And the Topic for BAT 13 is...

From now on, each Blog-a-Tonic can submit at most TWO posts for this event irrespective of the number of blogs he/she maintains.

Date for Blog-a-Ton 13 : August 7, 2010

It is that time of the month when you start cranking your brains to get that one elusive innovative idea that can land the BATOM award in your hands. So just gearup to know which Topic will give you sleepless nights in the coming week.

But before that lets Welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics who will help in taking the participations to a new high;

• Srikanth
• Bharath
• Sharbori21 (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Purnima Sudula
• Sakhi (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Pooja (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Divz
• Ana
• Rinaya
• Mayank Sharma (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Just a pen in my hand (Please provide a shorter pseudo-name to be blogrolled)
• Aravindan
• Anjali Gaur
• Mani (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Sidra Sayeed
• KaushalV

Hoping to see you all participating in BAT 13. You all will be blogrolled soon!!!

On the basis of the voting over last one week, we have narrowed down to the topic for BAT 13. Here are the results of the final phase of voting that took place on this blog and Facebook simultaneously.

 Topic for Blog-a-Ton 13 : Goodbye

Debosmita makes a comeback after giving BAT its earlier topics What if! and Time Travel in the seventh and eight editions respectively. Keep suggesting such wonderful topics!

And is it a Jinx that the topic 13 got stuck on 13 during BAT 13???

Imp. From now on, each Blog-a-Tonic can submit at most TWO posts for this event irrespective of the number of blogs he/she maintains.

While dealing with the topic 'Goodbye', you have the freedom to treat it the way you want. Its upto you; which genre of writing you choose, i.e. simple essay-type, article, dialogue, short story (even 55 Fiction for that matter), poem or whatever you feel like.

Moreover, its upto you; which mood or tone you choose to set it in, i.e. serious, witty, humour, optimistic or whatever that comes to you naturally.

Again, you have the freedom to choose the language of communication. However, we'll suggest you to write in English to put across your views to the maximum members which will also help you when its the time to vote for the BATOM.

I hope this clarification helps the new Blog-a-Tonics.

So, you all have ample time to write it but you'll have to wait till Aug 7 to post it finally along with everyone else.

Please write your posts on time as the late entries will not be allowed to participate in the voting round (though the links will be added to the participants list).

Other rules regarding posting will be conveyed to you later.

So kindly wait for that notification on next Friday rather than putting up queries right now. If the queries are regarding general pattern of the event, please go through the posts about previous events.

Wishing you all, a free flow of thoughts

Blog-a-Tonically yours

Vipul Grover

My BAT XP and VETERAN BATonics!!!

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To some it reminds the Dark Knight , to some it reminds Sachin

Tendulkar ; but when you ask the bloggers, BAT reminds them 

the red and blue, three haired winking Marshal   .

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Are you are here to decide the topic for BAT 13???

Click here to do so.

Or simply continue reading My Blog-a-Ton Experience and Meet the Veteran Blog-a-Tonics.

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It’s been one whole year, a wonderful one year in this journey of Blog-a-Ton. As a blogger, I have created my own niche in this period while as the Marshal, I have enjoyed the whole process and the appreciation I have received for my initiative.

Did I ever expect BAT to rise to such an extent?

Yes, I always hoped so. That’s why the mission from DAY 1 was to have an edition with 100 participants. It was frustrating when after rising initially, for next six editions the number of participations kept swinging around 40-45 and came crashing down to 35 during BAT 9. It was surprising when in the very next edition, the number touched 60 and within two more editions, it has reached 70. The ultimate mission now seems within reach, thanks to all the bloggers who keep participating month after month, also attracting other fellow bloggers in this process.

Did I ever expect to win BAT?

Yes, I always hoped so. It was very frustrating when despite writing some good posts in the initial editions, I failed to garner desired votes. Competition was always stiff. The quality of entries was always great. It took 10 BATs to win the BATOM badge award and within two more editions, I have two BATOMs under my belt.

However, this has also got me thinking if it is fair for other participants. Should I, being the Marshal, be competing with them for BATOM? With due respect to all those who have voted for me in previous two BATs I participated in, and made me win both of them, I do wonder if  there is any kind of favoritism taking place! It is a tough call for me as BAT has become a way of life for me, not just as a Marshal but also as a Blog-a-Tonic. So, do give your feedback about it!

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FELLOW TRAVELERS
THE VETERAN BLOG-A-TONICS

In the last three weeks, four wonderful bloggers have shared their BAT XP with you. These are the four who started this journey with me on August 1, 2010 participating in Blog-a-Ton 1. There were 7 other bloggers too, but only these 4 have stayed and enriched BAT with their wonderful posts month after month.

