Delhi Diaries: Indiblogger meet and the pub

Pub?? Yeh bloggers ki meet hai ya daaru party? Kahaan phas gaye? Yehi jagah mili thi inhein? 

These were the same exact thoughts running through my mind when I first heard about the indiblogger meet at bluefrog. Although blogging for years now, but it was my first chance since joining a blogging website Indiblogger so that I could meet other bloggers and also increase the visibility of my blog. Last few meets were Saturday scheduled and with no off for me , this was a blessing in disguise as it was held on Sunday. I checked it once again with indiblogger on twitter whether my pocket would take a hit or not…the good news, no entry fees J

I didn’t knew what to expect, what all happened in these meets…was a bit nervous as hell. So i started thinking that i`ll not expect anything and just go there…maybe something serious would happen..afterall, bloggers seem intellectuals. Reconfirming the timing and venue from the place , I started off to qutab. Once down and with plenty of time in hand , had a dandi march to the venue, asking directions, getting lost in history as I passed by qutab minar. Temptation tempted me to go in but suddenly I realized that its my day to meet new people, history can wait another day. A billboard welcomed me to the venue with the lines “Microsoft and Indiblogger welcomes Bloggers”… That was cool. Had a talk with a few people there as we waited to enter into the main venue. Apart from being greeted by the beautiful and stunning beauties at bluefrog, what I witnessed before my eyes was totally new.

Laptops up and running..Check in with your email id. Well what I got was a personalized welcome…and the t shirt came next. Adjusting my eyes to the dark world of a pub ( a place unknown to me), I choose a seat and looked at the screen. Technology staring right at me, I saw tweets flying thick and fast, automatic checkins being displayed…wow.. Staring at my mobile phone I thanked god that I had enough battery to go tweeting and last the whole session of this meet. Even my tweet got an instant reply from Microsoft. Luckily, I made a few friends in the few minutes I had been there so was not feeling awkward as when I had stepped in to the venue. When it all started, I felt just like a kid at the first day at school…not knowing what will happen and how it would go..As Anoop started the proceedings, I felt that it was going to be different because the agenda written on the paper was rejected…I knew instantaneous things go well and also knew that quite a few of other ones were also first timers at the meet. Ek hi thaaili ke chattey battey. The way 15 seconds of fame progressed, it took me sometime to figure everything out. Then came the diversity of people writing on various topics….food, technology, poems, hindi, poetry, random stuff…Although chances of me getting a chance were remote, but it sure did help me find people from one particular field of service I respect from the bottom of my heart and almost worship- Defence. Felt like just like a small child in a toy shop. Not one but 3 ex defence people…2 from the army and one from the navy…Damn my fav. Air force was missing J . Number calling took up the surprise slot. People actually winning hard cash, free beer, mouse, tshirts and all such stuff doing virtually nothing. Wearing a striped shirt that day got me a shirt. How cool is that....

Things went smoothly until I knew something boring would come up- Microsoft 365. Although it was a sponsor but I was not really in the mood to hear about software on my off day. Gaming consoles might have been another story…Far cry, Max Payne, Xbox 360….hmmm..tempting. The heart then said that atleast listen. Little did I knew that it would surprise me at the end. Listened to the features, queries by others and all and then all broke off for refreshments. There I made up a few more friends, talked at length about blogs and stuff. People winning money there also for performing impromptu tasks. I took a step ahead but my doctor`s advice halted me.. “ Beta, you`ve just got off with a fractured leg, wanna risk it again for money”? So, I decided to play it safe and enjoy the evening. Finally after sometime I headed back inside again for what I called it a “return to base” call. All this while I noticed that there were veteran bloggers, ladies, girls..people from all walks of life. Finally I knew that `Beauty with brains` are a reality. Now twitter made its appearance. Asked one feature of 365 helping in enterprise and told to tweet, I went forward and made a tweet. Not expecting anything, surprise…surprise…anoop read it and I won a Microsoft mouse out of nowhere. Now this was ultra awesome. I had come in empty handed and now I was sitting with 3 goodies in a matter of just 4 hours. My new found friends were surprised and happy and I was dumb struck, but beeming. With Microsoft india cloud services head, Ritu Chaturvedi joining us after the break I considered her the lady luck.

The whole team from indiblogger was faboulous. Be it Anoop, Prateek  and the others too who made my day and evening memorable. When we finally wrapped up after the group pic and meet and I walked down with my friend Abhishek to the metro station talking, I knew that I carried home a lot more friends, new and happy memories, something new, and the luck which I knew would make me stand infront of all of them and make me introduce myself, in my own style…Little did I knew that the wish would be granted so soon…in Gurgaon....