Confessions of a Team Asha runner

Coming back to Life.

2011-02-01T09:46:00.000-08:00

Coming back to life (Click on link for song) is one of my favorites from Pink Floyd. I felt the title was apt for this post in many ways.

I am returning to this blog after a really long gap! Its been more than a year since I posted on this blog. Runners High as a new initiative has taken off well and we are at a point where we don't really advertise or solicit folks to join us - folks approach us and the tribe keeps growing! Our efforts with the kids also has bloomed into wonderful relationships and we can definitely see a marked change in the kids and schools we interact with. There are a lot of plans to extend and grow on the work done with the children. We are also striving constantly to unite the two worlds - i.e. get more involvement of the running community in the underprivileged schools. The year 2010 was memorable for me in many ways. It was a year since we started Runners High formally and was sort of a coming of age for Runners High. It was an exciting journey every week! Personally though it has been a rough time for me for more than a year. A lot of battles fought emotionally and many changes that caused the ugly head of self doubt to appear. They say ultra running is 90% mental and the rest 10% is also mental :) - I had a string of bad runs and could not meet my goals over many races. Questions and discussions with people made it a bit more tough -

" Why do you run so much? What is the point? Can't you do the same stuff you do without running so much? All runners are full of themselves - you just want to create a scene. "

Of course, they are all friends and meant only good. But, it made me seriously introspect. Why do I run? Does running define me? So, if I don't do well or don't run enough, does that mean I am not good enough as a coach, a runner or even a person? I realized that I was just putting pressure on myself and suddenly I had forgotten to have fun. When I made the shift from my previous existence, I thought I might end up with lots of time and that I could go on many crazy races :) - But, my involvement in various efforts leaves very little time to train on my own and to focus on many goals. I don't regret it one bit! All these efforts are very much connected with my running - in fact, the efforts are the soul! A year of DNFs (Did not Finish) is quite bad - I had dropped out of quite a few goals and felt a bit depressed as well. When, one loses confidence it shows in everything - I realized that both physically and emotionally I needed to do a lot of work on my core! Life always presents a lot of challenges and problems that you can't share with everyone - Every person deals with a lot of issues in life and I realized I am no different - one needs the courage to move on despite these hurdles. So, these struggling miles was education. I needed one run to change things around. I just kept telling race after race that it is around the corner.

It happened at Delhi. Thanks to Kavitha Kanaparthi, who organized a wonderful race in a beautiful course at Bhatti Lakes. I also got to meet wonderful people in that trip. Amongst many of them a few mentions would be Dickie Saluja, Rahul Varghese, Roger Henke, Ravi Raman, Vikram, Asha, Arun Bharadwaj and Dr. Rajat. Arun Bharadwaj inspires me and it was wonderful to meet the best ultra runner in India in person. His first reaction was to hug me and it really humbled me. Arun did a 160 miler at Bhatti Lakes and in his effort I saw what I was missing. The 12 hour finish in a hot and grueling 50 mile (80km) run gave me the much needed confidence and a ray of hope. After the run I met my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Rajat. The couple of days at his place was refreshing and we discussed a lot about running, life and running! As always Doc had a profound influence on my thoughts and actions. It was also a dawn of a certain realization - "Running does not define who I am, but it definitely does help me realize it."

Date: 16 October, 2010
Start time: 5:30 A.M, 16th October, Saturday.
End time: 5:40 P.M, 16th October, Saturday.
Duration: 12 hours 10 mins
Distance covered on foot: 80 kms

Running was always about having fun and being passionate. If speed were to decide who a good runner is, then I am an average or below average runner. But, who is to decide what makes a good runner? Speed, distance, style - does it really matter, if you love what you are doing and can derive a meaning out of it? Should artists be considered worthy for the accolades they win or for the joy their work of art creates? I like this quote by Steve prefontaine -

"A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways as they’re capable of understanding" - Steve Prefontaine

Through all the tough times there is one person I really look up to after my parents and family. Joe prusaitis - my coach, dear friend and mentor. After every setback I would send him an email. They say you should never hide anything from a doctor or lawyer. I think you should add your coach to that list! I poured all my woes to him and he gave me such great support and advice. He patiently made changes to my schedule, advised changes in the workouts and approach to training. His words of wisdom shined through like a beacon - "All you have to do... is be true to yourself. Never compromise with your integrity. But adjust everything else... as need be." When I finished the 50 miler and gained in confidence, it truly felt that 'we' turned it around and I knew how happy Joe would be.

After the 50 mile run, I did a few more weekends of long training runs. There was one simple mantra I started saying in the last loop of the 50 miler which I didn't stop repeating even after the Ultra :) - "I got this one no matter what!". Typical training would involve two hard back-to-back runs for two weekends followed by a rest week and then the pattern repeats itself. During the weekdays there were a couple of runs at a faster speed and a lot of strength training. I realized that doing the core workouts made a huge difference to my stability and injury prevention. I followed the physio, Preeti's instructions for the core and other stretches and as long as I was regular I had no issues! I had to do a few night runs before my 24 hour attempt. Due to the dogs, safety, rash cab drivers and various other reasons, there were really not many options to run in the night in Bangalore. I ran around a 400m loop around my apartment complex. Sometimes for 8 hours. To go easy on my muscles I switched directions every lap and kept a count of 26 for a break everytime. I used to stash water and food at the security desk. Those guys know me well and when I am running, they take a nice nap :)

The 24 hour run at Bangalore Ultra was an unique experience. I have attempted the 24 hour run there for the last two years. The first year I did 156 km and the next year (during my bad patch) I had to drop out at about 125km after 20 odd hours. This year I went in with a lot more determination. Some folks tend to think the idea of running in an event like this is more of a show off. But, the truth is that I need the help of others. The sea of people in the morning gives so much energy and strength to see me to the finish. I really bank on it! E.g. when Sabine cheers you on by calling your name out on the course loudly you feel a real energy that pushes you. Kavitha did an amazing job by sticking with me for the entire 24 hours! She biked and ran for 24 hours herself. It was invaluable support and made a huge difference in keeping me focussed. I kept a steady pace through out and only when the sun came out, I started withering. Thankfully, the sapping heat of Kaveri trail marathon and the Bhatti lakes run kept me prepared for anything. I just kept pouring water and cooled myself with ice on my head. I had an amazing crew - Manisha, Ajay Ganesh, Rajiv, Meenakshi, Manjula and many others supported me through the 24 hours. It did mean a lot to have such good friends who would take care of you on the run. This support system and a huge family of runners and friends made a 160kms in 24 hours possible! I did my best 24 hour run ever! Just when I thought these were the toughest times, I had one of my best runs!

Date: 13-14 November, 2010
Start time: 5:00 P.M, 13th November, Saturday.
End time: 5:00 P.M, 14th November, Sunday.
Duration: 24 hours
Distance covered on foot: 160 kms

After the Ultra my body took quite a beating because of the extreme temperatures. I was on antibiotics to treat a heat boil. A couple of weeks later it was back to training. I was going to aim for a 48 hour run on foot! By now I was a bit fed up with running around my apartment. Thankfully I found wonderful training partners and a super supporter! Vinod and Vinay ran with me through many of the training runs. Anish faithfully supported me with supplies and once rode on his bike with the supplies! We celebrated Christmas and New year with awesome night runs! I followed the 10 hr and 8 hr night runs with 5 hour runs the next day. Having Vinod and Vinay run with me in the second half of my long runs helped a lot! I realized what a difference it makes to have someone run along with you. At times, you might only share silence, but there is this bond and support you share as runners on the same road!

"None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful." - Mother Teresa

Strides of Hope is an unique event. It shows how powerful the strength of a community can be when we put in efforts together. It has gone a long way in bringing together communities and people from varying backgrounds. I am really proud to be associated with such an event that inspires people to come out and exercise for a just cause. A lot of my time was dedicated in this period towards organization of the event itself. What started as a simple goal for an individual has now transformed into a true community event! We reached out to so many people and communities. My goal was to contribute as many miles as I could to the event on my feet. Of course, the idea was to do a 48 hour run continuously. This would end the season for me. I was on a high after the 24 hour Ultra run and was looking forward to it! There was great excitement and yet there was a sense of calm before I started. Maybe, because I felt that event was already a success before we started. We had managed to get a lot of people to come on board and support the cause. I also had already raised Rs 1.5 Lakhs for Asha the day I started the run.

The run started at Ulsoor and I was fortunate to have Jacob Boopalan and Sam for company! They are wonderful people who made the first few hours just whizz past with their engaging conversations. It is really amazing how as runners you tend to get along with people so very easily. It somehow brings out a positivity or a sort of goodness in you! Jacob gave his experiences and stories from Kenya. It inspired me a lot to keep running. I had wonderful puliyogare and curd rice cooked by mom and moved to EGL for the night. Jacob kept me company till 2:00 A.M and he wanted to stop after that. I felt quite sleepy then and had a quick coffee. In the next loop, I brushed my teeth, changed a shirt and washed up - It felt like I had just woke up ! It was great to see Ankush, a volunteer from Goldman Sachs who helped us by staying awake through the night! Chidambaram and Rahul Warrier also were kind souls who sacrificed their sleep for a crazy guy who was ambling through the night! Everytime I thought, I might be stuck alone, I got someone to give me company! Rahul suddenly decided to run a loop in his jeans with me. Ramesh Palani came out of no where and cycled along with me to Cubbon early in the morning. I reached Cubbon at around 5:30 A.M and by then I had already finished 80K! Then a sea of people inspired me to go on! It was a new day and I decided that I will take it as 12 hour sessions. Preeti and Chandra stuck with me for close to 5 hours! I slowly got to know that it was a Bandh on that day! Well in my mind it did not matter. In fact, I thought it was cool, because we will have less traffic inside cubbon park and I was right! But, I knew a few schools will drop out because of the difficulties involved. Later in the day, as I saw agitated crowds and hoards of policemen just outside cubbon and everywhere in Queen's park, I started getting worried! Honda San who was running along with me all morning was the least perturbed :) - But, I knew what a riot could mean. Thankfully, our folks at the AID station were sensible enough to not confront the cops or anyone else. After a point some of the cops wanted to meet me to see who is this guy eating fruits and trying to run for 48 hours!

At around 1 PM, my batteries started burning out. I realized that I was getting quite beaten up and mentally the idea of going beyond 24 hours started bogging me down. Though it was hard, I wanted to sensible about this. So, based on Chandra's advice and my own assessment, I decided to break the run. I also felt, if I were to take a break I should take a proper break and come back strong. So, I stopped at around 2 and went to Chandra's place for a nap. Chandra was like a mom! She took such good care of me through the run and I don't think I could have done so well without her! All this after she was spearheading the entire logistics and doing her own run. I am just fortunate to have great friends! I came back at 9:30 to EGL to be greeted by Bhasker, Nari and Honda San! We also had Mathew, Preeti, Vinay, Vinod, Anish, Abhi, Chidambaram - yes, the whole gang :) - It was like a party. I was surprised that though there was stiffness in the quads, calves etc. I still could keep the same rhythm and I just continued where I left! This was in large part thanks to Preeti's soft tissue work. She helped me get some relief and stretch effectively before I started the second 'leg'. I went on running till around 2 AM and then fatigue started to hit me. All the talk about Dance bars and what not between Manish and Mathew failed to keep me awake :) - So, I decided to take a quick 2 hour nap. I came back refreshed and it felt like a good night's sleep! At 5:00 A.M, I started again with Preeti keeping me company. Many a times people ask me what do I think when I run. I see running as a meditative experience. If you try closing your eyes and let your thoughts wander, it wanders a lot - sometimes it dwells on certain things close to your heart, sometimes you just don't think anything. For me, if I am running with friends and chatting, then my thoughts are in the conversation. At other times, its about people I love and people who love me. I also think about the efforts we work with, the children I meet every week. Sometimes, letting your thoughts wonder is good. It can bring context to your run. If you are going through a challenging phase, thoughts which reinforce your beliefs, thoughts that justify your run now can be very important! It is also very important to keep a positive frame of mind. Its not easy to keep negative thoughts and bitter feelings out of your head. You need to remove the 'junk' from your head. When you are really in the zone, everything falls into place! You are no longer thinking, the run and you have become one - you feel your breathing, your foot steps, you start enjoying the run. Its an amazing feeling and all I can say is that you keep at it as long as it lasts!

Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. - Eric Liddell, Chariots of Fire.

There were a couple of times in the morning when I thought I might have to take one more nap break, but, I told myself, I need to keep pushing it for later and the sheer adrenaline of finishing will take me through - it worked! Srini and Janardhan ran with me till Lal Bagh. Lal bagh was super crowded and we moved to K.R Park. Kanishka and Samuel gave me company along with Preeti in the last leg. I was getting excited and chatty, because I got more news on how good the event was and how well the cyclists had done. As the news came in about Ananya kids, the cyclists etc. it inspired me to keep at it! Samuel is a good friend from South africa and gave me great words of wisdom as we ran together. I only hope I get to run with him more often. Meghana gave me more stories about what happened at the AID stations. Anjana constantly amazes me with all the stuff she does! She cooked awesome food and was there till the finish!

We moved to Madhavan park for the last few laps. I found my dear grandmom, mom, dad and brother there. There were lot more friends and family as well! It was a festive atmosphere. I was pleasantly surprised to see Ashok Nath. It was nice of him to come there! Shashi from Ananya was there and it was inspiring to see all my friends come there for the finish! We trudged around the ground a few times and I had the privilege of finishing my longest ever run with my Grandmom!

Date: 21-23 January, 2010
Start time: 5:25 P.M, 21st January, Friday.
End time: 5:25 P.M, 23rd January, Sunday.
Duration: 38 hours (Two breaks for a total of 10 hours)
Distance covered on foot: 231.5 kms

You can learn more about the success of Strides of Hope from the press relase and a more detailed report available on the website - www.stridesofhope.in

Radha ganesan and her crew helped us through out by photographing and video taping the run. Many many volunteers helped take care of the AID stations, registration desk and collected donations as well. Lots and lots of runners came out to support by running along. Honda-san taught me humility, brotherhood and determination as he chugged km after km. He did his longest run himself and was for sure holding himself back to pace me! As many insensitive folks teased him on the road, Honda-san waved to them and smiled! Ya, he didn't understand what they said, but his smile silenced them!

I am sure I missed a lot more people who made this season possible for me. Its not intentional and I really do respect your support! I learned a lot, grew as a person and hope to make a difference as much as I can. All this couldn't have been possible without a team of people behind me. As Ultra runners and endurance athletes, its easy to get into a bubble, living in your own 'invincibility'. But, the season made me realize we are all vulnerable - I saw my fears, I lost to them a few times. Then, I also learned how my family, friends and everyone else - even people I don't know are behind me to fight these fears. It is this whole team that's behind me that gives me my feeling of invincibility. Without them, I am nothing. My passion lives, thanks to you all!

Runner's High

2009-03-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

“Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.” - Anonymous.

Its going to be almost a year after returning to India. I had suspected that time would coagulate and I would be lost in the whirlpool of life and work. On the contrary, it has been an eventful journey. Like peeping through the window on a train journey through the country, I have realized that most times the simple things are really the most beautiful rather than the more popular or imposing structures. To live in those moments that make you smile and spread it amongst others, though not a simple task only needs you to start with a smile :)

Running has meant a lot for me in the last few years and it takes me along on a wonderful journey still. Here is one of those moments in that journey - Runner's High

Team Asha in Bangalore.

2009-03-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

Its been an eventful running season with Team Asha in Bangalore. We had about 40-50 runners in all who ran for Team Asha and finished their target races. For the first time a Team Asha program trained and helped children from the projects we support to run different target races. 16 children in all participated in the program and successfully ran different races, starting from a 5K to a marathon. The program has moved on and we see running in different perspectives now. Personally, it has been a great learning experience for me. It was quite rewarding too! I wonder if I give enough to gain so much from this experience..

Here are a few links summarizing the events -

Team Asha Blog
Team Asha rocks KTM!!
Team Asha in Thulir
Team Asha in Ananya
Ananya and Team Asha
Team Asha in Auroville
Team Asha rocks Auroville!!
Thulir's experience

We look forward to taking the program forward and see it as a means of reaching out to the underprivileged in different ways - be it raising funds, training individuals, using running as a means of education and so on...

First ultra in India.

2008-11-17T09:08:00.000-08:00

“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” - Kahlil Gibran
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” - Edmund Hillary
“You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated.” - Edmund Hillary
"Courage has never been known to be a matter of muscle; it is a matter of the heart. The toughest muscle has been known to tremble before an imaginary fear. It was the heart that set the muscle trembling." - Gandhi

In different ways the above quotes mean the same to me. This post is my experience and a report on my first ultra marathon attempt after I moved back to India.

Why Running?
A couple of years back I wrote a post about what running means to me. Its been an education for me. I believe it has taught me a lot of things in life and can be quite transformational to a lot more folks. Moreover, the soul of these efforts is to fund raise for the underprivileged. This motivation has kept me going for the last 5 years now.

Why Ultra?
There is no easy answer for this. Many folks think its an 'ego trip' or something 'whacky'. Its quite the contrary - when a 'normal' person does it, I think running and the desire to attain one's physical or mental limits becomes normal. The intent is to take away the 'super human' aspect away from the idea of running! You don't need to be fit and thin to run. If you run and develop a passion for it, you will be what you want to be :) Nowadays, I would rather not talk a lot about it to people who most probably won't get it - because I tend to get expert medical advice on how I would die soon, if I carry on with this - some of the rather funny ones include - "My brain would shake a lot within my skull as I keep running and eventually, I will loose my brain cells and god knows what..", "By running on pavement, hard surface etc. etc. one day my knee caps would just pop out and I won't be able to walk", "I would be exercising my heart too much that I could die very young". So, my reply would be "Thanks! I would keep that in mind when I run next time."

Why fund raise for Asha?
This is an easy one. But, I still get social experts who leave me speechless with some rather sad quotes. For e.g. "The poor in India are poor because they are lazy.", "Discrimination was in the past. There is no caste or gender discrimination in India", "Our culture and way of life keeps us ahead of so many nations
", "The sensex is booming, the GDP is high. Talk about poverty etc. is only a crib and the work of pessimists". Now, I have written enough in this blog about how all the above statements are blind to reality. I have also written about how Asha works at the grassroots levels in various areas towards empowerment of the underprivileged and creating a systemic change. The many visits to various efforts have only convinced me and created hope to help make the change in a small way. Feel free to contact me if you have any doubts. Here are some of my recent visits.

The 24 hr run - until D-day
Ironically, after all the expert medical advice I get to quit running, the person who inspired me and came up with the goal to run for 24 hrs at the Bangalore Ultra was a Running doctor. Dr. Rajat had a crazy dream to do 200kms in 24 hrs. It got me excited immediately, but I was worried that 200km in 24 hrs was not my cup of tea. I decided to run all 24 hrs after I start with him. We trained together with night runs in an army campus (thanks to doc's friends!). We did a couple of 30k+ runs and a 50K in the night. We then ran real early in the morning, with dogs chasing, doc flying etc. for a 60k+ run. Followed that with a 42K marathon run in a couple of days. Then, both of us fell pretty sick around Diwali time. While, I recovered from the food poisoning in a week's time, Doc was not as lucky and couldn't recover in time from the viral fever, congestion and cold. So, even on Nov 15, as he came down to support us he was sick. He had dropped the plan for the 200K or 24 hr run. But, he was there to make it happen for me! We had planned quite well for this run - a tent, food, volunteers, pacing etc. - thanks to experience from Austin, my parents and wonderful friends.

So, before we started the run - we had food (chappathi rolls, puliyogare, curd rice, vegetable rice, fruits, biscuits, noodles, soups etc.), water (we filled water in our own drums), a small stove, our own running gear, lights for the tent and a dedicated set of volunteers! We set things up by 5:30 p.m as Doc and Anita reached the race location. We realized that the race starts at 6:30 A.M, so we relaxed for sometime and went to the start/finish line for our run at 6:30 P.M.

Loop1 - Time: 1hr 35mins, Break: 15mins
The initial plan was to go with a preset run/walk interval - this was designed for a really flat course. But, I didn't want to take a chance, and thought of the first lap as a survey lap to figure out strategy for the rest of the run. As Shumit, Doc and I started at 6:30 PM on Nov 15th, we had 5 cameras clicking at the same time - so for a moment under the flashlights it felt like we had a million folks cheering us :) - there were about 15 ppl (a good part was the crew) wishing us the best and a RFL race organizer announcing where bibs can be collected for the race next day :). The weather was chilly and nice. We figured in the first lap that there was quite a bit of bumps (about 3) along the way and lots of open area - we feared that we would all be roasted peanuts the next day! Though it was supposed to be a survey lap, we ended up being too fast (one of the fastest laps!)

Shumit, is one of the recent Team Asha runners. Its amazing how he decided to do a 100K with us. He had not done a marathon distance in a year and here he was! Doc and I suggested that he take it easy and look at things one lap at a time. I have not seen anything like this - but, I surely wouldn't recommend it to anyone! I hope the ultra bug gets him and he trains well next time around :)

Loop2 - Time : 1hr 36mins, Break: 12mins
We had a sumptuous dinner after the first loop. For all the folks who are not used to the 'Team Asha' ultra way of life :) - the elaborate dinner was a bit surprising - but, trust me whatever you do, your body needs what its used to. You can't just survive on candy bars, gel shots and sports drinks to do an ultra run. I have almost weaned off all the so called designed-for-running foods. I get the salts I need with some salt capsules (high concentration of minerals in a capsule), take plain water and eat normal home food, fruits etc. Second loop we stuck to the walk breaks at bumps as planned, yet we finished with a faster time again!

Gaurav had volunteered to bike with us as support all night through! He got his bike and came out with us every loop, making sure we didn't take any wrong turns or did anything funny. After his biking ultra marathon through the night, he went on to do a 50K run of his own!

Loop3 - Time: 1hr 36mins, Break: 14mins
We did an even loop again with the same walk breaks and amazingly did the same time as the last loop! I had a couple of Bananas and some oranges. I requested for some lime juice in my next stop. Folks at the tent were getting tired a bit. My mom had gone to the room to get some sleep, while my dad dozed in his chair. During the run, we discussed a lot of stuff - about sensitivity of races and courses to the runner community, what running means to each of us etc.

Balu is another Team Asha runner who trained for the ultra with us and would be doing the Auroville marathon as well. He was up all night supporting us and by the first few loops knew exactly what needs to be done. He was awesome as crew support! After all this, he came out and ran his race in the morning as well!

Loop 4 - Time: 1hr 46mins, Break: 9mins
By the 4th lap, it was kind of obvious that we were hitting a low. Halfway into the lap, all of us were feeling a bit groggy and tired. This was around mid night and probably past our usual sleep times. There was also a slight drizzle and thankfully it was not a downpour. Around this time, I had some serious concerns. I was getting an urge to urinate, but every time I did, there was a burning sensation and this kept happening too frequently. This distracted me and got me worried - had not happened to me before. Meanwhile, Doc had his issues and was looking pretty bad too.

Sudhir is another good friend who jumped up to volunteer with this effort. The plan was for him to bike with us all along like Gaurav. Unfortunately, his bike broke down and he pushed quite a long way to the race location. He was up all night and supported all of us. He also went out to run in the morning!

Loop 5 - Time: 1hr 51mins, Break: 17mins
The 5th lap was slow. Doc dropped out of this one. He felt like throwing up and just lay on the sleeping bag and he said he will take a loop's break. Shumit was not doing all that great, but still was in high spirits! So we set out and did our thing like always - walk the bumps and run the rest. By the end of the loop, Shumit wanted to walk most of the way back and I jogged to the tent. This was one of the slowest loops. Obviously, this was the most crucial stage in the night and we were fatigued. I had a shot of hot black coffee to wake me up.

Anita was an angel at the Asha tent. She patiently listened to what we needed and made sure we got it whenever we wanted it. She took a few sleeping breaks and with a rather sleepless night still finished her 25K run in the morning! I feel bad that I didn't help her with her running as much as she did with mine.

Loop 6 - Time: 1hr 45mins, Break: 15mins
We had completed 62.5kms through 9.5 hrs of running by the end of loop 5. Shumit was feeling pretty groggy and fatigued. He decided to take a break and work on his legs a bit - massage with bio-freeze etc. Meanwhile, the short nap woke Doc up and he was his usual self again! We did a faster clip and by the end of lap 6 we shot back to a 1:45 lap time. My coach joe mentioned that, its quite possible to face ups and downs in the run and I had to play it according to my body and situation. He was right and just when I thought things might get screwed up, it got better. I had controlled the urge to pee for a while, drank lots of water with more salt intake. After a while, the burning sensation was gone and my urination turned normal.

Around the middle of this loop a couple came in the bike and cheered us along! It took me a few minutes to realize it was Sriram and Aarthi! Aarthi spent all the time from early in the morning 4:00 AM till late evening helping out all the runners. Her enthusiastic cheers every time we came in, woke us all up and made the break lively!

Loop 7 - Time: 1hr 35mins, Break: 15mins
Its an amazing feeling to have the sun rise and the day break when you are in the middle of a run through the night. I don't think I will ever be able to express it well enough. Time and again I have found that it brings amazing energy and your body and senses literally wake up. It happened to all three of us as we went on our 7th loop. We did our fastest lap time again! By the time we were returning back from the half way point, we saw the 50K runners coming in with all their energy - just the sight of all the runners pushed us and I had to pull back Doc a few times :).

Sahrika, Preethi and Vish work for Back to Fitness (B2F) and are part of Doc's team. These folks did an amazing job volunteering for us. We were lucky to have them at our tent. What they did meant a lot to all the runners at the event. My mom mentioned that they couldn't even have lunch and they went on and on. Special thanks to B2F - you folks are simply amazing!! You mean the world to the runner community and that's what matters most!

Loop 8 - Time: 1hr 43mins, Break: 11mins
In this loop I had a kind of a stabbing pain right under my rib cages. First, I though this was side-stitches (due to running too fast and the lungs can't get enough oxygen), but this pain was actually from a muscle and I felt it with every step I took. It was not too bad to make me stop, but was something new. As we reached the 4Km point, Shantanu joined us - he literally switched directions, took his bib off (so as to not confuse anyone) and ran with us! Moreover, he gathered a gang around us by needling folks to join us :) - Soon, we had a gandhi gang as Shantanu liked to call it! He made the morning and afternoon entertaining for all of us! It was an amazing feeling to find folks you have not met, run with you and egg you on. I was not in a shape to carry a lively chat, but this support meant a lot to me!

Shantanu is another Team Asha runner that many folks don't know about. He trained on his own and couldn't make it to many of the runs with us. He did more than the 25K he had planned, proudly wore the Asha T-shirt and brought me home on the next two laps!

