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filed under WordPress
Last week, Faguni, a WordPress contributor from Dhaka, asked if I was writing a post about my experience as an organiser for WordCamp Asia 2026. We were catching up on WordCamp Asia and professional updates. One of my biggest regrets is that Faguni and others couldn’t attend in Mumbai due to visa problems.
This post has been in draft for about three weeks. As a lead of WordCamp Asia, I had a unique perspective. The event ran smoothly, and even a month later, I’m still tagged on various LinkedIn posts about it.
I’ve read hundreds of social media posts sharing their experiences from the event.
I’m unsure how to articulate my takeaways or leadership lessons. Each experience is unique, making much expert advice seem like survivor bias.
But I do like capturing some feelings, thoughts as personal artefacts on this blog.So make a long story short, this is not really a post about leadership and all that jazz around WordCamp Asia. It is more of a personal one!
Day One, Family Photo at WordCamp Asia 2026.
Can you find me? Hint: I am actually smiling!WordCamp Asia in Mumbai!
Last year I visited WordCamp Asia in Manila. Folks from the WordPress community team only weeks before the event had reached out to me and asked about organising WordCamp Asia in India.
My first fears were how people from Pakistan and Bangladesh travel to India, and those fears did materialise. These fears were not unfounded. Finally I do not think anyone from these two countries could manage to get visas to visit the event. It is one of those regrets I have and won’t go away!
But in early 2025, there were no other cities in the fray and the outreach to Mumbai was a bit of a SOS. So I said “YES” and off I was on this wild journey called WordCamp Asia 2026.
One important reason to sign up for this role was I really wanted to see if I could lead and manage something that just had so many moving parts, so many passionate and talented individuals.
Open source work is a bit like getting used to being under the sun. It can sap your energy, can make your feel uncomfortable. But once you are used to life under the sun, a lot of magic will happen.
This edition was happening in Mumbai, the first flagship event ever in India. There was some negativity around it at the beginning. Regardless, the organisers, all 79 of them started the journey off, excited and happy!
The year of organising this event not easy at all. We lost young Zeel Thakker, an organiser from Ahmedabad, we dealt with production delays, with visa issues, operational costs, sponsors pulling out at the last minute, stretching out budgets, and if that was not enough challenge! A freaking war broke out, which reduced participation further, speakers and some sponsors pulling out.
Several times the thought did cross my mind, that this event is jinxed and maybe it just won’t take place.
But it did!
We had one of the highest turnouts (2400+ Attendees) ever at a WordCamp and the largest ever Contributor Day (1600+). I still feel that we could have had a bigger turnout.
One of my main goals I set was to make WordCamp Asia, unapologetically Asian! This meant making editorial and other choices that reflect this. We managed to have the highest number of speakers from Asia, and I think many more in ratio than previous editions. I hope that continues in future versions too.
The energy was high, at least the feedback from attendees was everything from sessions, to the venue to the food to the after party was fantastic.
I am incredibly proud with all of everyone involved in the organising team. Here is a group photo at the Organiser Dinner!
We just looked a bit rowdy here, but we were quite nice actually! Friendships
The one thing that invariably happens at projects like flagship WordCamps, is that you become friends with people from different countries. I now have friends from Uganda to Russia, from Japan to Sri Lanka.
One of them who almost did not make it was Moses (Cursor) Ssebunya. He travelled all the way from Uganda. His visa application for India was rejected twice!
But his positivity, support and friendship is truly infectious. Both of us got on several calls and several more Whatsapp messages, and figured out how to make sure his visa application does not get rejected a third time!
Some extra paperwork, documentation and digitally signed letters later, Moses applied again the third time. I am not the most expressive person but when he got the visa and sent me a text, I punched the air as in victory for about 3 and half times. Then I noticed I was staring at the screen and no one was around. The window was open and some neighbour might have thought I was finally losing it!
Moses and I learned so much about visa applications, I semi-seriously joked that the two of us should become travel consultants! Moses has spent countless hours vetting applications for meetups and WordCamps around the world. People like him are why the community team keeps chugging along!
And here is Moses and I, eating some Dosa in Mumbai
Moses had his first taste of dosa at Mumbai. The dosa was just about okay! But since it was his first one, he seemed to be happy! Another friend I made over the last year was Regan Khadgi from Nepal. It was so good to meet someone who shares the same values and grace about the community.
