Voices from Within

Lets say, you are taking a leisure evening walk in the woods. As you go past a pond, you see a child drowning - Would you save her?

What if, it means to ruin a pair of expensive-shoes?

Will you still save her?

Do you still say - YES?

Then why not spend the cost of the shoes to save some 10 kids who are starved (of food, of education, of other basic needs)

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I work with Asha, a NGO in Bangalore for the education of the under-previleged. This season, I've pledged to raise INR 50K.
Please consider donating - here .

If you choose to help some other cause, thats perfectly fine too!

cheers,
Vinodh

p.s. I read this provocative question in one of Peter Singer's works.

I love these chilly-winter morning rides... the morning drizzle was an extra topping.. Reached the station to catch an early train out to Tumkur. The trip was to support a Awareness-walk by an org for Special children and Early Intervention. It was a beautiful train journey in the misty morning.

The walk was flagged off by a big-shot and there was some press coverage. Our pics cud have been flashed in the local newspaper(Tumkur Times??? anyone????). It was a short walk and the weather was perfect. We gave out fliers with more info on the effort. The Tumkur-folks were unspoilt and very receptive. They respected the walk, took time to read the fliers. The walk ended with a informative presentation.

The return journey was even more fun. We had decided to travel un-reserved and got open-tickets.. And offcourse, the train was late by 40 min.. We went out to kill time... had cocunuts, saw a 'Super-speciality hospital' (with only a 2-foot entrance), lonely theatre, poori-rice walas..

For a small town, lot of things were happening at the station. A funny man on the mike.. testing it for along time... A huge crowd had gathered, to witness the change in the train-timings.. When the train arrived, we hopped on a random coach.

We were chatting Non-stop.. discussed various things from expensive-indian-weddings to piracy to best-biriyanis to ... a mini movie of Santhosh's 24 hr run.. We even planned a Con-job to loot a ...Shushh!!!

Reached Bangalore by 2:20 and another train had reached the platform at the exact time.. Two-train-full-peapuls trying to climb a narrow-stairway was quite a sight. No prize for guessing shiny-head :)

Lunched at a place closeby, sealed a super-day with icecreams..

(More pics - coming soon)

This Could be you in 5 yrs...

Start running!!

Here is your chance to change...

TeamAsha 8K run: Oct 24
http://ashanet.org/bangalore/teamasha8k/

Great run.. Awesome fun.. I wud hav kicked myself if I had wuss'd out of run for that silly sinus block.
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Left for Mysore from Cubbon @ 4.30. The drive itself was so much fun.. Non-stop entertainment from Sensei 'n Balaji. PJs galore.. Had the historic(?) Maddur vada and great coffee on the way. Checked-in to a hotel.. had dinner and rested for the race.

Woke up feeling great on Sunday!! Got ready and headed to the race-location. Coach wasn't particularly happy that I had forgotten to collect the bib and had to take a detour on the race day... Over 700 runners crowded the start-point.

The Full-ers started first.. Sensei and Santhosh shot off..

I think, Half-Marathon is a sweet-distance.. 21K is a great test of fitness 'n endurance.. Doesn't take a lot out of you and less prone to injuries.. I wonder why these crazies run the full to get roasted..

Then we started.. With my (un)training, I knew I cudn't shoot for a personal best. The focus was to finish strong with out any injury.

The Trail was a beauty! Gorgeous Kaveri flowing on one side and brilliant-green fields on the other.

After the initial 2K or so, I was nice and loose.. felt good.. kept myself well hydrated.. Reached the turn around point with no fuss... The first half was eazy..


And then trail-beauty turned a smoking hottie.. The scorching sun was too much..When I was struggling and thought, I'm gonna walk the rest - I heard someone yell, "Common Vinodh - run!!". There she was.. The super-woman.. I ran with Sensei for a few kms.. She was saying, "I ran all the way.. Didn take a walk-break yet".

The last stretch was tough.. started cramping and Hamstring hurt.. It all meant only one-thing. I shd stop giving work excuses 'n turn-up at the Training sessions and hit the gym regularly..


And flew to the finish line. Not great timing. But awesome fun..

Celebrated the Run @ CCD with Sizzling brownies/Icecreams...

Photos: Courtesy of Balaji - link