Tough as it is to say anything that has not been said in Swati’s marvelously evocative account of the May 16th blogmeet, here now I present my impressions.

Alighting at the gates of T3, the same place where we had been refused service two years ago at my last blogmeet, I was introduced to Pritam (sweetie-pie according to Swati and not to be confused with the bearded copycat with the mock intellectual look) who has to be the most unthreatening dentist I have ever met. A word about the shirt that swathed my “hefty” frame which seemed to have attracted some notice. It’s a blue beachshirt with pictures of dogs in sunglasses riding bikes: an apposite sartorial choice for a blogmeet I felt. I originally planned to wear knee length shorts to go with it but decided not to because 1) T3 with its anality may find me inappropriately dressed 2) I did not want people ogling my legs and make me feel like a sex object.

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[Update: My phone number in Calcutta is 9883250233, in case anyone wants to confirm anything]

I will be in Calcutta from May 13 to May 28, 2007 and it would be a great opportunity to meet new people and renew old acquiantances. So I propose we have a blogmeet (anyone who has an interest in blogs is welcome to attend) on Saturday, May 19th Wednesday 16th, 2007 at 5:00 pm. I leave the location open to suggestion at T3, opposite Park Street Flurry’s. The conversation can be carried out by mail or in the comments section.

The Washington DC Bloggers Meet held in the food court of Union Station was a grand success. Guerilla reporters of famous newspapers ignored the meeting instead choosing to cover breaking stories in Fallujah. Noone called themselves “elite” , noone arrived claiming to be the “real DC” bloggers, noone hit on anyone and the meeting went off peacefully.

Michael Higgins, the amazingly plugged-in blogger whose knowledge of India has to be seen to be believed, came in prepared with small table signs, a “happy birthday” cake and a present for the Ravikiran Rao, who was driving down with Arzan from New York. (I am hoping Michael puts up the complete list of attendees with links—so I am avoiding a full rollcall here). Hands were shaken, introductions exchanged, beer was consumed, chicken tikka masala was devoured (well at least I did) and war stories were exchanged.

Yes Mithun-da was discussed. EM’s tattoo was not. Liberterians Libertarians came up. Libras did not.

Arzan made a compelling case for putting Adsense in my posts so as to cover hosting costs. Incidentally, I hope my readers will not mind if I put a few ads tastefully around —right? Right? Yo hoo….

Chetan gave me a card of appreciation for my blog—-which was a very sweet gesture that melted my heart. And as it usually happens when someone does something so nice, I ended up ogling him for the duration of the time we came back via metro.

To my relief, he did not take my picture.

Till the next time—which I hope shall be sooner than expected.

[Update: Chetan blogs about the meet here and Michael does so here [Pictures here]