Barcamp Mumbai was great !

What I decided to check out for myself turned out to be really good ! Barcamp Mumbai r0cked big time (like a sailor on leave, you might say). What I liked more than anything was the concept and the driving force behind a barcamp. Since this was my first time, I have never been introduced to such a concept previously.

Anyway, we were one of the earliest people who reached the venue by 9 am itself. After a hasty breakfast of sandwich at some IIT canteen, we headed back to KReSIT. By then, people had started tricking in and the WiFi network was on. We had big time trouble connecting Atul's laptop to mine so that he could use WiFi through my laptop. Even after trying many things, we were unsuccessful in doing that and we eventually dropped the idea with Atul going ahead and using his Reliance card.

All the sessions that I attended were useful in some sense or the other. My overall impression after seeing a barcamp is the following :

* It mostly consists of geeks or were-geeks.
* Its a good platform for showcasing your new entrepreneurial ventures/ideas. One gets a look of feedback/suggestions/ideas from the audience.
* Due to the above point, even MBA's can benefit out of the discussions. (my view)
* Due to the ad-hoc nature, people who never had thought out presenting a topic might end up talking about something.
* Good platform for meeting people and sharing ideas about various things.
* Good platform for showcasing product demos etc.

Guess I will stop here even though I feel a lot more could be added. If not helpful, it was informative, to say the least.

PS : The good was good too btw.

Pics :

Links to other pics.

Barcamp Mumbai update

Ok. We are in Mumbai right now and this place rocks ! Thanks to Mohit for arranging this ! After a sumptuous dinner of parathas, we are now sitting with our laptops open and browsing the net.

Barcamp

I wondered what that was when I first heard it from a friend of mine. (I was strongly suspicious whether it was some kind of a stylish booze party.) Then I checked out their site. I liked the idea the moment I saw it. Novel and impressive to say the least. But I wondered whether it would practically work. So I checked out some already held barcamps like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai etc and they more than proved that it rocks !! And given the huge sponsorship amounts that they have got, there is no more doubt left. :)

Unconference summarizes barcamp almost completely. An ad hoc discussion organized by attendees, for attendees.



So I decided to check out a barcamp for myself and see how it is. And so on this Friday, I am packing my bags and going to the Mumbai barcamp (as an attendee of course) and try participating there.

It would be unfair not to thank Atul for introducing me to Barcamp. Thanks mate ! And of course, thanks a million to Mohit too !

Chithra nakshatre thulaa rashou jaathasya ....

The Tamil/Mallu calendar (or in general the Hindu calendar itself) follows a system of 12 raashis (which correspond to the zodiac signs in English) and 27 nakshatras . Each raashi has some nakshatras which fall under it. Some nakshatras spill over two raashis also.

So, a combination of raashi, nakshatra and the name of the person can be supposedly used to uniquely identify a person. Mine is as follows : Nakshatram : Chitra; Raashi - Thula; Name: Ganapathy.

For more details on nakshatra, raashi et al, refer Hindu Calendar.


Its pretty clear that with only 27 nakshatras, its bound to happen that in a particular month the same nakshatra repeats itself once more. (Once at the starting of the month and again at the ending). This time around, it was my nakshtra's turn to do a double act. So I got to celebrate 3 birthdays this year. April 11th, April 19th and May 11th. But since the number of naazhigais is more on May 11th, today would be considered the most suitable star birthday.