My INKLive experience

Blogadda announced the contest 'beyond boundaries' and selected our post 'technology and life' as one of the winners. Actually, my blogger friend Swati was supposed to attend the INKLive conference but she had to go to Chennai. I hadn’t even heard about INK prior to this. So, when I was offered the pass, the first thing I did was check what the INK conference was all about.

This is what I found: "The INK Conference is an annual conference that aims to fuel innovation and foster knowledge by bringing together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers on a global stage."

Image Courtesy: inktalks.com

Big, impressive words, but I wasn't much impressed.The reason was I hate to sit and listen to lectures for hours. I attend conferences, mostly dental and sometimes literary, to meet friends. Besides, I wasn't supposed to attend INK conference but the INKLive conference. INKLive is the live web cast of the INK Conference hosted at a venue close to the main conference venue. This added to my lingering doubts.

After attending the conference, I was surprised that this was one conference, I focused on listening to the speakers rather than meeting people. The attendees were cool, the INKLive hospitality and team was friendly and helpful, but I was engrossed in the sessions.The sessions were mesmerizing. I know mesmerizing sounds a bit too much, but it’s the truth. Have you ever got up to witness the sunrise? The warm sun rays infuse an enthusiasm and positivity which brightens your day. Listening to the achievers is like that; you realize the there are no limitations except the ones you put on yourself. So, I’ll describe more of the sessions than other things.

The sessions

Due to my busy schedule, I could only attend the second day of the conference which was on 2nd November. The INKLive conference was in American School of Bombay, Kohinoor City. Since, I stay in Mumbai I couldn't hope for a better location than Mumbai itself. The two morning sessions for the day were traveller's tales and Future Billions. I settled for some supposedly funny anecdotes on travel and a lecture on economics. I was in for a surprise.

This was no ordinary traveler's tale. It wasn’t a travel where you move across regions and geographical boundaries. True to the spirit of the year’s theme, ‘beyond boundaries’, these were the people who traveled beyond our time, beyond the limitations of our systems and technology. Be it Leonard Pauli’s quest for more freedom (which led him to start a website for fellow students), Neeraj Kakkar’s thoughts of food migration, scope of the Internet by other speakers or changing the face of conservative travel as in case of Phanindra Sama. These speakers were the travelers who followed a dream, and made it to their destination.

Memory Intrigues- Chapter 22

Note: This is the Twenty-second chapter of 'Memory Intrigues', a collaborative novel being etched out by a group of ten bloggers.

Join our team, the 'DynamicWord Weavers' as we #CelebrateBlogging with BlogAdda's 'Game of Blogs'

Team Logo by Ruchita

Read the previous part of the story here or check out all chapters on our FB page here.

The story so far: 

“What’s the matter Shekhar?  Who was it?”

Shekhar stares as if he’s seen a ghost.  Tara repeats her question.

“They have kidnapped Roohi.  They want the memory card.”

Tara’s jaw drops and her eyes go round with fright.

“Give it to them. I want Roohi back safe and sound.  Damn that memory card.  It has been the cause of so much trouble in this house.”

Shekhar listens and remains silent for a while. He is deep in thought.

“And what if they take the card and don’t return Roohi?” he thinks out aloud.

________________________________________________________________

Chapter 22 

“Can we risk it?” Tara asks.

He just stands there staring vacantly into the emptiness. He knows the answer as well as Tara. Until now, Shekhar never really understood why people gave in to ransom demands.

An hour later, they receive the next call with information about where they need to come, in order to hand over the memory card.

“How do I know she’s...” Shekhar could not complete the sentence; Tara covers his mouth with her hand.

Memory Intrigues - Chapter 20

 

Note: This is the Twentieth chapter of 'Memory Intrigues', a collaborative novel being etched out by a group of ten bloggers. 

Join our team, the 'DynamicWord Weavers' as we #CelebrateBlogging with BlogAdda's 'Game of Blogs'

Team logo designed by Ruchita

Read the previous part of the story here or check out all chapters on our FB page here.

