IIT-IIM Alumni Association, Kuwait, celebrated their annual picnic in a splendid style on the 10th February, 2017 at AIRTEC Desert Camp in Wafra, attended by a large gathering of enthusiastic members and their families along with their invited guests. Mother Nature was at her sporting best, bestowing the fraternity and their families along with their invited guests attaining a beautifully blended weather equilibrium between chilly Norther Kisses and brightly warm Sunshine, fully endorsing the decision of the organizers in picking this flawless fantastic Friday for the event, which also set the beginning of sunny, warm and dry conditions of this new year. Mercury just hovered around at a comfortable 18-230 Celsius. Previous weekdays, the temperatures were chilly, and uncomfortably cold with sporadic spells of wet drizzles. The members of IIT-IIM Alumni Association, Kuwait, an association of the elite educational institutes of world repute, coming from all generations, young and old, men and women along with their progeny of young girls and boys joined the great day to grant themselves a perfect holiday in the open, They drenched themselves in the glorious sunshine while seamlessly blending to socialize and having fun and indulging in a right blend of mental, physical games and sporting activities.

The Picnic began with all the members registering themselves and greeting others along with their loved ones. Breakfast was arranged at the venue enabling families to come early and maximize their presence in the event. After attaining the needed quorum, the Annual General Body meeting began with IIT-IIM Alumni Association President, Mr. Peeyush Jain welcoming all those present at the venue in the august presence of our esteemed member couple of His Excellency, the Indian Ambassador, Dr. Sunil Jain and his better-half, Madam Dr. Gargi Jain. The Treasurer, Mr. Suresh Choksi provided the Statements of Accounts, which was duly approved amid thunderous applause. Later in the day, the General Secretary, Mr. Sanjay Fuller, presented an elaborate account of all the exciting events and programs conducted by the Association in the past one year. He thanked all the hardworking core committee members and promised that with the active support of the members we can scale up the level and quality while increasing the number of exciting events. He introduced the new Core Committee General Secretary, Mr. Bhushan to the members, who thanked the Core Committee and members for giving him an opportunity to serve the Alumni in this new enhanced position. M/s AIRTEC not only offered their venue but also provided unstinted full logistic and utilities support for the event. The President, Mr. Peeyush Jain, once again, appealed to the younger members to join the Core Committee and support the activities of the Association by volunteering.

The old and young members displaying their yesteryears vintage skills of Kite flying. It was refreshing to see the Girls of Houses of all ages too took up kite flying with avid new found enthusiasm living up to the current social trend we are into everything. Children enjoyed the sporting facilities available at the camp in their own carefree mood, away from parents. Professional event manager Ms. Rachna managed the entire show with professional perfection and interesting games involving everyone present. Recondite clue based quiz with good sprinkling of technical questions, anthakshari, impromptu dancing, women and men games, couple games, and some other innovative games for kids, women and men were arranged to keep the enthusiasm soaring high throughout the picnic session. The Core Committee organized the Games as per the well-planned schedule with excitingly large number of prizes open for participants. In between the games, there was ample time to all the members to meet and greet, mingle socially with each other and make great new friends. Several new members and guests also socialized with great interest to acquaint themselves and to be a part of this friendly elite get-together. Tree swingers for a change resorted to net swinging thoroughly enjoying and gamboling on it while reproving their unwavering faith in Darwinist instincts.

The Ambassador, HE Dr. Sunil Jain, addressed the gathering and congratulated the organizers and the winners. He said that he thoroughly enjoyed participating in this picnic along with his better half. He wished a grand success in all the future events.

The organizers of the event never let during the entire duration, never let the Ghrelin, the hunger hormone, level go up and the hypothalamus the control center in the brain supervising the gut famish feedback loop was kept on idling mode with delicious breakfast, sumptuous lunch and high tea from M/s Winners Restaurant, Mahboula. All dishes appealed and captivated the taste buds of the everyone. The variety and range of the food satisfied all types of needs – Veg, Non-Veg and other special category. The members settled for a grand finale of a game of Tambola or lotto. This year a new exciting event 2-minute “Lightening Chess” was conducted. All the winners were congratulated and the Senior Members present, distributed the prizes to them. All the members present went home tickling pink with at least one gift reserved for each family and single member.

The IIM Team Captain, Mr. Amal Senna, was awarded the 2016 Cricket Cup as they had earlier snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by a narrowest of thin margin off the last ball match through the brilliantly anchored innings of the Mr. Calai, beating the IIT team for the second consecutive year. Captain of Team IIT Mr. Rajendra too was congratulated by the Organisers for their team’s fighting efforts. But, the IITians had the last laugh. The 2016 overall General Championship, GC, was won by them, backed by the huge points gap established during the picnic day.

IIT-IIM Alumni Association, Kuwait is growing day by day with the full commitment and dedication of all the members and the Core Committee. This event was a great success as large numbers of members attended, displaying abundance of energy and enthusiasm. Finally, the event ended with a group photo session, captured by Mr. Bal Mukund, who was in the forefront in capturing all the beautiful moments of the event besides coordinating all the games activities. Many smiling faces returning with several gifts from the venue reflected the happiness and satisfaction among the members thanks to the excellent work by Mr. Yogesh Rathod and Mr. Ashish Jain who took the responsibility of arranging gifts.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) are globally renowned premier Indian institutions of higher education in the fields of Engineering Technology and Management, respectively. Indian Scholl of Mines, Dhanbad, too joined the fraternity of the IIT-IIM Association, as this reputed institute has been recently accorded the IIT status. The association can be reached at [email protected] or the official website www.iitiimkuwait.com.