Idle/Random/whatever Thoughts of a Demented/Idle/Whatever Mind

 Stepping into Barcamp Bangalore for the 2026 Summer edition felt less like attending a conference and more like stepping into a nexus point where the future of technology converges with the deepest questions of the human condition. The energy was palpable, the ideas were revolutionary, and the sheer longevity of the event itself was a testament to Bangalore’s vibrant spirit. It was particularly moving to celebrate the milestone: 20 years of Barcamp Bangalore! Since its inception in 2006, Barcamp has not just been an event; it has been a crucible for innovation, community, and critical thought. The true magic of Barcamp lies in the diversity of its discussions. Here are some of the most profound takeaways from the sessions I attended: 1. Travel hacks for Vietnam and Southeast Asia - This session was an exploration of the experience with visiting counter culture in East Asia and its parallels with India. It was an eye-opening look at how shared cultural spaces—the casual interactio...

Barcamp is something I appreciate a lot. There is literally no other event which is anywhere close to what Barcamp is. I may be saying the cheesy line from the Maggi hot and sweet sauce ad, but "it's different". I dont know about any other event where we have people come and talked about so many varied topics with enthusiasm, other than Barcamp Bangalore(BCB). During the pandemic it was shutdown. I think each one of us had our own share of troubles with the pandemic. Everything was quiet on all channels during the pandemic till Dr. Sanjay decided to ask " Any plans for next barcamp? " in April 2022 on BCB Telegram group . No one replied to that. But then he persisted and was more direct with his offer in July 2022. Any plans for next barcamp? Let's do it in RV University in September. Next to Pattanagere metro station I could not help but not reply to that message and people just joined in. Let me tell you that of all the folks who replied, only Bibhas a...

I learnt about Barcamp Bangalore sometime in June or July 2007. I was fascinated by the idea of sharing ideas, learning about technology and talking about them as well. I attended a large lot of talks on both the days that it was there. I dont remember what all talks I attended, but they were not tied to any one technology or aspect at all. Plus everyone had equal rights to talk and you need not be that well known guy to talk about something you are passionate about. That was the best part of the entire event according to me. Post event, I joined the yahoo mailing list and after a few days there was this call for anyone interested in planning the next one. I was excited to be part of it. A naive idiot, just a couple of years out of college, I thought wow, this going to be something. Then at the planners meet there were a lot of folks. But I remember Arun Ram, Hari, Jace a.k.a. Kiran(I found out that day), Srinivas and Keshav . I felt awesome to be able to contribute som...

Barcamp Bangalore is one of those events which I just wait for. Its a time when I rejuvenate my thought process which is drained thanks to the often hectic work at office. Also this is one place where geeks can feel at home and talk about anything under the sun. Its pretty cool that its not just Tech thats discussed but also other topics close to us, like politics and life. Like most times, the paper wiki was filled completely as soon as it was put up. I actually saw a few people going disappointed with not being able to put up their talk. And like most other times, it started with the intro session for the first timers. This time it was Pradeep BV taking charge and explaining it to the first timers, what barcamp is all about. After that it was realized that one of the four rooms were actually not available for Barcampers. Anyways another great thing that happened was that an Impromptu Sessions paper wiki was put up. Amazingly it too was filled in a matter of minutes, it was put up...

Barcamp Bangalore 7 is here again. Because of the crazy times at work, I have not updated by blog for a long time. I dont know if I will be able to do it in the next few weeks also. But I wish I could. One thing is for sure that I am going to Barcamp and it will be a good time. Startup Saturday is happening at the same place and the same time. Its the very same ppl who were organising Barcamp Bangalore who are behind it. I am still wondering what made them move to a conference like event rather than an unconference. Anyways its for me to find out in the next few days. I am looking forward to a session by @mataal on Process vs Thread. Another one if by Ujjwal on how to chase your dream project while keeping your day job. I am sure a few more interesting things will pop up, as always. Anyways I am also leading a discussion on ELearning and what it hold for us in the future. I hope that I will have some interesting people to talk over it.

Its always been that one post for Barcamp Bangalore is not enough. Its always that I have had multiple posts. This one could not be an exception. I not being an RIA fanboy did not care to attend the marathon hijack sessions on it. Neither did I care to attend Myspace thing. I kind of hated the fact that those RIA guys did not care but take a room for themselves for the entire time after lunch. Not that I did not like it happening but would have loved if there were people talking about other things also. After all this was not an RIACamp. Anyways there were these interesting parallel sessions which happened. Among the first which I attended was Blogathon India. Me being an planner for Blogathon India started the session. Later it was taken over by Sanjukta. Next I preceded to help people with their wifi connections to the extent I could . Anyways gurus Akash and Cruisemaniac aka Ashwin were always there. After some loitering met a few people who were interested in my idea of BuddyHe...

