Joining ACO Children and meeting with Agriculture Scientists

Joining ACO Children in Schools:

That day was one of my busiest days after passing out of my MBA. It’s Friday the 18th. We started early morning at 4:30 AM from Hyderabad to Guntur. We picked up Sunil on the way and went. We really enjoyed the journey of nearly 300 Km with lot of hot discussions, nice visits (Ethipothala etc) and some playing. We reached Guntur by 11 AM and had a meeting with Mr. Siva Rami Reddy, head of Avagahana NGO, who head Loksatta, Guntur few years back and did more than 5000 programmes in his career of last 20 years.

The purpose of our trip is to join ACO Children in schools. (www.acoindia.org) As a board of director, the responsibility for Guntur, we gave to Mr. Siva Rami Reddy, who is doing a great job in Guntur. So, we met him and discussed about how to go ahead in joining the children. We met with the head of orphanage and few parents there and found about the schools where we are going to join the children.

We went to Naveena Vidhyalaya first to meet the principal and ask for some concession for the students that we are joining. We (I, Eswar and Sunil) explained the concept of ACO and made him understand why we started such an institution to help the poor children. He was so impressed with our organization and more with us (being so young and concerned about the needy children’s education) and told he will sponsor not only the 5 children that ACO adopted but all the 20 children that are about to join that school. We bowed to his humanity and responsiveness and thanked him for his consideration. We also asked him to be part of ACO and he is more than willing to join ACO and joined.

After that, we went to Kanna English Medium School (My friend Vishnu’s father’s school) and explained him the concept of ACO. We got amazing response from him and he was so happy to meet us. He is very energetic and showed us why it matters to provide education to children. He showed how much concessions he is giving to the children. He also gave us the reasoning for why it is difficult for them to fight corporate schools which charges very high for children and pay more for the teachers. So, we completely convinced to pay the complete fee, however we got Rs 1000/- concession, which we thought, we can educate on more poor child. However the boon he gave us is, he is going to give free education to 15 children whether they get sponsors or not. We felt very happy and he wanted to be part of ACO and he became integral part of ACO.

We wished all the children best wishes and went for the meeting with Agriculture scientists and officers.

Meeting with Agriculture Scientists and Agriculture officers in Guntur:

Its 6:15 PM and I reached Avagahana office. There are around 15 members waiting for me to speak on the model that I presented in United States on Agriculture. All of them are more than 60 at least, who worked in rural India all their life time. Their experience is almost double that of my age and most of them are in the field of agriculture. I was introduced as a young mind, who is striving to make the agriculture profitable and presented a model in University of California, Berkeley. I spoke about my model for around 45 min.

1. Automation - Reducing cost and increasing yield for the farmer. So, overall productivity goes up by using lean principles. We can double the productivity which is missing now because of lot of loopholes.

2. Creating a hub and spoke model, where each hub acts as an aggregation of supply from farmers and aggregation of demand for retailers and where there is a seamless supply and demand with high quality without any intermediary. So, farmers get more prices for their goods and retailers can buy at cheaper prices with assured quality from farmers.

3. Creating self employment Units and creating direct markets for them. Like Dairy Farms, Organic fertilizers, Chutneys and handmade things etc. it’s based on location and their expertise. This increases the income levels of the farmers and hence the way they live.

4. We can create huge retail outlets at each hub where farmers can sell their goods directly. Just like Wal-Mart concept. Because each hub connects around 50 villages and 2/3 towns. They get enough market. This provides farmers good prices and very cost effective for consumers with good quality.

Then, the scientists asked me many questions and few of them I was unable to answer and they suggested different methods. Also, they gave few suggestions of how to go ahead with pilot plan. They were very happy with us and asked us to go ahead with our plan. They told, they will provide 100% support all the time and they gave me a book as a token of appreciation. (Pedda Bala Siksha) The discussion happened almost for 3 hours with different points from different angles and provided me a very good direction for my business plan.

Fruitful Saturday

It’s been 45 days since I complete my MBA. Joined ADP as a business analyst immediately after completing my MBA just with a break of 5 days.

