IIT(ISM) should engage with more industrial verticals to keep up with their demands, said Rakesh Kumar, the chief reservoir engineer of Shell Oil Company at Houston, Texas, and an alumnus of the tech institute, who was here to take part in the two-day silver jubilee celebrations of the 1994 BTech batch that concluded on Sunday.

Kumar, a Btech in petroleum engineering, said: “The institute, which is now offering courses such as electrical, computer science and electronics engineering, should find ways to engage more with these segments and incorporate changes in accordance with their requirement.”

Kumar, who is visiting his alma mater for the first time after leaving the institute 25 years ago, said he felt very nostalgic. “I am overwhelmed after meeting my batchmates and roommates after so many years and reliving the moments of joy, sorrow and achievements. We visited different departments like mining, mining machinery, fuel and mineral engineering, applied geology, applied geophysics and petroleum engineering on the first day of the silver jubilee programme,” Kumar said.

He said 40 of the 60 alumni members came along with their families.

Dheeraj Kumar Arora, a BTech in mining engineering and the senior general manager of Geo Data in New Delhi, had come along with his wife Alka Mallick Arora, a teacher, and son Shivam, a BTech student of computer science engineering) at Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology in Patiala (Punjab).

“I had visited IIT(ISM) twice earlier after leaving the institute, but that doesn’t take away from the nostalgia I am feeling now. This time, we visited the Ramdhani stall on the institute premises, which was the favourite destination of all students in the evening. We used to share our joys and sorrows, discuss our problems with each other and make future plans,” he said.

Arora said he was amazed by the infrastructure development at the institute.

“The launch of a number of new engineering and other courses, including the foreign language, is also praiseworthy,” he added.

Arora’s wife Alka said she had heard a lot about the life on IIT(ISM) campus from her husband, but found it more impressive after visiting it herself.

Mohit Agarwal, a BTech in mining machinery, had come along with his wife Meghna from Mumbai.

“We rode bicycles at the institute, visited Mani Café, our favourite haunt, just outside the campus and enjoyed the cultural programmes held in the evening. It feels so good to be back here.”