My Caux Story
Dr.
Nidhi Shendurnikar
Ahmedabad, India
We are Caux Scholars |
Stories are powerful.
Stories make experiences come alive. One of the best means to positive
transformation, dialogue and healing can be found in the form of story-telling.
This is why, today, I choose to tell a story. This is my Caux story. The story
of my time at the Caux Scholars Program (CSP) at Asia Plateau, in Panchgani
(India).
Come to think of it and I
almost did not make it to the CSP at Asia Plateau (AP). I received an
acceptance letter from Jitka-Hromek Vaitla, the program coordinator informing
me of my admission to the program with a scholarship in September 2015. After
which, I traveled to Australia and New Zealand with family in November only to
land up working in a new project upon my return to India in December. Taking
out three weeks time for the Caux training was quite a task when I had only
just started working on a new project. So, I decided to let this opportunity
go. Of course, I was unhappy about it and informed Jitka that I would not be
able to make it. It was only on the 12th of December when I was
watching a Salman Khan (a popular movie star in India) movie in a theatre hall
in Ahmedabad, that I suddenly decided to listen to my inner voice (at that
point I did not know I had an inner voice) and sent an email to Jitka telling her I
would be joining the program. The next moment was the happiest for me and I
knew I had made the right decision. I started packing stuff for Panchgani. I still have no clue about the connection between this sudden revelation and a Salman Khan movie.
I left Ahmedabad for
Panchgani on 19th December in a bus and by the time I reached Surat, I
was the only lady passenger in the bus. I made a frantic call to Pravin Nikam
(our jolly and ever helpful Caux co-ordinator) and told him I was scared to
travel like this. I thought of leaving the bus when it reached Mumbai and
joining other scholars who would be travelling to Panchgani the next evening.
What a beginning this was to my Caux journey! Nevertheless, I managed
to stay in the bus when some ladies boarded it at Surat, I heaved a sigh of relief and finally made it
to Panchgani on the 20th at 10.30 in the morning.
Strange faces greeted me
when I led myself to the dining hall for lunch. I was hungry and tired. I was
introduced to Bibek, Amit and Debanjan (all from India) who had landed at AP a day before. I had
forgotten my toothpaste home and we ventured out to a nearby ‘tapri’ (a small
tea stall) to buy one for me. At four in the evening, my room-mate for the next
twenty days (Abhidha Niphade from Pune) knocked room 604 and I discovered that she too spoke Marathi. All of
us who reached AP gathered in the evening for dinner and exchanged numbers and
Facebook details. This was the beginning of a roller coaster ride that started
on December 20th, 2015 and ended on January 10th, 2016.
The Caux Scholars program
(2015-16), an annual event of The Initiatives of Change (IoFC) selected 14
people from 10 diverse countries around the world and brought them together for
an academic training on peace building, conflict resolution and sustainable
development. This is only the second batch of the program in India. This training is held
at Caux, Switzerland in June every year. When I began this journey, little did
I realize, that by the end of these three weeks I would be a part of the Caux
family and leaving them would be a difficult task. Participants for this year’s
program came from Bangladesh, Burundi, Egypt, Germany, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Ukraine,
The United States of America and Zimbabwe. My story is about how these 14
people undertook a journey of personal transformation through reflective
learning, story sharing and inter-cultural exchange rooted in empathy,
confidence, trust and grassroots experience.
Our sacred space - The Library at AP |
Often our culture competency
skills leave a lot to be desired for because we are so full of stereotypes and
judgements about the ‘other’. This is because we have not met and interacted
with the ‘other’. The CSP introduced to me to the existence of 14 different
cultural realities all under one roof. As a group, we were exposed to peace
building and conflict transformation through the concept and practice of shared
living and caring. Lessons about inner governance, conflict analysis, restorative
justice, participatory rural appraisal and self-care were imbibed not merely
through class room lectures in our sacred space, the library but as lived experiences
in the form of games and role plays. Never in my life had I imagined I would
meet Niyonzima Protais from Burundi who is struggling for life in a dangerous
conflict. I did not understand what an identity crisis can mean to someone
until I met Esther Teh and Vika Stepanets from Malaysia and Ukraine
respectively. I did not give much thought to the struggles of women from the
Middle East until Asmaa Sleem from Egypt sensitized me about it. And how much did I know about my own country? Very little until I learnt about tribal culture from Amit Rana Tirkey and about a unique type of majority-minority conflict in Murshidabad from Bibek Sarkar. I experienced what a refugees goes through when I became one for a role play exercise during the
program. I was aware of the significance of self-care as peace builder and an
individual, but I did not admit to serious consequences of rushing for everything in
life until I wrote a letter to myself about what I am missing in this grind.
