This Monday I got the tickets to Mangalore for attending Naveen’s wedding. In the evening I gave the tickets to Nafisa for safe-keeping. And immediately she said, “Thank God, you gave it to me. Don’t ever think of giving it to Karthik or you will find it in a dust bin”.
To read about that episode you have to read (Un)Lucky in Mumbai.
Sunday, the 26th of April, the indiblogger team was in Mumbai for their fourth indiblogger meeting. It is really exciting to note that this was the fourth blogger meet in three months, just three months. It is quite a feat I believe. I mean, this is totally unprecedented and we never even thought we will be doing so many things in so short a time. Hmmm…
Anyways, coming back to Mumbai blogger meet – it was different. For want of a better word, I will say, it was different. The Mumbai blogger crowd was totally different and the indiblogger team was quite impressed, I must say.
We met some quite interesting bloggers and blogs at the meet thanks to the “one minute to fame” feature at all indiblogger meetings. There was Clement who blogs about Bandra Buggers who was thinking if he should start a sex blog for more traffic. Then there was Anjuli who said she is probably addicted to love. Then there was Kaushal, a cool “design” guy, who gave out awesome business cards. And of course, as is usual these days in every blogger meet, there was this one guy who was a “professional blogger” and who happens to write “professionally” on good parenting but not even married. And then there was this guy who wanted to write about spitting (sorry dude, can’t find your blog). Then there were these two guys who wanted to blog about anything and everything and take them apart, sadistically obviously. Their blog is not yet “up”, I believe. The photography guy (Nimish) got some oohs and aahs for his posts and pictures from the blogger crowd.
The above is a picture of the blogger meet initiator (Preetam) and a couple of indiblogger volunteers (poor folks who for some reason or the other come early to an indiblogger meeting and get caught to act in the indiblogger skit.)
The livewriter presentation by Sandhya went on very well. But I have a bone to pick with Microsoft regarding LiveWriter. I got slightly miffed about LiveWriter asking me to do some “critical updates” to my Windows XP installation without which LiveWriter cannot continue installation. Seriously man, that was a piss off. (Please note that this is a very personal view and the indiblogger team stays neutral to Microsoft and LiveWriter.)
The tea break with snacks was a good ice breaker where everyone mingled and got to know the blog neighbours. There were a couple of women in the crowd who were eyeing the ice cream and thinking if they should indulge or not. Please note, I did not incite them into thinking that the ice cream was really awesome.
We all wanted to have a drink with some of the bloggers after the meet. But then, we got involved with settling the hall bills and everything. So, sorry folks, next time we will definitely have that “indiblogger drink”. Oh, by the way, the “indiblogger jig” was also well received with the Mumbai bloggers. Ha! The joys making a fun of ourselves while enjoying too.
Find more reviews at the indiblogger mumbai meeting page.
Off to the Mumbai blogger meet. Will you be there? The indiblogger team would love to meet you at the meet.
I have also prepared a small presentation on Choosing a blog platform based on the article of the same title at problogger.net. If I have time, I may talk a bit on that.
My tryst with luck or fate or whatever you call it runs true to form, as always. And I hate trains. People are always amazed that I travel long distances by bus rather than train. And there is a reason to it too. I am always unlucky because I always miss the obvious when traveling by train.
Read about my Chennai trip and Mumbai trip to know how I get caught in something or the other while traveling.
Anoop, Karthik, Sanjeeb, N and I went by bus to Mumbai for the Iron Maiden concert. My bro joined us at Mumbai by flight from Chennai. We had an awesome journey by bus. Really! No jokes! So we reached Dadar and we were shown a cold shoulder regarding rooms. But finally we got the rooms. And we started to the concert area – MMRDA grounds in the Bandra-Kurla complex in two taxis. And our taxi which started earlier, of course, was the last to reach the area.
