WordUp-My First IndiBlogger meet

        

        On my way back from the WordUp event, I got maximum traffic. No! No! Not on my blog, but on the road. Although I wish there is as much traffic on my blog as much there is in my city!!! I was exhausted. It was informative and very well organised! And being a blogger, home schooler and a nocturnal creature, it was very difficult to wake up that early. Even if the event would be at 12 noon, it would've been early for me!!!

So, as I entered my 10 year old complex (that some people call “new complex” since 2005!!!) I met this guy-a friend. He asked me more questions than anyone asked at the event. He asked stupid and irrelevant questions about the event…but it all started when he saw the bag I got from BigRock at WordUp!!! (Thank the Almighty he did not set his eyes on the speakers!!!Shhhh….it’s a secret)

Friend: What’s that?       (Pointing at the big rock bag) 

Me: That’s a bag I got at this event I just came back from. WordUp! An initiative by Indiblogger & BigRock & .me domains!
Friend: Oh so you’ve been to another blogging event to have free lunch.
Me:  Just zip up your big mouth. It was a very good meet. Informative interactive and I also made many new friends.
Friend:  yeah I saw. You were active on twitter throughout the afternoon. Gone to take selfies, naa?
Me: Now just shut it. Now are you going to ask me anything worth answering or should I leave. I am very hungry, you see. 
Friend: Okay so how did the event begin? 
Me:  It was my first meet. So it took me time to open up. I took selfies while we waited outside. 

Friend: okay. Okay. The selfie where you look as if you are just out of bed and someone has pumped air into your mouth.

Me:  Got your point! Please do not elaborate. However it was a damn good selfie! I took it for the contest. The best selfie wins, or rather, has already won!
Friend: No doubt you did not win. And breakfast. You said breakfast was good.

Me: It was. But not better than the IndiBand that followed breakfast! I felt it was helpful. You know we bloggers don't wake up before eleven. At quarter to ten it was required for us to get geared up. 
Friend: who was the guy? Jordan? 

Me: no. but it was definitely the best rock show I’ve witnessed.
Friend: this was the only rock show you have witnessed.
Me: And then...don't you dare interrupt me hence forth. I forget what I am talking about. 
Friend: Sorry pal go on…
Me: Yes and then we had our host...no not BigRock (that’s a web-host)-lively and entertaining, who took us through the program. He introduced us to the only person who works at BigRock!!! Apparently! 
Friend: Yes I was sure even in my dad’s office he is the only one working. The rest 
play candy crush saga! 
Me: Come on I was kidding! How did I select you as I my friend? You completely lack sense of humour. 
Friend: Please stop briefing me about your friend election policies and tell me what happened next after the big rock guy came. 
Me: It was more of an intro to the meet-WordUp. How it all came about. Thanking them, who made it possible, surprising us by telling what's in the bags...and most importantly confirming that everyone present at big rock works and does not play candy crush saga or whatever! 
Friend: And then? 
Me: Then I remembered you.
Friend: Really?
Me: No! Not not at all!! Who would?  But next, or actually the first speaker was Vinit Goenka.
Friend: Another political speech??
Me: No he made it clear at the beginning. Seemingly he flushed the original speech in the toilet while the band did its magic.
Friend: So he talked about e-governance supposedly. 
Me:  Yes and how the new government has understood the power of the internet world. How it will help the central authorities to connect to everyone and their problems.
Friend: seems to be interesting and insightful. 
Me: yes but he was asked a lot of questions; which he answered satisfactorily, to an extent. 
Friend: and what next? 
Me: And the next one was, according to me the best of all. The owner of Labnol!
Friend: oh! Harsh Agarwal?
Me: no you dumb guy! Amit Agarwal. He was confident, very confident indeed! Maybe, because he was well aware of a lot of things! He had answers to all questions. However he wasn’t imposing his knowledge over us. As if, he is the only guy in the world who knows about what he is talking about. He also gave us a long list of different sites and apps that would help us take our blogs and websites to the next level. He admitted, he was lucky enough to create a mark at a time when blogging was at a naive stage. 
                                             

