“Epic” is such an overused word. Thinking back on last night’s mutineer meetup in Boston, however, it’s the only word that comes to mind. Because what else do you get when 30 plus Bostonian mutineers take over the better part of Harvard Square’s Finale dessert restaurant? Perhaps I’m still buzzing from the combination of chocolate martinis and scintillating conversations, but I have to say my first meetup ever already has me awaiting the next one.

I was blown away by the diverse backgrounds that were represented by our Boston peeps. During the course of the evening, I met a mutineer originally from a Southern state, who told our table about his experiences growing up South Asian in the same town in which Emmett Till was killed, and how united the Asians in his small town - whether they were Pakistani or Chinese - were. (“I grew up being physically and verbally abused every day - and that was just by my parents.”) I was thrilled to be able to talk punk rock with Michael Muhammad Knight, author of The Taqwacores and Basim Usmani, lead singer of The Kominas. (Not that I know anything about punk rock, but no matter.)

Why, hello Boston. Home of Haaaarvard, Dunkin Donuts, Jhumpa Lahiri and the Red Sox. And brown people. Boston is home to plenty of South Asians.

How is it then that Sepia Mutiny has never hosted a Boston Meetup?

It’s about time to flip the script. So how about it? Let’s all get together for Boston’s first ever Sepia Mutiny Meetup?

Join Ravi, Phillygrrl and Taz Friday, September 25th for the best brown event to blast Boston. I’ll be visiting from LA, Phillygrrl is flying in specially from Philly, and Ravi is the ‘local’ hosting it all. It will be a first meetup for Phillygrrl and Ravi, and I promised them I’d make it just as good as the ones I’ve hosted in the past. Bostonians, don’t let me down.

• DATE: September 25th, Friday
• TIME: 5:30pm - 8:00 pm
• WHERE: All ages dessert spot, Finale in Harvard Square
• RSVP: In the comments below. Leave your e-mail address so we can contact you if things change.

Mmmm, chocolate. And brown people. Can’t wait. The location is tentative - we were looking for a place to congregate around happy hour time that would also be all ages. We also are not sure if they will take reservations for bigger parties. We chose Harvard Square area to accommodate students. If you have another location that you’d like to suggest, please drop it in the comment section as well. I also kind of wanted to check out DJ Kayper later that evening.

Don’t be skerred. Meetups are fun. You get to meet new people, make new friends, and I may even turn on Sepia Destiny full force so you can get a date out of it. Meetups are open to everyone - from the adamant commenter to the quiet lurker. ALL are welcome! COME!

As several of us will be in town for a wedding-shedding, come enjoy a joint Ultrabrown + Sepia Mutiny meetup Aug. 16. We’ll hold it at our usual spot, Verlaine in Lower East Side, the place with $5 lychee martinis and a comfy sitting area. From 5pm on. Mark your gCalendars!

Joint meetup, Sun Aug. 16, 5-8pm at Verlaine, 110 Rivington St. between Essex/Ludlow. Take F,J,M,Z to Essex/Delancey, walk north 1 block.

p.s. special guest: Manish’s mustache!

Guess what? Ennis and I are going to hang out and we want you to come.

When: 5-7 p.m. Sunday, July 5 Where: Leela Lounge

Come one, come all. Lurkers, commenters, friends, associates…

There will be a special surprise attendee.

This week Desis will be congregating in the nation’s capitol for SAALT’s South Asian Summit (registration is closed, but tickets still available for the Change Maker Award). Both Abhi and I will be sitting on panels for the summit and we were thinking, why not incorporate a classic Sepia Mutiny meetup into the mix?

So how about it? A ‘Chaat and Chai’ 4-7 pm Sepia Mutiny Meetup on Sunday April 26th? Though D.C. was home way back in the days, I’ve never been to a D.C. meetup, and would be really excited to meet Chocolate City’s mutineers.

What I need from you:

1. RSVP in the comments with your e-mail address if you can make it.

2. Recommendations for the perfect chaat and chai joint for our meetup.

If you’ve never been to a meetup, it’s basically a space where fun is had, friends are made, faces are finally put to handles. It’ll be fun, promise and totally worth the trip to kick it with Mutineers, new and old. Open to bloggers, commenters, lurkers, and the de-lurked. Yes, that means you. Come. Join us.

UPDATE: Chennai Meetup at Ponnusamy Hotel, Royopettah, 55/1, Gowdia Mutt Road, Royapettah, Chennai - 600014

@ approximately 8 p.m., after the reading at Landmark (see details for that below).

Hi Mutineers,

I’m reading at the Landmark in Nungambakkam on Friday. I was thinking… meetup after? What location would be convenient? The reading is at 6:30 p.m., so I figure that I’ll be freeish by 8 at the latest. Somewhere in that same neighborhood would be good.

Please put any ideas in comments if you are interested.

Thanks…

::

Sorry mutineers. Not enough RSVPs for me to justify driving 250 miles in inclement weather. Lesson for next time? PLEASE RSVP. To the four of you who did, my sincerest thanks and appreciation. I have emailed each of you.

The bad news is, the meetup is cancelled. The good news is, you can always bug Uncle Vinod to host another one…he still lives on this coast. ;)

::

UPDATE, FEBRUARY 5, 2009:

I’m bumping this post back up to the top because I need to confirm who is coming/to where/at what time. Doing this is easier than writing a new post…and THEN a reminder post, tomorrow.

There’s a lot of info in the comments below, and I don’t have the time, will, or reliable wifi to paste it all in a new post. Just scroll towards the bottom, where I’ve (hopefully) answered everyone’s questions.

Once you’ve read all that, if you could leave a comment (or send an email*) to indicate whether or not you are coming, that would be super helpful. One Three of you just emailed me for details about tomorrow, so I know he’s they’re in— that makes two four of us, who have RSVP’d. :)

If you can make it to Udipi in the Mission at 6:30, let us know! Since our group is smaller this time, I’m excited about actually being able to hear some of you…now who’s in?

*my name at this website dotty com.

::

We are 29 hours away from Sepia Mutiny’s next meetup! Let’s meet at 6:30pm, tomorrow, at Udipi in the Mission. If we’re excessively fortunate, they’ll seat us and we’ll be nomming idli, vada and dosa shortly thereafter.

If some of your past experiences indicate anything, we won’t be so lucky, and we’ll have to put our names down for a table and then stare at each other awkwardly, while we wait. KIDDING. We’ll just stare; it won’t be awkward, because that’s what brown people do (oh, the “staring” thing…it could be a whole other post, it could).

Udupi Palace
1007 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 970-8000‎

ACHTUNG, BABY: a gentle reminder that Udupi is CASH-ONLY. Stop by your preferred ATM in advance so that you don’t get charged usurious fees by whatever is nearby. You’ve been warned. :)

If you’re running late, email me so I know to include you when I request a table. anna at sepiamutiny dotty com. See you soon! :)

I can hardly remember the last time I attended an SF meetup, so that clearly means it’s time to host another one!

I am home for the first time in 14 months and I’d love to see all of you yay-urrea mutineers, readers and lurkers alike. On Saturday, December 6, let’s meet for kappi (fine, or chai) at 4pm. While I always champion my beloved, Illy-serving Caffe Greco, in North Beach, I am open to other suggestions, especially if they’re easier to travel to/park at AND the food/libations are excellent. I’d suggest Vik’s (first. Berkeley/east Bay. meetup.) but I’m sure it will be impossible for us to snag tables etc.

Leave suggestions and ideas in the comments below. I return to D.C. on December 7th, so I hope to see some of you soon! :)

::

Update: It seems like a lot of you are busy that Saturday, which makes me wonder if Friday would be easier. Please let us know: which is better, Friday night or Saturday afternoon? …which is why it’s great that we are meeting up on FRIDAY, at Udupi, at 7pm.

Any tips about whether it is better to go at, say 6:30 or 7:30 or anything else you know which could make this go smoother would be greatly appreciated.

Also, start pondering a chill place which we could go to after Udupi— ideally somewhere we’d still be able to hear each other. :) Thanks!

Reservations have been made for 16 of us, at Noon.

While I can certainly appreciate the appeal of IST, please note that the Brunch buffet ENDS by 2:30pm, so if you really want to get your $12’s worth of yummy Northie food, get your kundis to Heritage India at a reasonable hour.

If you have not RSVP’d, but are in the area, feel free to pop in— you may not be sitting with everyone, but hopefully, you can nom nearby. :)

Place:Heritage India Dupont
1337 Connecticut Avenue NW

Metro: Red (Dupont Circle) or Blue/Orange (Farragut West)

Time: Noon - 2:30pm (but we may go elsewhere, once we’re kicked out! Hello Cupcake, perhaps :) ?)

Belowed Chocolateers, it’s been far too long (zomg! almost a whole year!) since we had a DC SM meetup. I think it’s time to remedy that sad situation, especially since some of you may be visiting our brown city for the upcoming holiday weekend.

I propose we brunch at the always excellent (and very tolerant) Heritage India, at noon. They are centrally-located (right under Dupont Circle), metro-accessible, very patient with our antics (Sunny Leone impersonations, anyone?) and best of all, yummeh. The luscious Aloo Tikki pictured above is one of their signature chaat dishes (and as of last night, still ridiculously, mouth-wateringly mirchi-fantastic).

What say you? I’d love to let our host know how big a table to set— last time, we had a sweet group of sixteen. RS-wee-P in the comments, below. And for you Baghdad-by-the-Bay-dwellers…Mama’s comin’ home for Thanksgiving. You done been warned. How’s THAT for folksy?

