GCT 1997-2001 Silver Jubliee Reunion – My Experiences

When the silver jubilee reunion (25 years) for the 1997–2001 (GCT, Coimbatore) batch was first announced around 9 months ago, I was not too sure if I would be attending. 

Obviously, one needs to work on travel plans and make sure everything aligns well. 

We may also wonder, “Should I really need to go? Who else is coming?” Some of these questions do run through our mind. I was no exception, but I made it a point to attend, and I’m really glad I did. Over 170 people from 12 countries were in attendance. And some turns out, were not only living in the same city as me, but were maybe just a couple of streets down the road, and we only got to find out at the reunion! We also got to meet so many friends for the very first time in 25 years.

Day 0 | Thursday, July 16: 

Prior to traveling to Coimbatore, I decided to go visit Palani and get the blessings of Lord Murugan. This was long overdue for me, and I had a belief that ‘Palani’ Murugan did help me with my semester exams 🙂 I thought, “Okay, it’s about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Coimbatore, so why not just get there first?”

I’ve wanted to travel on the Vande Bharat for a while, and this was a great opportunity. I took the train from Chennai to Dindigul, and it was a great 5-hour train ride. I enjoyed the Vande Bharat experience, and it was more like flying: food being served, clean, and modern. 

When I got off the train, I had to travel to Palani, which is about an hour-and-a-half drive or so. Initially, I thought, I’d just take a cab there. Then, as I got off the train, I met a fellow passenger who’s probably in his 60s. His name was Raja Rajan. He suggested, “Hey, you can just take the government bus to go to Palani,” and he dropped me off at the bus stop. He even paid for the auto!

During the trip, I found out that his son, Palanivel Rajan, was a GCT alumnus! It was a nice preview of the GCT connection, and the power of the GCT brand. 

I stayed at a hotel close to Palani Murugan temple and enjoyed a good sleep.

Day 1 | Friday, July 17: 

My friend V. Karthikeyan from Electrical and Electronics Engineering was to join me from Bangalore. Thankfully, his bus arrived on time, and he was at the hotel by 5:30 am or so. This really helped, and by 6:15 we were out of the room and started climbing the hills to visit Lord Murugan. 

I initially assumed that it might take a while to get the darshan, and there could be a big crowd on a Friday, but it wasn’t that crowded. We got a great darshan and were down by 9:30 am or so. On our way down, we got some breakfast and boarded a local bus. It was a two-and-a-half-hour ride to Coimbatore.

By the time we got there, it was 2:30 PM or so, and then I also visited the DCKAP Incubation Center we set up on campus. As always, it was a lot of fun and so insightful to interact with the student community, and we had a great conversation. Though it wasn’t an initial part of the plan, I also met with the Principal, Dr. K. Manonmani, and Dr. Ilamathy and Dr. Bala. The GCT Principal has been very supportive of our efforts.

By the time we got done around 5:00 PM, we were just having coffee at the local tea shop  which used to be called Mahalakshmi Bakery but now goes by a different name  and started meeting a lot of friends who arrived a day early, like we had. We stayed at the Chettinad Courtyard, which is not too far from the college. Even on the elevators, we bumped into people.

Later that night, I went to R.S. Puram Annapoorna and met with a bunch of friends. The plan was to practice for a comic skit (along with Vignesh, who wrote the script, Shuba, Mahesh, Vikram, Nirupa, Nanda, Karthik sorry if I missed some names, maybe you didn’t turn up for practice). We practiced and rehearsed, but it was later decided not to pursue the skit 🙂

I wanted to make sure I rested a bit because of the traveling, and thankfully got some good sleep.

Day 2 | Saturday, July 18, 2026: 

The Day of the Reunion

I wasn’t really too sure what to expect or what the preparation would be like. 

As soon as you got to the college, you could visibly see the amount of preparation that had gone into this. People started arriving by 8 am. A bunch of us started carpooling to get to the college auditorium. The same people you met 25 years ago  a few that I have been lucky to cross paths with more recently, but I was meeting the majority of them for the very first time after 25 years. It amused me how when talking to each one of them, I found out that their kids are now in college or finishing up college. 

A Warm Welcome & Many Perspectives

V. Karthikeyan (CSE) and Shubha (CSE) emceed the program in the morning, and it was also great to listen to their Tamil 🙂 As VK rightly put it, it was awesome to see everybody: some with gray hair, some who look exactly the same, and some with no hair, but it really doesn’t matter. We are all here as GCTians. They did a great job, and it was awesome to invite professors from different departments. Dr. Narmadhai (Alumni Secretary), Dr. Sundaramoorthy, Dr. Paulraj, and others spoke as well.

