Vodafone Speedfest with IndiBlogger and Lewis Hamilton

Prologue

"Are you the fastest IndiBlogger?" they asked.
"Here it is" I said.

Wait, that didn't make much sense right? Well I was supposed to write a post being asked as above. I'm expected to be hilarious and at the same time the fastest too for getting a chance to not only meet Lewis Hamilton but also get a ride with him this Sunday. Since he will be the one who is driving and if I'm lucky will get to ride with him in his MP4-27 F1 "car", I wonder if I can sip a bit of vodka while at it.
If I were them I would name it "Vodka with Indiblogger and Lewis Hamilton" which is just so me because that is precisely what I would have done! Vodka Speedfest sounds so much cool right? But hey I love Vodafone, (considering that is the carrier I have used for the longest in my life) and I'm not gonna mention the other side of story just because I want to sound nice you see. (the dark side is ever tempting)

Coming back to vodka I think that should be sponsored too. Is Grey Goose still around?
 I'm in no way advocating drinking and driving with what I said, in fact this came to my head:

"Eat well if you love God (and yourself). Drink and Drive if you want to meet him"

Alright I totally made that up inspired by the Jesus memes which is a internet sensation these days among countless others. But note to self: Eating while driving doesn't seem to a constrain (as long as you have eyes on the road) though.

Coming back to answering the question- why should I be the lucky IndiBlogger to go on a lap with Lewis Hamilton? That's because I love speed and putting my head out like a dog and experiencing the sheer joy of it (and yelling some random stuff at the same time)

This reminds me of this very scene from one of my all time most favourite movies The Dark Knight:

"I'm like a dog chasing a car, I wouldn't know what to do if I catch one!"

So looking at me, that would make another epic scene right? Me instead of the joker (I have the right kind of 'rainforest' hair and look too!), and instead of a police car which one sees quiet often (more precisely jeeps here), in a cool car with the man of the would be hour Lewis Hamilton driving it!

If that is not convincing enough, at least I didn't go for the mainstream response "I'm such a huge fan I should be the chosen one!" like everybody does, so that should pave me the way shouldn't it?
Heck I was the first person (ok technically second, if you consider Vineet the organizer too) to register for the event which you can see here and the first person to submit (this) entry.
It helps since I'm a hardcore gamer so I'm pretty 'fast' too.

Disclaimer: All this was written within some minutes after I first received the email (sent to me 0 minutes ago at the time of seeing it, right when I logged in. I always had a knack for right timing you see) So this should be a small example of my instant thinking or more precisely instant writing as this is purely instinct not thoughts.

So that is why I'm your man! See you guys at the meet!


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Part 1: The Day - The IndiMeet

So finally the day had come. Despite some problems, especially the rains managed to reach Hotel Grand Hyatt, in Kalina, Santacruz East, Mumbai. While going I passed by University of Mumbai which gave me a hiccup which was just some 5 min away before my destination for the first half of the day. Managed to reach first and loiter around the place, met my buddies from the IndiTeam, friends and familiar faces.

So before the meet begun, spent time catching up with fellow IndiBloggers, and meeting new people at times. Everyone were busy indulding themselves in conversations, tea and taking pics especially of this beauty outside.

There were others who were trying out the feeling of being an F1 driver in a hot seat and 3 multiscreen arcade setup by Vodafone. Before the meet and during lunch for the less appetites I should say.

 When not clicking, he drives- The Magic Eye Deepak being a virtual F1 driver for a moment

crowd slowly settling in

Finally after the wait, the meet began with Karthik welcoming the crowd who was the host for the day. I was privileged to sit (in front, I'm an early bird remember? haha!) with the one and only the beggar poet of Mumbai, Firoze Shakir and the amazing Deepak with the magic eye. (Majority of the pics of me and overall are taken by these two and they are dam awesome! Real pros here no messing around)
Thus came what I was (actually) looking forward to the most - the IndiWelcome!

Hell yeah!