No, that’s not a typo. Yes, Atlanta, Georgia. No, no, none of us who live in Atlanta (err… or in the boonies around it like me) refer to it as Hotlanta. Please stop using that particular illegitimate noun for good and read on …

Props to the “Hogtown” mutineers who showed up at Epicure Café this past Saturday. My insult (calling Canada “America Junior” because the RSVP count was low) was certainly uncalled for as over 20 readers and lurkers (and even a few commenters) represented. Neha did an outstanding job picking a place as we had an entire upstairs section to ourselves at a restaurant that overlooked Queen St. in the fashion district. No posts were discussed and no issues debated (except Obama vs. Clinton is a popular topic in Canada as well). To clear up a common misconception, SM Meet-ups are not about who knows the most about topics on the site. Instead, liquor was consumed and a good time was had by all! If you attended and want to see the rest of the pics then email me.

The monkeys in the basement of our North Dakota world blogging headquarters have been throwing around rumors of upcoming DC and NYC meet-ups (in addition to throwing their feces).

We have received quite a few RSVPs for this Saturday but I honestly expected more from Canada’s most populous city. On this side of the border some people refer to Canda as “America Junior.” I hope this won’t be a “junior-sized” meet-up as well. Neha is primed to make reservations for us. How many will it be for? Just a reminder:

You say you are pissed because there hasn’t been a north-of-the-border SM meet-up in 3 YEARS in 2 YEARS, eh? Well we are going to have to do something about that now aren’t we, eh? My passport is ready and Neha (a.k.a.Currylingus) is coming out of hiding to co-host (I know, I am excited about that too). There will be a Sepia Mutiny meet-up this Sat at 5p.m. in Toronto!

When: Saturday May 24th at 5p.m.

Where: The Epicure Café. Neha says, “It ain’t desi but the head chef is Sri Lankan so that counts for something ;-)”

Who: Abhi, Neha, and SM readers from Toronto or elsewhere in Canada. Readers, lurkers, commenters, and their friends/family welcome

What: Food, drinks, mutinous socializing, torrid affairs. Don’t be nervous, none of us are intelligent in person.

Why: We can’t tell you until we see you.

How: Hell, ride with a Mountie if you need to. I don’t care, just find a way.

RSVP to abhi at sepiamutiny dot com

179,470 visitors in the past year (20,093 from Toronto alone). We know you are out there. Come for Canada.

Hey folks - A quick note to say thanks to the mutineers who came out last week for the first ever Las Vegas SM Meetup.

Our first target, V-Bar, turned out to be a bit too loud and over the top for my / our convention weary self. So, we grabbed a drink across the way at David Burke and hung out for a couple of hours….

In attendance -

• Chi_Diva - representing Chicago and new to the depravity that was Vegas.
• Arun - like a total Roca, he’d just flown in a few hours before but couldn’t let a meetup go by.
• Amit - An Old Skool friend whom I hadn’t seen in a few years and managed to get married and have a baby girl in the interim.
• Sandhya - who joined us at the beginning but was swiftly whisked away by coworkers who feared our swarthiness.
• Dale - Amit’s friend / co-worker there to keep the peace

It was good seeing you all and particularly impressive that you guys came out on such short notice. Chi_diva in particular gets props for suggesting the meetup in the first place…

Hey CTIA-ing mutineers - Just a quick note that it looks like our impromptu Las Vegas Meetup will be 1030pm - midnight, Wednesday night @ the V-Bar in the Venetian hotel.

No cover, no line, no list. And may I add, no pretension, snobbery or attitude. V Bar recently went where precious few clubs have gone before by celebrating its five-year anniversary. Many a Vegas nightspot’s lifespan can be clocked from grand opening to grand closing in mere months or in the time it takes to enjoy just one cocktail. But as with a fine wine, cheese or an unpaid parking ticket, this small bar has gained complexity over time.

Sounds perfect for a bunch of convention-weary mutineers

Hey folks - I’m shipping off to Las Vegas this week for the annual CTIA wireless show. As much as I hate trade shows, they are FANTASTIC at bringing together an interesting mix of people from all across the world (while we’re at it, I’m not a fan of Vegas either but it has grown on me a bit over the years).

Tech shows, in particular, tend to pile a LOT of desis together. In the past I’ve run into so many old friends & mutineers that I’ve had to explain to my coworkers that “yep, most desis really do know each other.” For ex., and on a somewhat sadder note, Sameer & his lovely wife Reena were a couple of those CTIA “regulars.”

This time around, I got a note from mutineer Chi_Diva that she was planning to hit CTIA as well so I figured we should get ahead of things and try to do the first ever Las Vegas SM meetup.

So, 3 questions for the mutiny -

1. Who else is gonna be there?
2. Given tradeshow chaos, and perhaps in grand Vegas tradition, I think our best bet is to try to do the meetup late Wednesday night, Apr 2 around 10 pm or so.
3. Anyone got a recommendation for a bar, ideally at a hotel in the middle of the strip, that we can meet up at?

Since we’re in Vegas, of course, we oughtta make sure this is the most Glam meetup ever .

In this edition:

1) I buzz the hive mind, about Jackson Heights
2) a cool event in DC next Friday, for a good cause
3) mentions of a NY meetup

::

I get a lot of different requests from you mutineers, and though I am usually not able to write back, I try to help whenever I can. I’ve also noticed that sometimes, I have a few things I’d like to bring up, but they don’t seem worthy of an entire post— asking what days might be good for a New York meetup, for example. So, every so often, I’m going to put up a post called Salmagundi [I like the word so much, it used to be an entire category on the right sidebar of my personal blog :)] and it will contain a few utterly unrelated but mutinous things. Either that, or I’ll use SM’s newly-created Twitter account to ask questions like the one below:

Dear Anna

I was wondering if you knew when Jackson Heights would be closed if they close at all? We are planning on coming to NYC for 2 days as my husband needs a visa. So I thought we would go to Jackson Heights when somebody mentioned that they were not sure but it may be closed on either Monday or Tuesday.

That’s a question from one of our faithful readers. I want to help, because next week is spring break and that’s when they want to go, but I don’t know the answer! I went to Jackson Heights a few times when I lived in NYC, but I never did anything useful, like pay attention. I usually bought pista kulfi on the street (blew my mind, every time…I could do this in America? Don’t hate, I grew up somewhere 98% pale), looked for Hema Malini DeeWeDees and then got back on the subway. So, what’s up Jackson Heights-area mutineers? When, if ever, does brown-town shut down?

::

Next chunk of stew-y goodness: A special event, NEXT WEEK (thanks, Kenyandesi) at the historic Bohemian Caverns in DC (now home to SubDrift), starring Cheb i Sabbah, someone I tend to associate with home (yay urrea).

Legendary DJ, producer and global electronica icon Cheb i Sabbah returns to DC for the first time in many years with his special blend of outernational beats and lush organic soundscapes at electroganic 001 on march 14 @ bohemian caverns!

Joining him on the decks will be one of San Francisco’s best DJs, Janaka Selekta, as well as DC’s own v:shal kanwar, mr. darko and julez.

Proceeds to benefit local women’s shelters through Race Against Domestic Violence…

That’s the Freer Gallery pictured above. Beautiful, nah? :) That is where I’ll be meeting some of you, in just over an hour! If you can’t make it there for the 2pm movie* we are going to watch, try and attend the second half of the meetup, which will occur at 5pm, at Vapiano restaurant (near the Caribou Coffee on M street which no one goes to). We’ll leave from the Smithsonian at around 4pm.

The movie is just under two hours, but I’m allowing an hour for metro-ing back to the unholy triangle, since it’s the weekend and recently, they’ve been doing more maintenance, so there could be slight delays.

Vapiano is veg-friendly, not pricey and a lot of fun. I went to the DCist photog/DC Flickr meetup there last week and it’s an excellent choice for such gatherings. :) We’ll be there from 5-7pm, though if past performance is an indication of anything, that could easily be something like 8 or 8:30. See some of you soon!

.

Achtung: if you’re interested in attending the whole meetup, and you want to watch the phillum with us, you must procure FREE tickets for the show, which are given out at 1pm.

Ennis wanted me to remind you that tomorrow night is the L.A. meetup.

I briefly toyed with the idea of not posting this, just because I like intercoastal chicken* and I’m hyper-competitive about everything. Then I realized that even if the L.A. meetup was dazzling, glorious and fornication-laden…it would still occur in Los Angeles ;)

Please take lots of pictures, the SM Flickr group has been woefully neglected, as has our Facebook album for the SM “group”. Really, you have no excuse, since you’re all going to have your cell phones with you and even the lamest o’ phones now takes pictures, hokay?

So.

Twenty-two hours from now.

Redwood Bar and Grill.

316 W. 2nd Street, Los Anjalis, 90012.

Got that?

.

*Why chicken? Well, it can’t be beef, because lots of desis don’t eat red meat. Can’t be pork, because lots of desis think it’s

…

gross

…you thought I was going to say “haram”, didn’t you? HA. Suckers.

UPDATE:  I just got off the phone with the Freer Gallery— they apologized profusely for sending us on a wild ticket-chase.  It is only possible to reserve "free" tickets for CONCERTS.  Never for films. They weren’t supposed to include the ticketmaster information with this listing.

The good news is, the official I spoke with said we should be fine IF we show up at 1pm for truly free tickets.  We are allowed two per person. He said that the Sri Lankan films generally don’t "sell-out", if such a thing can be said about free events. :)  The reason Born into Brothels did is because it won an Oscar.  Got that?  No reserving tickets— it’s not possible.  PLEASE GET THERE EARLY TO REQUEST FREE TICKETS AT 1PM, ONE HOUR BEFORE THE SHOW.