I had a great time traversing through Colaba and Girgaum in Mumbai in November, with Regan. It was quite interesting to discover Mumbai through a first time visitors eyes.
During WordCamp Asia, he stayed over at my place in Mumbai. It was fun to hang out with him after the event and take him to an extremely crowded Malad station, to eat unhealthy and delicious wada paavs along with jalebis.
I suspect Regan was a bit overwhelmed with just the number of people he saw. I have made him a promise to visit Kathmandu someday and walk through his city with him as my history guide.
The other big influence on me came from Japan! One of the coolest people I know is Junko Nugaka from Japan. She lives on a small island and takes care of a library. I think people who enjoy libraries have an innate sense of internal calm and an appreciation of the commons.
While I have known Junko for several years, I only became friends with her this year. We have spoken often about the project,style of leadership and sometimes even art and culture.
This was in Pune, after the event. Junko struck a pose at the Kelkar Museum. Junko travelled with me to Pune along with her friend Shoko, after the event. I showed her and re-discovered Pune, seeing it through the eyes of a travellor. I think that will be separate post next week.
Mumbai, Pune, Mumbai!
Mumbai
WordCamp Asia is a big deal. We expected a lot of people to visit Mumbai. Mumbai’s WordPress community is one of the oldest in Asia (along with some in Japan). I have known a lot of the WordPress-ers from these two cities and for over a decade now.For the event I got to work with friends from Mumbai starting with Alexander, Meher, Vachan, Saaheel and so many more.
Alex participating was special for me. He has been visiting my house in Mumbai, planning WordCamps in Mumbai, back when both my parents were around. It was pretty cool to hangout with him sometimes and sometimes just being in the moment.
PuneWhen I moved to Pune in 2017, and I made friendships in the city, mostly with people from the WordPress community. Sheeba, Amit, Joel are all folks I have known since forever in Pune. There was also Yogesh, a good friend from Bangalore. Not only were they organisers, I personally felt they were my main support system in a way. Many of them took time out to help me tackle some things often without me needing to ask for help. They were in a way, my main support system.
That I would end up organising this thing with long time friends and collaborators, was something that was something I could imagine happening. I am very thankful and very privileged to have got to do this with them!
What I did not ever imagine happening was to work with my younger sibling Arundhati.
Mumbai
Arundhati knew some of the organisers from Mumbai but she really started to get to know the WordPress community when she attended some of the meetups in 2022.
Arundhati joined the Communications Team for WordCamp Asia last year.
I make websites, she is a therapist. Our paths never really cross professionally. So even though I know her for a good 40 odd years, it was the first time we were working together.
It was really enjoyable and pleasant to see her doing well, holding her own and bringing along her own brand of calmness and creativity to the project. She even designed the official Wappu mascot for WordCamp Asia, called Wapuulika.I am thankful and glad we both were together on this journey!
Arundhati and I – pleased as punch, posing with Kazuko Kaneuchi the creator of Wapuu from Japan. Photo taken by Junko. For me WordPress feels like Mumbai
Mumbai is a city I have lived much of my life. My childhood, my school years were all in this city. My parents have lived and died in this city. The city is changing, sometimes too fast but if I sit still for a moment, I recognise it even now and never feel like a stranger.
I remember a couple of years ago, while writing a letter to a friend, I described Mumbai as a place that feels like a place I could simply never feel lost.
In that sense, over the years WordPress is like Mumbai for me. A place where I never will feel lost, a place I could never really feel like a stranger!
I got to pose at the photo booth.
Photo taken by Junko
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filed under Ruminations
I have had a fairly traditional upbringing and back in school there was always an emphasis on ‘responsibilities’ instead of ‘rights’. It was not surprising as many think of their children as an extension of themselves and hence do not really feel the need to inculcate an idea of individuality in them.
First time I heard the term ‘Gay’ was either at home or school. It was used in a joke. As my family follows a Hindu tradition (unlike Abrahamic religions), ‘Gays’ or “Homosexuals” were not viewed with as much revile but we made fun of them alright.
I myself grew up thinking about them as not “quite right”. Sometimes I wondered if they were unnatural or just confused about themselves. I heard many arguments “for” and “against” but honestly I did not really care.