The story so far:

The phone rings a couple of times more.  This time Cyrus decides to pick it up, assuming it could be some urgent call.  He hits the accept button but before he could even say “Hello”:

“Why are you not picking my call??  It’s you who has done a mistake.  It’s you who has leaked the news about Jen and the memory card and now you show me attitude and refuse to pick up my calls!  Tara. you are just impossible!!”

Beep..beep..beep… the call gets cut. Cyrus stands there cogitating about what he has just heard.

Agitated, Shekhar decides to pick Roohi up from school.

_____________________________________________________________

Chapter 20

Back home with Roohi, all his attention is on the clock, anticipating Tara’s return. After many unsuccessful calls to Tara, he calls his friend to cancel their meeting. He can’t leave Roohi alone at home.

Shekhar is fed up of Tara’s annoying behaviour. Every time they quarrel, she either rants, or sulks and ignores him. He has to apologise though he may not be wrong. This time, he knows Tara has crossed the line. If she expects him to back off, she is in for a surprise. Shekhar starts up and shuts down his laptop four times before abandoning it. He finds it hard to concentrate. After pacing up and down the balcony for half an hour he eventually manages to settle down a bit and get down to some writing.

“She pushed the door open, and saw him glaring at her. She should have been afraid but she had no idea what awaited her. She ignored him and went inside. He followed her into the kitchen, the best place for what he wanted to do. She faced him when she turned to take out the rice container. He blocked her path, she must have sensed something because she moved back a few steps. Without any warning, he gripped her delicate neck with his hands and started squeezing it.”

Memory Intrigues- Chapter Four

Our Team Logo designed by Ruchita

This is the Fourth chapter of Memory Intrigues, a mystery series in the “Game of Blogs” for the team “ Dynamic Word Weavers” as a part of #CelebrateBlogging campaign by Blogadda

Read the previous part of the story here

Chapter- 4

  

Finishing before the deadline is an “Eureka” moment for a writer. Shekhar has already mailed his article yesterday evening, so he can concentrate on his second novel. His first novel is still on the shelf, but he hopes to see it soon in the bookstores. He is not going to allow a few rejection slips to shatter his dreams. He sits there staring at the screen, tapping his fingers on the wooden desk. He takes off his glasses and wipes them twice. The calm, cozy room fails to inspire him. There have been times when he hammered non-stop on the keyboard. Today, he hasn’t typed a single word, unless he counts the words which were erased by the click of the “delete” key. He isn’t devoid of ideas; the ideas fly around like bubbles which rupture as soon as he touches them.

His study is secluded just as he likes it. Tara is in her office and Roohi is never a disturbance. He has also closed the curtains to avoid distraction. His room seems like an isolated, dimly-lit cave, but that doesn’t prevent his mind from wandering. After that disturbing call, Jennifer hasn't called again. Shekhar's normally smiling face has started to show worry lines. Still staring at the screen, he imagines a world where he could write without worrying about finding publishers or readers, a content and less nagging Tara, a happy Roohi, and no friends in danger.

A harsh, ringing noise disrupts his reverie, he looks around for his mobile. Sifting frantically through the pile on his desk, he finds it and answers without bothering to check the number.

“Hello!” he screams into the cell phone. If the other person doesn’t like being screamed at, it isn’t his problem. He doesn’t like being disturbed either.

“Shekh, I’m scared...they are onto me.” He hears Jennifer’s voice along with her laboured, heavy breathing. The clamorous din in the background suggests she might have called from a market or perhaps, a station.

“Where are you? Have you reached Mumbai?” Shekhar fiddles with the bunch of keys on the desk. Though his voice is still high-pitched, it is mixed with concern. It has been two days since the previous call. Kochi isn’t that far from Mumbai.

“No, I-I couldn’t get away.”

“What do you mean ‘couldn’t get away’? Who are these people?” He grips the keys hard, his palm hurts as the edge digs into his palm. “Jen-”

“It’s big, a Cen... Central Minister is involved.” She stammers, “Shekh, I’ll try to-”

He hears a sharp click followed by silence. “Jen- hello, Jen...” he keeps calling her name though he knows the call is disconnected, hoping it would reconnect by some miracle.