Update 1: I have successfully finished the marathon in 5hrs and 27mins beating my old time of 5hrs and 50mins. Thanks to the cheering team and pacing team and my training group, you all made it possible!!!

Update 2: I’m on my way to reach my goal of raising the funds I have pledged for Asha. Without the support of my family, my friends and my colleagues, I could not even have considered it. Heartfelt gratitude to all of you who donated already. Donations are still welcome to help me reach my goal.

I believe that the basis for any set of people in any part of the world to make forward progress in their lives is education. For several years, I have been volunteering for Asha which partners with several grassroots organizations in India that are working to educate thousands of disadvantaged children. Access to education is not a privilege but a Right. A Right of every citizen. In spite of the great progress made by India since its independence more than 60 years ago, more than 100 million children still do not have the access to basic education due to their socio-economic conditions.

I have successfully run a Full marathon before in December 2007 and with support from friends, family and colleagues like you, I had raised more than $2500 that were used to support teacher salaries, school materials and scholarship at one of the Dallas chapter’s projects. The fact that a group of young, first generation learners were enabled to go to a non-formal school and eventually be absorbed in a formal school has been my biggest inspiration to continue my support to Asha.

So I have committed myself to run another marathon this year in December and pledged to raise as much funds as I can to support its projects. Once again, I reach out to all of you to support my pledge and kindly make a contribution to Asha. No donation is small and all donations are tax deductible in the US under 501(c)(3) of the IRS rules. Asha is a zero overhead organization meaning 100% of all donations are used to support its projects.

Please do support me in reaching my goal.

First generation learners sitting in a make shift classroom