Click on their respective names to read all their BAT entries

	Shilpa Garg 12/12 BATs BATOM 1
Pawan Maruvada 11/12 BATs BATOM 5 SILVER BATOM 12
	Siddhesh 'Ravan' Kabe 10/12 BATs Designer of BATOM and Veteran BATonic badges Meet Marshal of BAT Pune Meet
Vipul Grover 10/12 BATs BATOM 10 GOLD BATOM 12 Founder Marshal of BAT
	Dhiman Manji 9/12 BATs Future BATOM *fingers crossed*

I’ll like to share my gratitude by inducting them in BATs Hall of Fame, which has been named as  'The List of Veteran Blog-a-Tonics'!!!

So the first five inductees to the List of Veteran Blog-a-Tonics are

• Shilpa Garg
• Pawan Maruvada
• Siddhesh Kabe
• Vipul Grover
• Dhiman Manji

Click on their names to read their Blog-a-Ton Experience (BAT XP)!!!

Here is the list of all the 13 entries for Blog-a-Ton 1. The topic was "The Cream and Scum of Blogging".
Arjuna, Saimanohar, Dhiman, Vipul Grover, Avdi, Daisy Blue, Sid 'Ravan' Kabe, Shankar, Shilpa Garg, Bharathi, Ranee[1], Ranee[2] and Pawan.
Shilpa Garg was voted as the First Blog-a-Tonic of the Month.

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There are many others who joined in the following editions and have been with BAT ever since. You all will be inducted in the following months after scrutinizing your posts and your performance in BAT.

To be eligible, you must have participated in atleast 10 BAT's.

Once your number of participation reaches 10, just drop me a mail with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send me that single link).

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Hoping to see many more inductees in future

Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

BAT 13 is here - Suggest a Topic

DATE FOR BLOG-A-TON 13 : AUGUST 7, 2010

TOPIC DECLARATION : JULY 31, 2010

In the last one month Blog-a-Ton has achieved new heights on the occasion of its first anniversary. BAT 12 saw 70 entries competing for the BATOM award which was for the first time given to three BATonics including the runner-ups. We also successfully held BAT Meets in the cities of New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. You were also introduced to the BATonics who had participated in the first editon of BAT and have been regulars ever since. I hope you all had as much fun as I did.

Before I open the BAT 13, lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics;

• Nir
• Arpit Shukla (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Keerthi
• Hiyaa Israni
• Lichi
• Warm Sunshine 
• Vijju (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Ujjwal Sen (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Nandan Narula
• Vignesh

On the basis of the voting on this blog and on Facebook, we have narrowed down to just 3 Topics.

You have to vote for one of the following suggestions only.

1. 13
2. Goodbye
3. Freedom

Please go through the following rules before voting;

• While voting, also mention the serial number, the topic has. For example, '3. Freedom'
• You should help in pruning down this list by voting for any of these topics even if you had suggested or voted for some other topic earlier.
• Give your votes in the comments section of this post.
• Do not embolden your comment using HTML bold tag.
• Please keep these points in mind to make my job easier.

In case a comment is not posted according to these rules, it will be deleted.

Encourage your fellow bloggers to participate in this edition. You can share this post on your various social networking profiles through the ShareThis widget present at the bottom of this post.

P.S. Before you leave, do read Pawan Maruvada's Wonderful Blog-a-Ton Experience.

Hoping to receive some interesting suggestions

 Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

All in a year's work.

Blog a ton. A year ago when all the hype about it started I had no expectations on it. I didn’t quite like the idea in the first place. Who’ll write? I thought. And time knocked me out my senses. Blog a ton. Now it’s a phenomenon on the Indian blogging platform. When Vipul asked me to participate in the first edition in those seedy gtalk pop up boxes I had no option. Now it’s the largest generator of traffic on my blog. Come blog a ton my page stats zoom up into the sky. The first Saturday of everything is a treat to my hit counter and Google analytics. Blog a ton. The example of great marketing. Vipul has built a global brand locally. As we talk, a blogger from the remote Guinea islands hits the ‘follow’ button. The first two months, blog a ton was just a group of twenty members writing together. Later, the scale got larger and the topics more intense.

