Love letters from #LSUC2019 Odisha
The Learning Societies Un-Conference is an intergenerational gathering which brings together leading “thinker-doers” from around South Asia who are active in challenging the monopoly of factory-schooling and monoculture, and nurturing diverse learning communities, vernacular traditions, intercultural dialogues, ecological sustainable living, decolonization and swaraj. In Odisha this time, there were over 900 alternative educators, organic farmers, artists, artisans, activists, designers, theater artists, environmentalists and nature lovers, filmmakers, healers, social entrepreneurs, homeschoolers, unschoolers, barefoot innovators, grandparents, youth, spiritual seekers, and more. Previous unConferences have been held in Bangalore, Sardarshahar (Raj), Pune, Himachal Pradesh, Udaipur, Mumbai, Brazil, Jordan, Pakistan and Iran.
Here are some reflections from this year’s event to read along with a good cup of herbal chai.
Five Days of Freedom — Christoph Neusiedl
“Are we who live in the present doomed
never to experience autonomy, never to
stand for one moment on a bit of land
ruled only by freedom?” -Hakim Bey
Reflecting about my experiences and still fresh memories of this year’s Learning Societies UnConference (LSUC), there was one word that almost immediately came to my mind: Freedom, or Swaraj.
Above all, what I have (un)learned across the five days of LSUC is that when people come together, organise themselves spontaneously and co-create in harmony with each other and their surroundings, beautiful things can and will happen. Without a pre-set agenda in mind, without a list of tasks to accomplish at hand, without the pressure to fulfil specific goals and to consume manufactured experiences, LSUC offers a — literally — free space to let go, to just be, to live in the moment, to find yourself and co-design your own journey alongside and with others.
In other words, to me, LSUC transformed the Centurion University’s Paralakhemundi Campus for five days into what Hakim Bey calls a ‘temporary autonomous zone’ or T.A.Z. — a “liberated area ‘of land, time or imagination’ where one can be for something, not just against, and where new ways of being human together can be explored and experimented with. Locating itself in the cracks and fault lines in the global grid of control and alienation, a T.A.Z. is an eruption of free culture where life is experienced at maximum intensity. It should feel like an exceptional party where for a brief moment our desires are made manifest and we all become the creators of the art of everyday life” (John Jordan, nd).
Importantly, the freedom we all enjoyed at this exceptional party called LSUC does not imply a licence to do just everything (or nothing) — freedom, or Swaraj, always comes with responsibility, and this could also be seen at all times during LSUC. A big part of LSUC thus is experiencing and exercising self-organisation and mutual aid across many different areas such as distributing food, cleaning the dishes and managing the supply of clean water, maintaining your own space as well as all public space, taking care of each other’s needs, using resources in sustainable ways, creating a safe environment for women and children, settling differences and disputes in non-violent ways, and, overall, experiencing what it means to live together in a large, joint community of more than 900 people. This is not always easy, but enormously rewarding if everyone puts their energy, love, care and passion into it. Towards the closing of this year’s LSUC, Saadat and the kids of creativity adda also found another beautiful way that to me encapsulated the spirit of Swaraj: Following the idea of leaving a place more beautiful than it was before, they worked extremely hard to construct a natural staircase that now makes it much easier to reach from one building of the Centurion University campus to another.
Before writing this piece, I spent a lot of time on thinking which particular experiences, encounters, memories, and sessions attended and facilitated I should share here — which had the most impact on me, how and why? However, what I realised is that it is impossible to highlight some aspects and forego others — what makes LSUC is actually much more than the sum of its parts. It is the almost unbelievable variety of sessions offered by participants as much as the spontaneously emerging, personal conversations and discussions, or even the silent sitting-together with friends and strangers-become-friends. It is the bonfire and the music and dance till early morning as much as the daily morning circle sessions. It is the many sports activities as much as the moments of meditation. It is the chaos as much as the daily rituals. And it is much more than that.
