Tag: Indiblogger

The Mega Event: BNLF 2015

It all started when a new tab opened up on the Indiblogger website, with a weird name, #BNLF. Curious, I checked it, turned out to be a blogging event to be held at Mumbai during Oct 31 and Nov 1. I liked the dates, as I would be available, so I joined in.
As days went by, the buzz began to pick up. Slowly and steadily, I found a lot of people whom I follow were attending this event, so the interest got stoked. Ultimately, on the event days, it was a mega hit. Approximately 500 bloggers from all over the country had come. Some of the major motivational speakers, keynote speakers, professional trainers, celebrities, all were there. What more, I was also the part of the Indicrew, which was basically a volunteer group which was formed with the bloggers to help in the smooth functioning of the event. With the camera with me, and in the company of a few more photographers, we covered the event and came up with some shots I can feel proud about.

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Welcoming the bloggers

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A detailed report of the event can be found here.

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Arnab Ray – Guest Speaker, Blogger, Social Influencer
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Kanan Gill – Guest Speaker, Vlogger, Comedian, Engineer

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As for the photos, I am sharing approximately 150 photos covering various events of the meet. Some are solo photos, some are group and some are abstract. You, my dear reader, are allowed to view the photos and also use them in your social media sites and blogs, with due credit being given to me. The photos are copyrighted. Also, understand and respect your fellow bloggers and be responsible while you use the photos. Use them in a way, that would be fine with you, if your photos are used in the same manner.

Should you choose to accept and abide to the above conditions, proceed here. In case you have certain doubts, be a good citizen and turn back from this page.

It was one of the best experiences till date. To meet with so many like minded people and have an amazing interaction with them, a lot of networking, and making new friends too.

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Bruce Dickinson – Guest Speaker, Singer( Iron Maiden), Pilot, Entrepreneur
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The Fangirls
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Met as strangers, parted as friends!

Am waiting eagerly for the next iteration, where I am sure, it shall be bigger, better and be more disruptive than ever.

Cheers!!

 

by Categories: Personals, PhotographyTags: , , , , , , , 19 Comments

Birds of the same flock: Pune Bloggers Meet

Time and again, I have come across invitations of bloggers meet but have never managed to attend one. Reason being, none of them being organized in my city. So, this time, as I reached Pune, my first thing to do online was, to organize a bloggers meet.
Proper channels were used and the date was set. As for the venue, 11 East Street Cafe was my first choice. This is a cafe which I hold very close to  my heart. A lot of memories and nostalgic emotions are attached. To avoid any issues coming up at the last minute, I went there personally and booked the slot for our meet.
So, here I was, organizing a bloggers meet, which would be a self sponsored one….it felt just too bland, too simple. So, I called up Zomato to see if they could pitch in something and they agreed. Now I was happy. I managed to get a major food review site associated with us too.
On the eventful date, it was an amazing event. We had bloggers from quite a large spectrum. And I dare say, I made some amazing friends, Vikram, Vibhuti, Tara, Aziz, Shubhashree and Vatsala and the evergreen Rutuja.

Here are some of the photos from the amazing evening.

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Vikram
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Vibhuti
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Aziz
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Shubhashree
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Rutuja
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Tara
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The amazing trio

It felt amazing to meet these wonderful people and to discuss the ways to improve. To me it was a great experience and am sure, the future meets shall have much more participation and we’ll make some more friends.
See you all in the next meet.

Cheers!!

 

 

by Categories: PersonalsTags: , , , , , , , 5 Comments

Reset: Start a new life!

Do you feel sometimes, that this life, the one you have right now is somewhat dull, somewhat boring, and you would really want to have a reset button? I do! I mean, I did! What changed, what made me reconsider, read on! And…if you manage to read till the end, there’s a photo and a nice video waiting too 😉

Post my schooling and I had three paths open, Engineering, Medical and BA in English. For the B.A, I was interested, it was my second choice, with preference to Engineering or Medicals. I managed to clear the entrances for BDS, not MBBS, and I wasnt ready to drop a year, so I took up Mechanical Engineering. I became a Mechanical Engineer.
Now, in the 4th year, placements loomed, and I felt, so what it’s an IT company, it pays fine, it’s a multinational too, it ll be fun! So…off I went away from my stream and I became a software tester, working on Mainframe systems!

