But before the sentimentality, some important business – the last ever San Francisco Bay Area Meetup is tomorrow

• Where: UPDATED LOCATION: The Liberties in the Mission/Dolores area — 998 Guerrero & 22nd (we outgrew Udupi Palace)
• When: UPDATED TIME – 2:30 – 6:30pm — we’ll be lounging for a while so feel free to drop in, share a pint or 2 and listen/tell stories
• Who: friends past & present, old bloggers, current bloggers, guest bloggers, grizzled comments flame war vets, lurkers, and riff raff of various stripes

The Facebook event is here.

So what can I say that hasn’t already been (quite ably) said by my fellow bloggers?

Quite a bit, I think.

Back when the blogosphere was young, and desi blogger ranks were very slim (my first personal blogpost was Sept 29, 2002 & first SM post was August 2004 – an internet lifetime ago), a few kids had an idea for a group blog covering the news & commentary that was less covered.

The medium was new, the excitement was high, and our target market was ripe for a new vehicle for expression, debate, and community. And thus the Sepia Mutiny was born & acquired a life of its own. Over the years, I’ve met perhaps 100 new people through the blog and it’s cemented at least a few, new, lifelong friendships & acquaintances. I know several of my facebook friends better by their handles than by their official Facebook names. And common ground forged by the blog has been responsible for more than few random run-ins literally across the world (one anecdote – while on a biz trip in London, a particularly astute, regular reader I’d never met before saw me crossing the street & shouted out).

As Abhi noted, in the almost 10 yrs since SM was born, a lot has changed. Whereas back in the day we’d post an shout-out if a Desi had so much as a speaking line on TV, now it’s common to find them in regular roles in top 10 sitcoms. Is a Desi romantic lead far behind? Perhaps in another 10 yrs. Or maybe not.

The angst ridden ABCD’s of >10 yrs ago have given way to a new generation of Desi’s who merit the “C” less and less with each passing year. An interesting 4 yr snapshot of that fast forward evolution can be seen comparing 2003′s Where’s the Party, Yaar to 2007′s Loins of Punjab.

The broader blog universe has changed dramatically as well. And, of course, so have we the mutineers – a term we judiciously use to cover both the bloggers & the readers. As 20somethings, most of us were single, had all the time in the world (though we didn’t fully appreciate it at the time) and were often just establishing our careers –> factors which contributed individually & in their own unique ways to our “drive” to blog & comment. As 20s gave way to 30s (and in my case, late 30s, gulp), life has a way of reminding you who’s in charge (my wife?).

For me personally, my ~400 Sepia Mutiny posts are here.  And, over at my (languishing) personal blog, I’ve compiled lists of some of my favorite ~40 or so posts over the years - 1, 2, 3, and 4.  While I tended to cover econ & current events, many of those favorites focused on “hidden history” — Did you know that the Nazi’s promised Stalin full reign over India if he’d help defeat the Brits?  Or how seemingly simple, but utterly economically profound issues like ”Title” to land get established?   And on a completely different note, how can we ignore the phenomena that’s Finnish Bhangra?

Hitting some of those links, reading the entries, and in particular, reading the comments provide a pretty fascinating (and occasionally embarrassing) trip down memory lane. How vehemently we argued, how sure of ourselves we were, and what a product of our times we turned out to be. How much more we know now and how much has been forgotten. And we’re not even that old yet

So, thanks for the fun, camaraderie, memories, and vibrant discussion – and I’m sure we’ll cross paths as we witness & conquer new domains. And if you’re in/near the San Francisco area tomorrow afternoon, swing by the Liberties & share a drink as we toast new adventures.

NEW TIME: 2:30pm – 6:30pm

NEW LOCATION: The Liberties Bar, 998 Guerrero Street  San Francisco, CA 94110

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What’s that you say? It’s the end of a mutinous era and you never even made it to a Sepia Mutiny Meetup? Rajni the Monkey went wild in the bunker once he heard this news and is now throwing poop at your computer screen. But ask and The Mutiny delivers – at least for the next 15 days till the April 1st door slam. ANNA revived the 55 Friday because of this tweet and hell, thanks to this forlorn tweet from @YungCoconut and @AmericanTurban, I will do the same.

Join Manish, Vinod, Pavani and myself for the Cali swagest meetup of your mutinous lifetime in San Francisco on Saturday March 31st. We know that you Alterna-Desi types have already bought your tickets to the 8th annual Yoni Ki Baat performance. “Yoni Ki heh…?” you ask? Desi, please.

South Asian Sisters are back again to present another brand new script with funny, touching, sensational, and thought-provoking raw performances submitted by South Asian women across the country! [southasiansisters]

For more info and to purchase tickets to the March 31st & April 1st San Francisco Yoni Ki Baat shows, please check out their site here.

As for the LAST CHANCE AT GOING TO A SEPIA MUTINY MEETUP…

• New Time: 2:30pm – 6:30pm
• Date: Saturday, March 31st, 2012
• New Location: The Liberties Bar, 998 Guerrero Street  San Francisco, CA 94110
• Facebook Event Page Right Here

Please comment below if you will be able to make it! Since this is the last meetup – EVER – I highly suggest out-of-towners fly into SF for a Cesar Chavez long weekend of Mutinous fun. If you have a bar/lounge suggestion (that is open at 4:30pm) do let me know and we can change the local, as long as we keep it in The Mission. And if you can’t come to the meetup but want to keep in touch - you can always find us on twitter, too.