Having said that, I would like to try sharing some of my thoughts, feelings and experiences that for me encapsulate what LSUC is all about:
HOMECOMING: As a volunteer, the days before LSUC finally and officially kicked off were already filled with excitement for me. Coming back to India after quite a few months, I couldn’t wait to meet all of my friends, to catch up, celebrate and spend time with them. Finally, when the day arrives and so many friends come together, you can feel the magic in the air. All of a sudden, it seems that everything is possible and there is time, space and opportunity for whatever you want to do. As a first-timer at LSUC, the feeling of homecoming however was not restricted to meeting old friends. Rather, I made many new friends who, when meeting them for the first time, actually felt like old friends. One of the things that will stay with me for long I think are the openness, the curiosity, hospitality, and the somewhat intimacy and feeling of trust that permeated most of the encounters, conversations and meetings I had during LSUC.
INTENSITY: Another powerful experience for me was the opportunity to co-host a session on ‘exploring death’. While I am often reluctant to share my feelings and emotions with others, all the participants of this circle created such a safe, trustful and intimate space that I never once hesitated to speak my mind or think about how others would judge me and think of me when saying this or that — old reflexes that still accompany me in the ‘outside-LSUC World’. What touched me the most was the intensity of sharing our thoughts and feelings with each other — this showed me how important it is to sometimes just let go and trust that others are there to console you, help you and be there with you when needed, without judgement or ulterior motives.
ACCEPTANCE: While I am rather confident to publicly speak about my work, my research and so on, I am not so much confident when sharing my own life story with others. The ‘You Lead Talks’, a ted-talk-like platform to share your life journey with others, to talk about what moves you and what makes you — all within six minutes — inspired me to get out of my comfort zone. At first I always thought that my life journey is just not interesting enough — what much have I done that others didn’t do already, why would anyone be interested in this, there are so many more interesting people out there etc., these were some of my thoughts. After listening to stories of other participants for quite a while, still being undecided if I should go for it or not, I realised that you don’t have to have the most outstanding, extraordinary, fantastic story. Every person is unique and what counts is not so much if we have achieved this or that in life, but how we go about our journey, what we dream of doing, and how we have become the person we are today. (on a side note, I also didn’t realise I can tell so much about myself that six minutes were not even enough to finish my talk..)
BECOMING ACTIVE: Quite unexpectedly, I actually spent a large part of the day doing sports. This started the very first night when we would play midnight-ultimate-frisbee till early morning and continued to playing basketball with the local students and facilitating tennis sessions with the kids from creativity adda and anyone else interested in it. It showed me how wonderful (and wonderfully easy) it is to connect with others through sports, especially when it is all about fun and not about competition. I especially liked playing basketball with students from Centurion University. Although me and a few others who joined were not really experienced basketball players, especially compared to them, they happily and excitedly kept on encouraging us to fully participate and try score points even after the sixth-in-a-row missed attempt. Not once did I have the feeling that I would be seen as a lesser member of the team or that anyone tried to exclude me.
SWARAJ IN ACTION: Coming back full circle, the last aspect I would like to share is how LSUC encouraged me to find and walk along my own way rather than following pre-determined footsteps or what seems to be the most ‘rational’ or ‘logical’ way of doing things. Again, I cannot pin this down to a single encounter, session, conversation or experience. But at one point during and now after LSUC, it became clear to me that I do not only want to enjoy this sense of freedom, of sharing solidarity and co-creating with each other, for only five days or a bit longer a year during LSUC. Rather, this seems to me like a way of life that I now know I can go on. I would say that above all, LSUC, or rather the people of LSUC, have given me the confidence to break out of the system (in my case getting out of a more or less pre-determined academic career I would have started after my phd) because I know that there are people, there is a community, and there is a family I can go to for support, that encourages me, and that I also want to support and encourage with whatever I can contribute now and will explore and learn in my later journeys. And this, above all, is what Swaraj means to me: It is the idea that each and everyone of us is equally capable of creating meaningful lives alongside and with each other. After a five-day experience of this, there is no way moving away from this thought.
***
Becoming More Empathetic — Sharmila Govande
“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it” — Marianne Williamson
Last year when I attended LSUC at Bangalore, I was a newbie in the community, unsure, unaware and apprehensive. I was conscious of my presence amidst a sea of people who seemed to have found their purpose in life. I took nervous steps toward exploring unschooling and homeschooling and hesitantly spoke to other homeschooling / unschooling families. Five days were enough to transform me and I came back home with a resolve to unschool my kids, a mind filled with ideas and a sense of belongingness.
