Doing some work for 27coupons.com ?? Beware....

It’s no secret that websites take help of bloggers and content writers to promote their websites and bloggers do it to try something extra and maybe give a bit of variety to the blog. What I’m trying to tell you is along the same lines and a warning that in case you do get a mail / a chance to work for 27coupons.com as a blogger to promote their website, stay away from them because this is my ordeal and how you can be safe from the hassles.

I won’t hold back any names, so that you don’t get duped. This thing goes back more than a year back. It dates back to March 2015 when a blogger friend of mine asked me if I was interested in doing a sponsored post. I said yes, the payment was through flipkart vouchers. I created a blog post for 27coupons.com sharing the details about the coupons on their website after checking it first by myself to gauge the authenticity and ease of use. I submitted the blog post and my contact details to the friend who forwarded it to the agency looking after the website. The coupon came after 2 days directly on my email through the agency. The trouble started after that, everybody knows that flipkart vouchers are valid for one year from the date of issue. On receiving the voucher, I checked its validity and balance, was 500 valid till March 2016 this year. Months down the line, when I decided to use it in October 2015, I got the first shock of my life as I found out that the balance was 0 (somebody from the buyer end had already used up). I investigated with flipkart and they told me the name of a particular lady who had used the voucher. It clearly implied that it was not used by me as my email ID was not associated with the transaction done on that voucher.

I contacted the owner of the agency and told him about the whole issue. He responded promptly and within the next 24 hours sent me another flipkart voucher of same value in lieu of the one used up. He told me that he knew nobody of the said lady name and would investigate. Fast forward to 3 days back (July 2016). I was buying a gift for my sister from flipkart and saw that at the time of redemption the website showed incorrect voucher number or pin error message. Due to these details I could not even check my balance. I again contacted flipkart and after 12 hours of investigation they sent me a mail saying that the voucher was generated in October 2015 but its pin had been changed in December 2015. I being the recipient of the voucher can’t do anything as only the original buyer has the power to do anything with the pins. Armed with such information I again contacted the owner of the agency and brought him up to date with the whole matter and asked him if he could do anything in that regard. The reply which I get, “This time the pin was kept very securely. So I don’t think any leakages has happened at our end. I won’t be able to do anything in this case.” I even got flipkart to check on the records that the said voucher was purchased on the email ID of the agency.

This sent him the voucher and pin details again and I requested him to share them with me but I have got no response. Everybody who’s reading this post and has ever used flipkart knows how they work if they are gifted. The number and the pin have to be correct otherwise it won’t work. Now I am only trying to use the details which were sent to me. It’s all about who uses the voucher first, as both the original buyer and the recipient have the details. Despite flipkart telling me to contact the original buyer and giving me the proof on email that the pin number had been changed just two months after it was sent to me shows that there is something seriously wrong with the agency. Either they can’t catch the security breach from their end or they’re trying to be too smart. Having two incidents of almost the same nature within 1.5 years speaks a lot about them.

Although it might be a small value voucher but anybody who’s worked for something they have written knows the value of remuneration. Isn’t it tiring and friggingly ridiculous to see a spate of mails going on between me and flipkart just to get all the details out to know where the goof up happened? In the end what happens? The said agency washes its hands of the whole affair. फ्री का promotion करवा लिया. The website 27coupons.com is another front for the same agency so getting in touch with them is no purpose. 

My sole aim to write this post was to share my trouble which I had with this agency/website in regard to payment and maybe some or the other people might connect with this post who have gone through the same pain of not getting their due payment for their work. In my case it’s a simple case of security breach within their own company and they are not ready to accept it and I am at a loss. So my advice to you for the future is to stay away from any work that you may undertake for this website/agency as there might be hassles with you just like me in payment.

Website- 27 coupons.com

Agency- Diffion consulting based in Bhubaneswar.

Kava - The star of Hotel Fairfield Lucknow..

