IIT KGP Alumni picnic 2004 in the SF Bay Area

The IIT KGP alumni picnic in bay area was back in business after a break of one year. Last year the kgp picnic was folded into the pan-iit picnic. Obviously, the experiment to bring all the IITs together for a picnic had not worked. This year better sense prevailed and all the IIT volunteer armies were issued marching orders to do their own thing. In other words, the widely popular kgp bay area picnic which has been a regular feature for over a decade was back!

The loss of a year appeared to have impacted the events momentum. A number of the regulars (especially from the 80s batches) were not seen around, while a majority of the attendees belonged to the post 1996 batches. The 80s grads were busy chauffering their kids to soccer/baseball games, while there were others who were travelling and could not attend. Of course, there was also the regular “Kaata-yaar, tempo nahin hai” types who did not make it to the event. Missing this year were the singers and guitarists (Shyamal and Dennis duo). A surprise attendee was Aditya Nath Jha who is based in India (86 batch RK) but who happened to be in town. A new feature of this years event was beer guzzling competition. Food, beer, volleyball, cricket and tug of war were the other attractions. The kids loved the pizza and the bubbles.

Overall, the event was great fun as always and hats off to the organizers for pulling it off. The “young and the restless” volunteer team under the seasoned guidance of Roy de Silva (President of the Bay area chapter) has set a target of 500 for next years picnic.

Click here to see a few pictures from the event. (My camera ran out of charge as always after these pictures).