As per our plan, we have to reach Bhubaneswar on 6th July so we could prepare something for the Odia Wiki 16 event. Previously I've mentioned the event and some work in the last blog. I'm traveling with Subhashish bhai from Bangalore.

Our flight was at 8.10 am through Indigo airlines. So, we have to reach the airport by 7.00 am. Again this time, he booked a cab for me from my PG to the airport with a halt at his home. So, I picked up him from this place and we both reached the airport. For the 1st time, I saw the web check-in systems at the airport. Yes, previously I saw those but hadn't know why those are used. So, Subha bhai selected 2 side seats in 3rd and 4th Row. Then we drop our luggage bags at the baggage drop counter. After that, we went for the security check. After the security check, both had our breakfast there. Then wait for our boarding at gate number 21.

Inside the aircraft, I had to exchange my seat with someone else, because his family was there in the 3rd row, so I shifted to the 5th row. And we landed safely, but during the landing, the break was so had, everyone got scared. The hard break was the first time for me.

After collecting our luggage, we took an Ola cab to the hotel and wait for some time for our check-in. I shared the room with Subha bhai. Yesterday, I had released the Wiki Advanced Training Vlog on my YouTube Channel. Everyone from the event appreciating the video. After the check-in in the hotel, I've improved the Bhaswati Basu article, on which I had added the deletion tag. Subha bhai had told about the article, and the works she did. So I've expanded that as per the actress style.

For the lunch, we had decided to go to the Ananta Basudev Temple. We took a cab to the temple, Prateek had joined us from his college. There we ate Abhada. As usual, the taste was awesome. For the 1st time, I saw that part of Bhubaneswar. Previously I hadn't seen the Bindu Sagar pond also. It was there next to the temple. Then we returned to the hotel by dropping Prateek at his home.

Then we slept for some time. Around 4.00 pm, Prateek had come and we had discussed some plans for the event. Then Sailesh, Gyana bhai, Chinmayee, and Diptiman bhai had joined. I went with Diptiman bhai to his home and brought the T-shirts and some other stuff. Then we had finished our dinner at the same hotel. After that Diptiman bhai and Chinmayee had left.

Then we had started to write the script for the learning session. After so much discussion, wrote the script for the introduction part. Subhashish bhai had brought all the stuff for the video making process. So, Prateek and he started recording, Sailesh and I hold the lights and Gyana bhai was our actor. It took more than 3 hours to record a 2-3 minutes video. That part was too much fun. Finally, slept around 3 O'clock, since we have to wake up early and should prepare all the stuff for the event.

Odia Wikipedia turned 16 on last June 3rd. So, we had planned to organize the 16th Anniversary at Bhubaneswar. Previously I've attended the 14th Anniversary celebration organized at IMAGE, Bhubaneswar on 4th and 5th of June in 2015. On 4th June, I had my last exam in Bhawanipatna so could join there, but joined on 5th June. 

We had planned for a big event for the 15th Anniversary, but that couldn't happen and the full event plan got flopped. So, this time we have planned for this 16th Anniversary at Mango Hotel Prangan, Laxmisagar, Bhubaneswar. 

For the event, Subhasish Panigrahi and I would go from Bangalore on 6th June 2018. So that we could be there in time on 7th and 8th July. Before the event, we need to gather some basic things which to collect from Bangalore. When I was at Wiki Advance Training, Ranchi, he had called me to join him to buy a projector. But I was unable to go with him.

But today I would go with him to the printing shop and to the CIS-A2K office to collect some stickers, standy, banner, etc. Previously we had planned to go on 5th but due to some of his works, we re-scheduled our plan to today. 

I took a cab from our PG to Subhashish Bhai's home. I don't have an app to book a cab, so Subhashish bhai had booked that for me and I took it from the SGR Dental College front gate. But I can't figure out the root of his home. Thanks to the Google map, the driver drop me at the proper location and from there we drove to the printing press shop in his car.

The root was not so crowdy, so we reach at the shop easily and collect the 16th-anniversary stickers and some emoticon stickers as well as some funny palm cards. Then we came to the CIS-A2K office. On the way to CIS office, Subha bhai and I ate some snacks and ate jackfruit.

We got these things.

When I reached the CIS-A2K office, I got surprised by seeing lots of people there. Usually I saw some 5 to 6 people, but today I saw more than 12. Gopala Krishna and Tanveer da were there. Tito dada is at home. He went home from Ranchi. The standy ordered by Subha bhai reached there in that morning, so we collect that from Neema Ji, the security of the office. Gave some stickers to Gopala Krishna, then left.

On the way to Subhashish bhai's home, he dropped me at HAL-Old airport road which connects to Marathahalli Bridge. From that place, I couldn't get a bus, so I started walking towards the bridge. But suddenly the traffic increased and I face huge traffic on my way. So, I reached at the PG by walking 6 to 7 kilometers.