Food, flavours, taste... Something which is not unknown to the people of Lucknow. Just speak the word and you’ll have a variety of delicacies floating right before your eyes in the various parts of the city. I got the chance to review “Kava”, the restaurant of Hotel Fairfield, Lucknow by Marriott. 

There is something different about Kava, it’s nothing more but just a very big open space which has been set up in such a way that you have the bar, the seating arrangements, the buffet system all in one place but it doesn’t feel cramped or suffocating. Part of it is also to the fact that big windows on two sides give ample natural light. Its a buffet system but I was also served the la carte style , all courtesy of the chef. I had told him my taste bud preference - a bit spicy. Now let’s see that how much did it actually meet the standard of spiciness. I tried majority of the Indian Cuisine..

Akkad bakkad with 4 flavours

The very first starter dish was the Gol Gappa.. The signature dish of every chatpata foodie. There were 4 flavours of water to choose from – Imli (tamarind), Heeng ( Asafoetida ) one sweet and a new one which was sort of a type of soup. The flavours were quite good and one thing which I noticed was that flavour was in the water, kinda balanced between just the right amount of spices. In other places you find a heap of spices to give it that flavour but here it was not so. It was not the overdose of anything. 

The overloaded cousin..

Next came its cousin- Dahi ke batashey. Standalone taste wise it were just okay, but if I compare it to the Gol Gappas then I would say that they were a dampener. They were loaded or I should say overloaded with a bit of curd more than necessary. The "Sonth" which is a trademark of such dish was found lingering at the bottom.

Kava Delight

Next came my partner in crime - the mocktail “Kava Delight”. It’s a very refreshing drink. What made me fall in love with it at first sight was its colour. Filled half with the drink and then topped it with crushed ice all the way up to the top and a mint leaf to finish it off beautifully. I have rarely seen a mocktail drink reflect some three colours in a single glass. The ice surprisingly did it its work to cool the drink but not to make it too chilly that you can’t drink it. God, I would have to find a way to get the lifetime supply of this drink. This drink surely stood up to its name.

Haryali Paneer

Next up- the Haryali Paneer. This paneer dish is a bit deceptive. It looks like just any other paneer dish you would find everywhere in the country but the surprising factor is the thickness of the paneer cubes and how soft they are. It’s not like big cubes put together and finished off. It stayed true to my requests of spiciness and yet it was tender. Quite soft. 

Straight from the grill to the
plate

Next came up chicken straight from the grill to our plates brought by the chef Prashant himself. It was steamy, piping hot that for a few minutes I could only stare at the marvel at my plate. This got me thinking that this is what is lipsmacking cuisine. The flavours just right and on the grill the chicken cooked just perfect. Seemed like I had wandered to the sets of Masterchef Australia to taste food.

Its the sarson wali machchi ( Mustard oil fish)

Next- Fish prepared in mustard oil. Apart from the beautiful decoration of the plate the fish had me stumped. As you dig into the fish you find tell tale flavour of mustard oil hitting your nostrils as well as lemon juice seeped in every piece. You’ll find mustard oil and lemon both till the very last bite that you have. A surprise attraction and a nice one in that regard. 

Spicy Asian Salad

For the so called health conscious there was a "Spicy Asian salad". A combo of spiciness, tanginess, sprouts, chopped onions this was something which you could not put down once you had a bite out of it. For those who can’t handle spiciness I suggest you stay clear of this but for those who live for spiciness and चटपटा चटोरपना, I suggest you look no further. Like they said "ज़िन्दगी का मज़ा तो चटपटे में ही है". Yummy...

The salad and dressing table

Thats crshed ice

I took a break from all this eating and went to explore the buffet tables. On the dressing and salad table itself there were at least a dozen dishes and all of them were kept on crushed ice. Yes you heard it right, I mean read it, it was crushed ice. 

Pickle lot..

For the pickle crazy mothers there are big jars waiting to be relished. These are not the standard 10 ml small bowls that you find elsewhere. These are “just dig in” types. 

