M S University of Baroda College of Architecture Class of ‘66 Holds Four-Day Reunion in Houston
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By Mahendra Vaishnav
Houston: Three longtime residents of Houston invited their classmates, M S University of Baroda graduates of 1966 to celebrate the 50th graduation anniversary. The reunion lasted through May 20-23, 2016 and took the form of four days of celebration.
Bus tours over the four days included showing off the magnificent buildings that form the downtown skyline of the city, Theater District, Uptown/Galleria Area, Museum District, Rice University, Rothko Chapel, Asia Society building and the world’s largest Medical Center.
“We feel enlightened and did not realize that a city so new, yet with a long history, and world class institutions and buildings, existed in Texas”, observed a California resident, and a New Jersey classmate chimed in a total agreement.
University of Baroda has over 3,000 graduates who have chosen the US as their home. A quarter of the graduating class members of the class of 1966 chose to accept the invitation and attend the event with their spouses.
The Friday dinner was attended by the classmates and their wives, the highlight of the evening, each one of the attendees took a few minutes, to describe their 50-year journey after graduation. What a treat for others to learn the unique path each one chose after receiving the same sheepskin. Some continued the on the path of architecture and excelled, some became successful artists others made use of the academic learning to manage flourishing businesses.
A six-hour bus tour was organized on Saturday, important to architects to see famous buildings and complexes planned and designed by world famous architects such as Phillip Johnson, the creator of Post Oak Central and the Pennzoil Building, the Water wall by John Burgess, Four Leaf Towers by Cesar Pillie, Asia Society Center by Yoshio Taniguchi, The Quad at Rice University, Texas Medical Center institutions and buildings, and Ben Taub Hospital.
The bus tour continued on Sunday with visits to Chinmaya Mission and VPSS temples. After a day long bus tour of Houston, the guests spent the evening at a formal reception attended by other MSU architects and non-architects, living in greater Houston area. The highlight of the evening was a medley of movie songs from the 1960s filling the room with music from the college days. A throwback in time it was!
A number of attendees chose to spend time in San Antonio to visit the world famous shrine -The Alamo and extended their stay to see more of Greater Houston-Galveston area.
What was expressed as a surprising by the visitors, included, the size of Houston and the hospitality receives by the visiting guests, for which Texas is famous