Thank you for a wonderful 5th edition of Ananda Yana!

[Santhosh Padmanabhan]

Folks,

  Congratulations! You folks have just mastered the art of bring smiles and happiness :) 

  What a beautiful day! The smiles made everyone as bright and sunny as the weather this year! This event never fails to inspire us and bring us all together. Sometimes, its easy to get swallowed by the monotony of a schedule, the problems and so much stress that life brings. But, I see "Ananda Yana" as that fleeting moment of carefree indulgence, the warmth from an affectionate hug, a magic potion...call it whatever...but, it is something that reminds us as to why we run, why we want to be a part of this wonderful community and how we make a difference in lives. Its magic also because, I don't think anyone can explain it in words! Yet, every time runners finish and thank us for the event, the words they use epitomises our vision and intent of the event! This shows how well we have brought our thoughts into fruition! A few points to note:

1. The running community in Bangalore is full of running groups and initiatives in the last few years. Events have become common place every weekend and each one of them claim to be a charity event. Many events and the need to stand out as actually led to an environment of restlessness and negativity in some instances! However, it was beautiful and nice to see all of us come together and so many running groups requesting us to make more of them part of the event! So much so that they want to take on more tasks other than AID stations alone! 

2. The runners who finished - almost all agree and see Ananda Yana as a place that doesn't judge anyone and shows the same love, warmth and care to the last runner who crosses the finish line as the first person who reaches. Many people choose to do their runs here than even bigger events! The race offers no medal, no 'official' certificate, no timing...yet, we offer what most don't - honesty and love!

3. The beautiful manner in which adults interact and take on tasks with the children of the communities we work with. The closeness and wonderful relationships that form leading to beautiful initiatives that help these communities is simply super! As an example, many runners came today to donate books, toys and so many other aspects to the schools without even making a request for the same!

....and many more!

  I would like to write a long email (well...it already is!) detailing and recognizing each of the stellar background work that has gone. There were folks who balanced emergencies at home, yet made it for volunteering. There were folks helping out in the middles of major changes in their lives. There were folks who are dealing with loss of a loved one, but still did not step back from assigned tasks. There were folks who spent multiple sleepless nights, hoarding half their houses with supplies for the event and yet were there in the morning with all their energy intact! There were folks who were battling illness and still kept on with commitments.The list is endless. It takes immense courage and a real huge heart filled with love and kindness to dedicate yourself and family for a cause. I just can't fathom how much each of you have given to this event! Yes, we all enjoyed being part of this whole event and we learned from it by contributing. But, it is true that it takes a special something to contribute and make this a priority! For now though, I will just say - 'Thanks!' - on behalf of everyone else to you! 

Of course, a special mention has to be made of a few people (new and old :) ) who took on a lot this year! Akhila, who did a lot of coordination work, leading all the teams, spending countless hours and taking on multiple roles and tasks! Asha for ably supporting her and also handling many other tasks! Mayank for leading the route logistics team even while his FIL was hospitalized! Nanda for ably supporting him through the period in visiting police stations and offices! Shiva and Anupama for ably handling registrations and coordination with Events High! Sidharth, Anupama, Kanishka pulling off the impossible with a band that was almost not there and what a performance they all gave! Sharath, with humor even in times of stress and for being such a wonderful leader along with the most dependable Chandra :), Srini with perfect planning and execution! George with his great insight, diligence and sensitivity to each aspect! The amazing Ananya youth, our own army of happiness! Priya and Ashok for coordinating a path breaking catering experience - I don't think any mainstream running event has done what we did without causing much fanfare! Super breakfast! Shiva and Rahul for the awesome awareness campaigns that got us where we are! Aishwarya for handling the very important team of parking and medical! Satya for helping Aishwarya out! Srini Iyer for handling the finances and dilshad for helping out, Sukla for coordinating the entire photography team in the most efficient manner! His dedication is exemplary! Prateek for coordinating the stage area, the sound system and performances along with the entertainment team! Laxmi for the beautiful design for Ananda Yana and distribution.....the list will go on! Apologies if I missed any of the coordinators! Please do add to the list!...This event couldn't have been possible without you all! Thank you!