Then there is a bread and cheese station which serves you at least three types of different cheese all catering to your individual taste buds – the Feta, the Cheddar and the Emmental. The buffet is a variety of dishes with the colour of the vessels displaying either veg. or non-veg for quick identification.

Having eaten so much in the starters, I was doubtful whether I would be able to have something in the main course or not. Even by my own भुक्कड़ standards I had more than I could’ve thought of managing. The main course was a low-key affair for me.

Chilly chicken

Murg

I had the "Chilli chicken" and “Murg Dumkhum” as the 2 dishes. Chilli chicken disappointed because it did not stay true to its name. It was soft, no doubt about it but the gravy was sweet. Come on, you name it chilli but it turns out to be sweet just like a sauce. I would give this dish a thumbs down.

The Murg Dumkhum is the dish which by my reckoning was the balance of flavours between too much spice and gravy. The assortment of breads was also there to try out the various varieties.

Fish on a platter with baby tomatoes

The surprise element all of a sudden was a Fish on a platter. I forgot the name of the dish at I can say that the fish was extremely soft and totally melt in your mouth. For a moment I was utterly confused as to whether I was really having fish or not. The softness, texture, flavour would really surprise you. Its very soft...

The dessert station has a variety of cakes etc. to satisfy your sweet tooth. For the kid in everybody, you also have 2 jars filled with toffees and Marshmallows. Seeing the tofee I went into the "जब मैं छोटा बच्चा था , बड़ी शरारत करता था " mode. My sweet drink was a glass filled with Rabri and Gulab Jamuns( 4 in a glass, kind of a treasure hunt..dig in, find it. ) . A sweet way to finish such a hearty meal. वो कहते हैं न, पेट भर गया मगर नीयत 

नहीं .

Except for the Dahi ke batashey and the Chilli chicken every dish was good partly because of the fact that the flavours were there which I wanted... and in case you are wondering about the crushed ice fundae, Prashant told me that its done to retain the natural flavour of the dressings and salads because at room temperature they tend to lose it all. 

For such a wonderful experience it was all thanks to my host Fatima, Prashant and his chef team, Sankalp and the service, Vishal and the others.

The bar

The team behind all this

Marketplace

If you like to munch while waiting, in the lobby of the hotel there is a section known as "Marketplace" where you can have coffee, tea ,juices, pastries, munchies etc. and even buy the small everyday household items.

Kava is the heart of Fairfield and it makes sure that it keeps both your heart and palate happy.

Rating- 4/5.

Kava

Hotel Fairfield, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow.

Indian Music today : Dial M for melody... Not found....

Gone are the days when the Indian music used to be melodious. What I’m writing here might seem a rant to you but that this is the truth today and specially on the movie front. Its a mixture of various things- the music being composed today, the singers, the very absurd lyrics, the not so melodious compositions, the repeat mode of a single track all through the day or year, the extinction of the indian pop music scene... there is so much to talk on so many things, even I don’t know where to start. Let’s take it as it comes to my mind . Keep the Indian classics out of this… they are melodious, no question about it.

My reference point for this is music from 2000 till 2008 – 2009 or maybe even a few years after that. 2000 was when we really did start having some really melodious music. You had Dil chahta hai, Kaho na pyaar hai and so many melodious soundtracks that it was always a tough choice which album to buy? The decline on the music front started when you actually had to think that why should I buy this album?? In the yesteryears, out of the standard 8 tracks, if you even liked 6, that was probably reason enough. As the years passed on and the movies started to come out of the 3 hour duration timeframe the songs also declined but at least give us something good to sing and hum about.. Right??

