Meena Bhandari is part time stargazer and writer. She has spinning-tops for feet that have taken her across the world, as far afield as Berkshire in the UK. Meena currently spends her time whizzing across the desert land of the Sahel countries in West Africa, shepherding her sheep. On the side, Meena is also a committed humanitarian worker for an international NGO.

It was Robin's charisma and charm, as he leaned up against bar Camilla (his Queen-to-be home-bar) with Rum and Coke in hand, that first got me interested in joining in the HOF team of committed drinkers - I mean committed movers and shakers. There was the promise of princely sums of money, fame and fortune, and the chance to spend quality e-time with the chaps out on a swagger across God's own brewery.

What attracted me to get involved? Simple (and more seriously). This an excuse to be inspired by a group of inspiring people sitting in all four rounded corners of the e-world; they're all bouncing ideas around, to get a guy to run a crazy 600km in the scorching heat, to make something spectacular - out of nothing in particular.

Running 'into' people and villages, from top to toe of a southern India state, might be a bit like watching the unknown for some people out there, who have never traveled or who have never experienced another culture. Pete's adventure run is uniquely linked to a lens and a computer screen. It offers a chance to see how other people on the other side of the world simply get on with their lives. If just one person sitting at a computer screen in a far away town like, let's say Didcot, clicks onto a story that they can connect with, and understands that people are all just people wherever they are in the world - that'll be inspiring for me.

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An economist with a Masters in Business Administration am presently based in London. All my working life in India was spent working in the development sector. Nostalgic about my growing up years in India and the several years I spent in Kerala, I found myself sub-consciously involved in the planning of Heels on Fire. My passion includes planning, designing and implementing projects (even when they involve delirious ideas) and most importantly hosting people to discuss them.
It all started with Pete calling up to ask about the length of India and whether it was possible to run that distance in a couple of months. When you see the current plan in the context of his original idea, it does look very sane. Over the next few weeks, we pored through maps and ideas to figure out the route and the bigger picture objectives. The plan sucked in a wider circle of friends and acquaintances and I chipped in with plans and lists (which they believe I am obsessed with preparing). It also provided an opportunity to plan work with our favourite photographer – Desmond and reconnect to the network of friends from the development circle in India.
I am going to miss out much of the excitement during the run as I will be in a Yoga ashram in Lonavla, but I am hoping to hear regular updates from Robin and others. At the risk of sounding silly, I am hoping that heelsonfire.org will help us all discover our inner fires and follow our heart. My compulsive need to plan ahead has my friends believing that I already have my charts and plans filed for the years ahead and hence would know exactly where Heels on Fire is headed, but honestly you will just have to wait and watch for that one.

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Robin Koshy is a London based veteran of many inter-pub marathons, celebrated mobile phone camera photographer and writer of ransom notes. He grew up in a Kerala village and has spent the last decade running away from Kerala, without success. Attempts of friends to wade through Kerala fills him with a wicked sense of pleasure. In his spare time, he works hardly as an economist with a development consulting firm.

One Sunday morning in March, Pete landed up at home complaining of an urge to run through India. He has tried many such ingenious excuses to have breakfast at our place, but this time it was for real. Several phone calls and discussions later, I had no doubts about his nerve (insanity) or capability to go ahead with the plan. In Dez, we found someone willing to go along and capture life in Kerala, in spite of Pete. Having shot his last few photographic assignments in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Yemen, following a running Irishman through Kerala must have sounded like a holiday. Within weeks, the plan and network of people working on it got bigger than we had imagined.

What attracted me to all this? To make insanity cool? Frankly, an opportunity to mobilise people around a cause and see the power of a focused network unleashed, drew me more than the run or the adventure itself. To blog and do a website were the additional highs. How did the name 'Heels on fire' strike? I wish I had an elaborate story involving aliens, dreams and flying cows, but it all happened with Tulika glaring at me for spending too much time on the Internet. I saw fire and took to heels.

What do I want out of all this? To take pride in dear friends who have gone that extra mile to realise dreams that do not involve big cars and mortgages – just the simple pleasure of pushing the limits. To make heelsonfire.org a forum to dare people to do the extraordinary to connect to ordinary people and their lives in the developing world. And to have breakfast for a month without worrying about Pete eating my share of bacon and eggs.

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I'm a sixties child and probably one of the oldest members of the team! I’m a qualified graphic designer with experience in advertising and magazine publishing. Until a couple or so years ago, I used to juggle illustrating children’s publishing packaging and educational book publishing and lecturing part-time at Kingston College of Further Education. I then joined an economic development consultancy as a receptionist (life's stranger than fiction), where I met, amongst other lovely people, Pete, Gaya and Dan.
I'm fortunate to have always been surrounded by family and friends who share a common interest in world affairs, so in addition to the day to day routine of running reception; answering calls and talking with colleagues, I have become more aware of issues relating to international development.
Pete told about 'Heels on Fire' and asked me if I would design a logo for some T-shirts. The brief was "coconuts, coastline and 600km". I’d read Life of Pie and The God of Small Things, but that was the extent of my knowledge of India and Kerala. Suddenly I was receiving emails from Pete’s vast network of friends that I'd never spoken with or met. It was all very new and exciting, if not a little frightening. After burning the midnight oil for a few nights, I developed the rough sketch into the final logo with inputs from the team. In between, I even fitted in my training for the ladies 5km 'Race For Life' run, which I was doing with the other ladies from work's ‘Wednesday Running Club’, (which Pete founded the year before).
A week later, Pete invited me to meet up with some of the team members in an old reclaimed warehouse in Islington. I pushed open the heavy door and walked into a magical open-plan space buzzing with creativity. I felt positive and strangely at home. Pete introduced me to Rahul, Stevie and Dan (aka The Rocket - I automatically thought he must be a very fast runner). The guys from the team were all seated around a table in the middle of the room, which was covered in papers and an enormous map of Kerala. We got down to discussions about the adventure and the London Launch and even a conference call with Dez in India to finalise the T-shirt design and flyers. It all seemed quite surreal. My butterflies had soon disappeared and it all felt completely natural – a group of like-minded people getting together with one common aim. Despite how crazy it had sounded, being invited to take part in the creativity, enthusiasm and productivity of that morning, was for me a delight. And at that moment everything seemed possible. The next day, I told Steve, a good friend, all about HOF and he kindly offered to do all the photocopying for the press releases, business cards and flyers for us.
Pete is one of the most positive people I’ve met. It had taken no persuading on his part to get me involved with HOF, as I knew it would be a positive experience.

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When Pete first told me about the Heels on Fire concept (then simply labeled ‘Pete’s lunatic idea to run through India’), I couldn’t help but get excited about the possibilities. The novelty of the idea itself was so appealing (I’ve heard of cycling through Vietnam, white water rafting in East Africa but running through Kerala, whose done that before?!). But not just the running. Also, the chance to showcase Kerala, its NGO activities and its local communities, literally from top to bottom. A chance to gather personalised stories and images of what influences development away from all the policy jargon. That’s assuming they survive the crazy bus drivers of course!