Trip Down Memory Lane:
Let me
start by placing a Historical Photo of the 1957 batch below, who can be
called as pioneers of making it a History by having their REUNION after
50 YRS at the portals of our Alma mater – Indian School of Mines. 16 mates
joined to meet and revive their old memories after passing out from this great
institution in the year 1957. (I am told few of their mates had already left
for their heavenly abode and our tribute goes for them also.) This batch of
1957 celebrated their G J in conjunction with Basant festivities held
every year in the month of Feb’ 2007, on the 04th Feb’ 2007 and 05th
Feb’ 2007.
This historical achievement, led others (juniors) in coming batches to
follow. But the next one was only in the year 1960.
It has now become a regular feature of celebrating Golden Jubilee REUNIONS
during Basant festivities at ISM, and after 1957 batch, it has been followed by
1960, 1961, 1962 & 1963 batches. They all in common have enjoyed this great
event to meet & greet fellow mates parted 50 years ago and to have a life
time thrill which no institution can
probably boast of, in
the whole world, if I am not
wrong.
Photographs of 1957 Batch Reunion:
 |
No: 1 - L
to R: Sitting, Prof S P Banerjee, H K Roy, S K Bagchi , R K Roy, S K Chowdhary,
S P Verma ,
I Kumar, P C Shyam .
L to R - Standing
– K Srinivasan, P Chowdary, G Padmabhan, D K Burman,
Prof. B K Mozumdar, M L Malik, S N Jha, B Dharam
|
 |
No: 2 - At the Play grounds.
L to R: Sitting – S K Chowdhary, M L Malik, I Kumar, D K
Burman, S K Bagchi,
R K Roy, S N Jha, H K Roy.
L to R: Standing - S P Banerjee, K Srinivasan, B K Mozumdar,
P C Shyam,
G Padmanabhan, P Chowdhary,
B Dharam
|
In the
last couple of years, Golden Jubilee celebrations for 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1963 batches in my blogs have been made live,
and have been read with great
enthusiasm all around the world. I was requested by
Prof S P Banerjee who by then had read few of my blogs for other batches, to
place it on record and write for his batch also. But due to reasons beyond my control and due to my
health concerns and insufficient available input - my work was retarded but my
zeal to write their blog was still burning like fire. Then I wrote yet another
communication to Mr K Srinivasan of the 1957 batch, to help me with a report
along with chain of events and photos etc. of their G J get together so that I
could do justice to the FIRST EVER G
J ALUMNI MEET CELEBRATIONS – and be well recorded for future batches.
It’s been long time since they had
reunion and few mates who even joined the reunion have since passed away. Any
way hopefully we are able to accomplish this task with the same zeal, love
& affection as was written for other batches and my commitment to Prof S P
Banerjee will also get fulfilled the day this blog will go live.
Today
as we are recording these memories, we have unfortunately lost few more members
of this batch who have left us for heavenly abode. Anyway, I can say the spirit
ignited by our mates of 1957 batch, have once again revived our age old
traditions of meeting & greeting.
It’s
been not easy on a regular basis to meet your mates, once you are settled in
your active professions in different parts of the country , more so for all
those who left overseas and made their home abroad – but they can now have an once
in life time thrill and joy to meet their mates during G J Celebrations. These
celebrations have now been coupled with Basant festivities held at ISM every
year.
Golden Jubilee blogs by this author for 1960, 1961, 1962
& 1963 batch can be read by clicking an opening new window to read:
http://indianschoolofmines.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/golden-jubilee-1962-batch-reunion.html
http://indianschoolofmines.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/golden-jubilee-1963-batch-reunion_21.html
http://indianschoolofmines.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/golden-jubilee-1963-batch-reunion_21.html
All the photos which were taken by different people and
writer had it have been preserved, and readers are encouraged to tag them with
names and also add any comment as a tribute to this moment you enjoyed - A
Thrill of your Life Time.
Statistically
our blogs viewed so far has crossed a figure of more than 38,000 people who have viewed and read them, and shows the keen
interest of knowing our activities of our esteemed Alma Mater on a regular basis.
Let
me start by adding a historical group photo of 39 students out of 46 students
who passed out are in farewell photo taken in 1957, the other six persons
missing from the photograph are – Mr J B L Sharma, Prof. S P Banerjee , S K
Mukerjee , C S.Sharma , H K Roy, and S K Bagchi & Prof B K Mozumdar who
joined with us but completed his degree a year or two later when they were all
in final year, how smartly they all posed for this shot, who knew they may ever see it again or will
meet with their mates after 50
years.
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No: 3 - Back Row:
K Venkataraman, H R Gupta, K B Mazumdar, Inder
Kumar, M K Jha, A S Prasad, V N Gupta.
2nd Row
P C Biswas, R N Sinha, Md.
Murtaza, P D Nath, P Chowdhary, K Srinivasan, G Padmanbhan, S S Jha,
C B Prasad, B Dharm.
3rd Row:
P N Ghosh, B Sen, D K Burman, R
K Roy, S R Sinha, P C Shyam, D N Rimal, S K Banerjee, M L Dugar.