The last movie album I remember buying in CD format was Love Aaj Kal. After that, no music was good enough for me to buy the disc. These days movies focus on a single track and ignore the rest of the songs, so many times you miss hearing the really awesome ones. Jannat was a super blockbuster music wise and the songs are loved even today. “ Door na jaa” was never known that much because it was never in the movie, it was in the album though. Listen that song, you can trace its location in the climax . I talked to my friend about this and she said that younger generation likes current songs. My question is that when the lyricists are penning down, “ Char botal vodka” or “Selfie le le re” would the so-called generation would have ever known “Aashayein” from Iqbal or even “Awarapan Banjarapan” by KK both in terms of music and lyrics? These are just 2 songs I have quoted. Even “ Main kya hoon” from Love Aaj Kal is a sleeper hit, just hear it. These days when you ask people what is melodious music to them, prompt comes the reply “Sufi”. It is melodious, but we really did have melodious music and lyrics even before it came to the centrestage. Qawalli I think has gone totally extinct like the dinosaurs. The last time I remember hearing that was in Veer Zaara years back. Music these days is the ` फटाफट Chinese माल की तरह बिक जाए` types, not long lasting. The Bhatts are known for giving awesome music, be it Gangster`s Ya Ali , Jannat. Recently though they have fallen just short of giving a complete album. All the movies today run on just one 1-2 songs only. 

Kumar Sanu and Alka Yagnik

Sonu Nigam and Udit Narayan

As I talk about music, one thing to be noted is the lack of quality singers. Today Arijit Singh is the `one man fits all` singer. In virtually every movie he sings in the same style, with less or virtually no modulation. He might be melodious, but variety... No. The best of the lot are nowhere to be seen now - Sonu Nigam, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu, Abhijit etc. Shankar Mahadevan is the only exception for his versatility both as a singer and music director. The music directors of today churn out run-of-the-mill songs with nothing new. Can any of them recreate the magic of say “Tanhayee” from DCH or even Kal Ho Na Ho title track? I doubt it. Remember that viral video in which Sonu Nigam sang in a disguised on the streets of Mumbai. In the interview following days after that, he said that directors approached him now only if they need something special. He still has that magic, listen to his song from Agneepath. Kumar Sanu’s fans would swear by his track in Dum Laga ke Haisha. 

I don’t even want to comment on the lyrics front. Majority of them is “throw it in a blender and let’s see what comes up” types. Any ऐरा गैर ऐवेही type lyrics become a “ chartbuster/blockbuster song. 

Euphoria

Now let’s turn a bit of attention towards the `God knows where` indipop scene which exploded with a bang. Junoon, Euphoria (although they are still there), Colonial cousins , Silk Route, Aryans have all vanished sort of. My very first album was Daler Mehendi`s Tunak tunak tun but I truly truly loved “ Tanha Dil”. Be it the title track, Bhool jaa, Gumsum ho kyun…it was all really good. Over the years I have heard bands coming up with singles for movies but not full albums. Across the border Strings. Just on a whim I heard “Dhaani” many many years back and become a fan, it was so good a track. Then they came up with another track “Najaane kyun” for Spiderman 2 and Sanam repeated the same thing with The Amazing Spiderman 2 “ Main hoon”. Kuch is tarah is still the prime choice for many who have heard Atif Aslam`s `Doorie` (there would always be a debate between Doorie and Kuch is tarah). I have heard Faridkot and Kaash some years back but even they don’t come out so frequently now as they did before. Even KK is absent from the scene. 

Parikrama

My friend Geetanjali Kaul had this to say – “ We don't have good music composers and lyricists now. Use of mechanical music and not real musical instruments have changed the quality of music. It is very good but has lost the essence. No audience is left for our kind of oldie music.” 

We had so much good music more than 1.5 decade – 7 years back which now comes in trickles. I am not saying that the music these days is not good but it somehow doesn’t give you that feel good feeling. These are just my thoughts on the wait for good music which is still going on…. 

