Global Alumni Day 2020 Mesmerises the Audience

The annual flagship event of GAABESU, the Global Alumni Day 2020 was held this year on the last weekend of the year. Due to the difficult situation we are all going through, the event was converted to a ‘virtual’ event. However, to ensure that our beloved alumni are not deprived of any of the usual fun and frolic, the event was also spread over two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday, the 26th and 27th of December. Both these days' events were held using the Zoom platform and they were also streamed LIVE on GAABESU's YouTube channel. 

BeQuizzed 2020 - Prelim Round, 19th Dec.

The first event was a Quiz contest, the first of its kind organized by GAABESU. BeQuizzed 2020 generated a lot of interest across batches and generations of alumni, with 27 teams participating in the prelim round on 19th of December, competing for eight slots in the final. After 35 keenly contested questions, eight teams eventually made it to the Grand Finale.

Finalist teams

A recap of the Prelim round can be viewed below:

BeQuizzed 2020 - Prelim Round

BeQuizzed 2020 - Grand Finale, 26th Dec.

The Grand Finale of BeQuizzed 2020 took place on Saturday, 26th December from 8 pm IST.
For over two and half hours, eight finalist teams fought tooth and nail over six rounds of carefully selected questions, that included texts and images as well as audio and video clips. The Quiz Masters Arindam Mukhopadhyay and Mayukh Datta, with able support from Parbati Bose, Swapan Saha and Amitabha Das, presented a memorable evening that was as entertaining as it was informative.

The team that triumphed in the end was Bakultola Bundelbaazs, comprising alumni from batches 1995 and 1999, who managed to hold onto their lead right till the end.

The Grand Finale of BeQuizzed 2020 can be viewed below. 

BeQuizzed 2020 - Grand Finale

Global Alumni Day, 27th Dec.

The main event took place the following evening on Sunday, 27th December from 7:30 pm IST.

The event kicked off at the scheduled time with Prof. Indranath Sinha taking the role of the all important show anchor.

After the Convenor of the 7th Alumni Day 2020, Shri Amitabha Datta addressed the audience, Smt. Anjana Ganguly Roy, President - GAABESU delivered her welcome speech, which was followed by a speech by the Honorable Director of IIEST, Prof. Parthasarathi Chakrabarti. 

The Dean (IRAA) Prof. Arindam Biswas, was the next to address the audience and Sandeep Chatterjee was then tasked with the responsibility of launching the Digital edition of Alumni Link. The inaugural session ended with a vote of thanks from Sri Sitangshu Sekhar Ghosh, the Secretary of GAABESU. 

The Inaugural session of the 7th Alumni Day can be watched below:

Alumni Day - Inaugural Session

Business Meet

The Business Meet, an inseparable part of the Alumni Day legacy, was scheduled next and over an hour and half, the audience was taken through a very interesting and informative panel discussion, moderated by the versatile Prof. Indranil Manna, and anchored by none other than Shri Biman Ghosh. Eminent personalities from the Academia, Industry and Administration took part in this discussion and delivered their opinion on 'Challenges in Implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in Engineering Education'

The Business Meet can be watched below:

Alumni Day - Business Meet

This intense session was followed by a more informal open session, also anchored by Prof. Indranath Sinha and laden with some chit-chat and opinions shared by some of our alumni. 

Cultural Program

And finally, it was the time for some pure, unadulterated entartainment and fun, namely the Cultural Program.

This part of the evening was presented by Smt. Anjana Ganguly Roy, and it was close to 90 mins of artistic extravaganza, ranging from poetry and music to melodious story telling by our own alumni, bridging all the barriers of generations and geographies. 
This was a pre-recorded presentation meticulously compiled by Shri Indranil Sen, who also enhanced his own reputation as a singer. 

The entire Cultural Program has been split into three episodes for easier viewing, and they can be enjoyed below:

Cultural Program - Part One

Cultural Program - Part Two

Cultural Program - Part Three

All good things come to an end!

And unfortunately, the 7th Alumni Day by GAABESU also had to come to an end, eventually. 
After a mesmerising four and half hours, ranging from the formal Business Meet to the pure entertainment of the Cultural Program, the curtains were drawn on this memorable evening, by the Anchor of the day, Prof. Indranath Sinha.

The show might have ended for this year, but we promise to be back with another stellar event, hopefully no longer a virtual one, once again on the last Sunday of 2021.
Till then, please stay safe and take care of yourself, and each other!

Published by Amitabha Das - EE, 1997