In the initial days there used to be simple topic suggestion threads with the topic almost being decided in a matter of a few comments later on the selection process started becoming more vivid with weird ideas pouring in. Time travel, all in a day’s work, what if, topics like this fuel the spark in a writer. Given that there are no restrictions, each post has a different dimension. The more abstract the topic, the more vivid is the thinking. This has given me a rare opportunity to hone my skills in different genres. Sci fi, romance, tragedy, drama, murder, crime, horror, I’ve done them all. The main beauty of Blog a ton lies in the format itself. Indeed blog a ton is a life changing venture for me and I think it’s the same for many other bloggers. If not for BAT, I’ve wouldn’t have met wonderful people like Shilpa Garg (consider her my mentor/editor, a special thanks to her for making my journey in the blogosphere smooth so far!), Neha, Guria, Karthik, Rumya, Tikuli, Vinay, The Fool (an meticulous reader and a better reviewer).

Once the topic is finalized, it’s the time for the mind to set out on a creative rampage. I generally think till the last Friday before the competition and then start writing, a process that every time consumes the deadline to every last minute. I’ve the recognition of being the last submitter of the post for Blog a ton all the time. Well, it’s something I hope to continue too :D Those warm comments, intense criticism, moments of pride, and similar moments of defeat are something that’ll go down the memory lane. My blog got popular, it is only due to Blog a ton. Winning the title once and coming second 6 months later, I something I’m really proud of. My entry for “All in a Day’s work” topic took my blog’s status to higher levels, giving me more freedom to write on bolder topics. Ironically, I’ve won the top slot for an emotional drama and the same genre brought me the second title too. Those who follow my blog closely will know the irony. I’ve noticed the pattern of the winning posts in BAT; they are always emotional posts, written on a deep seated problem or conflict. Well, this is not revealed until the results night, usually the Friday after the D- day. In between there’ll be random suggestions inside the blogger community and some reviews on who is good and who is bad. Good posts are appreciated and are spread like wildfire and the bad ones criticized (not on the blog though, where one can still find comments like cool, good etc)

Once the winner is declared, there’ll be massive traffic bound towards the winner’s blog and therein emerges another super blog. I’ve been seeing this for over a year now, except for one edition I’ve taken part in all the others. It has been a wonderful journey for me, and I guess it has been for the others too. I can’t think of a world without blog a ton, without which our blogs would be the correct examples for draught in the sub Saharan region. I think we all owe one for Vipul, founder in chief, CEO and Marshall of this wonderful concept which is constantly encouraging new talent and has been grooming the old. This idea has endured a year’s journey and no doubt, it’ll survive an eternity. Hail Blog a ton.

Amen.
Pawan Maruvada

Some Wishes Fulfilled - BATOM 12 are...

Blog-a-Ton has crossed the mark of 500 Followers but the ultimate aim is still far away. - the aim of having an edition where 100 Blog-a-tonics come together and participate. The last three editions have been quite promising with nearly 65 participations in the final edition of BAT's first year. Lets find who has swept this edition.

But before we see the results, let's welcome the new members of Blog-a-Ton;

• Vikram Pyati
• Sreevas (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Shwetal
• Heena Ansari (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Vamzee
• Turbulent Mind
• R-J
• Prarthana
• Dewdrop
• Purple PIRATE
• Nehha N Josshi
• Pakixah Baig (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Ivana Djuric (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)

You all will be blogrolled soon!

So now, without loosing any time, lets see who are the BATOM you all Wished for...

BATOM 12

As evident, here are the three Blog-a-Tonics of the Month. Just Click on their names to read their respective entries.

GOLD BATOM	SILVER BATOM	SILVER BATOM
Vipul Grover	Pawan Maruvada	Vee...

Vee..., please provide your e-mail id to receive the badge award. Just drop in a mail.

You all can also read the voting comments now. Just click here to find who all voted for you or liked your entry and what they had to say about it!

P.S. We have received three late votes which have been discarded. However, votes from  Narendra and Himanshu aka Azad are not visible in the comments but has been taken into consideration as they were directly communicated to me within the stipulated time.

In future, please be on time so that your precious votes do not go wasted!!!

I Hope You All Had A Great BAT 12!!!

Will be back soon with Blog-a-Ton 13

Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

A to Z of My BAT Experience

Blog-a-Ton turns ONE, this month! And I turn ONE on Blog-a-Ton too!! Yeah, I have had the pleasure of participating in all the 12 Blog-a-Tons!!
When, Vipul asked me to share my BAT experience here, was I thrilled?? Well, that’s putting it mildly.
So, here’s my BAT experience from A to Z…

