Defining Moment in my Blogging World…
Hi guys,
I am sure u all know me and my blog for the past 2 years. I am not a avid blogger apart from IPL times. I blog whatever i feel, things impressed me, which i feel some one must see… In simple a let out from organic world to have my presence over virtual world.
Now, I am hearing y de heck this fellow chattering abt all these now…? So no delays, By this time u all will be knowing that i along with my partner Krishna Kumar won second prize in the blog contest conducted by US consulate.
Now as usual gonna narrate the journey towards victory. Just go past it and enjoy de ride…
How did it all Happen…?
As u all know i am working in ITC ltd, and as a part my training program i was in Chennai in de mid feb to march. Tats the time my frnd KK came up with this to me, He said he has seen in some daily abt the blog competition, and shall v participate..? At the first instance it looked so weird to me, i was so sceptical whether we can match up the expectation level of US consulate. But just nodded the head and kept in de back of my mind. To be serious no thoughts went over my head. If i am right after couple of days KK again asked me did i think abt it, I know if i say no, KK will be seriously disappointed, so i just made up by saying, ya man thought abt it, and we shud have a different style of approach to strike the better deal. Tats when this idea of conversation poped out and seems to be a good one. KK was convinced with this one and days rolled on.
We are DMSians, we hav a habit of doing things only JIT(Just In Time). In de gap time KK used to call me up and discuss abt the character, and their discussions. A BIG thanks to Gtalk as it helped us a lot and saved hell lot of money for sure… Without any doubt Gtalk rocks.. Now a days Marriages aren’t made in Heaven, its in Gtalk (this is just a quote, none to be chosen in specific)…
Till this moment i am not sure though Why did KK chose me as a partner, basically i am lazy guy and not a gr8 writer of any sort. One thing which would have made me his choice is, Contest had 40% weightage for Creativity and 20% for blog designing. Without any doubt i can fill in this part. Designing and Being creative have been a boon for me from my early days, thanks to almighty for that.
Now coming to designing part, i was asked to draw with my eyes closed. Cudn’t get it right. This is how it was when KK asked me to design without the script, which meant i had no clue how to design r what to design for., So as would evry1 think i just made a simple design as the Background. (a mixture of Indo-Us flag). Template was quite good, but i was very much sure KK will be looking much more than that, so for time instance i created it within 15 mins gap and mailed him, as expected KK needed the BG to be modified, In the middle he came with the blog name as harley-mango-tango, without any doubt it sounded really cool. I registered it on the very same day in wordpress.
Coming back to designing, the title gave a new idea for me and i was thinking abt it, in the right moment KK called me and said u can create something with the important leaders from US and India who are important. I wasn’t convinced with leaders as it ll be more formal and u have to be serious in the matter, but he gave me the idea of collage. Tats all i needed and i started working on the important things that portrays India and US for specific reason. Thanks to god it came out really well. Here is the full view of the pic as u can see only the lighten BG in our Blog.
So had a bunch of photos which u can come out when u name India and US made in the BG. As u can see Harley Davidson, Mango, Obama, AR Rahman, Steve Jobs, Indira Nooyi, McDonalds, Sachin, Saree, Indian Food, Tata Nano, Hollywood, Bollywood and so on… Picture is infront of u to crack it out.
Finally KK was satisfied with the BG work and he was working on the script the day before the deadline. In middle wee had few discussions abt what are the things to be taken into discussions and i helped him a little from my side. The Deadline day came and as i already mentioned we are DMSians and v complete anything only in the nick of the time, Deadline time was 12 midnight and KK gave me the final draft by 9.30..
I had to convert it into picture with the lightened BG and make it an image. Photoshopping has been easy for me so did complete the work in abt hour r so, As always said, u ll find errors only when u complete full work, as the same i wanted to make corrections in all the pages, so restarted the work again and got pakka 9 pages ready by 11.30. And started uploading the pages to website, as i have only Reliance Net Connect speed is very slow and it took almost 15 mins to upload and finally the blog is ready by 11.45, and i had to work on our profile, which i did after uploading and Its all pakka done JUST IN TIME.
We were very happy and congratulate ourselves and went to doze off happily, and the next day we came to know that date has been extended for another 2 weeks. in middle we got few comments frm our frnds, which were encouraging and few pointed out the errors in the blog too. Later KK got them all corrected from one of his online frnd. And i have to rework the same things again in Photoshop and uploaded which is usually de last day, even though the extension was made for two weeks. Once again all are fine b4 the deadline 12.
To the matter of fact i left it out of my mind from that moment, i guess KK too, After a long gap KK called me in the end of first week of may and said, our blog is in top 6 and we are running a better chance for the prize. Seriously i didnt believe though, checked US consulate Facebook profile and got it confirmed,Being in the top 6 itself made my day, running for the prize kept both of us much more excited. We were invited to residency towers, which is in T nagar for the prize distribution ceremony on 13th of May.
KK was lucky in getting the leave in his concern but it wasn’t the same for me, so after a day’s work reached residency towers by 6.30. As my partner KK was waiting for me anxiously. After few intro speeches by Consulate ppl, IIT Madras Director Mr.Ananth gave a brief speech before the decisive moment came. Names came one by, first all 3 consolation prizes came and we weren’t there, which meant we were in top 3. And my mind was saying that we were second all the time and indeed it was. (May be KK will kill me for this, from the time i have seen our blog in the second in the top 6 list, i was well settled for second place). We were presented a HP desktop by Bryan Dalton who is the acting cousul general of US Consulate.
Winning Moment:
Top 6 Bloggers with Dignitaries in dais:
And as the prize distribution ceremony ended, we all posed for a group photo (which u see above), which was snap shoted by almost 25 to 30 press ppl and we were standing for almost 3-4 mins posing for the flashes. Which i have seen only in the TV all these days. This is certainly the moment i ll cherish for this lifetime.
In Website of Chennai Consulate:
A Very big thanks to KK, who had big heart to have me as his partner, my friends who encouraged me blogging, my parents who supported me even if i keep them off sleep by burning lights in the late nights and to almighty for given me all this.
As usual a very long story, i am sure u r bored, but i wish to preserve these posts to relive back those moments again and again, tats the reason these are so elaborate. Thanks for joining the journey. Put in words if u have to say something…
~rams~
Rams & Around Me's Weblog 