Front Row:
J R Saggi, M L Malikm G
Rahangadaley, S S Srivastava, R Bhadada, C Krishnamurthy, S N Jha,
G R Manandhar, S P Varma, M R
Raghava, Y Singh, S K Chowdhary, R N Upadhyaya
|
Golden
Jubilee 1957 Batch Reunion – A Report by Mr K Srinivasan – 2007 (Feb 4 -5, 2007):
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| No 4 |
Mr K
Srinivasan wrote in his report: I quote:
It was way back in 2003, that it came up in our
minds to have a Golden Jubilee get-to-gather. At that time after our retirement
from service, five of our batch mates including me namely Baskaran Dharam, G.
Padmanabhan, C. Krishnamurthy, Sathyaprakash Verma were living in Chennai. We
used to have our regular get-to-gathers, but we were getting old, but still young
at heart At one such meet we
remembered with nostalgia, our first ever meeting at the portals of ISM campus
on the 29th of June 1953, while reporting for our First year classes at ISM, which
were due to start, on the morning of 1st of July 1953.
Initially we thought to
commemorate our joining ISM in 1953, in the year 2003 which marked our joining
ISM – 50 years ago. We contacted a few of our classmates like Sakti Banerjee,
and others, but somehow the idea did not
gain momentum, due to various reasons – may be the lack of common choice
on a common venue or convenient venue, even when we offered to host this meet in
Chennai. Similarly other venues like Delhi, Kolkata etc., were not convenient
due to travel, as we were all in senior age brackets.
Due to our great zeal with a
lot of memories of yesteryear's etched in our minds , in the year 2006,
Padmanabhan , Dharam and myself took a firm decision that we will be
celebrating the Golden Jubilee of our passing out from the School and make it
concurrent with Basant celebrations of 2007. Our thoughts & efforts – paid
great dividends as this was acceptable to one and all and to meet on the portals
of ISM, once again in our life time. We all thought with nostalgia that it will
be a great event and could also pave the way for future batches to follow.
October’ 2006 - It
was a herculean task, but I took upon myself the role of the coordinator, and
started the spade work. Some of the activities are listed below to achieve our
objective to celebrate Golden Jubilee.
- I requested Sakti Banerjee to get contact details of the organizing committee for Basant 2007 for more effective co-ordination.
- Mr Alok K Mukhopadyay of the Engineering and Mining Machinery Department was the organising committee Secretary, and Mr T. Kumar, and then Director at ISM was the Chairman. Mr A K Mukhopadhyay was made co-coordinator from the School side.
This helped us to get a complete list of our
batch mates from the Office of ISM, and we also got a copy of the Group Photograph
of our full batch at the time of our farewell meeting in 1957. From
this photograph we prepared a list of the names of all our batch mates and
started a hunt for their contact details.
We made a complete directory with the help of
- internet, which made our task easier.
Out of the 46 persons who passed out in April
1957, in Mining Engineering and Applied Geology, (the only courses being offered
in the School at that time) we found that only 39 were surviving then, but we
could not locate 3 mates, even with the best of our efforts. 20 mates had email
Id’s, and rest we corresponded over phone and postal mails. This led us to have
fresh directory of all our batch mates, with their complete postal addresses,
phone and mobile numbers and email ids, as for as possible. We even got the
addresses of the 7 spouses of our departed mates. I must acknowledge the
efforts of Prof S P Banerjee, who was our prime resource person along with our
other mates.
Basant 2007 –
This was to be held on Sunday 04th Feb’ 2007 and we decided that we
all will spend at least 2 full days in Dhanbad, including Basant day. This, we thought, would be convenient and
easy for all , and a few suggested that
having come so far to Dhanbad, we could also use this opportunity to visit
other nearby places and meet some of our other friends.
Once a firm decision was
made for G J Get-to gather, next was to make modalities of travel as we were
all in our seventies and traveling long distances was definitely not an easy
job, especially for those of us who were keen to join with their spouses for
the meet.
We thought it would be a
good idea to be in Dhanbad latest by the night of 3rd Feb. to be able to take
part in Basant on the 4th, as we wanted to spend the 5th, only with our batch
mates and their spouses.
Boarding & Lodging: I was in regular touch
with Mr Alok Mukhopadyay (AM) at Dhanbad, for all arrangements for our stay and
hospitality, while we were there, and Alok was very helpful in getting these
done. About 15 rooms in the Executive Development Center were reserved for us,
and our meals were taken care of by center's canteen, all on a fully chargeable
basis at actual s. This was acceptable to us, as three of our friends were
living in Dhanbad itself. This was of huge assistance. Alok had even arranged
for us an ISM bus for the pickups and drops for us from Dhanbad station.
December’ 2006 - With a regular stream of emails and Indian
post, the interaction went on with our mates and by end December 2006 , almost
25 persons had indicated that they would be happy to be there for the meet.
- The bulk of these were from areas around Kolkata, Ranchi and Dhanbad itself.
- Three were from Delhi.
- Our team from Chennai consisted of Mr & Mrs Padmanabhan, Mr Dharam, Mr Sridhar - along with his mother Mrs K Venkataraman, and me and my wife Malini.
We booked our train tickets a full two months
in advance, and advised all our friends to do so, especially if they were
taking a train journey. At this stage all the preliminaries being completed, we
were ready, and started the countdown for the final day.
Saturday - 03rd Feb’ 2007
We all arrived by 9.00 pm on the night of 3rd
Feb’ 2007, sixteen of our batch mates, ten with their spouses, reached Dhanbad
Railway Station and were picked by ISM bus waiting outside the station.