= = = =

After our left-coast counterparts paint the town Sepia on Saturday night, DC is going to get its culture on via our ninth meetup. Quality AND quantity…that’s how chocolate city do. ;)

First, we’ll head to the (Smithsonian) Freer Gallery, which is screening the Sri Lankan film “Against the Tide” in its Meyer Auditorium. Tickets are FREE. Once we’re spiritually nourished, we’ll head to Vapiano restaurant (1800 M Street N.W.), where we can drink wine, poach the free gummi bears or actually order Italian food (and the strawberries and cream, because it’s the best dessert there):

Vapiano is an innovative European concept serving made-to-order fire roasted pizzas, fresh, house-made pasta and hand tossed gourmet salads. [v]

The unique thing about Vapiano is that everyone who walks in gets a card, which tracks what you choose from the various salad, pasta, pizza, dessert/bar areas; when you leave, you return the card, they scan it, and voila— separate checks, no muss or fuss. :)

That’s an extra welcome concept considering what happened at our last meetup, at the underwhelming Nirvana. Three of you forgot to leave money before you left (though one of you realized this and apologized profusely and tried to make it right). That is the ONLY time that has EVER happened at a DC meetup, though, and all the remaining mutineers immediately chipped in and covered for you so I wouldn’t have to. See? Vapiano. Brilliant.

Okay, more to this post soon, but here are the barest details, so you can sharpie this in to your schedule:

Meet at 1 pm (that’s when they distribute the FREE tickets to the film).

See “Against the Tide” at 2pm.

Meet outside at around 4pm.

Take Metro to Vapiano (red/blue/orange lines) and eat. :)

Our meetup has been set - we’re meeting at the desi-owned Redwood Bar and Grill at 7PM on Saturday March 1st. It’s downtown, across the street from a metro station and it’s … pirate themed.

Arrrrr or Arre, you decide

I’ve heard left coasters talk a lot of smack about how the LA meetups are the biggest and best we ever hold, yadda yadda yadda. All I can say is: bring it. I’d love it if we could have the sort of turnout we saw in 2006, as in September 2006 and December 2006.

Here’s the location:

The Redwood Bar and Grill
316 W. 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Vinod, Taz and I will all be there, so there will be a lot of mutiny all in one room. I’m looking forward to meeting the best and brightest that the LA mutiny has to offer.

I will be travelling to the City of Angles (when you’re that skinny, the only curves are silicon) over leapday weekend, and thought a meetup would be in order, hosted by yours truly and Taz. I’ve heard stories about the LA meetups, so here’s your chance to show me that you can party better and harder than your brethren and sistren in NYC, DC, SF and Chicago. The meetup would most likely be on the westside, at a location TBA.

Please RSVP so we have a sense of how many people will be coming, and also suggest good venues. I’m not from LA, and Taz is hyper-busy with the election season and all, so while we’ll be there with bells on, we need your help in choosing a location and getting a head count.

UPDATE:

We’ll be meeting at 7PM @ the Redwood Bar and Grill

The Redwood Bar and Grill
316 W. 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Hello SF Mutineers, just a gentle reminder that the SF South Asian Film Festival kicks of today. Our movie + mini-meetup is tomorrow, Saturday, November 17.

The Movie -

2:00 pm, Saturday, November 17th, Castro Theater, San Francisco Admission: $10 Director: Manish Acharya Country: India (2007) Running Time: 88 mins, 35mm, Color Synopsis & Tickets

The Meetup - After the movie, a drink at Samovar Tea Lounge, just a couple blocks around the corner.

View Larger Map

With hazaar apologies to Information Society, Spock and everyone else who remembers 1988 (which is when I graduated from Junior High— I throw that in because one of you recently lamented that you were like, the oldest person? On, like, Sepia Mutiny? So put that in your Bengali and smoke it). Behold, an unforgivably mangled version of that unforgettable dance classic with the Star Trek sample (you know you had the 12”…don’t lie): What’s on Your Mind (Pure Energy)

Here I am in silence,
Looking round without a clue.
I find myself alone again
without input from you.
I see 89 comments
but there are things that I don’t know.
If you hide your thoughts from me,
How can our meetups grow?

I want to know
What you’re thinking.
There are some things we can’t hide.
I want to know
What you’re feeling.
Tell me what’s on your mind.

Hey folks - my notorious volume of biz travel continues & I’m going to be across the pond this week for a conference + some meetings in Central London.

Because one of the oft-repeated requests has been more meetups in more cities, I thought I’d post a shoutout and see if we had any readers over there to try and schedule a pub night or something.

Anyone up for drinks on Thursday night? Suggestions for locations?

I’m staying at a hotel off of Oxford street but know London pretty well and can travel just about anywhere.

Meetup starts in a few hours. Can’t wait and perhaps this time around, I’ll bring my camera.

Sunday, August 26	San Francisco
3pm — ??? Café Greco 423 Columbus Ave San Francisco, CA 94133 (415) 397-6261

I’ll try to stake out a claim to the “side room” @ Greco & we’ll use our numbers to reinforce our control over this strategic territory.

West-siiiiiiiide!

PS- some logistics info here.

After a very well attended meetup in NYC, the Meetup Road Tour makes its way to San Francisco this weekend.

Sunday, August 26	San Francisco
3pm — ??? Café Greco (A N N A’s favorite!) 423 Columbus Ave San Francisco, CA 94133 (415) 397-6261

Parking’s a pain in North Beach but, Brimful (bless her soul) pointed out a nearby parking garage for the folks driving in. Other places to find a spot include the many garages in Union Square and / or street parking in SOMA / Fin District. From there, it’s easy to walk / taxi / cable car it over. It ain’t that far.

Incorporating some cues / feedback from NYC, we’re going to experiment a bit with the format of the SF meetup…

Those who are persistent eventually defeat even the steeliest resolve to procrastinate. I keed. DC’s last meetup was massive and most definitely fun. We descended upon Amma like a Mongol horde, pillaging every bit of delicious Southie food we spied. Oh, wait…the Mongols ate North Indian foo-…never mind.

Amma made like old skool Vanessa and went and saved the best for last— even though he wasn’t there, YoDad arranged dessert for everyone at the meetup. We gobbled gulab jamuns, much to our collective surprise and delight, thanks to his thoughtful planning. New York may have the cool factor, SF may be hipster heaven, but DC has Abhi’s father, a.k.a. the Grandfather of the Mutiny. Take THAT, other cities!

And now, the moment one of you named No Desh has been waiting for: tabla roll, please…the Flickr photoset for D.C.’s seventh meetup has been hurriedly finished (i.e. the pics were split between two cameras, and for the last 20 mins, I was frantically DLing two dozen files, only to immediately upload them to the “official album”).

All evidence which could destroy potential Senate campaigns is available for your amusement via this “public” link. Aw, come on, people…it’s only six weeks late. Unless you’re a girl and in college, that’s never a huge problem. ;)

SM Meetups in DC— hot like your Amma’s meen kari, ya heard?

A gentle reminder that the Eastside leg of the Mutineer Road Tour is this Saturday, Aug 18 in NYC. Come one, come all - lurkers, commentors, straight, gay, white, brown, yellow, purple, macaca, married, single, polygamous, polyamorous, uptown, downtown, lovers, haters, and all in between.

Festivities start a tad on the early side (5pm) so you have time to visit the meetup and duck out for dinner if you don’t want your RealLife friends to know about your Real friends.

Saturday, August 18	New York City
5pm - ??? Verlaine 110 Rivington St (b/t Essex & Ludlow) (212) 614-2494 Special Bonus - this meetup will be co-sponsored by our good friends at Ultrabrown.

And for those who can’t make it to NYC, hopefully we’ll see you in SF next weekend…

It’s been way too long since we’ve done meetups in two of the most desi-licious cities in the US. So, mutineer A N N A and I have joined forces to coordinate our travel scheds and bring you the Sepia Mutiny Summer Road Tour - a back to back meetups in NYC & SF.

The following dates & places are still tentative but we wanted to pass y’all the heads up ASAP -

Sunday, August 26	San Francisco
3pm — ??? Café Greco (A N N A’s favorite!) 423 Columbus Ave San Francisco, CA 94133 (415) 397-6261 [Last one in SF? Sept ‘06]

You’d better believe that we’ll do our part to Help Vinay & Sameer at the meetups. Special prizes to anyone else who manages to attend *both* meetups. And, as usual, we’ll do our best to document the depravity in our flickr group.

