What YOU missed at the BigRock Indiblogger WordUp meet

I cannot believe it has already been 5 years since my first ever Indiblogger meet. I can distinctively remember it was 15^th August 2009. This makes me feel old now. Back then blogger meets were attended primarily focused around
1. Free food
2. Freebies
3. As an excuse to nagging parents forcing you to attend your uncle's nephew's neighbour's son's mundan ceremony. Yours truly was no different and subsequently added to the list was Free Wi-fi. (I sense techies nodding their heads in agreement.)

So this was my probably my 5th blogger meet since I started blogging and I've been on and off. The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Lewis Hamilton meet is the last I attended and so was looking forward to this meet. Location: The famous resto-pub The Blue Frog at Lower Parel and time of meet : 9 am. 9 am? Who goes to a fun blogger meet at 9 am?! However I went and the early getting up bit was made up with a rocking concert by the IndiBlogger band. Who would've thought a rock concert at 10ish in the morning! Awesomesauce.

Now the real fact this meet was more awesome – was I was gonna meet bloggers like me. The only difference was they had made a cool living by blogging. Back in 2008, when literally everyone had started blogging -yours truly included- one never imagined it to be a full time profession. Why, even the mere thought was incredulous. And then the boom of social media happened and suddenly Content was King. The meet started with IndiBlogger's Anoop as the emcee followed by Vinit Goenka delivering the keynote peppered with diplomacy.

Speaking next was Amit Agarwal from labnol.org, who was blogging since 2004, like the Jurassic era of blogs advocated using wordpress.org over blogger.com. His thoughts made a lot of sense as wordpress was more search engine friendly and had more analytics features. He also spoke about never giving away content for the lure of freebies.

Next up was the literal YouthKiAwaaz Anshul Tewari who relentless struggle and belief in his socially aware idea catapulted during the Arab spring of 2011. Cannot believe he does not have a single ad placed on his website.

Varun Krishnan, the founder of FoneArena.com gave an insight on monetization on blogging. He spoke about how important it is keep focus on the content while the money will follow.

Chai with Lakshmi Rebecca can give a KJo a run for his Koffee. Her tete-a-tete along with Sumit Singh of Cleartrip, was refreshing. Lakshmi advised hiring your own help for editing content for video blogging while Sumit gave due importance to maintaining a clean, easy to navigate and responsive template for Pcs, Tablets and mobile devices. Sensible. Harsh Agarwal of shoutmeloud.com highlighted more technical aspects of blogging with primary focus on SEO. Who knew search engines can be picky!
Uber cool Sherezade Shroff described her dislike for writing and love for fashion. She reminisced her experience when a brand approached her to review facewashes and rejected them outright because of her affinity to Medimix soap. Story ninja and Tea sommelier Snighda Manchanda narrated a sweet story of how she discovered her liking for Tasting Teas and weaving wonderful stories. 'Ideas come and go, Stories Stay' So true. Also, I truly liked her 7 basic story idea plots. CS Krishna highlighted their run in with the law for turning up the heat with Mrs Gandhi and Mr Singh video. Their video got a million likes, but the Sec 66A IT Act was breathing down their necks.

Overall the day long meet was supercharged and even better that it ended on time with a bang. Like literally, headbanging.

Missing (Part 8)

This is part Eight of a story that I am writing in collaboration with some very talented writers on Blogadda's Game of Blogs. Our team name is 'Tete-a-ten'.

Read the previous parts of the story here:Missing-Part 1
Missing-Part 2
Missing-Part 3
Missing-Part 4
Missing-Part 5
Missing-Part 6
Missing-Part 7

Still groggy from his sleep Cyrus looked at Roohi and then turned his gaze towards the people surrounding her. He wore his spectacles and was still adjusting his eyes to the bright light that shone from the warehouse ceiling when he clearly noticed the small mob of people. Looking at the mob gathered shook Cyrus back to his senses as Roohi tugged him further towards them. 

He looked at the woman in front and the man right behind her and realized they are Roohi's parents. A multitude of thoughts ran in Cyrus' head. Why are they all here? What are they thinking? Did they think he'll harm Roohi? Would they hurt him? Should he run? Where would he run?  He noticed various expressions were across their faces – anger, disgust, nervousness, concern. This made Cyrus nervous. Very nervous and uneasy. Beads of sweat had now formed across his forehead. He felt weak in his knees, his hand now slipped from Roohi's grip and without realising his body was now swaying, about to give away. His head spun. Closing his eyes he held his head in his hands and winced. In less than ten seconds Cyrus Daruwala fainted at the Ballard estate warehouse floor.

*THUDDDD *

“He's fainted !” Tara exclaimed as she and Shekhar took a few steps back sensing the impact of the fall.

“Cyrus! Cryus!” screamed Roohi and looked at her mother. “What happened to Cyrus mom?” Roohi seemed genuinely concerned with tears now welling up in her eyes.