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| No: 5 – Dhanbad Railway Station |
At railway station we were keen to visit Ganesh
Tea Stall – where we used to take our Tea, Milk with pera (sweet burfi) –
served in clay matkas. One Anna for small and two Anna’s for big matka (clay
shaped bowl to serve tea) – but to our shock it was not there and the present
owners had no idea of Ganesh and his stall – which made a roaring business in
our times.
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| No: 5 a EDC Center |
At the Executive Development Center:
It
was great fun meeting our other friends who had already arrived, some after
almost 45 - 50 years after we left School. It was a moment of sheer thrill, pleasure,
and great joy, and we spent a rather late night recalling with nostalgia of
yesteryears / days reminiscing about the good old glorious days, when we first
stepped on the portals of ISM. We also felt the absence our departed friends
with a great feeling of sadness and kept a brief silence and prayed for our
friends – that we have not forgotten them from core of our hearts.
We
had our dinner in the canteen, sitting like our old days in mess and had lot of
chit chatting etc. It’s hard to explain the joy & mixed feelings we all
had!
Later
we retired to our rooms at EDC; believe me it was past mid-night.
LIST OF 16 GOLDIE’S WHO MADE
HISTORY, AFTER 5 DECADES!
In the afternoon, there was a small ceremony of the opening and Inauguration of an Alumni Hall, in the eastern side of the Mining Machinery block, allotted to the ISM Alumni Association by the School.
Later there was also a
General Body meeting of Alumni Association.
We took great pleasure in revisiting the hostel rooms where once we had stayed during our school days, with our mates and spouses.
We took great pleasure in revisiting the hostel rooms where once we had stayed during our school days, with our mates and spouses.
In the evening , we all got
to gather for the main fellowship and get-to-gather , followed by a variety
entertainment programme , speeches and a special introduction of our batch, as
the first batch ever, celebrating their "Golden Jubilee Alumni Meet ", to the audience of all alumni, faculty and guests,
and giving away to all of us a special
memento. It was on the whole, a very
thoroughly delightful occasion, followed by a grand dinner. The next day, we had the
whole day to us - our own batch mates and the spouses.
a) We
were sitting sharing old memories, gossips, jokes and exchanging information
about our families etc., followed by a small photo session. Later, a few of us
set out to visit Hirapur, the older part of the town, the Purana Bazaar (Old
Market), and a visit to Jharia town.
b) In the night, we were all invited to a dinner meet held at the BCCL Guest house and hosted by our beloved friend, Mr Satya Prakash Verma (now sadly deceased). Thus the two great and eventful days came to a glorious end, with all hearts filled with the warmth similar to that of taking part in a big family wedding.
b) In the night, we were all invited to a dinner meet held at the BCCL Guest house and hosted by our beloved friend, Mr Satya Prakash Verma (now sadly deceased). Thus the two great and eventful days came to a glorious end, with all hearts filled with the warmth similar to that of taking part in a big family wedding.
I am personally humbled with the achievements of our batch mates who
are receipt of various awards, in recognition to their contribution to Mining &
Allied Industries, which has since changed so much.
1) A number of our friends have been awarded with the “Distinguished Alumni Award “by the school.
1) A number of our friends have been awarded with the “Distinguished Alumni Award “by the school.
2) A number of
our friends were in high offices in the Mining Industry, like Chairman - Coal
India, CMDs and Directors in the various coal companies. We even had a friend
winding his way through Coal, Cement and other mineral based industries, and
ending up as a VP in the I T Industry’s
flagship company of the times - CMC (Computer Maintenance Corporation).
- One of us was the Dy. Director General of Mines & Minerals in Nepal.
- Three of us rose to be Professors and Heads of Department of Mining in ISM, Jodhpur etc.
- Three had migrated to the USA, working there in the industry, with one of them in the World Bank.
- Three of us rose to be Professors and Head of Department of Mining at ISM, Jodhpur etc. and one amongst them retired as Director-in-Charge of ISM. It may be noted that Prof S P Banerjee got opportunity to work as Director-in-Charge of ISM with full powers of Director in 1994-95 as he could initiate some important steps in that short period (e.g. changing ISM entrance examination system to IIT Joint Entrance System, and was finally implemented in 1997. An honorary award in recognition of the pioneering work done by Prof G S Marwah (’47 Mining) him during his stewardship at School was given to him (D.Sc. Honoris Causa).
- In the Indian Railways, we had one of us serving as the Chief Mining Advisor.
- Two of us had occupied very senior posts in Oil Industry.
- It is quite possible I might have omitted some other senior professionals in the industry, and I may be excused for my lapse, if any.
3)The
Institution of Engineers - India , the premier
technical organization in the country, in its first ever such awards
bestowed to its members in the Mining
Industry, awarded four of our batch mates, its prestigious award "In Honor of Outstanding Contribution in Mining Engineering Field".
4)MMGI, the
premier organization in the Mining and Geological fields, had two of our
friends as Presidents, and one of them had the very great honor of delivering
the Holland Memorial Lecture at MMGI. Both of these
received the Lawrence Holland medal of the Institution
of Engineers, UK, for standing first in
the A.M.I.Min.E. As UK examination.