Few honourable mentions which were also the base of this post ( the list is not exhaustive ) – आसमान के पार , यारों दोस्ती (Rockford), आसमान के हैं सारे तारे (KK), अब न जा, महफूज़, माएरी (Euphoria), बुल्ला की जाना ( Rabbi Shergill), धड़के जिया ( Aloo Chaat ), धूप के सिक्के ( Sikander ), जाने क्या चाहे मन ( Pyaar ke side effects), मेरा बिछड़ा यार , यह है मेरी कहानी (Strings), मौला मेरे मौला ( Anwar) , मेरा पहला पहला प्यार (MP3), अनजाना दिल क्या चाहे, रोया रे ( Dhokha ), तेरा मेरा प्यार ( Kumar Sanu), तो फिर आओ (Awarapan), तिनका तिनका (Karam), बीते लम्हें, खुदा जाने, सजना आ भी जा, and many many more…

Like this broken vinyl, no longlasting melody in
today`s music...

Cashback : तम्बू में ऊँट वाली हालत .... हाय राम..

जब हम छोटे थे तब एक ऊँट का किस्सा पढ़ा था की एक रेगिस्तान में रात में ठण्ड से बचने के लिए उसके मालिक ने उसे थोड़ी सी जगह दी और थोड़ी देर बाद ऊँट ने पूरे ही तम्बू पर कब्ज़ा कर लिया . अपना भी हाल कुछ ऊँट जैसा हो गया है. कुछ महीने पहले मैंने एक total तफरी वाला पोस्ट लिखा था cashkaro.com के ऊपर. हँस हँस कर उन लोगों की हालत खराब हो गयी थी. मेरी हालत भी कुछ अजीब तरीके से गड़बड़ हो गयी है. वो क्या है न कि तम्बू बम्बू की आदत लग गयी है उस ऊँट की तरह. यह पोस्ट पिछले वाले से आगे का हालिया बयान है ...

बात अब सिर्फ रिचार्ज पे कैशबैक की रही ही नहीं , अब तो पूरे शौपिंग पे Zika वायरस की तरह फ़ैल गयी है. दुनिया भर की साईट से सांठ गाँठ बनाये बैठे हैं, उस पर हर चीज़ पे अलग अलग % वापस . किताबें, इलेक्ट्रॉनिक सामान यहाँ तक की अगर रुमाल भी मंगा लूं तो भी चंद सिक्के वापस आने पक्के हैं. अब पता लग रहा है जिन लोगों को नशे की आदत हो जाती है उनके साथ क्या होता है ? यहाँ फर्क बस इतना है की अपने ही पैसे वापस लेने की लत है . मगर भाई साहब बवाल भी तो बहुत हैं खरीददारी के . इनकी साईट पे जाओ, फिर वहाँ से जिस साईट से सामान लेना है वहाँ निकलो. खरीददारी न हुई ओलिंपिक की बैटन रिले हो गयी, पहले यहाँ तक जाओ, फिर वो वहाँ ले जायेगा. हाय राम... तम्बू बम्बू की यह आदत कुछ ख़ास लोगों के बगैर नहीं लग सकती – दिल थाम के बैठो क्यूंकि अब आगे वाले कुछ नाम लड़कियों के हैं. दो से बहुत पाला पड़ता है भले ही अभी तक मुलाकात नहीं हुई . 

तो सबसे पहले पेश हैं - आकांशा. ये ही हैं Twitter Queen इस कंपनी की ( जिन लोगों ने मेरा पहला पोस्ट पढ़ा होगा उन्हें कुछ कुछ याद होगा इस ज़िक्र का ). मुझे तो ऐसा लगता है जैसे बैंक वालों की तरह एक पर्सनल अकाउंट मेनेजर मिल गया है. यह जिस तरह से अकाउंट संभालती है वो तो उफ्फ ही है. पांच मिनट में फटाफट सब चेक करके समझ जायेंगी की बात किस पैसे की हो रही है. आकांक्षा के अकाउंट संभालने के दूरगामी परिणाम होते हैं. काफी बार यह छुट्टी पे गयी और मेरी धड़कन रुक गयी कि लो लटक गया मामला. Cashkaro वालों की तरफ से जवाब आता भी कि किसी और से बात करा दें तो मेरा जवाब होता है “ नहीं.. मुझे उसी से करनी है. जब वापस आये तो कहना प्लीज कॉल कर ले”. अब किसी दूसरे को शुरू से मामला समझाऊंगा तो हो चुके बाकी काम मेरे . इसीलिए आकांशा को प्रेफेरंस है. एक tweet में काम हो जाता है, अमाउंट सही कराना हो तो वो भी पलक झपकते ही होता है... इतना कुछ है की “ आकांशा पुराण “ लम्बा चल सकता है. कभी इससे बात करके देखना, लगेगा ही नहीं की काम की बात हो रही है.. वो कहते हैं न “ informal style “ ( खैर आप लोग आकांशा का नाम पढ़ने के बाद जो सपने देख रहे हैं उससे जाग जाएँ ) . यह तो चलता ही रहेगा.

