The last two days were awesome with promotions, tweets, posts, mails, adding people, requesting people, facing challenges, pumping up people's mood...
Slowly the whole team started to getting to know each other, better working with each other’s limitations and constraints with so much care devotion and love. Conference calls via Skype and Google talk were happening globally and people were getting all the more excited as the lead narrowed down. We just passed Twloha Inc for the second place. We were thirsty for first place. Not just for the one million dollars which was going to be used for Isha Vidhya in India and Isha Care Clinic in the US. For the recognition that was long due to Isha's volunteers.
We all felt the oneness in the process. People didn't sleep that night. We doubled up the pace of what we doing.
It was still amazing to see the spirits of the people I was working with. Some of them twice my age, some younger by a few years. People I never imagined I would be so close with, and forever I treat them better than I would treat myself or family.
For several days, the Isha centre in Tamil Nadu had gotten its strong base of volunteers to come out and vote. There were line ups in places likes hostels, centers, and cyber cafes. Votes were gathering fast and the lead had reduced drastically. Only Invisible Children was ahead of us.
Both Isha and Invisible Children were moving at a rate of more than 3000 votes an hour in the final few hours. We were catching up, moving at 4 votes/second and the Facebook server got hung up due to overload when there was an hour left. A big jolt to our path to victory.
We were hoping as a result Chase would extend the 12 am deadline but it did not happen. By this time all the activities started getting media attention and smear campaigns started taking off. It wasn’t the best thing to happen when charities, who were trying to contribute for the benefit of humanity, played dirty games like this. This become a hot topic in our discussion, but by now moving at such a speed, all we could do was sit and watch every minute.
During the last hour we were on Invisible Children's heals. The lead had come down to a few thousands. Both of us crossed 100,000 votes. My folks in India didn't need much support to stay awake, other than a few songs by Sounds of Isha and the speed of our scoreboard.
In the last few minutes, all eyes were oscillating form the scoreboard to the clock. 3000 votes and 15 minutes left. It looked like we could do it, yet it looked far off.
Down to five mins 2000 votes ... all eyes on the clock and the leaderboard, pressing f5 every 2 seconds.
Finally it stopped, the competition ended.
$1MM
Invisible Children Inc
San Diego, CA
123990 votes
$100K
Isha Foundation Inc
McMinnville, TN
122742 votes
We lost by 1200 votes. There were tears in my eyes. Not because we lost, but because so many people around the world cared enough to vote for a better place to live in. Out of all the wars we have been a been a part of, this one was for the well being of the planet, for us and for our kids. It was a victory for humanity no matter which team had won.
Congratulation messages, acknowledgements, sharings... We had become closer than a family in a span less than a week without looking at the sun, food, sleep. Nothing mattered in the last few days. It had come to an end and we didn't want to part. My people back home hadn’t slept the whole night and didn't want to leave too. We wanted to share the moment and joy together.
At some point we had to get moving on, but we knew we are always working together on some level of heart, mind, and soul for Isha and for a better planet.
In one week I had a crash course and experience in social media marketing. I became friends with so many different people and backgrounds. Many sacrificed kids, food and other activities in life. All have become a huge part of my life and we are always in touch like a family. People I have never met before.
I do hope I will be fortunate enough to meet them in this life time and surely we will remember the glorious days where we raced for the Chase competition and experienced grace and care in a way we never imagined before. These moments and people will live in my heart. Forever.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Chase Race Grace
It was the 15th of January 2010, the beginning of one of the most extraordinary weeks in my life. I met some of the best people in my life who, even though I haven’t met or spoken to them, are up there in my top list forever! It was the final round of the Chase Community Giving Contest on Facebook to win $1 million.
Being in Canada, I was not too aware of the promotion happening in India and USA where Isha has stronger presence. But, having the privilege of being the moderator in Isha’s huge Orkut community where a decent buzz was generated, led to one of the most intense experiences of my life.
So, the voting started. I thought I would cast my vote and that would more or less be it.
After, I noticed that the Orkut forum had gotten active about the voting. I answered some questions and cleared some people’s doubt on how to generate more votes. I decided to create a new post on how to gather up votes.