IndiBlogger meets cannot be without such a awesome meeting of amazing folks

So with the signature power pack start and  after everyone got seated, announcements were made about the day's dynamic agenda and regarding the giveaway and of Lewis Hamilton of course who was the to be star of the show. There were people of whom were new faces, many who were F1/Hamilton fans who couldn't miss this opportunity so joined the club (and I hope they stick around! welcome to the wonderful blogsphere!) and relatively old timers of course. It began with goodies for different people of various criteria. Vodafone keychain/USBs were for grabs. There were people from Pune, Ahemdabad, Bangalore and from as far as Nainital and Kerala. WOW! All these fellas got the USBs while the folks who came from Navi Mumbai asking whether they can nab them too haha. With it came my 5 seconds of glory (something is good right?) I got honored with one for being the first one to register for the meet. :D

All the folks who wrote a post for the contest (see above) got one too (making my count to 2, and total nabbed 3 by the end of the day!)

For the first time there were 2 IndiBlogger meets happening on both the sides of the planet, one which we were a part of in Mumbai and the other in New York, hosted by Vikas Khanna who hosted the previous meet with one of the IndiHeads Anoop Johnson. I (and Firoze too) missed him, we became fast good friends and he was my alien-brother (remember?) But dam I did tell him to next time sponsor my flight ticket too when I spoke to him some days before the meet(s).
We guys made a small video for the Indifolks there, greetings to NY from Mumbai which you can watch on facebook here.

The online marketing manger Mr. Shasi came in to greet all of us and said how Vodafone was trying to make this event work out since the past 4 months and finally it is happening. Told us to enjoy ourselves and have a great time and entertained questions, "constructive criticism" and feedbacl (we kinda figured how it would go) But it was cool and nice of him to join in. Afterall this would have not been possible without Vodafone India. Thank you to them.

It was time for bloggers' 30 seconds of fame. Randomly selected participants name pops up on screen are given 30 seconds (well give or take, latter in which one can "go to jail") with the most interesting and funny ones get the same goodies. It lasted for quiet while, was interesting to hear from different people, what they do and blog about. I must say we had many fashion bloggers in the house. Also amazed by the fact there were many of my engineer/engineering brethren too. One even scored because he was one in the first place, well all the rest jumped up too after him but with no luck unfortunately :P (in case you are wondering, no my name didn't pop up, how sad right? no love for me)

After a good time hearing from many people, and some scoring stuff for their innovative/hilarious introductions, and secretly stomach craving for food, it was time for lunch. Hooray! :D
Well the secret didn't last long with many (including me, sort of) were looking forward to the food :D
Awesome food, dug in the chicken and paneer. Yum. Not to mention the huge assortment of dessert. I'm hungry again just thinking about it. Just had one thing which bothered me and quiet many- the dam plates were dam heavy, not to mention already being heavy with the food on it. I had to switch my hands thrice while eating, this was the first time I did something like that, and both my arms were aching just because of holding the "heavy" plate. I mean seriously that was ridiculous.

Great food friend of all

After filling up my tummy with the splendid food and desert, it was time for some more interaction and a contest. Everyone were given sketch pens and a banner, and the task was to meet fellow bloggers and get your banner signed. Initially the goal was to get 20+ comments/signs and guess who did it first? Yours truly :D

After getting my 3rd, I was debarred from future contests (for winning too much?) :P

The bar was raised higher to 30+ and eventually to 50+

The hall was filled with people going/running around talking, writing, signing, meeting each other. That was the whole point of the exercise, to meet, befriend and interact with more fellow bloggers.

The poet at his work



Thats me with 50+ both sides filled. (Thanks a lot for your comment Addy) But hey where are all of you folks now? forgot me already?

After a exciting and tiring time of soul searching, the time had come for the most awaited moment of the day - Lewis Hamilton who had entered with his crew of bodyguards, media and others. He got the IndiWelcome "HO HO!" and was very happy with it and us. It was funny to see how such a 'civilized sophisticated' crowd (check - bloggers) turned into a hoard of a hungry mob for a moment :P

He entertained questions from the fans and some which were tweeted earlier. It was a short meeting (dam flight delays and other bull crap!) but the time spend was awesome. He was cool, and spoke casually to all of us. Still wish we got more time though but worth it!

If you remember by now there was a contest where one lucky blogger would be dam lucky to sit with Lewis for a hot lap during the Vodafone SpeedFest, and it was.. not me unfortunately. :P
The winner was Wafa who came from Pune, a F1 fanatic who well deserved it for a dedication. (well otherwise seeing all other factors I could have but yeah I wasn't a big fan anyways so as I always tell myself next time.)

The lucky new IndiBlogger winner with Lewis Hamilton (gosh she almost started crying when I congratulated her. Was it my hair? Nah)

So with that Part 1 of the day ended with them leaving. All of us got our tees and VIP Passes for the SpeedFest scheduled later in the evening at Bandra-Kurla Complex.

