BITS PILANI 1969 BATCH MATES ALUMNI

Mr. Manohar Baheti
Co-ordinatory & Convener

Tel: +91 731 2422101 – 106
Fax: +91 731 2422108
Mob: +91 98260 47352

BITS’69, a group of friends who passed out from Pilani in 1969 is a unique and nonpareil association. Its parallel cannot be traced anywhere, not only in India but any other institutional batch in World.

BITS’69 is not just an alumni association which comprises of old students who have passed out from Pilani who get together sporadically. It is a phenomenon; a strong knit, dedicated family of 265 friends of the 1969 batch of BITS, Pilani. The involvement is percolated not just among the batchmates but also to the families. In a broad perspective, BITS’69 is now a family association of more that a thousand members.

The seeds of this association were sown in 1985 when Mr. Manohar Baheti (Co-ordinator) felt a strong desire to trace their batchmates and form a platform to interact. Subsequently, Mr. Ashok Surekha, Mr. Deepak Khosla, Mr. Om Gupta, Mr. Manilal Shah

and few more friends joined the mission and first meeting was held in Delhi. Everyone had a strong urge to trace and contact their old buddies. It was so natural because we spent the best period of our life altogether in hostel, sharing pleasures and excitement of friendship.

It was really a Herculean task to find out the whereabouts of 320 batchmates many of whom had migrated to other parts of the world. The first directory of batchmates with 130 members was released in 1985. And now, the latest directory has 250 members out of which more than 50 are non-resident Indians.

The most significant initiative for bonding the relationship was taken in 1987 when the association organized their first get together for a day in Delhi which was attended by around 75 families. The excitement and thrill of meeting old friends after a gap of 18 years was so great that they decided to make the get together a regular affair and that too for a duration of 2 to 3 days. During the second get together in 1989, all the members visited Pilani with their families. That was a memorable and ever cherished event for all of them.

With the passage of time, the reunion or get together became more colourful with families attending in big numbers. We had our subsequent get togethers at Indore (1991), Ahmedabad (1994), Jaipur (1997), Kolkata (2000), Gurgaon (2003), Mumbai (2006) and now we are going to meet in Massourie during late 2009 where it is expected that more than 100 families shall dine, drink, dance, laugh and share the memories of their stay in Pilani.

BITS’69 – U.S.A. CHAPTER

There are around 50 batchmates in USA/Canada and they are equally excited about activities of BITS’69. American batchmates are a close knit family and they have also organized 3 get togethers in

USA – namely at Washington DC, Las Vegas & Nashville.

During our serious discussions at Gurgaon, we came to unanimous conclusion that there cannot be any single alumni batch in whole of India and probably in the world like BITS’69. This prompted us to contact Limca Book of Records for getting an entry. After 2 years of correspondence and scrutiny at Limca Book of Records, BITS’69 got its ultimate recognition – we are world record holder as “Alumni meet of a single batch”

This unique association of ex-BITSians left the institute more than 38 years ago and is still going strong. Our friendship is maturing with age and we are sure of a Guinness Book listing in near future.