How to Create a Socially Vibrant IIT Class Group

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Hello IIT students and Alumni,

Mech71 is perhaps the most socially vibrant class (The 1971 Mechanical Engineering Graduates of IIT Delhi) from amongst all the classes of all the Indian Institutes of Technology as will be apparent from the various posts of this blog. If any other class from any of the IITs wishes to follow the example, these are some of the steps that we followed and can be followed by others:

  1. One person has to volunteer to become the founder and undertake the following steps

2.      Choose a name for the association on the same pattern as us such as Elect71, Mech07, Chem14. Chem14 will be an existing class of Chemical engineering that is expected to graduate in 2014. Such groups may be created at any time while at IIT or after passing out.

3.      Persons from IITD may or may not add the suffix D but other may, such as Mech71M the M indicating IIT Mumbai

  1. The founder should make a Google group or any other group so that a group email ID is created for convenience of exchanging messages. The group should be private to maintain privacy and informality of exchanges. Choose that in the settings. Then the founder has to find out the email addresses of as many classmates as he can and send them invitations to join the email group. Others will be discovered and added in time until the entire class is covered.

  1. Any member may exchange any message through this group ID but avoid using it for Forwarded messages as far as possible. This practice has become like spam and such emails are rarely opened or read. They can also kill genuine group activity.

  1. A member should develop a contact list, an excel sheet that has addresses and telephone numbers, birthday and update/circulate to the group at least once every year. This task is performed by Vinod Marwaha for Mech71.

  1. Some members will be found to be active email senders while others will be silent but when a birthday wish is sent all members should echo that not just for the wish but just to announce that they are still alive and receiving group messages. It is like attendance in class ( where a few may be bunked by some)

  1. A Volunteer is needed to keep track of the birthdays and send the first email out as a birthday greeting

  1. Try and arrange a get together at a public place or at the home of a member from time to time. One formal reunion a year may be fixed. Mech71 has one in the first weekend of July in USA mostly around New York and another often on December 24 in Delhi. The reunion is hosted in turn by volunteer member, or it may be contributory.

  1. To showcase your activities to the world a member or two may also launch a blog that is not private.

So go ahead guys, what are you waiting for? The group will be source of great Joy and support and occasionally anguish as insulting each  occasionally happens as in any informal family-like group. To avoid the possible Anguish  Subramaniam Sarma (GVRS) a highly regarded Mech71er recommends a cardinal principle for group emails:


“Before pushing the send button, just reflect whether the message will spread Peace and Harmony or otherwise based on your own conscience, and the same will solve many a problem.”

The steps given here are not restricted to IIT but may be used by students in any educational program anywhere in the world  that is long enough (four to five years) and has mandatory residence (as at IITs and several other professional courses around the world) to permit a degree of familiarity within the whole class beyond the class room.


Just as individual lives become more meaningful when they make a positive contribution to the world besides enhancing their own joy, organizations too become more meaningful if they can make some positive contribution to the world besides enhancing their own pleasure. The present post and the previous one is a small contribution  in this direction.  Hope that any group formed as a result of this post would do that too. Best of Luck!

Regards and Best wishes
from
Ashok Malhotra a Mech71er

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