# @vikramsampath on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DWbWMK6ElNY
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/61799645-vikramsampath-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/37d56962ef.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-03-28T11:58:46.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Vikram Sampath (@vikramsampath) — https://gondola.cc/vikramsampath

## Caption

A visit to your alma mater, 23 years after you've passed out of those hallowed portals, can bring back a gush of emotions & memories. So it was for me this past week, as I took a trip down memory lane at my beloved bitspilaniofficial . Among all my numerous identities, I look back at this institution as something that made a mentally & emotionally sturdy man out of a timid teenager. In the 5 years that i spent there from 1998 to 2003, the life lessons gleaned from there have been nothing short of life transforming. Hence, with a heart filled with gratitude, upon the institute offering to me a position of Distinguished Adjunct Professor in the Humanities & Social Sciences Department, I visited Pilani, remembering all my batchmates, friends (and foes) & professors. So much has changed, but so much has remained untouched. It was such a delight to meet the only professor from my times, Dr Sangeeta Sharma, the ever-warm & kind academic I've known, holding fort still with aplomb. BITS has always been fortunate to have wonderful leadership and the current Director Prof SK Barai  is one in that list - erudite, warm, extremely hospitable & affectionate. 
To meet the ageing Nagarji at whose redi we often spent time munching Samosa-Chaats was emotional - he was so deeply upset to know I had not married yet, all other "achievements" were meaningless according to him😀🤭 The pristine Sharda Peeth where we often congregated, especially to bemoan flunking a test, stood like a welcoming sentinel. The magnificent library that also has a section on books by alumni including mine, the All Night Canteen with bustling activity, the various Bhavans including a no curfew Meera Bhawan(!), the Patel & Gandhi statues, couples at strategic corners (😛), the New Academic Block where my talk "Varta with Vikram" was organised by the brilliant students of diya_bitspilani , Hanuman Mandir, C'Not, Balika Vidyapeeth, VFAST Guest House, Sky Lawns --- wish the mind & eyes could cling on to more ! Alma mater is derived from its Latin meaning "Nourishing Mother" & BITS Pilani has been all of that & more for me 🙏 

bitsaa_intl bitsaabangalore
#bitspilani #almamater #gratitude #bitsaa

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## Tags

bitsaa, almamater, bitspilani, gratitude

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