During the year that passed by, we started unschooling our three kids, opened our home to other unschoolers and homeschoolers, attempted at running a self directed learning program and hosted various workshops and people from the community. We engaged in conversations around parenting, learning, travel, unschooling and homeschooling with our visitors and developed many deep connections. We fondly recalled memories of LSUC and eagerly awaited the next LSUC.
We arrived at the Centurion University, Paralakhemundi campus after a 30 hour train journey late at night. The energy, the excitement and the vibes were so high that the hour long journey in an overcrowded bus from Palassa to the campus was spent in endless chatter and laughter. The warm welcome we received soothed our tired bodies and the lovely campus calmed our exhausted nerves.
Unlike the last LSUC, this time I felt completely at home right from the moment I stepped on the campus. This time I was eager to share my experiences and meet and listen to stories of other people attending this amazing event. There was love, warmth and excitement everywhere. People were caring and helpful and ensured that the space was safe for all.
I have always believed that everything happens with a purpose and that right things happen at the right time. As a volunteer, I was requested to edit the profiles of all the registered participants and then to host the ‘You Lead Talks’. Both these experiences brought me closer to people, helped me become more curious, accepting and empathetic toward others. I shed my inhibitions of talking to people I was meeting for the first time, confidently facilitated sessions and thrived as an empathetic listener. Every person I spoke to, every talk I listened to, everything I observed gave me so much to reflect on and learn something new about myself, about others and about this world.
Sharing about my experiences and challenges in starting a Learning Space helped me reflect on various strategies and possibilities. My resolve toward working for the cause of ‘Free and self directed learning’ became stronger. Now I am exploring possibilities of engaging in efforts to put together an ‘Alliance of self-directed and free learning spaces.’ Facilitating the discussion on unschooling and answering questions around learning, unschooling and child development — strengthened my knowledge and understanding and I became more accepting of others as I learnt that, “Every individual is unique and their experiences are unique. Trying to standardize anything and engaging in efforts to put things in a particular bracket is a waste of time. We should rather focus our energies in accepting others and their uniqueness and focus more on self awareness.
My children thrived in this safe zone. It was a joy to watch them play freely, make new friends and engage in discussions. My four year old daughter interacted with others with confidence and enjoyed eating fruit, cupcakes and pizza at the campus and eggs, noodles and rolls from the shop just outside campus. My ten year old son was happy to be called ‘Red Head’. My oldest thrived in the company of other teenagers. It was heartening to see the number of invitations my children received from their new friends to visit them.
Chaitanya’s creativity was at its best too. He churned out many caricatures and also conducted a workshop on cartooning. Our relationship, our marriage too achieved a new level of trust as we saw each other growing as separate individuals. There seemed to be some magic happening with both of us creating our individual mark and at the same time a creating a mark of being together.
We returned back to Pune after immersing ourselves in the rising sun on Gopalpur beach about two hours away from Paralakhemundi. We returned with new friendships, new ideas and renewed energy. We look forward to hosting many people we got to know during LSUC and continuing our own life journeys as empowered individuals and most importantly being part of the next LSUC!
With a warm hug and a big smile — I thank everyone for being there and making LSUC happen!
Thanks to all the beautiful Centurion energies who shared so much love with us during the #LSUC2019 in Odisha. — Chaitanya Govande
***
The Art of Giving and Receiving — Meghna Raveendra
I was stepping into a year of uncertainty in 2018, as I wondered deep down what is my purpose? How can I contribute much more towards this wonderful society that we live in? Do I continue working in the Nonprofit sector? Or should I start working on my dream project of building a school?
Amidst all these questions, during a discussion with Abhishek Thakore — co-founder, Blue Ribbon Movement introduced me to Learning Societies Unconference. The entire thought, approach and concept seemed like a right place for me to get answers to these questions that I have been struggling with.
