Alice in wonderland

I went to the Em Tech India 2010 held at Hotel ITC Royal Gardenia on Vittal Malya Road. I had no specific agenda. I went there because I held a complimentary pass and a very nice lady wrote me an email saying that she is pleased to have me as one of the "delegates" and had attached the program. The other time I was at such a conference I felt completely lost. Everyone around me was neck deep in technology space and most of them were innovators.
The confidence they exuded made me feel extremely small. So, this time, being completely aware of my shortcomings, I was feeling pretty nervous while we entered the building. There were security sensors mounted at the entrance and while we entered, the security guard requested that we drop all electronics, wallets, bags into the tray in order to scan them. I noticed father-in-law drop his mobile and Nithin drop his wallet. I took a lot of time dropping my things apparently (which of course I did not realize until after a few damning seconds in my life yesterday). After the scan, I got my things back and there was a mobile phone too in the tray. I picked that phone thinking it belongs to Dad. It was a high end phone (I did not notice the make) and I naturally assumed that it belongs to dad. There was my first foiled attempt at pinching a high end mobile phone (if you have seem my Motorola, you would think it was a definite pinching attempt). A gentleman, who I have never set eyes on before, asked me very politely to give his phone back. Darn! I apologized. Then in a different tray came another small mobile phone and a wallet. I did not even bother to inspect the articles. I picked them up and looked around for Nithin. Oops! An elderly gentleman requested me to return his belongings… Phew! There goes my confidence down – down – down and thud!

Then we registered and got our badges. Nithin asked to register for the Media Labs break – out sessions and I did so too. The Em Tech representative asked me “you too!” Now, you should have been there and seen that expression on his face when he uttered those two words. I am not describing! I defiantly said “yes please”. Nithin, for the first time ever, suppressed a giggle. Nothing dropped this time with a noise. My nerves decided to play easy on me and I decided to follow Nithin and Dad to the first floor where all the events were scheduled. Mrs Kiran Majumdar – Shaw joined us in the lift that’s when I got tensed again. What am I (Alice) doing here in this technology land (wonderland) where every other person I bump into is famous? If someone I meet is not famous, they are near famous and trying to make it big. In any case, most of them knew most of them and all of them knew the top most of them. I am the only person perhaps among the entire team of delegates who went there because I had a complimentary pass! What a reason!?! $@^$&@^ Well, that is what I thought. A lot of events were scheduled; most of them were done in parallel.

There is going to be another post on one specific event I participated (Not in the miscellaneous category though). All said and done, I was extremely tired by the end of the day and also got wiser.

There were people from various disciplines. There were Editors of magazines, there were venture capitalists, there were a few people from NED India. Some were there because they were Tr 35 winners.

I don't really mean to spill the beans but the highlight may or may not have been that I spoke to Pranav Mistry :)