An ‘Aha’ Experience…	Awesome!! Amazing!! has been my BAT experience. No, I am not saying this coz, I am doing the guest post here. And believe me, neither did Vipul ask me to say so!!
Blogging Marathon…	BAT is a blogging marathon par excellence. All the activities, announcements are on time, as per the schedule. That’s something commendable!
Cool Comments	Needless, to say that BAT posts always receive the maximum comments, which is like elixir for any blogger!
Diverse Diversity	It’s always awe-inspiring to see such diverse thoughts and expressions on a topic.
Excellent Exposure	Looking for that perfect exposure in the blogosphere?? BAT is the platform!!
Friends Forever	Have found some wonderful people here. Thank you BAT!!
Great Experience	The whole process of deliberating, expressing, sharing, understanding, learning at BAT is a great experience.
Hats Off	Hats off to Vipul for hosting such a wonderful contest.
Ideas Galore	A BAT post which was on a format of a research paper, simply floored me. There have been pretty innovative and imaginative ways of presentation of BAT posts…Lists, A to Z, Puzzles, Picture Posts…
Journey Joyous	12 months and 12 BAT posts with a winner post too is a joyous journey, truly!
Knowledge Everywhere	Knowledge is the food of the soul… and I got it in abundance at BAT.
Learning Experience	BAT has opened my world to newer forms of expressions viz Drabble, Minisaga, Cinquain, Haiku, 77 Fiction, Mirror poetry…
Midnight Oil It Is…	Somehow, I have always written for BAT on a late Friday night. May be subconsciously the idea is, “Early bird…” :D
New Networks	BAT has been a wonderful platform for networking too.
OMG!!	There have been many ‘OMG moments’ with BAT. An amazing write-up, an unexpected twist, a beautiful and poignant tale, an appreciative feedback… all left that lingering wonderful feeling.
Plus Plus Plus…	Being a part of BAT has been ALL PLUS + PLUS… and not a single Minus!!
Quite a Lot Coming Together	With each BAT, more of our brethren are coming together and blogging together. That’s something cool!
Reading Galore	With each new edition of BAT, the number of posts to read is on the rise. So the more you read, the more you learn…
Some Serious Fun	Yeah, BAT is some serious fun!! I had loads of it!!
Topics	The topics have been great for almost all the BATs. Though, there were a couple of them, which I didn’t fancy much.
United We Stand	BAT is unity in action! Truly!
Vote for…	Ah! This has been the toughest part.
Winner is…	Refreshing the BAT page every other second after the deadline (10 or 11 pm), to know the winner would surely cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, some day!
Xtra Xtra For…	You get extra marks, extra love, extra fun for good writing at BAT!
Your Post on Your Blog!	Nothing could be better than this and I’m lovin’ it!!
Zeal and Zest Continues…	A year with BAT but my zeal and zest to participate in BAT continues. How about you??

Here’s wishing a very Happy 1st Birthday to all Blog-a-Tonics!! And a great fun time too, at BAT!!
Cheers :)
Shilpa Garg

Lets fulfill Someone's Wishes - Vote for the BATOM

Voting gets over at 22:00 hrs (IST) on Jul 18, 2010. Remember, that means time stamp of your comment can be at most 21:59 and not 22:00.

Let us welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics before proceeding further

• Michelle
• D2
• Anurag (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Guddu
• Braj
• RoH
• Yamini Ram (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Meher
• Satyam Gambhir
• Digital Marketing (Please provide a personal bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Parul (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Maddie
• Shreyas Kulkarni

You all will be blogrolled after the completion of this edition of Blog-a-Ton!

Click here to check the fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton along with the direct links to their posts.

In this edition,  70 entries came in from  65 blog-a-tonics within the stipulated time. 

Please recheck the links you have provided. Some of them do not have correct path. So please repost your links.

Please follow the following rules while voting.

1. You can cast upto 3 votes or cheers as we call them, and of course you can not vote for yourself.

In short, you are allowed to vote for one, two or three entries. All your votes will carry the same weightage.

2. FROM NOW ON, REVERTING TO OUR EARLIER TRADITION,  ONLY THOSE BLOG-A-TONICS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR VOTING WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE EVENT.

We have flaunted with the idea of voting by non-participants but it has shown no results, only leading to favoritism in some cases. These are the number of votes casted by non-partcipants in previous BATs going chronologically backwards - 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 6, 3.
In short, rather than making the counting cumbersome for me, I've decided to drop this rule.

3.  Your Voting Comment should start as follows:

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I participated - http://vipulgrover.blogspot.com/2010/07/wish.html

I vote for - 
1. XYZ; his/her post = http://ABC/xyz.html
2. DEF; his/her post = http://LMN/def.html
3. PQR; his/her post = http://RST/pqr.html

Code:

I participated - <a href="YOUR POST LINK">YOUR POST LINK</a>

I vote for -
1. NAME OF THE FIRST BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a>
2. NAME OF THE SECOND BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a>
3. NAME OF THE THIRD BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a>

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Replace the parameters highlighted in red with their actual values.