My Thanks to all my 1957 batch mates & others:
Words cannot express my personal gratitude &
satisfaction to one and all that were part of this historical moment, which we dream t and made it a reality. I also know we all travelled from across the
country with our life partners and shared nostalgia of our school days
together. It does make me feel nostalgic having been with you all there, and
knew very well that those two days filled with fun and joy , we will be carrying with us all through our lives as one of
the finest memories, as no one could ever predict as to when we
would ever meet in such a gathering again.
Last but not the least - I shall be failing in my duty if I do not
acknowledge my thanks to all the ladies, who made our trip more colorful and
enjoyable. I must also thank all those who helped us to have this gala get-together,
both from current students & academic staff or otherwise.
I
welcome you all for this "Golden Jubilee celebrations of our batch” &
believe in me we are the first who have celebrated G J in the history of ISM. I
am sure our torch of love and affection for fellow mates will remain live as
long as this great institution exists. We all hope that our future batches will
follow – with more zeal and happiness of togetherness, this tradition.
Krishnamachary Srinivasan (’57 Mining)
09th July' 2013
================================================================
Where we all spent our three days – 03rd
Feb to 05th Feb’ 2007
 |
| No: 5 b– Mr and Mrs R K Roy and S N Jha |
03rd Feb’ 2007 –
Most
of Goldie’s especially our group from Chennai arrived around 20.00 HR, and we
were picked up by ISM school bus waiting outside Dhanbad Railway Station. We
were joined by few of our friends – Prof S P Banerjee and Mrs and Mr D K Burman.
Our first thought / to revive our old memories was to sip a tea at Ganesh Tea
Stall which was our min watering station each time we crossed the Railway
Station to Old or New Market or to come from Jharia after watching movies etc.
as from here we would take cycle rickshaws to ISM Hostels. But we were shocked
not to see any more this famous tea stall and even new owners had no idea of
it.
Our Home Away from Home
at ISM:
 |
| No: 5 c - E D Centre |
We reached ISM
campus and got down at EDC Guest House opposite to where our old Post Office
was located in our days. To our pleasant surprise few of our mates, who had
arrived earlier along with those who were residents of Dhanbad – Mr P Chowdhary,
Mr H K Roy, Mr S N Jha, Mr R K Roy & Mr P C Shaym. We all registered at the center, rooms were allocated and we refreshed ourselves after a long journey to
be part of this historical occasion.
Later around 10.00
pm we had our dinner in canteen run by contractors. It was almost reminded our
days of sitting in our old mess for our food. We did have lots of fun, chit
chatting and the ruckus we had created.
04th Feb’ 2007
The
next
day was Basant Day and right from the morning we participated in all
the program-mes, including some badminton, tennis games and sports,
photo sessions,
and distribution of some special gifts from the Basant organizing
committee,
there was a very pleasant session with members of the faculty and
students, at
the old hostel inside quadrangle.
 |
| No: 6 Badminton in progress |
 |
| No: 7 Badminton in Progress in Old Hostel Quadrangle |
 | ||||||
| No:
8 Badminton in Progress in Old Hostel Quadrangle
|
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| No:11 Badminton in Progress |
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| No: 12 Badminton in Progress in Old Hostel quadrangle |
 |
| No: 13 Badminton in Progress in Old Hostel quadrangle |
Note
the spouses of the 1957 batch alumni sitting on chairs watching the game.
We
took great pleasure in revisiting the hostel rooms where once we had stayed
during our school days, with our mates and spouses.
 |
| No: 14 Old Hostel Tour on Basant Day |
 |
| No: 15 Old Hostel Tour on Basant Day |
Note: Clearly visible are Prof. T. Kumar (the
then Director, ISM), M L Malik, R K Roy, G Padmanabhan, P Choudhary, P K
Lahiri, (Chairman, EB), S K Chowdhary and K Srinivasan
 | |
| No: 16 Mrs D K Barman, Mrs
Venkatraman and D K Barman on Old Hostel Corridor |
 |
| No:17 – Aerial View of Mess from first floor of Old Hostel |
The
old hostel had not changed at all, except that all the individual messes used
to be run by us on a regional basis like the Punjabi, Madrassi, Bengali,
Bihari, UP, and the Maharashtrian messes were all gone, and only a single large
common mess was there. Also, the total strength of the School at about 160 in
1957, stood at almost a staggering figure of about 2000 +. The most interesting
part was, the student strength had a large percentage of girls, which lent
great colour to the campus, compared to the almost bone dry atmosphere, with an
all-boys population of our times.
Inauguration of an Alumni
Office
 |
| No: 18 |
 |
| No: 19 |
No:
18 R. Gupta (The then President ISMAA inaugurating Alumni Office) also seen Mr P K Lahri (Chairman, EB) and Prof T
Kumar (then Director ISM) and S K Chowdhary :
No:19 R Gupta, P K Lahiri, Prof T Kumar and
Mrs Bhaskar Bhattacharjee (’72 Mining).
- (N.B. Bhaskar Bhattacharjee ('72 Mining) former D.G. of the Directorate-General of Mines Safety, died on October 26, 2006 in a tragic accident while holidaying in the Andaman s. ISMAA Executive Committee decided in 2006 to institute the ISMAA Distinguished Alumnus Award in his memory from the year 2007 and specially invited Mrs Bhaskar Bhattacharjee to the ISMAA Office inauguration ceremony and the first presentation of the ISMAA Distinguished Alumnus Award on Basant evening. A photograph of Late Bhaskar Bhattacharjee was hung on the Alumni office wall).
