Venue: The Lalit Hotel, Delhi
Date: 05 August 2017

A blog is a abbreviation of the expression “web-log”. Thus bloggers inhabit the virtual world and their conversations happen not over coffee or drinks but over the internet. Rarely we get to assemble and meet real people in real space. Get to know each other, meet – greet each other, share problems in real time. So Delhi Confluence is perhaps the only event where a huge gathering of bloggers assembled and brain stormed throughout the day about various aspects of blogging. Not through online comments but face to face interaction and we loved the feeling.

The day started with heartening warm up over tea and cookies and soon bloggers occupied almost all seats in the spacious hall at The Lalit. The host of sessions covered various aspects of blogging – travel – food – fashion.

While blogging initially was a web journal where one was free to share his thoughts, it has gradually evolved as a commercially viable activity. Much of the discussions at the confluence revolved around taking blogging to a financial platform.

How could a travel blogger attract sponsors or a food blogger make money out of it – these were some of the specific areas the panelists comprising of seasoned bloggers discussed. They shared their experiences and dos and don’ts with upcoming bloggers. Karishma Gupte from PR Pundit, the noted public relations company provided pointers valuable for food bloggers. The packed house hung on to every word in rapt silence. Each discussion was followed by Q&A sessions and almost every speaker was greeted with a host of questions.

Noteworthy among the panelists was Tara Bedi from Instagram India. She shared various insights and background thoughts that Instagram had for its followers. She also had valuable tips that bloggers could follow to make their Insta accounts more popular. Insta has emerged as a powerful social media tool and hence Bedi had to face a host of queries re Insta safety, efficacy, future plans and so on. However, she was totally at ease and dribbled every question skillfully.

The star of the day was however Summeir S. Pasricha aka Pammi Aunty. We had watched him assaying a heavy role in the play Amavas Se Amaltas . However his comedy has gone viral and this actor is now an internet sensation. Pasricha explained how he created Pammi Aunty, a regular Punjabi middle aged women “from Rajouri Garden” and made her a star. The characters in his act are humorous and relatable. And using a lighter vein, Pammi Aunty raised international issues like Brexit or politically sensitive issues like demonetization or socially sensitive issues like homosexuality. His conversation that afternoon was interspersed with bits from his Pammi Aunty act and had the audience in splits.

While the morning session was very well organised, the lunch area was a huge chaos with crowds trying to reach the food tables. Nonetheless, the beverage partner Happy by Thirsty was circulating beers and that kept our spirits high 🙂

In fact, there were a host of other activities to engage the participants. Infocus, the smartphone company, was an event partner and held a competition that had their smartphone as the reward. There was a spin the wheel contest with a month’s supply of beer as the reward. Selfie zones placed strategically at the entrance were also hubs of frenzy. Mercedes car was on display and we saw many admiring the vehicle.

So, no complaints as the Confluence had a lot in hold for us. The sessions were enlightening. Moreover, we met a lot of friends from the blogging world and caught up with them after a long while. We also came across many who knew us in the virtual world and we did not know them. Adulation from them made us very happy and that’s the kinda stuff that keeps us going.

Cheers to So Delhi for putting up such a wonderful show for us.