Remove the extra code in case you are voting for less than three entries.

3. While voting for a Blog-a-Tonic, use his/her name as provided by him/her in his/her participation entry.
Moreover, in case of multiple entries by that blog-a-tonic, don't forget to number his post as mentioned by him/her while commenting.

 4. All your votes should be posted in a single comment. So, take your time - go through all posts - only then decide your one or two or three favourites.
In case you vote separately, only the first comment will be taken into consideration.

5.  Post your vote in the comments section of this post.

Now coming to the other rules:

• Voting ends at  2200 hrs (IST) on  Jul 18, 2010.
• I have started moderating the comments and won’t display the voting comments till the end of this process to keep the result secret till its conclusion.
• After the voting code mentioned above, you may also add the reason, why you voted for a particular post to help others know what you expect as a reader. Moreover, you may also mention the other posts that you liked though you can vote for just one of them. 
• In case of multiple entries by any blog-a-tonic, all his/her entries will be evaluated individually while deciding BATOM, i.e., the award will go to a post rather than the blogger.

The Votes will be discarded without any prior warning in case they are not sufficiently compatible with the rules.

So, if there is any query about voting or you do not find yourself blogrolled, feel free to drop in a mail. I'll try to get back to you asap.

NOW COMING TO THE NEW AWARDING SYSTEM - 

On popular demand and requests received and discussions done with some individual Blog-a-Tonics, we will be having 3 BATOM (Blog-a-Tonic of the Month) awards this time.

• GOLD BATOM
• SILVER BATOM
• BRONZE BATOM

Some (highly complex) rules for rewarding -

• Awards will be given to maximum (and not necessarily) three individuals only.
• For example if two individuals win the Gold and Silver and there is tie for Bronze, the Bronze badge award will stand canceled rather than giving it to all the tied ones.
• Similarly, if there are more than two contenders for Silver, both Silver and Bronze shall be canceled.
• In case of ties at higher levels, the lower rewards might be cancelled.
• For example, if there is a tie for silver between two, both will be awarded it, and the Bronze will be canceled.
• In case of certain ties, Marshal's vote shall decide the winner (as otherwise, I do not vote)
• For example, if there are more than three contenders for Gold, then inevitably, Marshal's vote will decide the three winners who all will be given gold and there will be no Silver and Bronze.
• These rules are to ensure that we don't end up awarding non-competitive posts.
• As this is a new feature, I'll have the sole discretion to adapt it as required. So kindly, bear with me.
• As time progresses, we'll be substantiating the rules.

Remember, the time stamp of your comment can be at most 21:59 and not 22:00 on Jul 18.

Hoping to see similar participation in voting too

Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

Rules and Reminder for Blog-a-Ton 12

Publish the post on Jul 10, 2010 anytime between 0000 hrs and 2359 hrs (IST)!

Date for Blog-a-Ton: Jul 10, 2010

Before I give you the details about posting, lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics

• Prabhjot
• SnowLeopard (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Amit Gupta
• Kamaldeep Singh (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Gaurav Karkhanis
• Ravindra (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Piyush Arya
• Karthik
• Venky
• Vamsi Krishna Mohan
• UB (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Nithin RS (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Prachi (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)

I hope to see all of you participating this time.

 

As you already know, the topic for Blog-a-Ton 12 has been finalised as:

Wish

Please follow these rules while publishing your post and thereafter:

• The title of your post should be the topic itself; i.e. Wish
  Please do not use any alternative title or your post link will be removed.

• The post should start with this text within blockquotes and with link to this blog. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode:
  
  <div style="text-align: justify;">
  <blockquote>
  This post has been published by me as a part of the <b>Blog-a-Ton 12</b>; the twelfth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <a href="http://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/"><b>Blog-a-Ton</b></a>.
  </blockquote>
  </div>

• The post should end with this text within blockquotes and with links to the comments section of this post and this blog. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to ur post in Edit HTML mode:
  
  
  <div style="text-align: justify;">
  <blockquote>
  The <b>fellow Blog-a-Tonics</b> who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective <b>posts</b> can be checked <a href="http://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/2010/07/rules-and-reminder-for-blog-ton-12.html#comments"><b>here</b></a>. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <b><a href="http://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/">Blog-a-Ton</a></b>.
  </blockquote>
  </div>

• Publish the post on Jul 10, 2010 anytime between 0000 hrs and 2359 hrs (Indian Standard Time)

• After publishing it, do not forget to leave the link in the comments section of this post.

