A realization I had had even in Conversactions 2.0 workshop was that the question "What do you do' needed a rephrasing to "What ALL do you do?" Not a single person here could label in one word what they did in the multitudes that they played in! Delightful.
My friend Kabita for example (featured in the previous post) not only runs an eco-adventure company in Sikkim, but also works with rural women self-help groups doing whatever they might need (technical skills/marketing/distribution/...) in addition to being an EcoFemme sanitary pad ambassador wherever she travels. She also conducts all kinds of eco-awareness workshops, works on family dynamics for people, helps brainstorm social entrepreneural ideas...you get the picture.
5 of us reached Gandhi Vidya Mandir by bus ogling at each little animal, place, thing on the way.
The Thar desert was new terrain for us after all and to our credit, we did see some truly worthy stuff: a beautiful sunrise, lush green cultivated patches standing out against a sandy landscape, bare khejri trees - the only natural vegetation visible for miles around, scores of peacocks, camels resting in the courtyards of mud houses next to cows and goats, vibrant coloured clothes out for drying, etc.
Alighting, I was a little perplexed because it didn’t look like there were any people around (or were we early?). However, the moment we turned the corner to the expansive campus grounds, it was another world! Some 200 odd people came into view playing frisbee, connecting with each other, lying in the sun, putting up tents, singing, playing group games with children playing in the mud or running around on their own. I couldn’t wait to join each of these activities!
Here's a short video I took of the view that greeted us.
Manish Jain met us at the entrance of the building which housed the dorms and the registration desk. I recognized him from the numerous unschooling videos I had seen a few months back on Youtube. He was bigger than I imagined, but just as warm and welcoming!
Another familiar face (from facebook friend suggestions, no less) kept hovering about till we met him handing out cloth hearts to pin to our clothes. Manish Freeman was a constant hug-giver and master of games throughout the 5 days of LSuC. I wondered where he got all the emotional reserves from to be constantly joyful, but the answer came easy - it was difficult to mope around surrounded by a supportive, sincere, happiness-loving community.
Here's one of Manish's games
Post lunch everyone gathered to formally kick-off this 5-day fest of learning and unlearning. Deepankar built up the excitement, Freeman brought us all together in a circle before Manish Jain got everyone to pair up with the nearest unfamiliar face. Here's what it looked like. In the short scramble for a partner, Sunita and I found each other. We held hands, looked deep into each other’s eyes without a word and felt the love and connection that such an interaction always reveals. I was acutely aware of the same experience happening to each person around, as the chatter and noise of the day gave way suddenly to a deeper meaningful connect. Standing there looking at the kindness and the mischievous twinkle in Sunita’s eyes, I was reminded of my grandmother who recently passed on to bigger newer worlds. Just before the moisture in my eyes spilled over though, we were further instructed to pick up a fistful of sand and share it with our partner, then walk with them to the nearest tub of water and silently wash each other’s feet with respect and love. Nobody was heading this fest, nobody welcoming us to it. All of us were doing this for each other instead! What a wonderful way to do things.
The next day onwards, everyone was invited to share their gifts with everyone at LSuC in whatever form they thought best - hands on workshops, sharing circles, music and games, ... all in the ‘format’ of OST (Open Space Technology).
Paraphrasing, it is a space where one can optimise/maximize their learning. There are 4 guiding principles and 1 law:
I: Whoever comes to a workshop/session are the right people for it.
II: Whenever it starts is the right time.
III: When it’s over, it’s over. No need to fill time/prolong the conversation if one runs out of material.
IV: Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. Surprises are to be expected, and no need to beat oneself over what could’ve been done better.
2 Feet Law: if one is neither learning nor contributing, one is free to leave any session midway without judgement.
I was familiar with this from Conversactions, but understood it better at LSuC where 30 different options of sessions were available at a time to choose from. Naturally with so much happening simultaneously, one could easily grow uneasy in FOMO (fear of missing out), but it was encouraged to feel JOMO instead (joy of missing out). Whoever thought of that!
Later in the evening, a group of boys started dancing on their own. They were obviously doing choreographed numbers as their flexible lithe bodies swayed in perfect sync to popular Bollywood songs. As the watching crowd became bigger, a lot of us wished we could dance too. Slowly, reluctantly some people moved onto the ‘stage’ doing their own moves. Pretty soon almost everybody joined in. Nobody to judge one’s dancing skills, nobody to laugh either, this was ideal ground for shy people like me! As is usual in big groups, nobody got elbowed out, no child pulled to a side to make way for the adults. I think I caught a child do cartwheels in the middle of this huge dancing crowd! One just had to move one’s limbs to the beat, laugh and have fun. Easy peasy!
See us in action!