[Instead of Saturday at noon, the meetup will be on SUNDAY at 12:30. It is still at Amma. Please be noting date and time change— thanks. :)]

But first, a rushed write-up of what went down last time:

• Icebreaker: The battle of the Jessicas- who is hotter, Alba or Biel? There were two poultry-submitted abstentions.
• Adorable Munish changed his vote when he realized he was, in fact, supporting an Alumna of Seventh Heaven: “I thought you meant the woman from Flashdance!”
• Once we started playing, “Who has the tiniest apt” after one of you suggested having meetups in our homes, Jay said we should have used THAT as the icebreaker—“Hi, I’m ___ and I have 400 sq ft!”
• It was the reverse of our college years— Southies Reprazent!
• There was a minor TamBrahm crisis when we discovered that Amma had run out of vada, for the first time in nine years.
• I was smacked. Thrice. By our waiter. You can’t put a price on that kind of abuse.
• Two of the above three spankings occurred as THIRTEEN more people than the sixteen we expected showed.
• Once we ran out of table space: “Start sitting on laps. Sigh. I guess I’ll begin.” Plop.
• What is UP with the lack of RSVPing, meetup-crashers: “This isn’t a wedding, people!”
• Murthy’s Law: Next time, we should reserve the entire restaurant. That way no one will show.
• We actually had to turn people away, for lack of space. :(
• Can’t make it to the bathroom to wash your hands? Use the “Indian Faucet” a.k.a. a poorly-approximated finger bowl via drinking glass
• Subcontinental Drift (we love you!)‘s MySpace page might induce seizures.
• Me to Jay (of the blog Weaselplasty) “All our friends are apparently stand-up comics (and they performed at SD)”
• Said one, “Tortoise porn is available on YouTube.” Said the Terp, all dismissively, “I know about THAT”, as the rest of us exhibited the proper reaction to that statement, which is shock and horror.
• One attendee confessed that while this meetup was fabulous, they had “hobbit envy” about Houston.
• Library Science: it gets no respect
• Second Best line of the meetup: “Why are men always giving me money and then leaving?”
• A Tamil girl who was raised in Bombay tried to reconcile her identities by saying…she was like a “paneer dosa”
• Paneer Dosa has said she will be at the June meetup; that way you can mock her for her metaphor in person! ;)
• I ordered two Salt Lassis and four Madras Kappis.  I received ONE Madras Kappi.
• Lemon Rice for me, dosas for EVERYONE ELSE
• Best line of the meetup: “Your picture on Shaadi.com was so much better!”
• More on Sunny Leone and the greatness of snuff films.
• Despite our most obnoxious attempts to be porntastic in order to clear the restaurant, so more of us could be seated, the packed place wasn’t bothered at all by our antics. Contrast this with Heritage India, where we sent them screaming out the door. It would appear that South Indian families are immune to our offensiveness. :)

Now, after reading the merriment-filled minutes of our last meetup, who feels like getting together again for more? :) I’m craving dosa and you, well, after I published this post, I learned that you are ALL craving dosa, ALL the time.

WHERE: Amma’s Vegetarian Kitchen, 3291 M St. NW, Washington, DC 20007, 202-625-6625

WHEN: SUNDAY, JULY 1. 12:30 PM.

WHY: Because you nosy little monkeys want to pepper me for non-existant gossip about the Mutiny.

Think of it as a post-Subcontinental Drift “survivors’ brunch”. Kill your hangover with Madras Kappi and Rasam! :D

::

As for New York…Maybe mid-late July? :)

::

San Francisco? End of August, we’ll keep you posted.

A big thanks to everyone (~20 people) that made it out to the first southern meet-up (Texas-sized) that Sepia Mutiny has had. I kid you not, a few readers drove in from Austin (2.5 hours drive) and San Antonio (3 hours drive). The weather was as absolutely perfect as it ever gets in Houston (we sat outside) and the Hobbit Cafe had great beer that kept coming (as you’d expect in The Shire). The official meet-up lasted until 9 p.m. but the unofficial meet-up went well past 1 a.m. It might be a couple more months until the next Texas meet-up, but it will either be in Austin or at the SM Bureau Offices in Houston. Hope to see some more of you next time.

Actually, it’s less than three days away, but who is being pedantic…not me, especially not when there is gluttonous dosa and vada consumption to anticipate in my near future.

D.C.’s sixth meetup will occur this Saturday at Amma’s Vegetarian, in Georgetown at 1 o’clock isharp. Since none of you read that, I’ll restate it, this time with formatting:

WHERE: Amma’s Vegetarian Kitchen, 3291 M St. NW, Washington, DC 20007, 202-625-6625

WHEN: Saturday, 1pm

WHY: Because you asked for it!

Lakshmi, MuraliMannered, Ashu, Arun, Coffeeface, Portmanteau, Sriram and at least three others have all tentatively RSVP’d— what about you? For all of you who are thinking, “There’s always next time”, don’t. There may not be. Besides, brunch this weekend sounds enticing, doesn’t it? Yum. Carpe dosa!

I’m a little nervous about hosting my first meet-up solo. So far every meet-up I’ve attended has been co-hosted by Anna or Taz (who are far better organizers and bring name tags). I think my fear is that at the meet-up I will be expected to give a speech like William Wallace did right before he yelled FREEDOM! I can’t be expected to sound mutinous on demand. In truth, we don’t really talk much about Sepia Mutiny at meet-ups. We do share good eats, merry drinks, and take scandalous pictures (none of which shall ever see the light of day) with good peoples. All bloggers, commenters, and lurkers (and friends of the three-aforementioned groups) are welcome. The meet-up details have finally solidified and it is time for Texas to represent.

Where: Hobbit Cafe

When: Sat, May 19th @ 6.p.m.

PLEASE RSVP BY THURSDAY SO I CAN MAKE ACCURATE RESERVATIONS:

abhi [at] sepiamutiny dot com

The reason for meeting relatively early in the evening is so those that want to (count me in) can move on to a second venue to continue the good times in a less “Shire-like” environment. Perhaps something more like the dive bar at the “Inn of the Prancing Pony.”

Now, the real question is have I scared people away by all my Lord of the Rings allusions?

…because one date or the other, it’s going to happen. In solidarity with the twangier mutineers who are going to paint the dirty dirty all Sepia and whatnot, DC will be hosting its sixth meetup on the very same weekend. If you missed the last one, you are lucky because that means you didn’t laugh so hard that you wet your pants a little and really, who wants to smell like soo-soo? That’s a trick question; you TOTALLY do. I’m practicing my Sunny Leone-impersonation right now, just so I can treat everyone, new and old, brown and white, pre-pubescent and post-pubescent to the goodness of PORN.

You have the choice of Saturday, May 19th or Sunday, May 20th. If it’s the former, we’ll probably do thayir sadham and sambar vada (and MADRAS COFFEE!) at Amma’s; if it’s the latter, brunch at Heritage sounds nice enough to do thrice. Unfortunately, Heritage India only does brunch on Sunday or we’d be contemplating just one venue and two dates.

I’m open to other suggestions beyond Amma, but if you hate on that venerable font of Malayalee goodness, when I give you your inappropriate hug at the meetup, I’ll cut you. So be nice. And just so you know— I stick with these two places not because of the food, but because they are the most indulgent of rowdy-kundi’d mutineers and they have always treated us so graciously.

You may not realize it when you’re sitting there, giddy from giggling and happily making new friends, but doing so would be much more challenging and far less fabulous if we were constantly getting interrupted or badgered to shut up or, well, leave. After hosting nearly a dozen of these in three different cities, I can truly appreciate how special such a chill attitude towards us is (ahem…La Lanterna in NYC) and I want all of you to stuff your pretty faces and be worry-free…that’s how these six-hour marathon conversations work best.

So, vote for your preference in the comments below. 12:30 pm on either May 19th or May 20th (or much later on a Saturday), what do you-all say?

Question: What is hotter than the Rodeo?

Answer: The first ever Houston, TX meet-up!

When: Friday, May 18th or Saturday, May 19th (TBD)

Where: Suggestions welcome

Who: Texas boasts the third highest concentration of Sepia Mutiny readers in the world after 1) California and 2) New York. I expect y’all to represent.

Why: Because you should never underestimate the South’s mutinous potential

This is the first time I am ever hosting a meetup alone. I have always had either Anna or Taz co-host with me. Sepia Mutiny’s Houston Bureau Offices have been up and running now for four months so it is time for the bureau chief to cease with his shut-in ways. Commenters, lurkers, randoms, all welcome. And remember…everything is bigger in Texas.

Check back at this post and our Events Tab for the final date and location. I will post another reminder a few days before.

Each player, of course, matters in every match. Jayasuriya is the most-capped one-day cricketer in history, a flamboyant opening batsman whose fearless stroke play can give an innings unstoppable momentum, and a useful spin-bowler as well. Vaas is the master of new-ball bowling who can destroy an opponent’s innings almost before they start. Murali is the unorthodox wizard of spin who bamboozles the most gifted, in-form batsmen.

Their importance on Saturday also rests on their presence in a match played 11 years ago: They are the three survivors of the team that beat Australia in the 1996 World Cup final in Lahore, Pakistan.Link

When: Tomorrow, 4/28, at 12:30

Where: Eight Mile Creek, NYC

Why: To watch SRI LANKA KICK ASS!!

The game starts around 9am EST, and a Sri Lankan crew will be there, holding it down, if you don’t want to miss a minute.

FYI: Eight Mile Creek is an expat Australian bar/restaurant, so we’re taking the meetup into enemy turf. Should be a screaming, cheering, hair-raising good time. Come ready to show your colors!

Sixteen of you showed up to one decadent brunch at Heritage India in Dupont on Sunday afternoon; afterwards, most of us meandered over to the Cosi across Connecticut Avenue because we couldn’t bear to stop listening to and laughing with each other. What a FANTASTIC meetup (click the picture above to enlarge it, if you’d like proof of that). DC’s fifth was easily its best and that’s saying a LOT.

That makes what I have to type next even worse. I know. You mutineers are disappointed in my lack of prompt meetup writingup; if it is any consolation, you can’t possibly be as irritated as the actual attendees, some of whom came all the way from New Jersey and Florida, all of whom watched me type furtively and furiously, only to later wonder, “WTF?” as references to one of the BEST events we’ve ever hosted in any city popped up on my diary blog and my ancient fotolog. Will you reduce the number of spankings I deserve if I point out that I flickr’d the album of photographs from the meetup that same night? All 72 of them? No? Damn.

Well, here’s the cringe-inducing story, morning glories. I am an idiot. I am so used to Microsoft word saving, checking and wiping my kundi for me that I have become ridiculously lazy. I no longer do any of the above on my own (okay fine, maybe I do one of them) because I just assume it will all be taken care of…and by assuming…oh, how I’ve made an ass out of you and me. Or maybe just me.

