Skip to main content

Featured Post

2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

Blog Camp Mumbai - Experience

Getting to the Blog Camp wasn't as easy as I had thought! To begin with, I had to convince Samhith to let me go alone - he would have been bored there, anyway, and wouldn't have let me hear anything the other bloggers had to say! And then, getting out of the house took quite a while, and I ended up leaving home only after lunch. Imagine my predicament when I reached the event just in time for their lunch break!!!! 

One hour to go, everyone busy with lunch, and me with nothing to do and all alone - so I did what I usually do - left the place and spent an hour wandering around - walked to Juhu Beach and spent some time watching a group of swifts flying overhead.......

Now to the camp itself. When I first reached the venue, I felt older than ever, for all the attendees seemed so young! Most of them collegians, some in their early twenties..... I have never felt so old....

Thankfully, by the time I returned after my walk, there seemed to be more people around - more nearer my age... and even older! Thank God! I arrived just in time for the session to start at 2:30, and I was able to attend just a few talks before it was time for me to leave :( What a pity - I spent almost 3 hours travelling to and fro, and could barely attend the camp just for an hour, thanks to the lunch break......

But once the sessions started, I really enjoyed myself. The fist speaker was a blogger just out of school, and he is a corporate blogger! Wow! The next one was also a young chap, who spoke confidently about his blog making it to the front page of Digg! I couldn't help but admire these guys! At their age, I hadn't even seen a computer!

I had missed a talk by a housewife blogger, which had apparently ended just before I reached, so I missed something I would have enjoyed, and maybe added my two bits too....... But I really loved it when people started talking about social causes. I hadn't a clue that so many people were into it! 

The most interesting talk I attended was by Akshay Surve, who spoke about one of his ventures - Ads4Good, where he provides widgets linked to ads. Just by adding these widgets to our blogs, we can help NGOs without actually paying money out of our own pockets.... It was an entirely new idea, which I enjoyed, and am soon going to try out. 

The highlight of the day was a 11 year old boy, who blogs about games and cooking!!! WOW! Can you imagine that?????  

All this was within an hour. Can you even imagine how much would have been there from 10AM to 6PM? Now I can't wait for the next camp, hopefully one where I shall be able to take Samhith along, and spend the better part of the day among other bloggers........


P.S

To read a more detailed report of the BlogCamp, Check out Idea-Smithy's Blog. Thanks to her, I at least now have an idea about who was who at the camp... at least some of them!!!

Also thanks to her, here are some more reports of the Camp...



Satish - Bombay Lives

Priya - Reading Cafe


Comments

  1. In spite of some hiccups it sounds like a good experience.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ms. Anu,
    Thank you so much for sharing.I wish I could be there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Anu, that 11 year old boy was my son, Raj and he is thrilled that you remembered his small talk.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Mridula: Oh yes! it was great!!!

    @Naina: Hey, maybe there'll be one near where u live.......

    @Taps: great to hear that! I did see u, but I really didnt have time to talk to many people.....

    @ssstoryteller: absolutely none, for a change... actually i did take some, but of the beach, not of the camp! shall post them later...

    @Lakshmi: yes, u should...and i am sure people would love to hear about u and esp travelwise.....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Even if it was for a little time your post says you enjoyed it. I am sure such camps would be helpful for lot of people.

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow a blogger out of school, 11 year old blogger! thats really something ! and I loved the idea of putting NGO adverts in the blog even I am gonna give it a try.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the write up..My son Raj was thrilled to see his name in the post and the fact that you remembered him...

    ReplyDelete
  8. @chitra: Oh yes, its really great! u learn so much from everyone... and sort of get to know people better too...... see people in person whom u know online...

    Sri: It was really great to see those kids out there.... and yes, try it out... i thought of u at once, actually, when he said that...remembered ur republic day post abt the NGO

    @Priya: glad to have met u all.....

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey! The widget thing is cool! And so r the topics of the 11 year old boy! Cooking! I'm impressed!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Anu,

    Thank you for writing up this post. It was good to hear that you largely enjoyed most of your first experience with BlogCamps.

    I was personally quite delighted to hear the nice things you said about the housewife blogger (she's my mum :-)). Also, the apprehensions you expressed right at the start of the post were exactly what my own mum was thinking before she came to the camp. At the end of the day she felt good about not being the only one in a bunch of youngsters as you put it.

    I think it is fantastic how the internet is dissolving all these boundaries of age and geography. Both my parents were there, my mother and I both took sessions, my dad contributed an opinion and several of the other speakers are known to me.

    Once again, thank you for participating. I do hope you will come to future blogging events as well.

    One suggestion - you obviously enjoy a good readership at your blog. It would be nice to link to the URLs of the people you particularly liked so that you readers can also share your experience.

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Usha: Thanks... u would have loved it....

    ReplyDelete
  12. @Ideasmith - thanks so much for writing in.... glad to know u and your mum... i would love to attend any blogging event in mumbai.... it really was fun, and i wished i had stayed longer.....

    about the links, i hadnt added them since i wasnt sure about the people.. their identity and their blog...was on the lookout... now thanks to ur blog, have an idea and am updating the blog....

    have already linked to yours and the other blogs about the event....

    ReplyDelete
  13. OK.. i demand a blogcamp in Chennai or Blore!! i want to attend one...

    :) sounds like u had fun inspite of the intial hiccups.. and wow,u managed to sneak to the beach as well...!!btw, where was it held? and that commute sounds so like BBY....Sigh...

    ReplyDelete
  14. @AArti: I am sure there will be one....hopefully soon..... and u wont have the commute problem...it was at JVPD...juhu...
    and yes, it really was fun, and i am looking forward to the next one, whenever it is...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Anu, Blogcamp was an interesting experience for me too. Like you I was also apprehensive about attending it , thinking I would feel out of place among a whole lot of tech.savvy yougsters it was my family's encouragement that made me come & I was glad I did .
    Saw some of the photos you have posted, they look good. Will go through your posts leisurely. I am interested in reading about places (and this includes temples too ) which are relatively unknown & I am sure I am going to enjoy reading your posts. By the way is that your son, Samhith, in the photo ? Looks cute !

    ReplyDelete
  16. I would like to exchange links with your site anushankarn.blogspot.com
    Is this possible?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow! I can't believe there is a blog camp nowadays. As usual, I am the last to know. I guess I should find one near me!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment for me so that I will know you have been here....

Popular posts from this blog

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.

Pandharpur Yatra 2023

The first time I visited Pandharpur was back in 2007 . The names Vitthal and Pandharpur, were just names to me. I had heard of them, but that was about it. Seeing the lord standing on the brick, hands on his hips, was memorable, but more memorable was the sight that greeted us as we walked out of the main sanctum of the temple. In the mandap just outside were a group of devotees singing abhangs , and dancing. This was the first time I had heard abhangs , and even almost 15 years later, I can remember the welling of feeling within me, listening to the songs, and how fascinated I was by the sight of the devotees dancing, lost in their love of the Lord. Over the years, as I have read more about Vitthal, and participated in Ashadi Ekadashi programmes at Puttaparthi, that first experience has stayed clear in my mind and heart. Every time I tell my Balvikas students of the saints who sang of Vitthala, it is that experience that I re-live. I visited Pandharpur again, in 2010, but that experie