So for many of us who came didn't have our own means of transport, 2 buses were arranged for us through which we headed for the venue. After a bus ride, walking, searching and more walking (with a bit of fear as soon entire crowd following us and didn't want to get kicked if headed towards any wrong way) luckily we reached our designated place which was near the starting position.

Part 2: The Road of Mumbai on Fire

After we reached the stands, receiving some stuff viz pamphlets, earbuds (that so came in handy) and plastic "raincoats" just in case if it rains. Mumbai after all. We were among the early ones to arrive, and were settling in. I set out to have a view of the place and enquire for stuff like water, after a 10 minutes of loitering around or so, my mobile fell down breaking into 3 pieces (don't worry its not a 'smartphone' an old faithful nokia 'dabba' you might call it) As I picked it up, I got a mini heart attack when I realized my already hopeless camera fell out of my pocket somewhere on the way. But thankfully that lasted only for about 5 minutes as 2 girls saw me searching and called me out with one of them showing it. I was relived seriously (despite also being a 'dabba') they apologized for turning it on and looking it into some of the pictures to verify whose was it, thats how they recognized me from far. (yeah say what you will I'm not gonna shave/cut my hair ever, another instance of why it helps me more than people's advice) Though this was not worth mentioning, I did felt morally obliged to do so, so whoever you were random citizens/Mumbaikars I love you.

So after a very dam long wait, slowly as day turned to dusk, after the crowd was too much to bear from hardly anyone, began 'something' finally. The show began with a mini-parade which was fun.

After which that happened which didn't happened since morning when I left. Yes, welcome back Mumbai Rains. Those cheap plastic bags in the name of rain coats given did prove useful. Thankfully the small shower ending soon, which pretty much made the roads (and people possibly) wet, with some (horrific) jokes being cracked on like "Ye lo barish ayi, vo kahenge saale lap cancel" (thanks to the rains now those buggers will say the event is canclled) But truly it was sort of perfect, as if the Mumbai Gods themselves gave a welcome to Lewis Hamilton and all of us gathered!
What was the most anticipated event of the day was mere moments away with the countdown (and ongoing annoyance by those 2 radio jockeys) and the sound of the engine (those earbuds did come in handy oh boy) which was perhaps music to F1 fanatics and car lovers, witnessed something which never before ups so close...

Yes he drove by this close! Amazing

It was phenomenal. He did 4 laps with donuts by fan demand and burnouts, set the road on fire (yes we could smell the burning rubber) After an incredible 10 minutes or so (alas so short) he took the lucky winners (including IndiBlogger Wafa who got to ride shotgun for being the lady, not only to the envy of her entrie social circle but I guess to the other "lucky" winners as well) and then went on for another spin for us on the road on his McLaren F1 car. It was seriously awesome!

Instead of a thousand more pics of him riding and burning the road, here is a neat edited video by Mahafreed of the laps + a funny moment with Lewis at the hotel during the meet.




So in all another very successful meet thanks to IndiBlogger, Vodafone for the opportunity and all fellow bloggers for making it another memorable day.
All amazing pics by Firoze Shakir, Deepak's Magic Eye, BlogwatiG, and IndiBloggers. And Myself.

Looking forward to next time!

Vodafone Speedfest with IndiBlogger and Lewis Hamilton

Blogging with BlogAdda and HP

That was simply to get your attention and honestly I had my eyes there too :P

So on a fine sunday afternoon of 9/9/12 I arrived At Fat Cat, the venue for a bloggers' meet by BlogAdda with HP, printers and #hp-inkadvantage (the hyphen by me as one can read it so wrong the first time you know) being the central theme of the meet. Well as most time (am I just being modest here?) I was the first one to arrive with the just the HP guys waiting (yeah before the organizers too) :P

 You don't say?

Pretty soon I was welcomed by the BlogAdda team (or should I say the other way around?) - Nirav Sanghavi, creator of the same, lovely smiling hostess Sagrika, and cheerful Narayan and Harish.
I even got a prize for being the first one to arrive (even before anyone came in or the meet started, now that is something) :D

Pretty soon the restaurant was filled many familiar blogger faces and new (to me) alike. It kicked off with Sagrika welcoming everyone, announcing the afternoon's agenda and starting off the giveaways and prizes with mentioning mine, oh yeah. There were various goodies for max tweets, best writing and different categories but the best tweet would win a HP printer worth ~10k INR!