Fast forward to 2019. Excited as LSUC is about begin. I pack my bags with different questions this time. How will this experience be? What kind of people will be coming? What will I do there? I land at Visakhapatnam airport where I am about to meet a few more LSUCians to travel together to Odisha. There is a certain connect with these unknown travelers that I feel as soon as I hug one of them. A connect that seems familiar, a connect that seems comfortable, a connect that seems right.
As we reach Centurion University, a day before LSUC begins, I get a sudden burst of energy and positivity in the entire campus.
The next day, not knowing what will happen, I reach the Registration desk early morning to understand if there is anything that I can help with. There is a lot to do. I get a chance to work with the organizing team to ensure everyone who comes in understands what kind of a space LSUC is. Everyone around me has so much warmth, love and happiness to share. It is pure Joy.
Being here for the first time, I am amazed at the openness all 700-odd people have — some being first timers, some who have been here before and some who have been there since its inception 11 years back.
Each day, there is an open circle hosted by someone from the organizing team or even a participant which gets everyone together and begin the day with some laughs, some fun, and loads of positivity. This is followed by a series of workshops and sessions announced by LSUCians. With almost 8–10 sessions happening at the same, one cannot help but address FoMo (Fear of Missing Out). With this confusion that I am going through, I come across an interesting experiment — ‘The Unschool of Love’. I am intrigued and decide to attend this session. As I listen to everyone’s stories on their struggles in connecting with their own gender, relationships, asking someone out and physical intimacy it brings out my own struggles and I realise there are so many of us going through similar challenges. The unschool of love creates a safe space for us to share our thoughts and understand from each other how we can resolve this struggle. A part of us that we seldom discuss with many now does not think twice before sharing with those whom you have known only for a few hours.
Such is the Magic of LSUC!
The next few days, I get to talk to a lot more people about their life, their dreams, their wonderful work to make this world a better place. I get this immense positive energy that yes I am in the right place and I am on the path to get the answers to questions I had for myself back in 2018.
As I sit there thinking about how I am on the right path, I meet a bunch of kids aged between 12 to 15 years. They are homeschooled / unschooled. We talk about their interests, home schooling / unschooling, about today’s education system. This is one of the most special discussions in the entire 6 days that I am in LSUC. It gives me the push to understand about my dream on building a school.
It is the last day today. I am sitting in the auditorium, wondering what next? How are we going to say good bye to this special space, these wonderful people whom we created a bond of lifetime with? Overwhelmed with this thought, I recap my entire journey in this unconference. As I recall, I realise, I began my journey with giving what I had and what I could, but as the days passed by there is so much more that I have received. A space which allows you to receive and tells you, it is important to receive and not just give.
With a tear in the eyes, I open them with a promise to myself to continue this journey as I head back home and spread the gifts I received from LSUC wherever I go.
***
New flavors of LSUC — Binal Joshi
This was my third consecutive LSUC and it has become a default family pilgrimage for us that is marked in our calendar. Although we know beforehand about the overall format of LSUC, the surprise element of who will conduct the sessions and what topics would be covered is decided at the event itself by the participants. So each LSUC has something new to offer and has its own flavour.
Even before you register, you are greeted with a “Welcome Home” sign, reassuring that the tribe is waiting for you. When one goes against the grain in the society, LSUC does charge up the battery to go back to the world with renewed vigour. It is one of those events where lot of thoughts get churned much after the event and the journey continues.
While the old faces are raising the benchmarks in their fields, the new ones bring in that breath of fresh air with new ideas and experiments. I kick-started LSUC 2019 by attending a session on “Cycle Yatra by Deepa and Sandhya” where they shared their experience of travelling from Bhubaneshwar to the Centurion University over 18 days sans 3 Ps viz. phone, paisa (money) and plastic. It was not just this feat that I was awestruck by but how they faced and rose above the challenges that inspired me. Some of the anecdotes shared were funny while some made me think deep. Case in point was about how Deepa and Sandhya (the two cycle yatris) had a disagreement and had decided to part ways in the middle of the Cycle Yatra and how the two talked and talked about it. Deepa mentioned how the conflict was denser at the start and eventually melted by speaking their mind. Just reinforces the importance of communication in resolving long standing issues.
