ADVENTURE PROGRAMME
We are too old to do this! That was the first thought that came to the mind of most of us when we learnt that we will be going to a three day adventure programme organized by Tata steel adventure foundation. No one had imagined that not only will these words be forgotten but also that the camp will challenge our beliefs about our limits.
Now here was a group of GMP students who claim to been there, done that and who have been leading people in their teams to be led by the trainers of TSAF.The fact that the trainers had no airs about their individual achievements seemed quite confusing in the beginning. Here we were in the corporate world, doing a project and feeling bad that the pat did not come from none less than the CEO himself and there were these trainers who had conquered the mighty peaks of the world and were so introverted that they do not even mention it till we coaxed them. Than came the realization that they were being led by Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb the Mt Everest, and it is thus a small wonder that the TSAF as an organization was both humble and dedicated to the core.
On the first day we were issued with sleeping bags, plates and mess tin. So whatever doubts any body had about preferential treatment got buried. On reaching there we found that the camp site was cut off from the outside world with only two covered shed-one to serve as kitchen and one as shed for keeping valuables. We had to lay our own tents (with the support of instructors) and a hill was identified for the nature’s call. For some the set up was cultural shock..and the day had just begun.
Initially we had small games for team building. The game became difficult in each step, the skills required were to think as a team and to act like one. What made it worse were there was no nominated leader. For once the participation was genuine(unlike in the class where students question to get the class participation marks)These games set the tone for the camp. Then we were divided into teams of ten each. There were couple of competitions lined up in which the teams had to choose a separate leader and compete with other teams. The first was a warm up on the obstacle course. Some teams took it easy. But when they saw their performance and other teams making strategy ,it pumped them up. That evening we saw a movie about India’s Mt Everest mission and every one was spell bound by the efforts of the team who undertook the mission.That was also the last we saw of light. As we had to sleep in our tents. Now for GMPians who are used to staying awake it was difficult to sleep.So we found people interacting with each other.Little did we realize that this was in fact our first informal interaction with each other. Many did not know names of each other even though it had been three weeks in the course. So we talked, laughed, sang all this without any external stimulant(bOOOOOOOze).For the first night it was a rush to find a sleeping slot away from the gates of the tent for the fear of snakes. This started a laughing riot in the tents and by morning 4 a.m people had got up. Some because they could not sleep and some because they wanted their share of exclusivity of space on the hill that was meant for nature’s call.
The morning’s first event was the obstacle course.The strategies were in place.It was no longer only a fun things , the battle had begun.People pushed themselves to their limit,some who found that difficult got pushed by their team mates. People took roles as leader,follower,planner without any one identifying himself publically as one. And all this to beat another team by a matter of seconds.It was no longer about individual achievements but for the pride of the team.It was only morning nine and we thought we were done for the day,blissfully unaware of the scheme of things..
Watch this space for remaining action!
We are too old to do this! That was the first thought that came to the mind of most of us when we learnt that we will be going to a three day adventure programme organized by Tata steel adventure foundation. No one had imagined that not only will these words be forgotten but also that the camp will challenge our beliefs about our limits.
Now here was a group of GMP students who claim to been there, done that and who have been leading people in their teams to be led by the trainers of TSAF.The fact that the trainers had no airs about their individual achievements seemed quite confusing in the beginning. Here we were in the corporate world, doing a project and feeling bad that the pat did not come from none less than the CEO himself and there were these trainers who had conquered the mighty peaks of the world and were so introverted that they do not even mention it till we coaxed them. Than came the realization that they were being led by Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb the Mt Everest, and it is thus a small wonder that the TSAF as an organization was both humble and dedicated to the core.
On the first day we were issued with sleeping bags, plates and mess tin. So whatever doubts any body had about preferential treatment got buried. On reaching there we found that the camp site was cut off from the outside world with only two covered shed-one to serve as kitchen and one as shed for keeping valuables. We had to lay our own tents (with the support of instructors) and a hill was identified for the nature’s call. For some the set up was cultural shock..and the day had just begun.
Initially we had small games for team building. The game became difficult in each step, the skills required were to think as a team and to act like one. What made it worse were there was no nominated leader. For once the participation was genuine(unlike in the class where students question to get the class participation marks)These games set the tone for the camp. Then we were divided into teams of ten each. There were couple of competitions lined up in which the teams had to choose a separate leader and compete with other teams. The first was a warm up on the obstacle course. Some teams took it easy. But when they saw their performance and other teams making strategy ,it pumped them up. That evening we saw a movie about India’s Mt Everest mission and every one was spell bound by the efforts of the team who undertook the mission.That was also the last we saw of light. As we had to sleep in our tents. Now for GMPians who are used to staying awake it was difficult to sleep.So we found people interacting with each other.Little did we realize that this was in fact our first informal interaction with each other. Many did not know names of each other even though it had been three weeks in the course. So we talked, laughed, sang all this without any external stimulant(bOOOOOOOze).For the first night it was a rush to find a sleeping slot away from the gates of the tent for the fear of snakes. This started a laughing riot in the tents and by morning 4 a.m people had got up. Some because they could not sleep and some because they wanted their share of exclusivity of space on the hill that was meant for nature’s call.
The morning’s first event was the obstacle course.The strategies were in place.It was no longer only a fun things , the battle had begun.People pushed themselves to their limit,some who found that difficult got pushed by their team mates. People took roles as leader,follower,planner without any one identifying himself publically as one. And all this to beat another team by a matter of seconds.It was no longer about individual achievements but for the pride of the team.It was only morning nine and we thought we were done for the day,blissfully unaware of the scheme of things..
Watch this space for remaining action!
yeh.. it was kind of once in a lifetime experience...Getting out of our comfort zones was probably one of the purposes and the camp experience did just that, with a lot of fun to spice it up! And oh, those videos... where are they?
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