They say ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ and many mighty ones - who dual brave knights of all colors on the wonderful world wide web - showed up for the first Mumbai Bloggers Meet Up of the Year at the Bandra Carter Rd’s Cafe Coffee Day (which is a delightful place off the lovely sea coast).
It was also the first Blogger Meet Up I’ve attended though I’ve been blogging for over 3 years now. Consequently I was not really sure what to expect & it felt a bit like I was heading to a blind date 
When I reached the place I was in another dilemma - had no clue whom I was looking for! Asked the staff if they knew of any **ahem, do I feel like a geek** “bloggers who were meeting up” & though one of them gave me “m’am, everyone here is meeting up” with the “HELLO??!” look, I was escorted out to a set of four tables on the outside.
Pretty much immediately recognised Akshay (from his profile pic on his blog) though he looks (and is) centuries younger than I thought he was, considering his brilliant photography - which proves that age isn’t a barrier for anything anymore!
Scott Rafer made it to the table almost the same time as I did, so we got common introductions to all who were at the table when we reached.
I was at this point sitting between Scott and Akshay, just opposite Aditya. Our end of the table seemed to be filled with brilliantly techy people who were talking a language I couldn’t understand (let alone try to speak) and pretty much everything said was gloriously floating over my head.
For Example: They were discussing among other things: Podcasts, Audio Blogs, Ryze (and honestly, I initially thought they were discussing RICE “Rice is very popular here in India”, sue me), RSS feeds, some dude Mr X (whose name and surname they all knew so well as if he were Gandhi) who was (is?) in the Bahamas and sending feeds to Pune to do #*&$^*$^#$*_#_@#@&*
HUH????
Ok, just smile Melody.
While all this conversation was over my head, the inside of my head is thinking, “I’m a writer, I blog. I have no clue what all this techy stuff is about and I don’t really want to”. But in the meanwhile, very normal looking girls (i.e. not geeky) like Charu and Dina seem to be brilliantly informed about all these things I’m just hearing about. Feel like a dumb blonde minus the blonde bit.
Time to migrate 
The other end of the table has me sighing in relief. Firstly there’s Dilip, who (I find out from his blog later) is a published writer, a very down-to-earth-kurta-wearing father of two - which he generously brought along to the meet up (awwww, cho cweet!!) along with wifey. Wifey turns out to be old friend of my sis who’ve I met a couple of years back (ah! someone known, at last!).
Also present are (somewhat quiet) Salma & pretty bubbly Naina (who ordered a mouth watering looking chocolate doughnut, which she didn’t share, shame shame)
Right next to me was the very quiet (& let me add, sweet) Vijay . I asked him why he was so quiet & he just smiled at me. I later checked out his blog & was not very surprised to read the tagline “No questions asked, No answers given” 
Veer came a little later, along with Vinu, who was armed with digicam (upon which everyone with cams got into frenzied action). It may be argued that I was principle ‘phototakeouting’ advocate, but we shall not get into that right now What matters is that pics were taken. And pics were promised all around (finally got one & posted here).
Joining us a little while later (almost on my way out, since I left early for the prayer meeting) was Saket and Sakshi who unfortunately had her arm in a sling after having had a nasty fall (get well soon!).
All in all, a good meeting. I enjoyed it all (techy stuff included) and was especially happy to meet so many new bloggers I hadn’t even encountered online (Akshay & Sakshi’s blogs are the only ones of the lot I read).
New friends, new blogs & new beginnings in the new year.
I’ll toast my coffee to that.
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February 1st, 2006 at 11:23 am
It was fun meeting you too….and BTW welcome to Desicritics.com.
Should meet up soon again….take care.
February 1st, 2006 at 12:51 pm
hey! was good meeting you too… now that you know blogger meets can be fun, do attend more in future!
and thanks for the normal and non-geeky bit
February 1st, 2006 at 3:52 pm
@ Charu: On the non-geeky thingie - Didn’t mean that in a bad way if you know what I mean. In it’s own inarticulate way, was supposed to be a compliment!! Lol
February 1st, 2006 at 9:10 pm
Whoa! I didn’t know I had already commented here. I just linked to you. Hmmm… Shifty little trackback pings! Not that you would understand. It’s techie stuff. Would like to know who designs your blog and maintains the sidebar and stuff.
By the time I moved to the techie side of the table, most of the tech talk had lifted from the air. I really like the looks of this blog. Quite full. You are beong syndicated. Watch what you write. And I am NOT SWEET! Why can’t someone call me something other than sweet for a change. How about macho?
February 1st, 2006 at 10:01 pm
Hey, Melody -
Can you just cross post this on Desicritics, they wanted an overview on the things and you’ve seem to have done a brilliant job of things over here. Plus I’m feeling a little lethargic to do it myself.
Anyways, all I can say is we should do it again sometime.
February 1st, 2006 at 11:37 pm
Incidentally, am not so un-techy as I made out to be in this post
Pretty much re-designed the blog myself (it was based on a them by Mike Little & I did have help from my dear close brother-friend Ajay), I do all the maintainence on the entire blog & all my sites myself & even understand what trackback pings are… lol… here’s a tip for you to keep in mind for your future: don’t ever be fooled by a woman who claims to be a dumb blonde 
@ Akshay: Ok will post on DC. And yes, we should do it again (at a time/day chosen by me please!! lol)
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:54 am
Hey Melody,
Nice synopsis, BTW i was the one of the techie guys you presumed i guess,
nothing really techie actually, will RSS
Manoj
February 2nd, 2006 at 8:30 am
sounds like fun… pity i missed it!
February 2nd, 2006 at 9:50 am
Now I’m almost sorry I didn’t get off my big fat a** to join you all, geeks and non-geeks,……well maybe next time.
February 2nd, 2006 at 10:53 am
@ gps & Gavin: Yes, it’s too bad you guys couldn’t make it (esp. you Gavin, NO excuse!!) Still, there’s always the next time
February 2nd, 2006 at 3:42 pm
So do all these bloggers have day jobs?
Or am I the only one who has to suffer with one and so not make it to the meet
February 2nd, 2006 at 4:25 pm
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:44 pm
Looks like u had fun… One more reason i miss Bombay now.
February 2nd, 2006 at 8:18 pm
February 2nd, 2006 at 9:04 pm
damn… should’ve hung out at the other end of the table too
February 3rd, 2006 at 10:32 am
Yups im the one who doesnt blog
,but i wud like to produce a Podcast
February 4th, 2006 at 11:40 am
@ Manoj: Sorry! No help from me there! I guess you were at the right end of the table at least
February 4th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
Which reminds me, damn! I’m still wearing the kurta…
Say hi to sis. Stay in touch.
February 5th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Will do (to both requests).
February 5th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
Melody - you should check my new post
you can get the link for downloading the pics there. May be post it here - so that others can read it there too! I seem to be getting lots of referred clicks from ur post
February 6th, 2006 at 12:34 pm