On Friday, My uncle called me and asked to prepare a business presentation for the investors about starting a training institute in Hyderabad. After participating in many business plan competitions and winning at Asia level and participating at global level, it’s not a difficult thing to do. I just had one evening to complete. I got a call in the evening at 9 PM to give a guest lecture in Silver Oaks School on Business studies and its importance for 11^th standard students - from the school principal Mrs. Seetha Murthy one of the dynamic personalities that I ever met. So, I accepted that, considering it’s a privilege to have that opportunity. So, worked on both the presentations on Friday, when I saw the time 1:30 AM.

On Saturday, Missed both my jogging and car class and went to give the business presentation to more than 10 investors (IT stalwarts) about why it makes lot of sense to do the business. Then immediately went to school to talk about business studies to 11^th standard students who took a revolutionary step not to go for Engineering and Medicine but for business studies. So, I took the initiative to motivate them and internalize on the importance of non science subjects (though I am an engineer from NIT) and its future wrt career opportunities. I almost spoke for 1 hour what is meant by business studies and what is the importance of it. I just wondered for the answer students gave “Being Busy” for “What is business”.

When I was in guest lecture, got a call from my uncle about the appointment that we have with Ex MP about the business plan meeting (Agriculture that I proposed and presented in US). Happened to meet him explain about the business model and importance of it. “I just got surprised when they told me that they want to invest in agriculture not in India but in US or AUS”, I just felt helpless and don’t want persuade them anymore and returned home J (then I thought I will meet only those whose thoughts are in align with my thoughts .. at least those who think doing business in rural india is important)

Ended with lot of calls when I reached home, as 26^th June was my birthday for last three years, when my father called last year and told me that its not 26^th but it 28^th J . I came to my sister’s home away from all the business plans, NGO activities and other reading stuff and just felt free.

Expect The Unexpected

The puzzling thing about life is, the source of satisfaction differs from person to person. It will not be same most of the times. For me, it’s difficult to comprehend, where I get satisfaction from. May be helping friends, challenging myself with tough situations and cracking tough competitions. Frankly speaking, not sure. I tried different things, but unluckily didn’t find one till now.

Expectations about anything lead to misery. I trust this statement and I try to avoid it. The problem comes, when you find someone trustworthy. There the problem starts, once they become trust worthy, you start trusting them with some expectations which will break at one point of time to give you disappointment. However life is fully all about ups and downs and staying equanimous at all points of time.

If you don’t dream, you will not have it. This puts you into the soup of expecting something wholeheartedly and hence the result. I am confused about this. I believe in creating positive pressure for whatever I do and then complete the task. So far it worked for me. However, I am in the quest of finding the answer to the same question what makes me more satisfied with what I am doing.

We live in the world of hope. “The Next is going to be the best”. The fact is, as long we start to live in present, the future will keep chasing us and put us in that misery all the time. So, trusting ourselves and making things we like and make us feel proud probably the best things to do at present no matter how difficult and challenging they are. Be ready for unexpected, it makes life exciting…

Reality Vs Idealism

Reality is looking, experiencing and feeling the things around as it is. It’s the ability of perceiving things in the frame of the source itself, which otherwise the reality has no meaning but become only relative reality. I doubt the existence of reality and I feel it’s a dogma. Because nobody knows what is real and what is not. It’s only the perception which most of the times depends on the frame of reference which we look at. The frames of reference vary from person to person where he belongs to, the kind of environment they grew up, their genes and everything surrounded by them so far. So, when the frames are different, the way each look at something different and the reality is nothing but a perception and hence become relative for measurement.

So, the term absolute we are talking about (Reality) is never so. However, Considering the experience, knowledge of the people who gained the ability to see things as they are can perceive the reality and act upon it. This needs lot of patience, practice and power to live life without attachment from any source and able to break through all the frames that the world creates around.

Idealism is perfection with which we do things in consideration with the absolute values, ethics and morals that our ideologies since generations taught us. Again, what is ideal is may not be ideal to others as each is different with respect to their ideologies which has been penetrated and inculcated in each and every nerve of the people.

