Back..yet again!

Dear Friends,

   I am returning to this blog after more than 2 years. Its been a turbulent yet a roller coaster ride in my life in the interim. I have learned a lot and spent more time with the children in many different ways. My time in the schools have yet again increased. I have backed myself to accept more responsibilities as well. It is heartening to see the number of volunteers from Runners High at the schools we support increasing each year. Our community has evolved and shaped into a beautiful world that supports causes and brings us all together.

  We work with many schools now. We have also trained older children of Ananya Trust to start coaching children in another initiative called Snehadaan. You can read more about our initiatives here - http://www.runnershigh.in/faq/faq.php?answer=57&cat_name=Volunteering%20and%20Runners%20High&category_id=16#57

    I write this post with a sincere request. An organization we work with is going through a tough phase. This happened because some institutions supporting them ran out of funds. Shristi Special Academy do wonderful work with children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The children and staff are coached for running by us. We have successfully integrated running into their curriculum. I would like to support them so that the staff can be paid salaries regularly, nutrition can be improved and the running expenses can be managed safely. The funds you all can help me raise might help them at least buy time to get the institutional support they have been seeking for a while. Here is more:

Shristi Special Academy
Shristi Special Academy is a registered society with a governing committee (Regd. Under Karnataka Societies Act). It is a non-profit organisation, 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 programmes to children with mental retardation, autism or any other intellectual impairment. Shristi Special Academy has a unique set of programs designed to enable independence among the mentally challenged, developmentally delayed, and those with autism and attention deficit hyperactive disorders of all ages. Rehabilitation at Shristi includes therapeutic intervention with a focus on special education, sensory stimulation, physiotherapy, language stimulation, and occupational therapy. Founded in 1995, Shristi Special Academy works to empower physically and mentally disadvantaged individuals through education and training. The aim of our work is to help our beneficiaries develop the capacity to live independent and fulfilling lives. This involves age appropriate skill training and systematic interventions that lead students from school through to vocational training and employment.

Running and children at Shristi Special Academy

In the last year, children and staff from Shristi Special Academy started training for long distance running. The participants were from varied backgrounds - children with Autism, Mental retardation, Down's syndrome, Physiotherapists, Special educators, parents etc. all of them trained together along with runners from Team Asha under the guidance of Runners High. They started with very small distances focusing on building a routine and getting used to the rigor of a new physical activity in their lives. We targeted a few runs and started training towards it with about four days of running in the week. Slowly, the team started bonding together among themselves and also with the other runners. It was inspirational to see the children break out of their barriers and bloom with their running. They enjoyed the time outside and were very self motivated in showing up for workouts. The special educators started seeing marked changes in the classroom. The therapists have also seen a great growth in abilities. We have documented the change in the confidence levels, ability for social interaction etc. in the children. Each child was tracked and interviewed to understand the changes running was bringing in their lives. They all successfully finished their target runs along with the staff! Now, we have more no. of children and staff participating in the future training programs.

  At this point, the organization is in need of funds to even function normally through the year. A few years back I would do ultra runs over many hours and would get your attention to donate for this cause. I still am doing ultra runs :) - But, I do it more as a personal exploration - a journey outwards and inwards as well. I have been doing many runs in the Himalayas, over many days, in conditions that I have not been used to and challenging in many ways. I don't want you to donate because of a crazy run I did. It would be wonderful if you are inspired by the children of Shristi Special Academy who are running and see how their lives have transformed through running. Your support to Shristi Special Academy will go a long way in helping the children become independent, strong and live a life of dignity.

You can contribute through the page here - http://www.ashanet.org/bangalore/marathon/runners12/Santhosh_Padmanabhan.html

Thanks,

Santhosh.

Coming back to Life.

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

“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.

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.

“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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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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