Why I Run?

It is hard to believe that I have been running for almost 4 years now… It all started with Sindhu mentioning that we should try and run a marathon to raise funds for India Literacy Project (http://www.ilpnet.org/).

While I was all open to doing a 10K race, the regular training and weekend long runs for a marathon or even a half seemed too tedious. Running also seemed a loner’s sport to me- I like group games more. Anyway, I decided to give this a try. A search on the net took me to Runners For Life and I discovered this whole running community in Bangalore! As soon as we enrolled, we got to know of this great group that runs in GKVK – Sudarshan, Sabine, Sudhir, Patil, Sam, Megahana… Few runs with them and I realized that running can also be a group sport!!!

2007 October, I completed my first half marathon. I had registered for the HM, just one evening before the race day. I even remember paying the registration fees in the bus. While the timing was not great, my accomplishement was that I finished – my first long run without succumbing to the heat and the humidity of the KTM! The camaraderie, energy, the scenic trail and the great organization by Arvind(A2) and his team, got me saying – ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’ and has made me a runner for life.

Cycling came soon after running and I participated in the first Duathalon in Bangalore in 2009. 2010, was the year of running events- I walked 12+ hr walk in the Strides of Hope 2010 with Sindhu as my fellow walker; to show my solidarity to the cause of education espoused by ASHA, ran my personal best at SCMM-2010 Half Marathon and in the 10K Sunfeast 2010 and ended the year with a 75km at the Bangalore Ultra.

Yes, and I did convert this new found love for endurance events into fundraising for India Literacy Project ; an organization that supports education initiatives in rural, tribal and urban slum communities- raising over Rs 375,000 in the last four years.

At the 12M12M, I plan to run 6 Half Marathons and 6 Full Marathons, and use the ultra at the end of the year for fundraising.

This article was written on 1oth Jan 2011.

Thank you for supporting the 2 community libraries last year. ILP started these libraries in November 2010, with the help of Sparsha Trust an organization which works with the Sanjeevani Nagar and Bainahalli communities.
When Abhi's and Ambika's mother passed away three years ago, their father re-married and left the children to fend for themselves. Both children dropped out of school. Thanks to Sparsha trust, these childen were put through an intensive bridge program and now go to regular school. Ten year old Abhi is too young to realize the reality around him, but Ambika, who is now in the 7th standard is crystal clear that she wants to become a Science teacher. Abhi and Ambika have now become regular users of Gnana Mitra – the Community Library at Byanahalli. Reading simple books in Kannada has helped develop their language skills. They are more than enthusiastic to narrate the stories they read. As their language skills improved, their comprehension improved and so did their self confidence. The Byanahalli village is off the Bangalore- Bellary road, very close to the Stone Quarry of Bettalsuru. It caters to the children in the surrounding villages.
Asha who is 12 years and is now in the 5th standard, was also a dropout. Her mother earns the livelihood through basket weaving and her father is an alcoholic. He often snatched the mother’s daily earnings. Going to bed hungry was not unusual; going to school was obviously not a priority. Asha was sent for basket weaving. Luckily she was discovered by Sparsha Trust and her world has a totally a new meaning now. She says she enjoys reading and to be with other school children and what she said astounded me, “I never knew such a world exists- that of reading books on various topics!” Asha is a regular user of the Sanjeevani nagar library.
It is moving to see these children trying hard to do so much with so little and never losing hope. The two community libraries are a world by themselves to these children and to other children who enjoy reading. They also provide a quiet space for children to sit and do their home work.

There are 888 books in the Sanjeevani Nagar library and 680 books at Byanahalli. The library uses the Grow by Reading methodology of the Hippocampus Reading Foundation. Reading levels of children are assessed. The books in the library are also graded. The librarian then leads them to read books at their skill levels, helps improve their reading comprehension and fluency at a pace that they are comfortable with.

From August this year, instead of bringing the children to the libraries, we decided to take these libraries to children. We have identified three government schools with no libraries, in the neighborhood of our libraries. Children from these schools are being issued books on a regular basis by our community librarians who visit these schools. The community library acts like a feeder library. So, now 412 children from the Sanjeevani Nagar Government school, Channahalli Government School and Kuduregere government school have access to good books.

We would like to provide excellent libraries, stocked with good reading content, which makes reading joyful, in every government school in the vicinity of the Sanjeevani Nagar and Byanahalli. We would like see these libraries turn into learning spaces, equipped with a science corner, a sports corner and even a computer corner. We need your help to make this a reality, because our children deserve nothing less!

... Thanks to Shanmugam, an ILP Volunteer for the update...