Reality is wrt a person and idealism is wrt a race. Both are different for different people depending on who both the individuals are. So, the distinction between reality and Idealism comes when the perceptions of one person from one race meets the perceptions of other person from another race. Where the frame of reality is different and the frame of ideologies are different. So, whats true for one person may be true for another or false for another based on what the other person is.

The one who can control all the senses and able to absorb the power of nature and feels it can understand the reality and idealism and their difference in all situations. It’s the non attachment with the world which breaks the barriers and moves towards the idealism and breaks the barriers between different ideologies and brings all of them to one. The one who can feel both of these can enjoy each and every moment of life as he can connect to the nature all the time and able to see it from the frame of nature itself.

Disruptive Innovation

I loved great lakes for its faculty. It’s a great learning throughout the year with the harmony of theoretical concepts by great faculty and industrial outlook by CEOs, CFOs, COOs, great doctors, IAS officers, Chief Ministers through guest lectures. Today we are fortunate to have Mr.Shibulal , the Chief Operating Officer and one of the founding members of Infosys addressing us on technology innovation in the future.

He provided me with a paradigm shift in my thought process by giving insights and direction to look at and think through the spectrum of technology and its growth. It’s not about adding improvements to new products which make you unique but by moving towards disruptive innovation and making others follow you. When whole the world is thinking in one direction, you need to think through another direction to make some space in the market. Tata Nano is one such example, where whole automobile industry is looking towards convenience and Tata looked towards affordability. And the so called world giants started following it.

Disruptive innovation is what makes the world moving in right direction. Big companies which forget to handle this will lose out in long term to the firms which come up with these kinds of innovations. So, these companies need to start their own small firm with new clients when they come up with such an innovation and the world is not yet ready, so that it will not lose its big pool of customers who are accustomed to past.

Healthcare is just booming looking towards the global trend of aging population. Except India, almost all countries are moving towards that. So there is a need for lot of innovation both in products and processes considering the gaps that health care industry is going to face in the near future. Connecting and contacting the aged people is going to be one of the most important things in healthcare industry where there can be a great innovation happen.

Another example is Power sector. Reduction of use of power by big firms and making power multi directional may be a big thing. Lot of power can be saved and transferred to require through this.

The world is going to becoming more and more multi directional and multi dimensional from uni-directional and uni-dimensional just like what happened in Web 2.0.

Intelligence is all about asking right questions

It is not our intelligence, but it is the direction of the intelligence that determines the pace of our progress. And, our intelligence can be directed, if only we know how to ask right questions.

Questions have great power. One right question asked at right time, can change the direction of our intelligence, and thus can change the direction of life.

We are more humane than what we think we are, we are more capable than what we think we are, no matter we believe it or not.

As Socrates puts it, the overall purpose of asking right questions is to challenge accuracy and completeness of thinking in a way that acts to move people towards their ultimate goal. Don't waste time by doing it for your own gratification. Get your kicks vicariously, from the movement you create.

The following is the direction Socrates gave for asking right questions.

Conceptual clarification questions

Get them to think more about what exactly they are asking or thinking about. Prove the concepts behind their argument. Basic 'tell me more' questions that get them to go deeper.

• Why are you saying that?
• What exactly does this mean?
• How does this relate to what we have been talking about?
• What is the nature of ...?
• What do we already know about this?
• Can you give me an example?
• Are you saying ... or ... ?
• Can you rephrase that, please?

Probing assumptions

Probing of assumptions makes them think about the presuppositions and unquestioned beliefs on which they are founding their argument. This is shaking the bedrock and should get them really going!

• What else could we assume?
• You seem to be assuming ... ?
• How did you choose those assumptions?
• Please explain why/how ... ?
• How can you verify or disprove that assumption?
• What would happen if ... ?
• Do you agree or disagree with ... ?

Probing rationale, reasons and evidence

When they give a rationale for their arguments, dig into that reasoning rather than assuming it is a given. People often use un-thought-through or weakly understood supports for their arguments.