And at the concert area we all got mauled, hehehe. Especially Anoop, my bro and N. Except for my bro and Anoop, we escaped from the mosh pit area and came to the sides. But apparently, Anoop and Edin got caught right in the ‘twirl’. But man, that was real fun, at the end of the day. And, of course, Iron Maiden on stage helped a lot in keeping our moods soaring to new heights.
While coming back, we had to walk so many kilometers looking for a taxi. In the end we got an auto to Sion. As usual we three started earlier and got down at Sion. And I, with my zest for trying out new things, asked if we can take the metro to Dadar. Everyone agreed and we got onto the train. And yes, we were caught by the Ticket Checker for getting on to first class when we had tickets for second class. I mean, we just saw that it was empty and we got on to the first class compartment. No amount of begging and pleading could help us. It was late at night and we did not have the energy or patience to go on. So we paid 500 bucks and walked off. Oh man!!! And yes, we reached much much later again even though we started off first 
And then when we were coming back we went early to Sion for a small refreshment. Our bus was scheduled for 3:00 PM. At 3:40 PM we realize that we did not have our tickets. On thinking back we realized that Karthik had given the ticket at the restaurant to Edin to call and confirm the place of pickup. The two buggers happily left the tickets at the restaurant. Talk about carelessness or something else. And then they both ran to find the tickets. And we were losing time. They came back right on time before the bus came in with a soiled and wet ticket. Apparently, they had to dig it from the trash bin. Yes, my friends, we came back on a soiled ticket. God knows, what Edin and Karthik did inside the trash bin. Hehehehe.
At last, we boarded the bus and reached Bangalore safely. Even in Bangalore, we three reached home last even after getting an auto first. That’s the way it works for me I guess! Apparently, the auto driver was trying to con us and took a wrong turn.
But in the end, we enjoyed the whole trip and the concert. It was immensely satisfying!!!
[digg=http://digg.com/music/Iron_Maiden_Rocked_India_again_2008
Almost a year ago I was one of the most fortunates to watch Iron Maiden in full concert in Bangalore.
I just can’t believe that its been less than a year and Iron Maiden came to India again! Wow! And to top it all, they started their Somewhere Back in Time World Tour 2008 with India as the first concert. Amazing. Thanks guys. You guys seriously made mine and my friends and so many other fans in India happy.
The concert was simply brilliant. I have too many words describe the experience. Some of the songs I best liked were Clairvoyant, Revelations, The Trooper, Heaven can wait and Moonchild. Mind you, these were songs that I didn’t expect them to play. So it was f’ing amazing when they played these songs out of the blue. I went berserk. And all the “Scream for me India” and “Scream for me Mumbai”. Oh boy, what a voice Bruce Dickinson has. Jeez!
So we were six for this concert when we were double for the concert last year. From the core Chows it was just Anoop and I. We missed the others, especially Renie and Naveen who could not make it to Mumbai.
Some pics taken at the Mumbai concert, courtesy Maiden Norway. They’ve even got a video of Eddie 
.
And when Eddie came on stage I almost cried.
That is Eddie playing the guitar with a little bit of help from Janick Gers.
The playlist was amazing with their 80’s songs. The songs I used to love when I was back in School. Ah, talk about bliss!
01. Intro – Churchill’s Speech
02. Aces High
03. 2 Minutes to Midnight
04. Revelations
05. The Trooper
06. Wasted Years
07. The Number of the Beast
08. Run to the Hills
09. Rime of the Ancient Mariner
10. Powerslave
11. Heaven Can Wait
12. Can I Play With Madness?
13. Fear of the Dark
14. Iron Maiden
—————————–
15. Moonchild
16. The Clairvoyant
17. Hallowed Be Thy Name
That was 1 hr and 45 mins of pure adrenaline. And best of all, how many of you can say that you were in a Heavy Metal concert and were able to see and participate in a mosh pit huh? We can, buddies, we can. Unwilling participants, yes, but still, we were there. YEAH!!!
Ask me or Anoop for more awesome details. Hehehe…
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