Afterwards, Kabita and I took a long walk around the dark campus till about 2am talking about all kinds of things. It had been a lovely full day!
My friend Kabita for example (featured in the previous post) not only runs an eco-adventure company in Sikkim, but also works with rural women self-help groups doing whatever they might need (technical skills/marketing/distribution/...) in addition to being an EcoFemme sanitary pad ambassador wherever she travels. She also conducts all kinds of eco-awareness workshops, works on family dynamics for people, helps brainstorm social entrepreneural ideas...you get the picture.
5 of us reached Gandhi Vidya Mandir by bus ogling at each little animal, place, thing on the way.
The Thar desert was new terrain for us after all and to our credit, we did see some truly worthy stuff: a beautiful sunrise, lush green cultivated patches standing out against a sandy landscape, bare khejri trees - the only natural vegetation visible for miles around, scores of peacocks, camels resting in the courtyards of mud houses next to cows and goats, vibrant coloured clothes out for drying, etc.
Alighting, I was a little perplexed because it didn’t look like there were any people around (or were we early?). However, the moment we turned the corner to the expansive campus grounds, it was another world! Some 200 odd people came into view playing frisbee, connecting with each other, lying in the sun, putting up tents, singing, playing group games with children playing in the mud or running around on their own. I couldn’t wait to join each of these activities!
Manish Jain met us at the entrance of the building which housed the dorms and the registration desk. I recognized him from the numerous unschooling videos I had seen a few months back on Youtube. He was bigger than I imagined, but just as warm and welcoming!
Another familiar face (from facebook friend suggestions, no less) kept hovering about till we met him handing out cloth hearts to pin to our clothes. Manish Freeman was a constant hug-giver and master of games throughout the 5 days of LSuC. I wondered where he got all the emotional reserves from to be constantly joyful, but the answer came easy - it was difficult to mope around surrounded by a supportive, sincere, happiness-loving community.
Here's one of Manish's games
Post lunch everyone gathered to formally kick-off this 5-day fest of learning and unlearning. Deepankar built up the excitement, Freeman brought us all together in a circle before Manish Jain got everyone to pair up with the nearest unfamiliar face. Here's what it looked like. In the short scramble for a partner, Sunita and I found each other. We held hands, looked deep into each other’s eyes without a word and felt the love and connection that such an interaction always reveals. I was acutely aware of the same experience happening to each person around, as the chatter and noise of the day gave way suddenly to a deeper meaningful connect. Standing there looking at the kindness and the mischievous twinkle in Sunita’s eyes, I was reminded of my grandmother who recently passed on to bigger newer worlds. Just before the moisture in my eyes spilled over though, we were further instructed to pick up a fistful of sand and share it with our partner, then walk with them to the nearest tub of water and silently wash each other’s feet with respect and love. Nobody was heading this fest, nobody welcoming us to it. All of us were doing this for each other instead! What a wonderful way to do things.
The next day onwards, everyone was invited to share their gifts with everyone at LSuC in whatever form they thought best - hands on workshops, sharing circles, music and games, ... all in the ‘format’ of OST (Open Space Technology).
Paraphrasing, it is a space where one can optimise/maximize their learning. There are 4 guiding principles and 1 law:
I: Whoever comes to a workshop/session are the right people for it.
II: Whenever it starts is the right time.
III: When it’s over, it’s over. No need to fill time/prolong the conversation if one runs out of material.
IV: Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. Surprises are to be expected, and no need to beat oneself over what could’ve been done better.
2 Feet Law: if one is neither learning nor contributing, one is free to leave any session midway without judgement.
I was familiar with this from Conversactions, but understood it better at LSuC where 30 different options of sessions were available at a time to choose from. Naturally with so much happening simultaneously, one could easily grow uneasy in FOMO (fear of missing out), but it was encouraged to feel JOMO instead (joy of missing out). Whoever thought of that!
Later in the evening, a group of boys started dancing on their own. They were obviously doing choreographed numbers as their flexible lithe bodies swayed in perfect sync to popular Bollywood songs. As the watching crowd became bigger, a lot of us wished we could dance too. Slowly, reluctantly some people moved onto the ‘stage’ doing their own moves. Pretty soon almost everybody joined in. Nobody to judge one’s dancing skills, nobody to laugh either, this was ideal ground for shy people like me! As is usual in big groups, nobody got elbowed out, no child pulled to a side to make way for the adults. I think I caught a child do cartwheels in the middle of this huge dancing crowd! One just had to move one’s limbs to the beat, laugh and have fun. Easy peasy!
See us in action!
Afterwards, Kabita and I took a long walk around the dark campus till about 2am talking about all kinds of things. It had been a lovely full day!
