Barcamp Kolkata : Why Kolkata still doesn't have a Barcamp

Why Kolkata still doesn't have a Barcamp

October 2007, I went to Kolkata for a conference called WebOSS '07 and I can probably make out why there's no way Kolkata can have a barcamp in near future. I tried to carry out a Barcamp in Kolkata. My sympathies to the wonderful city where I grew up.



1. What is BarCamp? A 'Drinking Bar' may be...I'm not interested.
2. People don't know what a WIKI is. They don't know how to edit it despite the instructions.
3. No one willing to take the effort. They have all the time to sleep.
4. The so called 'open source' community sucks big time. The so called HEAD of LUG group look out for publicity more than helping to get a job done. I am not afraid to take the name of Krishnendu Paul who promised and suddenly disappeared.
5. The student community is suppressed by the colleges.
6. The colleges are more interested in Placements rather than knowledge sharing.
7. College professors are trying to get some freelance projects all the time.
8. Big shots like IBM, TCS etc. are least bothered to even have a look.
9. Free T-shirts = Bring in all your friends and leave in next 1 hour.
10. Free food = hog as much as you want.
11. The IT dept of the government want to just hold on conferences and publicity stunts to make their place in the newspaper. I am again not afraid to blame the minister for not checking his Mailbox which is always full. And also to be not available to common people without a PROTOCOL!
11. What is sponsorship? What will I gain. How many people are going to come? This is the question which all news/publicity media ask!
12. Lastly, Who's wanting to spoil their weekend!

Way to go Kolkata, I don't see a Barcamp Kolkata until some revolutionary thing happen!
Dear City of Joy, I left you some time back and I don't feel like returning!

WebOSS 07: The Event

On 13th October Teknowledge Software conducted the first "Free for All" Open Source Web Technology conference called WebOSS '07.

The event was the first of its kind to be held in Kolkata. Teknowledge Software, a software house based in Kolkata hosted the event along with WBUT as the venue sponsor.

Volunteers dressed in white T-shirts with WebOSS '07 logo worked hard to put the event together.

The event started at around 11:30. I was the first one to speak and spoke on RIA: Which technology one should choose? Slides can be found here

I attended the next session by Pradeep on how to build application with AJAX. Pradeep's presentation can be found here

There was a lunch break after this which contained burgers, cakes, ladoo! and Frooti!

The next session was of Shabbir's on Speeding up your websites. A great session which included tips and tricks to speed up the sites from network and client browser point of view. Shabbir's content can be found here

The next session was of Naveen. He really went dirty into the code like Pradeep. It was really a good session and I have started respecting Perl (i'm more a PHP Guy!)

It was a good conference, the jam packed audience was eager to know more and more!

Overall, a fun event like barcamps! Its great to see such events happening in Kolkata! Go ahead Kol!

You can find ALL pictures here:


Hussain on RIA


Pradeed, Naveen and Shabbir

Jam Packed Audience


Pradeep, Naveen and Shabbir again.

WebOSS '07 : The Web Technology Conference

The first of its kind Web Technology Conference on Open Source Technologies, WEBOSS ‘07 is being organised in Kolkata on Saturday 13th October, 2007.

I am the organizer and speaker.
The conference is going to be held at West Bengal University of Technology Main Campus.
Topics include: RIA, AJAX, ROR, PHP VS PERL, speeding up your websites. I'm going to speak on RIA and RoR.
There is also going to be a panel discussion on Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0.

Hope to catch some action!