I lost everything, because I no longer HAVE MS Word on my uber-adored iBook. I have whatever no-nonsense word-processing crap it comes with…and while it worked just dandy for my purposes, it taught me a very expensive lesson by not spoiling me via auto-save. Le sigh. If only I had been able to get online to liveblog all the mischievous merrymaking…

I’m not exaggerating— this was one of the funniest seven-hour conversations this website has ever inspired and it’s awful you won’t get to read any of it.

Here’s an example of what went down:

PORN!

This still reduces me to giggles. Ok, I’m going to summarize for the benefit of the poor people who were unable to share in the joy that was Sunday’s DC Meetup. Be warned, the following description is NSFW or children.

At a certain point in the conversation, our beloved ANNA decides to STAND UP and wax eloquent about this great new reality show she’s discovered…”Debbie Does Dallas Again.” She relates this great moment wherein our favorite brown porn star, Sunny Leone, is seeking career advice FROM HER BROTHER, and actually begins to mimic a certain act. “Should I start doing boy-girl?” our Anna yells, “because if I do, it’ll mean I have to do double-penetration,” and here she pantomimes with her hands…um…well…fellatio and spelunking the small hole, if you will. One hand forward, one hand back, so to speak.

Now, this wouldn’t be so bad if we’d had the restaurant to ourselves, which we did right up until roughly that moment. But fortuitously, a largish gaggle of desis wandered in at JUST THAT POINT, children in tow. While the parents were discussing whether to park themselves at a table, two or three 8-to-10-year old boys walked to the door, then froze there, utterly stunned, mouth agape, transfixed by Anna’s enthusiastic rendering of her new favorite TV show.

This led some of us to comment that Anna had more-or-less kick-started puberty in a few kids that day, and that there would be some interesting Q&A sessions with the parents in the Accord / Camry on the way home that night. “Mommy, I feel funny…in my pants.”

I still get the giggles when I think of the total expressionless intent stare on the faces of those kids while watching you, AJ. Pure gold!

We’ve had some rough times in the bunker…when Manish and Vinod first broke up…when Ennis was told he couldn’t smuggle anymore adoring groupies in and pass them off as interns…when Manish and Vinod broke up again…when the lemurs went on strike to protest the lack of parties…when one of our guest bloggers developed a very rare allergic reaction to…ah, never mind.

My point is, what we faced before were minor challenges; this has been a rather difficult week, as we confronted far more sobering matters, which affected us all. This week, we dealt with real pain, as tragedy reminded us of how fleeting life actually is. Such “big news” always means more traffic, which means more moderating and more possibilities for this or worse, this.

So, I’m a little down right now and I know many of you are, too. This is what I propose to lift our sepia spirits: an eleventh-hour sort of meetup at reliable and hospitable Heritage India this weekend. Perhaps what this community needs is…more community. Let’s bond, y’all! You know you want to. All are welcome: trolls, lurkers, smurfs and elves included. Vogons, however, will not be tolerated, since it’s highly possible that they might be feeling poetic and no one deserves that.

We can do brunch like we did the first time we were there, at the third DC Meetup or we can have dinner like we did the last time we were there, at the fourth DC meetup which was also our first-ever SM Channukah extravaganza. No, that wasn’t convoluted at all. ;) The more significant issue is that we haven’t met up in FOUR MONTHS.

Dinner on Saturday, April 21 at 8ish

or

Brunch on Sunday, April 22 at Noonish it is!

Either way, I feel like it is an apposite time to revisit Heritage; I’ve had a sad sort of craving for Golgoppas and I’d like to sate that, in memory of someone else who loved them.

FYI: Heritage is Metro accessible (Red line).

Heritage India Brasserie
1337 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 331-1114

As of Wednesday SM will be closing down its L.A. offices. But…not before we had a rockin’ meetup in a den of vice.

As usual, the West Coast represented the best. We had at least 40 people show up including Sunny of our British cousin Pickled Politics. You can see all of the (non-censored) pictures here. That isn’t a pink shirt I am wearing in the photoset by the way. It is Sepia. And if you think it’s ugly, too bad…because the rest of my clothes are in boxes. To all the bloggers, commenters, lurkers, people who we’ve blogged about, and groupie that showed up, thanks for making LA such a great city to live in (except for the traffic)! Keep representing. West siiiidddeee.

“This is Rasika, who were you holding for…”

“Hi, my name is Anna— I had reservations for this Saturday which I was just discussing with—”

“Ah yes, for 10:30 pm.”

“Well, I was told that it would be closer to ten and that we could do drinks in the lounge for an hour before.”

“A group of ten? You may try, but I don’t think that will be possible—”

“But the hostess just suggested that very course of action, since the lounge empties around then—”

“I can’t hold any tables in the lounge for your party.”

“I didn’t ask you to, I’m sure we’ll be fine there, at that hour.”

“No, I don’t think so, I’m sorry.”

“What do you mean ‘no’?”

“It’s a Saturday evening, it will be very busy, very full.”

“Okay…FINE. I guess we’ll try our luck and just look forward to dinner, which again, I thought was at ten.”

“Madame, I will have to push two tables together. It will take time. I cannot seat you until 10:30, I have to use two tables.”

“Oh…well, would it help if it was just a party of eight? Some of my RSVPs weren’t firm…”

“Is it a party of ten or a party of eight?”

Before any of you mutiny-lovin’ right-coasters befoul the L.A. Meetup thread under Abhi’s last post with questions about D.C. events, I thought I’d create a separate and more relevant space for my fellow chocolatiers. If, however, you are befouling the L.A. meetup thread by saying something less than sweet about my least favorite city, foul away with my Northern California-bred blessings. ;) I keed, I keed.

Anyway, Channukah is almost here and that obviously means it’s time to wear desi clothes to a meetup!

Iron that kanjeevaram, dig up your favorite lengha and find that sherwani your cousin made you buy for his wedding, which you didn’t think you’d get to use again. This is the Mutiny’s first holiday party and I want you to glitter as much as the fantastic setting.

Can you picture it? Sepia lovelies in silk, the chime of bangles as crystal flutes are raised and the food…my goodness, you should come, just to try the bhindi and the saag. At YoDad’s request, Msichana showed up to the last DC meetup looking luminous in a sari which fought the sunset for that night’s “Best use of Pinks and Purples”-award, so you may thank her for inspiring this request for your best dress. How down are you with looking brown? :)[linkery]

A month ago, I asked you to save December 16th on your cluttered social calendars and several of you kindly did so. Now I need a final head count so that I can either make reservations or find a different venue— I’m sad to report that I’m having some issues with the luscious, gorgeous Rasika. But, depending on how many of you RSVP, those issues might be moot so hop to it my little bunnies. I need a number and I need it soon!

The time and venue has been set. You have my personal assurance that this might not be the best, but definitely has the potential to be the most scandalous SM meet-up EVER. The last L.A. meet-up was planned by Taz and was a great success (and quite wholesome). This time around…well, I’m in charge. Since we are closing down SM’s Los Angeles Bureau within 10 days, this is a “can’t miss” event.

Who: Bloggers, readers, commenters, lurkers, and…groupies

Where: Nirvana Lounge in Beverly Hills

When: Friday Dec. 15th at 8p.m.

So what does this venue have to offer that isn’t evident from the picture I provide above? I’m telling you, this place has mangoes and peacocks all over the joint (not to mention an enormous Buddha head in the back there). It also provides us with three levels of gastronomical service:

* FOREPLAY
* LOSS OF INNOCENCE
* SENSUOUS PLEASURES

Social life: Macaques troops average 20 with many males and females. Separate troops may sometimes join to form temporary groups of more than 100. All members in the troop have a well-defined rank. In many, the rank is inherited from the mother. … Females form the permanent core of the group, while males transfer from among groups at least once in their lives, usually before they breed. They are fierce primates and will offer stout resistance to potential predators. [Link]

Your final friendly reminder for the NYC meet-up.

A gentle reminder that the NYC Mutiny Meetup is this SATURDAY at Epistrophy Cafe. I believe it will be Siddhartha’s first meetup and probably number 4 or 5 for me. Macaca’s far & wide, commenters & lurkers, bloggers & illiterate are all welcome to attend.

Based on the comments to the original announcement post, this one’s got potential to hit new heights of attendance. I’d give it even money that we’ll beat out September’s record-breaking LA meetup.

In contrast to the Desi fast food joints we’ve hit for past NYC meetups, Epistrophy is a wine bar. Siddhartha will be the honorary sommelier for the evening and I’ll be tossing my hat into the ring should the subject of California reds hit the fore.

Because of other evening engagements, we’re “officially” scheduling this one a tad on the early side at 5-7pm. So, you should be able to stop by without tipping off your cool crew that you met your other, ‘real’ friends on a blog. Of course, if prior NYC meetups are any indication, there’s likely to be a good sized group lingering till the wee hours engaged in senseless acts of debauchery.

You know, for a meetup which I invited you macacas to with thismuch notice, DC’s third attempt at getting mutinous was as satisfying as the results to a certain Senatorial race, which we toasted by the way, since that was the reason for the season.

Eight of us destroyed the buffet at Heritage India, while discussing everything from breaking gossip (“Wait— HOW did that macaca get his JOB???”) to female infanticide in Punjab (“No, it’s not just a problem for the lower classes…educated people do it, too.”) to who knew a jew (“Have you SEEN the synagogue in Cochin???”). Care to gnash your teeth enviously because of what you missed? Find an entire album of awesome on my Flickr.

