Indiblogger meet & Akshyapatra

This was my second Indiblogger meet (on 9th Jan 2011) and an excellent  turnout of bloggers from all over India. Thanks to Indiblogger and Akshayapatra (initiative from ISKCON). Akshyapatra sponsored this event by giving space and also food for the bloggers. I have been to ISKCON several times and know the food quality. The quality of food that was served was too good and tasty. This is the same food which is served to the needy school children in India (wherever ISKCON is situated).

Akshayapatra: Started with a mission of No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger. Today, they serve 1.3million needy students all over India.

How can we support this initiative?

• By donating yourself (Click HERE to know more)
• By spreading awareness by blogging (Click HERE to know more)
• By volunteering (Click HERE to know more)

Visit : http://www.akshayapatra.org/onlinedonations

About the meet:

Got to know fellow bloggers and made new friends. It was an excellent meet and with an agenda. They have arranged IndiBus for the bloggers in Bangalore. We were welcomed with Samosa & Juice at the auditorium. The meeting started late, as the IndiBus could not make it on time.

Anoop (from Indiblogger team) welcomed and gave an idea on the program. Later they played a movie clipping on Akshayapatra, which was followed by Shri.Chanchalapathi Dasa (Vice President, Akshayapatra) speech. He explained how this idea was formed and the tough route it has taken and the supporters for this movement.

The next agenda item surprised me (like many others). It was introducing 60 famous bloggers. The first name was beamed and the next name appear at the bottom in the screen. I was pleasantly surprised to see my name. Everyone was given 30 seconds to present themselves and their blog. With my toastmaster experience on time keeping, I could make it crisp in the 30 seconds.

Then it was lunch time and we were served with the food that is being served to the students. True to the quality of ISKCON, the food was real KrishnaPrasadam. We had Sakkara Pongal (Sweet Pongal) and Bisi Bele Bath. Everyone enjoyed the food and were convinced about the project. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

After the good food, we gathered and had a presentation cum Q&A session by Shri.Madhu Pandit Dasa (Chairman, AkshayaPatra) and his team. There were good suggestions and the session was very interactive.

We then had the Live & let comment session. In that we can interact with other blogger, get to know them, visit their blog. This is more from a networking angle. Those who got more comments / contacts were given photoframes of ISKCON. This was followed by 4 groups discussing on 4 topics on how to make indiblogger/ blogging more successful.

The meeting ended with Thanks to the Indiblogger team. They have taken pains in getting this big event organised.

It was overall a well organised (except for the delay..that is common in Bangalore traffic) programme and everyone enjoyed it. Networking was at its best. Blogging is becoming more popular. Thanks to Indiblogger team and Akshayapatra for the wonderful day.

Waiting for the next meet !

My thanks to those who shared the photographs, which helped me in making this post.

Cheers,

Gopal