What if….
We sometimes wonder how many people are actually driving themselves crazy because nothing went according to plan this spring. All events, examinations, building projects, trips and upcoming medical interventions have either been cancelled or postponed indefinitely. How many people are probably have the “Corona Blues” because nothing is the way it should be?
Neither Paul nor I are particularly susceptible to pessimistic outlooks and yet we too had our Mini Blues a few days ago. There had been a thunderstorm that circled around the lake for several hours. Waterfall like rain, lightning, thunder and suddenly a deafening bang and we knew it: we have been hit!
Aravind, our IT manager made a quick damage assessment. The lightning had destroyed our server, several UPS’s, routers and with it the whole internet, our umbilical cord to the outside world. Without internet we were practically cut off. What now?
And then we started to do some daydreaming: What if everything had gone according to plan? Then this past weekend we would have welcomed 25 future kantharis from a.o. Guinea, Zimbabwe, England, Ghana, Iran, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Cambodia, Argentina, Zimbabwe and India. They would have walked curiously around the campus, perhaps courageously sticking a toe in Lake Vellayani and hesitantly asking about water snakes.
Others would have started to kick a ball around on the mini football field. In the Amphi Theatre participants would have shared their travel experiences. For many it would have been their first ever flight… And then someone would have called: “Everyone, let’s go to the main gate please, Ragu has arrived!”
Ragunath, an environmental activist, cycling fanatic and last year’s kanthari alumni, had planned a tour from Kashmir to kanthari for April. He would have cycled 5000 kilometers through 10 states in just 45 days. And during this journey have planted thousands of trees and raised awareness about the daily loss of forests in India and the world. And then, he would have welcomed the next generation of kantharis and start the course with us…
“Good morning everyone! Welcome to kanthari!”… That would have been said by Ajith, a charismatic, rather modest man who mostly works in the background. Ajith has been part of our team since the beginning. Without him, there would be no team and we, Paul and I would never have been able to get a foothold here. That is why Ajith has the first and last word every year. Today morning he would have introduced his colleagues, the cooks who serve healthy and tasty dishes in the morning, at noon and in the evening, the chechis who keep everything clean, the guards who welcome everyone with friendliness, the gardeners who grow our vegetables, take care of flowers and feed fish, and last but not least the office team who takes care of finances, the internet and of course the catalyst team who implement the training. Ajith would be standing in front of the stage, addressing the still somewhat shy participants and make sure that everyone feels welcome.
This first week would have been spent exploring the campus, the surrounding village, and the nearby town of Trivandrum. We would have organized a treasure hunt with surprises, a dog trainer would have taught participants how to behave confidently towards barking street dogs, and, if we were lucky, Vava the snake whisperer would have come to the campus with a bag full of freshly caught snakes. Vava is a well-known personality in Kerala, he catches snakes from houses and gardens and sets them free in the forest. From time to time he visits kanthari to teach the participants how to behave in a rather rare (involuntary) encounter with a snake. Most of the participants, once informed, lose their fear. And Vava would let them touch the velvety soft skin of the snake or even pick up and hold a python or a rat snake.
And then, every year on the third day, there is no time to waste, the course starts… with a quote, supposedly from Michael Angelo: “The biggest danger is not to dream big and fail, but to dream small and succeed”. And this already describes the most important principles of our programme: 1. it is possible to dream big, and 2. failure offers great opportunities for new beginnings.
This is what we thought about when we sat in front of our damaged server, almost cut off from the outside world, without electricity, in the dark, while the thunderstorm was still rumbling softly from a distance, as if it was laughing in our face. And right at that moment, as if someone had read our gloomy thoughts, my phone that i luckily still charged before the storm, showed a text message from Alfred, an old friend from university days who asked if we need any help.
That was the spark for another new beginning. That’s how it has been for the past 22 years… It always goes on, even if it does not always go according to plan. Our ‘blues’ were off the table again and a new almost euphoric feeling set in. What if Corona had not been there? Would we have been able to support our kanthari alumni? Would we have had time for this blog, which now informs you (and many other readers) about the kantharis and their projects in several languages?
For years, we had wanted to take a bit of time off, to document the valuable experiences of the many kanthari initiatives. With over 220 graduates and their many different project ideas, it was time to look back: Which of them have succeeded in achieving their goals? Who failed and had the courage to start all over again? Why did some of them have the power to have realized big initiatives in the most adverse circumstances while others lost their enthusiasm when they faced small issues and returned to the mainstream? Which of our methods worked and what could have been done to better prepare the kantharis for their difficult and sometimes even dangerous life-tasks that were ahead of them?
Paul, Aravind, Chacko and I are currently writing a kanthari handbook, with specially developed methods and techniques and practical case studies based on experiences of our alumni. It is a comprehensive work with almost 100 chapters and over a thousand subchapters, with illustrations and self-created soundtracks. It deals with topics such as finance, communication, concept transformation, governance, planning as well as with crisis management. In short, it is a digital reference book for anyone who wants to learn to dream big and practically change the world in the process.
So, if everything had gone according to plan, then…?