For the ones, who are not familiar, I ll give a simple explanation. I changed from tuning engines and welding in the college workshop, sweating and greasy, to a formal clad, sitting in an air-conditioned office and basically checking computer programs if they work fine or not. It felt like a complete U-turn from what I had learnt and dreamt of doing. Anyway, it was my job, and I had to do it properly. I learnt programming too and I daresay, was good at it. I knew my job, and I knew how to do it well enough.
I used to pull overtime on the days that demanded it, and surprisingly I loved it. I loved the hectic schedule, the way we would live for the Friday and Saturday nights, how we would hate the Sunday nights and Monday mornings, I loved it all. What I didn’t like was the documentation and at times the repetitive stuffs we would need to do.
Maybe I was still on the “new job” high, but after 13 months of zooming through the office on chairs with wheels, I was getting restless.

This was when I decided, I need to reset my life to some time back. To a time from where I could pursue my stream again and not deviate much from it. This was, 6 months from now. I gave up my job, appeared for higher degree exams and got through to a Post Grad program in Project Engineering Management. That ll keep me in touch with my areas, and let me grow too. So, if everything goes fine, 4 months from now, I ll be at Pune, becoming a student again. But, hey…GATE results are around the corner too right 🙂

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India win against Pakistan in ICC WC2015

Hope you don’t need a reset button in your life, and if you do, lets hope you find it soon enough!

Out with the old, in with the new!! Check this out!

Check the details right here

Cheers!!

by Categories: PersonalsTags: , , , 2 Comments

Optimism, Hope…Love

Hi all,

We blog for a reason, or rather a host of reasons! It might be a way of self promotion, self-realization or simply a place to let go. My posts generally are more inclined towards the stories through photos. But then, I came by a campaign to write about the moments that has given me hope, optimism for the future! So, here it is, a tiny part of the grand story I call, my life.

We start, like most stories do, with a happy relationship and promises of better future. Trust me when I say this, things really did look very bright then. Time flew by, and the relationship lost its sheen. Stress developed and the veneer of perfection cracked and the rust began to creep in. Yes, things turned bad. Misunderstandings, ego clashes, harsh words, we had them all, and ultimately, we snapped. Almost 5 years of relationship was lost. I had heard that a break up could be tough, but never imagined how much tough it actually is, till I got the first hand experience. It was as if I was stuck in a dark phase, nothing seemed to be cheerful. Life actually appeared bland, devoid of colour and spice. Call me dramatic, but that was exactly what I had felt. Trapped, bogged down…lost!

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It’s not as if I didn’t have friends to take my mind off the things. But, I always craved that tiny bit of “special” attention. Suggestions flowed in, the most common amongst  them being socialize. I tried that too, met up with some people, tried making new friends, they didn’t help much though. We all have that one friend who knows what exactly will solve the problem, this time, it wasnt a “what”, rather a “who”. This, certain “who” turned out to be junior of mine. A year junior academically, but, as I soon found out, it didn’t matter at all!
Introductions were made, and friend requests were sent away. It was fun because, here was a lady, who has no prior idea of who I was and vice versa too. So, it all depended on what we posed as. We chose to be honest. I liked her. Liked the way she would answer my questions, counter question at times with very valid points. It became a habit to chat with her, no calls yet, I didn’t have her number and didn’t have the courage to ask it too. I would wait patiently in the evening, for her status to have a tiny glowing green orb beside her name, and we would chat. We became friends, and I found out that she was an accomplished person. College topper, excellent artist, gifted with the pencil in sketching, a vivid dreamer, superb imaginations and I found her beautiful. She was pretty no doubt, plus, I repeat, she was beautiful. There was something in her smile that would make me smile in the darker days too and the twinkle in her eyes, simply spell-binding.
You may wonder, where’s the optimism or hope? Well, if you have read till now, you must know that I totally adore this lady. It was a call from her, on my birthday, the first call from her, that was my sign. During our first conversation, we talked about the creative things she does. She had a list, and I didn’t have much to say. I remember her saying “go creative,  you ll be happy”. Maybe I needed this push, or maybe I just needed her to give me the push. This was almost two years ago. Since then, I have picked up photography, followed by blogging, travelling solo, learning music and also a new language. She is still one of my best sources of inspiration and one of the parameters of my works is always, “Will she be impressed by this?” She is one of the closest friends I have and my photos bear her presence, and I feel that wont change in a long time to come. I still strive to impress her everyday. Now, we talk, chat, flirt, fight, love…care everyday!
I know you ll read this, so…here’s to you, You are simply amazing, and I owe you for making me shed my shell. Thanks 🙂

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That call, was my ray of hope filling me with optimism for the future! Yours may be different, yours may just be this (https://housing.com/lookup).

My photos have been sourced from here.

I ll sign off this post with a line from a movie I once watched….You tell me your story, and I ll tell you mine!
Lets share, lets care, lets grow together!!

Cheers!!

by Categories: PersonalsTags: , , , , , , 9 Comments