#IndiMum: Deflowered by the sea-princess...
“O-k-a-a-a-a-y, Hotel Sea Princess, eh? Right!”
Well, honestly, I had absolutely no idea where Hotel Sea Princess was. But I knew I had to be at #IndiMum.
I know, I know, all the jokes about it being a congregation of hot Indian mothers have been taken, and thanks to my previous job no one can fathom me going to a silence convention. Thus, there’s no option left but to explain #IndiMum right away – which, if you notice, I didn’t do. Sorry.
So anyway, #IndiMum was the twitter hashtag for the Indiblogger meet that happened at Hotel Sea Princess, Juhu on the 15th of August. Call it the Bloggers version of an AA meet if you will – at least that’s what it felt like when the introductions happened.
Wait, I’ve done that thing again, where I jump the gun, leaving you guys confused. And when I say you guys, I mean you – Shrikant, and the reading glasses – the only two things that are actually reading this. But since you are me, let me start from the beginning.
The Mumbai Indiblogger meet (henceforth referred to as #IndiMum) had already started by the time I reached the venue. The Missus had other plans initially, but tagged along just for the heck of it – or so she claims. I suspect that she did so because she didn’t want to leave me alone in the company of all the pretty ladies who’d turned up. Maybe she suspects me. Must be careful.
So I entered & spotted Sahil (@sahilk) & Poonam (@_alps) & we made our way towards them. Just in time for the introductions too, as we soon figured out. I was to introduce myself after Sahil, who was waiting for Poonam to finish hers. So I did the thing that is most typically me. I hijacked his introduction, branded him a flirt, and gained (?) brownie points with the ladies for being funny – or so I assume. I didn’t dare look at the Missus after that.
As usual, I could think of nothing funny to say, so I said a lot of things. I don’t remember any of it now. I assume that must be a good thing because I remember thinking at the time that the introduction was a pretty forgettable one, anyway. The Missus wasn’t registered as a participant but everyone prompted her to introduce herself too. She did a pretty fair job of it. In fact, if I were the suspicious types, I’d say she came prepared. Oh wait. Dang. I’m sure she suspects me. :|
After the introductions, we were given huge cards to wear around our necks. You were supposed to get the others to write comments on your card – thus making you the offline equivalent of a blog-post.
My card came out looking pretty much the way all of my blog-posts look: mostly clean, with comments ranging from the polite (“Nice meeting you!”) to the half-a$$ed (“Just wanted to spam!”) to sheer brilliance (“My husband’s actually quite sweet – don’t believe his lies!”) – okay, so the last one was written by the Missus. :|
(I think she deliberately wrote that to get back at me for writing the following comment: “Warning: She’s married to me! – @shrikant” on her comment-card. Then again, maybe she suspects me…)
Oh by-the-by, the wackiest introductions got prizes from BigRock – one of the sponsors. They also had a quiz session later and I won some goodies, too! The Missus claims I almost badgered them into giving me those. I think she says that only because she suspects I was trying to flirt with the chick who was conducting the quiz. Let me clarify that I was not – I was just trying to prove my utter intellectual superiority. :P
By this time, Gul Panag (activist, actor, animal lover, adrenalin junkie, adventurer, biker – at least that’s what her twitter profile says.) had walked in & the term “head-turner” was being defined in the Regal room of Hotel Sea-Princess, Juhu for anybody who cared*.
Gul moderated the “Battle of the Bloggers” discussion, which IMHO didn’t go all that well. The audience was divided by age rather than choice – thereby confusing both sides. The topic was something to do with Bloggers & Journalists & how blogging is the new media. Unfortunately, it got lost in translation because everyone wanted to make their voice heard and/or wanted to prove they were either:
- Social Media experts.
- Blogging & SEO experts
- Preening for Gul.
Me? I preened so much that I was later used as a benchmark for the category! That said, I must state that I managed to elicit a response/compliment from Gul that went along the lines of “I like your hair-band – it looks quite hot!” Needless to say, I was slightly disappointed with her choice of words. Couldn’t she have said I looked hot in the hair-band? Suffices to say, the Missus seemed pleased. More reason to think she suspects me, innit?
I must admit, Gul would have made a better moderator if she knew where to interrupt the ‘preens’. So after about 30 minutes of the preening orgy, the IndiBlogger team decided that Gul had seen enough ‘preens’ to ensure she’d rather kiss Vivek “Prince” Oberoi than any of these ‘preens’. So they called the proceedings to a close & let Gul leave. Shortly after her departure, the guys at Hotel Sea-Princess were asked to turn down the AC.
Another interesting moment of the day: The IndiBlogger team had tied up with a young director-writer-actor who wanted to show his debut movie “Soch Lo” to a ‘discerning crowd’ – or so he claimed. Unfortunately, all he got was a bunch of free-loaders like us. To me, the first look of the film was pretty decent. However, I suspect the film will be an also-ran when it releases – thanx to the low level of enthusiasm it seemed to have generated among the Indiblogger junta. Apparently, they ran a “Soch Lo contest,” too. I’m glad I didn’t participate in the contest or the Missus would have suspected me even more. Hmmm.
And that is how I lost my blogger-meet virginity / got deflowered by the Sea-Princess at #IndiMum – and that too, without getting f**ked! ;)
People I met: @sahilk, @_alps, @ideasmithy, @arcopolc, @mahafreed, @beeayeanoowhy, @teatattler, @Netra, @mohanbn – the Indiblogger of the Month, @harmanjit, @Mizohican, @sidoscope, @SnehaSSharma, @rati7, @OSMehta, @aldebaran14 among others… In fact, IndiBlogger enthusiast, @Miilee has already compiled a Twitter list of almost all the junta at #IndiMum.
Reviews of #IndiMum: Indiblogger keeps compiling all reviews of #IndiMum, here. And yes, I like the way they say:
“This meeting concluded successfully.”
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Footnotes:
*Not that anybody cared. I mean, people didn’t care to define the term “head-turner” is what I meant. Everyone was turning their heads to look at Gul, of course… :P