Saturday, February 07, 2009

This is the write up in my Asha runner page.. posting it here for the regulars ;)
http://ashanet.org/bangalore/marathon/runners/vinodh.html
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5:30am. 15C in Blore.
Door: knock knock..
Me: who is it?
Door: Me? Buddybot 1.0
Me: Wait a minute.. I'll change for the Run..
During the run..
Me: Conversation mode… ON.
Buddybot: So, dude how did u start running?
Me: Fitness. To be in shape.
Buddybot: Funny humans. You eat more. Then burn-out the "batteries" calling it fitness.. Watta waste!!!
Me: Hang on! There is more to it. I eat more coz, I enjoy it. But can you?
Buddybot: Why do you hav 2 enjoy? And you complain next day to me that - u hav over eaten!!
Me: I relish the moment. I live. That improves my endurance.
Buddybot: Come on dude.. I can run all day, as long as the Sun is out.
Me: Dumbo.. I can run in the night as well..
Buddybot: During the night, I work more efficiently! My cooling functions can be turned off and I can run whole night until the sun is out the next mrng.
Me: Wait. There is more to it. I meet a lotta ppl in the run. I socialize. I can impress ppl with my fitness.
Buddybot: I socialize too.. I just upated my MySpace page and I can access orkut now, while running. Remember? How we met? In Orkut.
Me: That fate full day..Who would forget.
Buddybot: "You know. Ur strange running habit caught my "eye". That was why, I wanted to know you better. I always wanted to know. Why you run? This chilly morning. With these crazy crazy. I come to know that you humans are not comfortable in this temp.?"
Me: You know what? There is a greater cause?
Buddybot: What? Global warming? That’s TOP on my list of human problems.
Me: No. I run to fundraise for underprevilaged children. You know, how I complain about these traffic jams and stuff. These kids don’t even get proper education, 3 meals a day.
Buddybot: I don’t understand. How is your running going to help these kiddos?
Me: That’s complex. You wouldn’t understand.
Buddybot: I have a AMD Shangai,GPS, 3G powered only by SUN and It doesn’t get any more complex than this? Just explain.
Me: See, I started selfishly just to keep fit and to spend my weekends away from the bed. But when I saw these kids - I decided. To gift them their childhood.
Buddybot: To gift them their childhood????? I don’t understand. "childhood" is not available in ebay or Amazon!
Me: I wish it was only that simple. The sense of satisfaction that you get when they thank you…. Its out of the world.
Buddybot: Beep.. Beep.. Rebooting... You entered the emotional zone 0.1, which is still in beta...
Only we can understand. Only we can help. Lets gift them their childhood. Pls donate.
More about Asha's projects: http://www.ashanet.org/bangalore/marathon/projects.htm

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