A question that hit me like an arrow was “Which river do you identify with?” and my immediate response was “none”. This was a session conducted by Minket on “Voices of Teesta”. It was documentary viewing cum storytelling cum story forming (we had to make our own version of the stories). What drew me to this session in the first place was my curiosity to know more about North East of India. In school, I hardly read about their history, culture, etc. The word “folk stories” mentioned in the topic was also a bait for me to attend the session. I would highly recommend the documentary “Voices of Teesta” how significant and deeply rooted the river has been in their culture. Needless to say that post this session, my answer to the question “which river do I identify with?” changed and I could feel the connect.
Another immersion experience was of Jordan’s culture anchored by Reef. It became a multi-sensoral experience with food (viz. hummus, olives, zatar, olive oil and bread), dance, discussions on politics, personal journey, arabic culture not limited to national boundries, etc. We loved the hummus so much, we attempted to make it at home which was quite a success and ended up polishing the plate. Although I had been to Jordan before, it was now that I got a more local perspective than the touristic one which I had encountered.
Shailender’s session on unstitched fabrics was filled with creativity. He demonstrated how to wear a turban, dhoti, undergarments, shirt and all this from an unstitched cloth. Later other participants who had their own way of wearing a turban, showcased their style.
With a nudge from Sharmila, I attended “Dream Project Action Café”. I presented our community school project “Freebird Learning Center” based on the shared template. An hour long session with the Contributors (volunteers who question, critique, co-ideate) gave me fresh insights and also challenged few of my beliefs.
Apart from some more sessions that I attended, it is the informal conversations that are an integral part of the event. Some in a group, while others one-to-one were the highlight. A morning walk with Sultan to the town, talk on spirituality with Devesh, catching up with old friends, culture trail with Gopal, relishing Dahi Baigan ensuring that I can’t claim to be a vegan, laptop bag from Saadgi, conversations with Yongjae and Meena from South Korea on how universal our problems irrespective of different geographies, etc all these played its part in making this LSUC memorable.
I was so glad that my husband Kedar attended “redvolution” a session on menstrual cycle and this one exclusively for men conducted by Silvana. Post the session, Kedar was not the same person what he was before and he felt it should reach the masses. As for my son, Advait (8 years old), the whole of LSUC community provided an environment of trust and endless play.
With food for thought to ruminate over, the churning within has already started. My takeaway of LSUC 2019 can be summed up by a question posed by Manish Jain in one of his talks, “how can we live the LSUC experience for all 365 days?”
***
Macrocosm in Microcosm — Minket Lepcha
Just three days before LSUC 2019, I was in a helpless state after losing my purse. Yes, as clichéd as it may sound, it happened to me. I had lost all hope of visiting Odisha because my ID cards were in my purse along with the money. I was trying to block my entire ATM cards whole night only find a facebook message in the morning inquiring if I have lost the purse. Yes, I got my purse back with all the documents because of good Samaritans which still exist in these times. And I finally managed to attend the LSUC 2019. What a way to start a year! The whole feeling of unlearning had begun, pretty much the theme of LSUC. It was 3 in the morning when I reached Palasa with numerous stopovers and delays. I boarded the bus with fellow travellers hoping to get some sleep while the bus took me wherever it wanted me to (that was my state of mind). I was exhausted with all the incidents that had happened prior to my arrival at Centurion College. But a sense of energy that attuned with the tempo of the bus and the sound of the tyres could not be missed. I could feel the energy even though I was in my own delirium of exhaustion mentally and physically.
I think I was in my own slumber of thought and the continuous motion of a long travel had made me all tiresome for all the excitement that was ahead of me. So I decided to go easy and explore the much talked about LSUC slowly. I wanted to experience the alchemy of beautiful and different minds coming together and celebrating freedom in all sense at my pace. I could find placards and slogans assuring me that I can contribute and everything around me resonated with my thoughts and belief system. LSUC began with a large Circle Dance of more than 700 people. I was delighted to find fellow brothers and sisters from Bhutan and Shillong and surprisingly I happened to meet them while we all were a part of a Circle Dance. What a beautiful way of meeting them, I thought. It is strange how your innate behaviour tries to look for familiarity in every corner of space that we are exposed to. Macrocosm in Microcosm, I guess. I managed to share the joy and convenience of language and familiarity of faces amongst them. I was happy to see their participation as there are not many avenues where youth from Eastern regions are exposed to such gatherings and discussions. It is just in recent times that mainland India have started to differentiate different types of us ☺. I reckon it is the internet and not the education, pun intended. We got along instantly due to our love for fermented food, language, jokes and familiar surnames. I shared my work with them and encouraged them to participate in the coming days of LSUC with open arms. I remember the first thing I asked them when I met all of them together was ‘How the hell did you guys land up here in this village?’ and they all laughed replying ‘That’s how life does to you?’