Loop 9 - Time: 1hr 47mins, Break: 9mins
The weather was actually pleasant and wonderful for running. The sun never came out although it threatened to, hiding behind the clouds that were too coy to rain. I couldn't have asked for better weather and as I saw the Team Asha shirts go by - Siva, Santosh, Balu, Sridhar and others, it brought a smile and an encouragement that's again not easy to explain. It might sound cliche' - but, I really do derive inspiration from other runners when I realize what they have been through - training, injuries etc., yet they come out to achieve their goal. Shantanu was still sticking along. He was hoping for the good food at the tent that was the buzz on the entire running course. It made me hungry too!

I am still not sure how I get away with things I do when it comes to my parents. They seem to have taken the role of 'running parents' with ease! In Austin, my mom made the trail runners in Texas crazy about good indian food. In their short trip to Austin, they knew more runners and became friends with so many more than I did in the 4 years I was there! Back in bangalore, they did it again - this time offering all the food and affection to the running community here!

Loop 10 - Time: 1hr 51mins, Break: 10mins
Shantanu was done after Loop 9. I had a quick lunch of puliyogare, curd rice, water melon and lime juice with black salt. I was looking for someone to run with me on the mid-afternoon loop. I was almost desparate as I yelled out in the tent - "Can someone please run with me on this loop?" - Nischal called out from behind me and said she is going out right now and was up for it! She was being treated by the physio at the tent and looked like she was in pain. We trudged along for the 10th loop. By this time, I was quite sure that my loop times was not giving me enough leeway to finish a 13th loop. We decided to discuss a few nasty things about doc behind his back :) We also saw Pratibha go past us with all smiles. I asked her if it was her final loop and she nodded her head - we thought she was really strong for her final loop - it did turn out that she was strong enough to come 2nd in the girls' 50K!!

Nischal is one of the ultra runners that almost everyone on the course knows! When I found that Nischal wanted to do the same thing as me - i.e. finish 2 more loops after this one and go as far as possible in the 3rd, we decided to stick along. Nischal had a bad problem with her foot. It was swollen and she was dragging herself along in pain. Around the last 2 miles in the loop, I decided to run along as Suresh gave her company. She really inspired me with her all out effort this year!

Loop 11 - Time: 1hr 48mins Break: 11mins
125 kms down and 4hrs 45mins left. While, a 160km run would have been awesome, there was also a back-up goal that Doc and I had discussed months back :). I was in with a chance for it, if I could finish the 11th and 12th in a fair enough time. So, I had to find fresh legs to help me out! Sriram volunteered to help. He was worried if he would be able to keep pace with me. I told him that should be the least of his worries. We set out on the 11th and chatting with Sriram took my mind of the times etc. As most folks were finishing their runs, they check on where I was with regards to the distance. Towards the end, when there was just 2kms left( a nice straight downhill and a flat stretch) I picked up pace and started off.

Sriram is a veteran Team Asha runner, a good friend and a colleague at work. He was amazing with his support. He had finished his 25K in the morning and came out this loop to help me out. If not for his company, it would have been very easy for me to give up and do a long walk.

Loop 12 - Time: 1hr 43mins, Break: 3mins
I was like a kid waiting to see Santa claus when I came inside the Asha tent after the 11th loop. There was Doc, ready to go with me for the last stretch! He looked fresh and raring to go. I asked him if I can do it, he said "Of course, we are doing it!". He was wearing a bib which said "Screw it, do it" - which of course had many meaning for many folks :). We set out for the final few hours. I had about 2 hrs and 45 mins left. Doc, pulled me along at a brisk pace and I had done a fast loop again. We discussed how best to handle the final stretch. We estimated about an hour in our hand when we finished the 12th loop.

Doc and me decided that no one is officially recording our times (other than vols at Asha tent) and this won't even count as any official race - because RFL never recognized it. AID stations were winding up and there was no point going beyond the 3K mark on the course. We decided to do 2K repeats - go to the 1km point and return back until 6:30 - I estimated that I will be able to do 3 of those in that time.

Loose change - Time: 47mins, Break: 0mins
As we came into the tent after the 12th loop. I had done 150kms. Folks were expecting me to either stop or really go after the 160km mark. Then we announced to the rest of the team why we are doing this - 153K is the longest distance run in 24 hours by an Indian on a surface other than a treadmill. (CORRECTION: We later verified that this was not true - Arun Bharadwaj has done longer distances on road - longest being 195 kms within 24 hrs. Apologies for the oversight) We requested Balu to get the clock and the note pad and wait at the finish. We wanted him to give times as we crossed the turn around point each time. The first 2k was in about 17 mins. I knew I was close to the mark. Doc, was relentless, he wouldn't let me walk more than what we decided. We did a fast 2nd repeat - I really pushed it and when we clocked in at 6:01 P.M, we had 154K! I was elated as I went out for the third 2K repeat.

So, finally by 6:18 P.M I was close to 156K - I was not in a mood to go further, because I knew I can't do another 2k repeat in that time and I wanted to finish with our folks around. I sprinted to the finish and jumped up in glee in front of the team that made it possible for me! It took me a while to realize that it was over and then I was incessantly chatting and eating people's heads off!

Nothing official about it
Firstly, this was a team effort from the beginning. If any of the folks I mentioned in each of those laps were not there, I doubt if this run would have been possible for me.

Now, there was nothing official about this whole effort. It was a purely self organized run that has no real proof for supporting a claim. Then what was the point of going after a record? Well the quotes at the top of this write-up are really cool - Lets say I like the third one :). My motivation has always been the efforts that Asha supports. I believe once we are truly convinced about our motivation, there is very little that can come between us and our goals.

(CORRECTION: We later verified that this was not true - Arun Bharadwaj has done longer distances on road - longest being 195 kms within 24 hrs. Apologies for the oversight - Hope I didn't offend anyone's sensitivities with such a claim on this blog. Arun's efforts are amazing and has to be put in the right light. Please feel free to contact me if you need more information. No official body, publication or any magazine/newspaper has claimed any specific record for this effort. Only my blog posts states the idea of a record.

But, as always I believe records don't mean much and every record is meant to be broken someday or the other. I am sure we all want it to happen :) )

Running is one sport that is meant for anyone. I sincerely believe it should be made affordable and achievable for everyone. It has the potential to increase confidence and self esteem in folks. Of course, like any rules or dogma, records are meant to be broken and only when more and more folks come out to run, can we see more records being broken. The real finish line for me was to derive meaning out of this effort and reach out to folks with the cause we are all striving for. I don't think an official commendation, my name on a piece of paper etc. matters as much. This effort was not about me, it was about the change we were trying to bring in many lives - through Asha's efforts and through running.

As we made our way back home, I got a phone call from one of the kids at Thulir (Background here). He patiently asked me for this week's schedule. There would be four kids from Thulir who would be training for the Auroville half and full marathon.

I sincerely request you all to support Team Asha's efforts. You could donate to us through my runner page. My family and I hope to fundraise at least Rs 3lakhs through our efforts this year.

Go Team Asha!

Back home

2008-11-13T19:25:00.000-08:00

As a kid, I used to be quite a pain for my teachers. I was alright till my teens (Guess, I could take it until then :) ). But, after that it somehow felt like the teachers were always waging a war against us. Even after all that, I never would forget one particular English class, when our teacher explained the phrase "rising like a phoenix". It fascinated me - not the mythology and the creativity in the story - but, what it signified for me. It actually made me develop an interest in English and literature to some extent.

Alrite!..after that attempt at a cool opening line, here is the news - Its been more than a year since I posted on this blog and its almost turned into ashes :) - So, after kicking my butt umpteen number of times, I finally sat down to type this post. As with tradition, there will be a flurry of posts now :)

Lets start with current status - I am feeling great, more grown up, more calm (hard to believe, but shit happens!) and of course, a lot more bald! So, that's significant progress in a year already! I am now based in Bangalore, India with the same company I used to work for in Austin. Work is no different, except that I have to travel a bit more - I have done my bit in promoting public transport by traveling to work by the Metropolitan bus service and not owning a vehicle (I do have the rickety cycle from Austin though!). Mom, dad and rest of the family and friends are happy I am back! It sure does feel like home!

..and this makes it home :)

Trips to various grassroots efforts
Running in India

Trips to various grassroots efforts

2008-11-13T19:24:00.000-08:00

Coming back home was important for many reasons. One of the main ones was the opportunity and the interest in spending time with grassroots efforts here. This is an exciting phase in my life. I could actually travel long and spend more time at the places I want to be at! I reached India in March 2008 and had to join work only in mid April. I made use of that time to do some long visits. After joining work, I still traveled to places around Bangalore. Here are some of the efforts I visited and accounts about my experiences as well.

Bharathi Trust is a non-profit development organisation working for the cause of upliftment and empowerment of Irula Tribal communities living in the interior pockets and coastal areas of Tamilnadu. It has been conducting a number of development programmes such as Sangam formation, awareness camps, liason work with government for obtaining development schemes, day care services, motivation centres for eradication of child labour, housing schemes, Tsunami relief and rehab etc.

Here is an account of my experiences in cuddalore

Here is an account of my experiences in Thiruvallur

I took a trip around Uttar pradesh to visit efforts that was supported by Asha Austin and we also attended a conference on water rights. Nandlal and his colleagues founded Lok Samiti in Rajatalab. Lok Samiti has spread to 25 villages today and the various Lok Samiti groups focus on educating the people about their rights, raising awareness about problems specific to each village. They believe that to bring about economic, social and political change, groups like Lok Samiti need to act as watchdogs, demanding that their elected officials truly represent them. Lok Samiti raises awareness of social issues through the street play team, Kala Manch. Lok Samiti has also played an important role in the creation of 35 self-help groups for women.

Here is an account of my experiences in Uttar Pradesh

My trip to Asha Samajik Vidyalaya in Uttar Pradesh

My trip to Bharathiya Jan Seva Ashram in Uttar Pradesh

The plan was to go to Bhopal and Rajasthan to visit a lot more efforts after my trip to Uttar Pradesh, but I fell sick with food poisoning and had to cut it short. So, I returned home from Uttar Pradesh. I still did go visit Bharathi trust efforts and Banyan in Chennai.

Back in Bangalore we visited a lot of projects in and around Bangalore. We have even volunteered at these organizations.

Shristi Special Academy - As part of the community affairs team, we have been able to convince my company to procure goods made by the kids at Shristi! This is quite an achievement (but, it most probably happened because the goods in itself were great in quality and price - not because of a socially responsible action ;) ..)
Here is an account of my experiences there

Prasanna Jyothi is an orphanage supported by Asha Austin and is based close to my home. I have been visiting the kids regularly and we even went on a trip to the Vishwesharaya Science Musueum. Here is a brief account of my visits there a few months back.

Timbaktu is an organization that Asha has worked with before. We made a visit first to understand their organic farming initiatives and later we went to review a fellowship we support for Mutyallappa, a sarpanch in the village of Mushtikovila. Here is an account of my experiences there.

Thulir is an Education Resource Center for children and young adults at Sittilingi which is a tribal village in Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu. It's a Tamil word that means, "tender shoot", also "to sprout". Asha Princeton has been actively supporting the Thulir effort since 2004 through Fellowships for Anu and Krishna, who started with the objective of establishing an Education Resource Centre in a remote adivasi(tribal) area, to supplement the education they receive from Government schools and to work with the children who drop out from schools. Currently, Asha Bangalore also supports the running expenses of the resource center. Here is a brief report on our trip as Team Asha.

We also visited Sita School. Our interaction with Jane Sahi of the school was enlightening. Asha Bangalore will be selling calendars made by the kids at Sita School this year.

Asha Bangalore works with a couple of government Schools at Chandranagar layout and Kumarsamy Layout (both these places are walkable distances from my home). I help out with the salary disbursals for the teachers supported by Asha at the school and we also have a consistent volunteering effort - every Saturday at the school.

I also made a trip to Gandhigram to learn more about their efforts. After my ultra run this novemeber, I will set out to complete the unfinished trip up north - I plan to visit a number of efforts at Bhopal and Rajasthan. If you would like to know more about any of the efforts supported by Asha Bangalore or any of the efforts I visited or I am associated with, please do let me know. I have learned a lot from these trips, hope to learn more and help these efforts in any way possible.

Running in India

2008-11-13T19:23:00.000-08:00

When I set foot in India, there were big questions on my other passion - running. I was not sure if I would find space and time to indulge in it. Its been an exciting four years until then. Looks like you will find a way out if you really want something :) - So, in this fifth year with running and Team Asha not a lot has changed - I am back home! We had a nice turnout for Team Asha , Bangalore this year. I am helping the team with coaching aspects. Running in India and especially long distance running is not as popular as in the US. But, every year sees a lot more people get their shoes out and ditch a sedentary life.

We have a team blog where we post our running experiences and also our trips to Asha supported efforts. One really nice experience was our trip to Thulir. It was an amazing learning experience. One nice experience we had was interacting with the children and getting them to run with us. Here is my take on what Running means to education -

I personally believe that long distance running teaches a lot, in terms of foundational attitudes in life such as patience, learning from mistakes, being determined and spirited in spite of challenges, learning how to organize, team work and to understand how sometimes your mind and passion can overcome physical tiredness. But, the most important aspect is that running increases confidence and self esteem. In many schools in the rural area of Dharmapuri, the educational system sends the wrong message to the children – that they are dumb, and cannot achieve. The formal education system is breaking down the confidence of these children. The key is to help the children realize that they have skills and talent in many aspects. Running could provide an exposure to discover latent talents. We believe that Team Asha can help the kids with some basics on running, an activity which most of the children would be able to do, and help them discover their potential. It brings confidence and self esteem that will reflect in the other aspects of their lives too.

This initiative would take Team Asha beyond just running and into the realms where running in itself becomes education.

We had one of the kids from Thulir train remotely and finish a marathon with us! We would call him every week, go over schedules and any questions etc. When in Thulir, I ran with him and went over many basics. The kid has enormous potential and passion. The kid was actually on course to get a placing in the run! He had a wonderful time and is now interested in getting more kids to train with him. I have been in touch with him and we are all hoping to make it a constructive effort to get more kids do what they like.

The running bug bit my family too and they are into this big time now! My parents, brother and sis-in-law completed their first half marathon in style and are planning to do one more in February. Now, I don't have any concerns about my family being worried for my sanity and health :) - They are crazy too!

Team Asha meanwhile is going places. All our runners put on an amazing show under really gruesome weather conditions at the Kaveri Trail Marathon. Here is a brief account of what they did.

This weekend many folks in the team will show up for the Bangalore Ultra. I am sure they will put up another amazing performance and would do their bit to help the underprivileged in India.

This weekend, I will be doing a 24 hour run at the Bangalore Ultra to raise funds for Asha Bangalore. My family - mom, dad, bro, sis-in-law and me have a team page and we plan to raise at least Rs.3 Lakhs ($7,000) through our efforts this year. Please do DONATE generously.

The circus hits town.

2007-11-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

About one day left for the run. I just finished preparing the drop bags. My parents were amazed at the amount of stuff I think I would need and would eat!

I take a breather before getting much needed sleep for the longest run of my life so far. I am thinking how much calories I would need. My coach Joe mentioned that in such ultra distances it finally comes down to eating right and eating well. So, I think about where and when I will have liquid calories. Where will I eat fruits? when will I have the 'pulav' ? This is complicated stuff. Fuel/food is the most important aspect that will determine how I do in this run.

I then think about relaxing..browse websites..ok..lets see...whats this - 'Invisible half' ?
In a country where the stock markets see unbelievable growth rates, one child in every two goes hungry.

Hmm...how firvolous can I be! For one day I am worried about getting food in at the right time. There are kids out there who wake up every day hoping for at least one meal that day. Here I am worried about running, about eating right etc. and there are people out there dying out of hunger. My concerns or worries about 'me' melt away. But, my heart becomes heavy in realizing that how helpless millions of people in India are. You might call it romantic idealism, foolish dreams or a plain waste of efforts. But, I think the underlying truth is we run to grab attention with the hope of diverting it to much needed awareness about socio-economic issues and asha's efforts.

As the touring circus hits town this weekend, please take time to read about India's underprivileged ...

Poverty and mainstream media
Indexing Humanity
The breakdown of the Public Distribution System in India

Asha Austin supports a number of projects which work towards equipping communities with skills to earn a living of their own. In certain other communities our project partners strive to use the 'Right to information' act to enforce the implementation of government policy (such as NREGA - National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) for poverty alleviation.

Prajnalaya - vocational skills to promote employment opportunities

Banyan - vocational skills to promote employment opportunities

Shristi - vocational skills to promote employment opportunities

Siddamma and Bharathi Trust - Social activism to empower communities to demand correct implementation of government policies

Nandlal and Lok Samiti - Social activism to empower communities to demand correct implementation of government policies

10 days to 100 miles.

2007-10-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

So, here it is - the culmination of a long tiring season. We have been training through the summer and fall for this one - Our first 100 mile run.

Preparations are under way. This will be a self supported run with no AID station volunteers. Which means we will prepare our own 'drop-bags' at different locations to keep stuff we would need in the run.

Bandera is a nice little texan town. Its got quite a bunch of hills in the Hill country state park. Thats where our run will be at. It will be four 25 mile loops. The cut-off is 36 hours. We would be running through the night to get within the cut-off for the course.

The longest we have run - by time : 24 hours at grand canyon, by distance : 50 miles.

So, this is going to be a first in many ways. But, we will have friends and family to support us. We have reserved a Cabin and are planning stoves, tents etc. at the campsite. Thanks to wonderful friends we are even having pacers. Well, its our chance to get pampered and we plan on making full use of it!

Irulas, Bharathi Trust and Siddamma.

2007-10-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

I have been fortunate to learn about this effort over the last few years. Every day I am amazed with the efforts and the work Bharathi trust undertakes. The unflinching determination and commitment inspires me to contribute whatever I can.

Siddamma is a grassroots volunteer with whom I have interacted a lot and been in constant touch over the last year. She was also in the US recently. Amongst other recognitions, she has received the Outlook award from Sonia gandhi and US state dept recognition as one of the 'Heroes in ending modern day slavery' for her work in releasing bonded irula laborers in Red hills, Tamilnadu.

Here is her story

Here is a talk given by her in Seattle.

BBC article on her work.

Bharathi Trust is the organization started by Siddamma and has been supported by Asha for long. The many aspects of Asha's work with Bharathi Trust and Siddamma are captured at
Irulas
Fellowship and Resource Center
Freedom
Tsunami

Gnanodaya

2007-10-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

This is a residential school started by an association of Leprosy affected people. The motivation of the school is to provide opportunities to the Leprosy affected and their families. The integrated school also has children from underpriviliged backgrounds. The school while providing opportunities for the families of the leprosy affected, fights the stigma and misconceptions associated with the disease. Asha supports some of the running expenses of the school.

Leprosy - Facts

Leprosy in India -
http://mohfw.nic.in/kk/95/ik/95ik0101.htm
http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/aug/hlt-leprosy.htm

Mrs.Padma Venkatraman is an ardent social worker. She has been volunteering to help and sustain colonies for the lerosy affected from 1989. She had worked with colonies in Delhi. She is the contact person for this project and has been working with the St. John's Leprosy Patients Rehablitation Association for a while now.

Here is a BBC Article

Asha's Gnanodaya project page

The role of education in the struggle for rights.

2007-10-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had a wonderful event 'Show of Hope' in Austin. The idea of the event was to get the community of Austin to come out and express the different talents they have. We have videos that we played at the event. They give a general idea about Asha and the event.

As part of the 'Writing' category I had submitted an entry. The judge did not award me a prize, But I did have fun participating in it! Here is my entry that most folks were asking me about -

The Role of Education in the Struggle for Rights

I sat down to write on this topic and realized that I actually have a lot of questions. I might not be able to go far without getting those answered. The first step was to understand what education meant in a universal sense.
Webster defines education as the process of educating or teaching. Further, educate is defined as “to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of”. If we try to further define the words ‘knowledge’, ‘skill’ or ‘character’, the meaning of education gets more debatable. In fact, the meaning of education is probably one of the most controversial and time old problem we have had. Socrates believed that education was about drawing out what was already within a student. Based on this definition, one would call learning to use a spoon to have soup the last thing that would count as education. But, what is education might depend on who chooses to define it, in what context its imparted, the teacher and the student. Lets just change one variable in our example - the student. If the student were autistic and aged 28, learning the basic skill of having soup with a spoon could actually build confidence and promote a cascading effect on cognitive development. So, isn’t the exercise bringing out what the student already had within? Universal education might be a goal for many nations, but are we really sure if the meaning of education is universal? Is education actually defined by the complex beliefs arising out of values and experiences of the person defining it? What are the chances that a professor in IIT Kanpur, a high school teacher in a government school in Kanpur and an old farmer in a nearby village in India give the same answer for their perception on education?

Thankfully, history has been a wonderful teacher and I didn’t have much problem understanding what struggle for ‘rights’ meant. Almost every day, many souls of the human race have made it pretty clear that not all humans are really human after all. They call it ‘culture’, ‘way of life’ or just ‘law of nature’ – some in the human race deserve what they get because they were just born that way or born in the ‘wrong’ place or family. For every form of inhuman discrimination that exists, history has shown that a call for emancipation of the suppressed follows. My next hurdle was in understanding what role education plays in emancipation. The best way I could understand this was to actually work through some real life issues related to discrimination.

In every aspect of life and work, there passes hardly a day without the bias for gender. So ingrained is this bias that it has seeped into the very essence of how 'man' communicates. But, to address our goals, I would like to take a more straightforward example of 'dowry' in India - a practice of giving money and gifts to a bridegroom for accepting a bride. This basically reinforces the prejudice that being a woman is a liability and the 'owner' needs an incentive. As the practice grew stronger and prejudices thrived through the years, the sex of the child being born started determining whether the child would live or not. When the practice of female infanticide driven by pressures of dowry came to light, mainstream media was quick in pointing out the 'backwardness' and 'lack of education' in the rural masses. Very true indeed. But, do we proclaim that doctors, engineers and many professionals from various walks of life are as uneducated and backward when they claim dowry from their brides ? Does holding a doctoral degree necessarily mean education, leave alone 'higher education' ? Female infanticide is a thriving business for a multitude of doctors in the cities. Selective abortion by scanning for girl children is after all a more 'educated' approach!

Martin Luther King Jr. on the 'Purpose of Education' mentioned "We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half truths, prejudices, and propaganda. A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction". Rosa Parks' education played a critical role in her decision to not give up her seat on December 1, 1955. Makes me think if it was education for the world through this simple act of defiance. Well, at least to some of the world. Racism and bias based on color still runs through the very fabric of society. For instance, consider the much touted 'Fair and Lovely' cream or the more recent 'Fair and Handsome' product made in the state of the art 'scientifically advanced' labs. If we were to ask the superstars in the advertisement of these products about their views on racism, I am sure we would have such a passionate response on how unfair and backward the entire notion is. They would further stress on how important it is to 'educate' the masses on these inhuman biases. Then, it would be time for their photo shoot and time to get back to displaying the million dollar 'fair' faces to proclaim that being light skinned is the way to be successful and attractive.

One can spot a woman or a person's skin color in a crowd and discriminate against them blatantly. But, just looking 'normal' or being 'normal' doesn't always save one from prejudices. Its amazing how sometimes discrimination can occur in such fine granularity that even the thought that we all might look, eat and live alike doesn't matter. One can be condemned to a life of subhuman existence just by virtue of her or his birth. Welcome to caste based discrimination in India. Caste is described by Oxford Dictionary as "each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society, distinguished by relative degrees of ritual purity or pollution and of social status" and as "any exclusive social class". So, rigid and ingrained is this system of calculated discrimination that changing religions does not save you from being spotted as an inferior being. Over centuries, generations of dalits and lower caste communities have been systemically sidelined. Even touching someone from the lowest caste or coming in close contact was considered highly 'impure'. Horror stories abound - not just in the hundreds of years of history but, every day till date. Again, the idea that such a systemic discrimination occurs is very easily ignored or refuted in present day India. We are oblivious to its endearing presence in every aspect of our life. Marriages happen only within one's own caste in the garb of 'preserving one's culture' or 'compatibility'. The judiciary system, the administrative system or the 'creamy' strata of society seldom sees a deluge of the suppressed castes. Yet, our young 'educated' minds striving to make a world of their own contend that 'merit' and not affirmative action should decide opportunities for the oppressed. So called 'struggles' occur to reclaim respect for 'merit'. What is 'merit' ? Do we believe that people who are born in a higher caste are 'meritorious' by birth ? Can enjoying the unspoken privileges of being in the 'upper caste' and higher echelons of society give one the right to talk about merit? Stereotyping and generalizing people from a particular caste comes rather naturally to many folks in society. Isn't attributing lower 'merit' to the underprivileged caste implicitly espousing stereotypes ?

The concept of discrimination probably is more universal than the meaning of education. While I only started with a few examples, there is much more to discrimination. The disabled seldom get the rights they deserve. A curable and controllable mental ailment might still disenfranchise an individual. The rights of indigenous tribes and local inhabitants are gone with the dust when huge projects displace them. Is it surprising that these projects almost always make communities which own the least sacrifice all that they have for the greater common good? Who then is further in the process of education ? The indigenous tribes who learned to live in tandem with nature over centuries in a sustainable way or the intellectuals who wanted to meddle with nature to only fail every time.

As I tried understanding what 'struggle for rights' meant, I couldn't help but notice that almost always any change in the socio-economic situation of a deprived community is in fact a 'struggle'. Almost always, it boils down to basic necessities that most of us reading this piece are privileged to have. So, in essence bringing about a socio-economic change is a struggle for rights. Even so called benign acts of providing basic schooling for underprivileged children is a struggle. Whatever happened to the 'Right to Education' in India ? So, I still ponder at the end of this piece on what education means and more specifically how it influences emancipation.

Grand Canyon

2007-10-05T05:43:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I have written a report on a run. But, this one was special. Like my coach Joe says "There is something about these ultra distances. People think differently and even appreciate things they usually don't". Here is my appreciation for the world around me. I have made an attempt to give you not one but two stories. There is no comparison between the two and thus this write up in no way is intended to trivialize the amazing effort thats NOT about Grand Canyon.

What lies beneath
Starting in the dark
The Sun rises
Survival
Going back home
Memories and more

What lies beneath

2007-10-05T03:57:00.000-07:00

The Grand Canyon is located in Arizona and stretches to Colorado. Its 18 miles wide (By accessible trails its between 20-24 miles). At average the Canyon is 5,000 ft deep. The Grand Canyon is 227 miles long. The Canyon takes up 1,218,376 acres of land. The Canyon is on a tilt the north rim is 1200 ft higher than the south rim. At the deepest part of the canyon is 6,000 vertical feet. The Canyon’s walls are made up of rocks, cliffs, hills, and valleys. The Grand Canyon rocks were formed millions of years ago. Three thousand to four thousand years ago desert archaic people lived in the Grand Canyon. The Pueblo Indians built adobe house around the canyon and made animal figures out of one twig. The Hopi Indians believe that when they die, their spirits emerge here and rest here. There are 75 different species of mammal, 50 species of reptiles, 25 species of fish, and 300 species of bird living in the Canyon.The south rim of the Grand Canyon is a grayish green forest. Inside the Grand Canyon is 30 degrees higher then on rim. Rain comes suddenly in violent storms (usually in late summer).