At some stage I thought that the term “live and let live” had a lot of wisdom attached to it. This meant I respected that individuals had the right to live their life the way they wanted.
I empathised with women’s rights strongly because I saw how friends and family members of the female gender, folded under patriarchal expectations and treated unfairly. But I never fully empathised with gay people. I knew no one who was gay.
Then a friend who I had lost contact with for a couple years told me he was gay in an online chat. It was unnerving for a second. I mean I used to hang out with this guy. But as a good friend and partly due to curiosity, I ended up saying I was not going to judge his life style. I remember saying “You are who you are” – whatever that meant but I felt it the right thing to say.
He told me how he was conflicted with his choices for years. Sometimes himself not sure what he was because it was socially and culturally unacceptable. He had not told his parents and probably never will. It would be too upsetting for them. He probably had not told most of his friends either – it would have been too embarrassing. He was almost apologetic while telling me and that got me thinking.
I suddenly felt how difficult it is for gay people. They are literally made to live in ‘shame’ and ‘secrecy’. They are forced to marry and ruin their lives not to mention their spouses. And then it struck me. I never chose to like women, it was just natural. Surely what gay people feel is natural as I doubt they deliberately choose a sexual orientation that literally pushes them to the fringes of society and also make them generally despised by even friends and family members.
Here is why I find some arguments against gays pretty useless
- Gays are unnatural: Well there is enough evidence to show homosexual behavior in nature exits. But let start with what is natural first. If procreation is natural then all people who are celibates are unnatural. I do not see people protesting against anyone right to be celibate so why in this case?
- Gays are against Family system: In western countries with over 40% of children growing up with single parents at some point of time, it really is not much of an argument in favor of family doing a great job. Indians might feel their family systems are intact but even here the divorce rates are rising and its not uncommon to see children with a single parent growing up normally.
- Gays are not allowed in religion: I find it a little dangerous that some are trying to impose religious ideology on other people who do not want to follow it. As an atheist myself, I cannot buy this argument which someday can be used by religious zealots to attack me saying my disbelief in the idea of god or their religion is grounds to make my views illegal.
So now as someone who thinks that individuals have a right to live their life just as the way they want to, I support gays and lesbians their rights to be individuals.
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filed under Ruminations
While I skim through my Facebook and Twitter feed today, I see a lot of patronizing messages for women. ‘Power for women’ – ‘Real men respect women’ and all that jazz. I usually do not like celebrating or observing ‘Days’. So I do not care much for Valentines Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Children’s Day, etc..
But I started wondering how Women’s day came about? I am sure it was not invented to gift cards and chocolates by men to women. That probably happened later thanks to Hallmark or some other similar company.
Unlike the perception that America only has two political parties, back in 1909, they did have a Socialist Party of America. Now this party supposedly celebrated Women’s Day for the first time. Now remember, back in 1909, women had a lot fewer rights in the United States. They did not even have the right to vote.
Now the socialist movement was a lot stronger in countries like Germany, Austria and probably France. So the idea of Women’s Day celebration (rather protests) became more popular in Europe. So by March 18, 1911 – International Women’s Day was being marked by over a million people. It was organized by the German Marxist Clara Zetkin.
By 1913 February, Russian women had joined in the action and demonstrations taking place. (That was a 100 years ago!)
Today, March 8 is recognized as International Women’s Day and celebrated or observed in several countries. It also has the backing of the United Nations.
What were they fighting for?
Back in those day women were not allowed to run for elected office, not allowed the right to vote and often treated like second class citizens. Many women workers were simply never given the same wages that men got and often passed over for promotions.
These attitudes towards women were across cultures, across geographic locations and across income groups.
Today the socialist roots of feminist movement might have eroded but many of the causes they are fighting for are still relevant and often reality to millions of women around the world.
Still an unequal world!
There are still many countries where women are treated as nothing but glorified ‘baby making machines’. They are often called mothers, sisters, wives before being recognized simply as individuals.
There are still women not allowed to get educated as much as they want or treated as equals to their male siblings. Even today, traditionally women are paid a lot less money than men are for the same work. If you are living in India ask around how much male household helps make compared to female counterparts.
So what can you do?
This is a rather simple yet tough part. There can be no exceptions and no excuses. All you need to do is to respect women as individuals and respect their right to their individuality.
