Media Release
Udupi, Dec 20: The B Pharm Batch of 1997 celebrated their Silver reunion at Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MCOPS) campus on December 16. The gathering consisted of approximately 30 alumni who travelled from all over the country.
The alumni began their day with a visit to the Manipal Academy of Higher Education campus to cherish the memories of their college days. The alumnis had a brief interaction with Dr Giridhar Kini, registrar, MAHE. A visit to Manipal would have been incomplete without paying tribute to Dr TMA Pai, the visionary founder and architect of MAHE, Manipal. After the campus tour, the alumni had scheduled a visit to 'Smriti Bhavan' – the residence of Dr TMA Pai, Padmashree Awardee, where the alumni presented a citation on Dr TMA Pai to the museum curator, Govinda Prabhu.
The alumni later visited the ancestral house at Tonse to pay a floral tribute and seek the blessings of Dr TMA Pai. The president, trustees and members of Tonse Pai Family Prathistana extended a warm welcome to the alumni. Dr Gokuldas Pai was very glad that the alumni visited the ancestral house as a part of their reunion celebration, as it was the first of its kind. He also expressed his happiness and appreciated the alumni for dedicating the world’s first-ever digital museum on pharmaceutical quality, MANIPAL cGMP MUSEUM, to Dr TMA Pai Alumnus, Dr Girish Pai K briefed everybody about the conceptualization and genesis of the GMP museum and introduced Centre for cGMP team members to the gathering. T Ranga Pai, past deputy registrar of MAHE, shared his experience of working closely with Dr TMA Pai. The alumni presented a citation on Dr TMA Pai to the president of Trust. Alumnus Karthik Ramaswamy read out the citation on Dr TMA Pai. The alumni honored Dr Tonse Gokuldas Pai with a shawl and handed over the citation. The alumni felicitated the dignitaries Dr Padmakumar, faculty at Manipal Institute of Communication (MIC), K Mohandas Pai, staff at MIC and Umesh Pai, staff at audio visual unit of MAHE, for extending their unconditional support for the museum project. Tonse pai family prathishtana felicitated Dr Girish Pai K, Vijay Kumar and professor Ravindra Shenoy during the occasion. Members of Tonse Pai Family, T Ranga Pai, T Ajith Pai, T Ganesh Pai, T Samarth Pai and others were present during the occasion.
Dr K K Srinivas, Dr K S Aithal, Dr Ravindranath Shanbhag and Dr Gopalan Kutty, all retired professors graced the occasion and blessed with alumnis. Dr Madhukar Mallya (deputy registrar – Evaluation) and Dr Ullas Kamath (dean – MMMC, MAHE), both teachers gave a surprise by their presence to the alumnis. All teachers addressed the alumnis and wished all of them a prosperous future. The teachers were presented with a Book ‘Pharmaceutical Consumer Complaints’ edited and authored by Dr Girish Pai Kulyadi and team.
The day ended with a high tea sponsored by the alumni to all the teachers, staff and support staff of MCOPS. Director, alumni relations, Dr Rohit Singh, alumni department, and management of MAHE provided all the required support and made the necessary logistic arrangements for the silver reunion.