• Why is that happening?
• How do you know this?
• Show me ... ?
• Can you give me an example of that?
• What do you think causes ... ?
• What is the nature of this?
• Are these reasons good enough?
• Would it stand up in court?
• How might it be refuted?
• How can I be sure of what you are saying?
• Why is ... happening?
• Why? (keep asking it -- you'll never get past a few times)
• What evidence is there to support what you are saying?
• On what authority are you basing your argument?

Questioning viewpoints and perspectives

Most arguments are given from a particular position. So attack the position. Show that there are other, equally valid, viewpoints.

• Another way of looking at this is ..., does this seem reasonable?
• What alternative ways of looking at this are there?
• Why it is ... necessary?
• Who benefits from this?
• What is the difference between... and...?
• Why is it better than ...?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of...?
• How are ... and ... similar?
• What would ... say about it?
• What if you compared ... and ... ?
• How could you look another way at this?

Probe implications and consequences

The argument that they give may have logical implications that can be forecast. Do these make sense? Are they desirable?

• Then what would happen?
• What are the consequences of that assumption?
• How could ... be used to ... ?
• What are the implications of ... ?
• How does ... affect ... ?
• How does ... fit with what we learned before?
• Why is ... important?
• What is the best ... ? Why?

Questions about the question

And you can also get reflexive about the whole thing, turning the question in on itself. Use their attack against themselves. Bounce the ball back into their court, etc.

• What was the point of asking that question?
• Why do you think I asked this question?
• What does that mean?

Why experience matters? - Analytics perspective

It is very important to understand the past to make a right move in the future. It is what makes people wise if they are able to learn from the past i.e. the reflection from the past experience. So, what is it makes experienced people more capable than who are not. As for as the field where creativity is concerned, it’s the unlearning what matters than the learning. However in most cases, where re-engineering or revamping the processes or restructuring the organizations is concerned what matters is the analysis of the past and its reflection for the future.

Experience is nothing but the analytical models that were built in the minds of the professionals which they learned from their past or from their peers. So, these models gives a prediction which is of equal credibility and reliability when you compare with analytical models using softwares like SAS, Business Objects, SPSS etc. As Malcolm Gladwell says, in a blink of an eye, Dr.John Gottsman's intuitive judgement gives whether this married couple will stay for long or not, a manager looking at a process and says right or wrong in an instant. These people, for the last 10-15 years whatever they observed, captured it, refined it, cleansed it and derived patterns to bring about certain conclusions which are of high quality. So, as long as the situation does not change where these people are expertise of, these gut feelings will work.

The Relevance of Mahatma Today

India has always been the country which inherits the good of everything around. It is always believed that the weapons of peace are inescapably powerful than the most destructive weapons that man has created since the last two centuries. It was proved many times since the ancient times and will be proved in present and future as well. There are people who disciplined the world with the way this hostility to be treated in every generation.

At present, the world is running at superior pace, where no one knows what is happening round and technology turned man into a machine. The very basic quality of man’s “thinking power” is being lost since the last decade and he is obeying to machines, turning our world into a helpless destination. The current world has lost the meaning of peace and is running after it without actually thinking over it for a few seconds. Now is the time for us to revisit at our great leaders who designed a strategy for tackling such situations like violence, racism, conflicts, war, terrorism, hatred and slavery. It is their indomitable courage to fight and their discipline to stick to their values that made the world a better place those times.

It is utmost important for everyone to learn what these people have done to maintain the peace in the world and use them in the situations of crisis to fight them in order to make the world livable. One such great personalities in 20^th century was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Father of our nation and the profounder of ahimsa and truth, was a humanitarian and much more. His role in establishing peace in the world is unequivocal. He was considered as one of the best strategists born in this world. He helped the world with the weapons, the world never ever thought of, which are indestructible, unquenchable till it realizes its purpose. Non Violence, Non co-operation moment, Social protest, Mass civil disobedience and non violent resistance are the esteemed weapons he gifted the world which changed the way to fight hostility, violence and destruction. This seems the only way for the helpless people in all over the world to fight with the mighty in mightier manner and help them realize the humanity in them to put an end to this hostile process. This is the only way to resolve the problems which can never be solved with sword and gun.

