This is a guest blog by Oracle ACE Pro Mirela Ardelean
The Oracle Community Tours are an annual series of one-day events organized by Oracle User Groups across various regions: APAC, EMEA, India, and Latin America. These tours are designed to bring together a group of speakers who travel from city to city, sharing their expertise and insights at each stop.
This year, I had the privilege of being part of the OCYatra24 tour. I think it’s easy to guess that the OCYatra tour covers India.
The Tour Journey
This year, the tour kicked off in Bangalore on July 20th and concluded in Chennai on July 28th. The cities where the tour stopped were Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Gurugram, and Chennai. I joined the tour at the second stop, in Hyderabad, missing the first stop in Bangalore due to attending KScope24, which ran from July 14th to July 18th . On the 20th, I was still ‘in the air’ on my way from the US to India.
We traveled between cities mostly by plane, except for the journey from Pune to Mumbai, which we made by bus. That bus ride, on heavy rain, was a ride filled with laughs and with music and with …”what happens on the bus, stays on the bus” 😉
The flights were short (1 h to 2,5 hours), but adding the waiting time and the delays left us with only 3-4 hours of sleep a night. The lack of sleep does not really matter when one loves being in this OCYatra24 adventure!
In the past, the tour covered more cities, 8 or even 10, lasting over 2 weeks. I know how challenging is to organize one single event. I have seen a bit of the hard work the AIOUG team did during the tour, and I know it was much much more behind the screen. It was an immense effort the AIOUG team put into making this tour a success. A huge shout-out goes to the AIOUG team and all the volunteers for their hard work and dedication!
Agenda
The tour has (almost) the same agenda at each stop, which provided a sense of comfort for the speaker: I knew from the start that my presentation would always be part of Track 3, scheduled at 3 pm in Room 3. However, the agenda had to be flexible, as speakers sometimes couldn’t attend every event in every city. This required us to be prepared to give additional presentations if needed.
This year’s agenda was rich enough to cover different area of interest: Database 23ai, Database Migration, Oracle GoldenGate, Security, APEX, Oracle Analytics, Cloud, Fusion Applications, MySQL.
Attendees
I found out that the agenda was well-matched to the profile of the attendees, who came from various backgrounds: DBA, developers, students, administrators, and security specialists.
It was a nice surprise for me to meet a vibrant and young community willing to learn new things, ask questions, and take selfies. 🙂 Every single stop on the tour was very well attended, even three of the events held on the weekend. What a learn-driven community!
A special mention goes to the Mumbai community, which braved heavy rain and chaotic traffic to attend the event.
The Speakers and Our Journey Together
When asked how international OCYatra24 was, my answer is “speakers traveled from Europe, US and New Zealand to India, only to participate at OCYatra24”. Seventeen speakers representing the Oracle ACE Program, Oracle, and Google traveled together, coordinating flights and hotels seamlessly, thanks to Sai Penumuru.
Sai, our “SuperAI,” not only organized the whole tour, but he also handled everything from finding the best flights to securing hotel discounts and arranging transfers. Sai liked to say, “During the tour, you are like my kids. I am responsible for all of you. After the event in Chennai ends, I am not your father anymore.” He truly took care of us, making the tour easy and enjoyable.
It was so easy and convenient to have everything arranged and communicated by the AIOUG team!
The Necessary Breaks Between Cities
OCYatra isn’t just about running from one city to another, presenting and answering questions—it’s also about experiencing India. We had a few breaks between events, allowing us to explore the country. There was a free day in Bangalore before the tour started, a half-day in Pune, a day in Mumbai, a day in Delhi (Gurugram), and another in Chennai for those who stayed an extra day after the tour ended. I made the most of these opportunities.
These breaks allowed us to recover a bit, to interact more, to learn about each other, to make new friends, to develop connection that will last for years and years.
For example, I learned that Ambili (Ambili Thottathil) is, in fact, an artist: she has a beautiful voice and she is a talented painter; Aish (Aishwarya Kala) knows how to sleep just with one eye – you were everywhere Aish, heart and soul; Basheer (Basheer Khan) is both a singer and a master of paper miniatures; Sandesh (Sandesh Rao, VP of RAC Assurance Oracle ) is the best history teacher I ever had. It would be fascinating to have an unconference session at an international event titled “Revealing my non-Oracle talent”
When the Tour Ends but the Visit Is Not Over Yet
I added 2 extra days to my trip in India, dedicated to sightseeing. The touristic extension of the OCYatra was made possible by Sandesh Rao.
Sandesh Rao, Bobby Curtis and myself did a trip to Agra, to visit Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, followed by another half of day in Delhi to explore Akshardham temple and Humayun’s Tomb.
Conclusion
For any speaker looking to experience something different, filled with memorable moments, warm people, a welcoming community, funny stories, beautiful places, tasteful food, and striking contrasts—this tour is a must. Once you do it, you’ll want to return again and again.
Thank you to every one of you who turned me into an OCYatra addict. You know who you are.
Note: For more insights on the tour, check out posts from Ambili, Bobby,and the official OCYatra website.