Commenter “Vivo” gets a special award for putting up with my non-stop derision after he accidentally made noises which sounded vaguely anti-Kerala (“Ah,” you’re thinking…”NOW these comments make sense”). Kindly be noting that I did not apologize for carrying him relentlessly— I mean, he totally deserved that. I can appreciate his thick skin without relinquishing my right to thenga-flavored chauvinism. ;)

Lurker Leo also deserves massive love for coming to the meetup, since he lives in Raleigh. He and his friend, the unexpected guest star (of David) of brunch both said farewell to me in the middle of Connecticut Avenue while everyone else left for Cosi, since we had closed out Heritage India. I hope they had a safe trip home. :) Did I mention one of them was JEWISH??? :D

Oh, that reminds me— while everyone else dodged raindrops and bitter cold by running in to s’mores central, DTK chivalrously waited for me as I hugged the North Carolinians farewell. Isn’t he the sweet? I must say, though my man-harem was filled with brilliant, witty, bewitching (bewarlocking?) goodness, nothing makes a girl feel funny in the tummy like a seemingly insignificant gesture like THAT. ;)

Inside Cosi, things REALLY got crazy, as you can see from the picture above. :) It certainly didn’t hurt that three hilarious, very cute girls had joined us after brunch, two of whom were Kenyandesi and Barmaid. Jealous much? You should be. :) I felt like a kid in a conversational candy store— everyone was saying something fascinating and I almost got dizzy from trying to follow all the fast and furious banter.

Eight people are here at Heritage India and I’m thrilled to report that I’m the only girl…FINALLY, I have my man-harem! :D

Rollcall: Sriram, Prashant, Vivo, Salil, “context-specific” and his friend, DTK…and ME!

I told the story of the birth of the Mutiny…again. This meetup tradition continues.

WE HAVE AN INDIAN JEW AT THE MEETUP!!! I’ve always wanted to meet one (aside from the Baghdadi Jew from Kolkota I met once…who wasn’t very Indian).

Salil’s honeymoon story: the ONLY time the “slippery slope” argument was actually true!

I’m so sorry that I’ve been Arular lately, but I promise that New York (as much as I adore it) won’t be the only Sepia city to get mutinous, especially after the glee-inducing events of this past week. I mean…come on…this victory was all about chocolate, not apples. ;) Besides, I won’t be able to attend the New York meetup and I want to celebrate just as much as Siddhartha and Vinod do.

I was originally going to propose something different: a meetup/workshop hybrid which would oocur at some cafe as we wrote and read 55s…sort of a mash-up of the Kahani writing gatherings I used to host and our regular SM melas. But, I think that after Tuesday’s triumph of relatively-good over the most-fumbled-cammpaign ever, zimbly hanging out and laughing our kundis off (which we did at the last DC meetup, pictured left) might be a more apposite goal.

So, while I don’t mind getting together Saturday night for potentially scandalous debauchery (especially if it ends in the wee hours with cheese-veggie-burgers at Fuddruckers), I’m wondering if Sunday afternoon will work for more of you?

How about brunch at Heritage India Dupont, on Sunday at 1pm?

Heritage India is near the blue/orange/red lines and it’s bang in the middle of everything, so if we’re having fun, we can sluggishly waddle off somewhere else after being sated by the best ma ki dal in DC. Brunch is served until 2:30pm, so IST can be slightly accomodated. :) RSVP in the comments below, so I can make reservations tomorrow, y’heard?

:+:

If you can’t eat the cutest aloo tikki EVER with us at Heritage this weekend (trust me, the presentation always delights), consider partying with us a month from now, during Sepia Mutiny’s first-ever Hanukkah meetup, on December 16. This could be the meetup to trump all meetups because…

The rumors are true kids, and we have pictures to prove it (need to join as member to view pix). To quote Vinod, last night was "the BEST Sepia Mutiny Meetup EVER!"

GujuDude and his macaca

The quick run down- the place was hip, the people that came were cool, the drama kept at a minimum and the party was a great success. It started at happy hour time, and went late into the wee morning as 15 of us broke bread together at The Pantry at 1am. As you can see from the pictures, everyone was smiling and having a great time. Big ups to all the mutinous (I'd guess we had a posse of 50 throughout the night) that came: Abhi, Vinod, Sumit, Karthik, Rumi, Builder, Vinod (x2), Hanish, GujuDude (+1), Prashant, Lata, Payal, Ravi the lurker, Amar, Gaurav, Pawan, Sharat, Sachin, Rajan, Lavanya, Arun, Deep, Shivani, 1 /26, Satish, Thomas Kurma, Shruti, Dimpal, Vivek, Anu, Ami, Mad Guru, - and all those others that didn't sign in!

What exactly happened that made it so kick ass?

Though it started at 7pm, people were naturally on IST time. As people joined the mutiny, they had a sepia rakhi tied to their wrist to let them know they were now a 'part of the mutiny.' People slowly filtered in, and folks hesitantly approached our table of brown folks. We then loosened folks up (or was it the alcohol?) with an icebreaker. The icebreaker was to a list SM handles that people had to match with real names and on the flip the Sepia Mutiny Trivia (after the jump). First to answer all corrrectly was GujuDude and his prize, as you can see from the picture, was a toy macaca.

Reservations have been made. Guest list has been compiled. Goodie bags are in the works. Ms. Pac Man practice games polished. We are prepared for the sequel...

Now, the Golden Gopher isn't your typical bar, and as a non-drinker, it is my favorite Los Angeles bar for two reasons. The best jukebox in town, and they have tabletop Ms. Pac Man scattered throughout.

With that being said, we ask for everyone who is 'up for it' to bring rolls of quarters in their pockets for the first ever Mutinous Ms. Pac Man Challenge! Abhi claims he's the best, I claim to be better, and we both challenge the L.A. mutiny to a death match of Ms Pac Man.

Last night, I held a meetup of my own at Enoteca Viansa (yes, Kingsley darling, you can totally say it…it’s not like it’s Malayalam or something difficult). Fortunately for me, a few of my closest wessside friends indulged my greedy desire for their Thursday evening— if it wasn’t clear to them before, I now heart Salil/Jay/SJM, MP, Kingsley and of course, mutineer Vinod even more. Viansa makes my favorite non-cab red ever, so I’ve always wanted to check out their somewhat random Napa-esque tasting room in the city; a refined time was had by all and at no point were the words “sodomy”, “that skank who cheated on you”, “dry hump” or “back channel communication” uttered, though there was some mention of “the futility experiment”, which was M’s kind way of characterizing my prospects for reproductive success. We poured some out for my forlorn alleles and then called it a night. Don’t fret, I wasn’t two-timing you…it was a pre-meetup before tomorrow’s hotness, if you will.

Speaking of 20+ hours from now, we will not be swirling or checking out the legs on anything other than shorts/miniskirt-clad mutineers— we’re meeting at Greco, which is good for espresso, not dolcettos.

Just down the street from that obnoxious Pimps of Rome spot, Greco has Razib’s AND my seal of approval. Do explore it for yourselves, so that we may fatten the Sepia Flickr group and make merry in North Beach on a Saturday afternoon. See you at 4pm, you back-channel-loving perverts (I can totally say that, because Salil, Vinod and I are going to be there).

NB: Not to spook or guilt you or anything, but this may be a certain mutineer’s last appearance at a meetup… :o

When: Saturday, September 4pm
Who: You
Where: 423 Columbus Ave

Seems like everyone else got one. DC got one a couple of weeks ago. Even the Bay Area is getting one this weekend. Except for us. What about us? It's been months since our last one. It was all I needed to make my summer vacation the best summer vacation ever.

Well as Sepia Mutiny Temporary Super Star, I'm here to change things around.

You KNOW you just want to go to a meetup with us. Come on, all the cool mutineers are doing it...

It's time for the Sepia Mutiny Los Angeles End-Of-Summer-Blowout MEET UP!

YAY!

I can hardly wait. Unlike L.A.'s last meetup, we are going to shift things around. It will be evening-ish (7:00 pm). And it will be at a Bar. Being the electoral advocate that I am, I will let the Los Angeles Bloggers/Commenters/Lurkers have a couple of votes:

1.) Friday, September 15th or Saturday, September 16th?

2.) Someplace downtown (Golden Gopher) or on the westside (Palomino Euro Bistro)?

Please RSVP and vote in the comment section what day would be best for you, and which "side" you prefer. My personal vote is for Friday night at Golden Gopher. But I'm willing to compromise, especially if it means that one of the following folks can come: Abhi, Shruti, Janani, VMN Rao, Ami, Rajan, Ani, Payal, Anjali, Vivek, Mad Guru, Arun, Rohit, Rahul, and Lata. And of course, I'm sure there are plenty more Los Angeles readers that I've left off who are of course, strongly urged to make an appearance.

There will be a prize for the mutineer With the Longest Drive to come to the meetup- is anyone coming from The OC or The Valley? Prizes will be also be distributed for Best Dressed and Funniest Macaca Joke- it'll be like our own mutinous awards ceremony- tis the season afterall. I'll tantalize you even further because, just like the at the Emmys, no one will turn away from our event without an infamous goody bag. We're going to have to tax you on that though. Come on now, how can you pass up on coming to a meetup like that?

Yup, that's what I thought. We'll be seeing YOU at the Los Angeles End-Of-Summer-Blowout Meetup!

A few weeks ago, I put up a monster meetup post outlining social possibilities for my three cities: NY, DC and SF. New York’s Summerstage meetup (soundtrack provided by Talvin Singh…sort of) was epic, DC’s was private and fabulous and San Francisco…um…gosh, this is awkward. It’s not you, it’s me. ;) Two out of three ain’t bad…

Here’s the story, morning glories: originally, I was supposed to be in Baghdad-by-the-bay for the entire beginning of September, from the first through the tenth. We planned a meetup on the 9th and it was good. Unfortunately, we may have to rethink that thought. I landed in heaven Northern California at 11pm yesterday and I’m leaving on Tuesday. Which means that on the 9th, I’ll be in DC, probably at work. We have two options:

1) Meet tomorrow evening (spontaneous! edgy! unpredictable! fun!), since I will be in the city all day.