Chennai is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. Its one of the four metropolitan cities in India. What lies beneath the urban sprawl, the vibrant economy, the cultural potpourri and the long history of the city is something thats invisible. Battered, bruised, brutally abused, both physically and sexually, ignored by everybody, eating out of garbage bins and with no place to call home. This is the situation of homeless women with mental illness. World Health Organisation [WHO] estimates that 1% of citizens of all countries are mentally ill. National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences [NIMHANS], Bangalore says that one woman in six and one man in nine will be in need of help. While men in India tend to be cared for better, women are set adrift. Many of them drift away from as far as northernmost India to a land that doesn't speak their language. They get on a bus or a train and being ignored by the sea of people, they arrive wherever the train takes them. In Chennai they are invariably found within a two kilometer radius of the Central station. They could be brushed away as pan handlers, demented drug addicts or just ridiculed for their appearance and behavior. In most cases they just blend into the background. Thousands walk by to home, to work or to do groceries every day and yet the underprivileged don't exist. This is as much a story in chennai as the story of many of the mentally ill destitute who are neglected and abused in many cities around the world.

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Starting in the dark

2007-10-05T03:56:00.001-07:00

I had arrived at Williams, a quaint little town 1 hour from the Grand Canyon on Friday. My parents are visiting the US and this gave me time to take them around. It was a lot of fun with an 'old west' set up, the famous 'Route 66', The Grand Canyon Railway and other such interesting places. Around the evening was when the rest of the gang (Arun, Padma, Ganesh, Gaurav and Vinod) arrived. On their way to Williams they came to this 'brilliant' conclusion that instead of getting a few hours sleep in the night, we should start right away after dinner. I kind of reluctantly agreed even as my clueless parents were wondering what happened to the son they once knew! After some wonderful pasta, rice, fruits and a hearty dinner we left for the Grand Canyon. It was windy and cold at the top. We were all wrapped up. By the time we found the restrooms, the trail head and finally started it was 1:00 AM on Saturday morning. We ran down the bright angel trail through Indian gardens. Within less than a mile into the run we started feeling warm and the coat, full sleeves, gloves etc. became a burden. We were quite chatty through the run. We even got reprimanded by an old lady near a campsite for being way too loud. But we were quite slow through all this. We reached the Colorado river only after 4 odd hours (for about 9.6 miles). The roar of the river under a bright full moon night was surreal! The moonlight shined on the walls of the canyon waking me up to the wonders of this creation. I ran for a while without the lamps and it almost felt like I was a passive observer, letting the world be without disturbing a thing. Then we came to the bridge. We had to cross the Colorado to get to 'Phantom Ranch' on the other side. Heights are not my thing and I felt the bridge was swaying for a long time. I just held on to the sides and walked slowly.

In 1993, one woman was dashing into the traffic on Haddows Road Chennai. She was obviously mentally ill, half-naked with matted hair. She was an eye-opener to India's nowhere people. The nobodies that no one wanted to acknowledge existed. It started as a kneejerk response to a responsibility that no one was willing to take up. As people either gawked or walked on, two young women hugged her and took her to their college nearby. They cleaned her, clothed her and calmed her down. When they tried to find an organisation in the city that would take the woman in, they realised how hard it was to find one. It was a defining moment. A moment when Vaishnavi and Vandana decided they can't wait any longer. The two close friends were both 22 years old then -- they had made a pact with each other while still in their teens, that they would qualify as professional social workers and dedicate themselves to service. They now knew they had to act right away. 'The Banyan' --their vehicle of expression-- was soon registered as a Trust. When the girls went around looking for a home to house mentally deranged women people nervously closed their doors. Finally a serving officer in the armed forces let out his house. And the two young ladies moved in full time. At 'Adaikalam' ('Refuge') Vaishnavi and Vandana soon had 9 inmates --and growing-- but little money. There is a moving picture of the two young girls in the Indian Express of Aug 15, 1994. They had 'Gruff' their Doberman plus hope that help would come in. But life was hard.

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The Sun rises

2007-10-05T03:55:00.001-07:00

After an extended break at Phantom ranch where we dropped off some stuff to reduce the load we were carrying, we headed out to 'Cottonwood' on the North Kaibab Trail. We were carrying a lot of food - fruits, pulihara (tamarind mixed rice), sandwhiches, energy bars, trail mix etc. We also had emergency stuff and gear with us. So, the camelback was quite heavy. Padma was having some trouble holding food and some of us were tiring out from sleep deprivation. We took some time to recoup and sufficiently woken up from sleep we headed out at around 6 AM from Phantom ranch. This was a slow incline that was supposed to take long. We kind of ran any flat or downhill sections we chanced upon. Then the most wonderful thing happened. Vinod, Gaurav and I had pulled on in front and there seemed to be more light as we were running through the belly of the Canyon. We had switched off our lights. Thats when we saw the tips or peaks (if you could call them that) were being dipped in gold! The sun was coming out in all its glory and the canyon basked in it. We started observing the surroundings more. The layers of rocks on our side were millions and millions of years old! This was when the cameras were working overtime. We also went through some scenic waterfalls. We reached Cottonwood. A ranger out there started chatting with us as we waited for the rest of the gang. He seemed to question what these crazy folks were doing. It was more of an interrogation to see if were stupid or insane. After taking a few more photos we left for the North Rim. This was the toughest stretch of them all! 7 grueling miles of crazy elevation. It was a long slow walk as the majestic sun turned into a ruthless dictator. The fall colors and more amazing sights followed. Notable among these was the roaring springs waterfalls. But, we were out of breath for a different reason! We wanted to keep a steady pace as we ambled along in front. Meanwhile, Arun decided that the elevation was getting worse and it was not a good decision to try it out without enough training. So, he went back to cottonwood. We watched the amazing pine trees on top of the north rim as we got closer to it. But, the closer we got the further it seemed on the trails! At every short break I was zoning out. I didn't want to stop anymore. I trudged along with just the immediate goal of reaching the top.

Once they had Rs.3.50 (1$ = Rs. 40) to feed 13 people that day. Sandhya Rao reported in 'Frontline' two year later: "Eighty women in five rooms is not easy in the best of circumstance. The matter is worse when a majority of the residents come with a history of all manners of sexual abuse, physical abuse, disease, no hygiene, no socialisation and of course lice." She adds:"one of the women had fever and was crying like a child and another begged and begged to be taken to the bus stop, but which one or where she could not say. A third begged to be excused if she had asked too many questions and a fourth demanded all my attention." It is with such wards that Vaishnavi and Vandana have spent their lives --24/7, to use that expressive number-- for many years since they began in 1993. Vaishnavi answers a question: "Yes, it was grim at times. We would have washed them, fed them, cleaned the floors, the latrines and finally settled them. It'd be close to midnight when we shut the door of our little room. And the banging would begin!" But quitting never occurred to them. That was what they had chosen --and were happy-- to do. Soon Ashok Kumar, a young man came on board to help. And material help began to arrive too. Banyan does not just accept women who arrive; they publicize everywhere their willingness to accept. Most women are manic depressives or schizophrenics. Many have lost their sense of dignity or ability to care any more. They are ridden with lice and maggots. One was found eating dog shit. Banyan races to gather them and bring them over. They are given first aid, a make-over wash and if necessary a trip to the hospital. Luckily most cases can be treated with medication-- reinforced with add-ons like a sense of belonging, security and feeling wanted. In about six months they are normal again and begin to ask to go home. Hope is forever resurgent.

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Survival

2007-10-05T03:53:00.000-07:00

As soon as we reached the North Rim we were craving calories! I didn't speak a word. It was real cold. But, even before I got the coat out, I got the pulihara (mixed rice) and started hogging! A banana later I was still hungry. But, I was not moving anywhere. It was cold and I felt unusually lazy or just tired. Thankfully Gaurav and Vinod were still in their senses and planned to get to a restaurant or canteen to get more food. We were desperate and had to hitch a ride. Thanks to a couple of caring girls we got a ride to the Restaurant. I had some pizza and hot chocolate. As Gaurav and Vinod got sandwhiches and packed more pizza for Padma and Ganesh, I stole a nap for few minutes. That really helped! We got a ride back to the North Rim and this time I chatted with the couple who gave us the ride. We explained how crazy we were and kind of scared them. Nevertheless they were nice people who gave us a ride as soon as we asked! We met Padma and Ganesh just in time. We didn't give them much time to rest and as they ate the pizza we started moving down. Within a mile down from the North rim, I seemed to have got some energy from somewhere! The calories probably started kicking in! All of us picked up pace and I kind of started going fast. The downhills were the steepest we would be doing and I let myself loose. This was a nice fast stretch as I passed folks who were coming up while giving me weird looks! Soon, I was running by myself and at one point I took a rather difficult turn. I stopped for breath and peeped over the edge. I realized that it was a steep fall right to the bottom of the canyon! Inspired, I started going at a steady pace and reached Cottonwood at around 2:15 PM. Arun was waiting there. He had a nice break, dipped in the creek and was chatting with our favorite ranger. The ranger was very helpful and gave food, tips and entertainment! The rest of the folks joined. We kind of had a long break here. Padma was struggling a bit and it was not her day. But, you can't expect the first Indian woman 100 miler to give up! She was smiling through all of this and I felt inspired. We left for Phantom ranch. Again, this was a downhill stretch. In my mind I knew there was just a long walk back home left. So, I wanted to fly on this one. Most of this stretch was in the shade of the Canyons and it felt very good to run. A bunch of hikers even cheered me as I mowed along to Phantom Ranch. Gaurav and Vinod were not too far away and joined me in a few minutes.

Slowly help started flowing for the Banyan. The state government recognized their effort and gave them a piece of land. The Banyan struggled to make a permanent home to guarantee the survival of its residents and the organization itself. Today the building bustles with activity. A cheerful staff handle the various tasks. There is nothing melancholy about the place. Their cheer is infectious. Communication, documentation, fund raising, house keeping, public and staff relations are all up to date arts. The brisk efficiency marks it out as a new generation service organisation. They passionately defended the system of sending medicines by post to all the rehabilitated former residents of The Banyan across the country. Deep down however, they realised that The Banyan after care system was flawed in scalability and viability. That valuable realisation matured The Banyan overnight from a service provider to a solution finder. The Community Mental Health wing of The Banyan took root. Till date they have found it impossible to say 'no' at The Banyan to people who have no other options. With The Banyan's population explosion came the realisation that growth didn't mean seeding more Banyans.The bigger picture that took shape with the various Outreach Programmes was missing the vital jigsaw bit - more people. More involvement. More responsibility. The Dial 100 Helpline - became the branch of The Banyan that showed the way ahead. The Banyan promises long term financial sustainability with a Café, Organic Spa, Crafts & Clothes Boutique and village tourism. The Spice Route is backed by Socially conscious organisational supporters of The Banyan mission and run by spunky members of Vizhuthugal - The Banyan self-help group of recovered residents. “The Zero Inventors” - eco products made from recycled waste are going to be added to the vocational products unit. Research is finally coming into its own at The Banyan Resource Centre. Physicians and therapists are on call. Banyan uses an eclectic bouquet of treatments to bring their wards --they call them 'residents'-- back to this world. They use occupational activities, performing arts, picnics, pranic healing and whatever else that shows promise. And of course loads of love and patience. Beyond all that of course looms drug therapy. Drugs may be required life long and it is Banyan's policy to reach supplies to wherever, forever. In about six months, most residents are well and raring to go home. They beseech Banyan that they be taken at the earliest.

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Going back home

2007-10-05T03:52:00.000-07:00

It was evening by the time we reached Phantom Ranch. We were hoping to get some food from the small restaurant there at the bottom. But, they were strict and followed rules of serving only those who reserved. So, we had no choice but to plead for some coffee from the girl at the window. The coffee was too good though! We emptied all the food (fruits, sandwhiches etc.) we had and ate our full. While we waited and recuperated, Vinod and I made calls back home to let everyone know that we will be back later than expected. Yes, somehow we thought we could do it in 17-18 hours. The Canyon whipped us bad and made us respect it! We had a nice conversation with a girl who had come down from cottonwood to see the river. She seemed to suggest that she needed company back to cottonwood. On any other day I might have relented :) But, I had folks running with me and my parents waiting for me at the hotel. As the sun came down, it seemed like someone pulled the batteries out of us. We all were kind of lazy and started drearily on the way back home. The drop bag was not where we had left it. So, Vinod and I went back to get it. After some explanation to the ranger and pleading ignorance on the fact that we were not supposed to leave it in the campsite boxes, we got the stuff loaded our camel backs and soon joined the rest of the gang. This time the bright angel trail was pretty dark and the moon was not too bright. It was a long haul especially after more than a day without sleep. Padma and Arun were struggling a bit. Soon each one of us were going through cycles and I was hoping to pep things up. I wanted to get back home soon because I was not sure if the message went to my parents. I started kind of tagging the group by running ahead. Soon I realized that I was not helping out much with this. So, after Indian gardens I decided to stick with the team. Meanwhile, Gaurav went up ahead. Each time we took a break to sit down I wanted folks to be fast and moving. Its a dangerous trap. Once you sit down, your eyes close and the tiredness in your body and mind takes over. So, though all of them hated me for doing this it did help in moving forwards finally. After 23.5 hours of run/walk/hike across the depths of the Canyon we were finally back at the top of the south rim at 12:30 AM on Sunday. This was the longest all of us have been on our feet (except of course for the limca book of records holder, Padma). This was quite an experience and nothing could beat getting back to the hotel (thanks to Vinod's driving) and having awesome fried rice cooked by mom!

The ultimate goals of the organization being rehabilitation and empowerment, The Banyan is an effort to reunite the women with their families and to help them reintegrate back into the mainstream society to be able to lead normal lives again.The rehabilitation aspect of The Banyan’s work has raised attention and controversy in the public for quite some time. Traditional communities in Indian society do not generally accept the unexplained absence of their female members for any length of time, the place of the woman being either behind the veils of the purdah or in the confines of her parents’ or husband’s house. Thus reintegration is an important aspect of Banyan's work. Typically two or three residents along with about four volunteers form the rehab party. With just that they set out for the rural maze of India's vastness. Here's a typical report: "the happy rehab team pressed on to Lucknow to try and locate Sapna's family. Once again they contacted the helpful Railway Police, but this time were in for a shock. The police discovered that Sapna was actually from Bihar, not UP. So the team moved on to Muzaffarpur and from there to Sugauli. The police accompanied them to what they hoped was Sapna's village, Basra. But no, there was nobody who knew Sapna. By then, the police were on the job, led by their helpful officer in charge, Mr. Singh. They discovered Sapna was actually from Lal Basra -- a village that was in the opposite direction to Basra! The team --now with an armed escort-- made its way to Lal Basra and began the arduous task of finding Sapna's family... the family had given her up as dead as she had wandered away over a year ago. Once more, happy reunion scenes and the satisfied rehab team left Lal Basra. After much palaver, the team decided to press on, and move to West Bengal, where they would leave Prabha Saha. A 12 hour trip to Jhargram, and the team was pleasantly surprised to find that Prabha remembered the place. She took the team straight to her brother's home. But unlike the other case, Prabha's family was not too sure about taking her back. After much consultation and debate, they agreed. Prabha too did her bit by announcing that she had every right to live in her family house. What made them take hope was a meeting with Das and his friends, who were so impressed with the Banyan's contribution that they planned to set up a social welfare organisation for that community.
(Note : names changed for privacy)

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Memories and more.

2007-10-05T03:42:00.000-07:00

The trip to Grand Canyon and the run across and back was a memorable experience. You can see pictures from the run here. More than the pictures its the memories in my mind that I will carry for a lifetime.

The Banyan is a project supported by Asha Austin. We supported the vocational training unit which empowers the women with skills to lead economically independent lives. You can read more about the Banyan and our support. A video on the Banyan.

Here was my attempt to give you two stories. There is no end to these stories. They are really in parallel now. But, you sure can make them meet. As I train for the 100 miler in November, I look up to you. You can make the difference and support me in the endeavor to raise $10K to reach out to efforts like 'The Banyan'.

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Four runs.

2007-09-24T22:33:00.001-07:00

Well there are four of us from Team Asha - Vinod, Ganesh, Gaurav and me who are training for the 100 mile run this year. This being my last while in Austin, we wanted to make this memorable :) - So, we decided to mix the training with some interesting running projects!

We took on 3 more popular tough trail endeavors - The Big Horn 50 miler, Pikes Peak Double - (Ascent and marathon up 8000+ ft elevation), Grand Canyon ( A rim to rim to rim run through the depths of the canyon for 44 miles and gruelling elevation) and culminating in Cactus Rose - the no support, on your own 100 miler!

You can read all about the races in the side menu titled 'The four runs'. The travel and runs across different terrains has made the experience surreal. Ironically I get to see the heart of the country in its plains, mountains, creeks, valleys, flower beds ...just when I follow mine out of here.

My parents visiting me, makes the whole effort memorable as anything I have been through! Its going to take some good convincing on my part to make my parents understand that its ok for me to do this - especially the running through nights etc. :)

Well at least I have to only deal with a couple - The Grand Canyon Run and the 100 mile. The other two projects are done and you can read more about it in our team blog

100.

2007-09-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

The whole intent of this blog has been about running and how it can make a difference in terms of social issues and the empowerment of the underprivileged in India.

So, this year is no different from the previous years -

* I am fundraising for Asha and its going to be double the target from last year - $10,000
* I am going for a target race and its double what I did last year - a 100 miler.
* Its going to support a lot more efforts at Asha Austin - we have picked quite a few new projects - from supporting 3 projects three years ago, we have now grown to support 14 projects across India.

What does it mean to the underprivileged we strive for ?

To say that the marathon program or Asha's contribution made all the change would be an overstatement or just plain wrong. Organizations like Asha, AID etc. are nothing but tools. We are only a catalyst in the bigger picture. Having said that, the small efforts does open opportunities for the underprivileged we strive for - be it education for kids, employment for young adults, empowerement for the disabled or rights for the forcibly suppressed. The efforts of our project partners have been ably supported. This is evident in the success stories mentioned in our project pages over the years.

Every mile we add on, every dollar we raise, every individual we reach out to makes a difference.

What does it mean to me ?

Running is a passion and as I had mentioned in my earlier posts, without a soul for this passion it means nothing to me. I need your support to keep the flame in the soul going!

What did I do in the break ?

Right after my 50 miler as I had posted earlier I visited a lot of projects and was overawed at what the small efforts from our end at Austin could achieve. A detailed account of my site visits, updates from projects and the wonderful efforts our project partners undertake day in and day out is mentioned on our project pages. I have also blogged the experiences here.

I have video footage of my visits to some of the projects. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to know more.

What are the future plans ?

Yes, I do have some plans! I hope to spend a lot more time with all these grass roots efforts when I go back to India. I also hope to work with more such groups and learn from them. I wish to make myself more useful.

I am back and also going back!

2007-09-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

Its been a long while. I am back from my self-imposed exile from blogging. The excuses are the usual, but none convincing -

1. Work
2. Life

Many major happenings in my life. I have decided to return home to India. Being with family and doing what I want to do better at home made more sense than being in the US. My stay here has been eventful and for the best part life changing. I met so many good souls and made great friends. The thoughts and interactions would guide me through life. This has been a home away from home.

I could go on and on about my experiences and life in the US. But, the point is nothing really changes! I am going to be in touch with the same friends, will be doing the same work for my team and will still be blogging the same things!

A few things I look forward to - the trails, creeks and just the oneness with nature in India, meeting people, family and friends and to follow my heart in doing things I want to do.

A few things I will miss - running the trails in america, the creeks, sunset and rise in greenbelt, those runs and moments with people who are family now!, the liberty of visiting and spending time with friends here...

Ya..I am not good with the 'sentimental' stuff. So, will stop here!

Team Asha Rocks Austin! - Part IV

2007-02-19T22:02:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Here is the fourth part! This is not the last long email you will have to endure because we might have one more of the 'Team Asha Rocks Austin' series after Sunday.

I . Team Asha's Heroes
II. Asha Austin Meetings
III. Inspiration that humbles
IV. Race Day Info and funny moments

I. Team Asha's Heroes

Radhakrishna Gowrishankara
This is the third year for this Team Asha veteran. He is like the stuntman in the group. We can only watch and get entertained. But, dare not try it ourself! He probably does the least bit of training in the whole group! Its become second nature for him to just come out and run on 'race day'. Sometimes, he brings things into perspective and shows that it just isn't a big deal afer all. He is a dedicated Asha vounteer stewarding the Jigani school project with Asha Austin. On Sunday, this born athlete will inspire us all as he finishes the half marathon!

Rajiv Rammohan
With two young kids to take care of, Rajiv and Aparna already have a marathon life style! The rigors of work and family did not deter him from his dedication to the cause. He turned up for almost every training session, got involved with Asha by attending meetings and gave his all. Unfortunately, luck had its say at the end and he had to face a rather serious injury concern related to a 'stress fracture'. This got diagnosed rather late and he has been advised not to run for 2 months. But, he has almost reached his fundraising goal, will be out there volunteering and cheering for us all - a true hero!

Rathi Vijay
Not many of us would have seen Rathi often, as she lives way up north and for the most part trained on her own. She has amazing energy and enthusiasm for the team. She has almost reached her fundraising goal. Her efforts are truly inspiring. If we consider that she is doing this in spite of some serious health concerns that came up a while ago, I just am clueless to put in words her resolve and commitment to the cause. Her friends are travelling from all over the country to cheer her through the race. We are proud of what she is doing and all of us will be there to cheer this hero across the finish on Sunday.

Sanjay Tumati
Sanjay signed up and commited to run the full marathon with Team Asha. Unfortunately, he faced injury problems very early in training. He tried coming back to training after the injuries, but more injury concerns plagued his return. Finally, he had to drop out. But, I am sure that he is commited to the cause and we will most probably see him back with us next year!

Savitha Sridharan
Savitha, a returning Team Asha runner signed up and commited to run the half marathon with Team Asha. This is a rather busy time in her life both in terms of family commitments and work. She was out there to help all the runners through the initial ramp up. She has not been able to put in enough training and will not be there on Sunday to run. But, she will be there for the rest of the team. She has already decided to do the Dallas Half and given her dedication and commitment, I am sure she will reach the fundraising target too!

Shilpadhar Bharkam
Shilpadhar and his wife have a loving kid and the second one is coming soon! With obvious family commitments and work assigments, it would been easy to give up. But, he went through every training session with dogged determination! He was one of the few runners from Team Asha who trained with the intermediates. Unfortunately, a bad knee injury played havoc with his training. Massage, cortisone etc. did not help and the doctor finally advised him to keep off. Being the dedicated person he is, he will be out there cheering for us on Sunday and will be back running with us soon!

Sriram Sambamurthy
Sriram is doing his Ph.D at UT. I don't think I need to explain what it takes to be commited to a doctrate! Under all the pressure of school,conferences etc. Sriram still found time for Team Asha. His training did not go all too well with the India trip in December. One of the few marathon runners for Team Asha, he has swept past injury concerns and just decided to be with Team Asha and go the distance on Sunday. Its a story of true grit! A silent and humble person by nature, he doesn't talk a lot about the efforts he puts in and rather concentrates on the cause. On Sunday, Team Asha will be there in full force to back this wonderful runner!

Srujana Doddi
Srujana has crossed her fundraising target and is actually close to doubling it! Modest and soft spoken, she has silently made a tremendous effort in terms of both training and fundraising! She is one of the more improved runners in the team. She had a share of her own injury concerns, work assignments etc. that could have very easily thrown her off track. But, she stuck to being committed to the cause with a lot of determination. She has been prompt in her responses and was always there in every team gathering! She has given a lot for Team Asha and on Sunday it will be our turn to give!

Vijay Balasubramanian
Vijay had just moved to Austin, when he signed up to run the half marathon with us. His work in AMD does take a lot of commitment and odd hours. A new job, settling down in a new place etc. did not stop him from putting in hours of training with Team Asha. He blazed through in his fundraising efforts and is close to reaching his target. Unfortunately, an injury very late in the program upset all his plans. He has been forced to keep away from 'strain' for a while. But, being an energetic and committed volunteer, he will be there the whole day on Sunday to cheer us all. We all knew that this hero of Team Asha is not going away from us!

Vishvjeet
Vishvjeet is one of the few runners who signed up to run the full marathon. He was regular in training and was also doing the easy runs regularly. An urgent india trip and family emergencies messed his training schedule. When he came back, he had to face injury concerns and on top of that had already missed a lot of long runs. Its amazing as to how he has not let go in the face of these blocks and still decided to run on Sunday. After he discussed with the coach and physio, he decided to do the Half Marathon. On Sunday, as he crosses the finish line he will inspire the rest of the team to keep giving to the cause.

Vivek Shah
Vivek was running with Rogue. He couldn't resist the temptation to join Team Asha and joined us late in the training. He has already soared in his fundraising efforts and is close to reaching his target! He was regular with his runs and has been committed to the cause he has signed up for. He put an amazing effort in 3M and I am sure it will be much better at AT & T. As he mentions in his runner page, running is the most simple exrecise one can get and just comes naturally to some of us. It will be no surprise if vivek's natural instincts for running takes him to record times on Sunday! Team Asha is proud of this hero!

Go Team Asha!!

II. Asha Austin Meetings
Q. What is an Asha Austin Meeting ?
A. Its a weekly meeting of Asha Austin volunteers held every Sunday at volunteers' homes. We discuss different aspects of the organization - Projects/grassroots efforts, Social issues, treasury, events, fundraising, publicity etc. As you all know there is no hierarchy and its a flat organization. Anyone can call for an agenda item to be discussed in the meeting.

Q. What really gets discussed ? Can I get an idea of it ?
A. We try and post the minutes of every meeting we have on the website : http://www.ashanet.org/austin/index_min.html
Browsing through the minutes will give a fair idea of what gets discussed.

Q. I want to attend an Asha Austin Meeting. What should I do ?
Please let Sais ( saismaharaj@yahoo.com ) know. We will add you to the Meeting notice. We usually meet every Sunday at 2 P.M.

III. Inspiration that humbles
Athletes who did amazing feats, Individuals dedicating their lives to social causes, Individuals showing amazing resilience in leading a normal life given their backgrounds..and now what ?

A phrase often quoted by Coachji Vinod :

"I have met my hero and its me"

I don't have interesting links to post here. I don't have interesting stories to write here. Because, you have it in you already.

When you came into the info session on that day, it could have been very easy for you to turn away. When you had the doubt about reaching your fundraising target it could have been very easy to turn away. When you had that first injury it would have been so easy to turn away.

You are the inspiration that humbles us!