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| No: 20 |
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| No: 21 |
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| No: 22 |
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| No: 23 -
K Srinivasan and H K Roy stepping into Alumni Office, Prof S P Banerjee extreme right in white shirt and pant. |
Note: ISM Alumni Office after inauguration – Group Photo – few stalwarts’ namely visible are - Ramendra Gupta (’72 Mining -ISMAA President in front row), Satish Puri (‘75 Mining), who became DG, DGMS later at extreme right), Prof. T Kumar (the then Director, ISM), S K Chowdhary and Prof. S. P. Banerjee at centre on second row. And all other 1957 batch alumni are standing on back rows.
At around 08:00 HRS- We had our
breakfast, and by then few more mates had joined us, namely – Mr I Kumar, Mr M
L Malik, Mr Bijoy Mazumdar and Mr S K Bagchi and we all had a breakfast and got into Golden Jubilee ISM bus waiting
for us to be transported.
 | ||
| No:
24 – Goldie’s waiting to board the G J ISM Bus
|
to Tennis Courts
situated behind 24 room ‘New Hostel’, which area was known in our times Dhaiya
(outside campus) – which also reminded our tea session and gossips at that
stall, while we used to go for walks after our dinner in Old Hostel (now named
as Diamond Hostel).
The entire
organising committee, alumni from earlier and later batches, with current
students had some fun – when we played few games & participated in sports,
like Badminton, Table Tennis, Hockey, racing for young children etc. It was
very good that Organising Committee had arranged Professional Photographer to
capture the events as they happened.
At around 11:00 HRS- We had a tea session, after which we shifted to old
hostel inner quadrangle where we had informal chat with current students,
answering there questions & our experiences of our days at school & in
the Mining Industry. This was followed by few Badminton matches, just to warm
up and was enjoyed by our mates.
At around 12:00 noon – We then moved to New Office of ‘ISM Alumni Association’ a
place allocated & dedicated by school on the eastern side of Main ISM
Building.
ISM alumni association office
was inaugurated by Mr R Gupta President of ISMAA in the presence of Director T Kumar and our
mates.
 | ||
| No: 26 Group
Photo of ISM Faculty and ISM Alumni after inauguration of Alumni Office |
 |
No: 27 Group Photo taken of the 1957 batch alumni present
at the time of inauguration of the Alumni office along with Prof. T. Kumar at the center. |
The names of the 15, 1957 batch alumni (from L to R) are:
L to R: Mr S N Jha*, Mr P C Shyam*, Mr P Choudhary, Prof. B K
Mozumdar, Mr H. K.Roy*,
Mr G Padmanabhan, Mr
K Srinivasan, Prof. T. Kumar (Director,
ISM),
Mr D K Barman, Mr S K Chowdhary, Mr R K Roy*, Prof. S. P.
Banerjee, Mr S K Bagchi,
Mr M L Malik, Mr B Dharam and Mr Indra Kumar.
Mr S P Varma*, who also attended the Get-together is missing
in this photograph.
Our Tributes
to1957 Alumni (marked with an asterisk after their name) have since expired.
Later we were taken around this alumni hall – which had photographs & other memorabilia of the association. (Refer photos – 28 – 33).
Following
Photos 28 to 33 relate to opening of ISMAA Office on 4th morning and
shows the persons making a tour of the office.
 |
| No: 28 Mrs. Bhaskar Bhattacharjee and her son looking at the photograph of Late Bhaskar Bhattacharjee hung on ISMAA office wall. |
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| No: 29 |
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| No: 30 |
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| No:31 |
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| No: 32 |
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| No 33 |
 |
| No:34 |
This was
followed by enjoying well decorated oval of ISM main Building with flower show
and some paintings exhibited by staff members and their families.
At around 13:00 HRS -
 |
| No: 35 |
 |
| No: 36 |
Luncheons in Progress
It was lunch time and we all sat in common mess at Old Hostel Ground
Floor, where platters of excellent food awaited us and we all had sumptuous
lunch to fill much needed empty stomachs energy. I have to say, we did fondly
remember our days, when we had Punjabi, Madrasi, Bengali and Bihar mess. Also
huge grinding stone for grinding rice & dal for making dosa - which was
brought from Madras by our seniors, as usually Masala & Plain Dosa was
served as a breakfast on Sundays. Regretfully this was not found.
After lunch – we all retired to our rooms for afternoon nap & siesta
much needed for our aging body, and did not had flexible and tough body of
school times any more.
At around 16:00 HRS -
At around 16:00 HRS -
 |
| No: 37 Registration Counter at the entrance of Lower Football Ground |
 |
| No:38 |
 |
| No: 39 Food Stalls
serviced by ISM Dipti Ladies Club |
 |
| No: 40 Food Stalls
serviced by ISM Dipti Ladies Club |
At around 18:00 HRS -
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| No: 41 ISMAA General Body Meeting in Progress |
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| No:42 R Gupta (ISMAA President) |
Photo 41: ISMAA General Body Meeting in Progress. Mr P K Lahiri (Chairman, EB) is flanked by Prof. T Kumar (then Director, ISM) and Mr Ramendra Gupta (ISMAA President). Mr Biswajit Paul and Mr Alok Mukhopadhyay are sitting on right of Prof. T Kumar
Photo 42: Mr Ramendra Gupta (ISMAA
President) conducting the General Body Meeting in G J Auditorium.
 |
| No: 43 |
 |
| No:44 |
Photos 43 and 44: Two
views of the audience attending the ISMAA General Body Meeting in G J
Auditorium
 |
| No: 45 |
 |
| No:46 |
Photo 45: Dr. Biswajit Paul (ISMAA Treasurer) presenting the Accounts at the General Body Meeting in G J
Auditorium
Photo 46: K Srinivasan speaking on behalf
of the 1957 batch at the General Body Meeting in G J Auditorium.
