NED Alumni Convention 2024: Bromance Galore
By A.H. Cemendtaur

 

You are on a magic carpet, and you have chosen to go back to 1982. You see the same faces you saw at the University; you eat the same type of food you ate back then; and you listen to the same music that once reverberated with your younger self. And that is the reason many NED University alumni living in North America religiously attend the annual NED Alumni convention.  For many of them the alumni convention is the biggest annual celebration. It is their Eid, their Christmas, their Holi, their Diwali, their Vaisakhi, all rolled in one.

This year’s NED Alumni Convention held at the Atlanta Airport Marriott kicked off on Friday, October 18, with a reception emceed by Asad Bajwa and Noor Ani. Presentations were given by Abdullah Jafri, Chairman of Outreach & Fundraising Committee of The Citizens Foundation-USA; Anwar Khan, Founder and President of OBAT Helpers; Farooq Mughal, member of Georgia House of Representatives; Rahim Shah Akhunkhail, Founder 'Voices of Muslims'; and Dr Sher-shah Syed of Koohi Goth Hospital. A Quiz Show dubbed 'Neelam Ghar' was conducted by Sibte Faruqui. An electrifying live music performance by Tehseen Javed and his band concluded the program around midnight.

The main day of the convention was Saturday, October 19. In the morning session, speeches and presentations were given by Shahbaz Zubairi from New Jersey; Mohammad Shahid Khan, Chairman, Convention Steering Committee; Dr Asma Ali, Chairperson, NEDIAN-NA; Dr Sarosh Lodi, Vice Chancellor, NEDUET; Ahmed Ali and Rashid Yousuf of NED-Alef, the NED Alumni Endowment Fund; Ali Mallick, Associate Commissioner, New York City Department of Design and Construction; Farhat Adil, President, Institute of Engineers, Pakistan; Mukhtar Zaidi of the NED Alumni Association of Silicon Valley; and Abdul Majid Adam of Saaf Pani NGO.

A panel discussion on ‘NED Women Engineers with Entrepreneurial Success’ was moderated by Rizwan Baig, Chief Engineer, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The panelists included Asma Hashmi, owner, JPCL Engineering; Saba Engineer, Principal, Z&S Construction Group; and Farah Gilani, President, Fastech Consulting Engineers.

A second panel discussion on ‘Beyond Engineering- Entrepreneurial Success’ was moderated by Arif Zaffar Mansuri, host of the Mansuri Show and owner of the Pakistan Link and Urdu Link newspapers. The panelists included Amir UlIslam, President, Jersey Precast; Abul Islam, President, AI Engineers; and Azhar Syed, President, Dataset, Inc.

In the evening program, a lifetime achievement award was given to Ahmed Ali for his dedicated services to NED-Alef, the NED Alumni Endowment Fund. A moving tribute remembering fellow NEDians who left us in the past year, was read by Amir UlIslam. The concluding music program featured singers popular in the 1980s: Benjamin Sisters who sang their hit melodies, and the legendary singer Alamgir who mesmerized the crowd, making people dance on his music as if time was frozen in the days the alumni attended the NED University.