Tara scooped Roohi closer and away from Cyrus and towards one from their friends' group. Shekhar and his friend moved closer to Cyrus lying on the floor. Cautiously they approached him and saw his face clearly now. His big thick rimmed spectacles were now skewed across his fair skinned face. He looks in his early twenties Shekhar thought. Isn't he too young to be a kidnapper? he further thought. Without wasting any more time, Shekhar animatedly exchanged glances with his friend near the door and signaled to call and inform the police.

Roohi realised what was happening and was now crying inconsolably and was making repeated efforts to approach Cyrus.

“Now, Now Roohi dear. Please! Sweetheart Please!“ Tara tried to hug her tight and comfort her, but in vain. 

She wiped the tears from Roohi's face but Roohi howled “I warned you Papa! You don't listen to me! I told you he would get scared if we all went together! I told you !!”

Tara saw her husband approaching a fainted Cyrus.

“Be careful now, Shekhar” voiced a concerned Tara who was now trying to console Roohi. Now Shekhar searched Cyrus' pockets and hands for any concealed knives, drugs, firearms. He checked the area around him. He got Cyrus' wallet and a note: “Mission Roohi : Do it today!”

Shekhar's head spun. He looked closely at the note, read it and reread it again.

What was this note? Why was Roohi's name over this? Why Roohi?

From a distance Shekhar could hear the screech of tyres coming to a sudden halt. Doors snapped to a close and footsteps echoed in the night. The eerie silence across the warehouse was broken as the doors opened with Inspector P N Kamble entering with his troop of constables.

“Where is he? Kuthe aahes toh? ” said P N Kamble in chaste Marathi.

He marched in and signalled his constables to the usual drill.

“Ek minute saheb. Thamba. Please wait! ” said a soft but commanding voice that came from behind the Inspector.

Little did everyone notice Dr. Sneha Phadnis walking in and said “Yes, that's him...he was missing..."

_________________________________________________

Stars dance in the moonlit skies,
Figures prance around and around
Dreams glow like fireflies,
Moving from lost to found.

Somewhere in the mischievous mind,
Images float on a horses hind,
In the gardens of endless surprise,
Laughing nights and the happy sunrise.


Figures roam in the darkness of shadows
Hope hangs within the gallows,

Moving clouds and singing rain

Butterflies on the ramp again.

Farther than the running man

Snowcapped mountains on the ceiling fan,

Dreams drift into a sleepy thatch,

Reality closes a delicate latch,

Angels sing and fairy's tell,

Hundred stories in a sea shell,

Bells ring and time to fly,

Roohi's eyes wave goodbye.

CONTINUED...

Read Part 9  Missing (Part 9)

“Me and my team are participating in ‘Game Of Blogs’ at BlogAdda.com. #CelebrateBlogging with us.”

(P.S. Feature Poem Credit: www.gyanban.com)

Book Review: 60 Minutes

‘The mightier they are, harder they fall’ goes the adage. Truly, the powers of the corporate world with the rapid ascent and rapider descent are definitely not for the faint hearted. Read on as I write my review on the new thriller authored by Upendra Namburi : 60 Minutes.

This is not my first review of Upendra Namburi’s books. I reviewed his first book again through BlogAdda’s Book Review Program which you can read here

It’s has been two years since I reviewed 31 and now the next in the triumvirate series is 60 minutes. Hope to review the third one too: 8 hours due in 2015. (Mr Namburi, autographed copy next time!) So obviously I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a certain level of excitement and expectation out of this book and further reviewing it Ican assure you, is not a let-down.

Right, getting down to the brass tacks. The author has created the main three characters to be strong, determined and powerful to the level of self-destruction. The story revolves around Agastya and Sailesh the CMOs of two MNCs that are at loggerheads to gain market supremacy for the launch of their respective products. One is a ambitious, suave and brash maverick while the other is a brilliant, calculative and experienced veteran of the high profile corporate world. How their commitment to propel their respective companies to the helm of market supremacy while deeply discounting on the matters of their personal lives is what the plot is about. Maithili is the third strong and ambitious character who is determined to create a permanent turbulence in the lives of not one, but many.

The design of the main story is woven into 26 chapters with each chapter alternating between events unfolding every five minutes and what delves deeper into the past of the lives of the three main protagonists. The 361 pages are written in lucidly and has a nice flow to it. Even to novices like myself on the aspects of stock markets and the terms are explained in a simply but descriptively. Moreover, it throws some light over the inner workings and dealings of the corporate world with political associations, the media glare, treachery by inner intelligence team and sabotage by to arch rivals.

Thrilling and pacy, I was hooked to the book right till the end, always trying to figure out how the story is going to come to an end. Will all hell break loose? What would you do when you have to choose between the devil and the deep sea? 60 minutes -promises you the adrenaline rush of the play in the bourses, the emotional upswings and romantic escapades of the protagonists and the power of the high and mighty while battling for survival in the corporate jungle-has the right mix of ingredients for a corporate thriller.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!