Well if India is diverse its so because of the people. Barcamp is for, with, by people and no wonder you had the ultimate kind of diversity in it. You had lawyers, CA, MBA, profs, CEOs, coders, developers and geeks (yes they are different) among various other people. It was an awesome mix of ideas and people. The planners met some time back and we had a lot of discussion over how to do things this time around. I was a yet another experiment. Thankfully it came out good. If there is anything to complain about, it probably is the content. But friend isnt content something that has to come from us, the junta. I had been planning for some sort of an open source project. I thought BCB would be a great place to find people. But sadly it did not turn out the way I wanted. No hands to join in for the project. But anyways I did get some feedback on the objectives of my BuddyHere . I did take another session on Hacking Canon compact camera to provide extra features. I will be writing a post ...

The barcamp movement has taken India  by storm and Bangalore has now become the center of this movement in India. I think it was Barcamp Bangalore where it all started and now its in its 6th edition. I was introduced to it in the 4rth edition. I liked the concept at the very first. It was very clear that everyone is equal. You would be admired based on not what you are but what you deliver. So if someone is talking crap, you can just walk out. True there were a lot of freeloaders out there who came to do nothing actually. I was supposed to be one but then I realized that I too could talk. Well not technical but the I could speak about "How the bloggers are affecting other professionals". I thought this was the beauty of Barcamp. You could discuss anything under the sun. When the next barcamp was being planned and call was made for other to chip in, I decided to go ahead for it. Sadly I could not attend the Barcamp because of personal reasons but I could not attend it. ...

Well this is an idea that I would like to share with all so that my dream can be realized. So here is the idea. Now that we have mobiles with GPS we should make use of it. So now you have this messenger which would update your position in your IM every time you move over 100m or something. I am assuming that either the GPS now or sooner will be accurate to something like few meters. So when you have some of your friends around, you know that they are. Cool dont u think? Here are options to make it happen. 1. Send update about the location to all/selected your buddies. Pro: Simple and effective Cons: No Privacy and your exact location is known to all. 2. Server gets updates and it pings you about friends close to you Pro: Agains simple and effective Cons: Requires server services. You location data is on a central server and this is a possible privacy risk. 3. Each person broadcasts a location to all his friends which is nearly correct. Now this nearly is something deb...

There is surely something about Barcamp Bangalore. It keeps on changing. The people driving it are always changing. Newer ideas keep pouring in. Discussion on those keep on happening. There are people who are always whining about things that are not right in Barcamp. Well the only thing I can say after meeting the guys working behind Barcamp Bangalore is that they are very open to ideas. But then some people are always there to complain. Probably thats a property(I am getting geeky nowadays) we inherit as Indians? That question mark is there because I am not sure. But the fact remains we have people coming in who are there because they like this kind of an event. They have an idea on how it should be done. So whats new in this barcamp? well as I read from the mail Akash to BCB Mailing list, the Barcamp Bangalore wiki is open for all. There are no registrations. Only way you can register is by either being a speaker, volunteer or letting other know in specific, what u want to know abo...

Finally we have the registrations open for Barcamp Bangalore 5. As usual its through the wiki here . You are requested to enter in the format specified. For wiki entry enter in following format # Name , Blog/Website, Organisation, Email Id, '''Collectives: Primary:'''ABC '''Others: '''XYZ I hope this is going to be the most liveliest of all barcamps happening around the world, the Baap of all Unconferences.

Barcamp kickoff meet was there at India Coffee House at MG Road. I reached there just in time to find the Barcamp regulars Arun, Hari, Jace a.k.a. Kiran(I found out that day), Srinivas and Keshav among others whom I kind of met for the first time. Since I was there before others could join in, I had a little chit-chat with them. One thing was clear to me at that time, Collectives or no Collectives would be the hot topic. Soon more people joined us, among those who I remember are Vinoo, Manasi and Kiruba. Well actually there were too many to remember and without the list from Hari I dont think I can recall all names :-( Another important mention that I would make here is Aditya who joined us on phone. Well as I had predicted Collectives or no Collectives drove the discussion. Most of us made it amply clear that collectives are required but we need to buck up the communications part. Another suggestion was to make the collectives instead of folder like, make them tag like. But frankl...

Blog - a - loreans or the Bangalore Bloggers for short. Well thanks to Thejesh that I came to know about it. I thought lets go and give it a try. Lets meet the co-bloggers in Bangalore. Well it was a pleasant surprise to me that so many people. I was expecting some typical geeks to turn up. May be 10 or 15 to the max. But a pleasant surprise to see so many not techies also up there. Just to sum up things there were a couple of things that I was really enthusiastic about after the meet. First the "Web NGO" concept given by Hari. It sounds like a impressive name, but then what do we do. Well best thing is that we can spread the word. More than anything else whats required is information. Blogging in definitely a way to do it. Waiting for more inputs at BCB4 Second was the fact that we decided some of the topics for BCB4. Well more important of the things being "With great power come greater responsibilities" - Thats what is responsible blogging and Tim O...