 The grand prize of the day

So everyone of us got 10 minutes to come up with a creative introduction of ourselves using any one of more of 5 key words given: Home, Affordable, Friendly, Wireless & one more which I don't recall since I didn't use it, and the best ones would fetch a prize. Ok from here onwards pretty much everything could get you one so I'm not gonna keep mentioning it (you'll get it moreover later) Pretty soon everyone introduced themselves, ranging from some simple one liners to artistic poetry.



After this fun time of ice breaking, we were given a presentation on HP printers, latest releases, some insight on their working, common misconceptions followed by a Q&A, and views by the participants and their experiences. Well today most of us use printers for various purposes either indirectly or directly from our homes, and having one is pretty dam convenient for emergencies. And for the delight of the HP fellas, I have one (pretty old) HP inkjet printer too.







With this done, we were in for a game of "Jenga" which comprises of a tower of blocks and at every turn one had to be pulled without the structure collapsing. The person before the one screws up wins so you do it properly and hope the next person screws up. It was fun and my group seemingly performed the best I should say (really), considering there was an engineer and one in the making (me) in my group :D

After some hours of insight and fun, I was really hungry now and was really glad at the sight of (good) food. Heck I was not the only one, my plate was empty before we were asked how was the food and to enjoy it :P

Yum

Then it came time for the winners of various categories. Janaki won for maximum no. of tweets, Hemant won for his awesome intro, Blogwati Gee won for wearing perfect HP colours and many more. The grand winner of the day was Nelton who won the printer, no regret personally I already own 2 printers both in dust and not in use. But hey who wouldn't want to win one, would use it because I won it! When I thought I was one of the poor souls who didn't win anything (that too our table was the luckiest, every dam person won something) I realized I was the dam first one to win a book for being the early bird. :P Alas my pic getting my prize not uploaded :(

The lucky table

Nirav awarding Blogwati Gee her prize of HP goodies for her being the perfect HP mascot

 Nelton nabbing the grand prize and being shown the most affection and concern his life till 'he' reached home safety :P

So in all a sweet intimate awesome (my first) bloggers meet with BlogAdda with a small celebration of BlogAdda completing 5 years. 5th Anniversary ahoy!

 BlodAdda turns 5

Sweet cake by Blogwati Gee for all of us

 BlogAdda team cutting 'birthday' cake

Kudos to the team and the HP guys for making it possible.
All photo credits to Deepak's Magic Eye, Blogwati Gee and Harish from BlogAdda
 Looking forward to more!

Looking at all of us and the venue - 'At Fat Cat'. How appropriate haha :P

Until next time.

.

Blogging with BlogAdda and HP

Poets of the Fall Live in Pune, India

25th August 2012, a day which will forever be embedded in my soul for I witnessed one of the greatest acts which I have yet- POETS OF THE FALL SOME FREAKING METERS AWAY FROM ME!
Pardon the caps for I had to use it. Poets of the Fall has always been one of my most favourite bands, and this night was the first time I ever been to a "real" concert and also the first time I have been to a Hard Rock Cafe. This is technically the third time they are touring India, but the first big one performing in five cities- Bengalure, New Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata respectively, the first 3 at which having been organized by Vh1 India at their respective city's Hard Rock Cafes. While it was saddening to me that there wasn't one in my city Mumbai (seriously WTF?!) but that didn't stop me from traveling to Pune to see them as life doesn't give you such opportunities always (or rather the management)

My short (just ~180 km or ~112 miles) journey was rather an adventurous one. While not getting into much details, just the few stuff like catching a bus from Mumbai-Pune, going on a hike across the city and searching for the dam place along with the cool climate (and hot chicks, for which Pune is known for, well that is what I know/care about) made up my day :D
Also let me not mention the boring waiting time, which is one of the deadliest of all killers.

Coming to the evening time arriving at the venue (after another search and breakdown of the vehicle just to my luck) I managed to reach on time and finally meet my buddies Ramon, Setul and Shashank (eh did I mention these guys work for EMI Music India and they bloody meet and even tour with most bands!?) who got me my pass for the show. Due to some unforeseen circumstances and shit I couldn't be with them but I did make up for that being in the crowd. I owe you a lot buddies, thank you for everything, especially Ramon, whom I've been "pestering" (just the word?) since the past few weeks for this day. (heck Setul was even scared to ask me how many times I must have called him) :P Drinks are on me next time!

