UnTame April 2010 - the first day was a runaway hit thanks to it being a Sunday. Day 2 and 3 were moderate as regards fund raising but one consistent achievement over all 3 days was interaction and networking.
Seeing a team of volunteers talking to people, interacting them, helping them, guiding them, gives a sense of warmth about having come 0.34% closer to the set goal. :)
A huge thank you , first up, to :
- Arjun Srivathsa & Rohan Chakravarthy - you guys are an AMAZING source of strength especially during the last minute madness that surrounds all events. Thank you for making things so much easier to deal with and giving me some breathing space. Love.
- OrangeNet Gang - one mad group of people who just merged in like they were always part of Wild On Wheels... :) Love their spirit! Loved the fact that we could work together the way we did. and the fact that this, is not a one time association! :) Thank you Shakir, Sameer, Humaid, Abrar, Zuaib and everyone else! :)
- Rahul, Amey, Devashri, Paroma, Jheel, Priya, Smayukhta, Disha, Akshay, Hans, Tanay, Manish & Aditya for taking the work seriously and giving it your best shot. HUGELY appreciate your effort and help. Thank you for being part of this team. Thank you for making the night of the 24th less terrifying than it would have been otherwise.
- Chaitrali, Arijit, & Ravi - for trying. Always felt it's important to appreciate even those who try. So here I am, thanking you for trying to be there, for trying to be of help. :) Hope you can be around next time :)
And last, and MOST importantly :
- To everyone who attended the event. Without you, we'd have had a gallery full of rare exclusive images from India's wilderness with no one to appreciate them! Thank you for coming out in FULL support and participating so actively, so cheerfully! We truly appreciate your presence and are very grateful for your comments, suggestions, and for the fact that you stood by us precisely when we needed the pillars. :) Thank you SO much :) We hope to see you next time!
- To ALL the photographers who contributed their brilliant images for the event! We have NO clue how to thank you. So we'll try various methods! :) Thank you especially to Sagar Gosavi and Saurabh Desai for being present on the very day and for being an immense source of inspiration.
- To Sarang Mahajan and Mr.Alok for being kind enough to sponsor our t-shirts, which, by the way, are a hit with the public! :)
- To Mr.Joel Paul for sparing us your precious time and inaugurating our beloved event. For the amount of interest you took in the event and for your comments! Thank you Sir.
- To Kedar Bhide for being an exceptional friend who criticized on my face and who made it a point to scrutinize everything for our benefit.
- To ALL those friends who have stood by our ventures, endeavours, and our organization through the roughest of circumstances. Without you, life would just be another mess. With you, it's a mess worth living and enjoying. Thank you for pledging your support from wherever you are, because, like Ive always said, it really does matter. Thank you Pushkar Pandit, Natasha Ballal, Aneesh Kamat, Avanti Mulay, Abhijeet Gandhi, Vinod Bartakke, Kainaaz, Farrah, Priyadarshini, Prashun Pawar, Mom, Paa, and the rest of you who know you played a part in making UnTame what it is, in making Wild On Wheels... what it is! :)
- To Dhruvjyoti Basu, Late Mr.John Thorbjarnarson, Late Mr.Steve Irwin, and every single Croc biologist who has taken the efforts to inspire a younger generation. Basu uncle - :) will always value our conversations. end up learning a LOT from them. You're a gem. And for the latter two - nothing I say or write will ever be enough to express what I feel about you. Love.
--- To everyone who took the trouble of reading this!! :)
