I feel nostalgic to write this. I don’t know if words can do justice to describe VSO in few lines since I call it my “Family”. I cannot put it in enough words to describe my experience working for the Manipal marathon and the carnival. It was almost the time for me to bid good-bye to Manipal when I had the chance to witness the last two events that I participated in, the Marathon and Tarang. I still remember the time when planning for Marathon started , there came an idea to do something bigger, better and one of its kind that ever happened in Manipal. It was initially Manipal de Carnival but there were many similar events taking places around, so we thought we will come up with something different and ended up reversing the words to Carnival de Manipal. Execution of something bigger with around 400 volunteers was not as easy as it looks and yes, Manipal witnessed the huge success of Marathon when all the volunteers came forward to put their 100% marking all the milestones possible, from helping participants to reach their finishing point to engaging kids who had come with their parents. I never had chance to witness such a beautiful morning in my 3 years of stay at Manipal. It was something different and it all started when shuttle had come for pick up at 4 in the morning in front of 13th block. Upon reaching KMC greens, I could see greens was greener than ever with the enthusiasm of volunteers and participants who were ready to kick off the day, starting with some warm up session and breakfast of course. Marathon flagged off and the challenge was to take care of the crowd since at the time when participants were running , we also had to execute all the activities planned for the carnival. The crowd was pumped up with the music, Zumba, other sessions organised, while volunteers were more than ready to make it a day to remember for them. None of these would have been possible without having this beautiful bunch of people who were there on a Sunday morning. Moreover, the day wrapped up with millions of beautiful memories and one hell of an experience that I could not afford to miss. I wish I could be there to cherish all the moments again in the second edition of marathon but unfortunately I cannot and I am glad that I was there for the very first of its kind, which is definitely enough for me to feel the pace of next editions. So brace yourselves people, second edition is cooking up and take a word, this would definitely be more amazing than you can even think of.
-Anuja Joling
Volunteers at Manipal 