It’s not goodbye – it’s just a farewell, for now. I’ll see y’all on the internet flip side and by that I mean IRL.

This weekend, I will be speaking at the SAAN conference which is going down at Abhi’s alma mater, the University of Maize and Blue; since our Sugi lives in Ann Arbor, it seemed apposite to host a raging party while I’m there, and by raging party we mean eating Masala Dosa, Idli and Vada until we have to be rolled, still ghee-covered and burping happily, out of a restaurant.

I’m still not over the loss of my beloved Amma Vegetarian in Georgetown– side eye to the person who closed it– and worse than that, it’s been ages since I had a nice dosa. The thought of proper Southie food makes me giddy, so when I think of how I’ll get to nom some of that AND squeal at Sugi AND potentially meet some of our loyal Midwestern readers, lurkers and trolls…well, I feel faint from such excitement. Remember: all are welcome at meetups. Even if you’ve never commented before, feel free to stop by– Sugi and I would love to meet you!

I’ve heard great things about Madras Masala; not only is the food supposed to be good (It’s auntie-tested, uncle-approved), it’s well-located, which is helpful since neither Sugi nor I have cars. Let’s meet there at 6pm on Saturday– which is after the SAAN conference. I’ve been warned that they may not have enough space, so if you could let us know in the comments if you’re going to join us, that would be a great help.

Oh, and D.C.? You’re up next. Look for a post on THAT, soon.

Date: THURSDAY, September 23rd, 2010

Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Place: Indiä’s Restaurant

We’ll be meeting at Indiä’s Restaurant because it satisfies some minimum requirements: decent food, easy access from I-25, plenty of parking, and a respectfully stocked bar.

I was half hoping that one person would join us and then go next door for a 2.5-hour Hindi/Telegu/Tamil cinematic extravaganza– so we could crown that person the brownest person in the room, but it doesn’t look as if anything is playing that night. We’ll still take nominations though. I’m rooting for the person who figures out why our restaurant has an umlaut, which means that it should be pronounced “Indi-yehs.” (But maybe it’s more like Häagen Dasz).

When I first moved to Colorado, I thought it was the whitest place I had ever been. Then I got stuck in the airport at Salt Lake City. Now that I have lived here a while, I know there are many of you around. I’ve met a fair number of South Asian American 2nd-gens like me in Colorado, but I’ve also met people from every single South Asian country (including the Maldives) except Bhutan– though I know you’re around too.

Come on out, and say hi! If you can join us, let us know by leaving a comment, and I can book a table for all of us before we arrive.

Oh Philadelphia, did you think we could forget you? This year mutineers have partied in Boston and LA, but now we’re bringing you a meetup in the City of Brother Love itself. Amardeep and I decided to mark the release from our respective academic bastions with a meetup with you, our lovely Philadelphia-area readers.

Guess what that means? It means you Jersey, Delaware, New York and Philly readers need to ditch the post- apocalypse that is your holiday celebration and come hang out with us. So after you’ve demolished your mom’s figgy pudding and russ malai and returned that ugly sweater your auntie gave you, head down to Philadelphia’s Chinatown section and join us at Penang, for some delicious Malyasian Indian cuisine.

Here’s what we can’t promise: Bill Cosby/cheesesteaks/an Eagles win.

Here’s what we can promise: scintillating conversation/beautiful people/good food.

Place: Penang, 117 N. 10th Street, Philadelphia, PA 1910

Time: 7:00 PM

Dress: Casual

Reservations: We need an accurate headcount to reserve a table. If you’re coming, please email Amardeep at amardeep [at] sepiamutiny.com.

Hope to see some of you there!

[Photo: GPTMC]

I think it’s the perfect weather for a Sepia Mutiny meetup.

This will be a special one – Abhi has decided to unlock the ball and chain to one of our fantastic webmasters to join us for his first meetup in five years. Rajni the monkey has gone wild in anticipation. Webmaster extraordinaire Kunjan will be joining us for the meetup.

Date: SUNDAY, December 20th, 2009

Time: 4pm – 7pm

Place: Annapurna Cuisine in Culver City (open to suggestions)

If you can make it, please RSVP in the comments. We can hold it somewhere else if anyone has a better suggestion – I would have preferred something on the east side, but Anupurna was the only one I could thing of right now. It’s been too long – meetups are open to bloggers, lurkers, or just friends of sepia mutineers. Please come!

“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.)

I met law students, grant writers, marketers and teachers – all with fascinating stories I could’ve spent days listening to. I was introduced to Pushkar Sharma and Sathya Sridharan, the duo behind BROWNSTAR REVOLUTION, a spoken word act that performs in and around Boston, whose jokes kept me in stitches the entire night. And I couldn’t stop laughing when one Boston mutineer told me about his favorite bloggers. “My ex was an Anna John fan, so I can’t be an Anna John fan anymore, even though I’m an Anna John fan.” I even met some folks who inspired me to catch up on my Bollywood film watching. (I promise I’m renting Love Aj Kal this weekend, guys. I swear.) So many interesting people. So little time. *Sigh.

On behalf of Taz and Ravi, I’d like to once again thank the Boston mutineers for giving us such a warm welcome. We were so thrilled to meet so many of you and match names with faces. (Now that I know who you lurkers are, y’all better start commenting!) We had such a wonderful time. Once again, thank you for your hospitality. Until we meet again!

P.S. Pictures to be added next week. Check back for updates!

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!

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p>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!

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.