The place was jam-packed and there were hundreds outside without tickets hoping to buy and get it in before the show (the police drive them off, hard luck for them). All tickets were sold out within 2 days when they were announced some weeks back, that clearly indicated how much India wanted POTF. Since I was not so on time really, arriving some time before the scheduled time of 8 PM, I was somewhere caught in the middle of the crowd, which I (being an ass after all) managed to discreetly and with (a lot) effort manage to go upfront during the very annoying waiting time when rock tracks were being played and I jumping and screaming on most of them (random folk even asked whether I came for POTF at all) :D

 Hard Rock Cafe Pune with the crowd

After waiting for nearly 2 hours in the hot sweating condition in the crowd, that totally vanished when the much awaited guys came up on stage (being cheered and screamed at since they could be spotted from the balcony till walking up the stage) who wasting not even a second further started off the show with Kamikaze Love. Dam! Marko greeted the crowd (and continued to speak throught out the gig at times) and they played songs from the old and new, Diamond for Tears, Temple of Thought was greeted with much energy followed by Roses and people (including me, mostly) literally cried when they played Cradled in Love. Beautiful, just beautiful! :')

They continued playing classics like Stay, War, The Lie Eternal and one of my personal favourites Locking up The Sun, which was started by Marko screaming INDIA!

"Is there a hero somewhere, someone who appears and saves the day
Someone who holds out a hand and turns back time."

I got the answer just a few meters away from me as the band and the crowd sang (or rather screamed) these words. POTF did the exact dam thing! Nailed it.

The best moments which I can recall are Marko pulling up his cell phone and telling us "So I'm seeing you want us to perform certain songs - you want us to play Illusions and Dreams?" I swear I screamed my lungs out "YES!" and so did the crowd. That is probably my most favourite POTF track, this was a moment for everyone to relish.

So can you name your demon?
Understand its scheming
I raise my glass and say "here's to you"
Can you chase your demon?
Or will it take your freedom?
I raise my class and say "here's to you"

That was the band's tribute to the fans, which received overwhelming energy packed powerful positive response. I was moving (remember?) jumping screaming with joy totally lost in the awesome vibe of the show when there was again a brief silence as whenever Marko addressed the crowd. He went on to say they were about to perform a song, rather THE song which POTF first wrote. In that moment I immediately yelled (jumping and screaming as I always was) MAX PAYNE! I got a view looks around from the crowd but that is not the point- Marko turned towards me and was like "Oh Yeah!" and they began to perform Last Goodbye. That was it. That was THE moment. That was MY moment! (I still so dam wish there was some sort of recording of it!) I'm never going to forget this in my life! (well until something better happens that is) He might not remember it most likely (sort of obvious, but well I hate that word) but for me that was like a milestone in itself. I'm a avid gamer and Max Payne was one of the first games I ever played and one of my most favourite which brings nostalgia of my childhood. The band wrote Late Goodbye for Max Payne 2 (which as he said was one of their first works) and that was how I heard of them first. Max fucking Payne. Gave me another good memory to relish.

When it seemed the show wrapped up and they were leaving saying thank you and all, the crowd cried for more. It was an awesome sight, as the frontman immediately turned back and came down to the stage again and they performed Dreaming Wide Awake and one final song which probably every other person who listens to music might have heard - Carnival of Rust. At this time the crowd was with full energy level despite being so tired that it was hard to differentiate on who was actually singing. They ended the awesome gig with Marko going back up the staircase to the balcony and finally ending it there gazing at the entire crowd from above as some god. It was dam cool. Perfect.

courtesy of Dijesh Nair

Thus ended a unfortunately short performance because of various (should I mention disappointing on the part of the management?) but very successful gig by Poets of the Fall. I along with many others could not digest the fact Lift was dropped, but oh well it was still absolutely brilliant. The big concerts with huge crowds in football stadiums are cool, but such small limited ones have a charm of its own, the intimacy here really brings out the beautiful connection of the music and passion between the band and the fans. Being an old fan and all this being happening so unexpected I was very moved (as said many even cried when hearing their favourite songs) I must have had goosebumps throughout the show. Everyone of them was great.

Jari. Jani. Jaska. Olli. Captain. Marko. Every single guy nailed it. (And it is always great to see Marko show his theatricality on stage)

When I read this article by Rolling Stone India some days back, it really did get to me.

