Namratha Rajagopalan

Namratha, like all of us here is strongly drawn towards Asha's cause and the mission of empowerment via education. She first arrived in this country in the fall of 2003 as a young graduate student. Her job brought her to the DC metro area where, needless to say she soon found her way to one of our biweekly general body meeting to learn more and hopefully participate. Before long she was volunteering at the Heritage India Festival in 2006 and signing up to raise funds by running the 2006 Baltimore Half Marathon.

Over this period of time I have gotten to known her well both as a person and as a volunteer, having worked with her in close proximity in the capacity of an events coordinator for Asha DC myself. I have seen her stick with it, keep focus on the bigger picture which is the projects and people we support, and persevere even when things were looking unimaginably impossible. In executing her role as the events coordinator, Namratha has grown from a quiet girl to someone who is able to voice her opinions and stand by what she believes in, whether it is on a local scale during our Asha DC meetings, or on the nationwide level where we face a whole new set of challenges.

Having successfully overseen NOH 2007 to completion just a couple of months ago, I took this opportunity to ask her about her experiences as a volunteer, about her aspirations and vision for the greater cause of the underprivileged in India, about her association with the core team at Asha DC and her musings on the welding of personal and professional goals with volunteering responsibilities. Without attempting to compromise her own version by relating my recollection of the events, I present to you Namratha Rajagopalan, in her own words.

With events co-coordinator Sudipa Mustafi

Q: What motivated you to take on a leadership role in the capacity of an events coordinator, so soon after joining Asha as a volunteer?
A: Over the course of the marathon, I interacted with people who had been with Asha for a while. As I got to know more about Asha and the great work they do, I wanted to contribute more. I realized the best way to do this would be to take up a leadership role with the organization. I was apprehensive about taking this up 6 months into knowing the organization but the fact that you (Sudipa Mustafi) agreed to do this with me helped ease my worries. Additionally I have always been involved in cultural events at school and college and being the events coordinator I could pursue my interest of organizing events and contribute more to Asha.

Q: What did you think you were signing up for, in terms of the time, effort etc? Were you looking to get anything out of this experience?
A: Like I mentioned, I have been involved in organization committees before, I knew it would be a time commitment especially around the event. I knew this was a much bigger scale so I was very excited about working towards a couple of events.

Q: And how was it in reality? Were there any surprises along the way?
A: The couple of months around the event were very hectic. I am sure you remember how we had to spend hours trying to figure out all the details of the event, right from artist selection, to publicity to sponsorship. Although we had help from some folks around, I thought the work was overwhelming.

Q: So did this get in the way of your work, social, personal life?
A: It is always difficult to balance a full time job, your personal life and working for a non profit. But I had committed to making NOH a success and I knew I had to do a good job at it. So to answer your question, yeah it was difficult but it worked out in the end.

Q: What did you learn about yourself from this experience apart from the fact that you can juggle multiple tasks and stay up late into the night working on Notes of Hope work and still make it bright and early for work the next morning?
A: Hah!! Your question is my answer, I was thinking I learnt all that and felt great, now it almost looks like it’s not a big deal, everybody does that. I have organized events before but never at this scale with big artists. That was definitely a new experience. Initially I was apprehensive since I was comparatively new to the organization, the more I got involved with it, the more I was comfortable discussing my ideas.

Q: We'll be having the Coordinator changeover for the New Year. What's next for you in Asha? Are there any other leadership roles that interest you?
A: I coordinated the event this year and immensely enjoyed it so I would like to do it again. I learned a lot about Asha and about events coordination. I am also interested in the funds disbursement process and so I have taken up a project near Mangalore that I would be helping with in the coming months.

With fellow volunteers

Q: How did you enjoy running the Baltimore half marathon and training with team Asha?
A: I didn't think I would enjoy a 13 mile run, but it was a great feeling. Training with team Asha helped immensely, the coaches were very encouraging and so were the other experienced runners. I think it would have been very difficult to train by myself but the task was a lot easier because of the other runners.

Q: What motivated you to run it and will you do it again?
A: It was a challenge to be able to run 13 miles especially since I never ran regularly before. That was my motivation. I might run a full marathon next year.

Q: So what can Asha DC's success be attributed to?
A: I think the flexibility around all the activities helps a lot. We don't have to do anything, rather we choose when we want the events etc. I think that helps because that way I can volunteer without it affecting my regular work schedule.

Q: And what areas do we need improvements in?
A: We definitely need more volunteers who would commit to leadership positions and in general I think we should expand our volunteer base. I constantly felt this during the event organization. It would definitely help to have more people around.

Q: Finally, what do you say to those people who are considering volunteering for Asha?
A: I would say come for some of our meetings and get a feel for it yourself. Nothing beats talking to the people who are involved with it. If you get a good feel come on board, if you don't; tell us how we can do better so you would join us.