अब जिनका नाम है वो है तो एक टीम का हिस्सा और उसमें और भी लोग हैं मगर उनसे ही काम पड़ता है – प्रियंका. यह Mails झेलती हैं. जैसे Forensic Experts सबूतों को संभाल कर रखते हैं वैसे ही कुछ ऐसा ही काम है. दुनिया भर के बवाल भेजने पड़ते हैं मेल्स पे. आकांशा के शब्दों में यह Mail Queen हैं. यार हर किसी को किसी न किसी चीज़ में महारथ हासिल है यहाँ.

Representative image only..

“ मम्मी , कल उसने मुझे मारा”...

“ कोई बात नहीं बेटा, अपनी टीचर को बता देना जब वो ऐसा करे “

“ टीचर , टीचर ...यह मुझे मार रहा है “.....

ये ही होता है जब बच्चा स्कूल में धुलाई होने पर स्कूल टीचर के पास शिकायत ले कर जाता है.. 

अब इसका दूसरा version यह है -

“ स्वाति , कहाँ हो ? अरे देखो न यह कंपनी क्या मुसीबत किये हुए है... सही कैशबैक भी decline कर दे रही है . क्या मुसीबत है इसके साथ ? रुला रखा है . प्लीज कुछ करो न “.

“ मैं पर्सनली इस मामले को देख रही हूँ”...

कुछ इसी तरह मैं स्वाति की जान खाता हूँ. कुछ 1-2 sites ऐसी ही हैं जो काम करने में महा लीचड़ हैं, भले ही बड़े नाम हैं. हम भी स्कूल के बच्चे की तरह शिकायत ले कर पहुँच जाते हैं अपना दु:खड़ा लेकर और वो सुनती भी है और जवाब भी देती है . जिनको नहीं पता – स्वाति co founder है. 

तो खुद सोचो की कितने लफड़े होते हैं ऑनलाइन खरीददारी में अगर आप कैशबैक के द्वारा कर रहे हैं. इतने screenshots भेज चुका हूँ की लगता है किसी दिन अपने आप ही MS Paint एक्सपर्ट बन जाऊँगा. कभी कभी transactions इतने ज्यादा हो जाते हैं कि वो quarter ending वाली फील आ जाती है. इतना हिसाब किताब तो मैंने अपनी पूरी ज़िन्दगी में एकाउंट्स में नहीं पढ़ा जितना इन कुछ सालों में यहाँ कर लिया. कभी कभी कोई कंपनी कैशबैक मना कर देती है तो सच में केजरीवाल वाली विरोध प्रदर्शन वाली आत्मा आ जाती है. "हम इसका विरोध करते हैं , हमारे पास सबूत है की transaction हुआ था ". Cashkaro वालों के RTI फाइल करने से पहले ही अपनी मेल ISIS के ठिकाने पर एक अमेरिकी मिसाइल से भी पहले पहुँच जाती हैं. 

तो समझ गए न की अपनी हालात ऊँट वाली कैसे हो गयी ? इस तम्बू बम्बू में झमेले हैं मगर इस तम्बू बम्बू की ऐसी आदत लगी है की क्या करें ???...

