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!

---

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.

---

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
----
Richa S.

---

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