iGenius Young Singing Star experience #YSS2

I was roaming on the streets of Mahalaxmi to do some bit of photography at Dhobi Ghat. And got a call from BlogAdda to confirm on my presence at the iGenius event. While I was away from email for some days, I must have probably missed my invitation. I quickly headed towards Vivanta by Taj at Cuffe Parade to enjoy Young Singing Star.

The jury Salim Merchant and Shraddha Sharma were already seated. All the kids looked excited and were introduced one by one while they performed. The 10 finalist were exceptional and some were so good in singing that it gave goosebumps. Many times, I tried not looking at the kids to feel the soul of  the song and felt as if the songs were sung by some professionals. Everyone was stunned by the performances and were applauding without the need to remind as it usually happens in other events. 

While the performances were outstanding from the 10 finalist, there were many other things that was commendable. The event was so well managed that I never felt that there was something missing. Instead it was going smoothly and audience were enjoying each moment. The timings were perfect and no problems in the infrastructure which could stall the wonderful show. All were so excited about the event, that #YSS2 started trending in twitter which was a good thing. 

Shraddha Sharma from YouTube sensation performed on stage with her sweet voice. Everyone was hooked on to her. There was again a second round for the 10 finalist and later before announcing the winners the most awaited Salim Merchant did a live performance with one of my favorite song. 

Manik Nangia (Chief Digital Officer - Max Life Insurance) and Devraj Sanyal (Managing Director - Universal Music Group and EMI South Asia) encouraged all the 10 finalist and thanked all the team for making this happen. They pointed out to Pooja Sodhi for all her hard work since its inception. And I tried looking back to see her but couldn't find her. Then finally when the team dispersed, we got a chance to meet her and share our experience. She is very lively personality and looked really satisfied as the event got over well.

Tannishtha Puri (Junior Category) and Maithili Thakur (Senior Category) were declared winners. They have won an opportunity to record their own album. Some pictures from the events. 

And when the blogger team got a chance to go to the stage to interact with Salim Merchant, this is what happened.

It was a wonderful experience to meet such genius kids perform live on stage.

Maxlife Insurance I-Genius Young Singing Star Season II is actually a unique corporate Initiative to Reward and Recognise Young Singing Talent in India. Its a platform to recognize and reward Talented children across India. Their efforts are commendable as it is not a easy task to shortlist 10 finalist from around 2.5 lakhs entry across India.

Thanks to BlogAdda for giving an opportunity to attend the Grand Finale of iGenius Young Singing Star - Season II and making my day awesome.

"I am blogging to share my experience of the #YSS2 i-genius Young Singing Stars Season II in association with BlogAdda"

#BNLF hangover

Its been more than two weeks and the hangover still persists for #BNLF. It was a two day event with a difference that changed the way I think. I had written a blog when #BNLF was just an agenda at BNLF.com

The day invitations started floating around, all were awaiting the big day. A month before BNLF was something sort of waiting period for all of us. I can sense this through the tweets, comments and blogs.

Finally the day came in and I joined the team with lots of excitement. It wasn't for one speaker that made my day but all the speakers were fantastic in their own way.

BNLF started with a powerpack performance. It started with flash back of #wordup event.

Excitement started as we clapped while they rocked the staged. There is always a mystery man who is never introduced in the band and dresses up like a Ghost. I think with out him the band is incomplete. Hope to see him some day in future events with face revealed at the end.

Image source: IndiBlogger

And just as I hooked on to the twitter to tweet a few lines, #BNLF was already trending at 6th place.

Purba Ray captured the stage with her amazing style. She took on with her satirical presentation which was hilarious too. Presentation was very unique and different. I was glued to the stage all the time.

Arnab Ray took us through his journey to blogging and how he manages to blog. He spoke about his experience in college days while he used to watch Mithun da movies.

Christoph Trappe spoke about authentic stories and real life experiences to explain us how to manage time.

Anshul Tewari founder of Youth ki Awaaz focused more on audience and how to monetize our blog. He believes in doing the best and wait for the fruits of hard work.

Kanan Gills was very hilarious from start to end. Through his comic act or say presentation, he made us laugh and also went through his life experiences. He was just trying to say that never give up and continue to work towards your goal.

