Footprints on the Mountainside

I’m not normally into lists of any kind. But occassionally, I find something that fits in just right on my beliefs and sense of humour. This email list from a friend has a couple of lines I like. italics mine

1. Winning isn’t everything. But wanting to win is. bingo
2. You would achieve more, if you don’t mind who gets the credit. or paid?
3. When everything else is lost, the future still remains. as long as its not life that was lost
4. Don’t fight too much. Or the enemy would know your art of war. I’d prefer to say “Fight as much as you like. Makes my chances better ;-)”
5. The only job you start at the top is when you dig a grave. well… whatever. List filling material - me thinks
6. If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for everything. probably
7. If you do little things well, you’ll do big ones better. sometimes
8. Only thing that comes to you without effort is old age. and body fat
9. You won’t get a second chance to make the first impression. hmm. ok
10. Only those who do nothing do not make mistakes. Yes, absolutely. nothing is nothing.
11. Never take a problem to your boss unless you have a solution. sounds like someone’s” voice of experience” out here
12. If you are not failing you’re not taking enough risks. not really pushing limits would be more like it
13. Don’t try to get rid of bad temper by losing it. well said
14. If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you. my favourite
15. Those who don’t make mistakes usually don’t make anything list expanding material
16. There are two kinds of failures. Those who think and never do, and those who do and never think. too much
17. Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win. we’re entering “God zone”
18. All progress has resulted from unpopular decisions. running out of creativity
19. Change your thoughts and you change your world. frail attempt at recovery
20. Understanding proves intelligence, not the speed of the learning. and pray tell me how this matters?
21. There are two kinds of fools in this world. Those who give advice and those who don’t take it. and a third - one who doesn’t fall into temptation of expanding lists
22. The best way to kill an idea is to take it to a meeting its a corporate classic
23. Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things. more theory
24. Friendship founded on business is always better than business founded on friendship. makes sense

ok. Looks like this is another of those lists I wonder if I should post this at all. I’ll keep it for now, for the sake of #1, 13, 14, 22, but there is no accounting for me changing my mind.

I travelled on a local train yesterday (its rare). In the ladies compartment, there was a bunch of about 12-14 Muslim girls chattering away to glory. All of them wearing a burkha. They were going on a picnic somewhere.

They seemed quite educated in terms of conversation, some topics even included affairs - typical girly stuff. Quite unexpected, considering their clothing, but it suddenly made me awake to the fact that they still were young college girls, with all the usual interests.

I got a call from a team member, about some equipment requirements for the AECS students programme, and had a brief discussion about mountaineering equipment and the set up we’d be using for the rappelling at Sanjay Gandhi National Park. One of the girls noticed and asked me about my profession. I explained the best I could, in terms of relevance to their interests. She was curious, and I elaborated in the directions she probed.

More girls caught on to this conversation and there was genuine interest about outdoor adventure. We spoke about adventure options near Mumbai including hikes to forts, mountaineering opportunities near Mumbai on the many forts and rafting possibilities. Most of them were keen to experience adventure, but some were apprehensive about the response they would get at home.

Surprisingly, a girl in full veil was completely gung-ho. She wanted to come on a rock climbing expedition. I was skeptical. Considering her clothes, i wouldn’t have thought that her family would allow her to pursue such “tomboyish” interests. She however was confident that her brother would also want to come along and seemed to think that together, they could convince her dad as long as other females were present as well.

I pointed out the clothing factor. Burkha is a definite no-no, as wearing a mountaineering harness makes trouser-type clothing essential. She said that she would wear trousers and a burkha on top, and simply remove her burkha when needed. After all, if she could trust someone with her life when she was climbing, surely she could trust the person not to have “evil intentions” about her for that short period of time. They all giggled uncomfortably at the thought.

This girl inspired me with her extremely practical approach. I saw in her a willingness to follow her dreams, while conforming to cultural expectations - an admirable combination of assertiveness and cultural identity. I doubt if I’ll even meet her again (she took a card, but the rest of her gang was not as sure about climbing). What remained with me, was her practical attitude. Somewhere down the line, we assume that people who are conservative also lack the spark it takes to go beyond standard expectations in hot pursuit of a desirable goal. This girl wore the burkha, bacause it was a cultural thing and she had grown up expecting it to be the clothing of a modest woman, but could see that here was something she really wanted to do, that did not allow it, and was equally willing to be practical, even if the idea seemed strange.

She had laughed when I said that the burkha looks confining to me “It is strange for you. For me, it is normal, like those aunties wearing saris everyday. I think they will wear salwar kameez, if they want to ride a horse on a hill station too. Why wouldn’t I?” Definitely progressive thought and a valuable insight into the mind of a “category” of people I was not very familiar with.

I am not posting as frequently as I had imagined when I started this blog. I need to change that.

Currently, I’m working on a series of programmes for the students of the five ACESs (Atomic Energy Central School) for the children of the employees of the BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) in association with Outdoor Education Training Services. They wanted to introduce outbound experiences among their children rather than the usual picnics to parks and predictable destinations.

For these programmes, OETS had already done a series of one-day programmes with an experience of rappelling and a nature trail for the 9th and 10th classes. When we decided to continue the series, we thought of replacing the nature trail (their complex is very green and has abundant wildlife) with something more “relevant”.

I had been toying with the idea of introducing experiential learning as a mode of development among schools for quite some time and had even done some programmes with schools and colleges, but this group was to be students from the 6th to the 8th classes, so I wanted to keep things from getting “too deep” while ensuring a productive experience as well.

So far, it seems to be going well. The students are enthusiastic and perceptive. What is even more interesting is the interactions with the teachers that accompany them. Experiential learning as a method to actively encourage development of thoughts and motivation among students was an unfamiliar concept, and they were used to didactic education or the learning through imparted information, rather than through personal discovery.

Our focus is “performance” considering that students today are under constant pressure to perform in all aspects of their lives. They feel stressed, but there is little choice beyond defining priorities and shouldering their responsibilities as well as they can. This only increases as they grow up.

I found it very encouraging that the students and teachers alike were very interested in the processes and activities, and discussions often spanned breaks, with new insights flowing. One teacher was pleasantly surprised to see her less-than-hardworking class discover the importance of practice through seeing the changes it brought to their performance in a game.

Another was encouraged to see that gender issues were addressed quite bluntly, when they hampered performance. The students were in the mode of exploring the secrets behind performance and the elements that helped or hindered. As she put it, “They don”t need to be completely comfortable, but at least they need to understand that barriers to communication between the sexes in class were not required, as there was nothing in their lives as students that they couldn’t share with others in the class” We seem to have made good progress on that front with some of the classes.

Another teacher insisted that teachers training programmes based on experiential learning would go a long way to empowering Indian teachers struggling to manage students from the new generation, as they sought the fine balances between discipline and opression; guidance and influence; and teacher and confidant.

At the moment, I’m taking each day as it comes, as each batch of students is different. But I see a new awareness among the students and teachers about learning itself. I hope this grows