Fossils...The memories remain!

Date: 24-August-2000
Time: 9 AM IST
Venue: Lecture Gallery
Event: Induction Ceremony for the 2000-2004 batch

This is how it all began. This was the beginning of countless dreams for around three hundred and fifty students. And NITR (then RECR) waited in silence to welcome the batch with which she was to begin the first session of the Millennium. She watched as disparate lives got entwined over jibes made and secrets shared as they passed under her wings. She looked on stoically as innocence got lost and carefree laughter was snatched away by the grim battle for that elusive place in the Sun.

"The Summer of 69...those were the best days of my life"

Can we say we never liked this song?

No Man! No Way! Coz we've experienced a life...which people who've actually lived it, would love to live forever. Yeah! our college and hostel life!

Four Golden Years of our Life...memories both good and bad ones. The former we'll miss and cherish forever, the latter we'll always use as valuable experience for our future.

We came to this institute with dreams, countless. We always believed that everyone on earth is nice and understanding, that this world is full of sincere and honest people. Goshh! how wrong we were. Still, we carried on, experiencing all that people of our age group can do or become. And this helped us make decisions on our own.

Then came duties and responsibilities in our department, our class, our hostel, etc. We were expected to take decisions maturely and instantaneously. The status of our class, our department and our institute depended on us. This brought out the many talents that we were always afraid to show to the world and even those which we were unaware of.

And then we were complimented by our family, friends and relatives back home for our achievements. From being a representative of our family at the time of admission, we became a representative of our college, our state and our country now.

And the hostel life?

Yaar! hope those days never ended.

We were the heart and soul of our class or our group of friends, whom we'll never forget. Those late night discussions and masti. And we can never say that we hated anyone cause during all those years, we saw some quality or the other in everyone, which we can't deny. And this made us realise that nobody is bad, everyone's is good. It's just that some people are exceptionally good.
And then came the day when these birds had to set out on their journey into the unknown with the message -

'Go Conquer the World! But if ever your weary soul cries for respite, do come back. I'll still be there, stronger yet more beautiful, waiting with the same eagerness with which I had taken you into my finds that day, four years ago.'

And we like Fossils, will always be there with our Alma Mater, with our laughter, our yelling, our ecstasy imprinted on to the steel, the bricks and the woods. All our memories will remain with you, with us...forever!

Here we are, applying all this knowledge and adding shine to the reputation of our institute and our nation. And as I write this message, I'm feasting on Maggi with peanuts (my favourite backpost dish), watching fours being hit in the Warriors vs Wayamba Elevens Champions League match. Everytime I see a ball going for four, I remember my class of 2004.

This is a modified abstract from the Souvenir of 2004 batch which is relevant for each one of us, especially for my 2004 batchmates, as we complete a decade of our friendship, learning and growing together. The photos section in Classof2k4 Yahoo Group are waiting to be revisited and for new additions!

God Bless our friendship, we owe it to our Alma Mater. God bless NITR. We are with you as you complete 50 Golden Years of learning and contribution to India’s progress.


Proud to be from NITR (RECR)

Avneet Singh Bhatia
Class of 2004 - B.Tech Electrical

Note:
National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (NIT) formerly known as Regional Engineering College, (REC) is one of the premier national level institutions for technical education in the country and is funded by the Government of India. Its foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister Of India Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961. NIT Rourkela was ranked as the best NIT in India by TEQIP for the year 2009. It has been featuring in the top 25 best engineering colleges in India for the past 5 years, as per India Today & Business Week surveys. In 2002, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, decided to upgrade, in phases, all 17 Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs), renaming them National Institutes of Technology (NITs), on the lines of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). These institutes are rated just next to the IITs in terms of student quality, research and placements. There are currently 20 NITs, the latest being NIT, Agartala. The Cabinet, at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh, approved the proposal to introduce the National Institutes of Technology (NIT) Bill 2006 in parliament to bring 19 such institutions within the ambit of the act. Their locations are deliberately scattered throughout the country with the government norm of an NIT in every major state of India for regional development. The individual NITs after the introduction of the NIT Act function as autonomous technical universities and hence draft their own curriculum and functioning policies.