BarCampMumbai4

The two day BarCampMumbai4 concluded last Sunday. I had the pleasure to be present for the unconference on both days. Besides the knowledge that I gained, it was great meeting my twolks (twitter folks, for those who can't figure that out) and new people.

It started on twitter, with people discussing about the BCM4 days ahead of the actual event. I wanted to attend BCM3, which took place last year, but unfortunately I couldn't. So this year, in spite of unending college assignments, I firmly decided that I will be attending BCM4. Unlike earlier BarCamps, BCM4 required participation from all those who attended it - you either present a session, or volunteer for other activities. After remaining awake for two nights and filling up pages with stuff that teachers never really check, I reached the venue - SJM SOM, at IIT Bombay on Saturday morning, for day 1.

The day began with registrations and we received a geeky t-shirt from the platinum sponsor for the event - Directi. (I always wanted a t-shirt like that, as much as I want a tattoo like this one.) We later proceeded to the SOM Well and had our breakfast (credits to Vipul Mathur for the attractive picture). Then after a short introduction session by Abhishek Thakkar, began the sessions. Most of the sessions were focussed on startups. Established people talked about their success stories and gave some valuable tips. There were a few product demoes which invited lively discussions and feedbacks. I won't get into details of the sessions as a list of those can be found here, on the BarCampMumbai's website.

More interesting than the sessions was meeting my twolks (ok, I wasn't following all of them earlier, but now I am). I met Preshit, Shadez, Aalaap, Unitechy, DanishKhan1, Asfaq, aDeSe, dhempe, PunkPolkaDots, Netra, UrmiRaj14, Maharana, VipulMathur, santoshp, and Shwetank at the tweetup that we had near the coffee shack at IITB. (If I'm missing out someone, please let me know).

Day 2 was more interesting, we had a small introduction session, wherein everyone present at BCM4 had to introduce themselves in a 20 second time span. Later we had an interesting session by Appu and Vipul Mathur, both photography enthusiasts and excellent photographers on Photography Communities and why should we be sharing our photos.

While listening to the sessions, a bunch of us, including me started a community effort that we code named Houston Wayfinder Mission ;) As DanishKhan1 described it, it is a top secret, and any disclosures might lead to serious complications. Preshit proved that one can be famous on twitter without even having an account there. The Houston Wayfinder Mission is still continuing on twitter, with Wayfinder updating Houstons on the current status regarding the subject. Well, this might not have made sense to you if you are not one of the 5 Houstons or Wayfinder himself (oOps, itself, I mean ;) )

With all that fun, and after-BCM4 Minute Maid sponsored by Preshit, BCM4 had a happy ending. I'll be a regular at BCM from now onwards and hope to present a session sometime.

Photographs from BCM4 have been uploaded on Flickr and can be found here.