Friend: (with the most stupid look he could possibly give) Okay. Labnol! That's where my dad got his sitemap from.
Me: WOW!!! So I was blabbering something so significant, and you were yet wondering what is labnol! I’d get myself a burger instead of talking to you.
Friend: hey wait up. Tell me what else did he say?
Me: Something that broke my heart. 
Friend: It’s fine if you did not get a selfie with him. Nothing to...
Me: I'm talking about moving to WordPress!!! And in fact, most of the speakers said so. Maybe because Google is blocking them in search engine or because it may just be scraped off. No offense or judgement but just a suggestion... 
Friend: So you took it? 
Me: I will be able to take it only after you let me go! And he said no for writing content for others.
Friend: That’s fine you are too selfish to do that anyways! And who came in next? 
The next guy was as confident as Mr. Amit. The founder of youthkiaawaz! He was damn fluent, young, of course, and handsome! But he too had a lot to share. Youthkiaawaz is a website that helps young minds to speak up about social issues and problems they face. Very inspiring, though! But what insight his story gave, was that one has to stick to what s/he is doing. Be focused and dedicated ..........and that's what you should be doing, focusing on what I am telling. And at least not look at that red headed aunty fighting with the watchman!!! 
Friend: And who was that? The guy you were talking about.
Me: He is Anshul Tewari. And next...hmmmm yes Lakshmi Rebecca.
Friend: And who is she? 
Me: Have you seen Koffee with Karan? Yeah so she hosts an online version of the same, an online talk show which is very engaging. Chai with Lakshmi.
Friend: So, then you drank tea?
Me: No and anyways I prefer coffee! She described her journey. What came out was that a team is a must to carry out a successful venture. It is required to invest in the video making tools recording it and editing... 
Friend: Yes one person can't do much I agree! At least in this field where muti-tasking is required! But it is a risk.
Me: Of course it is. The riskiest thing you've ever done is sneaked into the kitchen and eaten a chocolate!!! (A hearty laugh was complemented by a pinch by the idiot!!!)
Me: And the next speaker came along with Lakshmi. Chai with Sunit that's what it was called. He works at ClearTrip...
Friend: Oh yeah. We had considered it for the Diwali trip but mom said online registration isn't reliable...
Me: May I continue if you are done with your vacation plans for the next thousand years?... So Sunit talked about easy navigation and good design on a website. He also talked about responsive templates for different users and readers. And then lunch.
Friend: Presumably, the only thing you went for! But I want to know what you did after you ate and stuffed your tummy!!!

Me: Then, the founder of FoneArena talked about blog monetization.
Friend: Monetizing...oh like earning money, writing!
Me: No. not LIKE earning but actually earning. What do you mean by like earning??? However, it was more of what blogging is and what it is not and his journey with FoneArena. Although he pointed out things that made sense with relation to blog monetization! Adsense! Made sense! Which means it was of absolutely of no use to you ;)
Friend: And then he sold phones??? 
Me: Yes and told me this iPhone 6 is especially for your friend who is going to irritate you tonight!
Friend: (frowning, it took some time for the joke to seep in) Okay and then? 
Me: Then it was Krishna Chepuri. From the Unreal Times! Talking about legal aspects of blogging.
Friend: Oh Men in Black? 
Me: (Ignoring his comment) he had good satire and literally they got popularity due to controversy. That also tells it again that risk taking is important. They had the courage to go forward and spread UNREAL news...and then they got the popularity and traffic and whatever you call. It is this section 66(A). Honestly it can put you behind bars for everything!!! 
Friend: Even for asking stupid questions, like, who came after this guy? 
Me: I just wish it could. But the next one was worth searching on Google. He is the founder and the only one working at ShoutMeLoud. 
Friend: How do you know? 
Me: Because he is the only guy present so he's the only guy working. And he knew a lot! A lot about SEO...precisely what he talked about!!! I managed to ask him a number of questions. He has a lot of information, knowledge and thought process. He answered my questions very satisfactorily and resolved my doubts!!! 
Friend: I don't know what you are talking about. And that term, what is that, CEO?
Me: No its SEO. Search Engine optimization. He gave some really useful tips. Somewhat like---
Friend: Please spare me! Quickly tell me what’s next. Mom's calling me for dinner.
Me: Good! Just what I wanted to hear! And then Sherry Shroff came up to speak. The full name is - Scherezade Shroff; came and had the most informal talk compared to the rest. She writes on Fashionalized and also has a YouTube channel…Her take was quite contradictory to Lakshmi Rebecca. She does everything all alone- no team! 

