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The story of MozCarnival 2012





The story of MozCarnival 2012


On the 15th of September, Pune witnessed a really amazing tech carnival organized by the Pune community of Mozilla. Mozilla doesn't need an introduction for sure.
The carnival wasn't a one night plan, it was the result of months of hard work. Loads of planning, putting plans into actions, so much of man power into work and now finally we can call the event a success.
Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research (SICSR) had already been all decorated and set to the mood of Carnival a night ago. 15Th morning began with Sayak Sarkar's speech, giving the audience an informal introduction about Mozilla, its products and its initiatives. Sayak was followed by Ankit Gadgil on the podium. Both Sayak and Ankit explained the crowd the purpose of their gathering, the events lined up for the day and purpose of choosing 15th as the day of this event. 15Th of September is celebrated worldwide as the 'Software freedom' day. Which day have been better to celebrate the success of party of Mozilla Summer Code than this day!
The entire event was divided into two tracks- the 'hands on' sessions and the 'talk' sessions. Both tracks were held simultaneously and the audience had their choice which one to sit for.
There were several very interesting 'hands on' session throughout the day. The computer lab of SICSR was brightened up by Gautamraj sir's session of Webmaker where he taught the audience several web-making tools of Mozilla like Thimble, X-Ray goggle etc. Later that day, several other interesting sessions kept the audience busy. Students and visitors undoubtedly enjoyed being techy for a day. Other awesome hands on session contained Sayak's Open Badges, Banana Bread, Anwesh's web-config and Soumya sir's session on URL and Routing Logic.
The non-techy people who chose to sit through talks also did enjoy their day as there were some awesome talks lined up for the day like the one on Localization by Faizal sirji, Rajesh sir and Aman sir.
The visitors had an awesome opportunity to bag in some awesome Mozilla goodies during the Quiz session held by Vineel sir. Vineel sir's session on Firefox Flicks was really an amazing one.
Now I am left with only one session to talk about. The session on WoMoz. The session conducted by Hema and me. The day when Vineel had asked me to give a talk in MozCarnival on WoMoz, I was excited and at the same time scared. I remember ringing Sayak up in the middle of night asking for his help! As I started my research on WoMoz and on Mozilla, even before realizing, I started getting deeply connected with it. Talking to Melek, listening to Mitchell Baker's interviews.....and so much more. The session finally was way more than just a session. It was right from my heart!
The award came when on 15th night I saw a post on facebook. Shruti, one of the WoMoz attendee had posted that inspired by the WoMoz session, she had started her blog and decided to get involved with Mozilla and WoMoz.
The day ended with Vineel sir's session about how everyone can contribute to Mozilla. MozCarnival had 100+ attendees that day along with 'Mid-day's reporter on campus to cover the event.
Mozilla is so much a part of me now. I sincerely thank Ankit and Sayak for getting me involved into it.


#Photo courtesy: Soumya sir.

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