Mahboob's Journal

It was two days in a row of going to LaMakaan. After the Startup Saturday event, I was there again on Sunday (12-May-2013), this time the session being short films screening by Octopus Studios . This was first time I’d attended a screening of short films . It was conducted in a very professional manner. Founder Rahul Reddy explained the format. They conduct this event every two months, take submissions of feature films, which are given to an anonymous jury who select the final list. After the screening, the film makers would address the gathering and then there would be a question and answer session.

It’s always intellectually stimulating and energy boosting to attend startup conferences. The May edition , on the 11th at LaMakaan, was no different and it was about startup war stories - mistakes people had done and the lessons they learnt. The main speakers of the day and who made attending the session really worthwhile were Rahul Chowdhury and Ram Chaitanya Reddy. But first, notes about the featured startup founders and their messages.

It was two days of mingling with the Java world at the May 8 - 9 JavaOne 2013 at HICC, Novotel. Went there along with three other techies from 4S (Ramendra, Sowmindra, Krishna Reddy). We divided the sessions amongst ourselves so that there was no overlap and we get maximum coverage of the sessions. Somehow, the techie sharpness of the Sun days was missing. Yes, there were speakers and speakers, there were sessions and sessions, but it all felt like the event was mechanically planned and dragged along. A lot of sessions were ppt-talk only and the moment one asked a slightly technical hands-on question, you would get a dodge like “that’s a too-much detailed question for this session”.