Friend: But why is it contradictory to Lakshmi?
Me: So you've already forgotten! Chai with Lakshmi!!! Because Lakshmi said it was important to have a team and on the contrary…
Friend: Oh OK OK! And what else did she say? 
Me: She (Sherry) said that it is important to believe in what you are writing about. You should be truthful to yourself. She said she doesn't believe in SEO and all the technical stuff. She does most of it all alone. But yes she really gave good insight into her ideology...without talking for too long. But it was very engaging!!!  Basically she was speaking about the day in the life of a blogger. What she meant according to me, was that a blogger should continuously be in touch with her/his audience, who are the ones, your blog, ultimately breathes on! 
Friend: Okay Okay. I’m impressed
Me: Seems that you are going to be the speaker next meet!!!
Friend: My pleasure, but tell me who was next? Too many people came to speak!  

                                                
Me: Yeah; first they created their own blogs and now helping fellow bloggers! But the next one was someone really inspiring and had a good story to tell. And also tell how to tell a story. She has a website called Tea Trunk. She sells teas and various combinations she makes. She also narrated how a story is told-giving seven secrets or ways in order to implement a story. And Story Ninja is a very good living example!!! But what I earned as an experience was that each story should have a personal touch. In each tale of yours should connect to the audience his or her own story. One should be able to picturize the events in his mind. And it should be crisp. No long drawn descriptions, but a journey that moves on and takes one through different phases of life!!! And and that's all. Next a stand....
Friend: Hey you didn't tell me who was the speaker of this Tea trunk and… 
Me: Story Ninja. Yes she is Snigdha Manchanda. After her, Bhavesh Ailani cracked some jokes what I'd prefer calling stand-up comedy show...

Friend: In English??? (Surprised that comedy can also be done in English!!!)
Me: Yes in English…And he gave all of us a hearty laugh after this exhaustive day where we learnt and unlearned so much!!! 
Friend: And then you had Coffee. 

                                      
Me: Yeah. Okay. You saw it on Twitter didn't you?  And it was Hi-Coffee for me; I always prefer it over tea. I hope Snigdha and Lakshmi don't mind! And later all prizes were distributed. The Moto G and whatever the other one was. Choose from the remaining 25 alphabets...
Friend: You won anything? 
Me: No but... I tried my best-I tweeted a lot of photos. If I had tweeted just one more photo, I would be marked as a spammer!!!
Friend: See I told you to attend the Photography workshop...
Me: Now, I have better work to do than attend a workshop like that, where one just keeps speaking like a guru…here, none of them had any airs about themselves and was much more interactive. After all the speakers were given what they deserved, prizes awarded, the Indiband were back. All bloggers bashed their heads and the leader of the Band doing it with maximum conviction strength and energy. If I'd had bashed my head harder I'd not be able to write for a week!
Friend: Would've been better. At least you would've come to play football for a week.
Me: And then of course I missed something, hmmm yes! I didn’t mention; Renie concluded the day on a note thanking everyone. Then all of us said bye. Took selfies! Promised to meet up on the place that was the reason for our meeting- the Internet! I also made some new and cool friends. I found so many people who now are on my blog list! 
Friend: Oh I should’ve come with u.
Me: What ‘bout me? I’d be kicked for bringing along spam! And anyways it was for bloggers. Why don't you start blogging?
Friend: What do I blog about? Talking to my friend till 9 in the night while my mom is calling me for dinner! OK bye!
Me: Bye and please change your stupid profile pic on Facebook! It’s disgusting!!!

So guys that's how Mr.Idiot irritated me no end!!! But it was fun reliving those moments!!! I thank Indiblogger for the initiative. The Orange Team of BigRock who deserves gratitude. I give my gratefulness to all speakers. I thank Bhavish for the comedy! I also thank Blue Frog! No not the one who made place for us to park our car, the place where this #WordUp was held. And thank you all involved in giving us these gifts: All those who attended WordUp, please do give a feedback because---

                            Your comment is the food for da soul of da blog…!!!

                                                                          WORDED UP by SHAHEN PARDIWALA