The one simple phrase you need to remember when you run on Sunday is "I did not turn away and will not".

Flashback from last year :
http://teamasharunner.blogspot.com/2006/02/last-words.html
http://teamasharunner.blogspot.com/2006/02/my-last-words.html

IV. Race Day Info and funny moments

Pacing
If you need help and want someone to run with you, please let us know. Also, if you know of friends who can run with Team Asha folks on Sunday, please let us know. Don't be shy, its your right :)

Let Vinod (vinod.2v@gmail.com) know.

After race Parties!
There will be refreshments at the Tent. So, please don't go away. We even have heaters in the tents to make you stay with us. Its an amazing feeling to have people cheering you on as you cross the finish line. If you finish early and can stand for a lil' more while, please do cheer our folks across!! We would also organize a Post race party the next weekend, when you can be better dressed!

Funny moments

With me around there is of course no dearth of it!

In the first year, I did an amazing feat of planting my car literally on a huge rock at 'The Rock'. All four wheels of my car was in the air. After almost half of Austin had a good laugh before I got towed out of that!

Our A+ coach, Gaurav was taking notes as Steve was giving suggestions to take care of his injury concerns. A+ was not happy and kept asking him questions - Finally, Steve volunteered to cut his legs off so that he doesn't have all these problems!

I am sure each one of us had a lot of fun through this program. We have memorable moments that make us feel happy. Try reflecting on it and Sunday will be a huge party!

If that doesn't help, try doing this runner stretch :
http://www.jibjab.com/jokebox/jokebox/jibjab/id/219836/jokeid/38553

Thanks,
Santhosh
(For Team Asha)

Team Asha Rocks Austin! - Part III

2007-02-19T22:01:00.001-08:00

Hi All,

Here is the third in the series.

I . Team Asha's Heroes
II. Proposals to Asha Austin
III. Inspiration that humbles
IV. Dinner Reminder and Race Day Info

I . Team Asha's Heroes

Mansi Shah
Mansi was a 'roguette' before she joined Team Asha. She was inspired by the rest of the team to be a part of the effort. There was no way that we could have refused her enthusiasm! She has been holding on to her training well. The long distance that she has to travel for work, training and back home not withstanding she has been very regular for all workouts. She has 'blazed' ahead in her fundraising efforts and is really very close to reaching the target. On Sunday, I am sure it will be no different as she makes Team Asha proud!

Meghana Malur
I think I won't do justice to the amazing efforts she has put in without numbers! Being a student she had signed up to raise $400 and what has been her fundraising effort so far ? $3036 !! More than 7 times what she set out to achieve! She is Team Asha's Champion! I hope she accepts the invitation to give a lecture on fundraising to the next year's team. Her dedication and commitment to running was no different. She turned up to workouts regularly with the rigors of graduate school not withstanding! She has reminded everyone that crossing the finish line on Sunday doesn't mean a lot unless we fundraise.

Mihir Anandpara
Returning Team Asha Runner. Mihir's enthusiasm and energy has no bounds! He loves what most of us dread the most - Hills! In his own words its just 'insane' to be a part of Team Asha -BTW 'insane' means 'too good' :) An austinite for years, Mihir has been the mainstay of Team Asha for the last couple of years now. He is always there to help out the team - be it running or otherwise. On Sunday, he will be one of the few runners who go out to do their first marathon! We hope he gets all the hills he wants!

Mohit Sood
What chances would you give to a runner who gets injured twice - back to back ? Here is a marathoner who is going to inspire us to do our best despite what our mind tells us! Mohit had an injury early on in training and had to take time off to recuperate. Once, he was ready to get back to training, he hit shin splints! But, this time he was not taking 'NO' for an answer. Mohit again is going to be one of the few marathoners from Team Asha. It sure is going to be inspiring to all of us when he crosses the finish line on Sunday.

Murali Narasimhan
He works for 'Catalisis Health' and volunteers for both Asha and Vibha. His in-depth understanding of experiences working with projects, guides Asha Austin many a times. He has been actively involved with the 'Right to Education' bill and has been Asha's main resource person in this regard! Murali has been involved with the organization of the program as well. Thanks to his efforts we will have a lot of volunteers at the 'Asha' water stop on Sunday. He has been training at the North side location and has put in all the hardwork to be at the startline on Sunday.

Neena Richard
Neena has a full time job and a family with two kids to take care of! Many of us are worried about the time we can spare given all that we do. But, I have never heard her mention time as a constraint for anything. I am amazed as to how she wonderfully balanced a full time job, family and the training. She is one of a kind! Neena is also one of the more improved runners with Asha. She has come a long way from where she started out in terms of running. The sheer grit and persistence she has demonstrated for the rest of us, has inspired our team many a times!

Nivas Durai
The chances that you saw him running at the workouts is going to be slim, because he is most probably done already :) Though he is very modest about it, he is Team Asha's fastest runner ever. There is nothing wrong in being fast! He had again back to back injuries - Shin splints and then ITB issues when he came back to running. A lot of travel on the job didn't help a lot too. He came out to cheer at races and was always there for the rest of the team. There is no denying the fact that all of Team Asha is proud of him - not just for the 'lightning' speed, but for the amazing efforts he has put in for the team and in fundraising for the cause.

Praveen Kalamegham
Praveen is an active Pratham volunteer. He is one of the silent performers in Team Asha. His hetic work related travel schedule meant he couldn't turn up for a lot of workouts. This did not deter him from training on his own. He did a lot of runs at the places he travelled to. It really takes a lot of dedication and commitment to be able to train alone. The same qualities also reflect in his fundraising efforts - he has already crossed the target! We as a team truly do recognize his amazing efforts and humble silence! On Sunday, as Praveen crosses the finish line the whole team shall shout out for him!

Pritam Kulkarni
The first to reach the fundraising target! She was so fast that most of us hadn't even started to fundraise then! She had to do a lot of travelling to get to the workouts down south. But, she has been as committed to training as she was committed to the cause. She has already started making plans for her next goal - San Diego Marathon! We all know that she is for sure going to rock the 'Rock N Roll' marathon there. She is again one of the silent performers in the Team and has put on a sterling effort both in terms of fundraising and running!

Priyavadan Kumar
Sports and being fit is not new to him. Priyavadan is part of the Texas Cricket League and has also represented Austin in major matches! With crazy work schedules, visiting family etc. training did get a bit off and he also had to face injury concerns. He got back to steady running only last weekend and ably supported other runners doing the Surfside half marathon. Being a Team player is not new to him and he has been providing a lot of support and encouragement to the rest of the team. On Sunday, as he crosses the finish line, I am sure the rest of the team would give back to him!

Go Team Asha!!

II. Proposals to Asha Austin
What is a project proposal ? What questions do you ask a grass roots effort ? Proposals and documentation are very important aspects of how we work with a project - it furthers our relationship with the efforts at the ground and promotes transparency of our work.

Here is a sample proposal : http://www.ashanet.org/austin/projects/files/example.pdf

III. Inspiration that humbles
We have been inspired and humbled by amazing athletes and amazing lives of dedication to a cause!

Sometimes the whole idea of 'giving' / 'doing' creeps in a 'feel good' factor for those who do it. Did we really support an effort to feel good about supporting it ? or did we take the effort to see that the support did bring about a positive change in the lives of the people it reached out to ? Here are a few stories about a few lives that we touched - these stories are a source of immense inspiration and humbling too. The kind of odds they had to face to be here is not something we can easily imagine.

I state below from my own learning at Asha Austin :

Sheela from Seva Chakkara Samajam
Brought up in the orphanage, sheela always looked out for all the other children in the home. After graduating from her MBA, she had many options, but decided to give back to the organization. She is one of the main co-ordinators at the orphanage now.
(Details chanegd to protect privacy)

Asha Austin had supported the efforts of Seva Chakkara Samajam earlier - http://www.ashanet.org/nycnj/projects/scos.html

Shailaja from Prasanna Jyothi
Shailaja is in the last semester of her Engineering degree in Civil engineering, with the Bangalore College of Engineering. She is actively looking for jobs that will get her placed. She has similar interests and goals as any other student of her age, but she comes from a different background. She was raised in Prasanna Jyothi, one of the Asha supported orphanages in Austin.
(Details changed to protect privacy)

http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=137

Stories from Banyan
There are amazing stories from the banyan that inspires us to take on life and contribute in whatever way we can - here are a few :
http://www.thebanyan.org/html/success.html

These are just few of the efforts that Asha Austin is involved with. There are a lot more inspiring stories in every project. I strongly encourage you to take some effort in going through the projects to learn more about the wonderful work they do!

IV. Dinner Reminder and Race Day Info

Today at 6:30 P.M is the Team Asha Pre-race Dinner! Please do plan on being there on time!

http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/santhosh.padmanabhan@gmail.com/ashadinner

Water Stop
Look out for the Asha water stop on the course. We will be at around Mile 5. Please don't plan on staying there for the party :) You will be amazed at what that Asha T-shirt can do for you when you get there ;)

Pankaj (510-637-8512) has been doing a wonderful effort in co-ordinating the water stop. If you have any questions let him know.

Cheering on the course
"Go Team Asha!!" you are going to hear this so many times that you are going to mumble this in your sleep!

Really, we plan to be of support to you in whatever way we can and make sure that we notice you! Its going to be a huge crowd on race day and as always make sure you stand out. I think it comes naturally to the Team ;)

The real plans could be a guarded secret from the runners!

If you have any questions please let Gaurav (650-450-3541) know. He has been pitching in with a wonderful effort to co-ordinate the whole cheering for the Team!

Thanks,
Santhosh.

Team Asha Rocks Austin! - Part II

2007-02-19T22:00:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Here is the second one! I have also added some important race day info that you need to keep track of.

I . Team Asha's Heroes
II. Phone Call to Siddamma
III. Inspiration that humbles
IV. Race Day Info

I. Team Asha's Heroes

Disclaimer: This effort is purely to introduce each runner to the Team and give a glimpse of their efforts. It might not bring forth all their sacrifices, troubles and splendid efforts.

Chandramouli Narayanaswami
Chandar's tryst with running started when he came cheering for the Team Asha's first year. He is a natural runner and did amazingly well right from the start. He liked to run races that raised funds for the underrivileged. His die-hard spirit and determination is sometimes astounding. His training didn't go too well, when he faced an injury at his peak. He was forced to take time off, but knowing his ability to bounce back, it would be no surprise to see him fly through the finish!

Charanya Ravikumar
Charanya works for dell, volunteers for Pratham, Austin Tamil Sangham, Omkara ..and I am not sure if there is an end to the list! Amazingly with all the juggling around of roles, she still managed to attend training regularly. What was even more surprising was that Charanya and Gayathri reached their fundraising target in just a few days after they started !! She seems to be setting an example for every aspect of the program!

Chirag Gandhi
One of the younger runners in the team. Enthusiastic and regular, he keeps the spirits alive wherever he is! His training has been progressing well and he did an excellent job of handling himself well through the training - i.e. not overtraining, going out too fast etc. He is always there to lend a helping hand to the team. For those of you who don't know, he did a half marathon at the surfside beach last weekend and looks like he is hungry for more!

Dhanashri Garud
Dhanashri is one of the earliest registrants for this year's program. She was really regular from the start (including the ramp up run) until she had to face the 'hip' injury. Then came the long India break and major happenings in life :). All the crazy schedules and injury did take a heavy toll on the training and she was forced to drop out this year. But, given her resilience we can surely expect to see her back again in full flow next year!

Divya Padmanabhan
Well everyone in rogue know her as the 'Girl who twisted her ankle'. On a dreadful trail run, she went down very early in the training program. But, she handled it real well and rested it enough to come back from injury in amazing form! She is again one of the more improved runners in the team. While, she is not saving $$ for AMD by fixing critical bugs or not running, she also volunteers time for Asha and other local community outreach efforts.

Dwarak Rajagopal
Dwarak is a regular in the gym and running was a new passion. He went through Team Asha's ramp up program, was regular in training and probably lost track during the holidays. Balancing a demanding work schedule, injuries and doctor visits takes a lot of effort. He has weathered through all these storms to stand strong at the start line. His enthusiasm, ready smile and helping nature makes him quite popular in the team!

Gayathri Bhandarkar
Dedication, committment and planning - She had all that and more! It was truly amazing as she kept on training regularly and knocked off long runs one after the other. The fundraising efforts deserve a special accolade! Balancing tough work schedules at AMD, she always did find time for the team and was prompt in responding to calls for help/information. Gayathri and Charanya are already planning on triathlons - well we all know that this duo will surely beat the odds in anything!

Itisha Tyagi
She is Team Asha's inspiration! The only girl from our team who trained for the marathon. She was dedicated and very regular in her training, yet the element of luck had the last say with her injury during the last stages. She felt so bad when she heard from the 'doc'/'coach'/'physio' that a full marathon was not going to be possible and she had to drop to a half. She is a hero and on Sunday she will remind us of what 'courage' is. There is no reason to feel bad, rather through this process she has inspired the team and the ultimate goal has already been reached!

Jinesh Karia
Jinesh almost bagged the prize for being the most regular from the ramp up program through the training. But, his marriage spoilt the track record :) Seriously, his commitment to the schedule helped him a lot and he is one of the more improved runners in the group. The last few weeks in India have been hectic for him and what did he do within a few hours after arriving at Austin ? Ya..he went out on a run! Watch out for jinesh as he puts in a wonderful effort on Sunday. A few records might fall!

Mahesh Subramony
He seems to radiate enthusiasm wherever he is! Behind all that constant entertainment lies a very serious effort that deserves special mention. Mahesh had health problems that stopped him from training full fledged from September. He started training only days before the Motive half. Yet, he walked, ran and trained through half marathons, runs in beaches of kerala and made it to the start line fit and strong. He ran a half marathon last weekend at 'Surfside' beach and he has more planned - simple things like back-to-back half marathons! He inspires us all with a truly amazing effort!

Go Team Asha!

II. Phone Call to Siddamma

Have you wondered how Asha Austin volunteers keep in touch with the efforts in India ? Obviously, we can't get a site visit done every month! So, we do tele-conferences and minutes of all calls are recorded on the project website - infact every correspondence and information regarding the project is recorded.

Sanjeev, long time Asha Austin volunteer co-ordinates the fellowship for Siddamma -
http://www.ashanet.org/austin/projects/siddamma.html

Here is minutes of a phone call made in May 2006 by him -
http://www.ashanet.org/projects-new/documents/579/up30may06.pdf

III. Inspiration that humbles

We talk about athletes who inspire us. We talk about amazing feats driven by respect to humanity. Yet, there are some other stories that just leave you spellbound, makes you question what you do - yet, spurs you on to do whatever little you can do are just willing to do...

Here are the inspiring stories of people we are close to, about lives dedicated to service ..

(Note: Each of these efforts are supported by Asha)

The story of Siddamma -
http://data.ashanet.org/datastore/data/Chapters/Austin/newsletter/dec05.pdf
(Written by Sanjeev Ranganathan - its the spotlight on our newsletter)

The story of Stanley and Parashu -
http://www.chennaionline.com/society/odanadai.asp

The story of Vandana and Vaishnavi -
http://www.goodnewsindia.com/Pages/content/outreach/banyan.html

The story of Nandlal -
http://www.indiatogether.org/2005/nov/soc-weaver.htm

IV. Race Day Info

Packet Pick-up: Friday 3-8 P.M, Saturday - 10 AM - 6 PM.
http://www.attaustinmarathon.com/events.asp?EventID=3

Please do remember to do it. DO NOT plan to pick it up race day morning - there are going to be thousands of runners and it gets crazy. You will also miss the wonderful expo! Its an experience on its own.

(PS: ONLY ppl in the north who find it too difficult to drive down, let your friends know or give Santhosh (512-431-5105) a call to pick it up for you)

Asha Tent: There will be a big Asha Tent between Congress and Brazos on 2nd Street. We will all meet there before and after the race. The tent will be open from 5 AM till everyone gets done. Please do plan to be there by 6:00 AM. DO NOT drop off bags at the tent. Instead, make use of the race organizer's drop off - its safer and less troublesome for everyone.

Thanks,
Santhosh.
(For Team Asha)

Team Asha Rocks Austin! - Part I

2007-02-19T21:59:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

This is going to be a four part series of mails. Looks like there would be so many runners that it would become too long in one email. These emails give a glimpse into the indominatable spirit and amazing efforts of each Team Asha runner. So, please do read it.

I . Team Asha's Heroes
II. A day in Shristi Special Academy
III. Inspiration that humbles

I. Team Asha's Heroes

Anita Iyer
Anita is an enthusiastic Asha volunteer who helps the chapter grow in many ways. She makes wonderful use of her free time and volunteers for hospitals in underdeveloped areas in Austin. She is very humble about her running and even as she ran with us, was always worried about slowing us down! Her dedication and commitment to the cause is amazing! I am sure she is going to be silent about her sacrifices and troubles, yet finish in style on Sunday.

Anjali Deolapure
Anjali attended the first few training sessions with Team Asha. Unfortunately, due to a road accident her training didn't go as well as she would have wanted to. Further injury concerns forced her to drop out of the program. But, we all look forward to having her back with the Team next year!

Arun Radhakrishnan
Team Asha's DJ/Stand up comedian/entertainer/party host, Asha Austin's brain stormer, he takes on multiple roles with great ease. He has also been volunteering actively to help with the program and other responsibilities at Asha Austin. He had some ITB issues late into the training and is not in the peak shape he was at a couple of months back. But, he is prepared to take on the race on Sunday and in his usual style has probably laughed his injury away :)

Arvind Rao
Being Asha Austin's Treasurer is not a simple task, given all the paperwork and deadlines to be met. He also had to take care of emegencies at home, present a project proposal, deal with 'trouble' at work and train for a marathon. All the unexpected happenings did take a toll on his training. Due to injury concerns, he was forced to drop to a half/marathon from a full marathon. On Sunday, he will be doing the half marathon and for the team he is a hero to have braved the storms and still make it!

Ashay Ronghe
One of the few runners (5 to be precise) who will be doing the marathon on Sunday. Lively and energetic, he always makes it quite an experience for others who run with him. Like most of us he had to go through rigors of work, training and injury scares. But, he held on to do enough long runs to take him through. He is an inspiration for the rest of the team for holding on to plans! A marathon is no mean task and yet he is going to make it look easy!

Ashwini Gopinath
Sweltering heat, freezing cold, crazy winds - nothing stopped her from attending the runs that she wanted to do. She stuck to the rules and simply followed what the coaches said. The results are here to see! She is probably one of the most improved runners in the Team. Always humble, she keeps referring to herself about being slow. Nope! Its not about speed - Its the determination and dedication towards a cause. In Coachji Vinod's words : "Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to continue despite it."

Atanu Bhattacharya
Atanu has been in Austin for a while and works for Si Labs. When Atanu started with the program, he was worried if he could make it to the finish line. I am sure that he is already looking forward to many more finish lines right now :). His training has been on and off for the most part. But, he has put in more than enough effort to be there at the start line this Sunday and make it through the finish. With Team Asha's pacers and cheering groups we will also make sure that its more than a pleasant experience for our hero!

Bharath Iyer
Consistency is the key. Just keep doing it week after week and stick to the schedule. Bharath is again an improved runner who made us feel bad by making it look real easy :) He has put in an earnest effort given all the prior commitments. Actually, he went beyond and even helped us with aspects of managing the program itself. Always there to lend a helping hand for other runners with the Team, Sunday will be his day and the Team will be there for him in full force!

Bharath Kumar
Bharath started out as an Asha volunteer. He had just moved from TAMU to Austin and was looking forward to volunteer. Hmm..running was never the plan, at least thats what he insisted on. I guess he just got sucked into it :) Here he is now, probably one of the fastest runners with Team Asha, he demonstrates how much one can improve if you are passionate about the sport, really enjoy it and believe in the cause it supports. His dedication and commitment is contagious and I am sure there are going to be many more 'runner geeks'!

Bhavishya Goel
He was not even sure for how long he was going to be in Austin! Bhavishya is actually on a business trip from India. Fortunately, he has been here long enough to be a part of making this a wonderful team. With all the unexpected scheduling, his training did get a hit, but he has pulled things together admirably to be there at the start on Sunday. Here is another hero who will be giving his best like always for a cause he truly believes in.

Go Team Asha!!

II. A Day in Shristi Special Academy

What do volunteers look for in a site visit to a grass roots effort ? How much learning really happens ? How is life for a kid in that school ? These are probably questions that sometimes come up - but, you might be too shy or just don't have the time to ask an Asha volunteer.

So, here is a sample of the answers - Gaurav Agarwal had visited Shristi Special Academy about a year ago and here is his site visit report :

http://www.ashanet.org/projects-new/documents/602/gagarwal_site_visit.doc
http://data.ashanet.org/datastore/data/Chapters/Austin/projects/gagarwal_site_visit_photos.doc

III. Inspiration that humbles

Sometimes certain actions made by individuals makes you feel so humbled and irrelevant that you might even question what you do, yet the same action inspires you to not take for granted the opportunities you have and put it to best use for all ...

The Hyots - An amazing story that inspires, yet brings you down to your feet. There is also a short video clipping.

http://cjcphoto.com/can/

Thanks,
Santhosh
( For Team Asha )

Team Asha Rocks 3M!

2007-02-19T21:57:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Temperatures of 37 F, felt like 28 F with wind chill. In 'desi' terms around 0 deg C!!

We had a wonderful cheering squad who braved all the rough weather to keep the team going! A big thank you to Rajiv, Aparna, Chirag, Arvind, Gaurav and Pankaj. Each one of us have many commitments related to family, work and life in general. It takes a lot to wake up so early in the morning on a 'Sunday' and be just out there sparing time for the team! You guys made it a memorable experience for all of us and spurred us on to the finish!

( Thanks to Pankaj for co-ordinating the whole cheering effort for the team. )

Here are the stars of the show though :)

(In reverse alphabetical order, for a change ..)

Vivin
( http://www.ashanet.org/austin/soh/runners/vivin.html )

She is part of an elite category within Team Asha! Being a mom in itself takes all your time and resources (If you have any doubts, you can check with my mom on how much I troubled her!). How about being a Marathon Mom? While, Syona an adorable future Team Asha runner kept her mom busy most of the time, Vivin stealthily carried on with her running, with no complaints or cribs. She switched from AT&T to 3M as her target race rather late and frankly speaking we were a bit worried! But, she finished in style and made us all proud! Vivin and Ram long term Asha volunteers once again showed us why they are part of the reason Asha Austin trudges along year after year!

Sharanya Rao
( http://www.ashanet.org/austin/soh/runners/arvindNsharanya.html )

After moving to Austin, running would have probably been the last thing on her mind! But, today she ran the longest she ever has! She finished an half marathon for a cause that she truly believes in. All through the training she was worried how she will do on the D-Day and she did amazingly well today! Sharanya is not just a Team Asha runner, she is an active Asha Austin volunteer and has been attending meetings regularly. It was rather obvious that the enthusiasm and initiative would ebb into the running too. The training and silent dedication to the schedule ensured that she cut more than 10 minutes from her expected finish time! She declared that she doesn't talk much while running. I guess, she meant she lets the running talk. In her own words - 'We don't run for that piece of metal they give us at the finish, we run for the kids'.

Minesh Shilotri
( http://www.ashanet.org/austin/soh/runners/minesh.html )

Every class in the school has these bunch of guys/gals who sit in the last bench and have a lot of fun. They take it easy, but finish strong! Minesh probably slept through most of the long runs in the entire training program (Sorry dude! Had to quote you!). Minesh missed a lot of the training and the maximum distance he had done before was about 4-5 miles. But, it takes a lot of courage and determination to not back down with all this. With a nervous start all of us are worried how he is going to shape up at the race. Yet, he seemed to suggest he wanted more at the end of the race! It truly was a committed performance today from him. Team Asha respects the die hard spirit that he demonstrated for all of us today.

Khushbu Patel
( http://www.ashanet.org/austin/soh/runners/khushbu.html )

Can any one of us imagine being in pre-med school at UT, with atleast 5 courses every semester to handle, a student job and find whatever time if possible to train for a half marathon ? I am still kind of amazed as to how she managed it! With a rigorous schedule to handle at UT, she made light weather of all the troubles and kept on with the training as much as possible. The longest she had done before last week was 6 miles and today she did much faster than expected!! Through the whole race, it looked like she was just taking it easy. So, that probably means this was just a start! Khusbu has been more than a Team Asha runner - she is a long term Asha volunteer who took the intiative in representing Asha amongst the students of UT and garnering support at UT.

Arvind Viswanath
( http://www.ashanet.org/austin/soh/runners/arvindNsharanya.html )

The target was 1 hr and 54 mins and Arvind failed miserably in reaching it and could only do 1 hour and 57 mins :) . Well, atleast he says that. This guys is too good with his running and I am sure that he is going to kick some ----- if he wants to. With a job that requires a good amount of travel, it really does curtail options of training. But, I have never heard Arvind complain about it! Rather, his involvement with Asha and its efforts has been on a steady rise! If you don't believe me, let me introduce you all to Asha Austin's new chapter co-ordinator! Yep, he leads by example. The very first meeting he attended and heard about the marathon program, he signed up to be a part of it! His initiative and spirit of volunteerism didn't stop there. After the first meeting he attended, We know of almost no meetings that he has missed! Arvind really means a lot for Asha Austin in terms of dedicated volunteers and is amazing inspiration for the rest of Team Asha!

Finally, come the crazy runners who didn't have 3M as the target race, but did it for the heck of it!

Gayathri, Charanya, Manasi, Mohit, Vivek and Ganesh - Here are ppl who are on their way to their targets and 3M was an important milestone! They just didn't make it a training run and were there to cheer us all till the end! I am pretty sure they are going to excel in their target races!

(Note: If I failed mentioning anyone's contribution to Team Asha's 3M efforts, please do bring it to everyone's notice and mail the group.)

Go Team Asha!!

Thanks,
Santhosh.

Team Asha Rocks Sumart!

2007-02-19T21:55:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

One more target race down for Team Asha this year and we rocked the race like always! As Ganesh and Gaurav mentioned, it was a true team effort that got us this success!

Ashwini,Arvind, Roopa, Murali, Arun, Ashwini, Sharanya, Arvind,Savita,Sandhya, Salil, Mahesh, Dwarak, Divya,Itisha,Venkatesh, Priyavadan, Anita and Bharath were the ultimate support team!

All this would not have been possible if not for such care and affection showered on us! It really felt like a Formula One pit stop, every time one of the runners reached the AID station. Many thanks to the pacers who ran with us (some of them distances that they have not done frequently and that too after their early morning scheduled runs!)

There are so many things that we could keep discussing about. But, I would like to focus on just the effort that each of the wonderful runners have put in - because, as always everything else revolves around it.