2) Meet sometime this weekend, i.e. Saturday or Sunday. I had assumed that all of you international bright young things would be out of town because of the holiday, but I’ve heard from a few of you (coincidentally, all my favorite peeps) that I am quite wrong, that you WILL in fact be right here in the bay. Goody!

What do you want to do? Pipe up or forever hold your mattar.

Oh, and because I feel terrible about this calendar cluster #>@%, I’m letting you see a picture which was taken a few days before the LAST SF meetup I hosted; it was never supposed to go public, since it shows two mutineers wackily impersonating an uncle and an auntie…well, that and it’s someone’s proof. Peek the illicit photo after the jump. ;)

Who told the clock to spin away time so quickly? One minute I’m grabbing Nina Paley’s kundi in Central Park while grinning shamelessly for the Parsirazzi, the next thing I know, we’re less than three days from the SECOND chocolate city meetup, ever!

We haven’t solidified exactly when we will meet at Amma’s wegetarian or if we will do so pre- or post-debauchery, but that’s what this post’s comment section is for, so hop to it, my little brown bunnies. ;) I can’t remember which of you I’ve spoken to about this, but so far most conversations include the words: drinking, Sequoia, afternoon, waterfront, summer, drinking and “great lighting”. We can all meet at 6pm, toast the mutiny, take pictures and then stroll up to Amma’s by 8pm, where we will eat like panthis and take even more pictures.

So, RSVP below if you are up to joining me, our favorite Barmaid, duologist Sriram and his sister (I think Saturday is her birthday!), Mayur, Kenyandesi and yes, potentially YO DAD in Georgetown for some vada, masala dosa and peppery rasam. Mmmm, South Indian food (that picture is of the actual receipt from the first DC meetup!): you, too, can have plenty but I need to know how many to reserve a table for, so holla. SOON. Last time, we had a mutinously good time— I think you’d regret it if you didn’t hang out with us on Saturday. No pressure, or anything. ;)

Oy, it is already Tuesday the 8th, which means that the NYCSM meetup is merely days away. There is much to plot and despite what a few of you have commented to me privately, I do NOT think that whatever we have come up with thus far is either “complicated” or, ahem, “a mess”. ;) Really, since those of you who raised such concerns are NEW YORKERS, if you would like to throw in your randa paise, FEEL FREE. It’s your time to shine.

To refresh your drinks memories, the meetup is occurring this Sunday because Talvin Singh, Asha Puthli and a few other amazing types are performing for FREE at Summerstage, in Central Park. The show is from 3-7pm but “doors” open at 1:30; that is when a few hyper-dedicated souls have offered to mark our territory stake out a prime spot in the shade, slightly away from all the craziness. I would just like to state here that as a quondam sunbather (UC Davis quad…holla if ya hear me), I am abiding by this arrangement because I want to hang out with as many of you as possible; I am in no way buying in to Ignorant Auntie and Cruel Auntie’s bakwas about how if I let myself get a tenth-of-a-shade-darker, no boy will EVER look my way and I will die alone, my corpse half-devoured by wild dogs (yes, that last bit is from a much-loved film…but sadly, S + C Auntie are NOT similarly fictional). I reject all of this colorist stupidity. ;) However, I wholly support a pleasant day spent getting faded in mutinous company.

Here is what we need to know, somewhat urgently:

• WHO is coming on Sunday? This directly affects…
• WHAT to bring, as well as how much of it.

Once we sort all of that out, memorize this: sadly, we have decided NOT to rendezvous at the bar around two. Instead, please meet us at 1:30pm at the park entrance at 72nd and 5th. The sooner you arrive, the sooner we can meander over to one hell of a picnic. Throwing the keys to Lil Cease is probably not necessary since they won’t allow us to bring alchohol to this event.

Joan, Zimbly, Pooja and I are all going to be there, as far as I know. I have linked to our pictures, so if you get there late, peer at all the Summerstage fans anxiously until you locate us (or our doppelgangers). Alternatively, just listen for the loudest, most obnoxious group possible and follow the sounds of laughter and screaming (not that I am in ANY way endorsing ice fights or similarly immature lunacy).

Do you have any other comments or questions? That is just what the thread below is for—- NYC meetup-related shtuff.

p.s. You DCers and EssEffites will each get your own posts in the next few days, that way we can keep this, um, organized (as if such things are possible with the brown). Now who is in and what are you packing in your “dry” pick-a-nick baskets?

Just a reminder, the next SF meetup is tomorrow:

Vinod and I will be there for sure. He has promised me that SF meetups are far more rocking than those in NYC, because left-coasters are just so much more hip than those on the right coast.

I don’t know about V, but personally I’m counting the minutes.

Since all the cool people are doing it, I thought I would announce one meetup, and the promise of more. Vinod and I will be holding a San Fransisco meetup on:

We considered holding it at Greco, but figured it was bad enough to hold a SF meetup without Anna that we didn’t want to add insult to injury. That, and we wanted to make Brimful happy .

I will also try to take my anonymous kundi to the NYC meetup on August 13th, for those of you who miss me on the right coast. This meetup will have both Anna and live music, so there’s no reason for anybody not to be there.

Lastly - I’m thinking about a Chicago meetup in the middle of September or so - are there enough Midwestern Mutineers that we can hold down a table at one of the Devon Ave dives? This would be the first meetup I’d be hosting solo, so be gentle y’all

I’ve been a bit busy, so I haven’t been able to ask you about SM Meetups, but I promise I’ve wanted to do so for several weeks. Those mutinous, offline melas are very much on my mind these days, as I contemplate the end of summer and where I will spend it. You see, not only do I think it’s high time for the second-ever live mutiny in DC, it seems that excessively homesick-me will be in the golden state for much of early September (w00t Northern California!!!). I think it’s time to overwhelm Greco once again; let’s take that possibility from tentative to definite, shall we? Let’s also hope the wifi works this time, as it usually does. ;)

Amardeep inspired me (yet again) to post once he issued his gentle invitation to Philadelphia-area readers to join him for that city’s first meetup, before a very cool-sounding concert he just blogged about. Even if you don’t take him up on his tempting offer, I want you to know that it won’t be an anomalous event— Philadelphia is a great city and I’d love to hold regular meetups there, as well as NY and SF. What say all of you, and when I type that I mean ALL of you, wherever you are. Depending on how much demand and notice we get, we may be able to coordinate sepia soirees elsewhere, since many of us travel, some of us, far too much. :D

DC: When should We Chocolate City mutineers will have our next carb-laden, veg-friendly fiesta on August 19th? August 26th. Who knows, if we don’t tell Abhi, we might be able to facilitate a “Yo Dad” appearance which ISN’T moderated! Imagine the possibilities for information-gathering!

SF: What about you, oh citizens of Baghdad-by-the-bay? How many of you will be around for Labor day weekend? I was assuming your answers would be a sea of “not me”s, so I was tentatively glancing at September 9. Thoughts?

Finally, as for you New Yorkers, any weekend you want to shriek and giggle until the Manager yells at us (cough LaLanterna cough) is fine with me. ;)

:+:

Update #1: The people have spoken. DC’s meetup will be on August 26th. :)

:+:

Update # 2: NYC’s loveliest saves the date and suggests something fantastic to meet up for— SummerStage at Central Park with a whole lotta brown choons. Pack your pick-a-nick baskets for Yogi and Booboo to plunder; New York’s meetup will be on August 13th!

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Leela Lounge, the venue for tomorrow’s sophisticated, singular soiree— they do not open until 5pm, so that’s when we shall meet. The kitchen opens at 6, so there will be a full hour of getting faded before anyone fills their bellies with mushroom samosas to soak up all that intoxication; in other words, 5-6pm shall be a dangerous hour for the mutiny, as lycheetinis and Old Monk flow freely. Loose ships sink lips and all that. ;)

If you’re coming, leave your information in the comments, pacifically if you’ll be dragging along otras personas. The good news is, thanks to the long weekend, Leela is going to be very chill— they shooed me away from making reservations. So if you’re feeling like a “maybe”…go with that. There will be space at the table for you. Especially after one of us falls over and out of our chair, from laughing excessively loudly (Kenyandesi— that one’s for P).

Questions? Requests? Complaints which don’t contain any of the following words: Chicago, Midwest, pandits, auspicious, washcloths, plagiarism, Oregon, geography, bees? ;) Well, if I don’t hear from you, I’ll see you tomorrow, tiny creator of incriminating evidence in hand. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a few saris to tie and a wedding to flog!

WHAT: Sepia Mutiny Meetup #7

WHEN: May 28, 5pm

WHERE: Leela Lounge, 3rd between Mercer and Broadway

This past weekend at the fantastic SAWCC conference, several mutineers had helpful suggestions about Sunday’s potential meetup. I relayed my concerns about not being rushed, being able to have audible conversations AND whether we’d be able to fill our bellies with something a little more appetizing than a T-bone Steak, cheese eggs and welch’s grape. Saucy Pooja assured me that whether at The Pink Pony or Leela Lounge, we’d be fine (ain’t that right, Boo? True?)

