Members of Class of 1976 at Golden Jubilee reunion in BITS Pilani / Ritu Marwah

A bus unloaded the class of 1976 onto the V Fast lawns of BITS Pilani. The class was back for the Golden Jubilee reunion, March 17-19, 2026. Sanjoy Ghosh, Brahmaji Potu, Ajaya Gummadi, Sudhir Rao, and many others had flown across the world from Silicon Valley to participate in the event. While others, Bharat Wakalu, Arun Jain, Gurcharan Matharu, had made their way from Pune, Bengaluru, and Kota.  

The classmates returned to their alma mater with the intention of giving back. “We have brought with us a check of over a crore of rupees to establish a scholarship for a deserving girl student,” said Gummadi. 

They facilitated the school authorities, mentored the students, celebrated the success of classmates and remembered 46 of their class fellows whom they have lost.  

“We celebrate the day we first came to Pilani and not when we graduated,” said Deepa Mahidara, who was visiting from Philadelphia. 

The BITS Pilani campus, India's premier higher learning institution, is in Rajasthan, a four to six-hour road journey from Delhi. The institute embodies the spirit of its founder, GD Birla. 

A life-size statue of GD Birla faces a beautiful white marble temple dedicated to the goddess of learning, Saraswati.  Excitedly pointed out by the 67-year-old teenagers to indulgent spouses was a sense of pride at the foresight of the founder. Carved on the outer walls of the temple, among the gods and apsaras, are figures of Lenin, Lincoln, Einstein, Karl Marx, Gandhi, Tilak, Madam Curie, among others. 

“GD is seeking blessings from the goddess for his institute,” said KC Ramakrishnan, pointing beyond the statue to the campus with a clock tower. “All four faces show a different time,” said Rajiv Marwah with a smile. “The students used that as an excuse for being late to class. Attendance was not mandatory.”

“ Lessons in meritocracy were taught early on," said Jamuna, who was accompanying her spouse. “ Good teachers had overflowing classrooms while assigned teachers, who were not good, had maybe one student sitting in their classrooms.”

The Connaught, named after the newly constructed Connaught Place in Delhi, was where they downed endless cups of chai with kachoris and got their haircuts from Makhan Lal. As the alumni wandered into Connaught at 10 pm on a March 14 night, they were surprised to find it sparsely occupied. Disappointed alum Deepa Mahidhara asked the nearby students, “What happened!” 

“ We have a lot more choices now,” pointed out a second-year student who updated the alumni on the new rules and happenings on campus. “ Attendance is compulsory for the first two years. There is no curfew time for residents of Mira Bhavan, the women's hostel.  Students can order a ride around campus. Suicides do not happen. Rooms are shared……” 

They walked with him to see his room. 

At sunset, thousands of parrots descended on the trees of Pilani. “A bird watcher’s delight is the old glider area," said Dr. Sangeeta Sharma, Head of the Department of Humanities and Social Science. She was on her 5 km early morning bike ride when she ran into Dilip D’Souza leading his fellow alumni on a bird watching expedition at 6.30 am. 

At the end of the three-day celebration in Pilani, the group boarded the bus for Jaipur, where a three-night jamboree unfolded, replete with book launches, AI music compilation, presentations, and Ghoomar dance classes. The class sang and twirled to nostalgic music from the 1950s and 60s, the early years of their childhood. Sunil Gupta and Sanjiv Taneja from Delhi, and Lalit Jain from Jaipur, worked hard to make their classmates from around the world comfortable. Rajiv Nighojkar hosted a dinner at his jewelry factory for classmates who stayed back for an extra night. 

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A Golden Jubilee side trip to Ajmer and Pushkar

A few brave classmates headed further into Rajasthan to explore the spiritually rich landscape of Pushkar and Ajmer. The Jagat Mahal hotel, located in Pushkar, a two-hour drive from Jaipur, sits on the Ajmer highway. From here, the classmates explored both Ajmer and Pushkar. 

The only-temple-in-the-world dedicated to Lord Brahma is in Pushkar, and it is 2000 thousand years old. On a hilltop nearby sits the temple to Saraswati, with a panoramic view of the town and lake. Sunset views from the temple are breathtaking. 

Golden Jubilee of the class of 1976 BITS Pilani / Ritu Marwah

In Ajmer, the Soniji ki Nasiya and nearby Nasiyas, all belonging to the Moolchand Jain family, house diamond-studded gold, silver, and jade statues. The Swarna Nagari, "City of Gold", has several gold-plated wooden figures, depicting several figures in the Jain religion. 100 kgs of gold encase models of towns like Hastinapur and Ayodhya.  The walls and ceilings of the museum cum temple are painted in beautiful calligraphical designs. “The Moolchand family owned all of Ajmer! This is the third generation now who visit the temple once a year,” said the caretaker. 

The week of bonhomie had a penultimate golden finish with a visit to the dargah of Sufi saint Chisti.  

“Lets stay one more night,” they asked their classmates. Sunil and Nipun Gupta were reluctant to leave the Jagat Mahal Hotel. 

Discover more at New India Abroad.