We had an attendance of around 100 guests for Annual General Body
Meeting of ISM Alumni Association which was held at the new auditorium (called
GJ Auditorium), just outside of Mining Machinery Block. However students
remained busy as they were getting ready for cultural program-me which was lined
up next.
At around 19:00 HRS -
The cultural program-me started and at the venue the hall was very
well decorated and almost all students, along with staff members their
families, old alumni and we Goldie’s. The function started with an invocation,
lighting of lamp by Prof A K Ghosh and welcome address. The cultural events
followed with music, skits, dramas which continued till late evening.
 |
| No: 47 |
Photo
47: Prof A K Ghose ('56 Mining) lighting the lamp
at the start of the cultural program-me
Some items of the cultural program-me
in progress – can be seen in photos 48 – 52.
 |
| No:48 |
 |
| No: 49 |
 |
| No: 50 |
 |
| No: 51 |
 |
| No:52 |
Later we were formally introduced
individually to audience as members of the FIRST EVER GOLDEN JUBILEE ALUMNI 1957 BATCH who made to portals of ISM.
 |
| No: 53 – G J Memento |
All Goldie’s were given special memento to mark the occasion with great fanfare.
 |
| No: 54 |
 |
| No:55 |
Photo 54: B Dharam receiving GJ Memento from Mr P K Lahiri
Photo 55: S P Verma receiving GJ Memento from Mr P K Lahiri
 |
| No: 56 |
 |
| No:57 |
Photo 56: D K Burman receiving GJ Memento from Mr P K Lahiri
Photo 57: S K Bagchi receiving GJ Memento from Mr P K Lahiri
 |
| No: 58 |
 |
| No:59 |
Photo 58: R K Roy displaying the GJ Memento after receiving it from
Mr P K Lahiri
Mr P K Lahiri
Photo 59: G Padmanabhan receiving GJ Memento from Mr P K Lahiri
 |
| No: 60 |
 |
| No:61 |
Photo 60: Inder Kumar receiving G J Memento from Mr P K Lahiri
Photo 61: H K Roy receiving GJ Memento from Mr P K Lahiri
 |
| No: 62 |
 |
| No: 63 |
Photo 62: Prof. B K Mozumdar receiving GJ Memento from Mr P K Lahiri
Photo 63: P C Shyam receiving GJ Memento from Mr P K Lahiri
 |
| No: 65 |
 |
| No: 64 |
Photo 64: M L Malik receiving GJ Memento from Shri P K Lahiri
Photo 65: S N Jha receiving GJ Memento
from Shri P K Lahiri
 |
| No: 66 |
 |
| No: 67 |
Photo 66: Prof. S P Banerjee receiving GJ Memento from Shri P K Lahiri
Photo 67: S K Chowdhary receiving GJ Memento from Shri P K Lahiri
 |
| No: 68 |
 |
| No:69 |
Photo 68: K Srinivasan receiving GJ Memento from Mr P K Lahiri
Photo 69: P Choudhary receiving GJ Memento from Mr P K Lahiri
Basant Samman
Award & Distinguished Alumnus Award Given to:
The Distinguished Alumnus Award has been instituted in 2006 by Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad through funds provided by ISMAA in memory of Late Mr Bhaskar Bhattacharjee, former Director General, DGMS and a distinguished alumnus of ISM. Prof G S Marwaha was the first recipient of the Award.
The Distinguished Alumnus Award has been instituted in 2006 by Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad through funds provided by ISMAA in memory of Late Mr Bhaskar Bhattacharjee, former Director General, DGMS and a distinguished alumnus of ISM. Prof G S Marwaha was the first recipient of the Award.
 |
| No 70 |
 |
| No: 70 a |
No: 70 & 70 a Mrs Navjot Kaur d/o Prof G S Marwah (’47 Mining)
receiving ISMAA Distinguished
Alumnus Award from Mr P K Lahri
Photo 70 and 70 a: Mrs. Navjyot Kaur (also known by her nickname ‘Nikki’, younger daughter of Prof. G. S. Marwaha (1947 ME) and former Director, ISM receiving ISMAA Distinguished Alumnus Award on behalf of her late father from Mr P K Lahiri.
 |
| No: 71 |
 |
| No:72 |
Photo 71: Prof. O. P. Varma receiving Basant Samman Award from Mr P K Lahiri
Photo 72: Mr B.N. Mukherjee (‘47 Mining)
receiving Basant Samman Award from Mr P
K Lahiri
Note:
1. Basant Samman is a prestigious award instituted by ISM Alumni Association in the year
2004 to honor the faculty members of ISM who have distinguished themselves.
