It has taken me about
two long weeks to sit down and write a blog post. Hey there, I am
talking about the Mozilla Mania and Tech Carnival Sastra that we had
sometime back. Am I just too busy or not managing time properly? I
had already thought about that a million times, before calling my
state “Helpless”. Well, enough of
oh-sorry-you’re-making-me-sleepy stuff.
Exactly a couple of
weeks ago, we had two big events coming in Tamil Nadu. One at
Velammal Engineering College, Chennai on 6th October and
another one at Sastra University, Tanjore the very next day.
Preparations had started about a week before the events. Each day,
after I return home from college by evening, I would talk about an
hour or two with the organizers, who would call me to ask about
arrangements, logistics, food and again the regular “We sure will
get goodies in time right?” It gives you so much pleasure and
enthusiasm replying to a responsible team, although sometimes can
make you a little tired in answering too many questions. :P
The swags had arrived
to me just in time. Thanks to Konstantina, for making sure of that. I
had to pick up Gauthamraj, my fellow Rep, from the Railway station,
on early Saturday morning. Because it was kind of his first time in
Chennai. But, I fell asleep and he had to find his way to my home.
Sorry Gautham :( And, about the time when we had got dressed up and
ready to start to the venue, Deb had landed at the Airport and was
picked up already. We had a lot of goods to carry to the venue and
the organizers had sent us a car to reach the college premises where
we were joined by Karthik Padmanabhan and Naresh Kumar.
The
hospitality of VEC was downright awesome! Volunteers had accompanied
us wherever we went. The organizers had arranged a pretty good team
to help us with the workshop. From students and staff to the Head of
Department, everyone seemed too friendly.
Around the time, when
we got prepped up and ready to say, “Hey every...”... oops, is
there.. uh? Ummm... ?!” “Well, sorry, there is a power problem.
We are sorry for the interruption.“ said an organizer. Yeah, power
problems are rampant in Tamil Nadu. But, this ?! The irony or beauty
of the situation, whatever you call it, is that, the back up had also
failed that day. We had to wait for about an hour or so, before we
could start the session. Gautham however, had made an intelligent use
of the time and kept the crowd engaged with FOSS, Mozilla and
Webmaker initiatives.
Soon after, boom! The
power was back. For almost about 3 to 4 hours, Deb had given a good
session with Firefox Addon making. There was enthusiasm all around.
Students rising their hands, asking doubts. We had just enough time
to wind up the worshop back at VEC. We were given special shields by
the College's Entrepreneurship Development Cell for participation in
Mozilla Mania. Call it a little too much ?! I won't say so. After
all, its Mozilla !
After the event got
over, we had a little over five hours before we started for Tanjore
to attend the Tech Carnival 2k12, where we were supposed to conduct
similar sessions. Deb, myself and Gautham had come to my home and
spent some time here. Soumya had successfully managed to flatter my
parents with his so called “obedience and respect towards elders.”.
Well, that's all what happened here.
And at around 8 or so,
we started to again. Myself, Gautham, Naresh and Soumya, at Egmore
station to Tanjore. When everything seemed to go smooth, we suddenly
noticed that our names weren't there in the boarding list ! We got
all panicked, shocked and finally surprised only to know that our
tickets were upgraded. The night's journey was unforgettable. We were
talking everything except Mozilla. :P It was like friends on a
bachelor party.
By morning, we were
picked up again at the Tanjore railway station. People at Sastra were
no less than the ones at VEC. Their reception was equally
commendable. Only that we had to run two sessions back to back.
Although the first one was a little delayed owing to problems, second
session went on to be really nice.
I had to miss so much
of Mozilla's events owing to several reasons. “Be it bad luck or
fate, I am not blaming anyone, but I had ultimately missed the joy”
I would often think and worry. But now, I think I've made up for it.
Early Saturday morning, I never knew who Gautham even was. Now, he is
my best pal. Not to mention Soumya. He has already been a good friend
to me. But we bonded really well those two days and especially the
Monday morning. I had my project review that day at my college and I
didn't bother to bunk it just to spend time with Soumya to give him
company. He had about 6 hours to go before he could board his
flight. We didn't know where to go. We were tired, strained and
stressed. But, that didn't stop us. Out of nowhere came the thought
of hitting the beach to watch the sunrise. At first,I thought Soumya
is reserved and moody. That was back when I had first met him during
March. Not anymore. I never knew, we would open up so much to
ourselves. From our retirement plans to my first crush, there was
actually so much to talk about. Probably that brought us really close
I feel.
This is the best part
I guess. Building community and friends. Mozilla is not always about
building good goals, motives and exposure. It also about adding
values, creating bonds. Those two days of Mozilla was certainly a
memorable one.
