In life, you always receive one phone call/SMS/E-mail that reminds you that you have a life beyond work. For me indi@indiblogger.in has become one of those identities. A mail from them reminds me that there is something “extra-curricular” in my (almost non-existential) time-table to look forward to.

With my small stint as a Tech & Web Author at Kenfolios, I have been reading & fascinating about a lot of gadgets and resources. The #HPAndroid was a combo too tempting to turn down, enough for me to tell my colleagues that I won’t be turning up for work on a Saturday. They didn’t refuse as they didn’t care.

As I came to terms with the obscure location (I’m the ‘Andheri-guy’ that once trended on twitter), I called up my old pal who I only get to meet on Indiblogger meets these days. We coordinated spots and timings, and in the same synchronisation got lost at the location. Ave29, I realised was not an obscure place, but a pretty renowned experiential marketing venue (pardon my ignorance).

Thankfully, we finally reached around the last 30 seconds of the ’30-seconds-of-fame segment’ (err).

As we, the backbenchers, found ourselves seated in the first row. Anoop began discussing (and some began cussing) the topics of the day. I got my turn to talk about my blog. Yes, anti-social issues counted in talking about social issues.

As I gave a genuine explanation about my blog and my writings, the gravity of my thoughts met some irony.

*That awkward moment when people find your serious description funny*

The nice element of that session was, the nervous lady getting rewarded for overcoming her fear of public-speaking. Boy was she shivering!

The session followed by an epic presentation by Anurag ‘not your average, boring manager’ Gupta. He gave a chilled out presentation of some new gadgets that have entered the market under the HP brand.

Quite frankly, as the presentation rolled by and I saw each product, I was like,

but then when I remembered my bank balance, I was like.. 

Moving on to things I can’t afford.

These two were my personal favourites of the evening:
The HP Slatebook x2

The 100% tablet
The 100% notebook
The 100% epicness.

16 hours battery back-up, including the separate set of battery in the detachable keyboard.

The HP Slate 21 All-In-One

The home based family entertainment model.

I know just the place to set it up in my house.

The others were definitely cool too, but for me were way out of my budget and were too much for my needs (having money).

They were the
The HP Split x2

& The HP Envy x2

Yet, the awesome products were outshone by Anurag who at one point edited a piece of his presentation after receiving a lot of speculation from the bloggers.

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The post-tea session was a first in Indiblogger history… “The blogger’s presentation.”

Few got a chance to give individual presentations.

The first one posted his personal view of the differences and drawbacks on i.) an Android device and ii.) a Windows 7.5 device. This gave rise to a lot of OS fans disputing on his views. People like me on the other hand were just enjoying the game of verbal tennis.

The last presentation was an informative one, covering the need and importance of effective design for bloggers. It put forward some good facts, and cleared many doubts on technicalities.

Where’s the middle presentation? Well, not discounting any of the other presenters, but this one scored the highest on my board for its sheer randomness.

I can’t recall what it was called but I feel, ‘Rantings of Tech-xhausted Engineer’, would be a much more apt explanation. This guy gave an arbitrary presentation on how the phones (and some tech) have advanced to ridiculous and useless extents.

The slide where he highlighted the design evolution was hilarious. (If he permits I would definitely upload some his slides.) He made a good point on how technology has gone beyond functionality and now focuses more on the status-aspect of the consumer.

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Moving forward, as no good things end without Batman, the meet didn’t too! We had an ongoing twitter contest that had, me, among others, win a pair of HP headphones. It also had me reported as a spammer on facebook as I’ve linked my twitter account to FB (worth it).

One dude won an HP Slate 21” for his winning tweet. Now, I’m not the jealous kind but…ARGHHJDSGSKAAfa…

Ahem, I may have got a bit carried away. I’m really, happy, for, him.
*PUNCHES WALL, HURTS FIST, CRIES SILENTLY*

The cool meeting ended with a random group hug competition, which added a pair of HP speakers to my arsenal of things ‘I didn’t pay for, yet own legally’. I have a completely different outlook about hugging people now *unleashes the inner hippie*.

The meet (as well as the location) came to a close and as we walked out Ave29 with our special Indiblogger mugs accompanied by cheesy smugs. We continued interacting with the fellow Indibloggers at what ended as an awesome evening indeed.

(Originally Posted on Quite Literary, Quite Literally)

Note: This Article won the HP Slate 21! Woohoo!