• Use the following code to provide direct link to your post.

<a href="ADDRESS OF YOUR POST">YOUR NAME - Wish</a>

It will look like this: Vipul Grover - Wish and will link to your post.
Please follow this rule to ensure easy navigability to your post.

• In case you post your link after the stipulated time, then your submission will not be considered for voting.

• Return on Jul 11 to vote for your favourite post. A separate notification for the same will be posted upon the conclusion of the event. So do not vote till then. Till then just enjoy reading the various entries, keeping in mind your favourite one. 

A SUGGESTION - 

Rather than submitting a number of posts, try and focus on just one or at maximum two posts as some bloggers have done in the past. In short, go for quality over quantity.

A GOOD NEWS -

This Blog-a-Ton, there are going to more than one BATOM. Details will come out on Jul 11. So do participate as there are more chances to win the badge award.

DO NOT USE THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS POST FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. If there are any queries, ask them in the comments section of previous post.

Looking forward to some great posts

Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

The Dent in the Blogverse!!!

What is intellectual, bald, little kid in half pant and tongue out?

Of course no points for guessing, Marshal.

Which is the ossum idea that caused the dent in the Universe, atleast Blogverse? Blog-A-Ton!!!

Now looking at the title of post, you may think I am writing a intelligent article which will be praising marshal, Blog-A-Ton and all that, but no, you see, I am going to share you the secret of Blog-A-Ton. Now as this post was supposed to be about my experience with Blog-A-Ton, I am going to share the timeline of Blog-A-Ton with me in it, and you will be surprised to know, I was there in all of them. Sacchi.

The first and foremost formula used by Blog-A-Ton, was identifying the Cream and Scum of Blogging, the purpose was to clear the scum in the beginning of the event. You see, once that was settled all we were left was enjoying the cream.

For me, Blog-a-ton was glory, I started blogging in 2006 and no one, not even the monkey who was randomly typing on computer reached my blog. I did force my friends to read it, threatening to spam their email inbox if they don't comment (hmmm... should do that now no?) but only few visited, because others didn't mind, they already had Microsoft-yahoo lotteries and special sex capsules in their inbox.

So I was looking for different options to show the world that I am still there, when I accidentally reached Indiblogger and 3 followers. So profound was I about this discovery, if I had a jacuzzi in my house, I would run around naked shouting 'Eureka,' anyways, just after a week of discovering the indiblogger, I reached the ultimate site, Blog-a-ton. I am not sure from where I landed, because I was exploring many blogs and their widgets and stuff.

Those who do not know, I joined Blog-a-Ton in first 12 people the glory event, the small step for our marshal, but a giant leap for bloggers and then like a big wall of dominoes it all came crashing down. Whatever Marshal may say, I am sure he did not envision blog-a-ton to grow this way. This is the only event which has an ordered chaos, yet it succeeds.

Blog-a-Ton will be a blogging event that I always hold close to my heart. The 'Blog-a-Tonic of the month' golden widget was a small contribution from me to the great plan of Blog-a-Ton and I am sure we have a lot more words to run.

Heres wishing all the Blog-a-tonics, all the best for Blog-a-Ton #12 and a big cheers to many more Blog-A-Tons to come along the way with more interesting post and stuff. :D

The cake we ate for the 1 year celebration in Pune.

P.s. I will win Blogaton one day. Hu hu ha ha ha.

P.p.s. Those who do not know me (seriously, I would like to meet you o_O) I blog at Sidoscope, Ravan's guide to Life, Relationships and Career, Because Life is seriously funny.

P.p.s. The badge on top is just a concept, not an official badge of Blogaton.

P.p.p.s. Is P.p.p.s even a thing? o_O

Cheerio,

Blog-a-Ton Meet @ Pune

Hello Folks,
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Venky. I have recently been baptized into this fascinating world of blogging. I happened to be a part of the First Anniversary Celebrations of Blogaton. Sidhesh, Mahesh, Chetan and I met at SGS Mall, Pune. I wrote a small post about me and the meet. I shall upload the pics soon.

When the climate looks enticing as Salma Hayek, you simply need an excuse to get out. My excuse was: Bloggers Meet at Dorabjee’s. Although I have been blogging for several years, I never felt the drive to shout across the world that I am a blogger.  After all, millions of people in the world were blogging.  I had lazily relegated my blog as a soul-less blog in the Information cornucopia that was overflowing in the Web.  After all Google wouldn’t even know of my existence. Everything seemed okay until I met a farmer.  He walked inside unassumingly as a teacher to teach B2B Marketing. While I sat in his first class, little did I know that this philosopher would wake me up from my slumber and show me the infinite power available in the mother of all networks: World Wide Web. It suddenly felt exciting to be a Blogger. I realized I have been ordained with a divine purpose to exist and spread my ideas in the Web.

