Abdalians Alumni Home

Wednesday, 24 October 2012 20:37

It all started with a Facebook Post. The post simply said: "Abdalian's in Saudi Arabia please send me text messages with your names, entries, wings, kit numbers & current locations at (+966) 597 262 975. We are planning a reunion before the Hajj. All Abdalians in the vicinity (e.g. UAE) or coming for the pilgrimage are also welcome." It was September 6, 2012 and the post was by Deemi (Nadeem) Zafar (24/Omar Wing).

The response was huge and surprised all the organizers. Suddenly they started seeing lot of people posting their information. It was good energy like seen in a drill competition or during an obstacle course. As lot of information was pouring in, the organizers thought to take advantage of this energy and started collecting the Abdalian’s contact details. As there were at least ten plus people in Riyadh, it seemed a right place for hosting the first reunion.

It was decided to conduct at least a preliminary reunion to measure the enthusiasm and the response. October 18 was decided and Dr. Farooq Punia (36^th Entry-Omar Wing) whose family was in Pakistan offered his villa for the event. Before the big day, Shahzad Subhani called everyone on the list to inform them about the event as well as to get their feedback. Those who could not come wanted to be informed about any such future event as well as wished to see the photographs for this event so they were added also to a newly created Yahoo Groups. The GPS coordinates of the  venue were posted on Facebook, as well as on Yahoo group to assist the visitors.

At last the day came and Shahzad Subhani and and Dr. Farooq started receiving the guests who ranged from the 16^th to the 47^th entries.  The “Heart and Soul” of the party was Mr. Deemi Zafar who had traveled all the way from Najran (around 1000 KM) to attend this event. The guests had different tales to tell from their period at CCH, however most agreed that today the academic situation of Abdalians was not very good and something should be done in this regards by College Administration.

Refreshments were served during the party. The plan was to go for a dinner later however  no one felt hungry so it was decided to cancel the dinner plans and continue. It was a great party indeed and finished at around 11 pm when people started to disperse, hoping only to meet again very soon.

News contributed by Shahzad Subhani (36th Entry - Aurangzeb Wing)

Click the pictures below to see enlarged view