  Many folks have appreciated the event a lot! There are posts all over FB, I got messages on the phone and people I spoke to - all of them have only positive feedback for the event. We also have raised a lot of money. I am hoping we can do well and the much needed running shoes for all our children! We have done a wonderful Ananda Yana 2017 - the fifth edition has been a bigger success than the previous editions with a change in route and so many other aspects!

  I tend to take family for granted the most - It probably stems from the trust and belief that no matter what mistakes I do or what problems I fall into, I have someone who will stand by me and shelter me with love. In a similar manner, we might have also taken your efforts or contribution for granted. I apologize if we failed to express how much your effort meant to the event.Thanks for being who you are and for being family. Ananda Yana, will always be around the anniversary of my brother leaving us. My brother helped me learn the value of expressing my love and affection to family in words and deeds. Ananda Yana, to me is a tribute to my brother in the most beautiful way possible. There is no greater joy than contributing to the joy and smiles of others'. 

  There are a few tasks that need to be done this year before we wrap up Ananda Yana. Akhila and Asha, can you please track the tasks, assigned to various members in the team to ensure its done? -

1. Feedback : We need to create a feedback form for volunteers separately and a feedback form for all runners. The feedback form for runners should be linked from the Ananda Yana website itself. It should be publicized by email and FB. - Deadline : Wed, June 7th - Santhosh

2. Certificate: We need to set up the online download system for certificates. Use a collage of some photos to make the background for the certificate. Deadline: Wed, June 7th - Shiva and Vinay

3. Thank you email to Volunteers: Everyone who interacted and got support from outside entities - other running groups, contacts in each school - Sneha Care Home, Ananya Trust and Thayi Mane, the traffic wardens organization, the music band, medical team from various hospitals etc - can you please draft nice personalized thank you emails and send it on behalf of 'Ananda Yana' ? Please think of every entity associated with Ananda Yana through your coordination team and please send the email out accordingly. Send the thank you email to every RH runner involved in your team as well. Include the Volunteer feedback form in your emails. Deadline: June 8th, Thursday - All team coordinators/members

4. Thank you email to all of RH: Akhila or Asha, please draft a nice email on behalf of AY organizing team and thank everyone part of RH for a successful 5th edition. Deadline: June 6th, Tuesday. - Akhila or Asha

5. Thank you email to all participants: A thank you email to all participants with Income/Expense statement for the event, Gallery, feedback form for runners and a downloadable certificate link. Deadline: June 8th, Thursday. - Santhosh and Shiva

6. Final report on Ananda Yana: Each team has to review the volunteer feedback, discuss among your team members and then type a nice summary of what went right, what went wrong and what we can do better next year. We will need one volunteer to put together all of this. Deadline: June 12th, Monday. - Srini Iyer to compile and follow up with each team

7. Final Income/Expense statement: This has to be done and ready. Please cooperate with Srini Iyer. Deadline: June 7th, Wednesday.

8: Gallery: All photo albums for the event must be linked from our website or FB page. The website should point to these photos. Deadline June 7th, Wednesday - Sukla please help out!

   Thanks once again for a wonderful Ananda Yana 2017! You all are true champions with a huge heart!

Thanks,

Santhosh.

--

I run, therefore I am - 

http://www.runnershigh.in
http://www.runnershighkids.blogspot.com

[Srinivas Iyer]

Dear Santosh

Glad everything went well to plan.

It is a pleasure and honour to be part of all events of Runners High!

Initial feedback from my friends has been a WOW!

Have made a note of my tasks and shall pursue.

Regards 

Srini

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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[Dilshad Billimoria]

Santhosh 

What would you like me to do for the accounts? 

Thanks Dilshad 

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[Asha Ashok]

Hi Santhosh,

I will be travelling from Wednesday night. Will complete before that.

Asha.

On 4 Jun 2017 9:01 pm, "Dilshad Billimoria" <dbill...@gmail.com> wrote:

Santhosh 

What would you like me to do for the accounts? 

