Inspirations from Indian FoodBloggers' Meet 2014

If you follow even a few Indian foodbloggers on any of the social media platforms, or even know any personally, you would have heard of our event- IFBM2014 that happened on 1st and 2nd August, 2014. The first of it's kind in India, bringing together passionate Indian foodbloggers from around the country (and even outside of it), was something my fellow foodbloggers dreamt about and I was honoured to be a part of the team that executed this event, taking it from a dream to a reality.

The organising team - Photo credit: Jayashree Mudaliar / cookingepisodes.com

Check all the photos from the event on our Facebook Page 

Some bytes from the media -
Pre-event coverage by Mint Lounge
Event coverage by New Indian Express
Event coverage by The Hindu - Metro Plus - Hyderabad

Your's truly gave a talk on Social Media for Foodbloggers, which I will be sharing as a document for anyone who cares to know more about this. Despite the hustle-bustle of being one of the organisers, I managed to gather a lot of inspirations from the sessions and speakers. Being a foodblogger for 8+ years can really get you in a jaded spot for lack of ideas, inspirations and more. Here, I got the push to style food better, shoot outside of your comfort zone in food photography, be more inspired in food writing and of course, the all important SEO tips and tricks. 

 The panel discussion on Beyond Blogging was really enlightening in terms of the the opportunities for foodbloggers wherein we can actually turn into paid professionals in a field of our calling such as writing / photography / styling / recipe development and so on. This was especially useful for the relatively newer bloggers, getting inspiration from the others who have been there-done that. 

It felt wonderful to put a face to the names of so many bloggers we've been interacting with over the years, but never got a chance to meet face to face. And our venue partner, Aloft Bengaluru, Cessna Business Park pulled out all the stops to keep foodbloggers happy with each meal laid out around a beautiful theme and a hospitality like we've never experienced before. Our 24 odd brand partners totally showered the participants with goodies and prizes for contests, which they had a tough time packing and lugging back to their houses. All in all, a superb time full of warm bonding and many learnings was what IFBM2014 was all about and much more.

You can expect to see some better photography and better writing from me thanks to IFBM2014, that's for sure :) Please hold me to that promise!!

8 reasons why this Blogadda #zestupyourlife was awesome

1. It's on the White  Sands beach in Goa. For someone from Bangalore, that has no beach, it is always a big draw.
2. Goa is at its best in the monsoons, green and uncluttered, and this part of Goa around Varca, more so.
3. I got to put a face to blog URLs and Twitter handles. It was amazing to meet bloggers I've followed since years and also some I've discovered recently on twitter.
4. After interacting with the Blogadda team for years, finally we got to meet the people behind the emails. 
5. It was wonderful to talk to bloggers who are no longer relegating blogging as a hobby for bored people without day jobs, so something more professional and commanding more respect.
6. It was the first car event I've attended, and I must say it has sparked an interest in cars -on how much goes into its engineering and design and maintaining a balance between the two.
7. I finally broke my driving sabbatical after years - on the smooth roads of Goa.
8. It was my first time driving an automatic transmission vehicle, something I have felt needlessly intimidated about. It was the smoothest driving experience and I did not miss the clutch at all.

Lots of pics coming soon on my Facebook page - stay tuned!
Off to network with some more bloggers! Shall report back from Bangalore SOON :D

Driving the Tata Zest

HELLO!

Reporting from lush and verdant Goa where Blogadda has organised a meet up of top 50 bloggers to experience the latest from the Tata Motors stable - the Tata Zest. In a 'masterclass' on Tata Zest last evening, conducted by top persons from the design and engineering team of Tata Zest, we learnt quite a bit on what goes into the design of a car and how it is always an endeavour to match superlative engineering with eye-pleasing designs. To quote one of the experts here "The world would look quite different were it to be designed by an engineer!" The star of the event last evening was Narain Karthikeyan, who has been working closely with Tata Motors on this project. His confidence in the new engineering and design elements, should be reassuring to a lot of sceptics.

Today we finally got to experience two versions of Tata Zest. One of them was the top end petrol version which comes with a Revotron 1.2T engine, which Narain was very proudly explaining to us. The DesignNext, DriveNext and ConnectNext are the cornerstones of this car, which we set out to experience this morning. 

With Neha and Kavi - our test drive team

This car has a ton of segment first features, some of which we got to try out on our drive. As some who's mostly in the passenger seat, I can say that the legroom at the back is ample, and the airconditioning is comfortable, which can be easily controlled from the touchscreen.

I also loved the smartphone integration via bluetooth, mainly to play music via bluetooth. It is immensely useful if you are driving the car, you can make calls, even reply to sms etc. using the touchscreen. The other first in segment feature are the 15 inch alloy wheels. It is also said to have voice command recognition a la Siri, but a program that recognizes Indian accents (Phew! A relief, no need to fake accents)

I personally drove the Diesel AMT, and hey this is the first Indian car to have an AMT in Diesel. It was the first time I was driving an automatic and I was a little apprehensive. But no sooner had I pushed the gear to A, it was smooth sailing from there. I did not miss changing gears at all. It is such a relief to drive non-stop especially on Indian roads, where one has to repeatedly halt / slowdown for potholes, traffic, jay walkers and even cattle. It was a bit disconcerting initially to not have to change gears, every time I had to halt and move again. The diesel engine was surprisingly quiet, and except for the slight noise while changing speeds, until the gears engage, it was a wonderful drive and the 10 odd kilometers I drove was pure fun. We tried the mid-range model, which did not have all the top end petrol version connect-next features. For a person who doesn’t claim to be a proficient driver, it is useful to have the rear park assist view.

The smooth roads of this part of Goa, the monsoon induced greenery, and a gentle rain fitting accompaniments for a lovely drive.

Overall, it was a fun drive. For more technical specs etc., visit  tatamotorszest.com

Twitter: @tatazest | @tatamotors