Environment is a sensitive issue and is not as easy as one may talk about it but to witness the practical application and examples in various sessions and products (tangible and intangible) made me believe that we as a citizen of Mother Earth is moving towards raising a consciousness of mind and not just matter, small as it may seem. The rhythm of collective consciousness has started and the resonance was felt at that place and at that moment. Right from washing your own dishes to avoiding soaps and plastic, living in a state of minimalism, questioning our choices was a beginning of a thought process and I felt that to be a powerful beginning for a habit to change or at least hope for a change.
I went through constant fleeting moments of FOMO. I attended sessions like Contact Improvisation which helped me a lot to connect with myself and discover myself. I could let go of the feeling of being judged in many sessions. I felt like a butterfly moving from one session to another exploring and letting go of inhibitions and fear. I was attracted with the Glass bead game mainly because I had read the book but to find something completely different surprised me and inspired me to use the mechanism for my future sessions.
On the third day, I could manage to find a slot where I could invite participants to be a part of the storytelling session along with the screening of my film ‘Voices of Teesta.’ There is a general interest garnered when one talks about river because river has been often romanticised in films, stories, poems and folklore. So, here I was exploring the medium of storytelling and film to speak about rivers and the crisis that we all were going through delicately avoiding long talks of disaster. I draped myself in my traditional dress and walked into Room No 6. Not many people know about a tribe called Lepcha from Sikkim and Darjeeling hills and culture so rich beyond tea and train of Darjeeling. Through this storytelling session, I was able to introduce the culture that I came from and the meaning behind my dress and our traditional knowledge. After screening the film and narrating the story of our sacred River Teesta, we had a wonderful interactive session with the participants where they shared their version of the stories. It was alarming and exhilarating to hear their stories as many groups actually created a story of incidents which had already happened in the sacred mountains of Sikkim. Through the stories, we could connect with our own rivers and also discuss about water mafia, ecology disasters, and corporatisation of water and loss of habitat. As the session ended, few participants shared their stories of spending their childhood in the mountain regions, some came from mountains of Uttarakhand and Bhutan while some had curiosity towards the Eastern region.
I was also keen on sharing the stories for children and I hosted a session for the children. I managed to have few kids come over for the session where I could see them taking in the story of birds and rivers in their own immaculate and naïve ways. Before the session, during lunch hours, I happened to come across a Bolivian girl, Carola Michelle, with whom I had an effervescent energy of creating something together. Finding solidarity for similar stories of struggle where she comes from, I could instantly connect with her when she mentioned about creating a collage of painting showcasing gratitude for Sacred River. It was interesting that we both could not do this awareness together but since both of us were interested on making this happen, she collected papers and made a canvas out of it and gathered paintings while I called participants to come and draw about their rivers or simply show gratitude for the river. I was so happy that I got to meet her and could create this collage of memory together. There was a small shy boy who stayed back for two of the folklores that I shared during my sessions. In one of the stories, there is a hill partridge which saves mankind from a huge deluge. When I asked him to draw anything that he would like to draw about or for the river, the little boy asked me the name of the bird which saved the mountain from the deluge. I showed him the picture of hill partridge and he took his brush and drew that bird towards the corner of the canvas that Carola had made from pieces of paper. There were two young girls who missed out on the session and I narrated the story again. Their interpretation on the painting was so meaningful. The beautiful canvas had so many feelings and stories that reflected their forgotten connection with the river that I felt the journey that I had taken should continue even though it was not easy. I was indebted to Kat and team when they personified river in form of water and boulders in their contact improvisation session. For me, the session was exactly what I needed to process my internal and external conflicts. I felt cleansed after the session and I thanked the facilitators for keeping water as a theme. This was one session where we could experience the river within us. I strongly believe that the water conflicts of modern times are widespread due to our detachment with the spiritual connection we once had with our rivers inside us and around us.
