. Now
, please read my
whole blog because you promised to. The post is long just because you had too
much offer; I loved them all and want to share every bit of the evening here.
Whoever came up with
an idea of bringing together
Rajiv Makhni and
Vikas Khanna together for
promoting the dropping market of
Nokia really needs a standing applause. The
entertainment value of the presentation is good enough to erase those memories
of hanging Nokia phones, and come back having a good feeling for the brand in
your heart.
The event kicked off with the bloggers registering, and
sharing their ideas about new great apps that would make a difference. I had
heard enough about
Rajiv’s wit and
Vikas’s good looks from bloggers who attend
the previous meet to land a bit early and take seat in the front. I did not
want to strain my eyes ogling at the
guys from a distance.
Anoop started off the event with a weird kind of gesture and
hurr hurr cry, which he says was started at the first Indimeet held in
Bangalore. Somehow, it worked in shutting down our minds to rest of world and
bring us right into the event; to have fun and enjoy it to the fullest.
The real happenings of the Nokia event kicked off with
Poonam Kaul, Director Communications,Nokia walking on the stage to give a brief
account about the brand Nokia and event they were hositng. She explained how
they had first organized the Apptasting events for celebrities, success of the
Mumbai meet with bloggers .. when with pounding hearts bloggers (especially
women) waited for the two stars to walk in.
As the two men walked in and took the stage, I knew within
seconds that
Rajiv is going to bring out the best out of
Vikas to entertain us
to the fullest. After a brief introduction how food and Apps got together, he
began with those hilarious digs at the Vikas, who he says told him he is making
Apps for twenty years, LOL. Carrying on with the humorous trait, Vikas won
hearts of Indibloggers by fumbling to find the right word for Apps, first he said
appliances before finding the right word. That was the beginning and there was
no stopping from there. The stage remained vibrant with fun and entertainment
all through the night.
Vikas Khanna reached right into my heart, when he mentioned
how he got to sing bhajan in Udupi Krishna Temple. Here was a master chef who
had cooked for President Obama, coming from Amritsar, but talking about a town
near my native village and its culture. I was cleanly bowled over when he
narrated the Kanakadasa Keertan “Nara janma bandaaga, Naalige iruvaga Krishna
enabarade” in impeccable Malanad accent. It made me feel so proud and happy to
hear that a celebrity had worked hard to perfect his accent just to get a
chance to sing in the temple of Udupi.
After being won over for the evening, nothing was going to
make me feel bad about the event for the rest of the evening. Not even
RajivMakhni looking at me and making up his mind there and then that he is never
going to allow me to share the stage with him. Being a smart guy, he had
immediately noticed what a show stealer I could be, and decided not to take a back
seat. That is how I never got to climb the podium and claim a Nokia lumia. It
was all because I made Rajiv Makhni insecure.
The event now moved on to make the bloggers happy (at least
some of them), by calling three of them at a time over the stage and allowing
them to have a shot at fame in 30’s seconds. The smarty Rajiv handed over the
tough task of selecting the winners to Vikas, while he, in his immaculate
debonair style went on to entertain us, sometimes at the expense of the
bloggers. I am sure not even Rajiv was prepared to hear what he had to from Tyger,
when he asked him, Why does he blog? The answer was Blog had given him fame and
life, 4 girl friends, a wife and he was going to be a father in six months.
Nothing could beat that for sure! Here I was feeling happy to have won few
goodies on contest, when unknown to me a real great star of blogging world
existed.
Though we did not get to hear all the bloggers introduce
themselves, some of those who did could tell the world what bloggers are all
about. It is about people who are trying to make a difference to the world in
their own way, about the things they are passionate about. There was the
farmer, a senior citizen, 10 year old expressing his feelings and many others among those people who went there and
told us why they blog. The introductions made me feel humble as a blogger and proud
for being a part of their team.
As for the actual Apptasting: we were allowed to taste new
Windows App, and all I can say is technically we are moving ahead at lightning
speed. From the days of my first 3310 Nokia phone in 2001, we are now having
X-ray visions of our surroundings with
Nokia City Lens, movie making of 1920’s with
Creative Studio, find the right wine and dine with right combination with
Cocktail Flow and many more amazing
wonderful advantages just in matter of 11 years.
 |
| Blind folded Soup Tasting. |
Technically speaking I am not
a techie, but there is no doubt I love the progress happening in technology and
the new gadgets techies churn out from the ocean of science. When I am allowed
to taste an app like in the App-Tasting Indiblogger meet, I can lick the plate
clean. I was not born as a romantic person who believes in love at first sight,
at least not until I touched a keyboard. Unbelievable, but it did happen
finally, the fairy tale love at first sight and that too with a computer. I love gadgets and new applications to be
added to my mobile, including games, no wonder with his wit and sense of humor
Rajiv’s presentation this part of the event the most interesting one to me.
