From Shilpa Jain, Shikshantar, Rajasthan

Friendship, love, meetings of the mind, heart and spirit, new questions, an expansion of possibilities, hope, a rejuvenation of faith... these are some of the terms that spring to mind when I think about the conference and the pre- and post-conference engagements.  Even amidst the piles of organizing work (particularly sorting through the on-line dialogue, and coordinating the events at Vidya Bhawan and Takmun), I felt really energized.  My enthusiasm (which enabled me to not sleep before 1 am – at least – for over two weeks) was due to a simple fact.  For the first time, we were bringing together a large group of people who already shared many of our critiques and questions on schooling and development, and who were interested in imagining new possibilities and collaborating in new ways.  For one of the first times, we were not going to be outnumbered by status-quo supporters.  We were not going to be trapped in defining and re-defining every single term we used.  We were not going to be put down, accused of “not being practical” or “not caring for the poor”.  Rather, the conference was an opportunity to actually expand our own thinking and doing, from a very different starting point. 

 Plus, unlike every other conference I have ever been to, there existed freedom for creative expressions, in-depth conversations, spontaneity, play, laughter, tears… basically every facet of my unique personality was welcomed and appreciated.  And I feel that most people experienced a similar kind of openness.  That generated a kind of collective energy that I certainly have never seen in a gathering of this size and complexity. 

 With such scope for emotional sharing and spiritual connection, what grew stronger were personal relationships.  But I realized that that was what brought almost all of us together in the first place — a genuine liking for the person/people and the work being done, coupled with a desire to deepen this relationship.  A sort of feeling that friends and jeevan sathis had come together to plant something special, beginnings that would lead in many directions.  Perhaps this is what has made Shikshantar what it is today and what enabled us to even have this conference at all.

 Some highlights for me throughout the whole Unfolding Learning Societies experience: 

-          my surprise at the depth and breadth of response in the on-line dialogue, the vulnerability and honesty with which people were writing

-          the burst of joy I felt as each friend arrived in Udaipur, seeing them here, with us!

-          one-on-one time with Anita, during our conference supply shopping spree, where I had a chance to know her more (as I did with Nitin before that, at SIDH)

-          everyone’s introduction of themselves with their experiences and questions, as opposed to their organizations and titles and degrees

-          the festive spirit of the mela – the energy of sharing one’s work without pretensions

-          a special conversation with Munir and Satish about each of us being ‘uniquely complete’ and how understanding could directly overcome expertism, uniformity and the illusion of scarcity

-          feeling Sudhir bhai’s humility and foresight as he shared his story during his interview

-          the light and joy during the spur-of-the-moment dance and music party

-          big sister moments with Kaari and Sakhi – seeing the depth of humanity and possibility in them already, and also seeing how blocks and fears exist in all of us

-          growing and deepening my friendships and understanding through personal conversations with so many people: Yusef, Peter, Lisa, Coumba, Vineeta, Ravi, Zaid, Alok, Munir, Sudhir, Anjali, Satish, Prashant, Kameshwar ji …

 There are many exciting things on the horizon – the learning journey with Alok and Zaid; working on the Multiversity library and roaming exhibition with Claude and Abhivyakti; a play on “Who is Educated?” with Peter; exploring our full human potential workshops with Ravi’s kids at Manzil; an article on exposing the educational services enterprise with Vineeta; smaller learning societies conferences with youth in India through Qutab Khan; a forum on unlearning with Munir; the Radical Essential Series with Yusef; the World Jam with Coumba… and of course, so many things within Shikshantar’s own team: organic farming with more families in the city, creative workshops and festivals with children and youth; new research publications on rethinking literacy and stories of unlearning.  Actually, my head starts to spin when I think about how much there is to do, and how much more learning will come out of it. 

 Already, more new questions have appeared as a result of the conference.  Questions like:  Is it possible for the dominant logic and human logic to communicate, or are these languages not translatable?  Are we always reacting, and if so, how can we break that?  What is the role, what is the place, of misfits like me?  How can we transform notions of scarcity and abundance?  How do we not let our own hypocrisy paralyze us or trap us in defensiveness, but instead, use it to generate change in ourselves and our relationships?  How is Shikshantar re-defining the concept of movements, so that we don’t fall into their same traps of trampling relationships and ignoring the self and each other?

 Not a conclusion, but new beginnings, these questions are for me the fuel for learning societies…