For 3 days, we were in Ranchi for the Wiki Advanced Training 2k18 at Le Lac Sarovar Hotel. This was the last day of our Training, where we had to learn some and had to leave that place too. As we had decided yesterday to start at 8.30 am but started around 9.00 am. The previous night we slept after 3.30 am, that's why we took this extra 30 minutes to start. 

The day 3 started with the coffee, and then had our breakfast. At the breakfast table, all were discussing some things. 

After the Breakfast, Muzzamil sir had left for Airport. But before that, we took the group photo in front of the hotel entrance. In that group photo Tanveer da, Mallikarjuna, and Sailesh were missing since Tanveer had left and they were getting ready. 

Then our sessions started with the introduction by Tito da since Tanveer da wasn't there to start the day. The first presentation of the day was given by Satdeep and Krishna about Reliable sources which we should use for the Wikipedia Articles. 

Then we had discussed with each other and for some specific topic, we choose the reliable references as well as some exceptions. Then we did a presentation for that. So, all the communities could take those as their references. In this work, we had our tea.

After the community presentation, we had shared our future prediction for our community, for the articles and as per discussion, we should write 10 good articles in near future. Then the participants had shared their experiences for this event and then the organizer team thanked us as per their style.

After this, we had celebrated Paligiri Sir's B'day there. He cut the Cake and then we had our lunch quickly. We had to catch our return flight.

After lunch, Bangalore and Delhi people left the hotel. I joined Manav, Rupika & Jay Prakash for the airport. We boarded as per the time and had some interesting conversations there too. After that our Bangalore flight left at 4.20 and they were there for a little more time. 

At the time of our take up, it was raining there. After the take-up, the sky was clear, and in that 2.20-hour journey, I slept around 1 hour. Then we landed in Bangalore, from where Jinoy had to catch his next flight to Kochi, and Loganathn sir had to catch his train for his place. I and Mallikarjuna had taken the KIA-8 bus to reach our places. Vikas had taken another bus for his place. Finally, I reached my room at around 8.30 pm.

This was all about our Day 3 at Wiki Advanced Training. You could follow this Label for all the blogs related to this event. 

P.S.: Due to some health issues, I couldn't write this blog on 1st or 2nd of July. 

It was day 2 of our Wiki Advanced Training at Le Lac Sarovar Hotel in Ranchi. Yesterday, our sessions started at 10.00 am, we couldn't cover all the allotted topics of yesterday, so today we had to start at 8.30 am.

As per the plan we all woke up early and after refreshment, I had finished the Wikipedia and Wikisource article of the day and we four went for breakfast together. And as usual, at the breakfast table, we had started some of our conversations, but to avoid being late, we had kept that short.

As per the time, we couldn't start exactly at 8.30 but started just before 9.00 am. First Tito da had explained a very good thing, i.e. about Google Advanced Search which would help at the time of citation of any articles. Yes, he had explained this to me at our last meeting at the CIS-A2K office, when I asked him to help me with the prework for this event.

After that, Satdeep and Rupika had shared some interesting things about edit-a-thons and contests running to create and improve articles in various communities, where they had added about Punjab edit-a-thons, Project Tiger, etc. Previously I didn't have many ideas about edit-a-thons, but now-a-days, I'm also participating in edit-a-thons, that's why I found this interesting. And all the community members should show their interests for a successful edit-a-thon.

Tanveer da has some work, that's why he had left today only, but before that, he had an important session, which would help a community for improving their quality content. He had explained how we could engage others for our community like Collaboration, Request one article, Adopt an article, 1Lib1Ref, etc. 

After that, we had shared or you can call it exchanged some of the ideas with others. Since I'm only one from the Odia community, I had joined with Bengali, Gujarati, and Sanskrit community and we made the cross-community group and shared our ideas to reach more readers.

After this, we took 40 minutes brake for lunch, then AddisWang had presented about Wikipedia Asian Month over a voice conference call, which was co-ordinated by Sailesh and Rupika. Then Krishna and Manav had shared about Good Articles and Featured Articles.

Then Tito and Satdeep had presented about Neutral Point of view, under which we had discussed about some articles. Then we had shared some of our community rules about this. After that, we took a 10 minutes tea break.

After the tea break, Jay Prakash had given a presentation about Media Wiki, and in that session, he had explained about Mediawiki extensions. This was the last session of the day and had finished around 6.15 pm. After that, we had our dinner at 8.00.

My day 1 started early with some morning tea. Yesterday we slept early so, woke up early and everything started early. After tea, I had written the Wikipedia article for the WikiYear and edit the Wikisource page for the day.

And we have this beautiful view outside of our room, where you could see people taking bath, washing clothes, and some of their goods. 

Around 8.30 I went for breakfast, After breakfast, we had to start our sessions from 10.00 am.

On Plate: Poori, Bhaji, Suji Upma, Idli, Coconut Chatni, Boiled Egg, Fish Cutlet, Tent Potato & Baby Corn.