2. Distinguished Alumni and Distinguished
Technocrats who have contributed significantly to the
activities of ISM and ISM Alumni Association are also eligible to receive the
award. There is a provision of a maximum of five such awards every year. Past receipants included Prof D Chandra, Prof S P Banerjee, Prof R R Khanna, Prof
R K Verma and Prof P R Prasad.
 |
| No: 73 |
 |
| No:74 |
Photo 73: Prof A K Ghose receiving Basant
Samman Award from Mr P K Lahiri
Photo 74: Prof T C Rao receiving Basant
Samman Award from Mr P K Lahiri
 |
| No:76 |
 |
| No:77 |
Photo 76: Mr B.N. Mukherjee ('47 Mining)
receiving Basant Samman Award memento from Mr R Gupta.
Photo 77: Prof. T C Rao receiving Basant
Samman Award memento from Mr R Gupta
CONGRATULATIONS:
 |
| No:78 |
 |
| No:79 |
Photo 78: Prof. O P Varma being
congratulated by Prof. T Kumar
on receiving Basant Samman Award
on receiving Basant Samman Award
Photo
79: Prof. A K Ghose being congratulated by Mr M M Sharma,
DG-DGMS on receiving Basant Samman Award
DG-DGMS on receiving Basant Samman Award
 |
| No: 80 Prof A K Ghosh receiving award from Director T Kumar |
Photo 80: Prof. A K Ghose being
congratulated by Prof. T Kumar on receiving Basant Samman Award
 |
| No: 81 |
 |
| No: 82 |
Photo 81: Prof. T C Rao being
congratulated by Prof. T Kumar on his receiving Basant Samman Award
Photo 82: Mr B.N. Mukherjee (‘47 Mining)
being congratulated by Prof. T Kumar on his receiving Basant Samman Award
We
all enjoyed and kept us busy whole evening. It
was on the whole, a very thoroughly delightful and lovely time we spent
together.
At around 21:00 HRS -
Later
we were invited for a grand dinner at old hostel dining hall; we
all had sumptuous meal to our satisfaction, coupled with lot of chit chatting.
There was lot of love & affection shown in meeting our old pals and their
families, but in the end we all had a tinge of sadness as the day was coming to
close.
At around 22:00 HRS -
We all came
back to EDC to finalise our plans for next day. After breakfast on 05th
Feb’ 2007, we would have session of gossip and lots of tea and coffee session.
In the
meanwhile few of our friends had booked there departure same night, and we
fondly bid farewell to them. Later around midnight we retired to our rooms for
yet another satisfying night.
05th Feb’ 2007 –
08:00 HRS – 18:00 HRS
It was planned
earlier that 05th Feb will be the
day to be spent among Goldie’s and their families, so we assembled in
the dining hall – had hearty breakfast & lots of talking, cutting jokes and
enjoying to our thrill every bit of time at our disposal.
After
breakfast we assembled at the conference hall – introducing ourselves for the
benefit of our spouses. We talked about our family, our children, shared
photographs etc. Mr R K Roy who unfortunately is no more with us, distributed
copies of his entire family photos including his grandchildren – numbering
almost staggering figure of 50.
We encouraged
our spouses to talk freely of what they thought about us, their life
experiences in the mining and allied industry with plus and minus points of it.
To our surprise most told about negative points, but we could see that we all
behaved almost like our school days, even though we are now Goldie’s.
Around lunch time, we assembled in the
canteen, had some photo session in groups etc., while drawing program-me for
rest of the evening.
 |
| No: 83 |
 |
| No: 84 |
Photo 83: Gossiping at the EDC Canteen.
Present PC Shyam, R K Roy, S. K. Bagchi, M L Malik, S N Jha and B Dharam
Photo 84: Group Photo in EDC meeting
hall. R K Roy, G Padmanabhan, D K Barman, I Kumar, S N Jha, P Choudhary
 |
| No 85 Group Photo |
 |
| No: 86 Group of 1957 batch spouses in EDC meeting Hall |
Photo 86: L to R Mrs. P Choudhary, Mrs.PC Shyam, Mrs. R K Roy,
Mrs. S N Jha, Mrs. S P Banerjee, Mrs. H K Roy, Mrs. K Srinivasan
and Mrs. K Venkataraman.
 |
| No: 87 Group Photo with Spouses on EDC Quadrangle |
Sitting L to R: Mrs.
R K Roy, Mrs. S N Jha, Mrs. K Srinivasan
Mrs S P Banerjee, Mrs. P Choudhary, Mrs.P C Shyam, Mrs. H K Roy, and
Mrs. D K Barman
Standing L to R: P Choudhary, S N Jha, K Srinivasan, P C Shyam, H K Roy, D K Barman and R K Roy,
 |
No: 88 - Group Photo of our spouses – who also made to this day.
|
Photo 88: Mrs D K Barman, Mrs P Choudhary, Mrs S N Jha, Mrs
S P Banerjee, Mrs R K Roy, Mrs K Srinivasan and Mrs. H K Roy
 |
No: 89 - Group Photo of our spouses – who also made to this day.
L to R: Mrs
H K Roy, Mrs K Srinivasan, Mrs R K Roy,
Mrs S N Jha, Mrs S P Banerjee,
Mrs P
Choudhary, Mrs D K Barman, Mrs K
Venkatraman & Mrs P C Shyam.
|
In
the afternoon - we
did make a trip to Jharia also, which was like a Ghost Town as we were looking
for Vihar Talkies & Deshbandhu Cinema’s where some of our evening we had
spent during school days. What we saw in our journey both sides; was lot of
smoke – as we all know Jharia Coal Field is on fire for many decades. On our
return we did visit Lakshmi Narain Temple at Dhansar more offered our prayers.
