Back from LB/2002

Returned yesterday from Bangalore after attending the LB/2002. Since the event already is all over newspapers and news sites both national and international I will not write much about the event itself, Apologies for not using LJ cut but I guess more people would want to read this post than not.

We stayed with , Dr G.R. Bhat and Vinod Unny were also staying with him.

When we reached there on the night of 2nd at nearly 2300 hrs the place already was overflowing with the event managers and ample supply of Pizza, coke and beer making rounds, but everyone dispersed by midnight, well almost.

Staying at was a blessing because Aasim quickly felt at home with Judo, the german shepherd and a bevy of cats. In fact he felt so much at home that he opted to stay back with Shubha most of the time instead of getting bored with us at the conference. A BIG thanks to Shubha for having taken care of him. I / We did feel a bit lonely with him not with us and his constant reminders that he did not want to come with us in the first place 🙁

Hmm… we raised him to be independent now that he is, we feel lost. We knew that this will happen BUT not when he is just five… …

Next day at the event Swati was busy with organizing things for the press and media. This years event was really well covered and due credit was given in BLUG in most of the places. Midway thru the keynote address I exercised my choice and skipped most of the talks for the day. Meeting with people and old friends was much more fun. Met a whole lot of LJ friends as well, could not recognize when he introduced himself as Pradeep!! unfortunately could not wait for the LJ meet, well did it happen?

Swati and my talks were scheduled on the last day, Swati having not spoken in public for nearly 10 years was understandably nervous. Also the fact that this was a technical forum (well mostly) and she is not a techie… … BUT she did manage (!?) to prove the point that Linux on Desktop is no longer for a techie and most of the tool similar to other OS are available for Linux as well. Also all the techie friends around were present at the talk as her “Geek Guards”- a term coined by her for people who act as geeks on her behalf.

I enjoyed my own talk very much because the people enjoyed it very much. It could have been perfect had is not been for a last minute mood spoiler from Mahendra about removing the words “Naked Ladies” from one of my filler slides. Sheesh… … there is a limit to how juvenile people can act, besides there was a complete week to review my slides. Anyway since he backed off, I changed the words to “Night Clubs”

The event ended with a Rock Show from Phenom which was the best fun we have had in ages. ‘s voice is still haunting me… … that kid should not give up singing.

After the rock show we (about 40 people) ended up at Windsor Pub and had more fun with fabulous food. The highlight was managing to dump the steak on his jeans and then beer on his shirt and gulping about 5 full mugs, saying … … After which I no longer sat by his side 😀 It was almost 1:00 am when we reach back

will soon be putting up the photos …. the slides from all the talks will also be available soon.