ऐसा है की यह पढ़ने के बाद यह न सोचना की यह सब लिखने के लिए किसी ने या कंपनी ने मुझे कहा है ... मेरी ऐसी दिमागी खुराफातें सिर्फ मेरे दिमाग के कहने पे चलती हैं.. दिमाग घूम गया तो कुछ भी लिख सकता हूँ या फिर राष्ट्रपति तक कहने के बावजूद कुछ भी नहीं... पढ़ें और लुफ्त लें बस...

अगर आप यह सोच रहे हैं की मैंने पहले क्या लिखा था तो यह पढ़ें : 

http://www.shwetabhmathur.in/2016/02/online-shopping.html

JoshTalks: यार वो 10,000 वाली फील नहीं आ रही #Joshtalkslucknow

So another unusual thing happened with me – an event in Lucknow. सूखे प्रदेश में बारिश . For this event too, the notification came by Facebook. Again I rubbed my eye to see that what I saw was really what I saw. It was Joshtalks, a meetup where people who have made a difference in some fields talked about their experiences and story. Josh people claimed that they were mostly doing these in Delhi but now they were here. For tickets priced at 100/- it was a steal deal and I was hoping that a repeat fiasco of Nvidia and StayZilla does not happen with the gentry. Unlike the last time this time I had Arsh with me. He is a busy bee and I had to drag him to come. Another interested person was Saumya, she loves interacting with people and she was eager to be there. Upon reaching the venue, I noticed quite a crowd out there. Good thing was that they seemed much better than the crowds I have experienced in previous lucknow events. One guy was singing some popular songs on his guitar while we waited for the room to open.

There I met Arsh`s friend Zamir. After about 5 – 10 minutes the room opened and we went inside. Took our seats and waited for the program to start. The TV screen in front of me came to life and somebody started speaking which looked like someplace else. I totally lost it there and then. If josh people were looking for some nawabi niceties, they were so very very wrong. The first salvo fired by me was this –

I have had truly pathetic experiences in Delhi with such teleconferences that it totally blew my fuse. I was just not ready to go through another ordeal. The guys must have sensed an angry person in the crowd so they sent this tweet, look at the #stayseated  -

A person came onstage and told that the session would be of 2 hours and the 1 hour after that would be for networking. He did 2 mistakes, he never gave out his name, looked like there was an unknown entity X. So Mr. X यह लखनऊ है, यहाँ नेटवर्किंग नहीं होती. Session खत्म होने के बाद लोग सीधे खाने पीने पे टूट पड़ते हैं. टिकट के पैसे जो वसूलने हैं . यह दिल्ली नहीं है. 

The first speaker was Nirman Dave, a person who makes DIY kits for schoolchildren. He told his story how the DIY kit is all about making circuits easier for kids. Although he said that he got his first order of 10,000 kits to be supplied in schools through a person who came to know about it through his blog, he never explained how you got the remaining kits in just 7 days. Although he used the services of the various grandmothers of his society to get all kits packed in 1.5 days. God knows about the figures he was quoting. There were some fill in the blanks but I was really not interested in that the first thought coming to my mind after he had spoken was “Money wasted”. In the meantime I was busy with my life commentary through to its. Some way to pass time and the one which would start a race after sometime.

The 2nd person was Ankit Agarwal and he seemed interesting to me because he talked about environment. His company collects offered flowers from temples and makes incense sticks out of them. A nice innovation which I loved. The discarded pics of gods and goddesses are also taking care. The pics are put in soil in pots along with the seeds and watered. A new plant comes out and thus you are caring for the environment. The boxes of incense sticks are thrown away VAT 69, Bagpiper casings. It was the most interesting talk but unfortunately the most shortest. Before calling the next speaker somebody from Josh came up the stage and announced that a twitter contest was going on and the person with the most tweets would win a VIP ticket to the next meet in Delhi in October worth 10,000. It was an incentive to get people to tweet and get the # trending. I was anyways up with my life commentary. It was another matter that both Arsh and Zamir were egging me on, "भाई आज टिकट तो ये ही लेकर जायेगा". I was in a different mood when nothing else to do as my luck is limited to blogger meets in Delhi.