Stuff you can read:
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filed under Cities
The road to this book started almost six months ago. I was not into reading about middle-eastern history. I had very little interest in the history of Abrahamic religions, hence I ending up with this monstrous 540 page book (excluding the notes and references section) on Jerusalem was unlikely. I was recommended this book by an uncle with whom I was sharing some interesting articles about middle-eastern culture over email.
The book really is exactly what it calls itself – a biography. It starts with the obvious sketchy details of the city’s origins in the world of David, Solomon, Judah and it’s subsequent insignificance in the Persian and later Macedonian scheme of things. The city gains some importance as the Romans arrive. The city though of not much economical significance is central to Judaism. It obviously attracts a lot of religious prophets, mystics and messiahs. One of them being Jesus Christ, whose teachings finally led to Christianity.
It proceeds very adeptly about the rise of Islam, the crusades, the mamluks, Ottomans. Jerusalem is truly written on an epic scale with characters like the Herods, Saladin, Baldwin the leper-King, Richard, the magnificent Suleiman, Napoleon Bonaparte and many more whose choices and their impact end up shaping the city’s fortunes and misfortunes.
It ends with the recent past of the city and its complexities thanks to the politics of religion and the region.
Thankfully, Montefiore does not dramatise the storytelling and keeps it simple. Despite covering almost 3000 years in a single book, he manages to do justice to the various events and their back stories.
If you are interested in the history of the region, then this one would be a good addition to your book collection. Afterall reading about myths, mystics, messiahs, prophets and emperors is usually a lot of fun.
Amazon: Jerusalem – The Biography
Flipkart: Jerusalem: The Biography
Tags: book-review
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filed under Ruminations
Almost a decade ago, my father and I were at a hospital lab, waiting for the results of a blood test. The platelet count of my sister was dangerously low and if it had stayed low, it was time to press the panic buttons. Thankfully, the report showed the count was moving upwards and within the next couple of days my sister’s health was on the mend.
Since that day, I knew how dangerous a dengue fever could get but that awareness became more acute every time I read or heard about a life succumbing to dengue.
A couple of days ago, film maker Yash Chopra passed away. He was in hospital being treated for dengue.
Few years ago, a young blogger named Tejaswee Rao left me impressed with a post. It was terrible to know the kid had passed away because of dengue.
The municipal corporation in Mumbai (pretty sure most Indian metros have large budgets) has a budget of over Rs 22,000 crores. That is a lot of money and dengue deaths are not just shameful but is incompetency of the highest kind.
Mosquitoes are not human beings. They do not know who they are biting. Considering local politicians and their families travel and live in our cities, it might be a good idea to actually fight dengue and malaria with some seriousness.
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filed under WordPress
A quick update on some really cool and interesting you can do in Mumbai this weekend (20th -21st October 2012). People who blog might be aware of WordCamp Mumbai 2012. It is a event organized for WordPress fans and users. Developers, bloggers, startup entrepreneurs all meetup, share, discuss stuff they know about the famous blogging platform WordPress.
The event is not free and you will need to buy a ticket for the 2 day event.
You can view more details of the event here. I will be attending this event and looking forward to meet up some really cool people.
Link: 2012 WordCamp Mumbai
Another great event taking place this weekend in at Cuffe Parade, Mumbai. Its Comic Con – Mumbai. This event is officially called Mumbai Film and Comic Convention. If you are someone who is passionate about comics, this is something you should not miss. What’s more, entry is free to the event.
Link: Comic Con – Mumbai
Unfortunately I will be missing Comic Con as I am attending WordCamp. But it is good to know comic con is here finally. Maybe I will catch it next year. 😀
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filed under Ruminations
I must admit, I have started admiring Aseem Trivedi. I had not known much about him. I have not seen his cartoons until a couple of days ago.
Guess, what he has been arrested and charged with sedition for ‘mocking the parliament’. (Read Report)
But some members of parliament (elected officials a.k.a sanctimonious politicians) who were involved in a scuffle, in the august house itself are roaming around free. Apparently landing a few punches to opposition party members is not “mocking the parliament”. (Read Report)
Anyways I have always believed that I lived in a free and democratic country? So I decided to ask myself a few questions.
- Does your country harass cartoonists?
- Does your country reinvent its past history?
- Does your country treat past politicians as holy cows?
- Does your country harass writers/authors?
