Yesterday was the September BLUG meet. A quick poll proved what I suspected by the end of it – for many people, this was one of the best BLUG meets in recent times.
To start off, the meet was unsponsored. This meant that everyone had to pay their own way, at Rs.100 a head. I was really interested to see if we would hit an absolute new low in attendance, and therefore stood near Uttam Jaiswal as he informed each arrivee about the fact that they would have to pay.
“You mean the meet is unsponsored?”
“Yup”
“You mean we have to pay to attend?”
“Yup, Rs.100 per head”
“Oh, that isn’t worth it.”
Hmmmm….
“Come on guys, let’s go for a movie instead.”
Rrrrright.
“Who’s gonna pay to attend a *Linux* meet?”
87 other people apart from you, that’s who. All told, there were 90+ people in the hall (yeah, a couple snuck in without paying), making this one of our most successful meets in recent times – we normally top out at around 85 
.
And they enjoyed themselves thoroughly, as the speakers (Udhay, Madhu and Sridhar) competently did their presentations on cryptography, followed by great food, and then the piece de resistence – the Birds of a Feather session after the meet.
OK, so what is a BOF session?
It is when like minded people strip the meet of the fluff and the formality, and sit down to have a good jaw-jaw.
When one says “GTK and C suck” and have the world cave in on you as you are challenged by God himself, in the form of Hanish Menon, the BLUG’s resident guru.
It is when agenda and program take backseat to friends taking friendly potshots at each other, when people really get deep into the tech of things, when you learn more in an hour than you would in a year of lectures.
When you get reminded just why you are into all this in the first place.
For the tech of it.