When Bloggers Meet

16th October. Blogmeet.

Is meeting bloggers a good idea in the first place? Can the persona of the blogger and the person in real life be reconciled? We like Gaurav Sabnis's blog but do we really like the "Real Gaurav Sabnis" ? You may read Greatbong's weighty musings but would you care for his actual weight?

With such thoughts reverberating within my demented mind, I walked into the apocalyptically titled "T3" ----the waiters having a definitive cyborgian air about them. I had seen JAP before----though it was evident that JAP had left a bigger impression on me than the other way around; he forgot the fact that we had crossed paths before on another continent.

Anyhow, JAP --having seen a few more summers than most of us was seated in the middle holding the entire assemblage together. And me---having occupied a fewmore cubic feet than most of the others, counterbalanced him at the other end.

On my left was seated a rising star of theatre. And some bloggers---still in high school. Acutely conscious of my own age (I was reminded of a question thrown at me by a number of "juniors" at Stonybrook: " You actually saw Sunil Gavaskar bat?")

I looked to my right and there were first and second year "tanayas" (ladies) from JU and Presi. I wistfully thought of the days I had spent in AC Canteen jharofying their didis many moons ago. Needless to say, I do this any longer (Freudian slip)---- with age and maturity, I have become more respectable.

The conversation flowed freely---cha and coffee were ordered. After which a bizarre incident took place. The cyborgian waiter suddenly said: "No more coffee" in a definitely Gandhian non-cooperative way. Fortunately, JAP had booked a table at Flury's across the street and we trooped out. As we did, I glanced back at the waiter in order to confirm a suspicion I had been harboring for some time based on what I had read in "the Historian". Imagine my sense of vindication when his white cap moved a little and I saw what I had been expecting to see----a hidden ponytail. No wonder, he was being rude. He had been possessed by the evil Chicken spirit and thus had as much regard for bloggers as Dracula has for garlic.

T3's loss was Flury's gain. Kind of. Conversations carried on along the normal lines of murderous school principals, Moonmoon Sen's non-mainstream celluloid achievements, mass copying, short tops and "golabondho" jeans, Bhappi Da's moojik, getting under the table and call girls (which suddenly elicited an enthusiastic response from someone---that individual not being named for fear of causing slander and of consequently getting a notarized email). Samit Basu, the great Duck, blessed the gathering remotely. IIPM was *not* discussed---except a passing word or two.

JAP took pictures of all of us --on the condition that individuals are not identified. Hah..."fat" chance of anyone being able to map me in those pictures !

In all, an extremely pleasant afternoon spent with like-minded people. And yes it does make sense to get to know the people behind the silly monikers----if only to see how sillier they are in real life. Here's looking forward to the next one.