Life is a Marathon ....

The weather was near zero degrees Celsius.. Cold, Windy and pretty high probability for rains... And I started my marathon with thousands more in the beautiful downtown of Philadelphia...

I let my thoughts to run with me as i was running with people ... Well, sometimes life do feels like a running race. We run against time ... we try to run against people ... I met so many people on the way... they joined for sometime , ran with me and later either moved on ahead or back on their own pace... Isn't life like that ... We meet different people at different points of time... be with them... and finally move in our own pace only to realize that sometimes life is a solitary journey to eternity .... there is no 'real' company in this journey.... there is no competition... and it just has to go on ...

I was running through the historical down town, through various localities of the city, through some beautiful places coloured by Fall .... By 13th mile, cold winds were blowing pretty hard... I was in a kind of meditative state.. just running on my own steadily through my journey...

Sometimes when I felt the pain ... when I felt I was too tired to run.. I started thinking of her...

Few weeks back on a cold day I was running in Central Park... With severe pain on my legs, I was about to give up when I saw her... Running with me for sometime she slowly overtook me when I noticed that she had lost one of her legs and was having an installed one... And she was running hard with that, limping with her legs still running hard without giving up ... It shall always remain one of the most inspiring things I have seen till now... Isn't life like that ..? Running against all odds, difficulties ... Just keep running throughout the journey.....

The last ten miles, the temperature was freezing and it started raining... Maybe I was in a state beyond pain that i passed those miles with a huge smile on my face giving high fives to cheering Philadelphians I met on the way... With good encouragement from the crowd and from Monna who joined me for last couple of miles, I completed my first marathon of 26.2 miles.... It has been a memorable journey for me.... from being someone who couldn't run 100 metres a year and half back ... from being someone who couldn't run more than three odd miles sixteen weeks back ... here I was running through the 26.2 mile finish line with a smile on my face .... Isn't change the only constant thing in life?


I dedicate my run to the anonymous angel I met on central park who inspired me to just keep running against all odds ... Isn't life sometimes about meeting and believing in angels ...? Isn't life sometimes about making difference to life of others?

To the anonymous angel ... A photo I took long time back ...

Sponsor Chendur's "Run for a dream" - a dream to make a difference

Dear Friends,

"Can I run a Marathon...?"...Sometimes I used to wonder about my ability to do so untill I met the enthuthiastic Lend a Hand India (www.lend-a-hand-india.org) team in Central Park. I decided to run a half marathon initially but later decided commit myself to run a full marathon for a cause.... Having worked with several NGO's in Bangalore and also being a passionate photographer I had done some photoshoots for their PR and Brochures apart from visiting remote villages in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to do various studies ( Photos from my Ngo activities in India -
http://flickr.com/photos/chendur/sets/72157594526519371/

I got to know about Lend a Hand India from my friend and decided that I would run a marathon for them raising funds for their activities in India. I have kept a target to raise $100/mile run i.e totalling $2600 for the 26 miles I am planning to run. The funds will go towards various programs of Lend A Hand India
(www.lend-a-hand-india.org/programs.php).

Your donation will make a difference to hundreds of kids belonging to poor communities in helping them to secure employment and becoming self sustainable. You can make a difference to lives.... You can play your part in making this world a better place ...

Please note that most corporations will match your donation! You can find the appropriate forms by going to your company's philanthropy site. For an illutrative list of such companies, please click here. The EIN for Lend-A-Hand India is 90-0150814. If you need assistance, please contact me.

Please donate here

For a contribution by check, please make the check payable to "Lend-A-Hand India" write "Sponsorship for Chendur Venkatraman" in the memo and mail to:

Lend-A-Hand India
784 Columbus Avenue #10G
New York NY 10025, USA

Thanks for your support

Chendur