During the talk, our professors gave some valuable life advice. Something that Dr. Lakshmi Prabha (GCT Alumna and Former Principal of GCT) urged was to keep meeting again and again, and keep the reunion active. 

Reunions like these give you 10 years of extra life. I could relate to what she was saying. It was also interesting to find out that Dr. Lakshmi Prabha passed out in 1979, and her husband was from the 1978 batch. GCT meant a lot to her  again, the power of the GCT brand. 

Dr. Geetha, who is the current Principal of GCE Salem, shared her advice to students on being cognizant of what is happening around us with respect to climate change and how we could support the environment.

I’m also thankful I got to talk about “Reimagining GCT: A Vision for the Future.” All of us, not just the 2001 batch but all GCT alumni and GCT students, can leverage the brand, invest in research, and encourage a startup culture at GCT.

We talked about sports being an integral part of our lives, and it was nice to see the current badminton team of GCT being rewarded with a cash award, as a part of efforts to support and encourage sports. Vannamuthu, Kamalakannan, Sivaguru and Malini, who used to play badminton at college, awarded a cash incentive on behalf of our batch to the current badminton team. 

Food was also served to the needy as a part of the reunion.

Our Professors across various departments were honoured on stage. 

Conversations, Pictures, And A Walk Down Memory Lane

Big Bosses Talking 🙂 

A group picture is a part of every reunion, and this is exactly what we did. All of us gathered by the Principal’s office, and we had our group picture Moment. 

An Electrical & Electronics Engineering Snap

We also went on a walk around the GCT campus.

We visited the labs and classrooms.

Walking through the college corridors. 

A random pic at the GCT Oval

Taking The Stage 

After this, we had the CULTURALS, the next part of the program. The second half was emceed by Uma (EEE) and Mohan Babu(Mech). Uma and Mohan did a great job, and they had a story around their emcee segment, with Mohan Babu opening up his suitcase and going down the GCT memory lane. The program kicked off with a dance by Kirthika (KK), followed by a bunch of others (skits -Elon Musk, and Jensen Huang talking, creating GCT prompts, dance and more). 

It was great to relive memories from twenty-five years ago and watch the same dances and singing just in a new time. I loved the song selection in terms of picking songs from the late 90s and 2000s. 

The current dance crew of GCT performed a song for the seniors. They have been traveling around the country to perform and have been winning prizes. A cash incentive was also awarded to this crew.

Juniors who performed for Seniors

Of course, the program ended with the Mustafa Mustafa song.

The event was planned in such a way that people could either choose to just spend the day, or they could head to a resort for the two-day program. I opted for the latter. So once the event was over, buses were arranged, and we went to the SR Jungle Resort in Anikatti. 

Once we were at the resort, I wasn’t too sure how rooms were allocated. Initially, I was thinking that each one of us would get our own room, and I even asked Rajiv (EEE) this question. However, rooms were shared, and in hindsight it was fun how we all shared the room together. Five of us (Balaji, Karthikeyan, Premraj, Umashankar, and me) were roommates for Saturday night. There were also dormitories that housed about 30 people. 

The night was full of laughter and more chats with a lot of people. There were a lot of photo opportunities. Some people decided to stay awake almost the whole night. I decided to call a day after 12 am and hit the bed. 

Day 3 | Sunday, July 19, 2026: 

This was the last day. There was a trek I wanted to go on in the morning, but I ended up sleeping in. 

The Trek I missed 🙁 

We had a really great breakfast and started winding up. Some people left early. I was planning to leave around 10 am. Dinesh (EEE) said he would drop me off in the city 🙂 and he would be ready by 10. However, we ended up leaving at 11:30 am. Too many conversations 🙂 But I was thankful he dropped me off on time 🙂

A big thank-you to the Core Organizing Team: Vasanth (CSE), Prasanavardhini (EIE), Ramraj (ECE), Panneerselvam – Mech, Rajiv (EEE), Kamlesh – Prod, Samuel – Civil. 

When they were talking and sharing experiences on putting together this reunion, one mentioned that he had talked to the previous 2000 batch and got insights from them on the to-dos and not-to-dos. A massive effort and their preparation really showed. 

It is no easy task to put together an event like this, going out of the way to take care of things, giving out souvenirs with each of our names engraved and customized and gifts. Also, the group picture was framed and given the same day. These may seem like small things. But they leave a lasting impression on you. 

To my fellow GCT Alumni: each one of you I met and interacted with, I truly cherish this experience. Thank you. My apologies if I missed some names. I am sure I did. As you know, this is not an exhaustive detail of what happened at the reunion. This is just my recollection and experience. There was a lot more that happened. 

The picture says it all. The core organizing team (Standing along with Professors) – Kamalesh is missing in the picture

Thanks GCT. Let’s re:Imagine. It’s day zero.