I’m on my way toward FISL 15 in Porto Alegre… That sounds about the right time to write about my trip in India. Who said I was posting late and out of order? :-)
Anyway, this year feels a bit special to me… in 2007 I was in India for FOSS.in and Pradeepto’s wedding, I was also in Brazil for FISL. Now we’re in 2014, and I’m invited in both India and Brazil again, looks like they go together. I just hope it won’t take seven more years for me to go back there, but I digress…
This year I was privileged enough to be an invited speaker for conf.kde.in 2014. It allowed me to see a tiny bit of Gandhinagar. Unlike my first time in India, I couldn’t stay long, only a handful of days (managed two weeks in 2007). That’s why I didn’t see much, but I really don’t mind, I like to travel for the people more than for watching stones. And regarding people, this trip was about perfect!
I really love going to India because of its people in general, and because there are a few persons I care about a lot coming from that country. Pradeepto is obviously on top of my list, spending time chatting with him is just lovely as usual. It was also perfect to see how he became the wise man in KDE India. He provides advises all around, we’re so lucky to have someone like him in KDE.
It was also nice to discover more of the people I quickly saw during Akademy but didn’t really spend time to discuss with. I won’t list names, I’m too afraid to forget someone… There was so much interesting people, KDE India is really an impressive group. I wish KDE France was that vibrant, we have quite a few lessons to learn!
And since we were sleeping in the same hotel, it was also a nice opportunity to spend time to know more Jos Poortvliet and Peter Grasch. I don’t usually hang out with them (for no good reason), it was about time to fix that. We discussed KDE, life and trivial topics (guys, I hope you found those movies! I’ll ask you about them you can be sure).
I think the biggest change since my last time in India was the behavior of the students. The last time I could feel they wanted to learn more, but I didn’t get any question, they were somehow too scared. This time on the other hand, they were much less shy overall. Clearly something is changing in the younger generations. We know there are brilliant people among them, now if on top of that they’re less shy and feel confident enough to ask questions… the amount of successful Indian students in the community will skyrocket for sure! I’m really looking forward to that.
Oh you might think I’m just rambling, and that this is trivial because I don’t mention any talks? You might be right in some way, I am kind of rambling. If you find that trivial on the other hand, you are very mistaken! KDE is people, conf.kde.in is even more about people: the KDE India crew, the other foreign speakers trying to learn of the Indian culture and failing, the students hungry for knowledge.
Just thinking about this mix of people to write this piece put a smile on my face. Yes, it is that good and inspiring.
I wish you to get such experiences, they are worth living!