- Does your country curb internet freedoms?
- Does your country have censorship of films?
- Does your country have different laws for different faiths?
- Does your country jail peaceful activists?
If you answer yes to a majority of the questions above, do you still think your country is a free and democratic?
If you do, then maybe you are a member of parliament.
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filed under Ruminations
Usain Bolt! What a champ! He has six gold medals in 3 events, over two Olympic Games. That means, in every Olympic event he takes part in, he has won the Gold.This time in London, Usain Bolt won the 100, 200 and 4X100m relay.
How fast is Bolt? I thought of adding up all the timings of the races he took part at the London Olympics.
He took part in 3 sprints of 100m and 200m respectively. He also took part in the 4x100m relay.
Here are the timings…
That gets the total time running at 2 minutes 6.32 seconds. Rather short workout for 3 gold medals. 😉
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filed under Ruminations
I earn my living as a blogger writing and sharing about technology among other things. When I started my blogging career in 2009, I did not know how far I would go and how much I would actually love writing. But first anyone aspiring to write has to read a lot and that is what I did.
I immersed myself into the world of RSS feeds, Google search, blog directories and more. I must have read several thousands if not a lakh (100,000) blog posts in the past three and a half years, but only two bloggers have really spoken to me like no other.
The first post is by Tejaswee Rao, who was a young seventeen year old writing a blog post to her future daughter. It is a fascinating point of view with a sort of audacity only the young have. Unfortunately by the time I came across this post, the author had passed away – succumbing to dengue in 2010.
Her post will always remind me that when you do think up of something worthwhile, write it down. It then has a good chance at becoming immortal.
The second post is by Derek K. Miller, who was a accomplished blogger and podcaster. He found out he was suffering from cancer and he did not have much time. So he ended up writing his last post. A post that was to be published after he had passed away.
In the post he thanks his friends and family. He recollects interesting parts of his life. But what truly stands out is courage. Courage of a man, summarizing his life while staring at death and not fearing it. Rather than being a depressing post, it actually ends up reminding me, that what your life means to you is more important than wondering what your life meant to others.
Both posts are by bloggers and like bloggers tend to do, they were written in the present. One surmised a hopeful future and the other a well lived life. Both chose to share what they felt and ended up reaching me from the beyond.
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filed under Ruminations
I was looking through an online conversation recently and realized that many of my friends are completely against online censorship. They do not want anyone policing or controlling what they are consuming. This can range from the types of movies to documentaries to even text that is online.
But curiously, something odd is happening with when the same people discuss censorship on television or the movies. For instance, the same people who cry hoarse against online censorship actually support some control over content being shown on television and the movies.
The argument is some people cannot handle this. Please read this “some people” as some people from an economic class. As if you have less intellectual capacity if you drive a bus instead of your own car.
Censorship in India, is often official for films and unofficial for other forms of art. Even movies that pass through the censor boards cuts and whims, can casually be stopped from being shown in a theatre because of a controversy.
All it takes is a political party or even an affiliated group, a few men who can yield a hockey stick and some targeted breaking of glass and bones at a mall or two and there, the said movie is censored.
Censorship is censorship!
3 simple rules
- Don’t like something on television – use the remote control and change the channel.
- Do not like a particular movie – do not watch it.
- Do not like a bold film poster – do not see it.
By the way if you did not like my views you are free not to read my blog. See it is that simple.
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filed under Ruminations
My birthday which falls on the 21st of March could never be celebrated when I was a kid. The reason being, schools usually had scheduled their exams around that time. So birthday parties would be in April. I hated it so much that at age ten, I declared I did not want any more parties.The month of March did not just spoil birthday parties for me but also made me deeply religious. You see, I never studied all year long and had to score decent marks to get promoted from one year to the other. So I would end up doing something I mostly avoided. I prayed and raised divine blessings by taking the most terribly of oaths possible for my final exams.
Now that we are well into March again, I get a bit nostalgic. That torturous month before vacations. That horrible month which turns the otherwise rational atheists into a religious god fearing morons.
But these days the month of March is not even half as exciting. I have stopped raising divine blessings with terrible oaths for the better part of the last decade. There is the minor irritant of taxes but I can actually enjoy myself on my birthday without worrying about studies.
March looks so much better these days. 🙂
Related: Here is something fun about February