 With this new found excitement, I decided go and meet fellow Bloggers in town.Sidoscope, Maheshisms,Smiling Planet and Incorrigible Optimist all came together to celebrate the occasion of first anniversary of Blogaton. We sheepily introduced ourselves by sharing the intimate details of how it all began. It had the same excitement a lover would have when he begins to narrate about his first love. Everyone echoed a sense of fatigue in the world of gravity they knew, you know, the real world as some of us would like to know.  We yearned for a world where we could bend the rules of gravity imposed by the society to chain humans. Web gave all of us a glimpse of this zero-gravity world whose sinews were made of our ideas and our dreams and nothing else. After sharing the first love ( or should I call pupply love) experiences in Dorabjees, we decided to move to SGS Mall to celebrate the first anniversary of Blogaton. We happily devoured the cake along with steaming Momos, while we began to set the floors for discussion. It started with a discussion of spirituality. Much to our amusement, we realized that each of us had a different perspective of the world around us.

 While Mahesh believed in an Objective world which existed at large without the power of network, Sidhesh and I believed in the world, to paraphrase a Quantum Physicist’s famous words, where “I” existed not just as a Noun, but as a Verb. Chetan turned out to be the simple soul who was content to see the little charms of this world.No wonder, his world was a smiling planet. Mahesh’s objective world, Maheshisms, was also concerned with the social conditions which affected our lives. The discussion ranged on a kaleidoscope of issues ranging from Quantum physics, Ramayana, Spirituality, Evolution and Religion. Everyone was happy to find their ideas buffeted by eclectic experiences. As it happens in the end of the blogger discussions, the discussion steered towards laying the foundation for a new blog to share our ideas with the world. Ah! Feels heavenly to be a blogger!

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An Update from the Marshal

You can check out the pictures from the meet here.

My journey with BAT so far…

It feels very nice to be given the opportunity to write about my experiences with Blog-a-ton or BAT as it’s called lovingly. I still remember the beginning of this event. Vipul(the Marshal bhai)was my blog friend and also a fellow Indiblogger. It is from his blog and Indiblogger forum that I got to know about the concept and eventually about Blog-a-ton itself.

So here was an event where one had to write and post on a single topic(suggested by members, then s-elected by members) on a designated day. I didn’t know what to expect of such an event. After passing out of school I was not used to write on a pre-determined topic or subject, so was quite apprehensive naturally. But the first BAT topic “Cream and Scum of Blogging” seemed pretty easy, so without thinking much  jumped in with my post. After posting, I rushed to reading other posts and was amazed by the quality and variety; I mean all the posts were so different and intriguing (I had never imagined one could be so creative with that topic). Well, that’s what set the tone of future BATs and I felt that participating in BAT will be great fun.

The most surprising aspect for me was every time I would see the topic and panic. I would think my god , what am I supposed to write but before the BAT day something decent would be ready with me for posting . The more interesting part was people would read it and post very encouraging comments. In-fact the BAT posts were the ones that would get most attention (read traffic and comments). Moreover I was enjoying this whole thing of writing, reading and interacting. So it became a compulsory event in my blog till December 2009 (in that month I had only 2 posts and one was BAT post!). In the New Year, January 2010 for the first time I missed BAT, it was unavoidable but had decided that I’ll not miss the next editions. So in February 2010 I was back but then again missed in March. Yes in 2010 I have been missing a few editions but if you see I have missed only 3 editions thus far I think and every time came back without fail.

So, what BAT has done for me? It has helped me improve my writing (Koi Shaque!Ok! Now don’t judge by this post, I felt that after going through my BAT posts!). Then in my first and only Indiblogger meet Harsha Chittar(another Blog-a-tonic) recognized me as a fellow Blog-a-tonic. So you see participating in BAT made me World famous (OK! OK! I am exaggerating!) . But the truth is BAT has helped me in getting some very good friends.

As BAT completes 1 year I wish BAT a Very Happy First Birthday. Also congratulate Vipul(the Marshall bhai) and fellow Blog-a-tonics for keeping it up and running, actually making it better. BAT’s still a baby and it would be great pleasure to see it grow up into a youngster. It would be an ultimate dream come true to see it reach the goal of 100 bloggers writing at a time (It will happen I am sure). Then I’ll write another post here commemorating the occasion :P .

Dhiman Manji

Blog-a-Ton Meet Mumbai edition

We emailed. We decided. We met. We talked. We laughed. We had cutting chai (which wasn't cutting, was it?)