The one who was admired by one billion people as MAHATMA gave every reason to keep smile on the face of each and every common man who was harassed by white people both in India and South Africa. The solutions he came up for every situation that he faced lead to the common good of human kind gave a rejuvenated hope in the lives of helpless people throughout the world. It is worth calling them resolutions rather than solutions to the problems. However the current world is facing those issues again in the absence of peace making ideals. It’s a need for the world to revisit and help the world in establishing peace through Gandhian way.

Conspiracy of Inspiration - The New Name of The Game

The first question I raised myself is – Is it new? – My answer is certainly “No”, then why I kept its new name of the game. I believe, the concept of conspiracy of inspiration used by all our great cherished leaders in the past, however the way they used this is more strategic and for the benefit of the society in most of the cases (debatable). And I feel this is prevailing again in modern era, considering the vulnerable society. Now, every person is acting like an automated machine, and feels the necessity of being humane at times. This feeling of being part of the human generation will be provided by our so called inspirers. But the way it is being done is what I feel is conspiracy!!!

Let me tell you what I mean by Conspiracy of Inspiration. This is the process of mystifying people with what they like rather than what’s correct. In this process, people will listen to what these people say because it is in tune with their belief system, which don’t need any change of their existing beliefs and will be carried away with this. And by this process, they create an image of leadership, which I feel pseudo leadership. Of course, this process needs innate potential and intrinsic capabilities powered by indomitable genius.

Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi are best examples of this kind. Their vision is selfless and the way they inspired people is in that direction hence they reached the state of god. Of course these cases are extreme cases, however they did this. How the modern world is reacting to these kinds of situations is questionable. The modern era questions everything and if they are able to get the answers they want, they are ready to accept the leadership and become followers without any further validity of the truth. However getting them to listen to what we say is difficult. However a situation of vulnerability may let people cross this barrier and let them listen to the world of inspiration to get carried away with. Because they are supposed to listen to, what they want to listen to and hence they got into the trap that cannot be realized. I am not sure, is it good or bad, I saw both the extreme cases, who utilized these situations for their benefit and also those who ridiculed themselves with these thoughts. However, by introspection and by going deep inside, one can really feel the necessity of being humane and hence come out of this trap, if it is truly a trap.

I feel, this is important considering the way technology is changing the way people interact. Now, people rarely talk verbally. The communication happens by means of electronic media, if at all people talk, they use mobile phones or voice chat in computers. So, when there exists a communication gap between individuals, they feel the necessity of being prone to pseudo spirituality which can be attained by words of wisdom which they want to hear rather than what they need to be heard.

So, Individuals need to start thinking. Thinking is a cognitive process and needs time. If you are not giving enough time to think and blame your decision process, it’s a lame excuse. You ought to derive the consciousness by the process of thinking which otherwise is impossible to be provided with. This ability is what make humans what they are and create a sense of self esteem and pride to die with.

Life as sea

The Beauty of life depends on what are difficult and troubling circumstances that are unexpected. It’s like lightening in the mid of the sea which gives the jerk to your current life to change its path slightly to move ahead. When you go through such challenges you will feel the heat of it and may hate it, but for the outside world, what is visible is the attitude with which you handle the situation. If one is so calm and peaceful, that doesn’t mean, he is out of troubles and challenging situations. But it is just that, he crossed the stage of reacting to those situations. It’s action that matters than reacting to those situations.

If you happen to go to a beach, observe carefully, how much time it takes for a small thing to go little deeper in to the sea. It may take hours, the reason being one wave will pull into the sea and at the same time other wave pushes it out of the sea. If it happen to move into the mid of the sea then it will stay calm and composed without any further push – pull process. Life is just like that, when you are ready to enter into a challenging world to get something you will experience both the things positive and negative. Positive gives you motivation to move further and Negative gives you the strength to handle the incoming challenges for the future.