Jeff Bullas took us through tips and tricks for blogging. He taught us mantra to success in Blogging.

Preeti Shenoy, Indias highest selling women author experience was about hardship in her early years. She started with blogging, wrote articles. Later moved on to writing books. One of her books got 39 rejection from publisher but finally reached success.

Bruce Dickinson - the front man of Iron Maiden. There were roars while he made appearance on the stage. He says "Make Fans. Not Customers" His belief is 0 + 0 = 1 if you have brains, have plan and hopes.

With all these great speakers, we relished on great food at The Lalit. Had great fun with Cleartrip activities. Took selfies during breaks. Made new friends. It was an event that took away the stress in me. My take away would be motivation, knowledge, thinking from a different perspective, networking and great memory. The hangover is still on after two weeks.

Here are some pictures of the event by Indiblogger.

Kudos to the Indiblogger team that made the so called disruptive event really disruptive. Await more such series of #BNLF

Define Bloom

Define: Bloom

The making of Shouut #CelebrateBlogging

Source: http://www.marketing91.com/

Technically speaking the blogging cycle looks some what like this. But my cycle of blogging is different. 

It all started with my first job in LearningMate. I was excited about the new roles and responsibilities. I was trying to enter the corporate world. At that time I came across my seniors blog (Jolvin and Atul). Although they were my mentors in work area they were a source of inspiration. The encouragement I got from my seniors and colleague got me into blogging. And here I am with Shouut which took off in 2006 with first blog post "KickOff Blog".

I still remember how excited it was to write a blog and then get comments from other bloggers. My first Nokia phone with a camera got me into photography. Photography became my second passion and I used Flickr to post my pictures. I also jumped into creating and editing videos during my college days. One of my friend Ozzy instigated me to start it. Here is my YouTube Channel.

Later after blogging for years, I got busy with my work and was taken away from the blogging world. Twitter and facebook took away some of my precious time. I started giving common excuse like "NO TIME".

Then a sense of responsibility was added through a marriage. I got married and luckily my wife was also into blogging. She encouraged me to get registered to BlogAdda. This eventually led to attending events, networking and finally writing blogs.

I am happy about the fact that there are various people in my life who encourage and inspire me to do the right thing. Help me to do what I like the most and let me come out of the regular work area. I celebrate blogging with all of them.

And now its time to actually #CelebrateBlogging in WIN15.

Blogging is not always a technical aspect. It has emotions, drama, action and lights. And we celebrate it with #LOVE.

“I am writing for #WIN15 – BlogAdda’s Blog Awards on how to #CelebrateBlogging! You should too!”

Training in a Mumbai local train

"Kya ye Malad ka line hai. Aap Malad otoroge" (Is this Malad line? Would you get down at Malad?) A man asked while trying to get down at Malad station in a Churchgate slow local. I told him "Ye Goregoan ka line hai"(This is Goregoan line). And he replied, "Muje subah hi patha chala ki Goregaon aur Malad ka separate line hai" (I got to know in the morning that there are two separate lines for Malad and Goregaon). I smiled at him and he got down at Malad station.

Mumbai local trains have typical rules predefined, formed over a period of time. People who get into the train without knowledge end up either getting down at wrong station or hear some sarcastic comments from other passengers.

A person who wants to get down before Borivali station will never catch a Virar local. This requires just one time experience travelling in a Virar local when the train is crowded ;)

People from Kandivali and Malad would spend around 30min extra just to get seat by catching a Borivali return train to reach Churchgate. They usually cannot get inside train during peak hours. Some good Samaritans get up at Bandra for other fellow passengers to sit. 

A train delayed for just five minutes will double the people standing on platforms and this would add to people woes. Some would dangerously stand hanging on the footboard. This is not at all a good learning.

Difference between first and second class compartments is that you would sometime get to hear sophisticated bad words in English ;) Only three person can sit on the seats while in second class, fourth person can be adjusted after a bit of push and requests. First class compartments have soft cushioned seats. All these three features are available at 12 times the cost of a second class fare ;)

It's takes just two days to get trained in a Mumbai local train and get accustomed to the "so" called rules.