“We love India. This is the only country in the world where we feel like great rockstars. We get mobbed at our gigs.”

I surely hope you loved your travel, stay and gigs here. I hoped we lived up to your expectations and exceeded it. You sure did. Thank you for the best day of my life, yet! Hoping to see you again soon!

Ending it with this sweet tee signed by Marko, Captain and Olli which I nabbed from Hard Rock Cafe Pune. (They signed exclusively 20 of them!) :D

Don't cry for your love, cry tears of joy
Cos you're alive cradled in love

Poets of the Fall Live in Pune, India

An App-e-tite well served

IndiBlogger - Connecting Bloggers (across India)

As you read it, it is my knock off version of Nokia's famous tagline Connecting People. That is precisely what IndiBlogger does. Well though the actual one is what you see here, the aforementioned does a decent job in sending the same message (I hope)

The 58th meet took place on 19th August 2012 at the Taj Lands End hotel in Bandra, Mumbai sponsored by Nokia. Before the event itself since few days before I was bit skeptical for firstly despite me being a "techie" I don't own a smart phone! Yeah one reading this might find it hard to believe, me being a computer engineering student, having 5 computers at home, being the "Alienware and Razer" elite, hobbyist, photographer, adventurer, geek and doing all sorts of crap I'm a stone age man when it comes to a cell phone and all it's related stuff. That was a big reason for my awkwardness (which to some extent followed in the meet, but to no worries)
But despite that I did really want to go being a part of the community for some years and receiving their e-mails all the time. So I went which became one of the most memorable evenings of my life.

The ambiance of the venue was splendid. (As people I know always tell me) I usually end up at the right place at the right time, I got to meet the men (and women of course) behind IndiBlogger itself, old timers and got to volunteer being a part of the team! An awesome start with more to follow. (And I also made a new Alien-brother) :D

It was a very marvelous site. A gathering of more than 200 people, bloggers to be precise in an already great venue, most being online friends talking in forums, twitter, etc. throughout the time all related by a single connection - blogging (no Nokia pun intended) who were all meeting for the first time. It was a wonderful site to see and be a part of. Myself meeting literally everyone for the first time.

After (getting a bit high and) greeting all the attendees of the evening and making everyone "feel the brilliance" the much awaited Vikas Khanna and Rajiv Makhni took the stage, who began the main theme of the event AppTasting (Applications, Appetite, Testing, Tasting whichever mash up you like) And since it was sponsored by Nokia with a lot of goodies so #NokiaAppTasting

 The IndiBlogger team welcoming everyone

 The IndiWelcome "HO HO!!"

They started off by how technology is deeply rooted in our lives today, in particularly mobile phones, how integral it has become and how food being (an actual) essential be merged with it. Apps have become a big deal in our lives used extensively (remember my awkwardness?) Rajiv totally pulled if off by making everyone stand, telling everyone to "lustfully" look at our phones and say "I love you" since it makes so much sense in a perspective (Although I agree, I so wished to tell that guy "dude look at me! I'm still waiting for my love god knows when she will enter my life") :P

With this thus began a very creative "debate" between Team Foodies leaded by Vikas and Team Techie charged by Rajiv, randomly chosen bloggers from the audience for choosing a side and putting forth their views and likings for a 30 seconds moment of fame. There were people of varying ages and tastes which was good to see. Did I mention there were prizes to be won (throughout the evening/night)? Oh Yes.

 Rajiv and Vikas in their game

Thinking for myself it would have been tough for me to choose since I'm both a big time foodie and as mentioned a techie, but considering overall as one blogger very brilliantly put forward, it is relatively easy to tolerate without food but how much without technology and internet? (Sorry Vikas!) It appeared Vikas was getting all the love initially but Rajiv soon managed to give a fight.