It was well received and people started contributing, seeing Isha move up and down on the scoreboard. Initially, I remember we had around 8000 votes and we were in 8th place. I was telling everyone, "If we get around 10000 more votes, we will win," but how wrong was I!!
Soon the magic of Isha and the competition swept us over. People contacted me asking, "What to do?" We started brain-storming on how to go ahead and “make it happen." We started posting in Orkut communities such as the India one with over a 100000 members and amazingly very active. We had to keep generating new ideas pretty frequently. We started tweeting too, and assisting people unfamiliar with social media became my full-time job.
This was a totally joyous process. Love and care of the highest order is always taken for granted in Isha. We all personally buzzed and annoyed our friends to vote over two days. The score board wasn't what we hoped. A close friend of mine worked in a pretty well-known radio channel in Chennai, and was sweet enough to use her influential powers and get a free minute of prime time radio time. Becky at the ashram was able to coordinate things.
Soon the contacts were starting to grow, both in the US and India. People in both the centers, people who never even heard of each other before were all working like a single organism towards one goal like we had known each other for life times.
Still the lead had not come down. We were in third place, the top two were 20000 votes away and we had no idea how to get there. Soon Kavitha Chibber and Chris Rado voiced their support. Actress Gul Panag, of whom I had never heard, tweeted about the contest and I bungled on the RT! Time was running out and we had to act fast.
I went to sleep after 4 am for two days in a row. Chase was the only thing I was doing. I hadn't stepped out of my bedroom for two days and I almost did not get any fresh air or sunshine during that time. I had dominated the only computer at home for one week.
People's dedication was overwhelming and inspiring and it kept me going.
I did not go to college for class on Thursday. On Friday, the college was taking the newcomers to a ski trip a few hours away for ski lessons and practise for a dirt cheap price and I had signed up. My good friend was talking about how he was bunking college. Inside I felt I should be going on the last day of voting, so I lied to everyone that I was not well and I pulled out of the trip. And I am so glad I did.
To be continued...
Being in Canada, I was not too aware of the promotion happening in India and USA where Isha has stronger presence. But, having the privilege of being the moderator in Isha’s huge Orkut community where a decent buzz was generated, led to one of the most intense experiences of my life.
So, the voting started. I thought I would cast my vote and that would more or less be it.
After, I noticed that the Orkut forum had gotten active about the voting. I answered some questions and cleared some people’s doubt on how to generate more votes. I decided to create a new post on how to gather up votes.
It was well received and people started contributing, seeing Isha move up and down on the scoreboard. Initially, I remember we had around 8000 votes and we were in 8th place. I was telling everyone, "If we get around 10000 more votes, we will win," but how wrong was I!!
Soon the magic of Isha and the competition swept us over. People contacted me asking, "What to do?" We started brain-storming on how to go ahead and “make it happen." We started posting in Orkut communities such as the India one with over a 100000 members and amazingly very active. We had to keep generating new ideas pretty frequently. We started tweeting too, and assisting people unfamiliar with social media became my full-time job.
This was a totally joyous process. Love and care of the highest order is always taken for granted in Isha. We all personally buzzed and annoyed our friends to vote over two days. The score board wasn't what we hoped. A close friend of mine worked in a pretty well-known radio channel in Chennai, and was sweet enough to use her influential powers and get a free minute of prime time radio time. Becky at the ashram was able to coordinate things.
Soon the contacts were starting to grow, both in the US and India. People in both the centers, people who never even heard of each other before were all working like a single organism towards one goal like we had known each other for life times.
Still the lead had not come down. We were in third place, the top two were 20000 votes away and we had no idea how to get there. Soon Kavitha Chibber and Chris Rado voiced their support. Actress Gul Panag, of whom I had never heard, tweeted about the contest and I bungled on the RT! Time was running out and we had to act fast.
I went to sleep after 4 am for two days in a row. Chase was the only thing I was doing. I hadn't stepped out of my bedroom for two days and I almost did not get any fresh air or sunshine during that time. I had dominated the only computer at home for one week.
People's dedication was overwhelming and inspiring and it kept me going.