I felt deep gratitude and contentment when there were artists, facilitators and thinkers who shared their plan of including river in their work of art. I felt my purpose of making this journey as a storyteller telling stories of rivers to be of some importance.
I met the same little boy who drew hill partridge on the last day at LSUC and both of us bid goodbye with a blue throated barbet sound which I had enacted in one of the storytelling sounds. I felt my presence at LSUC fulfilled and purposeful. I am overwhelmed with thoughts and experience where I have been pushed to ask difficult questions to myself which I long avoided and I have also found answers which came out like power of words from my own mouth. There were questions which I was inhibited by the journey that I had taken as everyday is unpredictable as a storyteller and I encountered my own vices through FLOW game. It was a hilarious moment staying awake all night trying to finish the game. I found the game to be very sacred and holy, like our ancient games were always was.
I also met good friends in different sessions like Heritage Walk conducted by Gopala Krishnan. I managed to bring back memories of River Teesta for Vibhuti Aggrawal —a fabulous facilitator with whom I wish to collaborate to work towards ecology, found an old friend Silky and made new friends along the way like Mohit who always asked pertinent questions, interesting interactive storytelling session with Flora’s team. I liked her interactive way of engaging the crowd. I had always heard of Rahul, the famous painter and I got an opportunity to paint together with him. Had no idea of how the painting would turn out to be but we both had fun and was overjoyed to finally find each other because of Ali who happened to be our common friend. I was taught to make a crane with a young Korean girl, this activity reminded me how the white cranes had stopped flying to our mountains because of the ecology disturbance due to Mega Hydro Projects. LSUC helped me gather many tools where I can use interactive ways to make the storytelling sessions internal and found friends with whom I wish to work together.
I believe my next step will manifest organically. Thank You for showing me the horizons and making me believe in the journey that I have taken. I hope we keep asking ourselves ..’Which river do we come from?’ and that we are grateful towards these rivers for providing us with abundance.
***
The Bhaav of LSUC — Jordy Salaam
when friends and family ask me what makes the LSuC so special, why i seem to glow when others enquire why i love it so much and put so much time and energy into it, mostly my efforts to describe it wind up invoking disjointed words and goofy, reflective grins reflecting the deep joy the mere thought of the LSuC evokes in me.
for me, the LSuC draws out an esoteric, love and bliss-filled Rumi-esque state of being mixed with an embracing of ‘the way’ ( = the Tao). above and beyond the myriad intriguing learning sessions and fun-filled activities, the LSuC exists in the realm of an embodied spirit for me.
the mere act of trying to put it into words renders clear the indescribable subtle qualities which make LSuC such a special place to explore oneself and the possibilities of human existence on our precious planet. it is a fully collaborative and eventful handful of days with mutual self-acceptance and group inspiration at its core. and, just as importantly, it fosters a feeling of mutual responsibility for our lives and the countless impacts our personal choices have on the communities we live in and the planet which hosts us all.
at the core of the LSuC there is an underlying feeling, a bhaav, permeating the entire gathering, offering a space of acceptance where honest expression is encouraged from the moment us participants enter the gathering.
this bhaav, for example, makes it feel natural to bypass typical social niceties and draws us directly into a space of getting to know each other via exploring our shared interests, passions, unique ideas, and dreams in a format designed to honour the speech act with a true ear for listening both in content and in essence.
i have long believed the ideal way to start a meaningful relationship is not with a ‘biographical quiz’ (what is your name? where are you from? what do you do? etc…) but, rather from the heart (what is on your mind today? sharing observations of the moment or ideas, dreams, conundrums, and/or experiences framing our lives…). then later maybe the moment arrives to wonder, ‘oh! what is her name? what are the where’s what’s, and when’s of his life?’