The Master Chef than shared many of his expertise to the delight of food lovers, cooks and future wives most notable the "Kya aap pyaaz kaat sakthey hey?" contest which was filled with laugh bursting moments, and surprisingly the guy with the "best performance" doesn't even cook. Looks like bloggers win here too. This was followed by a quiz which some of the brave took part it, and when the need arose the crowd took a role. Many foody-facts like famous Indian dishes (which Vikas claimed even he didn't knew like most of us until he heard of it from other places) Being a South Indian myself I was pretty shocked to hear myself that Rasam was so famous which I considered "meh" as common to our households have it every second day. And to the very delight of Mumbaikars when we came to know Vikas honored Vada Pav to the world as nod to us during his visits. Well I guess he won the crowd's heart there itself. (The same dude answered that question who took the first pic above of my back of the tee)

But it was not all just about food, it was AppTasting remember? There was a lot about technology and mobile phone tech in particular, uncommon to most. A very enthusiastic contest between the participants went on. On these parts I remember jumping raising my hands from the side, well I couldn't take part since I was part of the IndiBlogger team, but hey atleast Rajiv acknowledged me saying that looks like I'm ready for every question's answer, so the participants be thankful I'm not taking part. That was a win for me :D
Well in the end the winning 2 chicks got a Nokia Lumia phone and everyone got prizes so I was wondering for once some right place I was in.

A coverage of the entire audience was shown on screen which was shot by a guy before and during the events of the meet, on whom even I had an eye on before the meet started when things were being set up. A fashion show turned silent Charlie Chaplin short movie and a photo hunt which made the entire crowd (finally!) get up their lazy asses, a vast discussion and sharing of knowledge which took place followed by all the ice-breaking and contests. Our celebrities roamed around the places asking for ideas on what would their ideal apps be made, many interesting and hilarious ones included which ranged from how to swap their husband's credit card from the phone (dam woman) to various food and travel related. In the end the one with how drunk one is got a nod, and it actually already exists.

So with nearly 3 hours of awesomeness the dynamic duo signed off for the evening, when the next phase of the much awaited meet came up - Dinner & Drinks :D (well there were snacks and drinks served throughout and I don't remember how much of the latter was already in my system)
Before catching up with people, post discussions and photograph sessions, was announced that IndiBlogger had completed 5 years of existence on 15th August, when a cool cake was brought in to be cut and rejoiced by all. Bloggeshwaris had brought a very sweet card filled with best wishes for the community. Humbled and Thankful!

Birthday card for IndiBlogger's 5th Birthday!

The yummy birthday cake

With this wrapped up a very successful IndiBlogger meet and I'm already looking forward (and helping/working on) the next!

To (sort of) summarize:

• Meet many amazing folks from the people behind IndiBlogger and being one of them in the true sense.
• Didn't have a smart phone, but I was smart enough.
• Its good to raise your lazy ass up once a while always helps
• Active discussion and such meetings are good for the soul (and head, though occasionally somethings are realized after the hangover)
• Cool and Crazy contests, good ideas and thinking can let you win something, gut helps too.
• Continued from of Pt 1, met Vikas Khanna and Rajiv Makhani. Enough said.
• Happy 5th Birthday IndiBlogger! Would be great to see when you turn 50 (By then if I'm alive)
• I realized even my blog is 5 years old, coincidentally even I started blogging when I was 15 in August 2007! So destiny made me be here. 

 So I end with kudos to IndiBlogger for organizing such great meets, and which I never mentioned for FREE! Free always feels good, even if you have hell lot of money (In my case, poor student me)
And special thanks to Nokia India for sponsoring us.

          

                                                                                   There were Angry Birds cookies too! 

 With the stars of the show

Disclaimer: They say a picture says a thousand words, but I decided to go with the words instead as by know one knows from how miserable I felt (sort of) in the beginning and feeling awesome in the end. But yeah, refer to Pt 1 and 2.

Courtesy of IndiBloggers Swati Maheswari (IndiBlogger album link) and Hemal Shah (album link) for all the amazing pictures.
Special thanks to Firzoe Shakir (album link) and Harsh Sodi (blog link)
(Thanks to them was able to hook up the words with some images in the end)
This year 2012 I have been least active sadly, and this was the push I needed to get back on track!

Though this post was inevitable and in the making, the fact that there is a contest and Vikas and Rajiv are going to read (and judge!) this themselves and there are Lumia and Pureview phones to be won, that is like an extra fuel in itself :D (for the god-knows-what-time I need a phone) :P

Update: Well I didn't win (but one of the winners was BlogwatiG, the one who gave that idea for the credit card swipe app) Congrats to the winners. Looks like I'm stuck phone-less for real now until god knows when. Oh well, next time.

Until next time.


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An App-e-tite well served

LIVING THINGS

So today the 5th studio album Living Things by Linkin Park releases today worldwide!
Check out my article/review here in Linkin Park India Unlimited.

LIVING THINGS