WordCamp Asia 2026: Three Days in Mumbai, One Unforgettable Journey
Some events you attend. Others you live. WordCamp Asia 2026 was firmly the second kind.
From April 9 to 11, the global WordPress community descended on the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex for three days of learning, collaboration, and connection. More than 2,600 people showed up, and I was lucky enough to be among them as a Media Partner.
This is the story of those three days, the people who made them special, and the journey across Maharashtra that turned a conference into an adventure I will be talking about for years.
Getting there: Delhi to Mumbai, the long way around
The journey began at home in Fatehpur, from where I first made my way to Delhi. From there, the real adventure kicked off, as a group of us set out together from Delhi to Mumbai. Over the days that followed, we ended up using just about every mode of transport a person can: bike, car, train, auto, flight, and even a ferry. If there was a way to move, we found it. That spirit of “say yes to the detour” set the tone for everything that followed.
Day 1: Contributor Day
WordCamp Asia always opens with Contributor Day, and there is no better way to feel the heart of this community. I started by collecting my Media Partner badge, then settled in at the Community Team table to dig into the work that keeps WordPress moving forward.
Beyond the contributions, Contributor Day is where the reconnections begin. I caught up with friends I had not seen in far too long, and had a genuinely productive conversation with Nirav Mehta about a few things we want to build together.
The day did not end at the venue. We rounded it off with a lovely evening at the WPBakery and Kinsta dinners where I got to meet with Luke Carbis & Takayuko, the kind of relaxed gathering where the best ideas tend to surface over good food.
Day 2: Conference Day 1
If Contributor Day is about giving back, the conference days are about momentum. Day 1 was packed with partnership conversations across the sponsor hall, planning sessions with friends on collaborations, and a fair amount of time helping Abhay shoot interviews around the venue.
Walking the sponsor booths was a highlight in itself. Every conversation opened a door to a new idea or a new connection.
The evening belonged to the Woo Community Meetup, and it was a blast. My personal favorite touch was the live caricature artists, sketching attendees in real time. There is something wonderful about watching a community let its hair down after a full day of sessions.
Day 3: Conference Day 2
Day 2 of the conference somehow managed to be even more packed than the first. More partnership discussions, this time spanning brands, agencies, and freelancers, more planning for future collaborations, and more interview support for Abhay.
The community closed out the conference with an After Party at the same venue, the Jio World Convention Centre. A fitting end to three intense, joyful days.
The people who made it
WordCamp is, at its core, about people. These three days gave me the chance to talk shop, swap ideas, and explore partnership opportunities with an incredible range of folks.
On the brand and partnership side, I had fruitful conversations with Alex from Kinsta, Devin and Arun from Bluehost, Samah from Yoast, Nabin from Codewing, Uzair from RankMath, Aviral from rtCamp, Luke Carbis from the Plugins team, Raitis from WPBakery, Takayuki Miyoshi of Contact Form 7, Agne and Domantas from Hostinger, James Giroux and Stacy from Automattic, Rajesh Chauhan, Sagar Patel and Aditya Sharma from Posimyth, Davinder Singh Kainth from The WP Weekly, Leonardo Losoviz from Gato Plugins, Olga Gleckler, and Ganga Kafle.
It was also a real pleasure to spend time with brilliant teams from Google, Hostinger, Automattic (Jetpack, Woo, Pressable, WordPress.com, and Automattic for Agencies), PayPal, EasyWP, Astra, Elementor, Kinsta, miniOrange, rtCamp, RankMath, Hosting.com, GreenGeeks, and WisdmLabs. A special shoutout goes to Anna from GreenGeeks for the Rockstar Waapuu pins, a small token that made my day.
And then there were the reunions. Catching up with old community friends is half the reason any of us keep coming back. It was wonderful to see Amit Singh, Yashwardhan Rana, Ashutosh Gaur, Aditya Shah, Abhishek Deshpande, Vishal Mukdam, Nikita Sawarkar, Shruti Sona, Anand Upadhyay, Krupa Nanda, Makarand Mane, Elvina Goves, Pooja Derashri, Nidhi Jain, V Gautham Navada, Chetan Prajapati, Alexander Gounder, Amar Arjun Sawant, Hemant Shewakramani, Lokesh Budhrani, Saaheel Majethia, Sanyogg Shelar, Rohit Motwani, Aditya Vikram Singh, Deepak Gupta, Gautam Garg, Harsh Trivedi, Nagesh Pai, Sajid Ansari, Saurabh Matolia, Virendra Kumar Yadav, and so many others. If we shared even a quick hallway chat, thank you.
Beyond the venue: a Maharashtra pilgrimage
A trip to Mumbai is incomplete if you stay inside one building, so once the conference wrapped, the real exploring began.
In Mumbai itself, we soaked in the icons: the Gateway of India, a ferry ride out to the ancient Elephanta Caves, the breezy stretches of Carter Road and Marine Drive, and the sand at Juhu Beach.
From there, the journey took a more spiritual turn. We boarded a train to Shirdi to visit the Sai Baba temple, then made our way to Panchavati and the Trimbakeshwar temple, one of the twelve sacred Jyotirlingas, followed by Kapaleshwar Mahadev Mandir in Nashik.
The final day was perhaps the most memorable. We traveled to Grishneshwar Mahadev Mandir, another Jyotirlinga, and the magnificent Ellora Caves, where centuries of human craftsmanship are carved straight into the rock. From there, we flew back to Delhi via Aurangabad, and finished the journey home by train.
Final thoughts
WordCamp Asia 2026 reminded me why this community is worth showing up for. The sessions were valuable, the partnership conversations were promising, but the relationships are what stay with you. Add a road trip across some of Maharashtra’s most beautiful and sacred sites, and you have a few days that were equal parts professional, personal, and profound.
A huge thank you to the organizers, volunteers, speakers, and sponsors who poured themselves into making this happen.
WordCamp Asia 2027 heads to Penang, Malaysia. I will be there, and I cannot wait.
Were you at WCAsia 2026? I would love to hear your favorite moment. Drop me a note, and let us keep the conversation going.
