Support me to educate a Child, As I cycle for STP, 2014 (Seattle to Portland)

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The first time I rode the cycle was when I was 7 years old. No, it was not a shiny new bike.. it was a rented cycle that my Dad got from a cycle shop near my house. 
When I joined my first year of college, my mom gifted me a cycle. My first cycle. It  cost her 1500 INR and it was a huge amount that my mom was willing to part with considering our financial situation 12 years ago. I cycled my way to college. However The 3 KM distance was all I could manage considering my fitness level back then.

When I was doing my masters, I used to borrow my friends' cycle and together with my room mate explore Jamshedpur. We used to cycle about 20-30KM around the city especially around the airport routes. It was a beautiful experience. Slowly, cycling which came into my life out of necessity, became a passion for me.
I have to mention, Matt McTee, my first manager in Microsoft who encouraged me and made me buy my first hybrid bike when I joined Microsoft in Hyderabad.  I joined Hyderabad Bycyling club and started to do some regular rides.  But I got my ACL torn in a triathlon event in Hyderabad after which I could not do cycling vigourously like befire. 
It has taken about a year now, since I got back to cycling again and have been regular since I moved to Seattle. For the first time I would be biking a long distance cycling event 204 miles (328 KM) on July 12th 2014. While biking gives me immense joy and fulfillment, one of the few things that make me happier is the smile on the faces of little rural children at Isha Vidhya School in India. Educating a kid is like teaching someone to fish. A good 150px_IshaVidhya education could transform the life of the kid and also their family. This is made even more special by the fact that many of them being the first generation in their family to go to school!


With your support, for the very first time, I hope to successfully finish Biking 328 KMS (204 Miles) From Seattle to Portland on July 12 2014. I look forward to your generous contribution to raise $5 for every kilometer of the 328 KM race. Every single dollar of donations from you shall go towards teaching rural children at Isha Vidhya. Together, we can send as many as ten children to school for one full year. Needless to say, this shall also strengthen my resolve on every step and every kilometer of this cycling expedition.
As a gesture of my heartfelt appreciation, I promise to mark your names on a ‘gratitude poster’ and have it across the finish line with happiness in my heart. Your contributions to Isha Vidhya will be a great encouragement for me.

Looking forward to your support.  Cycle this STP with me for Isha Vidhya!  I shall personally bear the full costs of participating in this race. This ensures that all your contributions go to the children who need them most.
You can contribute here : http://www.razoo.com/story/Stp-Vidhya
I am half way through the fund raising goal, and look forward to your support by contributing even with a minimum amount possible to you.

I will post the event pictures in the blog after the event next week. Wish me luck!

(Thanks to Archana Anand for minting the words so beautifully)

Patience–What is it?

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Read this quote by legendary cricketer Rahul Dravid , he definitely is legendary according to me compared to many other popular players, who stood for the team and with held pain longer. Life is a Marathon and it is not a sprint, and patience is must. Below is the quote,

Rahul Dravid on “Patience”

“When I’m requested to speak to youngsters I like talking about this phase of my life and liken it to fascinating plant: The Chinese Bamboo. You can take a Chinese bamboo seed and plant it in the ground, water and nurture the seed for an entire year & not even see a single sprout. Infact, you’ll not see a sprout for 5 years. But suddenly, a tiny shoot will spring from the ground. And over the next 6 weeks, the plant can grow as tall as 90 feet. It can grow as fast as 39 inches every 24 hours. You can literally watch the plant grow.

What was the plant doing during these 5 years, seemingly dormant period, it was growing its roots. For 5 full years it was preparing itself for rapid, full growth. Without this root structure, the plant simply couldn’t support itself for its future growth. Some would say the plant grew 90 feet in 6 weeks, I would say it grew 90 feet in 5 years & 6 weeks”

The last line applies in many areas of life. I would tie this back to couple of my passionate areas.

  • Personal Finance – Being frugal and continue to invest regularly and start early in a systematic way( or they call it SIP) month on month, day by day. Penny saved is penny earned. Patience has its own fruit and building the big retirement corpus is not that tough than managing that corpus in your post retirement phase.
  • Fitness – In an era of instant gratification, you need to painfully with hold yourself from many distraction to continue to eat right and keep fit.

Only Rahul Dravid can say these lines, because he actually lived by these words in his career on the cricket field.