An update from me is long overdue. We have been busy but that is not excuse for not communicating earlier. I have many things to share with you. I will break the information into different parts and different emails for easy understanding.
During my journey in India and USA, I met many great noble people. I felt that the world is full of beautiful people who care, who care for the world and it's peoples. There are a few unscrupulous people whose actions bring harm to many. At the same time, one single doctor, does a lot of good to the whole village or community. However small or insignificant ones actions may seem to be, everybody seems to be contributing towards the common good of many.
My journey reminded me of a beautiful saying in Telugu "Yendaro mahanubhavulu, andariki vandanamulu”, translated into English as, “Many great noble people in this world, Salutations to all”. I offer my salutations to all of you for your contributions to the common good and extending your support to the Back to the Roots Project.
My last update was on July 10th from Atlanta, GA.
Here are some highlights and important people I met since I left Atlanta. The next section has more details.
18-JUL-2010: Hindu Temple, Flushing, NY: Attended a Public Event of H.H.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder of Art of Living Foundation. The event was attended by more than 1200 people and it was overflowing. A lot of them were from AP and I made connections with a few people.
19-JUL-2010 to 26-JUL-2010: Hartford, CT: Guru Purnima Celebrations of the Art of Living Foundation with H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. I was fortunate for the opportunity to meet Guruji (as he is dearly called) on two occasions. We have his support and blessings for Back to the Roots Project. The event on Guru Purnima Day 25-JUL-2010 was attended by more than 4,000 people from all over the world. I met a lot of people during this week.
30-JUL-2010 to 01-AUG-2010: Cranbury, NJ: Sri Yagam (Yagna) by Chinna Jeeyar Swamy: This event was well attended by 1000s of Telugu people. A key person in JET (Jeeyar Educational Trust), USA introduced me to Swamiji. Inspite of the huge crowd, Swamiji talked with me for about 7 minutes. He sounded very impressed, encouraged me and gave me a gift. He said, “Keep doing the work, a lot of work needs to be done. But how are you going to manage the finances for such a huge undertaking?” I told him that “food and accommodation has not been a problem in India or USA. Regarding finances for the project, we are slowly gaining the trust and support of the people.” After that, I met lots of Telugu people from USA.
08-AUG-2010: Hindu Temple, Flushing, NY: I was invited to attend the 16th Hindu Unity Day organized by Hindu Temple Society of North America and Indian American Intellectuals Forum. I met the Chief Guest, Dr.Subramanyam Swamy, President of Janata Party, former Law Minister, Govt. of India. I was asked to speak at the event but since it was a last minute request, they could not fit it in. I met many noble people from India and the Tri-state area. So many people are doing such wonderful work in various ways for the benefit of India and mankind in general. I also met respectable people from Save Temples Organization, Global Hindu Heritage Foundation to name a few.
09-AUG-2010: Wardman Park Hotel, Washinton D.C: 2010 Electronic Voting Technology Workshop / Workshop on Trustworthy Elections (EVT/WOTE): I had the privilege to attend a panel discussion on the state of India’s electronic voting machines (EVMs). I met and participated in the discussions with Dr. Alok Shukla, Deputy Election Commissioner, Prof. P.V. Indiresan, Chairman of the Expert Committee, G.V.L. Narasimha Rao of VeTA1 and Prof. J. Alex Halderman of the University of Michigan.
It is very important that you please read this http://www.usenix.org/events/evtwote10/final-letter-eci.pdf and watch this video: www.indiaEVM.org. They conducted experiments to prove that Indian EVMs are not tamper proof. The engineer Mr. Hari Prasad from Hyderabad is now arrested for exposing the vulnerability of the EVMs. I thought he should be rewarded for attempting to save Democracy. For the same situation, the US President would have given him a job in the government but in India, he is arrested.
13-AUG-2010 to 15-AUG-2010: Saylorsburg, PA, Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Institude of Vedanta and Sanskrit: Attended the 80th Birthday of Pujya Swami Dayanand Saraswati. I had the fortune of meeting Swamiji for about 10 minutes. He patiently listened to what I had to say and read all the material I showed him. He said, “I like the name Back to the Roots. Keep doing good work, we have to do in other states as well (which we are).” He then gave me a fruit and blessed me. I met many wonderful high profile people and simple sevaks doing wonderful seva. Too many people to list.