I’m leaning towards Leela Lounge, which is on 3rd between Broadway and Mercer because another saucy lady named Yesha raved about the atmosphere. The menu wasn’t bad, either…I’m always ready to eat chaat and if a place serves cocktails with Old Monk? You KNOW they keep it real. ;)

Erstwhile guest Cicatrix had a third suggestion which I helpfully can’t remember nor find in my GMail. I add the latter situation because apparently, I got an invite to this shpot when Bongbreaker was in town…so if Bongsie, Cica or the Vij have any idea what I’m going on about, put me out of my misery via comment, spanks.

So, beyond venue we need to decide on a time. Perhaps something in the afternoon would be ideal, since I will be highly hungover after a raucous wedding in Lawn Guy Land. Also, this way people can show without missing church. How’s THAT for contrast? ;)

What say all of you? Do you have a preference between pink equestrian joints, cool new lounges and places I can’t recall? Would 3pm sound better than 5? Will Pooja not show since it’s her birthday and thus, I shall be throwing her over my knee so we can each give her a solid birthday whack? ;) Tune in next time, for…hopefully more specific information.

Rumor has it that the most mysterious mutineer of them all (hint: it sure as hell ain’t ME) might be in Manhattan on May 28th…so maybe we should have a mini-meetup? Maybe I should overcome my Malayalee proclivity to massacre sentences via massive amounts of alliteration.

Maybe.

I know everyone who LIVES in New York City will leave town, but that just means that this post is dedicated to those mutineers who, like me, will be visiting the area for the holiday weekend; I’ll be in Lawn Guy Land for a wedding on Friday and Saturday. I know I’m not the only one who’ll be there, if only because this wedding has 800 guests.

Anyway, I’m happy to postpone my return trip to DC on Sunday from lunch-ish to something a little later on, if there’s good reason to and I can’t think of better reasons than you.

I shouldn’t say this, but if we do meetup, there’s the possibility of a mutineer mole, i.e. someone who blogs for us but wants to just hang back at his first live SM orgy. So it’s possible that three mutineers will be in Manhattan on May 28th, though considering the moley-moley-mole (Thanks Austin Powers!), maybe it’s more like 2.5. ;)

Comment away if we should seriously consider this. Some of us have Amtrak tickets to book. :D

P.S. That picture is from the September 11, 2005 meetup at the Indian Bread Co.

P.P.S. Yes, we will have another DC meetup shortly. Or longly. Vatewer.

Hear ye, hear ye, the time approaches for SM’s first meetup of 2006 in Ka-ney-da, the True North strong and free. The womb that is Toronto shall play host to an enchanting evening of food, drink, witty banter, and dance fights. Vive la revolution!

Date: Sunday, May 21, 2006
Time: 6:00 PM
Place: Little Tibet – 712 Queen West

We shall feast on momos and po jha. Tibetan food is veggie-friendly and delicious. If you have any hard and fast objections to place or time please shout them out in the comments. I am open to compromise if you threaten with absence :-)

Pretty please to be making RSVP before I make reservations on Saturday, my email addy is currylingus[at]gmail[dot]com. I want to make sure we can all snag a seat without the wait wherever we end up going. By all I mean ALL. I know you’re out there…give me a holler and come out to play! I was the onliest attendee at last year’s Toronto meetup, which was hosted by Manish. Shame shame! You have a lot to prove T-dizzy, like how many momos you can eat in one sitting, how long you can go without saying the “K” word, and how many pictures you can pose for while making “SM” gang signs.

Meetups might just be the most delightfully unexpected dish which is made from all this flavorful brownness (which conveniently is contained in one savory packet). When liveblogging isn’t possible, sometimes the best substitute is looking at all the wacky, joyful pictures which inevitably get captured by the half-dozen or so cameras which tend to be around (80% of which are Canons— you read it here first).

Now that we’ve had several meetups in four Amreekan cities, I just know that there are potentially hundreds of pictures moldering away on your computers, pictures which could find a home in the Flickr group created just for the Mutiny. LA Mutineers, this is a gentle plea to share your pictures with the rest of us via this outlet. If you are already a member of Flickr, you may comment on the 100 photographs which are already up, all from last month’s fantastic DC meetup. If you’re not a member, you can still view all pictures by clicking here.

I PROMISE you’ll want to see what’s hiding after the jump. ;)

The down side - Your taxes are due on April 15th.

John Abraham wants you to come to the L.A. Sepia Mutiny Meetup.

The up side - You get to drown your tax sorrows with fellow mutineers at the first ever Los Angeles Sepia Mutiny Meetup!

How excited are we?!?

Date: April 15, 2006 THIS Saturday

Time: 5:30 pm

NEW Place: Tribal Café, 1651 W. Temple St., #A, LOS ANGELES

The SM Meetup Makin’ Machine has been working over time to make sure this Meetup is one not to be forgotten. We will have appearances by yours truly, Abhi, Payal, prateek(?), Ami +2, Rahul, Janani, Biggie Mac, Deepa +1…(anyone I’m missing?)

To answer Biggie Mac, I’ll be the one with the metal stud in my chin, but I’m pretty sure a mob of mutineers at Tribal will be hard to miss.

In an attempt to entice you further to come out for this not to be missed event, celebrity SM Blogger Abhi has offered to give every mutineer that walks through the door a private lesson on the secret Sepia Mutiny handshake which is known only by those who have entered the ND bunkers! How can you not come to now?

To further entice you, there’s a picture of John Abraham. So please come!

Under the cover of darkness, I have broken free of the reigns of the basement of the North Dakota bunker. I have hijacked the SM Meetup Makin’ Machine and let loose a bee in Abhi’s office, you know, for good measure. I am here to truly serve you, Sepia Mutiny readers. The time has arrived. That’s right mutineers, we are having a Los Angeles Sepia Mutiny Meetup.

You hear that L.A. Mutineers? After months of teasing from Abhi, and drooling over the mutineers meeting up in other cities, we finally get to join the elite! Yay!

Please RSVP in the comments section, to let us know how many people are coming. If you don’t come, and you live within a 50 mile radius of L.A., we will know, and we will find you. Especially since we did choose Noura Café Tribal Cafe because we are optimistic that people will come far and wide and we think they will be accommodating. I cannot divulge the details, but I promise it is THE SM Meetup not to be missed.

So Noura’s Cafe is no longer. Thanks Arun. We are shifting to the hipster part of LA now to Echo Park, and meeting up at the artsy new space of Tribal Café, located in the heart of Filipino town. Where are all the LA bloggers, readers, and lurkers at?

Isn’t that the GREATEST picture? Want to know the absolute best thing about it? It’s true.

Are you ready for this jelly?

The much-adored and revered “Yo Dad” might make a cameo at the first-ever chocolate city SMeetup.

Go ahead. Take a moment to digest. I know I needed one.

According to highly placed, unnamed sources, the parent whose words inspire collective swooning on any thread he comments on will be at Amma’s in Georgetown this Saturday. NOW what’s your excuse for not coming? Even the legendary (six-hours?!) San Francisco events and Manhattan meets didn’t have THIS sort of star power. Surely you’ll be in attendance now, right? :)

After all, this will be our Abhi’s first meetup. Mind blowing, right? The father of this Mutiny will finally link himself publicly to this scandalous site; this brazen and ultra-rare excursion from the innermost sanctum of the North Dakota bunker shall concomitantly jeopardize his future chances for political office AND mark him as an unsuitable boy. Do you really want to miss that?

In addition to those headliners and legends, steadfast mutineers Kenyandesi, Msichana, CinnamonRani, Chai and the awe-inspiring Chick Pea from Hotlanta—who is making the rest of you look lame with her devotion to the cause, i.e. her willingness to travel— will be attending as well, according to our last call for RSVPs.

And you? Should we add you to the list?

WHERE: Amma’s Vegetarian Kitchen, 3291 M St. NW, Washington, DC 20007, 202-625-6625

WHEN: Saturday, 5:30pm (which should enable a 6pm start)

WHY: My fotolog is needing snaps, yaar. ;)

“Anyway monay, can I call you right back? I was in the middle of reports…”

“Ma? Please, really quick, ‘cause I’m writing something?”

“Vat?”

“Does kundi mean “ass” or “anus”?

Sigh. A deep breath is inhaled.

“This is for your website? Kundi is chunthi. Koothi means anus.”

“Let me be painfully careful— kundi and chunthi are like…the butt cheeks?”

“Yes, they are what I would like to kick right now, absolutely.”

“So, like, you could use kundi in the following context: “get your kundi on the dancefloor?’”

Another sigh is sighed.

“YES.”

“I knew it!”

Manhattan has held three (including the first and last), San Francisco contained two (the best, Jerry…the BEST!), Brooklyn had quite a sweet one…and now FINALLY, the most powerful city on earth will host a Mutinous Meetup on Saturday, March 25th!

To continue with that nascent alliteration, it’s all going down in the month of MARCH, which comes in like a Singh and goes out like some…ghosht. Believe it or not, half-kundi’d me remembered to bring my calendar to my shimmering birthday fete two weeks ago, where our two squeakiest wheels (read: the SM loyalists who wanted a meetup most, who just happened to be my guests that night) provided valuable input with regards to when we should get trashed get together; Kenyandesi and Chai chose the first Saturday in March to mutiny earlier in the month, but at this point, the date you should save is MARCH 25. :)

I already know what our precious unbwogable bachi thinks (that’s her, on the right, in the picture to the left), but what say you Zzzzafar, Msichana, Timepass et al? Does March 4th work for you? Will this be a Tryst with Mutiny? Will my record of hosting the BEST meetups ever extend to the right coast? ;) Will Santino EVER get kicked off Project Runway??? Sorry, I’m watching that show right now. :D

If March 4th 25th is an awful choice, do speak up, though if we choose something different, a certain Space Cowboy might not be able to attend.