The sessions on ‘Quiet Time’ and the discovery of 'inner voice' where one benefited from the opportunity to introspect and share feelings with
a trusted circle of friends was special because though I practice meditation, I
never felt the need to pen down my thoughts. Simple activities such as dinner
time conversations, playing games together, sharing meals with each other,
knocking on each other’s doors to be able to wake up on time for the morning session,
the visit to a mountain top or just hanging out during breaks became so much a
part of me during the three weeks. Discussion, reflection, writing, sharing,
laughter, watching movies, dancing, singing, enjoying the bonfire, playing
games or simply admiring the brilliance of our primary facilitators Dr. Ashok
and Ms. Florina Xavier worked to build a community of individuals who will stay
together despite a thousand divisions.
During those 21 days, that
seemed too long in the beginning and too hurried up towards the end, I engaged
critically in some prejudices that I had formed over a long time period,
reflected on what I was doing to my life, came to appreciate people living in
adverse circumstances yet filled with hopes and smiles and came to become more
grateful for what I had in life. As someone with firm belief in peace, I learnt
about more than 20 varied conflicts simply by interacting with people. I have
now come to question my own understanding of conflict and examine it with a
positive lens, rather than branding it as completely negative. I have learnt
how as peace builders we rely on individual strengths, which is good, but we
must also consolidate interdependence and work with everyone, even those who
advocate violence. My Caux journey has taught be not to jump to conclusions in
conflict situations and be more understanding of why people indulge in violence.
It has also strengthened my conviction of working especially with those who
believe in extremism, intolerance and exclusion. It is probably a cakewalk to
work with those who are convinced by peace, but the challenge is in engaging
with those for whom peace is still an illusion, and violence the only way.
At Caux, I learnt that peace
building and community development can go hand in hand. Our visits to villages
in the Satara district where I had firsthand opportunity to interact with
citizens in rural India brought home the message that peace building work need
not be grand and glorious. It can be small scale, humble yet very valuable. My experience
of facilitating translation between the villagers and scholar participants
offered insights into how language can be such a powerful tool to connect with
people around you. Innovation that is grounded in local knowledge, is low cost
and is owned by people is very crucial to social and political change.
My Caux story also includes
learning from the scholars themselves through presentations made on a conflict
that they experienced – at personal, social, cultural and political levels. It is
also about washing dishes together at the AP kitchen and tidying up the dining
hall as a part of service. It is also about late night chatting and listening
to songs that were played in the room next to mine. The Caux journey was
special since I was away from home for a long time and it was Christmas and New
Year that I was going to miss with my family. But while in Panchgani, I
attended midnight mass in a Church for the first time in my life, sang carols
and played the role of Secret Santa for an unknown person. I danced to death on
New Year ’s Eve to the tunes of Hindi and English songs to welcome it with my new family. To add to the fun, I also played football! I learnt how
easy yet how difficult it is to share what one has gone through in life, how
sharing with a trusted circle of friends reinstates your belief in dealing with
adversity. I learnt how stories in a ‘peace circle’, both sad and humorous can
connect people together, to share grief and joy. I learnt how each one of us
had a powerful story to tell, a story that had played its part in shaping the
world as we see it today.
This Caux journey is just
the beginning for a group of motivated people from different parts of the
world, connected by a shared belief in peace, justice and non-violence. We may
fall short of resolving all conflicts that we face in our communities, in our
countries, but we have committed ourselves to the struggle for peace. We know
it is not going to be an easy one; there will be times when we will be tired
and may feel like giving up. I believe that during such times we will
remember and seek inspiration from our days together at Panchgani. However difficult
a time we may face, we will be ‘all right’ and raring to go, fully aware that
in each corner of the world there is a Caux scholar cum friend with whom we
promised to strive to make this world a more peaceful place to live in.
*If you feel you want to attend the Caux Scholars Program that happens in December every year, please visit http://in.iofc.org/caux-scholars-program-asia-plateau
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