I did not go to college for class on Thursday. On Friday, the college was taking the newcomers to a ski trip a few hours away for ski lessons and practise for a dirt cheap price and I had signed up. My good friend was talking about how he was bunking college. Inside I felt I should be going on the last day of voting, so I lied to everyone that I was not well and I pulled out of the trip. And I am so glad I did.
To be continued...
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Dance Of Abandon
THE DANCE OF ABANDON
In the dance abandon.
powered by the nothing in me,
gracefully moving - in me nothing be.
Thy grace flows in music,
tears down my face
as I abandon in me,
its only you in me & everything can be.
Oh!, Dance of Abandon,
all so inclusive,
existentially, so exclusive!,
the finitey of a fools longing,
the seekers awareness,
dangling on you grace
pierced by the dance of abandon,
fired to infinity!
bliss the perfect vehicle,
unbounded one can be.
seems all a mystery
until, unleashed by the one,Mystically
In the dance abandon.
powered by the nothing in me,
gracefully moving - in me nothing be.
Thy grace flows in music,
tears down my face
as I abandon in me,
its only you in me & everything can be.
Oh!, Dance of Abandon,
all so inclusive,
existentially, so exclusive!,
the finitey of a fools longing,
the seekers awareness,
dangling on you grace
pierced by the dance of abandon,
fired to infinity!
bliss the perfect vehicle,
unbounded one can be.
seems all a mystery
until, unleashed by the one,Mystically
Friday, November 7, 2008
THE WAR WITHIN
THE WAR WITHIN
last few weeks we have been witnessing a gr8 surge of violence,terrorism deaths,stupidity and various shades of misery, attack and prevail in our country.
But the one which i thought was more alarming was the 1 btwn the states of Maharashtra n bihar or MNS n RJD which i think as inducing a cancer like situation which eats u up from within unlike external threats frm LeT,Bush etc.
MNS out of gr8 concern for Marathis brought up this son of the soil theory and to prove it, destroyed the image of Maharashtra for good with a very immature and childish violence ..due to his social wateva exploiting the dumbness off the people, Stirring up emotions for something intangible and achieving the nonsense he wants in such lousy ways.If he really cared abt the bombay n the state y not clear the slums,beggers, upgrade the trains tat will change the face of the city...n mayb lalu mite help in removing 1 of the most oldest railway systems!! :P
Yes, Nations, borders ,National Identities where drilled into us for political, individual gains to easily stirr up emotions during crisis's tats sad but ok to n extent but intra-national!!?!?
+
the war of words between MNS n Lalu who already many consider more of a joker then politicain , made me n dad laugh our ass's of when he called Raj a " A total mental case!!! " in public hardly making no impact in the process made me think wat kind of buffoons are our leaders!?!?!is this a circus or a democracy!??!
what abt all the security, sovereignty blah blah blah of this nation
we all know melting pots r the most promising these days or is it?!?!
does the place u are born in matter!!?!
or do u deserve it if Ur good!?!
should religion i.e ur part path of inner seeking be a a reason for anything!?!?
neway ppl hardly spend 15-20 min a day prayin n religion has caused the most suffering in the planet..
what is the solution!?!? what can be done to shift the awareness , consciousness of the politicians n mainly the people at large!?!??..
How can we act on this nonsense or intelligence?!?!
last few weeks we have been witnessing a gr8 surge of violence,terrorism deaths,stupidity and various shades of misery, attack and prevail in our country.
But the one which i thought was more alarming was the 1 btwn the states of Maharashtra n bihar or MNS n RJD which i think as inducing a cancer like situation which eats u up from within unlike external threats frm LeT,Bush etc.
MNS out of gr8 concern for Marathis brought up this son of the soil theory and to prove it, destroyed the image of Maharashtra for good with a very immature and childish violence ..due to his social wateva exploiting the dumbness off the people, Stirring up emotions for something intangible and achieving the nonsense he wants in such lousy ways.If he really cared abt the bombay n the state y not clear the slums,beggers, upgrade the trains tat will change the face of the city...n mayb lalu mite help in removing 1 of the most oldest railway systems!! :P
Yes, Nations, borders ,National Identities where drilled into us for political, individual gains to easily stirr up emotions during crisis's tats sad but ok to n extent but intra-national!!?!?
