Hasiru Hejje

Part IV

Metamorphosis

United we overcome......

On the penultimate day or in some case soon after the camp has crossed its mid way mark, we gather the participants in a circle to collect a feed back and make enquiries regarding their aspirations about the camp. If they have any ire about any of the things they had or didn’t have during the first half are sorted out. In most camps we see children making an applauding vote of thanks to the organizers or in case of very few exceptional children keep listing out their complaints; none of which can be attended and rectified on a camp site. In fact we had an exact replica of this model in this week long camp.

Cherishing the hard earned Victory

There was one child who constantly kept mentioning all the things visibly missing which he thought that there weren’t situations without them. It sounds very tricky even to comprehend it. And that was how we felt when the cook or the bus driver made mention about this kid. ‘Why don’t you have a Reverse Osmosis filter? You should be having one’ ‘Why can’t you fit an air conditioner to your bus?’ were his typical questions. He didn’t even spared Geetha, our broadcasting manager. He had sternly advised her to have all the mobile phones and the power banks charged before the power went off. She must have had a fit!

A perfect way to beat the monotony of the school

Any way, finding such odd behaviors and gently addressing them is our manner. How gently is a matter of a dozen parameters? But definitely, the best working method would be gentle enough not to reveal it to anybody else.

We have had numerous trekking expeditions, play in the water and a number of reality shows with the river terrapin and the hump nosed pit viper. Yet they had missed out a spectacular experience of seeing and playing in the Kudalu falls, courtesy the slow eaters. That day lunch was served a bit early so that we leave by 2.pm. It did not happen and we had a number of hassles on the 13 kilometers way.

Hump nosed Pit viper

We were held at the gates for not being on time; the entry closes at three but you can exit at five. Very recently the area was handed over to the Wildlife division of the Forest department and they have started following the rules on dotted lines. We were less than ten minutes late yet their apprehension was that we may not come back by the closing time if we are going in late. And that would become a cause for many unruly tourists to fall in toe with us. The staff at the ticket counter had seen me a hundred times yet kept wining about how several drunkards over the last couple of weeks had entered the gate and were refusing the return even after sunset. All these comparisons were un-called for.

A river terrapin that had got active soon after the first rains

But what would any body do in this country on such a situation. Just make a phone call for the magic to happen. The closed gates may open and a carpet may unfurl your way. But simple explanations such as we are your customers at the Nature camp facility or the road building works that are in progress which made us reverse back for more than 800 meters to give way to an opposing car are all frivolous to the authority. Lastly, our pleading that we have come from far off places for a nature camp and we will not attempt to walk up to the falls but would come back by 5, didn’t work. We had five kids, kith of very top Forest Officers working in the same division. Never did we want to bring in their names even though we didn’t have any magical phone numbers. Nobody should leave a bad precedence with children.

Anusha and Aditi; Should we really leave tomorrow?

After haggling for half an hour the staff themselves called up their in charge and confirmed our whereabouts and offered an entry. But we knew that we were already too short of time and we neither wanted to show reluctance to the men in uniform. We allowed the kids to play in the stream just a few yards from the sentry gate till five and left back to the camp whishing them heartfelt thanks.

On the fifth day we changed the camp site to Kolluru Mukambika Wildlife Sanctuary and even had the longest trek of fourteen kilometers to Arasinagundi falls from there. To our astonishment almost every single kid finished the trek.

Narendra; I should have met this group
a few years earlier

The lone child who called off mid way was duly escorted back. Following this jubilant day we were heading westward to spend a day on the sea shore. We had also described it as one of the highlights of the program. Realizing that it would even be the culmination of the camp many children said they didn’t want to go to the sea. Amogh, the youngest boy in the camp had silently cried on my lap for missing his parents now rolled tears for missing the camp. Vara an eight year girl from Bangalore expressed that she has over come the fear of darkness. Mahi who never slept without her parent was now ready to spend the night in a tent all by herself.

Nikhil ; This is no aqua guard water but it is O K. I can manage

While some children express their feelings some don’t. But they would have shown confidence in their gait or body language. Some remain silent and many a time parents reveal them to us. Last year, a lady immensely thanked us for curing some obscure habit that the girl had in her sleep. Of course, we could not have noticed it as girls have a separate facility in our camps. This girl, it seems, always crouched into fetal position during sleep and frequently ground her teeth. As a result she had no enamel coating in the teeth and was not able to eat anything too hot or cold. From day one she returned from the camp, the mother was astonished to see her daughter sleep straight and not grind her teeth. There are many instances of children over coming many fears like fear of heights, fear of creepy crawly things and some have even overcome stammering in their speech or bedwetting in their teenage.

Monish; Did I or did I not.

This year my friend Dinakaran, sent a text message few days after the camp ‘My son Nikhil used to draw sketches of Iron Man, Poke man, Chota Bheem. Now, he has started drawing wild animals on his own from the hand book you gave!’ What change do you need to see in a child so soon?

Planning my next prank.

But the most profound mention was by Pawan from Bangalore who had finished his tenth said on going back he would lose a bet with his father and take an admission to Science stream for his college. Such changes in youngsters may be simple but they play an important role in the building of a character and some times become the beginning of a great career.