Sanjeev Ranganathan

Sometimes, I really think I shouldn't comment on something thats way beyond the league! But, being a witness to this extraordinary effort, I feel I need to let the team know. Sanjeev, never planned to run the 50 miler until just a few weeks back. The original plan was to train for the 50K. He had recurring groin problems, he fell down trails, had cold/fever bouts, back pain and got lost in the wilderness for more time than any of us have ever been off course! It was a tremendous effort on saturday, when he gave his all to reach the cut-off of 9 hours for the third loop. When he did come in a little over 11 hours at the end of his third loop - nothing was lost - He was an inspiration for the whole team in so many ways and thats not new to him. Here is an Asha veteran that we all would be proud to know.

Anita komanduri

Silent, humble and almost unnoticed - The mother of all efforts is sometimes lost in just its humbleness! Many a times she has taught us how not to make a fuss about any of these efforts. She finished her first ultra marathon strong and in style! I know I am going to get it from her for this - keeping all gender sensitiveness in mind, I just can't avoid proclaiming Team Asha's first woman ultra marathoner! She had serious ITB problems and that even stopped her from completing some of the training runs. Running mountains in Bandera really didn't help it a lot. But, we all knew that she was going to bounce right back! In about 8 hours she finished her first 50 km run and made us all proud of what we are doing.

This is probably Sanjeev and Anita's last race with Asha Austin's marathon program. They were one of the reasons why Asha Austin even has a marathon program. Wishing all the best for Sanjeev and Anita's life ahead in India. We shall as always look upto them for inspiration and direction.

Ganesh Krishnamoorthy

Shameless copy paste from what we wrote about him last year -

"Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport is about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at the last minute. Sport, like all life, is about taking risks."
- Sir Roger Bannister

It somehow still holds true. He was determination personified, when even a 'stupid' disqulification rule that stripped him of his bib no. couldn't stop him from doing what he set out for. A bad fall in the trails even before the first half of the race ended meant a lot of blood loss, less energy and lots of pain. He spent aboout 12 hours and 30 minutes on the trails trudging along and never ever giving up! I don't think anyone could have convinced him about dropping out even as the race infrastructure was brought down. I have not seen anything like this before!

Vinod Viswanath

Asha Austin's one and only 'Coach ji'. The marathon veteran showed us the way all these years and it was no different on saturday as Team Asha moved into the realms of 'Ultra' running. Intermittent training and a lot of travel didn't really help him get a wholesome training program. But, it was never a complaint or an excuse! As always he kept the spirits up and gave us all the invaluable gems of advice that just comes with experience. Though he probably wasn't too happy about his time, I am sure he is going to set it right pretty soon - maybe within a year :) If you are happy that Asha Austin has this wondeful program, here is one person you might want to thank for sure! This is probably Vinod's last run with Team Asha when in Austin. Rather than feel worried about a future without coach ji, I think its upto all of us to make the dream live on and make the program a sucess year after year!

Gaurav Agarwal

A+ - for those who don't know, it means planning, perseverence, commitment and dedication. He held everything together for all us crazy ultras - he took care of almost every area - food, travel, race plans etc week after week! Meticulous in his planning and execution, he made it all very easy for us. He had some bad cramps towards the end of the third loop. He had some health problems even the next day. I was joking about the 'royal' treatment he got after the race - but, the truth is he made through this crazy ultra marathon in 10 hrs, given all that he had to go through! Team Asha is in safe hands as gaurav gives his 100% to a cause that all of us believe in. It takes a lot of effort to organize, sustain and pour one's efforts into a program of this magnitude - Gaurav has led by example on each one of these aspcts. He is an inspiration to all of us and Team Asha looks foward to more races with A+!!

Santhosh Padmanabhan

Yep! I get to talk about myself :) ..The truth is, I was just 'plain' lucky. I never had to go through anything that others had to go through. But, for the encouragement and support from wondeful Team Asha friends on the trails supporting us, it could have been a lot different. I had a memorable experience - not just because of 'my own race', but with people travelling long distances to just encourage us all!

Many thanks to all the runners of the team for being with all of us through the way!

Thanks,
Santhosh.

Team Asha Rocks Motive!

2007-02-19T21:50:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

November 12, Sunday 2006 - Team Asha conquers the first 'Target Race' of the season! Every runner out there today did a great job! This is one of the most hilly race courses ( http://www.mapmyrace.com/races/MotiveBison2006/ ) in Austin and yet it was no match for our runners!

Here are the Team Asha runners who successfully completed the 'Goal' of finishing the motive half marathon :

Ajay Taparia -
Ajay is doing an internship at Silicon labs and heard about the program through his roommate, Venkatesh and Asha volunteers. He had no qualms in commiting himself to the challenging task of training for a half-marathon and fundraising. He was so good that he even did a 10 miler way before others in the program did it ( actually, he got lost :) ..). His commitment to training, patience and determination made him a winner as he passed the finishing line today!
( http://www.ashanet.org/austin/soh/runners/ajayNvenkatesh.html )

Venkatesh Acharya -
Venkatesh is also doing an internship at Silicon labs. Lively and full of enthusiasm, he kept the team in good spirits in the training sessions. He is also known for his great cooking abilities - his speciality being delicacies from Karataka. Just a week before motive Venkatesh's training had a 'hiccup'. He had to deal with shin splints. But, he put up a brave fight today and carried himself along in his own characteristic never-say-die attitude! He was literally limping in the first few miles! He was not sure if he could run. But, he ran through the finish line today to be one more Team Asha veteran!
( http://www.ashanet.org/austin/soh/runners/ajayNvenkatesh.html )

Pankaj Kalra -
Pankaj is doing his internship with Sematech. He had volunteered with Asha when in UC, Berkley. He dropped into one of Asha Austin's meetings and didn't take long to decide that he will be running for Team Asha! He was regular and commited to his training. At a time when Asha Austin is in need of volunteers, Pankaj's efforts as a volunteer is very helpful. Today as a Team Asha runner, he again gave his 100% towards a cause he believes in. Even after the back breaking hills of motive today, there he was for the usual 2 p.m. Asha meeting!
( http://www.ashanet.org/austin/soh/runners/pankaj.html )

Congratulations to the three of them for meeting their goals! Team Asha encourages and eagerly awaits their wonderful sprint across the finish line with the fundraising efforts. Great job guys !

Marathoners -

Arvind Rao
Itisha Tyagi
Sriram Sambamurthy
VishvJeet
Ashay Ronghe
Mihir Anandpara

Team Asha full marathoners have reached the half way point in their training with motive. All of them finished strong and are ready to take on any hills now! The training does get tough from here, but when the going gets tough, Team Asha gets going !

Other Team Asha runners Ganesh, Sanjeev, Vinod, Gaurav and Santhosh had a nice run too!

Mahesh Subramony finished his first half marathon at motive. Due to unexpected reasons he couldn't join us all earlier in the program. Today he finished the half marathon displaying amazing grit and determination!

Congrats to Asha patrons Chandu, Lalit and Karthik for finishing the half marathon!

Our heartfelt thanks to the tireless cheering through out the race!!

Thanks to AshwiniG, Arun (and his drums!), Anuroopa, Sayli, Bhavishya, Bhavishya's friend, Salil, Nivas, Dwarak and Divya.

It requires a lot of effort to get up from the bed early on a cold sunday morning and shout out for the team for hours ! You guys are amazing and we owe it to you!

Thanks to AshwiniT for patiently dealing with all the registration, organization, cheering efforts and also for coming out to support us!

If you thought its over, you are mistaken, its just started! We have three more big races to go!

Sunmart Ultras - Dec 9th
3M Half - Jan 31st
AT&T Half & Full - Feb 19th

Hopefully we have more of Team Asha come out to root for its runners in all these races.

You run so they can read.

Go Team Asha!!

Thanks,
Santhosh.
(For Team Asha)

Thanks!

2007-01-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

Hi,

Here is a big thank you to all the ppl who made it happen!

Hi,

I would like to thank you all for being the pillar of support in my efforts. What started out as a doubt, then a challenge has now culminated in a humbling experience.

Before I started training for my first marathon, I had doubts if I could even cross 3 miles. I am now officially an 'Ultra marathoner'!! Yes..I did it ..I ran 50 miles..and I even beat my own expectations. I thought a time of about 9 hours and 10 mins was slow - turns out that it was fast enough to get a 2nd place finish in my age group -

http://www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/14723_21388_2006.html#%204

Ya...ya..there were only 6 people in my age group :)

But, the sense of accomplishment was not in finishing a physical challenge - but, for being able to be a part of a change that we all wished for.

On December 9th I finished my first 50 miler. The next day I left for India, where I made visits to efforts that we supported through these marathon efforts. Just three days after what I thought was a big accomplishment, I was brought down on my feet :

The Banyan :

This effort supports the treatment, recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration of mentally ill destitute women.

(Note: Being destitute in India literally means being homeless and left to fend for oneself in the streets.)

You can read about my site visit and also other documents at http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=604

(Dec 2006 - Jan 2007)

I also have video footage of my visit (Its mostly in english)

The Bharathi Trust Resource Center :

I was fortunate to spend time and document all the efforts at the resource center in Thiruvallur, Tamil Nadu.

(To save email space) Please check out http://www.ashanet.org/austin/projects/siddamma.html

I have attached my site visit summary and translation of the video. (The video was in Tamil, the local language)

Seva Chakkara Samajam :

http://www.ashanet.org/nycnj/projects/scos.html

This is an orphanage that Asha Austin had supported in the past. I had a lot of fun playing 'kho-kho' (an indian game) with all the kids. My mom came along and enjoyed the visit a lot too! This was not a visit to document - I wanted to have a nice time after all the usual courtsey visits at home with the extended family :)

I should have a few photos from the visit when my dad emails it to me.

St.John's Leprosey Rehabilitation Association :

This is a new proposal that I was fortunate enough to come across. The incidence of Leprosey is the highest in India among all countries in the world. Significantly, the social stigma associated with the disease also seems to be the highest in this part of the world.

An organization started and run totally by the affected people, started a school with some early support. The primary reason being discrimination in the normal streams of education. We have a proposal from them and Asha Austin will be discussing it soon.

I have video footage of the visit (Its in the local language - Tamil). I have not translated it yet.

What can I do for you ?

These experiences (site visits) have a profound impact on how I think, act and live. At the same time I am not 'blinded' by passion. I strive to make the visits transparent and resourceful. A good part of the videos actually were questions/interviews from me. Also, all financial details are out in the project website.

If you are interested in getting a copy of the video please send me an email or just call me. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding any efforts supported by Asha Austin.

You all make what Asha Austin is - you trusted us and have been the instrument of socio-economic change in India.

Thanks again for keeping my clock tick!

Thanks,
Santhosh.

Its just around the corner ...

2006-12-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

Folks,

I have been pretty bad at updating the posts this year! I am sorry. Too many things happening at the same time. Work has been hectic and so has life in general.

In terms of running, I have many stories to tell, but will probably go into details later. This year the blogging has been sparse. But, I have tried earnestly in bringing forth all information regarding Asha Austin's projects, our funds disbursal etc.

"50 miles" - a distance I have never run before, an expected 9 -10 hours - the most physically gruelling in my life.

I hope to raise funds for the various projects that Asha Austin supports. I have explained through various posts what Asha Austin is all about and the projects we work with. Please contact me with any questions you might have. I will be more than willing to answer your questions.

Before, you make a contribution, here is a disclaimer : Please don't make a donation to make me stop doing 'crazy/insane' stuff. I know what this is about and I am inherently a crazy person. In other words - please DON'T contribute because I am doing it. Do it only if you are comfortable with the cause and believe in it.

I sincerely hope you can support me in this simple effort.

This is probably one of my last posts before the SUNMART 50 Miler on Saturday, December 9th.

Thanks to all those who have supported the cause and to those who would soon...

But, India is developing and leaping forward...

2006-11-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

I got this from a friend while trying to explain why we raise funds for grassroots efforts in India.

Every newspaper carries news about the stock market, the high economic growth and the new IT hub India has become. Outsourced jobs and higher standard of living ....wait..higher standard of living ? For whom ? The common man ?

This needs some more information. Every time you try discussing a serious problem that needs to be addressed or something that needs effort - the candid response is - "India is Shining" - we have world class hotels (forget the underprivileged relegated to slums living next door), we have high paying outsourced jobs that has made India a IT hub (forget how even after repeated attempts the National Rural Employment Act of the government never took off and we still have hunger deaths in rural areas), great market economy and booming stock market (in stark contrast we still have so many farmers committing suicides due to debts and there exists inhuman acts such as 'bonded' labour (a lighter term for slavery) that the Indian government claims to have abolished a long while ago)...and so it goes on...

Is a citizen being a traitor or more lightly put losing his 'patriotism' in recognizing the problems of a country and creating awareness about it ?

Really speaking, I don't know - but, if there are lives and livelihoods of children, women and underprivileged that are at stake, what would common sense tell you ? The answer is most probably the same - what country, religion, caste, race, sex etc. etc. you might belong to doesn't really matter.

Some of these are recognized and accepted by the government itself - Here are some articles :

The Guardian

The Hindu (P.Sainath)

If common sense makes you a traitor, I am scared to know what makes a patriot!

Why concentrate on negative aspects - why talk about only the poverty, hunger and probems ?

We either choose to recognize and address the issue at hand or ignore it to keep dwelling on positives. If "progress" is a "wheel", let this be the "brakes" - but without brakes it gets pretty dangerous because harder is the fall.

Is it really that big a deal ?

2006-11-09T23:19:00.000-08:00

Running this 50 miler is more than about 'fitness' or 'hobbies' for me. At one level its about challenging my own limitations. But, what keeps me going is the idea of making a difference in the lives of the underprivileged in India.

When I feel tired or when I feel too good about myself - I just reflect on the situation in India - it makes me fly/raise with the 'running' and also brings me down crashing with the 'pride'/'ego' !

for e.g. Based on unofficial estimates (there never is an official estimate on such things) On an average a rural woman in India walks more than 14000 km a year just to fetch water - that makes it 23 miles a day - and thats just one aspect of the hardships that the underprivileged we strive for go through.

So much for my 'Ultra' marathon capabilities!

Then, sadly realization dawned on me that I run not just because I can ..But, I run so that they can live ...

Team Asha growing ...

2006-11-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

Team Asha

What started as a small dream in a room in UT Austin has been growing in the last few years!

We started with about 15 runners in the last couple of years and this year thanks to the wonderful efforts of the Asha volunteers we have grown to more than 50 runners, each of them training to run distances they have never attempted before!!

Each one of them is a hero in their own right!

Here are some of the photos from events our team has particpated in :

Twister 10K
IBM 10K
Long run in September
A few of our runners

Updates from the Banyan.

2006-11-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

If you had donated towards my fundraising efforts in the last year, some of it was sent to the 'Banyan' - An organization I have been involved with :
Banyan and me
From the start
Vocational training

I have updated the project website with the latest information and photos regularly -
Banyan Project Page

I will be visiting India this december and will surely visit banyan and post developments for you all.

My first ultra marathon.

2006-10-29T20:42:00.000-08:00

Yep! Here it is - my first ultra marathon - a distance greater than 26.2 miles, yet its just a training run!

As part of Team Asha I had a great trip to Huntsville, TX (near houston). I took 5 hrs and 34 mins to finish my longest run ever 31 miles / 50 kms.

Among other things I had nipple bleeding (As weird as it sounds, its a known issue with long distance runners. If you don't believe me, check this out ), had to stop for a rest room break because I ate too much and had to sprint at the end so that I can grab my T-shirt and finisher's award.

I am getting real busy at work and blogging has been more of a luxury. Every now and then I plan on posting landmark happenings with my training and about asha projects.

Please bear with me for being inconsistent. I am really trying my best!

So, here are pictures that speak more from the event -

Rocky Rocoon Photos

Bastrop run.

2006-10-24T23:47:00.000-07:00

Unlike last year, I am NOT going to post every detail of my 'pains' to you all!

Running is now more than just a 'fitness routine' for me. There was a time when I used to hate it. I used to listen to music to distract myself from the pain/ritual of running.

Now, its a lot different. After last year's marathon, I have been running regularly and its become part of 'life'. I love running as the sun rises, as it goes down or when its not there! The music that keeps me going is just the perturbations that I cause in nature by my running.

In this transformation, one thing that still remains the same is the motivation to run. Fundraising for efforts in India has always been the motivation. If I don't see this happening through my efforts - its like taking the soul out of my passion - running doesn't hold a meaning any longer.

Running the bastrop trails was a wonderful experience. It really brought into focus the difference between trail and road running - Believe me, road running is heaven for the muscles/body, but, trails are made for your inner self :)

During the run at bastrop, I carried a camera along to get you all close to an expeience in the trails ...

Bastrop run photos

Banyan video

2006-10-24T23:10:00.000-07:00

Banyan

Sometimes ...a thousand words won't mean a thing until you see it.

For those who already don't know about it - I am involved with the efforts of 'Banyan' and this video highlights the role of 'vocational training and occupational therapy' in the rehabilitation of the mentally ill destitute women.

Asha Austin supports the Vocational training/occupational therapy unit.

If you have any questions/comments on this video, please don't hesitate to contact me or comment on this blog.

Chicago marathon

2006-10-22T22:38:00.000-07:00

47,000 people running, 1.5 million cheering - One of the best marathons in the world. It was an epic event and it was surreal to be a part of such a huge event.

What made it better was my cousin, venkat, was running this as his first marathon! So, there I was doing the chicago marathon as my half-way training run for the 50M. Two years back, I would have never imagined myself doing a marathon as a training run. Yet, there I was and it was pretty annoying to my cousin when I kept referring to it as a regular long run :)

Venkat didn't have the best of training and made through all of the training period alone. I decided that I would not let him alone through out the marathon course.Its a daunting task and irregular/insufficient training makes it much tougher.

The weather was cold as expected. It was the wind chill that was pretty bad. We did a decent pace (11 min miles) till about Mile 14. Then my cousin had some bad ankle trouble that seemed to be there from training too. I then had to play 'kabbadi', put up with curses/abuses from my wonderful cousin!

I had my revenge in the last 300 metres though - I abused and insulted his fitness levels. I made so much fun of him being lazy and challenged him to sprint against me. Then he took off - so did I - We could hear the thousands strong crowd cheering heavily for us!! What crazy whacky guys would sprint each other after a gruelling 5 hr 22 min run! Well we were crazy enough ..and the finish line was a relief!

There was a lot more in the run and my cousin loved it - he will be a returning team asha runner next year! Here is his runner page

The rest of Team Asha did great in Chicago too! Our Austin runners - Anita and Vinod made their PR (personal record) times! Gaurav, ganesh and anurag did pretty good too!
Anurag did a great time for his first marathon!

Here are the
Chicago Photos

50

2006-10-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

So what is 50 about ?

(In no intended priorities :) ..)

When I toss a coin, there is a 50% chance that its heads or tails ..
50 states in the US of A! ..
In the game of cricket, its an important milestone - a half century for a batsman ..
If I keep up with my 'healthy' habits I would reach 50% body fat ..
The speed limit at most of the feeder roads in austin ..
'Its my birthday!!' - fifty cent - what else! ..
2 quarters ..

Amazingly wikipedia has more interesting information ..

50 in wiki

Here is a different take :

For every kid born in this world, there is a 50% chance that its a boy or a girl ..
( Its a different question if you consider what %of boys/girls actually continue to live )

India's children form less than 50% of the world's population below the age of 18 years
(But, the actual % is not too far away - its atleast 40% and of course, is the largest for any country in the world)

Less than 50% of the children in the age group 6-14 actually go to school in India.

In the <50% who can make it to school, less than 1/3rd of the children who make it to 1st grade reach 8th grade.

More that 50% of India's children are malnourished.

Amongst married women in India today, more than 50% (actually 75%) were under age at the time of their marriages.

Interested in more ?

Given all this, '50' is a well known number. How does it matter to me ?

I am training to run a 50 mile ultra marathon to raise funds for efforts in India that would help mitigate the problems stated in numbers above.

I am part of a team that has 50+ runners who are all running distances that they never have run before for the same cause.

For every mile I will run in the 50 miler, my target is to raise at least $100. I am more of an optimist and believe that I am off by a 100% on this estimate :) .. My sincere hope is to raise at least $200 for every mile I will run on that day.

What happened with the donations ?

2006-10-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

I am back after a long while.

First off,

I want to make sure that anyone who donated for the efforts know what happened with thier money. Please note that this is an updated report for Jan-Dec 2005. The earlier report published on this blog was for the financial year 2004-05.

Here is our report from our newsletter :

Asha Austin Annual Report 2005

Asha Austin currently supports nine projects from different states across India and has seen a tremendous growth in all aspects over the past year. The chapter strength in terms of active volunteers has more than doubled and $61,520 was raised in 2005 alone. The marathon program ‘Strides Of Hope’ along with the long standing ‘Support A Child’ program has raised most of the funds for the chapter. The same year Asha Austin also set precedence with the ‘Support A Teacher’ program. The commitment of the volunteers has been instrumental in the success of these initiatives. The selfless work of our project partners that brings about changes in many communities in India has been our motivation.

Asha Austin supports development of infrastructure and recurring expenses of Asha Sikshan Sansthan, a school in Reoti village of Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh. We funded vocational training at Banyan, a home for mentally challenged destitute women in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The training is not only therapeutic but also provides an opportunity for them to work their way back into society. We supported the Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram located in the village of Badalpur in the district of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. The school aims to sustain free primary education, books and uniforms for underprivileged children. The school also hopes to generate an interest in children for higher education and to convince their parents to send them to school.

Asha Austin has been supporting Siddamma, a grassroots volunteer in India who works towards providing a life of dignity for the Irula Tribals. Her Bharathi Trust Resource Centre is supported by Asha Austin and her work with the communities includes freeing bonded laborers, organizing the communities into cooperatives and mainstreaming the children into the education system by providing motivational educational centers. Our chapter also approved funds for Gramin Shiksha Kendra which runs an alternative school in a village near Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan) and provides meaningful and quality education to 100 children. The chapter supported the education and boarding of disadvantaged and orphaned girl children at Prasanna Jyothi, located in Bangalore, Karnataka.

We also raised funds to provide a permanent home for Seva Chakkara Samajam, an Orphanage in Chennai, Tamil Nadu that houses 99 children. Asha Austin supported Shristi Special Academy which provides structured intervention programs to children with mental retardation, autism or other intellectual impairment through the ‘Support A Teacher’ program.

Asha Austin supported building a laboratory at the school Raja Shivaji Vidyalaya, located at Sawantwadi, in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. Asha Austin is currently discussing new proposals and we are looking for a more eventful 2006. We hope to reach out to more lives as we set upon a new year.

Funds Raised:
SAC (Support A Child) program, Marathon (Strides Of Hope), SAT (Support A Teacher) program, Matching/giving funds from companies, General donations contributed, donations towards Work an Hour (National fund raiser), sale of merchandise
Total: $61,520 (Includes funds raised for projects/efforts to be supported in 2006)
Funds Disbursed for projects in 2005:
Seva Chakkara Samajam $10,600.00
Bodh Shiksha Samithi (GSK) $6,131.87
Shristi Special Academy $3,600.00
Asha Sikshan Sansthan $3,100.00
Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram $2,225.00
Prasanna Trust $4,200.00
The Banyan $1,400.00
Siddamma Fellowship $2,700
Raja Shivaji Vidyalaya $1,500.00
Miscellaneous* $3721
Total $39,177.87
* Funds disbursed for Credit card charges, merchandise, transfer of directed donations to WAH projects, Payment to rogue from registration fees collected from marathon runners etc.

Team Asha De-freezes Freescale!!

2006-02-25T14:06:00.000-08:00

Here is the official press release of Team Asha (in Austin)

TEAM ASHA DE-FREEZES FREESCALE
AUSTIN, TX. February 19, 2006.

It was a cold and icy morning with sub zero temperatures. Yet,
thousands of people braved the extreme weather to run the Freescale
Marathon and Half Marathon. Amidst the crowd were 12 individuals
running, 'come rain; come shine', to support the education of
underprivileged children in India.

Arvind Rao, Gloria Dholakia, Ganesh Krishnamoorthy, Gaurav Agarwal,
Harpreet Arora, Karthik Kumar, Radhakrishna Gaurishankara, Salil
Akerkar, Sanjeev Ranganathan, Santhosh Padmanabhan, Savitha Sridharan
and Vinod Viswanath are all members of Team Asha. They as part of a
16-strong team trained for over five months to run the Austin
Freescale Marathon in February of 2006. Each of them has pledged to
raise at least $100 for every mile of the marathon.

"Crossing the finish line today was a wonderful moment and what made
it meaningful was that I was not just challenging myself in running
26.2 miles but I was doing so to help empower the underprivileged in
India" said Gaurav, who ran his first marathon on Sunday.

"I believe that education is a fundamental right of every child in the
world. By training for and running the marathon, I am raising money
for projects that support child education in India. It is doubly
satisfying", said Savitha who trained alone for the most challenging
part of the training in the harsh winter of Raleigh, NC.

In keeping with the organization's name -- which means hope – the
volunteers want to help segments of the Indian population that would
otherwise lack opportunities, such as mentally disadvantaged children.
Arvind is running to raise funds to support Srishti Special Academy in
Bangalore. Srishti is a non-profit organization, headed by a team of
trained, qualified and experienced special educators who feel the need
today is to provide quality services and well designed and structured
intervention programs to children with mental retardation, autism or
any other intellectual impairment. "I joined Team Asha for the cause
they are striving towards in India and because I saw many of my
friends do it" said Arvind.

Over a million dollars have been raised through such marathon programs
organized by Asha for Education around the country. The Austin chapter
is organizing this event for the second time. Last year the chapter
raised more than $30,000 that supported eight worthy projects from
five different states in India. "Running with the flu made me remember
that great strength finds you when you try to be the strength for
others", said Sanjeev, a long time volunteer with Asha who ran his
first marathon battling a bad flu and is targeting to raise $20,000
for a resource center in Thiruvallur, Tamil Nadu. The resource center,
an effort of Bharathi Trust, one of Asha's partners, will provide a
place for the local community to experiment low cost techniques of
organic farming, alternatives to the capital intensive farming that is
pushing many farmer families into debt.

Nearly all the runners in this group are running a marathon for the
first time "Committing to the marathon training program for Asha is
one of the best things I have ever done in my life. I believe one
needs a strong motivation to run and raising funds to help educate
hundreds of children in India has been a big motivating factor for
me", said Salil who had not run much before he started training and
finished the Freescale half-marathon on Sunday.

"I am happy to have had this opportunity to contribute for the underprivileged
in India", said Gloria who was also down with flu a few days before the
marathon and ran the marathon despite a stress facture in her foot. A
mother of two adorable boys, she has been juggling family, work and
running, no small feat.

Asha for Education is a zero-overhead group of volunteers from various
walks of life. It is a not-for-profit with a mission to bring about
socio-economic change in India through the education of
underprivileged children. All donations to Asha for Education are tax
deductible and go directly to the projects being supported in India.

