Thought I would share with you some early responses to the Girish story we put out on the web. A New Jersey based non-resident Mysorean wrote back within minutes of my e-mail alert that he would chip in with $150, if I let him know where to send the check. I had sent out a message to a few e-pals (40 of them, to be precise) saying, “I wish to spread the word about Girish bringing a  chess gold to Mysore, in the hope that you might know of someone who could help the lad to make it to Greece”.

A Mysore-mad lady now resident in Bangalore came up with references to some corporate houses we could approach for sponsorship. She also offered to speak to someone known to have a hotline to Mr Mallya. Wouldn't it be nice if the hotline works ?  In the matter of sponsorship it is not enough that our cause be truly worthy of support. What matters more is that the person who takes decisions gets to hear about it. 

Meanwhile a social activist in Mysore, on learning about Girish, worked the phone to get an appointment and took the lad and his father to meet the city mayor. She has promised to move the official  machinery to do something to further the lad’s  chess aspirations.

And then there is this person in Gurgaon (I would call him a would-be Mysorean as he is looking for a place to settle here) who forwarded our web item to his contacts in the corporate and hospitality sectors for sponsorship.

Interesting aspect is that none of those who have come forward to help Girish knows the others, or knows of what they are doing for a cause that is common to them all. I haven’t met any of these persons either, though we have been on e-mail touch. The driving factor in our networking is the Mysore Connection.