Parth had Irish coffee. Parth said, "What baccha?". We talked some more. We took (a few) pics. Dishit made a famous theater person to take our pics. We think he was shocked. We left.

My sincere thanks to all of you that came. I'm sorry I'm posting from my phone so I can't link your names and blogs but you know who you are. Thanks for coming and be a part of the first ever BaT meet. :)

This is me, PC signing off.

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An Update from the Marshal

Read here what Gkam has to say about the Mumbai Meet.

Jab We Met : Blog-a-Ton Delhi Chapter

Date - 4th July
Venue - Barista, Connaught Place, Delhi

We had a reason to celebrate; Blog-a-Ton turned one and the city wise meets were planned. It was a Sunday and the weather gods were happy too. So we all met at the Barista. People started joining in and slowly we were a group of 13.

The agenda was to meet up, get introduced, eat the cake, do some chit chat and then leave. It started off slow with casual discussions on blog platforms and problems that few of us might face with different browsers, platforms etc.

We then moved on to each one and their blogs and what a discussion it was. Everyone talked about what made them start with blogging and what all do they write. With each one getting few minutes of spotlight, stories started coming out. Some wrote for a social cause, some for bringing a change, some for the love of writing and some just for love; but what was common in each one of us, that we enjoyed thoroughly this world of words.


The cake brought by Geetanjali was a visual treat and even yummylicious to eat.

Lot of pictures followed the cake cutting ceremony and it definitely did not look like a group of people that met just few hours back. We then scribbled a line or two on a white t-shirt about the meet. The Marshal - Vipul actually wore the Tee and here it is (please focus on the comments and not on the pot belly :P)

 More pictures followed and we finally said a bye with plans of another meet soon. I thoroughly enjoyed organizing the entire event and being a part of it was even bigger fun.

 I would like to mention here the contribution of Himanshu Shekhar  in helping me find the right place for the meet.

Also, a special mention to Vipul Grover for starting B-A-T and getting us all together.

Long live BAT :) :)

P.S. for more pictures - http://www.flickr.com/photos/pankajb/sets/72157624295900651/

P.P.S. I shall soon post with a line or two on each of the participant. Watch out for more :)

Love
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Richa S.

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An Update from the Marshal

Taking our tagline 'If its Your Post, It looks Best on Your Own Blog', too seriously, our Delhi Meet Marshal saved the best part of her write up for her own blog. So also visit here to read her take on all those who attended the meet including me.

And here are some more pictures from my camera - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=189464&id=653175263&l=a6afe88b73

Here's the Topic we all Wished for...

Date for Blog-a-Ton 12: Jul 10, 2010

As we all prepare for the The First Anniversary Blog-a-Ton Meet to be held tomorrow in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune; its the time to declare the topic for the ultimate Blog-a-Ton of the year coming up in a week. But before that, lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics:

• Tangerine
• Hardik Shah (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Rama
• Moutusi Bhattacharya (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Vivek Singh
• Jeevs
• Punam
• Leo
• Yatish (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Mayur Basude (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Tarun (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Vee (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)

You all have been duly blogrolled.

Of all the topics that got suggested for this edition, Celebrations (Chanz), Wish (Leo) and Anniversary (Vikas) were the most favoured ones. Finally, the Blog-a-Tonics decided to go for Wish.

And with this for the third time in a row, topic suggested by Leo got selected. He definitely deserves all the praise.

While dealing with the topic 'Wish', you have the freedom to treat it the way you want. Its upto you; which genre of writing you choose, i.e. simple essay-type, article, dialogue, short story (even 55 Fiction for that matter), poem or whatever you feel like.

Moreover, its upto you; which mood or tone you choose to set it in, i.e. serious, witty, humour, optimistic or whatever that comes to you naturally.

Again, you have the freedom to choose the language of communication. However, we'll suggest you to write in English to put across your views to the maximum members which will also help you when its the time to vote for the BATOM.

I hope this clarification helps the new Blog-a-Tonics.

So, you all have ample time to write it but you'll have to wait till Jul 10 to post it finally along with everyone else.

Please write your posts on time as the late entries will not be allowed to participate in the voting round (though the links will be added to the participants list).

Other rules regarding posting will be conveyed to you later.

So kindly wait for that notification on next Friday rather than putting up queries right now. If the queries are regarding general pattern of the event, please go through the posts about previous events.

And yeah, hoping to see a huge participation in both the meet and this event. Its gonna be a great week!!!

Wishing you all, a free flow of thoughts

Blog-a-Tonically yours

Vipul Grover