a welcome change...

The first time I ever came to know about this meet was through an email, which was quite some time back.

I was sure, after the Zee Zindagi meet, I wanted to attend something more informative; but finally when this meet was announced, I didn't find any seats left. It left me disheartened. Not as much for me, but for my teenage son who could have benefited tremendously from it.

Thanks to Sujata Tawde, a co-blogger, who assured that if there would be some cancellations we would be able to register. And we did.

It was the sweetest thing that could have happened to me....

...the IndiBlogger Big Rock WordUp Meet!

Sweetest, not only for having received the bag of goodies; but Sweetest for the simple reason that I had the pleasure of attending this meet with my thirteen year old son Shahen Pardiwala an IndiBlogger too.  

   So it shall always remain for me, a special one.

The father and son duo drove down to Blue Frog, talking all the way through, about movies, politics and blogging, of course.

He surprised me with his thorough research on every guest of the day, generously brushing me up with a small introduction of each one of them.

We reached almost before time and were happily clicking our selfies, when my eyes glided to this colorful persona in astonishing extra-ordinary attire, Firoze Shakir Sahab. This gentleman, almost always with a camera in his hands, amazes me with his energy, at his age.

Further inspired, I moved on for the registration, into this cozy venue, where I helped myself with a light and hurried breakfast, eager for the meet to get started.

There on, though we sat together, but we, father and son, were two individuals grasping and making best of what was being offered.

Viewing the pictures, a day before, of Anoop and Nihaal, preparing for the rock performance I thought it would be some amateurish try. But I was proved wrong, the band rocked and how! I have to admit here, it was my first. So, I may not be the best judge of their stint but I thoroughly enjoyed, simply letting my hair down, literally.

For me blogging has always been an extension of my writing, be it my articles in newspapers or my book or blog, I was never keen to know or learn about SEO or analytics or whatever you may name it, in short, all the technicalities. 

I believed creativity alone can drive home the point. But the guest presenters of the day surely managed to make me believe otherwise.

Amit Agarwal, Harsh, Scherezade, Anshul, Lakshmi, Krishna 

were some who really impressed me with their confidence, comfort and their belief in what they do.

The five or six screens all around, with tweets running all through, were initially quite a distraction, but these guys lit the stage and managed to glue me on.

Amit Agarwal~ Amazing and to the point. I have taken your word seriously and am upgrading to WordPress.

Harsh Agarwal~ True to his expertise. S.E.O! Thankfully, I know what this damn acronym means.

 Krishna~ Bow down to your guts.

Scherezade~ Honest and added quite some spark on stage with her revelation that she hardly understands the tech stuff.

Anshul~ Keep it up.

Lakshmi~ Vlogging is something which I am keen on starting and your crisp narration was stimulating.

There were some others as well but it’s just that, maybe, I tuned into these ones better.

The lunch was sumptuous and good enough for us to resume the post lunch session.

      I personally believe, this was a great initiative by IndiBlogger and such informative, interactive meets should happen quite often so the new bloggers on the block, like Shahen,can benefit from the stalwarts and the mostly creative kinds like me, start appreciating the tech part of it.

           Made a few friends met some old ones and after the selfies and twitter moments,

we drove back discussing, of course, blogging again. 

I with a sense of pride for my little blogger, who, I am sure, had gained tremendous insight into this new foray and simply sharing his little success of being the youngest blogger attending the meet.

                       

Things did change, the way I perceived blogging 

as, and it did, for the better.

Nozzer Pardiwala