15-AUG-2010 to 16-AUG-2010: North Brunswick, NJ, Sai Mandir: I got a chance to speak to the gathering of about 200 people who came to listen to the discourses of Brahma Sree Samavedam Shanmukha Sarma garu (www.saamavedam.org). He is just amazing. I think, every Telugu person must listen to his discourses. I was fortunate to meet with him. He invited me to meet him when I go to India and he will help us with all his might. I made a lot of connections with important people from NJ area.
16-AUG-2010: North Brunswick, NJ: The President of a company that makes Solar Panels, Lanterns, Fans, Solar Hybrid Power wanted to collaborate with our Organization to reach out to the villages to provide cheap energy and also provide employment for qualified individuals in the villages. Since we have such a strong presence at the ground level, I was hoping that such partnerships would happen to help the villages. Now it is close to becoming a reality. Our folks will be meeting them in India and take it forward if it helps the villages. We did not want to give out the names at this time.
27-JUL-2010: Collaboration with a big mining and drilling company in India. They promised us funding for adopting a few villages to create model villages like what was done in Maharashtra. I will share the details of these Model villages in another email. I will be visiting these villages and finalize the project plan during my next visit to India.
Other key people I met:
- CEOs of 2 IT Companies and one Telugu Portal.
- 3 Telugu/Indian Portals promised to post our website on their website. I will share this information when it is actually done.
- Met Presidents of a few Telugu Associations. Only two were readily supportive and others did not pay any attention to our work since they are already overwhelmed both entertainment and humanitarian work on their end.
- One of my Engineering College friends is now a CTO of big MNC. He happened to visit NJ from India. We had a nice conversation and he was very supportive.
- A few highly respectable Indian Community Leaders who put in so much time and energy for India’s democracy, culture, heritage and people.
Meetings held since I left Atlanta on 17-JUL-2010:
Sat 17-JUL-2010 South Plainfield, NJ, 9pm
Sun 18-JUL-2010 Ganesh Temple, Flushing, NY, 2pm
Sun 18-JUL-2010 Hilton Hotel, Hartford, CT, 8pm
July 19-21, 2010: Met a number of people in Hartford, CT
July 22-27, 2010: Art of Living Event; many small meetings, Marriott Hotel, Hartford, CT
July 27-28, 2010: Boston, MA, 2 meetings
July 30-Aug 1, 2010: Cranbury, NJ, Jeeyar Swamy Sri Yagam, met lots of people
Mon 02-AUG-2010: South Plainfield, NJ, 7pm
Tue 03-AUG-2010: Somerset, NJ, 9pm
Wed 04-AUG-2010: South Plainfield, NJ 7pm
Thu 05-AUG-2010: Edison, NJ, 9pm
Fri 06-AUG-2010: Princeton, NJ, 9pm
Sat 07-AUG-2010: West Windsor, NJ, 10am
Sat 07-AUG-2010: Princeton, NJ, 8pm
Sat 07-AUG-2010: East Windsor, 11pm
Sun 08-AUG-2010: North Brunwick, NJ, 8am
Sun 08-AUG-2010: Ganesh Temple, Flushing, NY, Hindu Unity Day, 6pm
Mon 09-AUG-2010: Washington DC, Usenix Conference on Electronic Voting Machines, 2pm
Tue 10-AUG-2010: Somerset, NJ, 9pm
Wed 11-AUG-2010: Edison, NJ, 8:30pm
Thu 12-AUG-2010: Iselin, NJ, Sai Baba Temple, 9pm
Fri 13-AUG-2010: Saylorsburg, PA
Sat 14-AUG-2010: Saylorsburg, PA
Sun 15-AUG-2010: Allentown, PA
Sun 15-AUG-2010: Sai Mandir, North Brunswick, NJ, 6:30pm
Mon 16-AUG-2010: Bridgewater, NJ, Private Residence, 1pm
Mon 16-AUG-2010: Sai Mandir, North Brunswick, NJ, 5:30pm
Tue 17-AUG-2010: Somerset, NJ, 9pm
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