Bouquets & Brickbats

Message from Ram Kelkar, President IITBHF on 24-Dec-09

Dear H4-ites:

Congratulations to the Hostel 4 HATS team for a very successful drive to bring together the "band of brothers" from across the globe in giving back to your hostel and to your alma mater.  In addition to supporting infrastructure projects and other areas where alumni support is always important, it is especially noteworthy that you also thought about those most in need, namely mess workers who did so much to serve you during your stay at H-4.

HATS (Hostel Alumni Team Stewardship) has now joined FAN (Faculty Alumni Network) amongst the signature alumni-supported initiatives that are making a big difference for IIT Bombay. Your example should inspire other Hostels to do similar things for their hostel too.

I would also like to recognize and applaud the pioneering work for HATS by Hemant Patel and Suhas Pai who started the HATS initiative with Hostel 7. I hope that the success of HATS can extend beyond H-7 and H-4 to all Hostels, and we can all learn from your experiences.

Wish you all the best with your endeavors and rest assured that all IITB alumni and IITBHF are behind you in this excellent initiative.

Happy holidays!

Ram Kelkar (EE Class of 1980 - Hostel 2)

Post from Hemendra Godbole, C85 on 25-Dec-09

On the eve of "the event", here are a few thoughts from me to our mess-workers ..

You saw us arrive as hesitant freshies

Subtly supported us through our ragging

Saw us gain a sense of self and purpose

Then bid us farewell as we left for distant shores ..

You greeted us with warm smiles

each time we returned to your hostel-4,

Shook hands with our children and wished us well

reminding us to come back soon again

Your hard work and smiles are woven deeply

into the very essence of what H4 means to all of us

It is time to test if all your hard work has made us

strong enough for you to lean on .. as we go ahead

Forgive us for having taken so long to simply say -

'thank you'.

- Hemendra Godbole