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