For more information:
Contact: Santhosh Padmanabhan, 512-431-5105, santhosh.padmanabhan@gmail.com

Web site: www.ashanet.org/austin/soh

Asha for Education-Austin
The University of Texas at Austin,
Student Organization Center, Box 319,
1 University Station A6220,
Austin TX 78712-0181

Congratulations and thanks!

2006-02-25T13:58:00.000-08:00

As I helped our chapter co-ordinate the marathon program this year, I had the opportunity to be a witness to the wonderful efforts of each runner of Team Asha. I sent a mail out detailing how much each runner had put it and their wonderful accomplishments. I also thanked all of the wonderful guys who cheered us tirelessly through the marathon.

You can see all the photos of our team here

Here is the mail -

Hey ppl,

I have a penchant for long emails. But, this one will probably be the longest without an attachment! Read it only if you have the time :) Curse me as much as you want, but, it won't stop me from sending this one out.

"On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away"
It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerised as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?"

- Pink Floyd, Momentary Lapse Of Reason

There were umpteen reasons to 'turn away'. All of us are busy with work, our career goals, family and what not. It needed a commitment of time, energy, resources and involved a lot of sacrifices. Yet, each one of you wonderful guys from Team Asha refused to 'turn away' for one simple reason, the cause we all strived for.

The weather today was 'Extreme' or 'insane' in the words of mihir :) . Each one of our team battled against so many odds to make it a memorable finish, an event of a lifetime. But, all our runners are modest. I am taking the liberty to let everyone know of the efforts each of the runners have put in and what they have accomplished.

Anita -
She finished the 3M half marathon in style. She was regular in training and always had a smile no matter how hard the run was :). Though she didn't fight any serious injury concerns, she did face a few troubles during the race that she never made heavy weather of ! She is looking forward to the chicago marathon.
She co-ordinated the whole cheering effort on her own and it wouldn't have been possible if not for her dedicated efforts today.

Arvind -
"The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy...It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed."
- Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ

The will to succeed..arvind had loads of it. Nothing dettered him. He was just decided. Nothing could move him from his resolve to finish the marathon. IT band, back problems, knee problems and what not! He was a true fighter. After going through all the pain and suffering, he used to say very sheepishly " Sorry guys! I made you wait.". Yep, we were waiting alright..for this true runner to inspire us to keep giving our best no matter what!

Ashwini -
Being an inspiration for ppl you know is one thing, but, inspiring many others you don't know who see how much you want to put into a goal is just a league apart. She had other conditions that could have stopped her from running. But, she held on and finished the 3M half marathon with a smile. She was in the medical tent after that. But, it always was like a party with her around :)
Many runners with rogue have asked me about ashwini. They wanted to thank her for inspiring them. They said "She had a look on her face that said she couldn't bear the pain. But, it also said I am going to do it no matter what".

As I saw her cheering for us from the sidelines today, it gave me all the inspiration to just carry on and on...

Dinesh -
Dinesh literally limped more than half of the 3M half marathon! He had a severe case of ITB and every downhill was a torture for him. 3M was almost all downhills! Even, when I was walking with him he was in such high spirits and just joking about his predicament! Its very easy to say, "No, this is stupid. I can't take it any more" and just drop out of a race. But, it requires a lot of spirit to carry on against all odds. Dinesh's race will be a chapter in Team Asha's history !

Gloria -
Team Asha's marathon mom! With two adorable kids, a full time job as a professor, I really can't figure out what she eats to get all that energy! I kind of feel guilty that we really didn't get a chance to meet her a lot. We probably didn't take enough effort to go out and support her runs on sundays.
Well, that didn't stop her from sticking to her regular schedule though ! Unfortunately, work and family did take the toll on her training towards the end. She had to fight a few injuries today to finish the marathon. But, gloria was glorious in her finish :) . While we tried hard to find ppl to join Team Asha, gloria had contacted us by email and said she is doing it even without meeting us! She kick started the team asha fundraising too.

Ganesh -
"Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport is about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at the last minute. Sport, like all life, is about taking risks."
- Sir Roger Bannister
Ganesh is a returning Team Asha runner. He was on track to a sub-4 hr marathon last year. But, cramps and some troubles hampered his chances in the marathon. This year was not the perfect in terms of training for him because of his extensive research at UT. Yet, he was there with a hell of a cramp and still finishing with a smile! I look forward to running the ultra with him.

Gaurav -
"A+" . I think that sums it all :) . Over the two years of marathon training we have seen, I have not seen anyone more regular ! He probably is the best student rogue has seen too! But, maybe too good for steve's comfort :) . Dude, you cracked a 3:51 in your debut! You better run more marathons and the ultra soon. I view him as the future of team asha :) he is our next 'coach ji'. He provided amazing support and egged on every runner to the finish line every time!

Harpreet -
Harpreet and salil trained alone almost through out the program. They never cribbed about feeling left out. Harpreet had knee trouble during his training. Today he finished at 2:08!! Wow! He came up with an amazing performance after going through all the trouble! He is doing the same with his fundraising too. He is already racing away to a wonderful finish!

Karthik -
Seriously, I never thought he would make it to the start line! But, he didn't care much about the not-so-perfect training he had. His research in UT and doctoral studies did take a lot of time of his training. But, that didn't stop him from doing the runs when he could. In extreme weather like today, he did an amazing job to come in with a wonderful time. He could barely walk when he finished, yet he had his characteristic broad smile and positive energy! I hope he recovers soon from his back pain!

Mihir -
"Insane"..absolutely. He was very regular and committed to the training through out. Unfortunately, his work assignment in china didn't come at a very good time. I am sure if he had been with us today, he would have "enjoyed" the hills! Thanks for keeping our spirits up and making it a party for all of us man! When you do the marathon after you are back in austin, I guarantee that I will be there to see you through the finish line!

Radhakrishna -
Packet pick up means "Packet pick-up"! At times I feel he makes all the trouble that we undergo too simple :) . Without any kind of training, without a bib and a chip on his name, he finished with an amazing time! Maybe he is just born to be an athlete! I am sure he needs no training for his fundraising too ! He is inspiring to all of us in letting us know that in the end it might not be as significant as we think it to be! You rock!

Salil -
Again, like harpreet salil never felt he was left out though he and harpreet had to train all alone with the half-marathon group. Their wonderful efforts got the half-marathon coach pretty excited about team asha! As he crossed the finish line today, he made us all proud! He and harpreet was back at the marathon finish to encourage the rest of us! As always he is keeping steady pace with harpreet in fundraising too! He needed no words of encouragement or pep-talk. On the contrary, I found my encouragement from ppl like him!

Sanjeev -
The best performance of the day. I don't think I know of a more dedicated and commited asha volunteer. More than 5 years with Asha and his dedication has only multiplied by leaps and bounds. The whole week he was battling flu and a very bad cough! His voice changed and we could literally see that he was weak. Nothing seems to stop him from his goals. I don't know where he got the energy to start speeding up after Mile 21! If you guys haven't noticed, anita and sanjeev are trying to reach a target of $20K through this marathon! They need all the support we can give them. This truly was a great display of sincerity and dedication towards a cause one would seriously believe in.

Savitha -
She trained all alone with almost no water stops and runners to give her company. She got lost in the wilderness of north carolina and even that didn't stop her. In her last semester at NC state, with her advisor troubling her for her thesis, she could have just 'turned away'. She chose not to and in the process made us all proud. Now, we can brag to everyone else about this runner who trained alone in the winter of north carolina for a cause she believed in. Once you are back in may, we can start training for the next marathon :)

Vinod -
Coach ji will be moving from austin soon. This marathon was sentimental to him because, this will probably be his last while living in austin. He is the man behind 'Team Asha', the brain behind the concept of Team Asha in austin. Our first and best coach ji! His tips and insight has helped lot of us achieve our goals. I would like to thank him on behalf of all Team Asha runners for letting us be a part of his dream! He ran the chicago marathon in october and just decided to run this one too. He slipped on ice and fell down at the 9 mile mark, hurting his knee. But, he still finished the marathon smiling and made us think about keeping it on! The whole asha running community draws inspiration from this marathon veteran!

Thanks to Lalit and sree for being one of us and congratulations in achieveing your goals under all odds stacked against you!! We look forward to running more marathons with you guys. Your words of encouragement have been invaluable to us!

O.K..if you are still reading this mail, thanks for reading it!

Thanks to all the Asha houston volunteers( Ruhina, Shiv, Lata, Madhav, Meenakshi and Amit) who took the pain of travelling to austin and cheering us through this really "bad" weather. Guys, this is a debt that we will have to repay. As I had mentioned before, you guys really inspired us with your wonderful support and cheering. Thanks a lot for the champagne :)

Thanks to Sanjay, ravi, akshay and all of the Silicon lab cheering squad!! Thanks to karthik, jay, priya, and all friends from AMD for being with us and sparing time for us. Thanks to bhaskar for travelling from north carolina to drive us around and egging us on!

Thanks to Murali for waiting at the finish line with all goodies!. Thans for your patience and wonderful support. Thanks to Sid and Shobha yet again for coming out to support team asha. They were there at quite a few points to support us. Thanks to friends from vibha for cheering us on the course!

Thanks to friends of Gaurav and harpreet for being there for all of us! Thanks to gloria's family for coming out to support Team Asha!

Thanks to all AID supporters. There were just too many and I really can't list all of them! It was wonderful to see familiar faces around! It was great to have you guys supporting all of us. We are indebted for your support and encouragement. Special thanks to kishore for giving company to arvind. He almost ran a half marathon with him! Thanks for extending this wonderful friendship towards asha!

I am pretty groggy after the pain killer, nap and champagne. So, please pardon me if I missed out anyone or really didn't thank anyone enough! I am almost sure that I missed out something! I have spent about 2 hrs writing this mail ..so you better read the last few lines ...

"If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to change a life, run a marathon!"

In all the congratulatory messages and thanks lets not forget what we are all striving for! As of 2:02 A.M on Feb 19th, we have raised $6769 through online donations from 128 donors. This does not include any matching funds and checks collected so far. Way to go guys!! Lets break our record of $30K from last year. Lets go all out to achieve the targets that each one of us had committed to!

Believe me, crossing the finish line today would carry a meaning only when we are able to support the efforts of Siddamma with the resource center, the efforts of Srishti by supporting the teacher salaries, The efforts of banyan by supporting the Vocational training unit, efforts of ASS and BJSA in bringing education to the neglected children of interior India, in supporting the home for disadvantaged girl children in bangalore - Pasanna jyothi, in supporting the community driven alternative education system in rajasthan - GSK and in supporting many more projects that we all have strived for!

Go Team Asha!

I did it.

2006-02-25T13:41:00.000-08:00

I took 3 hrs and 46 mins to finish my marathon. All the weeks of training and running hard finally came to an end on Feb 19th, Sunday. It was freezing out there! We started at around 28 F and when we finished it was around 34 F.

You can see my splits and the official results at

Graphic results

Results with splits

I have improved upon my last year's standing by 1 hr and 42 mins!! It was not simple though. I had shin trouble and other niggles through the training. But, I stuck to training hard day after day. On the day of the race, except for a cramp after mile 20 most of it was comfortable. Crossing the finishing line was an amazing feeling! But, this event of a lifetime would be of least importance when compared to the change that it can bring about. I have still a long way to go to reach my fundraising target. Please do support me in my efforts.

Here are photos from the race -

My Last words ...

2006-02-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

hey..only the last words on this blog before my marathon :) .

I had to kind of 'pep-up' our wonderful team too!

Hey ppl,

Take it easy and no tension. If at all you feel nervous think about all inspirational moments in our training. These are moments that were turning points in our running careers.

1. Gaurav misleading savitha on the first long run
2. Savitha misleading karthik in revenge
3. My burnt pasta in our first potluck
4. Arvind being given president's treatment with cop cars and all at the 20 miler.
5. Mihir loving the hills and going "insane" after the tablets.
6. My piece of philosophy of "finding one's own path"
7. Steve getting so irritated with A+ gaurav's questions that he volunteers to cut his legs off.

and so on :)

Seriously, its been a party so far!! At the finish line tomorrow it will be the biggest party of them all!!

We are well trained and are prepared. Don't work yourself up ..just enjoy the party tomorrow ...10,000 ppl running, a sea of ppl on either side of the roads, music bands almost every mile, Team asha support teams at various points, known faces and the whole city cheering for you.

...and of course, when you reach the finish line there will be beer :)

Life like the marathon tomorrow teaches us to focus on positives and keep going. When you think of the legs that ache or the body that says enough... just spare a thought for the underprivileged we all strive for. Is this pain and suffering anywhere close to what they undergo ? Think of the change that this could bring in their lives...

Zatopek said "If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon."...

when we were discussing about a slogan for next year sanjeev came up with one that fits us damn well!

"If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to change a life, run a marathon."

You are a hero because you will cross the finish line tomorrow. You are a hero because the kid in that remote village of india can now go to school.

Go Team Asha!!

Last words..

2006-02-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

Our team felt pretty bad about the weather and sanjeev is fighting flu. The change of weather has caused trouble for some of or runners. Vinod, the expert marathoner in our team sent a few last words...

Folks,

There is a lot of talk about cold weather and winds and visualizing
your race. You have heard about it incessantly from Steve. So I wont
say anything about that.

Au contraire, don't spend too much time thinking about the race. You
have all done your homework and the months of training will help you
accomplish your goal. Think about where you were and what kind of
shape you were in before the training schedule started. Reflect how
you have matured as a runner over the past months.

The one thing you should do tonight and tomorrow is to load up on
electrolytes It is very important to load up on electrolytes
especially in the last 60 hours. No matter what your choice of
electrolytes is, make sure you are well loaded with them. Plan on
drinking atleast about 1-1/2 to 2 gallons of electrolyte drinks
uniformly distributed over today and tomorrow. Also strictly avoid
alcohol (and thats not just for Santhosh).

For the rest, sleep early and sleep long tonight. You have to get up
very early on Sunday morning, and it is easy to not sleep well on the
night before the race. So please make sure you sleep well tonight and
are well rested.

There will be lots of Asha folks out on the course to cheer you on the
day of the race. We have folks coming from Asha Houston as well. There
are excess of ten thousand people running the marathon. The atmosphere
is going to be electric. Soak it all in and just enjoy your run, you
might even miss seeing the finish line go by.

Good luck to everyone. That said, I'll shamelessly paste here what I
had written on last year's mailing list.
______________

It will be over in two days. When you cross that finish line come
sunday, you will experience a joy unlike anything you have ever felt.
Every aching muscle has been reflected in the face not in the form of
a grimace but as a smile and a grin. Wherever you are, whatever life
has in store for you, I know that all of you will succeed. Success
comes not from complaining but from overcoming difficulty by sheer
dint of work and persistence. Courage is not the absence of fear but
the ability to continue despite it. It took courage to walk into that
room in Texas Union in that other lifetime a long time ago. It took
courage to lace up those shoes and head out the door on every run you
did in the past 5 months. It will take courage to cross that finish
line a week from today but I have the greatest of confidence in your
indomitable spirit. The same spirit that saw the pioneers blaze the
path westward a hundred and fifty years ago in this country. The same
courage that saw Tenzing and Hillary climb Everest. The same courage
that saw Leonidas and his men refuse to surrender to the Persians and
choose to die to the man at Thermopylae. In that famous battle the
most courageous was Dienekes who, upon being told that the Persians
had so many archers that their arrows would darken the sun, said
"Good. Then we will fight in the shade".

George Sheehan uttered these famous words - "I have met my hero, and
he is me." Go out my heroes one and all, let us conquer Austin.

-Vinod

A few hrs more...

2006-02-18T19:48:00.000-08:00

Just a few hours more for the marathon...very bad news though..unexpected weather - 28-30s and ice rain/ice pellets have been forecasted. Here is a part of the mail from our coach on how we should handle it...

Cold Weather Racing

OK, sot the weather seems to be staying in the 30's for most of the
morning on race day. What changes do you need to consider given this
unexpected change?

Race Plan: It stays the same. No strategic changes to how you approach
the race given cold & possibly wet weather. 2. Apparel: Since we have
been used to warmer temps this winter many of you are probably going
to need to break the "only if you've tried it before" race rule. That
is OK these are unusual circumstances. Everyone has different cold
tolerances & needs different numbers of layers but the basics should
be pretty consistent.

What to Wear

Lower Body: I like half tights for races below 45 degrees but never
wear long tights. You won't need for your calves & achilles to be
covered. they don't get cold except at the start line. I think the
temps will be cold enough to warrant long tights though. If you are
comfortable in them wear them. If you are on the fence, I HIGHLY
recommend half tights...they keep your core warm when you need it.

Upper Body: Layer, layer layer. I think you will all want at base
layer of short sleeved tech tee then a long sleeve tech tee (like the
one you bought in this program. By the way we still still have WOMENS
Large, Medium & Small & MENS Medium & Small at RunTex Riverside. Tell
them you are a Rogue to get the $30 price. We will also have them
available in the Annex on Saturday AM for our workout.)

Once you've got those layers down you will want to layer on top of it
in one of two ways:

• Disposable Outfit - The disposable outfit takes the recommended base
layer above & adds multiple layers of throw-away clothes to dispose of
along the race course. You can layer as much as you want, though I'll
give you a little tip & recommend that you wear a large black thicker
ply trash bag with a hole for the head & arms over top everything.
These are rain protection & really warm. Plus you can throw it away if
you don't want it anymore. Then if there are showers at the start you
have some cover. I recommend that layer from thinnest to heaviest on
top. This way you can slowly peel the layers off & limit the overall
weight of your disposable outfit. It is important that you realize
that you will likely NOT be able to retrieve these clothes after the
race is over. I recommend you hit Goodwill or St. Vinny's. A great top
layer is an over sized hooded sweatshirt...though these can be
difficult to get ahold of.

• Shell Outfit - The shell outfit takes the recommended base layer
above & adds a shell to it...this can be a long-sleeved jacket or a
vest. The quality is not critical because what you are looking for
from the shell is to trap the hot air produced by your body to
continue to keep you warm. If you have a waterproof one, Great! If
not, use the I love vests for the same reasons I love half
tights...the core stays warm but I am still as light as possible. If
you don't have a water proof shell then I recommend that you wear a
large black thicker ply trash bag with a hole for the head & arms.
This is the poor man's vest. I have used this as a shell many, many
times.

• Extremities: These are perhaps the most critical areas to keep warm
during a race. You need gloves & a hat. You can always get rid of them
during the race but you NEED them at the start! I recommend you keep
them with you though. Just fold them over your short's waistband & I
bet you never know they are there unless you need them. I don't
recommend taking your hat off ever in the race. Unless you are just
roasty-toasty, keep the hat on!

A couple of other points:

If it is wet:
- The more cotton you wear the heavier you will be. Cotton loves water
& collects it. This is bad news. You will want to wear tech fibers
close to your body.

- You may want to have a friend or family member meet you at a
designated location after the 10 mile point with a fresh pair of dry
socks. Losing a minute of two to put on dry socks may make the
difference with blisters for some of you.

- Stay on the crown of the road at all costs to stay out of puddles &
standing water.

Photos from 3M.

2006-02-12T10:24:00.000-08:00

Here are photos from 3M :

More runs and the final days.

2006-02-12T10:03:00.000-08:00

After 3M we did the second half of the Freescale run. Rougue running systems had taken a lot of trouble in designing runs to make us feel comfortable and make it seem like a cakewalk on D-day. This was just an example. We followed the same course we would follow on the second half of the marathon. Doing this would make the course familiar and put us at ease on the final day.

It was an amazing feeling running through the Capitol. Running has become a part of my life now :) ..Well, I don't promise that I will be doing it all my life, though there is a very good chance that I just might. But, every time I do a run, I don't think I will feel bad about it. I have learnt to enjoy running ...and as in the famous words of someone ;) .."Do birds need to learn to fly, do fish need to learn to swim...But, of course I need to learn to run.. "

After the week we did the second half of freescale, we did an easy 7-10 mile recovery run yesterday. It actually felt like I was missing a long run ..o.k I should stop pusng it a lot. I meant it felt much better doing shorter run for consecutive weeks. 7 more days to go and I can already feel my heart pounding!

We had a Rogue party yesterday evening. It was wonderful to meet the running community of austin. Team asha has been very lucky in receiving support from an organization like "rogue". They have the best coaches in texas and were voted the best running club in texas! Steve and ruth could have very well said "NO" to us losers when we approached them the first time. But, they decided to give it a try and I hope we didn't fail their expectations :) ..and I am sure we got what we expected from rogue and we believe that this relationship between the orgs. would go a long way in the future too..Thanks rogue for making us what we are!!

In all this talk about running, training and the marathon I would like to reiterate that none of our runners would be here at this point if not for that one driving motivation that keeps us ticking, put aside injuries, wake up early in the morning day after day and put on those running shoes...the cause we will be doing all this for. I have posted a lot about what "Team Asha" strives for in this blog. If any of you have any questions, please do send me an email and I will be glad to let you guys know more.

When we cross that finish line on Feb 19th, it will only be a job half-done. We hope to raise $100 for every mile we run on marathon day. We need all the help we can get from ppl like you. Every contribution and every small change you can make helps...

Runs after the longest one.

2006-02-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

I have been pretty busy with a lot of things over the last few weeks and its been extremely difficult to update the blog ..and of course, I was lazy :(

We had a 10 mile recovery after the runtex to runtex 23 miler as expected! Wow it was so much fun to do a recovery run!

The week after that was the 13.1 mile 3M half marathon. I clocked m PR half marathon at probably a speed I will take a long time to match again! I did about 1:37 for the half at around 71/2 mins per mile. But, the course was a steady downhill course and the authorities had made a mistake while drawing out the course and erred by 0.1 miles :)

http://www.runtex.com/NewsView.asp?key_m=557

But, no ones going to take my PR half marathon from me ;)

As for the rest of the team..

Many of our runners finished their goals at this half marathon. Terrible injuries had revised goals for some of our runners. I am really proud to have these fighters stick on and come this far even in the face of bad injuries. Dinesh literally limped across the finish line because of his ITB. He was limping for more than half of the course! It was impossible for him to go on like this to do a marathon. We didn't expect him to do the half with the injury. But, his resolve to attain the goal was amazing. He did an amazing job especially because of the downhills when the stress on the knees and the ITB are the most!

Ashwini had to face multiple problems with her back, wrists and what not! She took it all in her stride to complete her goal of finishing the half marathon too! All of team Asha was there at the AID station at the end of the finish line. But, it sounded like a party!! With almost all of the guys there and ppl with ice wrapped around their legs it looked like a battle field. But, then there were smiles, jokes and excited chatter ! Yes, it was painful and we had gone through a lot to be where we were and thats the reason we deserved to party :)

Anita, our seasoned campaigner finished her half marathon with no major problems and she made us all proud in doing so! Mihir, Sanjeev, Arvind, Gaurav, ganesh, karthik, vinod and the rest of the runners did great times in getting ready for the final frontier!

A special thanks should go to the Rogue team for sticking with us, no matter how complicated we made things for them :) ..

Photos from Runtex 20 miler.

2006-02-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

As you all know I am pretty bad at keeping my blog updated :( . O.k here is the next flurry of posts. Here are the promised photos from the runtex20 miler.

The longest run before the 'end'.

2006-01-22T20:56:00.000-08:00

This week was the most tiring week of all in the training. We hit our maximum mileage for a week and a long run. Here is what we did :

Mon/Tue - 6 mile easy
Wed - Hard 5k, >5k, easy pace 'intervals' workout (around 4-5 miles)
Thu/Fri - 6 miles with strides
Sat - 20-24 miles.

We did about 40 miles this week culminating in a 22-23 mile long run! Personally, I did 23 miles at 3:35 . The efforts of team asha was admirable as each one of us put up with the extreme pain to get it done!

As the marathon nears, I am really amazed and am proud of what every runner with team asha is doing. Savitha did a 20 miler all alone in the cold weather of north carolina in pouring rains. Arvind braved the sun and wrong directions in completing 22 miles.

Gloria did her longest run all alone on sunday. I have been very fortunate to be with indivduals who have not made heavy weather of all troubles that they have undergone to be where they are.

When I see the efforts and pains of my team members, my own pain, however small or big they might be, seems to diappear and I draw inspiration from the efforts of my team.

The next few weeks would be the 'taper' before the final exam!! We have started planning for the big one. It would require help from a good no. of friends. Its not easy to get through this challenge without the help of friends and family! While the individual is the one who crosses the finish line, its the team - runners, donors, supporters et. all who have made it possible for us!

As we cross that finish line on Feb 19th, it would not be the ecstacy of standing up to a challenge..rather it would be a satisfaction of making a change however small it might be, in lives that have been ignored and not given the due that they deserve.

I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this wonderful team and look forward to cross the finish line with all the 'heroes/hreoines' of my team who have made it an experience of a life time!

Recovery

2006-01-14T22:40:00.000-08:00

Recovery is an imporatant aspect of the training. The human body is not used to the kind of abuse it undergoes by a runner :)

After the 20 miler I really couldn't walk properly for 2-3 days. What is the best soultion to recover from a pounding this bad ?

Pour 3-4 10 pound ice bags in the bath tub and open the tap to add some really cold water and then immerse yourself for 12-15 mins.

No..its not more torture to make you feel better :) ..This is the treatment for sore muscles. I did try it out and it did work! I recovered pretty well. The extreme cold treatment treats your muscles well and breaks down the lactic acid build up in your muscles. A shower in warm water just after that lets the blood flow through and thats just what the doctors would order.

We did a 10 mile recovery run this weekend. I know how it sounds..a 10 mile run for recovery!! Well, there is no turning back now and we are doing distances in the 20+ range. Of course, 10 miles would be a welcome respite! Next week its going to be 24 miles - the longest run before the D-day!

I sincerely hope all our team members have recuperated from the tough runs. I know its not going to be a pleasant experience. But, I atleast hope none of us face any serious problems!

Back from vacation and the 20 miler!

2006-01-14T22:16:00.000-08:00

As you can see from the multiple posts, I am back from vacation. Actually, I was back home at the start of the year. Lot of blogging to catch up with...

During vacation :

Had a lot of fun and actually relived moments of my childhood :). In between sessions of old stories and a lot of unregulated fun, I could manage just one 40 min. run. I thought it was good enough!

Training :
Back to training in Jan 1st week. My quality workout was excruciating as expected! We had to do 12 laps in the 400 mtr track. All 12 at 5K pace and a recovery of 200 mts after each lap. I walked through the last two or three recoveries and it was not enjoyable !!

On Jan 8th we ran the runtex 20 miler. The longest 'official' race we will do before the marathon! I did reasonably well at approx 2hrs and 52 mins. I lost my chip on the way and not to mention the extremely crazy winds at an ambient temperature of 80 F!! The winds actually pushed the runners back as it was acting against us through most of the course.