The show steal-er of the event was the Gangnam style dance
performed between the cookies and techies. Rajiv even had an app which could
train bloggers to dance. To top it all we had a Raj- Simran love story with a great
twist presented in his own witty style by Rajiv again.
Rajiv like usual had all the drollness and showmanship at
full flow, while Vikas entertained by just being himself. He smilingly allowed
Rajiv to lure every ounce of adorability out of him most willingly. I wonder
why no one swooned with those hot guys on stage and wine to go.
There were quite some Lumia’s at stake for cutting onions
with a technique taught by Vikas, quiz which included soup tasting to identify
the ingredients, and other fun filled events which kept me entertained. Rajiv
here came to the rescue of the Vikas when bloggers took advantage of his pleasing
and agreeable nature and tried to argue or interfere with him. The tact he used
left the bloggers who were subdued, not knowing what actually hit them.
He also went on to demonstrate the breath analyzing
qualities of our mobile phones. We have to applaud the two volunteers,
especially Nabanita, who walked up the stage to take the test. There is no
doubt that Rajiv and Vikas were attracting the women folk like light attracts moths,
and the girls were willingly becoming gullible to the pranks being pulled on
them.
We had some more entertainment for bloggers, where they had
to shoot three spots selected by Rajiv Makni and present it to him. The best
photographer won another Lumia.
As a Grand Finale, we had the bloggers who had been chosen
by the jury to present their “My wish is your App” ideas. The scene was
conducted with Vikas being a judge along with Poonam and five other members
(three bloggers included), to whom the bloggers had to present the ideas in 60
seconds. The ideas were great, ranging from snatching phones from kids without
making them cry, clicking pictures of products and trying to find the product
in shops nearby with discounts, to filling potholes on Bangalore roads.
 |
| A precious moment to remember |
As the event winded up, I wanted to talk to the stars,
especially Vikas because I had heard his inspiration story of having trouble
walking in earlier days, which had led him to kitchen and later becoming Master
Chef and twice winner of Michelin Award. I hesitatingly approached him only to
find out he was much better human being than he appeared there on the stage. I
mentioned about Farheena’s trouble walking and surgeries she had undergone,
when he gracefully walked up to her, sat down beside her and allowed us to
photograph him with her, with the same grace he had carried throughout the evening. I am
touched!
Then it was time for dinner. When walking back after my
dinner, I had my chance of revenge on smarty Rajiv who was giving an interview.
I walked up to him and interrupted his talk, because there was no way I was
walking away from the event without personally talking to him. I told him about
my blog, my daughter and introduced him to her as a TV personality. The girl
just loves stars and people on TV. I am sure Rajiv was highly impressed by me and was glad that
he did not allow me get on the stage and steal the show from him. So with a
satisfied smile of having made right decision he went back to his interview,
and having my own revenge of making him a bit uncomfortable I walked away. I
did not have my
camera man (who was enjoying the dinner) to take pictures of him with Farheena. Next time!
I would not call this Indiblogger Meet, but rather a grand
event organized by Nokia exclusively for indibloggers.
I met our own Indiblogger team of Renie, Kartik, Vineet, Nandita
and other fellow indi-bloggers. Though people were complaining of not having
interaction with other bloggers, I found a way because I had will. I connected
with many new bloggers, and did not even spare the celebrities nor Nokia team. It
all depends on what attitude we show. Kartik made sure we got into the right
indiminibus and reached home safely. The sweetheart even called me up next
morning to know if everything had gone all right the previous day. Awwww so
nice of him.
Finally I demand Indiblogger correct my
broken relationship with Nokia because they were the ones who sent the other
woman(or phone to be precise). Nokia was the first mobile phone I owned in
2002. Back then, even the Nokia 3310 was a treasure.With the advent of Camera phones, I wanted a phone which would allow
me to take color photographs. That is when I got my N70. We clicked everything
that caught our fancy back then. One fine day, with heavy heart, I gave
my up N70 and finally took the N73. Again when my husband brought me an E63, I
refused to change because I was used to N73 and comfortable with it. The only
problem I had with the phone was, unlike Kasab, it got hanged too often. I used the phone for a long time, by changing
the panel from silver to black and replacing the keyboard when the buttons wore
out until Indiblogger interfered and broke my relationship with Nokia by giving
me a HTC wildfire S phone as prize on their contest. It is now left up to
Indiblogger to go ahead the repair my relationship with Nokia by giving me a
Nokia Lumia.
For those who have great ideas to share with Nokia, the brand
has come up with a contest called “Your Wish is My app” which will lead you to fame and money if selected.
