Love Letters from #LSUC2023
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 Sardarshahr, Rajasthan again in 2023, there were over 800 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 Orissa, Bangalore, Sardarshahar (Raj), Pune, Himachal Pradesh, Udaipur, Mumbai, Brazil, Jordan, Pakistan and Iran.
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Dear LSUC family-
I have been looking for alternatives to present systems and ways of thinking for the last 3–4 years and every time I came across someone doing something different or interesting, I would feel the frantic urge to note down their names and save their details, lest I lose out on such a precious find. All the while, I feel like I have had this sense of scarcity when it came to looking for alternatives. Along with it, also a sense of loneliness, the weight of fighting the mainstream, which felt exhaustive. For me, LSUC was that place where I experienced a sense of abundance — of ideas, of plans, of new projects, of new people, all dabbling in alternative thought and action in some way. And for a change, I didn’t feel the need to note down their names and save their contacts. Somehow, it just felt like I will meet many of them again. There was also a sense of belonging and connection to witness so many people who have been associated with similar ideas for several years. It was humbling and gratifying to know that I can reach out to them, ask questions, share doubts and be gently led to a more courageous path my inner being desires. For this sense of abundance, courage and community, I am so so grateful to the LSuC 2023 event and everyone associated with it.
I was especially elated to meet the entire contingent from Mumbai. Honestly, my impression of mumbai gujratis (having known many in my own friend circle and extended family) was of a community embedded in a very profit oriented, monetised culture. I think I was secretly harbouring a little annoyance for my own community based on my previous experiences😅 but so many people i met at LSuC really challenged my bias and opened me to a different side of my own community! Having grown up in a fairly religious Gujarati jain community in Mumbai, I have always felt connected to its values of compassion and universal love (non violence being an extension of it) and yet often felt disconnected with the overwhelming emphasis on monetary gains and profit making that pervades not just Jains, but several business communities. LSuC was a place where I met many like me, who are rooted within the eco system of their own cultural religious upbringing, valuing it, yet looking for ways to undo learnt patterns and create newer, more mutually beneficial systems premised on values of sharing and caring.
Another interesting conversation I remember is with a co-participant at LSuC, who is advocating for women’s right to choose birthing support that feels right to their own bodies. Our dialogue on cultural approaches to birthing and the need for allopathic medicine to recognise the women’s right over her own body, was so insightful. I have been listening to talks on this topic within academic circles in UK and Europe, but it was so refreshing to have this conversation with someone who came from my context and spoke my language. All in all, it was heartening and humbling to meet so many different voices with whom I share a common cultural background and who have brilliant ideas to change the wrongs of our system, and tons of energy to put their ideas into action!
-Krupa, Delhi
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Dear LSUC Family-
Actually being my first time-LSUC was amazing and surprising in many aspects:
— To start with watching such a huge gathering with family (including children) was counter-intuitive and also refreshing.
— The entire emphasis was on the relational, spiritual and personal aspects of the engagement with individuals and also groups. Throughout the 5 days i could personally know 20–25 people and it felt incredible that every stranger I met was genuinely interested in listening to your life journey (which we all know is such a rare thing these days).
— The whole unconferencing approach is so counter-intuitive that it took one whole day to reconcile with it and see its amazing advantages. It is like asking an open ended question in an interview and be surprised by responses which were totally unexpected!
— The Organisers were a good embodiment of the unconferencing values — all of them very welcoming and helpful.
All in all i met some amazing friends and also succeeded in sharing my work & ideas and thank them for their support. LSuC annual event is truly one of a kind and I wish to return to it every time.
-Sudhir Shetty
Dear LSUC family —
This has taken me some time to pen my thoughts on LSuC as I am just coming in terms with what I had experienced. This being my first LSuC, I still haven’t come out of LSuC as my thoughts and dreams are still with me attending different sessions and having different conversations with people.
As a joke I always used to say that because of my height I always see the world from a different perspective (literally true). Yet since my childhood due to the various experience I have had, the world always looked much different to me than what people around me were saying
So much so I struggled to connect with people around me. It took me half a decade after I reached college to understand the perspective of the world while letting go of my own perspective.
It’s something I was seeking and through random luck of talking to strangers and attending an event in Pune (PUVG), I ended up at LSuC. My main aim was to learn more about different education and facilitation being done to help my students better. Had mutiple discussion across various sectors that made me realise LSuC was something more than people who were coming there are comprehending.
It’s at this realisation that I found myself lost. I found myself wandering struggling between what my different perspectives, things I have hidden away to fit in. An implosion of insecurity because of the uncertainty and a struggle to be there itself. Challenging at every level of existence. From spiritual, to work, to thinking, to fears, to love, to even the story I had been telling about my life.
The difference was this time wasn’t scared to say I was lost, for people told it’s OK, it’s fantastic. I was scared and people said it was OK, you don’t have to feel anything else. And as these turmoil continued the way LSuC was designed forced this lost wanderer to connections which helped me clarity on some. To rediscovering my spirituality, to find a person with the same passion start up idea as me, to reconsider how I approached love, to receiving help to overcome my fear and what my story is in itself. To be shattered, melted and creating a mirror which is still making me see differently.
LSuC morphs into what people needs. A tribe, a hope, a rediscovery of self, meeting, making connections, business, a place to belong, facing their fears, to starting LSuC in their state or just simple friendship. There were no limits other than those that people defined.
P. S — The food was really good and the facility was extremely well managed considering there were almost 800 people staying that.
Thank you for creating the space.
-Sai Vishal