What was the highlight ? Not my run..It was the amazing efforts of my team. I am really proud to be a part of the team whose members have time and again proved that nothing can stop them! Arvind and ashwini need a special mention here. They have never run a marathon before and here they were braving 'extreme' conditions that any runner wouldn't like to be in! Ashwini had extreme back pain and had to drop out at mile 10. She really wanted to push further. But, I am thankful and proud of her decision to not take the risk. It really didn't make any sense to injure yourself before the big one. I know how bad she felt and how much she wanted to complete it...

But, nothing is lost. A battle lost for the higher goal is a strategic move and a very sensible move. I am sure she will face no such problems during the marathon. As I had mentioned earlier, the whole marathon effort is not about running fast or creating a record. If that were the case all of us ..even if we run sub 4 marathons are losers!

Its not just about being fast or finishing in a good time. Its about giving your best for a good cause. With that in mind all the members of team asha are true champions! They braved all the tough conditions to get out there and do the deed..

To understand how tough the conditions were..here it is in the words of our coach, one of austin's (maybe america's) best runners..

Why were these runners thankful for the soul crushing “defeat” of the RunTex race? Because they learned a number of invaluable lessons in the race that helped them prepare for their main goal, the Freescale Marathon. Y’all should look at yesterday’s race in the same light. Maybe you needed a spanking, & you got it. Now let’s learn form the experience & start making the necessary adjustments before race day.

Lessons Learned
I was not out at the race but I can hazard a few guesses as to what might have derailed you off the race plan:

•Weather: You can never change the weather, but you can change your race plan to accommodate for hot or windy conditions. In my experience, a heavy wind is the absolute worst weather to run in; it saps your energy, which crushes your will & drive, it raises your heart rate precipitously, & requires a greater effort to run through. The best plan of attack in windy weather is to change your mindset to one in which you try to cut through the wind with as little effort as possible, this is a useful adjustment when there are sections on the course where you can tuck out of the wind but on a course where you are confronted with long stretches facing in to a 20+ mph headwind, your only choice is to adjust your pace to one that doesn’t shoot your heart rate skyward & soldier on. I believe that you can expect a pace per mile differential of between 30-60 seconds when running directly into a brutal wind. One of the posters (a dreaded anonymous poster, use your real name damn it…we’re all on the same team) mentioned that they averaged over 30 seconds per mile slower than MGP over the course of the entire race. This is certainly NOT a bad showing given the conditions. I would have expected much worse, especially if you shut it down over the final 5 miles due to wind & the overall race plan. You cannot expect to maintain MGP in these kinds of conditions.

•Starting Too Fast: Our goal was to run MGP for 14 miles. How many of you were successful in keeping your pace at MGP in the first 5 miles? This is the critical period where you are in dire need of being patient & keeping your long term goal in sight. Once you have gotten through the first 15-16 miles at MGP you can determine if faster than MGP will be feasible. Do not run faster any earlier. If you did & were not successful then you know your main culprit.

•Hydration/Nutrition: You cannot always count on the aid stations to have everything you need to keep properly hydrated & balanced. A day like yesterday is the type that usually gets folks forgetting to stay hydrated. It starts a little cool then heats up quick; it was very, very dry & the wind can make even getting the water into your mouth a struggle. For these reasons you need to have a sound hydration & nutrition plan in place to meet an weather or aid station failure. I recommend that you take electrolyte pills/tablets/capsules with you in the race to ensure that you get the correct balance of electrolytes (at least 2 per hour) & that you carry your own energy gel in case they have only water on the course. With electrolytes & energy gel you can be confident that you have what you need in terms of hydration & nutrition in any race that has water on the course.

•Mental Toughness: This running business is not just about putting one foot in front of the other or keeping on a certain pace, it is about being mentally unstoppable. Until you adopt the attitude of a warrior who will not be stopped in the pursuit of your goal, you can count on failing to meet your goals. Experiencing a race like the one you ran yesterday should have shown you that you absolutely must have your head right before you start the Freescale Marathon. There will be little voices in your head telling you that you cannot go on, that it is OK to slow up, that you are not tough enough to meet the goals you have set, or even that you should speed up now to make up any future failure. Your defense must be fierce stubbornness. An uncompromising refusal to fail. You have to practice that attitude, folks, you have to be ready to go into battle with the course, with the weather, with yourself. You can be victorious if you are prepared.

Post-Race Blues
I know some of you are disheartened by the RunTex 20M. You may feel like your MGP is too ambitious, that you cannot hope to maintain that pace through a 26.2 mile race. If your MGP has seemed to be accurate throughout the program thus far, do not abandon it based on yesterday’s race. The conditions were such that you cannot expect to maintain MGP throughout the entire race. If you were able to hold MGP for 14 miles yesterday, then I can assure you that your pace is right. If you were unable to hold pace through the wind but were able to find MGP on any sections of the course were the wind was behind you or it was still, and then be encouraged. Your pace is still within grasp. Once we begin our taper & you have the 3M race to assess your fitness I think you’ll be recommitted to your MGP. Do not abandon your MGP.

Some of you may have only been able to hold MGP for 6-8 miles or were forced to walk sections of the race due to the wind. Yes, you have reason to be concerned, but do not beat yourself up. Be gentle with yourself & recognize that you finished a race that was 20 miles long. For many of you this is further than you’ve ever run before…you should be proud that you stayed the course, that you were able to keep the principle goal in mind of finishing the race & staying the course. There is absolutely no shame in this. You will be significantly more prepared for any difficulty that rears its ugly head on February 19th in the Freescale Marathon.

For those of you unable to finish, accept it, learn from it & move on. There is work to be done to get prepared for the Freescale Marathon. We still have 6 weeks to work out any sickness, fix injuries, & shore up mental defenses. You need to ask yourself a few questions:

•What happened specifically to take you out the race? You need to assess the damage by determining the cause. Be very honest with yourself on this account. We need to determine what went wrong if we have any hope in getting it fixed.

• What do you need to do to fix the situation? You might be able to answer this yourself, but maybe you need to talk with your coach, perhaps you need to make every effort to come to the injury clinic or see a sports doctor to assess the issue. Get help in determining how to ensure that this does not happen at the Freescale Marathon.

• Are you committed to getting back on track? Without making a decision to learn form your failures you cannot hope to improve. But also essential is determining that you want to meet your goals at the Freescale Marathon. Do you?

If the answer is “Yes!” then you are halfway there. We still have plenty of time to get you where you need to be before the 19th of February.

If the answer is “I don’t know…” please talk with your coach. They have been through all of this before & they are a wonderful resource to help you get back on your feet & excited about accomplishing your goals. The Rogue coaches are more than cheerleaders. They are experienced, compassionate, inspiring individuals who are committed to your success. Let then help you meet your goals.

If the answer is “No!” then send me an email (steve@roguerunning.com) & let me know why you don’t want this anymore. After 18 weeks of determination, hard work, focus & commitment I can’t believe that a little more encouragement can’t help you recommit to this process.

What Now?
It is time to get recovered from this event, lick your wounds & wounded pride & search your soul. Then it’s back to work. We have a recovery week this week & then 3 weeks of good quality workouts before we begin the taper process & the goal is in sight. The next workouts are hard but they are designed to begin to really build your confidence & help you tune in that MGP. Make the commitment to keep your eyes on the prize over the need 3 weeks & all your sacrifices will be repaid on race day. I know you can all do that. Yesterday was a good day to die, now just pick your selves back up, wipe off the dust & keep moving down this long road to the Freescale Marathon.

Odanadi

2006-01-14T22:13:00.000-08:00

Odanadi is a project that is supported by various asha chapters and AID chapters.
Here are a couple of stories from odanadi...

Kamal Gopinath, a Mysore based former Indian Express reporter,
currently a media consultant wrote two stories, one about Gowri and
one on Pavitra, two girls at Odanadi. Both very inspiring stories of
two children who have weathered all adversaries and are now thriving
in Odanadi.

Gowri: Will to Succeed

Gowri exemplifies the success a child can achieve against all odds if
provided the proper direction and support.

Hailing from a poor family in Bangalore, 9 year old Gowri was sold to
a household in Banashankari, a locality in the hallowed silicon valley
of India - Bangalore, for a paltry sum of Rs.1000 in 1996. The deal
was struck by none other than her father who resorted to the drastic
and beastly move faced with poverty and unable to maintain his family
after having moved into a Bangalore slum from an outlaying village.

Life turned hellish for Gowri after a few months when a child of the
household pushed Gowri down from the ledge. She fell from the roof and
broke her hip. Her 'owners' refused to take responsibility for her
plight and threw her onto the streets as she was 'useless', unable to
even stand properly. A beggary-racket found her to be a good
'investment', exploited her in Bangalore before shifting her to
Mysore. Her head was tonsured and put back onto the streets in the
so-called cultural capital of Karnataka. By the time Gowri's case came
to notice of Odanadi and was rescued in March '98, she was an 11 year
old crippled leper, who had been abused sexually and forced into doing
rounds of Mysore streets, begging for the racketeers.

Odanadi rescued her as a part of its initiative and took it upon
itself as a challenge to make Gowri walk again free of crutches or
support. However, with years of neglect resulting in haphazard and
ugly growth of bones, her case turned out to be a challenge for the
doctors. Many doctors hesitated but Odanadi persisted. Following
Odanadi's initiative, a successful hip replacement surgery was
conducted on Gowri at K R Hospital in Mysore city in 1999. Now, the
Orthopedic presents her case to medical students as a model case study
of a difficult and complicated surgery.

But, Gowri had more woes in store for her. Years in the streets and a
life of squalor had made her an easy victim of leprosy. Fortunately
the disease was in an early stage when she was rescued and timely
treatment provided by Odanadi helped her recover without any
disfigurement. This, however, was an outcome of treatment that lasted
nearly two years.

Being crippled, afflicted with leprosy and traumatized by the
exploitation suffered at the hands of beggary racketeers, Gowri was in
a state of shock when Odanadi rescued her. Patient counselling,
soothing care and emotional support she found at Odanadi under the
gentle stewardship of Stanely and Parashuram instilled in her the will
to live. Her self esteem was restored and she learnt to love life.

Once Gowri showed signs of returning to normalcy, she was put through
the non-formal education apparatus developed by Odanadi with private
tuitions. She successfully passed the SSLC examinations with a 2nd
class and today attends College as a 1st PUC, and holds an Orange belt
in Karate, apart from being one of the young talents in Mysore city
excelling in Bharatnatyam and classical music. Her talent as a theatre
person has been acclaimed.

Gowri amazed everybody at Odanadi and all those who knew her story
during April-May this year when she cycled across mountains, rivers
and forests a distance of 1,500 km over 24 days at a stretch as a
member of the 25 member Cycle Rally team. Today, she cycles 30 kms
every day, back and forth the Odanadi Centre and her College.

Gowri nurtures the ambition to become a nurse and serve the community.

Pavithra: Lost Childhood Regained

Pavithra shrugged off a child marriage and ran away from home to forge
her future

Four years ago, as a 12 year old girl studying in the 8th grade,
Pavithra was married off by her grandmother much against her will.
Apart from shattering her childhood, the marriage only brought her
more misery at the hands of her drunkard husband, a Government
employee. Fortune smiled on her during the November of 2002 when
Odanadi provided her the proverbial shelter she so badly desired after
she ran away from home at Krishnarajapet in Mandya district.

Pavithra, a highly ambitious girl who wanted to become a teacher and
serve the community, was staying with grandmother at Krishnaraja Sagar
when she was married off. "I did not know anything about marriage. He
used to harass me and so I ran away. I did not like the marriage and
wanted to study. Fortunately for me, a good samaritan brought me to
Odanadi when I was wandering around in Dattagalli (a locality in
Mysore)", she says.

When Odanadi, as a matter of routine, updated the authorities
regarding Pavithra's case, they in their wisdom remanded her to a
Government Remand Home. But, this is a period, though it was for a
short while, Pavithra would like to forget. "At the government remand
home, they did not feed me well and I went hungry many a time. When I
protested, I was beaten up, made me do menial jobs like a prisoner,"
Pavithra recounts.

Odanadi lost no time and acted immediately when Pavithra's plight came
to its knowledge. They took up her case with the authorities and
fought tooth and nail to secured Pavithra to their custody with all
the risks involved.

Today, Pavithra, who exhibited the wild will to take on her community
and the mite of the Forest Department with the support of Odanadi, is
a happy young college going girl and a studious 2nd year PUC student.
Her singing ability has won her acclaim and she is a member of the
Odanadi chorus. "I like the Odanadi centre because of the ample
learning opportunities here and exposure to various arts and fields of
activity. I appeal to all those who are facing similar situations like
mine to first talk very clearly with their parents and if they do not
listen, approach organizations like Odanadi and pursue their dreams",
Pavithra advises.

Shristi Special Academy

2006-01-13T21:17:00.000-08:00

This write up is by vinod. Our unofficial "coachji". He has run 4 marathons and more than 10 half marathons. He has raised funds for Asha many times during these runs.

He co-ordinates the Shristi special academy project supported by Asha Austin.

So, here goes.....

This story starts with a little girl named Deepthi.

An active and alert seven-year-old, Deepthi loves solving puzzles and
playing with her friends. Like any other seven year old, she loves
being the center of attraction in her class and takes a leading role
in participating and initiating activities in her peer group.

What you will find remarkable is the change the past few years have
brought about in her.

A history of birth asphyxia and seizures had left Deepthi weak and
small for her age. Delayed development milestones meant that she was
unable to chew or swallow – she was on milk even at the age of three.
A history of hyper ammonia syndrome resulted in a very monotonous
diet, which further contributed to her weakness. She couldn't walk or
talk or localize visually. Her future looked bleak at best.

This was when her parents brought her to Shristi, in November 1998.

Shristi is a non-profit society, established in 1995 by 3 special
educators with a vision to reach out to individuals with special
needs. With unique programmes designed to enable independence among
the Mentally Challenged, Developmentally Delayed and those with Autism
and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Shristi reaches out to all
age groups. It remains among the few institutions, which caters to
infants and even the severely retarded across urban and rural
communities.

The rehabilitation of those coming to Shristi includes therapeutic
intervention with a focus on special education, sensory stimulation,
physiotherapy and language stimulation.

Through an intensive, individualized and child-focused training
program, Shristi has enabled many young children with developmental
delays to go to normal schools, setting them on the path towards a
more normal life. Several older individuals have gained employment
enabling life-changing happiness.

Deepthi joined on one such special Early Intervention programme in
November 1998. The primary goal of her programme was to ensure better
nutrition and feeding practices, as this was the major problem faced
by her mother. Special emphasis was also given to helping her catch
up with her motor milestones, primary among them being walking.

Today at 7 years, although she still has seizures, which are
controlled by medication, she has learned to walk, communicates
through single words and gestures and takes part in all activities of
the class. She eats with minimal help under supervision and is on a
toilet schedule to help streamline her bladder movements and achieve
better levels of normalcy. She is receiving occupational therapy for
her hand functions and through speech therapy will achieve better
levels of communication.

Asha Austin's role is to help Shristi find suitable educators for
various domains: Mental retardation, Autism and Vocational Training.
These educators are specialized to handle mentally challenged and
autistic children at Shristi. Then Asha endeavors to find sponsors for
these teachers and facilitates linking sponsors with them. Asha
follows through by disbursing and monitoring the sponsors' funds. It
works with both sponsors and Shristi in India to obtain regular
progress reports of the children handled by the teachers and build a
strong sponsor-teacher communication. The sponsor can also arrange a
visit to Shristi through Asha and the project coordinators in India.

This program makes it possible for an individual to sponsor partial or
full cost of supporting one teacher at Shristi Special Academy. The
teachers at Shristi are special educators trained to work with
mentally challenged and autistic children. We believe retaining
educators in the system is the way to sustain education, particularly
in the context of special education. Committed though they are,
supporting these educators financially is a necessary part of
retaining them within the system. One can become a sponsor for a
teacher at Shristi for as little as $20 a month.

More details about Asha's support with Shristi can be found at
http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=602

More details about Shristi is at http://www.shristi-special-academy.org/

Trail run and photos..

2005-12-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

Today was a trail run. It felt really good doing a trailrun. But, it needs a lot of concentration to dodge the rocks, tree roots etc..pretty easy to slip or twist your ankle! But, the zilker park trail called 'Green belt' was scenic and we had a nice run for about 70 mins (6 miles). Remember its recovery time!..So, just did a few miles.
Since there is very little content in this post, I am using the opportunity to post photos from earlier runs. The group photo with the bison poster was the "Motive Half-Marathon" snaps. Click on each image to get the full size of the image. I also have photos from the 18 mile 'Brom' run last week.

18 miles and going....

2005-12-23T17:21:00.000-08:00

Wow we did eighteen miles again on Dec 17th. I was pretty busy at work..as you can see from the haphazard postings :) . I had 2 hrs of sleep and I had to do this eighteen miles on a saturday morning! Well this was almost the last straw for me..

It took me 15 mins to wake up and when I brushed my teeth I felt like puking !!

Well, I learnt my lesson...proper sound sleep is necessary for every run. It took me 4 hrs to do eighteen miles and it took me 2 hrs and 41 mins to do it the previous week for the lab. The lab was flat and the brom (that was the name of this run) was a bit hilly. Nevertheless I could feel that I was going much slower than my easy pace.

At least there was ganesh and savitha for company. Ashwini and aravind had to return at the 2 mile point because ashwini had severe back pain.

This is a very tough phase in training. Most runners are prone to injuries at this time. The most common being ITB .

We had a new half-marathon runner in the team joining us in the run. Purna will be doing the half-marathon in just under 2 months of training. Even after the coach scared him like hell, he was hell - bent on undergoing the challenge. Welcome purna! You are truly one of the gang :)

After about 4 hrs and a tiring 18 miles in temperatures of 30-40s, I got 4 hrs of sleep and was back at work :( ..

At least I can look forward to 2 weeks of recovery runs during the hols and no work! Will be off to North carolina to meet up with my cousins..its been more than 10 years since the three of us met!

The Lab again!

2005-12-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

I was really caught up at work and couldn't keep the blog updated on time.Sorry!

The 1st week of December :

This was a recovery week and we did 10 miles. I got a new pair of shoes and got adjusted to it. I was worried that it might cause more strain on my shins...Thankfully, it was no better than the old shoes or worse :)

I stopped icing my shins. Because the swelling and pain had decreased. If I just keep icing it when there is no pain or swelling, I will end up injuring it again :)

2nd week of December :

We all did the LAB again. 2 miles warm up, 4 laps around the 3.5 mile loop at MGP and 2 miles cool down. Well finally I have understood what MGP means...Its just the pace better than your easy pace ..tough enough so that you can't converse as easy as with the 'easy' runs and slow enough so that you don't burn out.

Finished the 14 miles in 2 hrs and did the warm-up and cool down at 10 mins a mile to finish the 18 miles in 2 hrs and 41 mins.

This is good going and if I can hold on to this time, I might have a good chance at a sub 4 marathon! But, I have got to be careful and take it easy :) ...

The recovery from this long run was pretty long. My legs were aching like crazy and as much as I tried to cover it up..I was limping at work for a couple of days.
Thankfully no sustained injuries!

Ashwini and aravind did great to finish the run after starting late. They have been giving their all and have been putting in a splendid effort! I really do admire them for what they are doing. It could be very easy to drop off from long runs. But, they have patiently gone through numerous pains and have sticked to the plan !

Wishing them a wonderful marathon! They keep joking about they running slow and ppl passing them etc...but, the truth is "ITs NOT ABOUT HOW FAST!" ...running fast might mean more effort on your legs to pound faster etc...but, to run for a 'LONGER' time requires more endurance skills....

Training under tough conditions.

2005-11-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

It was a scheduled 16 miler today. Only sanjeev and I were there. The rest of the team is doing it on Sunday.

We didn't get the best of starts! It was raining like crazy..and even by the time we started we were completely drenched. My shoes felt pretty heavy with all the water squished into it.

Later on the weather got better. Thank god, the sun did not come out harshly!..Because thats when it becomes real humid and its like hell running under those conditions..like last year's freescale (Austin marathon). I had blisters and a great deal of chaffing along with the ususal shin trouble!

Today was better than that. The socks were 'running' material and so I didn't get into trouble. But, with all the rain, all my clothes became pretty heavy with all the water. This is when there is a good possibility of chaffing.

O.K..this might sound gross :) ...chaffing occurs mostly in the inner thighs, under-arms and around the nipples. These are the areas where the clothe gets into diect tight contact with 'moving' parts or skin brushes against skin a lot. Because of the heaviness of the clothes when they are wet, there is more friction and so, skin gets 'chaffed'.

So, I got my first 'nipple' bleeding!..at the Mile 16 turn around point I decided to do 18 as I was feeling good and not too tired. But, around Mile 14, I started getting this 'itchy' feeling...but, only when I finished, I realized that there was blood on the T-shirt. Its actually not that painful, but its itchy and irritating!

While its seems so amusing to me, sanjeev has had this problem for long. Some runners might get it pretty frequently. But, today the conditions were not that good and thats the reason I saw a lot of ppl (other rogue runners) having the same problem.

O.k..enough of 'Chaffing -101' ;) ...The run as such was pretty good..and hey I ended up doing 2 miles more than what was scheduled! hmm....I am really starting to dig this 'running' thing !..Maybe, I could aim for a 'Under 4 hr' marathon...No, let me not think too far ahead...'No tension'..'No tension'..lets take it nice and easy :)

Hey, if you are reading this blog ,do send me an email and let me know. I am tirelessly filing all information..and I have no idea if anyone is reading this thing!!

The Banyan - Vocational training..

2005-11-25T21:31:00.000-08:00

We sent the check to the banyan for the vocational training unit from the marathon funds raised last year. As the project co-ordinator, I have been in constant touch with the banyan. Here is an update from them on the vocational training.

We had supported only the tailoring stream to start with. The Banyan bazar hosts products from all streams though. We will be reviewing our progress in this stream periodically to see how we can support the banyan in the future.

Here is the report:

Greetings from The Banyan !!!

Hope you are doing fine. Here is the report from the Tailoring unit of The Banyan.

The month of September has been very good at the Tailoring unit as we saw a lot more additions and innovations and the pace having stepped up with the residents. We have at present 20 residents in the unit each being given individual attention in specific areas in tailoring. Let me introduce their names to you………

<<< I have edited this part out >>>

Last month we started off a Design Studio, where the coordinator and skill instructors and residents of the Tailoring unit get together and design products, the patterns, colors for our products etc. This idea has worked out well and we did a good sale last month of the products that we made at the Tailoring unit. Some of the new innovations in products are Letter holders, college bags, fancy pouches, purses and files.

The expenditure at the unit for the last one and a half month has been Rs.5,300.

· Purchase of materials : Rs. 3,300

· Servicing of the machines : Rs. 1,900

· Buttons and other accessories : Rs.100.

We made a sale of products in The Banyan Bazaar to a tune of Rs. 8,215.

Hope this information would be useful to you in explaining how valuable your funds have been to the Tailoring Unit of The Banyan.. If you feel there is a need for any further details please feel free to ask us. Once again we at The Banyan would like to convey our thanks to you for having come forward to support us in such a noble way.

Thank you,

Regards,

Porkodi.PL.

Co ordinator, Vocational Training & Employment

The Banyan

The Banyan - How it started and now.

2005-11-25T21:18:00.000-08:00

Here is an email that I sent to the 'Team' to let them know about Banyan.

Hi All,

Battered, bruised, brutally abused, both physically and sexually, ignored by everybody, eating out of garbage bins and with no place to call home. This was the situation of Chennai's homeless women with mental illness even just a decade ago. They were an invisible minority, and would have stayed invisible had it not been for two young women who put them firmly back on Chennai's social agenda.

Vandana Gopikumar, then still a Master's student of Social Work, came across a half-naked, mentally ill homeless woman in absolute distress on the road in front of her college. Nobody else seemed even to notice her. With the help of a close friend, Vaishnavi Jayakumar, she tried to find shelter for the woman. Mental health institutions and NGOs were reluctant to admit the woman in desperate need of medical and psychiatric attention. Several more such encounters over the next few months left the idealistic duo disillusioned and the idea was born that they should do something about the problem themselves.

They started The Banyan in 1993, after Vandana finished her Master's in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work and Vaishnavi dropped out of her MBA to join her. They were 22 then. The Banyan started off as a shelter and transit home for homeless women for mental illness
who had wandered from their homes across the country and ended up in the streets of Chennai. One of the duo's core beliefs was that the women needed to receive timely treatment and to be rehabilitated in mainstream society. Twelve years later, after reaching out to over 1500 women, and successfully rehabilitating over 700, their beliefs have been vindicated.

Asha austin has been associated with the banyan since last year. Asha supports vocational training streams for the mentally challenged destitute women at Banyan. The traning is not only
theurapatic but also provides an opportunity for them to work their way back into society.

You can know more about asha's support for the banyan here

and to know more about the banyan click here

Here is an article published in 'The Hindu' (One of India's leading dailies) by Vandana Gopikumar recently.

What about the right to care?
VANDANA GOPIKUMAR THE HINDU October 23 2005.
The homeless mentally ill may be invisible but they belong to society and society needs to take care of them.

Stigma, myths, lack of facilities and the nature of illness are sufficient problems; homelessness further compounds the problem.

RUNNING a rescue and rehabilitation service for the homeless mentally ill brings me face to face every day with powerful instances of the struggle of the human spirit against all adversity.

I was walking past the Out-Patient Clinic at The Banyan, our NGO, a couple of weeks ago as per my normal routine. Some familiar faces, lots of hustle and bustle... all typical of a regular out patient day, quite a contrast from the transit and emergency care service that is our primary focus. It is a relief to watch family members participate in the treatment and care process at the clinic, as opposed to the total lack of support structures faced by the abandoned women in our
emergency care. Due to force of circumstances, it has become a habit at The Banyan — and I'm sure in other organisations working with the homeless — to be the sole caregiver for homeless persons with mental illness rather than involve the families.

Sole caregiver
That day, Bharati caught my eye. Entirely preoccupied with managing her brother and two sisters — all facing mental health problems — Bharati seemed on the brink of a breakdown herself. I called her into my room for a chat and, despite the tears in her eyes, her sense of pride and self-esteem prompted her to talk in a very dignified manner. Her desperation, however, was quite evident. Her mother had a history of mental illness; her father had a cardiac problem. Both were in their seventies. Radha and Jamuna, her sisters, both in their thirties, had been ill for two years. Her brother was mentally retarded. The only support for the family, both emotionally and
financially, was Bharati. She has had more than her share of problems to deal with. As if that were not enough, the community in which they lived had a freak accident in which 11 huts, including Bharati's, were burnt down.

With two sisters facing serious mental health problems and frequently turning suicidal, wandering away and disrobing, the street was obviously the last place to call home, but that was where they lived now. Bharati was at The Banyan to seek treatment for three members of the family. Questions that stare us in the face then: How does Bharati manage all these issues without even the semblance of a home? Are we driving her to a crisis situation herself by expecting that she tackle such complex, multiple problems single-handedly? Does she work to feed her family or does she stay at home to care for her sisters who need the focused provision of care and support at least for a certain period? If she has to stay at home, then who provides for them?