The serenity of life doesn’t depend on how the external circumstances impact you but how you project your life to be. The beauty of life depends on the kind of challenges that one undergo. This is what is visible to others. Because everyone want to view themselves as what others want them to be, rather than what they want to see themselves to be. It is those situations that project your attitude to the outside world just like lightening in the mid of the sea, which is one of the most beautiful things to see.

Indian Philosophy in brief

 India never felt the world was a field of battle and hence people began to think of the higher life, how to life more perfectly in the spirit. None of the rulers of India affected the spiritual integrity of Indian Culture. Be it Greeks, Huns, Scythians or Moguls. India escaped the doom that Plato pronounced as the worst of all “The hatred of reason”. The Conservative Liberalism is the secret of the success of Indian culture and civilization.

 Periods of Indian Thought :

-          Vedic Period (1500 – 600 BC)

-          Epic Period (600 BC – 200 AD)

-          Suthra and scholastic period (from 200 AD)

 Broad domain of religious and philosophic thoughts :

-          Weltanschauung (or world view) : Hinduism is a world view

o       Vedas (Shruthis)

§         Samhitha

·         Collection of mantras(hymns),prayers,charms,litanies,fromula

§         Brahmanas

·         Meaning of mantras and their application, related stories, ritualistic portion, sacrifices Rajasuya,Ashvamedha,Agnishtoma and Soma Yaga

§         Aranyakas

·         Using mantras and samhithas as spiritual exercises in prayer and meditation – aspect of philosophic mysticism

§         Upanisahds

·         Philosophiccal discussions of the hermits and ascetics on soul, god, world, and human being.

o       Smrithis

§         Ithihasa

§         Dharmashastras

§         Purana

§         Agama

-          Philosophy

-          Religion(or sect)

 Six Orthodox schools

-          Nyaya

-          Vaisheshika

-          Sankhya

-          Yoga

-          Purva Mimamsa

-          Vedanta

o       Non Dualism or Advaitha – Sankara

o       Qualified non dualism – Ramanuja

o       Dualism – Madhava

 Vedas

-          Rg-Veda Samhita

o       Collection of Manthras(hymns), primarily concerned with praise to the gods, and the main book of Manthras

-          Sama Veda

o       Collection of songs mostly taken from the Rg-Veda set to music for singing during the sacrifice

-          Yajur Veda

o       Collection of sacrificial formulas in prose and verse to be chanted at the proformance of sacrifice (Krishna , Sukla recensions)

-          Atharva Veda

o       Collection of spells, charms and incantations in verse meant for different lower purposes than the purely spiritual

 

 

Outbound Training @ Great Lakes

“When the going is tough, the tough gets going”, this was the case for two days in our OBT (Out Bound Training at Adventure Zone) which happened very recently. It was fun, adventurous and good learning experience. It was a very good team building program which consisted of Rappelling, Rock Climbing, Obstacle block, orienteering and some psychological test (similar to SSC test).

The first day of our college life started with a big bang. I felt this program conducted to show us, life is not going to be so easy for us in the incoming days, who have been sitting in A/C rooms and having coffee and tea whenever get bored in corporate offices till recently. It was like getting us ready physically first.

Major Roy, the facilitator for the OBT divided us into 6 teams (total of 120 students). We got our first activity as Obstacle Block. It was just like a military training where you need to do 10 things consecutively In 4 minutes. It included balanced walk on a narrow wood plate, crawling on rope, crawling through a pipe followed by tyres, Cheetah ladder, climbing rope ladder, mines, spider web and snake walk on a wire. I thought this was the easiest one, however after completion of the activity, I felt, probably it was the most difficult of all. Its not only squeezes your energy but also your team members while helping the person who is actually doing it. For the first member it was difficult as we don’t know how to do the activity in the best manner. It was happened to be me in Obstacle block. In spite of few mistakes I was able to complete it in 4 min and got 100 marks (10 activities). And all the members successfully completed it with few injuries in our bucket and good score. The second session was the same where group need to complete the task together including a pole which should be held by 3 people at every point of time. We considered this as a liability except the 50 points it brings. So we were unable to derive any benefit out of it as we ignored the hidden benefits that we can get with it. So each and every thing has its own importance and using it effectively makes it as an asset rather than liability.