+
the war of words between MNS n Lalu who already many consider more of a joker then politicain , made me n dad laugh our ass's of when he called Raj a " A total mental case!!! " in public hardly making no impact in the process made me think wat kind of buffoons are our leaders!?!?!is this a circus or a democracy!??!
what abt all the security, sovereignty blah blah blah of this nation
we all know melting pots r the most promising these days or is it?!?!
does the place u are born in matter!!?!
or do u deserve it if Ur good!?!
should religion i.e ur part path of inner seeking be a a reason for anything!?!?
neway ppl hardly spend 15-20 min a day prayin n religion has caused the most suffering in the planet..
what is the solution!?!? what can be done to shift the awareness , consciousness of the politicians n mainly the people at large!?!??..
How can we act on this nonsense or intelligence?!?!
OHH-BA-MAAAAAhh!!!
Yup, almost for a year now the Obama phenomenon has enthralled the world, After 8 long yrz of George W. Bush finally Americas biggest mistake seems to come to an end!!! atleast we can be certain for shure if Obama surprisingly dosnt turn out be be a good president he or no one can be worse than Bush even if they tried to!!....
1.cuz hez toooo shrewd
2.Hez the sickest and most selfish.
3.Hez the dumbest, no competition ( I mean " God came in my dream and told me to attack Iraq, Most of out imports come from overseas!" Chmon Georgie u cud hav done better than tat!!! )
I would really recommend the movie Zietgiest and Fahrenheit 9\11 not just to realize the above but also for the knowledge and truth too.
So!!...What is it about this gentleman that has charmed the world?!?! created history and opened a new dimension in leadership & politics !?!?
After watching his inspirational n energetic speeches m shure every kid would not only look upto him but..sum where deep inside his taught n heart he must be asking himself " Why cant I be an Obama!?!?, wats the difference between him and us!?!??, What will it take for me to be and Obama!?!? "
or basically
What is so special about the African-American with a Kenyan dad n Indonesian mom brought up in Hawaii (around all the u knw wat! :p) to make it big n kind of rule the planet!??!?!
So I began thinking about this extraordinary person and what made him special!?!? and this is what i saw it boil down to...
2. His leadership was good which you can xpect from an Haward grad.
3. His mixed inter-racial look of the Afro-Asians quite suited him n did add a unique flavor
But Most Importantly
4. His superior power off speech greatly empowered buy his incredible dream for his nation,He was so determined tat almost nothing stoped him! shurely if he told this dream to his kind when he was a kid, al he would hav got is " tat jig,aint for us ma'nigga,chomon!" but he nva took no for and answer!!
from what I got from watching his hand, facial movements and overall body language and listening to him i felt he truly believed,valued and protected his dream in an incredible way like no1 could have ever done!!..In his post-victory speech 1 could make out his gr8 sense of humility, humbleness and an urgency to act on the enormous task ahead, even though after spending 15 yrz in Africa(making me an part African at heart) Africans have a gr8 sense of humility etc., Obama displayed it all a touch more in being a modern leader and strategist .
I feel confident to say and believe that his dream and vision alone not only carried him and others to the white house but also captivated the hearts off millions of people globally.
Surely he dint have the best policies or as good as McCain...I really thought the 300billon $ buyback off mortgage was gr8 would have swept many away from him.
or
The combined brain and experience of Hillary or Bill Clinton was also phenomenal
(After learning frm someone too huge to mention tat all the problems in the world, Poverty, food crisis etc could be solved with a well executed 50 billion$ package which is nothing compared to a + 900 Billion $ " war against terrorism, Iraq " - My ass!!..jus for oil and bush's carlay industry o wat eva- and fraction of that amount could see a very different n way more joyous planet..which Hillary agreed to spend if elected + the higher level of compassion of a woman ,made me root for her initially but..)