Thanks Dilshad 

[Asha Ashok]

Santhosh, route marking team and water station management team,

No words!!!! **Just RESPECT**

Asha

On Mon, Jun 5, 2017 at 8:23 AM, Sharath <shara...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Santhosh,

Happy to be part of this team where we all managed to provide one more Ananda Yana experience to runners of Bangalore successfully.  It is true that effort from so many volunteers resulted in such a great event, but at the same time, you have been  there throughout leading from the front without being in the front :-)  I am not sure how many here know the effort you put in on Saturday late night to finalize the modified route, going for a route recce around mid night and again for marking early in the morning. It is one more lessor for many of us on 'crisis management'  :-)

This is for others in this mail to know how water station management team handled the last minute change in the route.  Most of the volunteers from this team on Saturday morning ran and understood the route and also noted down the location where they would be setting up the station next day.  They also discussed this with the volunteers from other running groups.  So, when Santhosh called me around 9:30 PM on Saturday and told me about change in the route, first challenge for me was - how to make our volunteers understand this new route and where they need to setup the station. Second challenge was to communicate the same to other running group volunteers. 

So, I picked the route map that Santhosh shared on whatsapp group and mapped the same route on an application called 'mapmyrun'. This is basically a kind of virtual recce and let user know where each km would be on the route. Once this is done, I used google maps to identify each of that distance and dropped a pin to get the co-ordinates.  I was in touch with Santhosh to make the required changes based on the recce he did in the night. 

On Sunday morning, we, water station volunteers were planning to meet at Thayi Mane by 5 AM and instead, we decided to meet at 4:30 AM. I carried my laptop and explained the new route that I drew on mapmyrun to all the volunteers and shared their respective water station location co-ordinates that I picked from google maps. So, by 5:15 all volunteers reached their respective water station locations and then shared their location details with the volunteers from other running groups.  By that time, route logistics team and Santhosh have already marked the route as well as the point where water station can be setup and this also helped us a lot.  So, in a way, technology was of good help for us here. 

In the volunteers feedback form I will list out the things that worked well for us and few areas where we may need to  change our approach little bit as for as water station  is concerned. 

Thank you,

Sharath

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[Akhila U]

Hi Akhila, looks like I cannot send mails to Anandayana co-ordination group mail ID.  Request you to share this:

Hi Santhosh,

Happy to be part of this team where we all managed to provide one more Ananda Yana experience to runners of Bangalore successfully.  It is true that effort from so many volunteers resulted in such a great event, but at the same time, you have been  there throughout leading from the front without being in the front :-)  I am not sure how many here know the effort you put in on Saturday late night to finalize the modified route, going for a route recce around mid night and again for marking early in the morning. It is one more lessor for many of us on 'crisis management'  :-)

This is for others in this mail to know how water station management team handled the last minute change in the route.  Most of the volunteers from this team on Saturday morning ran and understood the route and also noted down the location where they would be setting up the station next day.  They also discussed this with the volunteers from other running groups.  So, when Santhosh called me around 9:30 PM on Saturday and told me about change in the route, first challenge for me was - how to make our volunteers understand this new route and where they need to setup the station. Second challenge was to communicate the same to other running group volunteers. 

So, I picked the route map that Santhosh shared on whatsapp group and mapped the same route on an application called 'mapmyrun'. This is basically a kind of virtual recce and let user know where each km would be on the route. Once this is done, I used google maps to identify each of that distance and dropped a pin to get the co-ordinates.  I was in touch with Santhosh to make the required changes based on the recce he did in the night. 

On Sunday morning, we, water station volunteers were planning to meet at Thayi Mane by 5 AM and instead, we decided to meet at 4:30 AM. I carried my laptop and explained the new route that I drew on mapmyrun to all the volunteers and shared their respective water station location co-ordinates that I picked from google maps. So, by 5:15 all volunteers reached their respective water station locations and then shared their location details with the volunteers from other running groups.  By that time, route logistics team and Santhosh have already marked the route as well as the point where water station can be setup and this also helped us a lot.  So, in a way, technology was of good help for us here. 

In the volunteers feedback form I will list out the things that worked well for us and few areas where we may need to  change our approach little bit as for as water station  is concerned. 

Thank you,

Sharath

 

On Sun, Jun 4, 2017 at 7:43 PM, Santhosh Padmanabhan <santhosh.padmanabhan@gmail.com> wrote:

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