The LUMS MBA Class of 1988 held its 30th reunion dinner on Saturday, March 10, 2018 at the Haveli Barood Khaana near Lahore Fort to reminisce about their past and relive it.
The excitement with which the pioneering Luminites flew in from the United States and drove from various cities such as Karachi, Peshawar and Islamabad to attend their class reunion made the evening a memorable one indeed. The event started in the evening with the arrival of Syed Babar Ali who was the chief guest on the occasion. The atmosphere was quite emotionally charged as some Luminites were meeting after a long period of 30 years. The Haveli setting, the weather, and the soft flute playing in the background made the evening idyllic.
It was an intimate gathering with graduates from the Class of ’88 and their spouses, and guests from LUMS including the Pro Chancellor, Syed Babar Ali, Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi, Member Management Committee, Mr. Shahid Hussain, and Dean of the Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB), Dr. Jawad Syed. Faculty members who had taught the Class of ’88 including Dr. Syed Zahoor Hassan, Dr. Ehsanul Haque, Dr. Jamshed Khan, Dr. Naved Hamid, Mr. Wasif Khan and Mr. Nasir Aziz made a special effort to be a part of this milestone event. Some RAs and staff members including Ms. Timpy, Shazi Malik, Zarene Niazi and the Librarian, Ms. Bushra also participated with enthusiasm on this special occasion.
Dr. Naqvi and Dr. Jawad had special congratulatory remarks for the pioneering class. The entire gathering acknowledged Syed Babar Ali’s contribution to Pakistan in the form of LUMS with a standing ovation. Syed Babar Ali also shared his memories of the first class of LUMS and congratulated them on achieving this milestone of 30 years of graduation. Ayesha Mazhar announced a commitment on the part of Class of ‘88 to contribute Rupees 10 million towards the National Outreach Programme (NOP).
Nuzhat Kamran and Ayesha Mazhar, alumni from the Class of ’88, set the ball rolling with their funny and nostalgic rendition of the batch’s two years of trials and tribulations at the LUMS campus (known at the time as LBS) near the Liberty Market in Gulberg, Lahore. The faculty had their say about what they went through in those formative years of the institution that has grown into the LUMS of today. The top story being Dr. Jamshed Khan’s confession that after the first two quarters they discovered that they had mistakenly given a semester’s course load in a quarter to the class, and the gall that “since no one died” they should continue with the same course load in subsequent quarters too.
This was followed by a sumptuous dinner in the beautiful ambience of the Haveli, lots of pictures and even more catching up. After dinner, the guests enjoyed the on-call musicians’ performance but the evening really livened up when Aasim Muhammadi and Nuzhat Kamran, our very own talent from ’88, sang some beautiful and soulful melodies. This was such a special discovery which totally set the icing and the cherry on the proverbial cake!
The evening festivities went on well past midnight with nobody wanting to leave! Reluctantly the class bid farewell and went their ways with some very special memories from a very special evening.
