Nirenjan’s Space

I’m leaving early tomorrow morning for Bangalore and should be back on Sunday evening. I hope to meet quite a few new faces in the Bangalore Blogger Circle.

F e r r a r i & Vikkki, you know what to do…

The photos of the meet are up here.

Folks, it’s that special time again.

The next Chennai Bloggers Meet is coming up.

Date: Sunday, 22nd May 2005.
Time: 5.00 pm onwards - for those of you on Military Time - 1700 hours onwards.

Location:Java Green outlet, Panagal Park, T. Nagar.

All bloggers, current, past and future are welcome. Do drop a comment if you are coming.

Update: Ravages has directions to the venue on his blog.

Update 2:Vijay has also linked up to this post. Check it out.

As we have MoM’s in our respective places of work, so do we have a MoM here - the Minutes of the Meeting (for those not so much in the know). Or should it be the MoCBM - for Chennai Bloggers’ Meeting? Whatever it may be, here it is, for both those who were there, and those who weren’t.

Sudhir and I landed up at the target venue, the Halt & Shop shopping mall opposite St. Dominic’s school, a good half hour early. We went to the restaurant opposite and made small talk while waiting for the rest of the gang. Suraj messaged me asking me if it was too late to come, but as I tried calling him, there was no response, and I pretty much gave up. Soon, the first suspects turned up - Magix & Curses, Sandhya and Arvind. Following them were Ravi and Shiva. More culprits turned up quite quickly after that - Praveen, Shekar, Sophia, and Ravages.

Eleven’s not a bad count for a meeting in a remote location (relatively speaking…). So after a quick round of intros, we made a beeline for the top of the mount. Parking our vehicles a little way down, we walked the rest of the way to the top. The view from the top of the mount is amazing. The rest of the folks have some good snapshots of both the view and the inside of the church. We made our way around the place, chatting and generally having a good time. Unconventional - that is the single word that would describe this meeting. The only thing missing was the plates of steaming hot bajji’s like we had last time…

There was a pretty funny incident going on over at the airport pretty nearby. A United Express plane was circling the area. We initially thought it was a convoy of planes, or the same plane was circling the area. It later turned out that he was circling the area, but in a manner that we didn’t think was quite… sane. He kept circling, landing on the runway, and after taxiing a few hundred meters, he’d take off again and resume the process. He did this atleast a dozen times in the one and a half hours that we were there. Either it was some kind of training process, or some kind of a stress test, or the pilot’s kid going “Appa, appa, innoru round polaam pa…” We still haven’t figured out why.

Sandhya was continuously rambling on throughout the meeting that she had to leave by 6.30, apparently the set curfew time by her mother. The frequency of these ramblings slowly increased, and as the clock approached 7, the frequency became high enough that it could be considered as a panic alarm. We soon broke up, and Sudhir, Sandhya, Arvind & I left before Sandhya’s voice frequency became a siren, while the others stayed back to continue the chat, and the eats…

… to the Bloggers’ Meet to be held this Saturday. Something important has come up, and I’ll most probably be held up in the office. I’ll do my best to make it, but no promises…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!!!

The next edition of the Chennai Bloggers’ Meet (CBM) will be held on Saturday, the 9th of April, 2005, at St. Thomas Mount, opposite St. Dominics near “Halt ‘n Shop” shopping complex.

Folks, drop a comment here, or at Sudhir’s Blog if you are coming. See ya all there…

… of the Blogger’s meet which was held on Saturday eve. Like the good boy that I am, I reached the place at about 6.15 and saw that our man Vijay had been following me. Me being stone deaf, I didn’t hear him calling me until I had almost reached the “landmark”. Turned out that he had been waiting for almost an hour. Anyway after the usual pleasantries, I called up curses (who apparently was hogging on Ferrero Rochers with Ferrari & Praveen). And curses in his usual style said they were at the famed Planet Yumm and would be there in a few minutes. Vijay & I kept chatting for a while until they came and Ferrari saar insisted on taking a couple of long distance shots of us.

Kartik & Joshy soon joined us. Kartik, ever the “charmer”, was still upset at the report of the first meet. Soon, Two Penny - also known as TP - joined us. Since TP wishes to remain anonymous… Also among the usual suspects were Ravages and Pleomorphous. Morphie did not reveal his true identity throughout the meet. Some kinda secret agent probably… Among the other newcomers were The Optimist - Murali and Lean Dude who looked like he hadn’t had a haircut since he was born. Sorely missed was our thalaivar S.K. who even asked for directions but didn’t turn up.

The meet started as usual with Kartik wanting an intro about everybody and how they got into blogging. The oldies (Ravages, Morphie & me) were fairly tired of this old routine and wanted something different, but Kartik got his way (or so it seemed). There were the usual talks with our controversial topics, what we wouldn’t blog about, etc., etc., zzzzz… Then there was the occasional encounter with the jakkamma, pani puri guy and sundal vendors. Not to mention our fair share of beggars, who were shooed away, though they always returned, and in greater numbers.

Sophia and Sangeeta called in. Ethereal (or should I say virtual) presence was better than nothing I suppose. Anyway, they wanted to say Hi to everybody. No prizes for guessing who shouted Hi the loudest.

Finally, our celeb journo called in. Turned out that she was waiting near the Baskin & Robbins store. Ramya Madam - no report in paper???

After catching up with Ramya, Vijay, Kartik & Joshy beat a hasty retreat (if you could call it that) and the rest of us made tracks to the nearest bajji stall. Molaga bajjis all around. (Not to mention Vaazhakka, Uralaikizhangu, Vengaayam and Cauliflower). Dripping in oil and smothered in chutney, these bajjis tasted like manna to us folks. (Seri over build up vaendaam). Curses was silent and every word he spoke was a miracle. Seemed that he was attempting to message one of his many girlfriends on the sly. Praveen was equally silent. Probably those two were contemplating how to snick the remaining Ferrero Rochers from Ferrari (if he had any left after the first round).

After the usual 2 (and sometimes more) rounds of bajji gobbling and photo snapping, we had to disperse. Nalla bajji saaptaacha, ippo thoonganum baa. Wogay, guddu nait…