Capital IIT Alumni Association has enjoyed great support of Ambassador Ronen Sen ever since he assumed the post of Ambassador to the United States of America. Honorable Sen has supported the Association when we organized the Pan IIT Conference in 2005, when he delivered the keynote address. His speeches always extolled the great work that IITians have done in India and the US. He challenged us to do more and guided us in areas where we can do more and excel in whatever we undertake.
Being located at the seat of the US government, Capital IIT Alumni
Association has the advantage of being able invite, host, and hear many
political, business, and technical leaders from India. In every case,
the embassy's help and support was paramount and unflinching. | IIT 10th Anniversary and Farewell to Ambassador Sen |
With this background, bidding farewell to a friend such as Ambassador
Sen is not easy. But, our grateful alumni arranged a grand function to
honor the Ambassador on
25th February 2009 at the Congressional Country
Club in Bethesda, Maryland. The function was attended by a host of
successful business, political, and technology leaders from the capital
area!
The evening started promptly at 6 PM with drinks and International and Indian cuisine. Only the networking opportunities could compete with tasty hors d'oeuvres.
San Sengupta, President of the IIT Alumni Board, presented a crisp
speech describing how we plan to celebrate the Tenth anniversary of the
Association, welcomed Amb
Ronen Sen and Mrs. Kalpana Sen and other distinguished guests. We must say a few words about the planning that went into this event.
While the main event was the Farewell function, we wanted to launch the
Tenth Anniversary as well as announce a number of initiatives that the
Association is planning to undertake. San and his Board consisting of
the IIT wizards applied all the optimization algorithms and systems
level planning so that each component played out an exact sequence
during the cycles allocated to it.
Mr. Thomas Davis, former
Member of the House of Representatives, Virginia's 11th District, Jan
1995 to Dec 2008, spoke eloquently to the excellent contributions of
IITians to the US technology and business environment. Readers will
remember that Mr. Davis was instrumental in the 109th US Congress
passing the resolution 227 in 2005, which recognized that the IIT
alumni "made valuable and significant contributions to society in every
profession and discipline..." and honored "the economic innovation
attributable to graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology." The
Association honored him with a plaque and a gift of a small statue of
an elephant. The former Congressman spoke of the excellent record of
Ambassador Sen and the very friendly relationship that now exists
between India and the US.
Congressman Jim Moran, Member of the
House of Representatives, also expressed his first hand knowledge of
Mr. Sen's diplomatic accomplishments that placed India at a great
advantage in Washington, DC. Mr. Jim Moran also spoke about the
importance of education as key to development of all people and lauded
the efforts of Everybody Wins! DC and appreciated the support offered
by the Capital IIT Alumni Association.
Dr. Natwar Gandhi, CFO,
Government of the District of Columbia, quoted Mahatma Gandhi about the
criticality of education in the freedom and liberty of the individual.
He was very enthused about the activities of Everybody Wins! DC and the
support offered by the Association.
Ms. Mary Salander,
representing the Everybody Wins! DC, accepted a check for $1,000 from
Mr. Sid Chowdhary on behalf of the Association. Mr. Sid Chowdhary
expressed strong support to the organization and announced that the IIT
Alumni members will provide 1,000 hours of volunteer mentoring to the
students sponsored by Everybody Wins! DC.
Ambassador Sen
presented highlights of his tenure and the excellent support he
received from the US friends during his term at the nation's capital
representing India. He expressed his admiration for the accomplishments
of IITians in both India and the USA. Mrs Kalpana Sen joined Mr. Sen on
the stage and short and sweet remarks about her pleasant interactions
with members of the association and their families. The Association
presented Mr.
Ronen Sen with a framed collage
of pictures depicting him in the IIT events of the past. We hoped that
he will continue to remember his close association with us as we wish
him many great future accomplishments. Mrs. Sen was presented with an
award of an American Eagle so that she may remember her life and
activities in America.
The evening went like a well tuned IT
system (designed and implemented by the IIT guys) and everybody enjoyed
the plentiful food and drinks being served from 6 PM to 10 PM. Of
course, the organizers did not forget the sponsors. Suresh Shenoy,
Hiten Ghosh, and San Sengupta thanked:
Signature Sponsor Tata Sons
Gold Sponsors IMC and TechniGraphics
Silver sponsor HSBC
Bronze sponsor State Bank of India
Sponsors CGI and Headstrong
The
success of the event is also in large measure due to co-promotion by
Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, TiE-DC, and Maryland India Business
Round Table.
Electrosoft, State of Virginia, 3i Infotech, Wiener and Garg, LLC, and GeneSicSmi are among the well wishers of the event.
The
function was attended by well over two hundred people, and the online
registration for the event had to be closed as it was fully subscribed
a few days in advance of the event. The most important thing is that we
honored Ambassador Sen in a fitting manner and the alumni, the guests,
and the sponsors enjoyed the function and contributed to its grand
success.
If you missed the function, sorry about that! But, the
Association plans to organize several other events and sponsors have
already been inquiring how they can support. If the sponsors are proud
of an event they supported, it must have been a successful function!
The Board members have endeavored to bring value to the sponsors'
generosity and to present a program that is affordable to members and
cherished by all. We honored a great Indian diplomat and leader and the
memories will stay with us and our distinguished guests for a long time.