Yet, At the end BARACK HUSSAIN OBAMA prevails and as they say the rest is history.
surely there is a thing or two v could learn frm this extra-ordinary gentleman frm the humblest of backgrounds who made the white house call "Obama-Ahoy" to steer it and to sail it to more friendly seas away from the deep economic and ecological plunge ahead.. Hepromises a new figure of uncle Sam and a promising future for the citizens of this gr8 planet!!..
Wether is Oh!-Ba-maahh or Oh! - Bumm - er! only time will tell.....
Till then ALL HAIL OBAMA!!
ur comments,views, remarks on this nonsense or intelligence are welcome
Yup, almost for a year now the Obama phenomenon has enthralled the world, After 8 long yrz of George W. Bush finally Americas biggest mistake seems to come to an end!!! atleast we can be certain for shure if Obama surprisingly dosnt turn out be be a good president he or no one can be worse than Bush even if they tried to!!....
1.cuz hez toooo shrewd
2.Hez the sickest and most selfish.
3.Hez the dumbest, no competition ( I mean " God came in my dream and told me to attack Iraq, Most of out imports come from overseas!" Chmon Georgie u cud hav done better than tat!!! )
I would really recommend the movie Zietgiest and Fahrenheit 9\11 not just to realize the above but also for the knowledge and truth too.
So!!...What is it about this gentleman that has charmed the world?!?! created history and opened a new dimension in leadership & politics !?!?
After watching his inspirational n energetic speeches m shure every kid would not only look upto him but..sum where deep inside his taught n heart he must be asking himself " Why cant I be an Obama!?!?, wats the difference between him and us!?!??, What will it take for me to be and Obama!?!? "
or basically
What is so special about the African-American with a Kenyan dad n Indonesian mom brought up in Hawaii (around all the u knw wat! :p) to make it big n kind of rule the planet!??!?!
So I began thinking about this extraordinary person and what made him special!?!? and this is what i saw it boil down to...
- Yes, The man was pretty clever, intelligent and shrewd
2. His leadership was good which you can xpect from an Haward grad.
3. His mixed inter-racial look of the Afro-Asians quite suited him n did add a unique flavor
But Most Importantly
4. His superior power off speech greatly empowered buy his incredible dream for his nation,He was so determined tat almost nothing stoped him! shurely if he told this dream to his kind when he was a kid, al he would hav got is " tat jig,aint for us ma'nigga,chomon!" but he nva took no for and answer!!
from what I got from watching his hand, facial movements and overall body language and listening to him i felt he truly believed,valued and protected his dream in an incredible way like no1 could have ever done!!..In his post-victory speech 1 could make out his gr8 sense of humility, humbleness and an urgency to act on the enormous task ahead, even though after spending 15 yrz in Africa(making me an part African at heart) Africans have a gr8 sense of humility etc., Obama displayed it all a touch more in being a modern leader and strategist .
I feel confident to say and believe that his dream and vision alone not only carried him and others to the white house but also captivated the hearts off millions of people globally.
Surely he dint have the best policies or as good as McCain...I really thought the 300billon $ buyback off mortgage was gr8 would have swept many away from him.
or
The combined brain and experience of Hillary or Bill Clinton was also phenomenal
(After learning frm someone too huge to mention tat all the problems in the world, Poverty, food crisis etc could be solved with a well executed 50 billion$ package which is nothing compared to a + 900 Billion $ " war against terrorism, Iraq " - My ass!!..jus for oil and bush's carlay industry o wat eva- and fraction of that amount could see a very different n way more joyous planet..which Hillary agreed to spend if elected + the higher level of compassion of a woman ,made me root for her initially but..)
Yet, At the end BARACK HUSSAIN OBAMA prevails and as they say the rest is history.
surely there is a thing or two v could learn frm this extra-ordinary gentleman frm the humblest of backgrounds who made the white house call "Obama-Ahoy" to steer it and to sail it to more friendly seas away from the deep economic and ecological plunge ahead.. Hepromises a new figure of uncle Sam and a promising future for the citizens of this gr8 planet!!..
Wether is Oh!-Ba-maahh or Oh! - Bumm - er! only time will tell.....
