Outta the spectrum!

I shall make this a short post!! Maa kasam! 

For the ignorant and blessed ones out there; I had recently taken part in the Royal Challengers Bangalore - Fanatic Fans Challenge 3 for the post of Chief Blogger in the last week of July.

I was short listed as a finalist on August 12th (I'm bad with/at dates. Don't mind!) and today i.e. August of 16th was the finals.

9-50 AM I was at the entrance of Chinnaswamy Stadium - Gate 1. After haggling with the guard, I was allowed to wait inside for the others to arrive! 

Met Raghav Ramaiah and his sister. Nice people! Took a stroll with him and glimpsed at the Indian Women's Cricket team practicing and Sandeep Patil! Others arrived soon enough and introductions and discussions filled the air! 

We were all given a jersey, bandana, wristband, tattoos and flags of RCB in due time. 

Had a quick lunch and then the contest began. 

Yes, blogging was the category I'd applied in and the topic given was *if I recall correctly* 

"Create a blog post to garner support for the RCB's Campaign in the Champions League leaving out IPL controversy, concentrating on the South African Masala and the Clash of the Champions!"  

Care to see my application? Click here! 

Now after the blogpost was written, read, edited and re-read, I went about my business and indulged in the well deserved loo time. Got back to the rest of the crowd and starting Bowling in the Nintendo Wii that had been setup! Was fun! Guess I notched the highest there. 184!! Something I topped in ;) 

Then of course Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa and Sid Mallya arrived and I was slotted in the first team for the interview (Mental note to self - First interview always go bad for you!) . 

On entering, I shook hands with all of them and sat down in front of Dravid for the blogger interview! Sid was handling Pod casters and Uthappa was dealing with the Photographers. 

  I couldn't actually make out if Dravid was not smiling because he was disinterested in my application or whether he was disinterested in me! There was this dilemma of what to address him as and I stuck to "Sir". 

The array of questions included from the basic "Tell me more about yourself Gautam, what do you study?" to the more complex ones "If you were selected for this category and yet you had no access to the team what would you do?"  

There is a serious problem with me when it comes to interviews. Remember people tell you a knot forms in your throat before you start talking and then when you do talk it sounds like gibberish. Mine was ten times that. Yes. Imagine. With the hopes of a clincher of an interview dashed, I headed out, gamed for a while. 

Talked to others out there and had fun basically! A special mention to all people who were warm and cordial and more importantly fun! 

Raghav, Asif, Dr Somnath, Ushma, Shreen, Suhasini, Navya, Nidhi, Satvik, Ritish, Shresth, Allen, Katti are the people coming to my mind right now! Forgive me if I've forgotten someone! 

Yes, then the press conference was called and the declaration of winners took place!

Disha won in the Blogger category, Shreen - Pod casting and DharmaChandru for Photography! 

It was fun cheering for the trio of chiefs as well as the RCB trio! 

My warmest regards and thanks to DNA for organizing such a beautiful show and Natasha and Nidhi and all other moderators and of course all those who'd made it there! 

Wonderful experience!! Looking forward to more meetups! 

P.S. Loved the jersey, flags, bandana, wristband !! Lunch and high tea were delicious and awesome!  

Thanks a ton RCB! Great Experience ensured !!