The next one to come up was Usha Vishwakarma who heads the Red Brigade who makes people aware through place about the crimes happening against women. It was also her story as to how she saved herself from a sexual assault by her co-worker and the devastating effect it had. The various such things happening with other girls and women and how they also fought the men responsible for it, the apathy of the society and police towards victims of such abuse. She also gives self defence training to the girls. The next idea coming in my mind was that they should get in touch with Sheroes – the acid attack victims. Then I thought that every girl made self defence capable and aware by Red Brigade is one less girl to be rehabilitated by Chaanv foundation – the NGO looking for the rehab of acid attack victims.

With just 3 speakers left, that same Josh girl came onstage and said, “Who are Shwetabh and Divyanshi ”?. When we both got up she said that you two are leading the battle of tweets. A few people started tweeting seeing that this thing was serious. I thought, “This is unbelievable”. Although I couldn’t see the girl, I knew I had to beat her. Lucknow people are still in Facebook mode. All they do is to accept / send friend request, write hi / hello on walls and share pics of gods / goddesses. Twitter for them would be far-fetched and I went into nitro mode. If it was about quantity, I might edge the competition out.

The next speaker was Anurag Awasthi who gave figures on foodgrain wastage and how this is a serious problem. Although he said that his company is working for more better storage facilities of foodgrains to avoid wastage, like the first speaker he too failed to to explain how he is doing it. In a hush tone, he accepted that contrary to what the government says about being friendly to business, they do nothing.

Next was Babar Ali from Kolkata who began teaching from the early age of 9 years to the various children and he was thus called as the youngest headmaster. The rest followed his story as to how he initially had resistance from people towards the endeavour which is going on currently. The efforts have begun showing rewards as quite a few children taught by him have become teachers and now he has built a new school at a place so that better facilities and education could be provided to children.

The last speaker was KM Yadav, an RTI activist who has filed numerous applications to know the shortcomings and improve the facilities given to the people. After getting knowledge about RTI from some people used it to ensure better and regular supply of cooking gas from IOCL. He has used RTI since then in every quarter and has also encountered various dangers from different type of people. Using that in RTE, he had ensured that children of labourers, daily wage earners etc got admission in various schools and that day some 11 boys from Kanpur were there. It was heartening to know that all of them were studying in classes 9-12. The session ended with a song by these boys.

Next came the tweet announcement and I was declared a joint winner. At last the effort and gamble paid off. On the stage I was handed a bookmark type ticket and I was like, “ ये टिकट है?? ये दफ्ती 10,000 की है ?”. 

The dafti

The only remorse – none of the photographers present there clicked pics of the winners. What to do?? They are not used to cover events in Lucknow and so don’t know how things should be done. It was a wrap and as I had said earlier only few remained with the speakers while the rest scampered for पेट पूजा. We 4- Saumya, Me, Arsh, Zamir clicked pics with the three remaining speakers and headed home while talking. On the way out I caught hold of Mr X and asked him, “Is this ticket real?” And when he replied “Yes” I said, " यार वो 10000/- वाली फील नहीं आ रही है." Looks like I have to win some more to get a feel for such things. 

My observations as always – 

1. Quite a few speakers were boring as they failed to connect with the people fully. They could not explain and engage how did they do the work.

2. In order to give a chance for the people to network, they should have kept the refreshment in between the session via a break so that people came back refreshed and also get a chance to make contacts instead of running away at the end.

3. Apart from the selfies clicked, nothing substantial happened at the end. Only 3 speakers remained during the interaction, where the rest vanished I dont know?

4. I can only hope that the Delhi meet in October is way way better than this current one in Lucknow.

With Babar Ali

If you are wondering what was that Stayzilla thing I was not happy about, read this : 
http://www.shwetabhmathur.in/2016/01/stayzilla-homestay-in-lucknow-and.html