Till then ALL HAIL OBAMA!!
ur comments,views, remarks on this nonsense or intelligence are welcome
Monday, November 3, 2008
Me!!!..............Blogging!!?!?!
Well!!!....I always thought " why do people have blog's !???!!?, "
Why do people write stuff n publish it all ova the net in blog's !?!?! ,
Are people so dam jobless to go sit n read other peoples nonsense for hours,like they aint got there own!??!,
and people told me "Its a place 2 release ur frustration,anger, sorrow,anger ...." and all types of nonsense...n i tot "how misrable can people get?!?!? if they r so aginst life..WHY LIVE!??!?!? "
I thought y cant they spend their time njoyin nature being relaxed and aware n get ideas by them self!?!?!? "
I mean like most of the gr8 discoveries of man kind has been by accident and not in a lab...cuz only when a man is relaxed his logic for sumtime n chilled BAM!!!!!!!!!!!
A DISCOVERY!!!
so y all this stuff anyway!??!?!
Then i really found sum blogs very usefull God bless them u knw
the really patient brainy guys who run these blogs like borntosharefriends.blogspot.com and others that embrace piracy like i do n have all the softwares u require the most available for download free of cost!!!...i jus luv em!!..neway i ditched mircosoft almost for good for ubuntu/kubuntu(yeah man it rocks!!) after the experiencing " Ms pissta or crapista " as the Linux buffs say!..yeah n din hav much use for them after tat...still blogs din seem 2 make 2 much sense 2 me
SO!!!...jus a couple of days i was walking n thinkin & laughing 2 myself about sumthin things i read ,heard how silly n stupid I have been n the things people believe n do which i find silly....when i realised in cudnt recolect some of my
" intellectual entertainment " then i thought ok!! lets save it then!! so a blog came in my mind cuz i could learn frm wat people reply n stuff blah blah ...
N here I am!!!
k so wat are my objectives n uses for this blog?!?!??!
well almost anything people find thought prvoking, silly, stupid, dumb , common sense tat people dont c, unnecessery!! and almost anything people think,and could be discussed this can be a space...so!..tats abt it!!... feel free2 say anythin people!!cuz it cant be stupider than mine!!!
c ya tc!!
Why do people write stuff n publish it all ova the net in blog's !?!?! ,
Are people so dam jobless to go sit n read other peoples nonsense for hours,like they aint got there own!??!,
and people told me "Its a place 2 release ur frustration,anger, sorrow,anger ...." and all types of nonsense...n i tot "how misrable can people get?!?!? if they r so aginst life..WHY LIVE!??!?!? "
I thought y cant they spend their time njoyin nature being relaxed and aware n get ideas by them self!?!?!? "
I mean like most of the gr8 discoveries of man kind has been by accident and not in a lab...cuz only when a man is relaxed his logic for sumtime n chilled BAM!!!!!!!!!!!
A DISCOVERY!!!
so y all this stuff anyway!??!?!
Then i really found sum blogs very usefull God bless them u knw
the really patient brainy guys who run these blogs like borntosharefriends.blogspot.com and others that embrace piracy like i do n have all the softwares u require the most available for download free of cost!!!...i jus luv em!!..neway i ditched mircosoft almost for good for ubuntu/kubuntu(yeah man it rocks!!) after the experiencing " Ms pissta or crapista " as the Linux buffs say!..yeah n din hav much use for them after tat...still blogs din seem 2 make 2 much sense 2 me
SO!!!...jus a couple of days i was walking n thinkin & laughing 2 myself about sumthin things i read ,heard how silly n stupid I have been n the things people believe n do which i find silly....when i realised in cudnt recolect some of my
" intellectual entertainment " then i thought ok!! lets save it then!! so a blog came in my mind cuz i could learn frm wat people reply n stuff blah blah ...
N here I am!!!
k so wat are my objectives n uses for this blog?!?!??!
well almost anything people find thought prvoking, silly, stupid, dumb , common sense tat people dont c, unnecessery!! and almost anything people think,and could be discussed this can be a space...so!..tats abt it!!... feel free2 say anythin people!!cuz it cant be stupider than mine!!!
c ya tc!!
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