to me, this bhaav is perhaps the primary reason why so many of us emerge from the LSuC with several (or more…) meaningful (and even life-altering) relationships even after only knowing each other for a handful of days. i can say for absolute certain that having volunteered at and participated in two LSuCs, my life has been irrevocably and positively altered due to the people i have had the privilege of drawing near to. the trust we establish inside the safe spaces of the LSuC renders those relationships different than most of those i have formed in other spaces. to me, this is the truest meaning of community and extended family, the people whose very existence fosters a feeling of belonging and purposefulness to our shared existence on this precious planet of ours.
to elaborate a bit, how many times i experienced and saw others dive right into spontaneous, insightful and heartfelt discussions about their passions and perspectives, some seeking feedback and guidance and others simply revelling in having others around who have the genuine patience to try and grasp each idea from a space of curiosity and understanding, to expand our own horizons by inter-subjectively aspiring to grasp those of others.
personally, my LSuC-induced heart-set and mind-set is framed by connecting to people and the many spaces for cooperation, co-creation, and sharing of our true selves. the specific learning sessions, ranging in subjects as varied as Assamese dance, how to achieve a healthy work-life balance, communicating with trees, emotional literacy, palm leaf crafts, and exploring the dream consciousness, overlay that core bhaav as a welcome bonus which neatly complement the ongoing, deeply enriching interpersonal interactions which make embracing every moment of the LSuC feeling as an imperative not to be missed.
at the end of the Lsuc, in the take-away at the heart of it all, lies some sort of very subtle essence to carry with us, urging us to take the spirit to all our relationships and endeavours outside of the LSuC. this is reflected in the other write-ups here, demonstrating amply how the energetic spirit of the space transports people into a womb which nurtures and encourages us all to push our boundaries to lead lives we can embrace fully based on what lies deep in our hearts and minds, to pursue our passions and dreams while also being responsive and sensitive relatives, friends, colleagues, and community members.
one personal example of an informal but regular LSuC activity which stands out for me as a beautiful ritual was our nightly games of ultimate frisbee. this graceful game fits into the bhaav of the LSuC in a way most team sports cannot and, as an experienced player, i can state for certain i have never witnessed the game’s essence manifested so adeptly outside of the confines of the LSuC.
on the first night, after a few of us experienced players laid out the framework for how the game works, i immediately observed what a transformative experience the game could provide for all of us, encompassing verbal and non-verbal communication in a game which moves os fast that the mind cannot possibly track all the action on the pitch. for the dozens of us who would play the game in a state of rapture for hours on end after dinner each night with no breaks for nourishment or hydration, it became the ecstatically fitting end to a day replete with gratifying inspirations and interactions.
watching the literal visual poetry in motion of silent cooperation, the teamwork, the unspoken codes of sharing and respect, the touching displays of appreciation of simultaneously developing skill levels and subconscious teamwork coming from players on both sides of the field… this ability to compete and cooperate simultaneously, to push ourselves, our teammates, and our nominal ‘opponents’ to better themselves via a combination of physical skills and building an intuition as to how to move as an entire, seamless unit, to observe the amazingly rapid incorporation of new skills and types of movement literally on the fly, all while watching the unpredictable piece of plastic float and drift through the air, sometimes into the waiting hands of a teammate sometimes not… to see the individuals who had never heard of this game just a few days prior immediately grasp its subtle powers and assimilate them… to smile and laugh uproariously and encourage each other and make jokes all while pushing ourselves physically to state of exhaustion… to instruct others, both literally and metaphorically, to sprint into the open spaces while concomitantly watching from one’s peripheral vision to ensure others were also not heading into the same vacant spots on the pitch…
the end result was a breath-taking flow of intuitively choreographed group movement which improved tremendously each day, leaving us all in awe of how far we had come and how rapidly, resonating fully with the growth we felt as a group and as individuals as the LSuC proceeded onwards each day.
these aspects as reflected in our nightly frisbee games and many more similar instances perhaps can aid in rendering more clearly how the LSuC is more than just a meeting of curious people: it is a vaguely construed vital social movement enriching and potentially transforming the lives of all who permit it to, offering a genuine beacon of hope which our immensely troubled world needs as we face multiple crises threatening to tear apart our society and render our planet uninhabitable for most life forms.
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Some Memories of #LSUC 2019