On the Plate: Sprout Sala, Pastry & Fruits.

Can Mango Juice

We start our session with the introduction of the event by Tito da and Tanveer da. Then Manav man and Tito had asked us to note down our fields of interest and the sources from which we are taking our references for our articles. Then we have shared those with everyone so we could get some more know more about the referral sources.

After that Krisha and had started the presentation about General Structure & Layout of articles, which is really necessary for a good article. Then we took a tea break for 15 to 20 minutes. There was a sweet table where sweets from different places placed together. Since I came from Bangalore, I didn't bring sweets that would define my region. 

Sweet Table having sweets from various regions.

After this tea break, the presentation continued. Then, we had taken five of our articles from our own community and we had chosen 5 recent articles in Odia and point out the problems with them. 

Then we went for lunch at the same place where we had our breakfast in the morning. Since we had to cover more topics during that, we took the 30 minutes lunch brake.

Tomato Dhaniya Sorba

On Plate: Jeera Rice, Lelac Dal, Sahi Paneer, Bhindi do pyaja, Green Salad, Chicken Kasa, Jalebi & Papad.

After that, again Krishna had started another presentation about The Wikipedia Library, which was sent to us by e-mail as our prework. So, we had gone through some basics before and he had explained some more about this. There was a conference call of Krishna, Aron Vasanth, and Felix Nartey for this session, where Aron and Felix had explained some things about The Wikipedia Library. Before the conference call, we took another quick tea break.

After the call, we had finished our sessions for the day at around 6.15 pm and then there was a condolence meeting for Gangadhar Bhadani sir who passed away this February. He had joined Wikipedia in March 2005 and in September 2005, he became the editor for English Wikipedia and continued his work till last. He was an inspiration to lots of Wikimedians in India. His wife and daughters had also joined us. 

After this, the CIS-A2K team had felicitated to Sendhamil Kodhai sir from Tamil and Palagiri sir from Telugu wiki for their contribution to Wikipedia in various fields.

Sendhamil Kodhai Sir

Palagiri Sir

After this meeting, we had our lunch at that same place. And at the time of Lunch, we had some good conversations. 

Veg Lemon Coriander Soup

On the Plate: Green Salad (not visible), Raita, Veg Biriyani, Rajma Rasedar, Indian Bread, Aloo Pyaz ka Khade Masala, Palak Paneer, Fish Lipta Masala, Chicken & Papad

And these are all about for Day 1. We had to start the sessions for Day 2 at 8.30 am. 

Actually, this is the day when we came to Ranchi for the Wiki Advanced Training. But previously, I've shared about these things when I met Tito da then Mallikarjuna. We had to reach at the event place by today so we could start our session easily from tomorrow. That's why we arrived today and since tomorrow is Day 1, we call this Day 0 or the Icebreaking moment among all. 

In December when I went home from Kempagowda airport, it took 2 hours and 45 minutes to reach Hebbal from Marathahalli, so today, I don't want to take a risk. I slept at 10.00 pm and actually started sleeping after 11.30 pm. So easily I woke up early and took the KIAS-8 bus from Innovative Multiplex Marathahalli at 6.30 am and reached the airport by 7.45 am. There I met two Tamil Wikimedians K. Murty and Loganathan and wait to collect our boarding passes.

At that time, I've finished some of my works which I had to finish in the morning. Then we collected the boarding passes from the counter and met Ulo. Sendhamil Kodhai, another Tamil Wikimedian inside. After some time, Mallikarjuna and Vikas also joined us.

Finally, we reached at Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi on time and then took Ola to reach our hotel. After reaching the hotel, we took our room keys, then went for lunch. We had our lunch at around 3.20 pm and as usual, I forgot to capture before eating. But I took this photo of Icecream and hot Gulab Jamun. I've never eaten hot sweets before. Usually, I prefer sweets in cold form, but this was a little bit different.

Yes, I forgot to mention about the reunion from TTT 2k18. There was Dr. Manavpreet Kaur, Satdeep Gill, Rupika Sharma, Ajay, whom I knew before since TTT 2018. After lunch, I had discussed a little bit with Manav mam and she explained about The Wikipedia Library. I hadn't covered that document attached to the mail, so she helped me with that. 

Then we had to reach the meeting room by 6.15 pm, but we arrived there at 6.35 after everyone. Then I joined the Group 1 with Mallikarjuna, Rupika, Muzammil Sir & Mahesh. There we introduced to each other and shared some fun facts, answered some funniest questions.

After this meeting, we had our lunch. And yes, this time I've captured the dinner plates except for chicken and Roti.

During the dinner, we had talked with each other and returned to our room early, since everyone needs some rest and some fresh energy for tomorrow. That's all for Day 0. Yes, we had Tito da, Tanveer da, Sailesh, and Krishan Chaitanya from the organizing team. I've some good relationships with these people, so I mention then last.