated Hindi film ‘Lagaan’. He and his wife, IIT Madras alum Shalini, presented a wonderful short program that included a wide variety of musical styles from Jazz to Carnatic Music. They presented a modified version of the famous Bollywood tune “Chura Liya Hai Tumne Jo Dilko”. Prasanna also presented a short piece from his latest CD “Be The Change” that features several multi-Grammy award winning world class talents and legendary names in the Jazz/Fusion world.

Ranjan Pant, a graduate of IIT (1973, Kanpur) has worked in the satellite and wireless industry and is the founder of two companies in Maryland. More recently he has donned an author’s hat and has written a book about his alma mater. Titled IIT: India’s Intellectual Treasures, it gives a behind the scenes look into the IITs. The book and the companion documentary highlight the history and evolution of the IITs and the extraordinary contributions of its graduates around the world.

The evening ended with dinner and bingo by Anil Saigal. President Vinay Aggarwal thanked everyone and promised to bring a wide variety of events both technical and social in the upcoming months.

To learn more about IIT SINE please visit their web site at http://www.iitsine.org

|