AOL Austin fundraiser event with Omkara

March 26th 2011 was a big day in the history of Art of living foundation’s Austin chapter, for one we hosted the biggest fund raiser event in the chapters history and second we did the event with our long time friends Omkara. A gathering of over 600 people who were totally entertained and enthralled by Omkara.

It started with a simple intention of Sridhar Adapalli (volunteer with Art of living Austin foundation) to host a fund raiser event for Art of Living Austin center with Omkara. Over the last couple of months, volunteers from the foundation made time in their busy schedule to show up at all the possible cultural and social gatherings to spread the word about the event. Some of the volunteers worked towards getting sponsorships for the events while others were busy with e-marketing for the event.  The fruits of all the efforts was evident on the event day when the auditorium was filled to the brim (~600 people) and we were scrambling for chairs to accommodate the last few people who showed up a tad late (what a wonderful problem to have).

Thanks to good leadership shown by the team leads and great efforts by the volunteers, the big day went very smooth barring a couple of minor glitches. To issue concert tickets for over 600 people and provide food and drinks to over 350 people isn’t a small thing after all. The setup team had the hall ready by the scheduled time, the ticketing team was very professionally managed, the food team packed and distributed the food as though they had been trained in the art and the ushering team which managed the seating of all the people. All in all it was a job well done and executed beyond excellence. 

The band itself did a wonderful job in keeping the attention of the people for the whole 3 hours of the event duration. The addition of Bollywood Shake provided the much needed color to the melody. The band had picked the right set of numbers to sing, the songs varied from the oldies to present day hits and the compilation had both Hindi and Tamil languages. It was evident that we had a great show when the entire dance area in front of the stage was occupied with audience dancing away and the band had to stretch their time in honoring the “once more” requests.

I do not know the financial aspect of the event, how much money the foundation raised or the final head count of the audience or the number of food boxes sold. I am sure I will have these numbers pretty soon and will share it once I have the same.

PIO, Indian visitor visa – some learning

I recently went through the process of applying for a PIO card for my daughter and for reasons beyond my control, I ended up just satisfied with a visa, but in the process I did learn a thing or two

• If both parents are citizens of India then the kid can only get a PIO and not an OCI
• Consulate General of India doesn’t handle the PIO cards or anything of that sort anymore, they have outsourced it Travisa (I found it the hard way when the consulate returned my application without even opening it)
• Unlike the old times, The new regulations require to send the passport along with the application for PIO card
• The Travisa website is well documented a complete opposite of CGI Houston which left things to imagination on requirements for either a PIO or a visa
• The Travisa office is also very professionally maintained, when I went to apply for a visa I was in and out of the office in less than half hour. They send you an email every step of the way (I got 3 emails in total, one saying they received the application, second saying they received from consulate and last one saying they have shipped along with tracking number)
• The only forms of residency proof they accept are drivers license or a utility bill, cable bill or DSL bill won't work
• Visitor visa is the simplest and fastest thing to get (I personally dropped the application I got it the very next day)
• One thing I didn’t like was the fact that they were willing to hand over the passport back to anyone who had the receipt. 
• Tuesday is a bad day to go to Houston as most Indian outfits in Houston are closed on Tuesday
• In spite of clear instructions I witnessed quite a few people sent back due to lack of things they were supposed to get

.

2 cents donation fund

Other day I was at the dentist for a routine checkup, they were running late due to some emergency that had come up in the clinic. So, by the time they called me in it was ~40mins after my scheduled time. The receptionist wanted to make up for the delay and gave me a Starbucks card.

The card did not specify the value it held or I did not notice it, I went to Starbucks and ordered the usual, after swiping the gift card the cafe owner told me that I am left with 2 cents on the card. The card supposedly can be recharged and can be used as a cash card at Starbucks, but there is no additional discounts for doing so. Since I am not a regular to expensive coffee, I shredded the card.    

After couple of weeks after this event, it occurred to me that the card is an open account which the company has to keep active and it won’t be long before the maintenance cost of the card will go beyond the balance left on the card. The fact that I have already shredded the card there is no possibility of future additions to the card.

Here is a solution I would like to propose to these companies that prefer to sell the gift cards, why not ask the customer if he/she would like to donate the left over couple of cents to a charity. Initially the cents might be small but over time I am sure it can grow to a decent fund. The potential savings on maintenance of these almost delinquent cards alone should be an incentive to take this approach.