man, what a mission!

day 0:

although the conference started today, i was at the venue yesterday morning - trying to get a table/booth/wall/anything to display the millee poster. the technology pavilion was quite small - housing not more than 20 booths in all. there was an entrance to a common area (where food was to be served, and there was some seating space) and beyond that was a fairly large auditorium, where the panel discussions were to take place. i was with anuva (one of my closest friends of 15 years), who was in charge of the tcs booth (very fancy, that). in contrast, the qualcomm booth was such an eyesore, gosh. it was huge - artifically raised on a platform that had grass artificially planted into it. there were artificial beams with several lights on it (you know - the kind that hide in the ceiling). why lights, when the event was to be held from 11 to 6 in the day, i do not know! then there were two plasma screens. of course, the light was strong enough that one could not see anything on the screens either. but who cares, i guess.

i waited for ms. gangavidya (the event organizer) to show up, so i could get a space. unfortunately, after keeping me waiting for an hour she did a no-show. first, told me to find another mr. senthil kumaran, then to find another soul. no one was wearing name tags, how was i to know? i went inside the convention center asking around for a senthil kumaran, and they told me to go to the av section. the av section of the convention center, that is, which - incidentally - happened to be quite a distance from the convention center. of course, i had to first go to the convention center from one entrance, do a full circle, exit from another door, go round the building, and come back to the place where i started. all in search of the darned elusive senthil kumaran. i was simultaneously calling qualcomm to know if i could be hosted by their booth - for they had this very convenient spot that read "education" and "wireless reach program". of course, not like calling qualcomm was an easy task. after many failed attempts at calling arif khan, whose contact number had been generously shared with me by anuva (thank you, anuva!), i asked the guy working at setting up the booth to get me in touch with the in-charge. i was put in touch with a shekhar kapur, who, apparently, doesn't even work for qualcomm! but how was i to know - i asked him if i could put up a poster, he said that was fine. i said it was a 20x30 rolled-up poster. he said they'd even mount it for me. what could be better, i had gotten my work done. yipppeeee! or so i thought...

i finally heard back from arif when i was way on my way to the airport (to meet anuj t.). he said shekhar kapur was only a contractor setting up the booth and had no authority to allow me to set up shop there. he wasn't rude or anything, but said it didn't make sense for them to host me at their booth. after some to-fro, he said he'd talk to linda - who was down in delhi from san diego.

very soon, linda called me and asked if millee was under john canny. i thought i was on the road to success, finally... yippeeee! or so i thought! she said that tcs were the grand prize winners at the competition, and that they were going to be there at the pavilion, and that it would be weird for us to be hosted there if tcs wasn't. um, ok. i tried a different card then - i told her i had run into tcs at the venue that day ("run into"... not really, since anuva and i went together) and that they were ok with us being at the qualcomm booth while they had a separate booth of their own. (it made sense, anyway, since tcs had the largest booth finally - with huge banners, and things, but anuva hadn't really said this to me - in those words. but what's the point of being friends for 15 years if you can't throw one's name around thus ;) anyway, i thought it was all sorted out then. later, however, arif called again to say he had made other arrangements. i was so tired by then i said ok and that i'd deal with it tomorrow (now today).

of course, more to mention - gangavidya said today there would be high security because the president of india was attending, and so i would not be allowed any brochures or cell phones. ahem. i had to beg for permission to carry a cell phone. and had to resort to printing visiting-card-like information cards because they were not going to allow anything else. of course, i have never printed visiting cards before, but am now an expert - so there, i learned something new.

that, i think, sums up the day. now to -

day 1:

i get there on my own today, losing my way along the way... the venue is an hour from home, and the road (for about a mile) to the ignou campus (the venue) is rocky as hell. there was lots of finding-the-right-person, calling-everyone-incessantly, etc. going on for a while. i spoke to 4 new people at the qualcomm booth, since none of arif/linda/shekhar-kapur were there. no one knew what to do with me or my poster. and they all had different suggestions. one wanted to put the poster center-stage, one wanted to put it at the very darkest corner of the stall where it had negative visibility (seriously!), one said i should go find gangavidya, one set about to find a table... anyway, in the end i had no table. because ms. gangavidya was eating price... tons of it. she didn't pick up my phone once, and i called eight times. she didn't answer the qualcomm guy's either. none of the security guards could find her. what kind of event coordinator disappears from the scene on the day of the event? gosh.

since i had little to do then but wait, and anuva had tons, i walked around talking to everyone in every booth individually. not all booths were fully present today, but i talked to some folks about their applications. it was an exercise in social skills. but thank goodness, i passed with flying colours (self-proclaimedly of course). i learned about some products made by tcs, hcl, tata tele-services, media labs asia, etc. and was quite glad to do so. then anuva grabbed me for a coffee and we headed to the pvr complex in saket. first, we ate more junk at mcd's (so much for my avoidance of mnc chains, etc.) and then drank coffee at barista. when we got back, we ran into parag and linda, and said hi. parag gave me his card and told me i must write to him, that he'd love to meet with us and discuss probable future courses. i said i'd get in touch with him (i still haven't, but give me a break - i will soon).

the first panel discussion had started by then, and we attended. anuva was soon bored though :) so she left early. i went out at the tea break, and found that the tea area was as crowded as the old-delhi railway station, and the tea was tea-bag tea. what the heck?! life is so unfair. i went around looking for arif, failed, then went back in to attend the second panel discussion.

by this time, most interestingly, it was pouring outside, and in the technology pavilion, not even the very funky glass ceiling was able to keep all of the rain out. there were 50 leaks in the ceiling, and every one had vacated their booths by 4, not to return for the day. ahem. what if it rains tomorrow? will cross that bridge once i get to it, i guess.

the second panel discussion was interesting, until it got interrupted to host mr. amar singh - the esteemed politician, dressed in his kurta-pyjama and sleeveless vest. (why do all netas dress like that? why? if i were male and a neta, i would wear a nice collar shirt and pants, and look around proudly!)

by then it was already 6 though, so i waited for a couple more presentations and decided to call it a day. i had been perhaps the only individual representative, and a day of un-success and alone-ness-in-motive was quite enough to take. i left at 6.30 and heaved a sigh of relief.

the day was not as unproductive as it deceptively appears. i did get to talk to a lot of people and did distribute some cards. and qualcomm expressed interest, didn't it? anyway, tomorrow (apparently) sheila dikshit is expected, and the media will arrive. which means, the booths will be full as well... or so we hope. more than anything, i am pleased to have attended the panel discussions. they were awesome - informative and educational. but the rural technology initiatives discussed will need to be penned later (since this has already become the longest post of all time).


(i fell asleep on the laptop as i typed the above, so it is already day 2, and it is raining outside. we shall see if anything materializes. but tell me, how can one not have arrangements to deal with rainfall at an event of such scale? beats me...)