We also did a short halt at Bank More – and walked around Rathore Mansion.
Later in the evening, we had desire to visit our school days’ where we used to loaf around –
Later in the evening, we had desire to visit our school days’ where we used to loaf around –
- Jagjivan Nagar & Purana Bazzar (old market near Railway Station).
- Hirapur – We did not find Dinu’s shop where we used to eat Singaras, Kheer Kadam etc. like we missed Ganesh Tea Shop near Railway Station.
18:00 HRS – 23:00 HRS
Late Mr S P
Verma invited us all to BCCL Guest House for a dinner. As we were getting
ready; to our surprise Mr Ram Babu Bansal (1956 ISM) walked in and invited all
of us to Asansol for a dinner. Sadly we could not accommodate his request,
since we were committed elsewhere – but on behalf of all of us Mr M L Malik
& Mr Inder Kumar joined him – and also to keep spirit of togetherness
alive.
We enjoyed dinner to our fill, and as we were leaving BCCL Guest House, we all felt sense of fulfillment of meeting & greeting our mates. Not to mention we also met so many friends who joined this day; but we also had a feel of sadness – as we were all parting & going in different directions on our way back home, not being sure when we will ever meet again.
We enjoyed dinner to our fill, and as we were leaving BCCL Guest House, we all felt sense of fulfillment of meeting & greeting our mates. Not to mention we also met so many friends who joined this day; but we also had a feel of sadness – as we were all parting & going in different directions on our way back home, not being sure when we will ever meet again.
As we celebrated our re-union, its with great sadness – to inform our fellow friends that we
lost soon after G J, four more mates namely: Mr P C Shyam, Mr S N Jha, Mr H K
Roy, Mr R K Roy to whom we cannot forget, and our tributes goes to all of them
from the bottom of my heart. At least we met them once last time at G J.
We retired
late close to mid night, after settling all bills of EDC for boarding and
lodging etc.
06th Feb’ 2007 –
We are well ready
in the morning, bus was there to drop us to Dhanbad Railway Station – we all
left with heavy heart, but with greatest feeling of satisfaction that our dream
has been fulfilled - to have this wonderful experience of togetherness with all
those whom we met 50 years ago as young boys for our study tenure at ISM.
In short this celebration gave us:
“A THRILLING EXPERIENCE ENJOYED ONCE IN LIFE TIME”
Isn’t that TRUE! Which I also believe will never happen again.
From writer’s Desk:
My thanks & acknowledgement goes to all my
seniors & my mates, who have inspired me, to what little I am
blogging today. My personal thanks go to Prof S P Banerjee, who had sent me his
humble request why not I write blog for his batch and pave way of recording
their batch memories. My special thanks go to Mr K Srinivasan who helped ME to
accomplish my journey with details out of his memory, EVEN when he had lost all
his files & personal treasure when he had his computer crash.
I
believe my relationship built up over years has grown four fold and fondness of
my Alma Mater, in recording memories through my blogs is a greater thrill as I
write through other eyes in my words for all those who made it and all who
could not make it. Today I have been able to complete my blog, with great joy
& happiness with wet eyes for those whom we send our hearty tributes.
I
have enjoyed what little I had for 1957 batch but have written in my own way to
bring out the nostalgia of the bye-gone days. It must have been great
satisfaction to all those who attended and participated in this G J
Celebrations to carry with them these beautiful memories now recorded for life
time. I believe our mates children will one day also rejoice –
when they would look for their Dad’s contribution to Mining Industry and ISM
Global community as a whole.
Lastly
now ball is in the courts of 1964 batch, and we wish them all the success and
that they keep the momentum on – going, keeping in mind, time will just fly
out, and we will see them at next “Basant of Feb’ 2014”. I wonder if I
could know who is organizing and we are there to help for contact details, with
whom we are connected.
“LONG LIVE ISM LONG LIVE ITS UNIQUE
TRADITIONS AND BONDS OF FRIENDSHIP – ONCE FRIENDS AT SCHOOL – ARE FRIENDS FOR
EVER”
I
will pen down here, and look forward to write blog for 1964 batch in
2014 although few other blogs I have in mind and are still in draft stage – due
to incomplete input I have in my hand
ArunTalwar
(’71 Mining) - 09th July’ 2013
Note:
All photos have been kept at my Picasa web album; if someone is interested to
see all photos as in blogs we have used the ones which kept our blog flow.
Smiling faces - Jab We
Met
 |
| No: 90 - Group Photos with our spouses at Dhaiya Sports Ground |
Sitting L to R: Mrs R K Roy, Mrs P C Shyam, Mrs D K Barman, Mrs K
Venkataraman, Mrs K Srinivasan, Mrs B K Mozumdar, Mrs G Padmanabhan, Mrs S. K. Bagchi, Mrs H K Roy, Mrs S P Banerjee, Mrs Swapan De Choudhury and a young lady
(particulars not known)
Standing L to R: S N Jha, R K Roy,
P C Shyam, M L Malik, Inder Kumar, D K Barman, K Srinivasan, B K Mozumdar, G
Padmanabhan, S. K. Bagchi, H K Roy, B Dharam, S P Banerjee, Swapan De
Choudhury (‘63 Mining) and P Choudhary
****************---------------The End---------------------**********
