This is not something I do, really. A blogger’s meet. I mean wow, I would love to meet the top 50 bloggers from across India, and oh, yours truly is one of them now they say, but going to Goa and meet new people? No way. After a lot of ‘oh-its-a-car-event’ and ‘im-not-so-comfortable-with-novelties’, I did board that plane. And can I tell you I am glad I did? Never before did I feel so much in my element than being in a room with 50 other amazing bloggers discussing and talking about what we love. It was amazing.
I recently saw an article where they reacted to the reactions in blogger’s meet and told a word or two about why food bloggers are being invited to a car review. I was shocked to see this sort of discouragement pouring all over twitter. Can a food blogger not learn anything new? Inside the sushi eating girl might thrive a Jeremy Clarkson who never got a chance to experience that side of him/her. Oh please! Next time you comment on a certain food from a certain restaurant, maybe you should be sued. You don’t have an authorized palate to complaint, they’d say. Like, if you aren’t among the top 10 food-critics in India you have no right to tell the tea’s gone cold.
Regardless, coming back to the point, I am glad I did go and meet so many wonderful bloggers and got a chance to discuss blogging; got a chance to meet the spectacular Tata Team. But can I tell that we needed one more day and it almost felt like a whirlwind?
We boarded the jet from Mumbai and landed at Dabolim in 40 minutes: I was co-passenger to Hemant from Shunya and Roxanne from Head2Heels. We all agreed that the pilot simply dropped us off in Goa. That was one rough landing 😉 Almost reminded me of the scene from Madagascar where they… well never mind, this is silly:) But thanks to the Tata team and Blogadda that we were scooped up from there and transported straight to the lap of heavenly comfort. Above is where we were put up: Zuri White sands resort in Varca, Goa, and it oozes luxury.
Before I move on, A couple of things:
1) Great service and support Zuri. You should be proud of your boys and girls. Except for the ones in your cafe. They are but your let downs.
2) You have a flickering room light in 282 which makes a certain buzz and scares the darn out.
3) Loved the detailing you’ve put on High tea: from tea range, little flavoring options to the warm brownies.
4) Your food was, well, cold. Not by its temperature but by its heart and soul. You all be puttin’ a lot more heart in your cooking from here on, okay? 🙂
It all tasted so weird. What a brilliant idea, what a waste of taste. (High tea, Day 1)
Soon, we move on to the masterclass where the Tata Zest team decoded their car to us. Such lovely people to meet. Minari Shah, though, was my star, I admit. She is magnetic. I want to be her! It also makes me very happy to see how the gap between customers and brands no longer exists. Take a hike middle-man, I’m gonna drive my own car and see how I feel about it. Fair! Such a brilliant idea to call people from every sphere of life to experience it for their own. As consumers, today, we have a lot more access to brands than what we used to, and which is a great thing.
Here’s a snippet of the masterclass
Wonderful learning from the pillars of Zest.
After a wonderful dinner and well, good night’s scarce sleep, off we went to experience the two variants of Tata Zest in Goa. I don’t drive but from the most novice angle, Petrol felt good, Diesel felt weird. Couldn’t figure the connect next but the AC didn’t really let me complain. Very planted at turns, stable at high speed: in all, it was a wonderful, wonderful drive
Stopped by this cemetery…Look at the body cart… Such a beauty, such a grave purpose.
After another hour or so, and one that included live blogging, another round of earl grey, a quick seafood soup and coffee pudding, off we came to Mumbai. In short it was a whirlwind of an experience and in a good way!
So, you know, I’d like to end with this. When I came home from the meet, my husband asked me, if you have money, will you buy any of the Tata Cars? I said, “this time, I will, I think.” I think that sums up how my Tata experience was. A paradign shift from who Tata used to be man. Achhe din aye hain 😉
Toodles!