Neha's Farewell

We were aware that Neha would be leaving the country for good very soon and had been planning to do something but had no clue when shewould be free. Finally plans started become concrete when she herself called up and asked if we could all meet during the weekend since she was free then.

Mails were immediately shot around, followed by text msgs. Things were arranged. Venue/ time/ gifts. We met up at the Columbus Café – New Burjuman at 5pm yesterday, 27th January 2005.

Hightlights of the meet:-

• Once a hogger, always a hogger. The double chocolate muffin caused a riot.
• Neha made full use of her future absence from the country and ragged the new kid arnd the block.
• We bullied him into inviting us this coming weekend on his boss’ *beep* boat. Heh! Heh! Ok fine, he invited us without any external pressure.
  
• Neha threw an open invitation at us to camp at her place whenever we go to UK. I hope she also provides free food with that!
• Some *ahem* people forgot to make some calls.
• Some *ahem* people who always promise to make it to the 'next' meet never showed up.
• Backpacker did a great job in choosing and packing all the gifts.

Attendees:-
AmitL
Backpacker
Crime Reporter
Dusan
Gautam
Godolphin
Maya
Pixel8
& Neha of course :)

And well, leaving the country does not mean leaving the group. Out best wishes (and appetites) are always with you :) Do spread the Dubai Bloggers' spirit all around :)
















































The coffee came, followed by....


















... the free muffin which was immediately attacked upon.



















Neha being showered by gifts :P



















... only to be snatched back!



















We let her keep some :)



















I hope you've been noticing the how the muffin vanished!

Maya's Birthday Surprise

It was Maya's birthday yesterday and the bloggers who met up in the last meet, planned a surprise for her. The planning started a day prior to the event. There was a lotta backstage action and confusion. It finally worked out. Neha bought the gift and the cake and Pradeep coordinated the entire thing. And if you are the kind who never fails to be late, then please tell Anjaly how to do the same :)

Here's what Maya has to say about her birthday.
Also read Pradeep's account.

Overwhelmed

• "We had crime reporters, graphic designers, IT dudes, journalists, game developer, Mech Engineers in our midst, nationality being Indians, Sudan and Serbia!" - Godolphin (read more)
• "it rocked!" - Maya (read more)
• "One fine evening, we met by the side of a busy road, a bunch of bloggers, bubbling with enthusiasm and positive energy." - The Backpacker (read more)
• "Looking forward to the next ones, with a further anticipated exponential growth in the number of attendees in 2006" - AmitL (read more)
• "It was fun, at last I had the faces and names of the so far unknown." - KJ (read more)
• "Meeting was cool, met nice people there." - Dusan (read more)
  

Whoa! Now that was some meet!
The enthusiasm with wich all the bloggers and non bloggers attended the meet was amazing. Everyone got along like a house on fire!
Thank you everyone for making it such a success!!

The attendees were...
Bloggers

• AmitL
• Amritraj
• Backpacker
• Dusan
• Godolphin
• KJ
  
• Maya
• Manu
• Neha
• Pixel8

Non Bloggers

• The Crime Reporter (important to keep his identity secret!)
  
• Divya (KJ's lovely daughter)
• KJ's husband
  
• Naveen
• Shiva (who started his blog after the meet)

Here are some pics from the meet...














































We hope to see more bloggers at the coming meets!

Are we ready?

Looks like the venue and time is suitable to most of us.

So this would be just a quick reminder in case any of you forgot about the meet. (I know you wouldn’t have, but if you did… then how dare you! Grrr!!!)

The meet is tomorrow,
Friday 16th December, 2005 at
Dome Café – Ground Floor, Burjuman Center, Dubai
at 5 p.m.

Hope to see you all there! :)

Finalising the venue!

Alrite, too many options is a bad thing :)

We haven't been able to agree on one location and the choices are still pouring in :) A lotta places Jumeirah would've been great, but then again it is kindda far for some of us! I think the area of the ealier meets is ideal as everybody could reach there comfortably! (Do not make me shift the meet to Sharjah! :P)

So here it goes...
Day: Friday 16th December, 2005
Venue: Dome Cafe - Ground Floor, Burjuman
Time: 5pm

Your suggestions and objections are as always most welcomed :)

My suggestions for the venue

The date and time for the meet is back to 5pm - Friday 16th December, 2005.

Since the weather is wonderful nowadays, we can have the meet at an outdoor cafe which is within easy reach for everybody.

• Dome Cafe - Burjuman (it aint technically inside the mall :P)
• Cosmo - Sheikh Zayed Road
• Bistro 21 - Sheikh Zayed Road
• Starbucks - Musalla Towers, Bur Dubai
• Barista/ Seattle's Best - Al Ghurair City (again they really aren't inside the mall, plus have open air seating)

Or may be too many options is a bad thing :-/

Let's get going guys!

More Venue/ Date/ Time options!

We've got two options

Option I
Venue: Any of the ones given below
Date: Friday 16th December, 2005
Time: 5ish?

Option II
Venue: Broadwalk/ Jam Jar/ Elements
Date: Thursday 15th December, 2005
Time: In time for dinner and a few drinks?
(Raj promised to make up for his absence at the last meet... which you might wanna translate into free food+drinks for all :P)

We really don't have much time people!

Lets decide! :)