Vijaya is a homeless person with mental illness, rescued by the police from Parrys, in North Chennai. We have information from her that indicates that she sold her one-year-old child for a bowl of curd rice and Rs. 100. Hasina is a homeless person with mental illness brought
to The Banyan bound in chains. Eighteen years old; an innocent smile alternating with sudden traces of intense fear and anger.

Jennifer is a homeless person with mental illness abandoned by her alcoholic husband and devastated by separation from her school-going children. These are real women, real situations and sadly, only the tip of the iceberg. The common factor is a mental health issue to deal with, coupled with homelessness, alcoholism, utter poverty, abuse, social inequality, stigma or a combination of all. Stigma, myths associated with the illness, lack of facilities and the nature of illness itself are sufficient problems to counter; the homelessness further compounds the problem. Mental illness leading to homelessness is not always as the result of abandonment. Often, the family is left with not too many options, especially among the lower socio-economic groups where access to care and support is minimal or non-existent. In most rural areas, the problem is often treated more as spiritual and less as a psychological issue.

Today, Bharati receives support from a few concerned individuals besides The Banyan, where two of her sisters live temporarily. Her sisters are on the road to recovery and Jamuna, a graduate, may even be able to earn a little for the family. Vijaya, now a lot more coherent, has filed a petition with the Legal Aid Clinic at The Banyan to trace her child. Hasina, now treated, is back home in Madhya Pradesh with her husband and child. She was chained to exorcise the evil spirits that they believed had possessed her. Her community was sensitised to mental health issues and they now recognise her behaviour as a psychological and medical problem. Jennifer is now an empowered individual, working in a beauty parlour, taking care of her children and proving a source of inspiration to others in similar situations.

It is usually a tight balance between the needs of the person with mental illness and the family. Often, the needs of the person are compromised and he or she leads a bleak life based on norms dictated by the family, care-giving organisation and society. Is our society comfortable with this inequality? Shouldn't every individual have the right to care, the right to freedom of choice and the right to dream?

To walk this path is to walk a tight rope that calls for a balance between the family's needs and the individual's. The only way ahead seems to be to increase stakeholders in this sector. Over 1,600 women from across the country have passed through the doors of The Banyan in the past 13 years, several hundred frequenting the out patient services. The collaboration between the Chennai City Police and The Banyan has seen 120 homeless persons rescued in the past six months. They are now being treated at the Institute of Mental Health, Chennai. While several have received the care and support that they need, many others have died on the streets, uncared for, lonely, abused and forgotten...

Combination of initiatives
The need for more transit care, emergency facilities to provide immediate access to treatment — as in this case, we believe the right to care precedes the right to self-determination — more rehabilitation programmes, more options for employment, more day-care centres, more hostel facilities, more community-based localised treatment programmes, more compensation schemes... a combination of all these initiatives needs to be undertaken immediately.

While I appreciate the effort from clinicians, social workers and activists, some strategic management inputs would add value to this sector. A few more action-oriented leaders may need to ponder over this as an issue of serious concern as the numbers we are addressing are by no means marginal. The Banyan has scaled up owing to the timely intervention and support of a sensitive and responsive Chief Minister, several funding organizations and numerous concerned citizens who have contributed their time, skills and funds based on their assessment that the need existed.

Finally, it is my belief that we, as a society, are responsible for every person and that we owe it to ourselves and to each other to work towards creating an equal, inclusive society. Invisible as the homeless mentally ill might be, they exist and they are certainly a part of our society.

Vandana Gopikumar along with Vaishnavi Jayakumar, founded The Banyan in 1993. The Banyan has grown from being a transit care centre for homeless persons with mental illness to a movement that now advocates rights for this group. Names of persons and places have been changed to maintain confidentiality.

The Banyan and Me.

2005-11-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know, I did my class IX to XII at DAV senior secondary school, gopalapuram, chennai.

Our english teacher in class XI (Year : 1996) gave us an assignment: Prepare a pamphlet/flyer for 'The Banyan'. Banyan is an organization that strives for the mentally ill and destitute women. They have found a permanent home for the underprivileged and would like to invite everyone to their house warming ceremony.

Funny...It took me more than 6 years to realize that I could have done much more for The Banyan than just design the pamphlet in class...Though the full impact of what I came across didn't really hit me, there was this nagging feeling that I am conveniently ignoring something.

I passed out of my XIIth, went to REC, wrote my GRE, came to the U.S to do my masters at Univ of Wisconsin madison...as part of the Indian Graduate Student Association we had a charity clothes drive in honor of our ex president Shrikanth rao's first death anniversary.

'Banyan' rang a bell...and I volunteered to do some research on it. The more I learnt about the banyan, the more I was convinced about the wonderful work they did. Around the same time I also joined Asha and AID at UW. As I got more involved, it helped me understand how Asha and AID work. The transperancy and grass-roots approach really impressed me (Again, I had heard about Asha when in India..but, again it failed to create a full impact.)

Ironically, I came to understand more about my home only when I got away from home! The sarcasm and helplessness in making even a single effort to make a change was slowly disappearing. Rather than saying that my single act would not change anything - I learnt to say to myself that every single act of mine would not be too hard to do, but surely it would make it better than if I did not do it.

The Banyan was my inspiration to do my bit. All it required was a visit to the banyan when in chennai. I spoke to the co-ordinator, Lily. She spoke to me about the vocational training unit and the support they badly needed. I promised to do my bit. My association with Asha and AID was fruitful. After I tried presenting at Madison and later in austin, when I moved there, Asha expressed support after the rigorous project approval process.

Meanwhile, my parents and the rest of my family started to gain interest in the work of banyan too. Even quite a while back.. my aunts, grandmom and mom had organized a local clothes drive to support our efforts at Madison.

This is the brief story on how I came to know about banyan.

Sanjeev, Anita and Seva Chakara Samajam.

2005-11-24T22:50:00.000-08:00

Sanjeev and Anita are long time asha volunteers who have been associated with Seva chakara samajam, the orphanage in chennai that Asha austin supports.

Last year they set out to raise $10K+ to help the children of the orphanage move into their own home instead of the rented premises. They were successful in their goals! Here is an update and follow up from them for donors and well wishers.

Dear friends,

We are writing to you to update you about the Seva Chakkara Orphanage. As you know Sanjeev and I trained and ran the half marathon and marathon respectively to raise funds for the building for the orphanage.

We might have also written to you about a couple of specific children we have been following over the years, in specific– Lakshmi who is now almost done with her college and Sivakumar and his brother who had left the orphanage with his parents and had managed to complete at least his 10 class.

1) Updates on the children:
- The children at the orphanage have been doing well in school and improving their chances of surviving in the real world. Recent rains that hit Chennai hard have also caused much inconvenience at the orphanage with power cuts and water accumulation, but things have improved.
- Lakshmi is in the last yr of her college and is looking forward to taking up a job or working at the orphanage as a teacher.
- Velayudham (the founder of Seva Chakkara) and the folks at the orphanage never gave up on Sivakumar; they have got back in touch with him and had him enrolled through the government-training program to be an electrician. These programs have a confirmed placement for all children who qualify to register for the program so this is very
encouraging.

2) Fundraising
As we promised we matched dollar-to-dollar your donations and contributed $5,300 till we met our target of $10,600. This we hoped would put the orphanage in a good position to purchase the building.

Also Suma Adapala, a volunteer at Asha NYCNJ and our long standing friend has taken up complete responsibility of coordinating the support-a-child program to continue raising funds for the recurring expenses at the orphanage.

3) Building Program
We eagerly awaited the possibility of the orphanage owning the building. Since the owner owed the bank funds they spoke to the bank and received an agreement from the bank to release the building from being held as collateral and also not penalizing the owner with the penalty of interest. This would, we had hoped, work well for all people involved and the owner would have left with some funds in his hand to help him rebuild his life.

However, when it came down to the final sale and closure of the agreement the owner filed for bankruptcy. It finally became clear that he had taken many more loans than he had been honest about and was using the fact that he owned a building to keep all his debtors at bay.

The building then moved to the courts to auction and pay back his debtors (including Seva Chakkara for the deposit to rent this place). Here the case lay for six months waiting for the wheels of justice to turn. They have now turned, the building goes on sale on 8th Dec 2005.

We spoke to Velayudham about the chances of getting the building. He says that none of the local people will bid since they would not want the orphanage to lose it's home. However, it is possible for large contractors who want to teardown the place and build an apartment complex not to care much about who lives there. In such a case if they are unable to get the land for a reasonable price they will have to move. He believes that they will be given at least a 6-9 months to find alternate accommodation by the court even if they are outbid.

We would like to thank you again for your generous contributions that have helped us get to the point of a reasonable chance of getting the building. We hope we have raised enough to either allow them to purchase this building or continue to look for a place they can finally call home.

Thank you and take care.

love,
Anita and Sanjeev

Siddamma.

2005-11-22T22:10:00.000-08:00

As I keep blabbering and boasting of my insignificant attempt at running a marathon, I thought I should also let everyone know about why the hell we do it!

Here is a story of a woman who stood up against all odds in life to stand behind a community....Siddamma recently won an award from Sonia gandhi for her stellar work. Asha austin supports her fellowship. You can read more about our association at Siddamma's fellowship

The following article was by Sanjeev for our second edition of the newletter.

Siddamma is a grassroots activist and an educator working with the marginalized Irula Tribals for the last 12 yrs. Knowing how it felt to belong to a marginalized section of the society was an early lesson for Siddamma after she was brutally attacked as a child by a bear. Though she managed to survive after 20 days in coma she had many facial and shoulder scars. As a young girl she had to suffer much discrimination and ridicule, but her mother did not let her quit school encouraging her to work even harder. Her experience made her determined to stand by those who were marginalized and gave her faith in education as an empowering tool.

In '93 as a young sociologist and educator for slum children she was exposed to the plight of the slum women who were suffering inequality, oppression and extortion and she stood up for their rights. This eventually let her to create Bharathi Trust (named in honor of Bharathiyaar, a poet and freedom fighter, who believed in equality and empowerment of all). Her work then took her among the Irula tribals.

The trust is now a people's movement covering over 50,000 people in four districts of Tamil Nadu. While there have been several provisions of employment available by the government for tribals, like the Irulas (ST), these were beyond the reach of the Irula children most of who did not go to school. They were first generation learners with little access to schools. But, beyond that even when they had access to schools, the children were discriminated against since the Irulas were not considered fit to be part of the mainstream.

Siddamma started motivational centers; places that made learning fun and using activity-based learning rekindled the joy of learning and instilled confidence in children. In three years the motivational centers integrate the children into the mainstream schools and continue to function as additional help centers for a couple of more years. Asha for Education partnered with Siddamma in this effort and over the last five years has supported 8 centers that are now in different stages of the above cycle. The first of these is ready to be closed, since there is no need for it anymore.

But not all that efforts are directed towards hope for a better tomorrow. Bharathi Trust also helps villagers organize themselves to represent themselves better in their struggle for basic rights. The initial effort was merely to receive minimum wages. It is not enough for small groups to stand for their rights but for the whole community to stand together. This was the birth of the Sarpam. Each village elects 5 members to the Sarpam who are accountable to their village. They do not represent any formal position in the government only bring all the Irula communities together to understand each others problems, learn from each other and stand by each other in their time of need. Bharathi Trust provided the leadership training and helped in creation of this transparent institution that truly represents the people. In getting organized many communities have been able to get their basic rights and villages have been transformed.

The transformation is most visible in the release of bonded laborers from the rice mills of Red Hills (just 30 km from Chennai). Last year there were 800 rice mills in this area with an estimated 10,000 Irula tribals who were bonded laborers. A mill was a closed fortress and only those who work in a mill were allowed in and all members of a family were never allowed to leave the mill at the same time. The entire family worked at the mill – the men and women did hard manual labor19 hrs a day and the children and the elderly were responsible for cleaning the mills. Three generations of families were working in these mills. A laborer was paid Rs. 13/day (minimum wages are Rs. 89/day) and this was defended as being legal since the mill owners were providing accommodation. The exploitation reached its apex when a woman was asked to work immediately after she gave birth to a child and she died of exhaustion. This led to some of the laborers escaping from the mills and seeing refuge with the Sarpam. The Sarpam had been investigating the living conditions in the rice mills indirectly by speaking to these workers when some came out of the mills. The mill owners reported the escape to the police who came to take these people back to the mills under the context of having to repay loans that the workers owed the owners. The workers are not provided any health insurance and if anyone falls ill the owner forwards a loan to pay for the medical expenses at a very high interest that builds up to a large amount in a very small time. This was the main reason most of the laborers were caught in the cycle of bonded labor. The local police and administration rejected the claim that they were bonded laborers and insisted that they pay the "loans" if they did not want to go back. This started the legal battle in court and the Sarpam's struggle to bring the burning issue to spotlight. Their struggle was joined in by the NAPM (National Alliance of People's Movements) and the International Women's Organization. Together they finally brought the issue to be discussed in the parliament. There have been many changes since then, the most brutal of owners were jailed and around 800 laborers have been released with a small package from the government. Many mills are now paying minimum wages and the Sarpam have been provided with passes to be able to enter any mill, examine and document the living conditions. Asha is again contributing its bit in supporting a school for the children of the released bonded laborers. For all her efforts Siddamma was awarded the Speak-Out award from outlook magazine.

Siddamma's most recent effort is in the creation of a village resource center. This center would not only help communities experiment with different modes of livelihood in primary production, but also provide a building ground to teach kids who have dropped out of the conventional system of education and make them self-reliant.

Asha Fellowships are provided to individuals who have a great potential to create social change and need support for their basic sustenance. Asha-Austin is proud to support Siddamma in her efforts towards a just society.

To learn more about Siddamma and her efforts please visit:
Siddamma's fellowship

The bisons went crazy! - Motive half.

2005-11-22T22:05:00.000-08:00

It was cold at the start and slowly got warmer. The weather seemed to dance to our tunes! It was a wonderful race and I ended up having my best race ever! ...I finished with an amazing pace of 8:25 mins per mile..my best ever in a race!

Know more about how I did at motive here . Type "1741" for my Bib no. or type my name.

I guess I have been more regular for training and the long runs this year. I have been doing my stretches, icing my shins and doing a lil' bit of strength training too..Hope it stays like this!

Gaurav, vinod, ganesh and me tried maintaining a 9:00 pace right from the start. Ganesh and vinod slowed down some time before the hill. Gaurav and I actually did better than 9:00 even till the hill. I was keeping time and we were doing good at every mile. We actually did pretty good on the hills too! ..We got a negative split with the pace on the hills being better than on the flat!...and the final few miles were even better as we held on to our MGP (actually faster than our MGP)...and we finished at 1:50s for the 13.1 mile race.

O.k..enough for all the runner/marathoner/geek talk...I did much better than last year when I had a terrible shin injury. I shaved of about 25 mins from last time! The race atmosphere was in its usual glorious way!...Ppl cheering along all the way..fun-filled water stops, Girl playing huge musical device outside her house - yes we saw the same girl again!! We thanked her and clapped for her as we crossed her.I really do admire the spirit of ppl like her who come out and cheer for all the 2000 runners right till the end!..

Team Asha had its own cheering team too! Anita and radha were our only cheering team. Poor guys had no company and they actually met us at several points!...radha even ran with aravind and ashwini for a few miles with all our extra clothing!

Asha austin might really have very few active volunteers...but, they are a dedicated bunch I must say!...

Everyone had a great race and finished injury free..at least from how we felt immediately after the race!...Savitha went back to run the last bit with gloria ! We were truly getting together as a team :) ...

Team Asha or Team yellow(thats how ppl cheered for us for most part of the race..) was getting itself heard ;) ...We were crying out hoarse every time a yellow finished the race!...

Our coaches steve and ruth cheered for 'Asha' as well!!..They made sure they didn't shout out 'rogues' (thats the name of the training group :) ...)..and instead they managed a 'Go Team Asha!!'.

After the race, we went to the newly opened restaurant..and we did cause a stir at the restaurant as well...quite a few ppl asked us about 'Team Asha'!!...Three cheers to bright neon yellow t-shirts!

I am hoping for a great injury free season for all Team Asha runners....now starts the more rigorous, testing 2nd half of the training program..Now, we would be doing even greater distances and will be pushing ourselves to heights we have never scaled before!!

I will soon post motive half-marathon photos...

Children's day and "Akasmika"....

2005-11-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

On Nov 19th, Saturday we had the ICC (India Community Center) Children's day event. We orgainized quite a few games. We had some good publicity and a lot of fun!! Our 'fill-in' newsletter was ready and we distributed those. The kids had great fun and I found I was talented at meddling with fuzzy sticks! (small metal wires that can be bent into any shape)..after a tough morning session, we had a movie event in the evening - "Rang" - the movie series to help the runners fundraise for Asha's cause.

Ashwini and aravind, two runners of Team Asha hail from karnataka. They wanted to raise funds for Srishti Special academy, an Asha Austin project. We screened 'Akasmika', a Dr. Rajkumar movie. Unfortunately, right on the same day the Austin kannada sangha had an unexpected event and we went short on crowd. Nevertheless, the few families who had come to watch the movie were impressed by Ashwini and Aravind's efforts.

Ashwini spoke about Srishti and her understanding of their efforts. It was a short and moving talk in kannada. It made me feel proud and happy to be a part of such a wonderful team of runners!

We hope to have more such movie screenings...

The event and the race!

2005-11-16T21:18:00.000-08:00

I am pretty bad at blogs :( ..For 10 days I couldn't get time to do this thing and now like with any other thing at work..I just do it all at once!

O.K...last week was pretty easy. It was recovery. So, we did an easy 10 mile run (yep..10 miles are easy now :) ..).

The coming weekend is special! We will be organizing a fundraiser movie to support aravind and ashwini's runner funds! This is the first time we are trying out such an idea of helping runners out...heck! whatever we have done so far has been the first time in austin anyways :)

After a couple of events on saturday, we will be racing at MGP on motive half...'Team Asha's' first official race of the season- i.e. The entire team (almost) will be racing together! More about this after I finish it.

Getting up today at 5:20 with the temperature outside at 35-40 F was NOT fun :( ...I have also been icing my shins like crazy. 12 mins each leg, twice in a day. Hopefully it shouldn't give me much trouble.

What happened last year.

2005-11-16T21:03:00.000-08:00

If you had donated on my runner page last year and are wondering where all the money went. Here is the annual report I had typed up for our newsletter. This should explain :) .

If you want more specifics do let me know. We are a flat and open organization!

Annual Report

The past year has been eventful for Asha Austin. In the few years of its existence the chapter saw unprecedented growth in 2004-05. The chapter strength in terms of active volunteers has more than doubled in the last year. In all around $50,000 was raised in 2005 alone. From being a satellite chapter, co-coordinating four projects in 2004, Asha Austin has come a long way in supporting nine projects from five
states.

The innovative marathon program called 'Strides Of Hope' was launched in September of 2004. This along with the long standing 'Support a Child' program has raised most of the funds for the chapter. Asha Austin also set a precedent with the 'Support a teacher' program that was launched last year. The volunteers also organized 'Play 'N' Help', a kids' fair to raise funds for the chapter's projects. The diligence, commitment and patience of the volunteers have been instrumental in the success of these initiatives.

The fundraising was not done without a goal in sight. The chapter is committed to the selfless work undertaken by our project partners. The belief in our partners and the change they bring about in the communities they interact with, inspired us to support them to the best of our abilities. Here is a brief description of how the funds raised by us are used for the underprivileged we strive for.

Asha supports recurring expenses and is also looking into development of school infrastructure at Asha Sikshan Sansthan in Reoti village of Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh. We funded a tailoring unit as part of our support for vocational training streams for the mentally challenged destitute women at Banyan, in Chennai, Tamilnadu. The training is not only therapeutic but also provides an opportunity for them to work their way back into society. We supported the Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram located in the village of badalpur in the district of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. The school aims to sustain free primary education, books and clothes for children. The school also hopes to generate an interest in children for higher education and to convince
their parents to send them to school.

Asha Austin approved a fellowship for Siddamma in the last year. Siddamma is a grassroots volunteer in India who works to provide a life of dignity for the Irula Tribals. Her work with the communities includes freeing bonded laborers, organizing the communities into cooperatives and mainstreaming the children into the education system by providing motivational educational centers. The chapter also approved funds for Gramin Shiksha Kendra. GSK runs an alternative school in a village near Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan) and provides meaningful and quality education to 100 children. Beyond running model schools the organization will work with the communities and instill the demand and help with the monitoring of quality education in all local schools.

Our chapter supported Prasanna jyothi located in bangalore, Karnataka. Prasanna Jyothi is a home for disadvantaged and orphaned girl children. The project takes care of the boarding and education of these children. We also raised funds to realize the long-standing dream of the children of Seva chakkara samajam of having their own permanent home. Seva Chakkara Samajam is an Orphanage that houses 99 children and is located in the heart of Chennai. Srishti Special Academy is a non-profit organization, headed by a team of trained, qualified and experienced special educators who feel the need today is to provide quality services and well designed and structured intervention programs to children with mental retardation, autism or
any other intellectual impairment. Asha Austin hopes to provide able support for their structured intervention programs. Finally, Asha Austin successfully supported Raja Shivaji Vidyalaya in raising funds for building a laboratory for the school, located at Sawantwadi, in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.

Asha Austin is currently discussing new proposals and we are looking for a more eventful year in 2005-2006. We hope to reach out to more lives as we set upon a new year.

Funds Raised:

SAC (Support a Child) program, Marathon, SAT (Support a Teacher)
program, Matching/giving funds from companies, Play 'N' Help, General
donations contributed

Total: $49,949

Funds Disbursed in 2005:

Seva Chakkara Samajam $10,600.00
Bodh Shiksha Samithi (GSK) $6,131.87
Shristi Special Academy $3,600.00
Asha Sikshan Sansthan $3,100.00
Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram $2,225.00
Prasanna Trust $2,160.00
Prasanna Trust $2,040.00
The Banyan $1,400.00
Bharati Trust $1,350.00

Total: $35,357

Note: The disbursal does not include planned/committed funds for the
rest of the year in 2005.

The Lab..

2005-11-06T22:22:00.000-08:00

This week we did "The Lab"...Its a 3.5 mile loop done 4 times. We did the first one as a warm-up. The next two were at a higher pace called the MGP - marathon goal pace. The idea is to run at a speed you want to complete your marathon in.

Last year around this time I was limping around because of "*@#$**! shin splints!". But, this time I am not at that bad a state. Actually, the run was good. Gaurav (The A+ student with Team Asha...has been the most regular for runs/workouts/seminars etc. in our team) and me did the next 2 loops at 8 mins a mile (though the intention intially was 9 mins). The last loop was a cool down loop. Overall, we did 2:06 at about 9 mins a mile for the 14 miler. This is probably a PR for me!

We also got our much awaited "Neon Yellow - Ignore me if you can!" Asha T-shirts. Our coach, steve had this to say - " You guys are LOUD ...as usual!".

We had a great Pasta dinner party the previous day. Well, I messed it up a bit with some burnt barbeque style 'Palkkad pasta'. I would rather not comment a lot about the pasta...I have got 'shredded' enough by junta for it!!

I will soon have more information posted on how instrumental the marathon efforts were for the different efforts Asha was invoved with over the last year.

I will be posting information here and also will send personal mails to every donor who helped me succefully raise $5424 and beat my target of $200 a mile last year!!

It was an unforgettable experience...the feeling of crossing that finish line..and more so the feeling of reaching the fundraising target.

I sincerely hope all you ppl out there would help us reach out to and create more opportunities for the underprivileged we all strive for...

Did you think I would stop..

2005-11-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

Mile 1....a year of schooling for one child
Mile 2....a year's total living expenses for one child
Miles 3..4...8...Certificate courses in vocational training for mentally ill destitute women
Miles 8..9...13..A year's salary for teachers at a school for the mentally challenged
Miles 13..14..16 ..A new building for a school in interior India
Miles...18...20...22....24...

Did you think I would stop ?
This is just the beginning for them ....

A typical morning ...

2005-11-02T00:10:00.000-08:00

Wednesday morning 12:10 a.m. I finally noticed that I can change the time on the blog posts ! I will have to get up at 5:15 a.m for my wednesday morning quality work-out. Today its going to be a bit easier...

2 miles warm-up
1.5 miles hills
2 miles cool down
Foot drills and stretches.

I hope my shins and calves don't give me trouble ! The last long run was pretty bad...the first 14 miler of the season..

The answer is in more questions

2005-11-01T21:52:00.000-08:00

Why should children be working in inhuman conditions at factories, garages and other places, when they should be studying? Why should children be traded like cattle for prostitution? Why should children be denied the right to education because they belong to a particular "caste", "sex" or "religion"? Why should women who can't fend for themselves (because of being mentally disadvantaged) be forced to the streets and go unnoticed by almost everyone? Why should poverty, suffering and injustice thrive so easily right in front of our eyes?

(For people who think they have seen it somewhere before, yes..I have re-stated it from my last year's runner page)

Who are we ?

Asha For Education is a non-profit organization with 0% overhead. This means that ALL the work is done by volunteers (not employees), and that ALL your donations will go to the various ongoing /future projects. Asha for Education is a secular organization dedicated to change in India by focusing on basic education in the belief that education is a critical requisite for socio-economic change. The word 'Asha' means 'hope' in Hindi.

What do we do ?

Here's a small subset of the activities we do: Funding schools for underprivileged kids, Training teachers, Vocational training for women in slums, Rehabilitation and training for children with special needs, Schools for poor tribal children, Educating children of prostitutes and backward classes, Providing educational kits and funding school rents, Efforts towards eradicating bonded labor, Schools for the visually impaired, Orphanages for young children, Schools for kids who were dropouts, Schools for the children of landless farmers and daily laborers, Schools for mentally challenged children, Training camps for young women that teach personal health and hygiene and awareness of women's rights, Efforts towards eradicating child labor.

Why are we a team ?

We are a team b'cos we are a group of 16 ppl who will run 500+ miles over 5 months to train for a marathon. Finally the goal is to run 26.2 miles!
(Want to know more about the team ? Know the team )

The program fundraising idea or 'pledge' is a novel one - it provides runners like me, the team support and training needed to prepare myself for the marathon and I in turn, raise money and awareness for Asha through my personal network of family, friends and supporters.

At least by running the marathon, I show that I am pretty serious about my intentions. Of course, the suffering or sacrifices that I have to undergo would be nothing compared to what the underprivileged kids and women go through.

Square 1

2005-10-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

This is square one. My first attempt at 'logging' or 'blogging' my efforts as part of 'Team Asha'.

Who are we ?
Why the heck r we a team ?
What do we do ?

More answers soon.....
(P.S: After I make sure that this 'blog' thingie really works ;) )