Rappelling was real fun. Though people were scared a lot, they enjoyed it the most. First 10-15 members completed it very quickly (including me). The wall is straight rather than little bent which we see in IMAX. With first few steps we need to ensure that we are perpendicular to the wall. Then keeping your legs straight (90 degrees to wall) makes it very easy to come down just like walking. They bind us with a cantilever kind of lock which ensured our safety. When we are walking on a wall which is vertical we really enjoyed each and every step we made and loved every moment of it. Once we complete it we reached the terrace which is 4 floors above through steps without worrying about it at all and ready for the second time. Though we wished to do the third, the time is over and was unable to finish. If I get the time, I will surely go for it without any hesitation at any point of time.

After some time, I went upstairs to mentor our guys. Two people were toppled at the top in the first few steps which must be taken very carefully, however they were balanced and was able to complete it successfully. However after looking at them few of our guys were really scared to participate and missed the fun. So it depends not only on how good you are but also how your previous candidate is acting on it. If he is successful there is 100% scope for the other one to attempt it. Also it needs trust from other team members who are helping him by mentoring and by holding the rope. You need to trust your team and start doing things without hesitation. But doing things is important as your participatation effectively impacts the performance of your team.

Before we go to Rock Climbing, we were informed the scores of our team and other team. Other team scored 540 in Rock Climbing. We used that score and thought little logically and found we can do much better job by doing things strategically. For each candidate we get 20 points. And we got 20 members in our team where in 10 are thin and 10 are heavy. While climbing we can pull the rope so that the candidate can climb it easily. So we sent the first 10 thin members first and then the rest. As it included 3 laps where each lap need to be completed by all the members. Usually it is difficult as the wall is vertical and with the blocks which are not giving proper grip. Whenever you need help, if you ask to pull, our guys will pull us and you can reach the top in no time. So it was also fun however for pulling it needed lot of energy for heavy guys.

As for as the Orienteering is concerned it’s just like a treasure hunt however there is a difference. You will be given a card which consists of an angle and distance. Using Compass and foot steps of one candidate we need to measure angle and distance. With the given details you can find second card which leads to third and so forth. However the fun was that, all this happened in a jungle. With 300 meters to go, we walked all around the bushes, big tress etc and were able to found 2 cards. And for the third we ended up in a farm field which is completely out of the adventure zone. And we took some photos there and reached the destination 13 min late. We got 20 points however for each minute late 5 points will be deducted, so we ended up with -45 points.  And our team was disappointed.

The real fun was at night. As we were given tents with AC and fan which wouldn’t be available during day time. So all people were settled in canteen and starting playing games. Dumbsharads (Hindi) with 6-8 people which was expanded to 30 members later. All our guys were acting superbly guessing with different words and the other team making fun of them.

We played another game named Mafia. In this game there will be one judge and judge will choose the mafia asking all the candidates to close their eyes. Then they will be asked to open the eyes and discuss to come out who is the mafia. Team should guess the mafia with the expressions on the face and way of defending. The guy who is mafia will defend himself and if he is able to come out in the last two people he is a good defender and the winner. It was fun when people choosing one who is not actually mafia and that guy defending he is not. If you are silent, as you are silent they will make you mafia and throw you out of the game and if you are making someone mafia they will make you mafia as you are imposing on others. So one need to be careful to be in the team and in choosing the right one.

The last one was psychometric test, a colonel conducted. We nearly had written around 15 pages – A4 size. We were asked to write what parents, friends and teachers opinion on us and our opinion about ourselves. Then stories based on the pictures and sentences based on words and reaction tests. By the time we complete that our hands were paining. 
Over all it was a good team building exercise where we had fun although each and every part of our body is paining. Kudos to Adventure Zone 