Neema is from the 4th Khoji cohort at Swaraj U. She has been a school teacher in a ‘backward’ village in Gandhinagar district, Gujarat, for more than 10 years now. A joyful and simply passionate person, she juggles many projects at the same time, planting seeds of transformation in her school, in her district and also across the state. Originally forced to become a school teacher, she came to Swaraj University to break the moulds she was operating in and explore other things. The program at Swaraj U served to validate and intensify her feelings about the system of schooling. She felt pulled to return to the children with new exciting possibilities.

Now her ventures cover a broad range: Bringing ‘Life Skills through Drama’ into govt. schools, rediscovering local arts and local food, opening dialogues with students about their lives and attempting to bring alive a learning and exploring atmosphere in Gandhinagar - all this while taking care of her mother who is fighting cancer at home. Here is a little more about her and her projects. Perhaps there are also ways in which you would like to get involved and collaborate?

Neema has been leveraging the freedom and flexibility she gets with her government job. She says, “There is a lot of potential in the village way of life.” She feels that some of the local food and the local traditions that make a wholesome life are still alive here and it is important for the children to see and value these things about their lives.

One project in the last month has been about the food that the kids eat. The children would get lunch money from home and then buy packaged snacks like wafers and Cheetos. Digging deeper she found that even their lunch and dinner had taken a turn from the healthy local grains that their grandparents would eat to not so nutritional food. Around five of those local grains including ragi and oats just grew in the fields alongside the cultivated crops, and still are not used anymore! So in the past month, she compiled stories and facts about these grains with the children and had them bring samples to show in the morning assembly. The children have been collecting recipes of these foods from their grandparents and some of them even cooked a dish and brought it to school. She says, “They are curious now and have started thinking about it. Some even bring these foods for lunch and are not ashamed to do so.”

Another thing that she wants to do is to revive the local arts and bring it to the children. She says, “I like art. It strengthens concentration, increases focus. It is like meditation. The respect for its value and for the kind of intelligence it develops is not there anymore. The traditional embroidery in this village has disappeared. There is only one potter left. Some kids will start to go to this potter now, to learn.  I really want to find out how it works. It might increase academic ability; I can connect it to math or science in classes and make it more dynamic; it might enliven the kids who are not interested in school...”

Outside of school Neema has been a key person in the initiative ‘Life Skills through Drama’ which has been integrating drama into government schools across Gujarat. Funded by the government the project has covered three of the four zones of Gujarat. It gets teachers together in a 3 day orientation and then supports them through a year and a half period in integrating drama into their schools. There are promising plans to also take this to other states of India. The program has been pioneered by Swaroop Sampat ji who is Neema’s mentor. Neema also does a residential drama project in Gandhinagar with children twice every year.

She says, “We as teachers tend to think that children don’t know much and ignore the issues in their lives and the understandings that they already have. Here children get their own ideas. They start thinking about parents, relationships, their problems, communication... Sadness feels dangerous to them for example. Through drama they can feel it, express it and come to terms with it. It makes them confident. In 3 weeks I can see the change, their attention becomes sharp. It has changed my relationship with them. They feel like they can share anything with me.”

She has also started a Frisbee team recently in Gandhinagar. It is a sport that is hardly known in Gandhinagar. Now people are starting to play it.  She dreams of a district, a community, which is alive with fests and activities, learning, sharing and creating.

She welcomes anyone who wants to support this journey and dream. She asks for you to share what you know of art, health and local knowledge through workshops, films, games or any other way, especially for children from 5th to 9th grade. She says, “I can help in translating to English if needed. Even if they want to try new workshop ideas with the kids here, the school is open. We want to bring in new things...”

If you connect to her initiatives, want to know more, help in anyway, question / challenge her or just connect with her then write to her at parekhnima@gmail.com

Tapovan is alive. More and more workshops happen these days, new people come and go and new relationships are built.

A new cottage has come up in one of the most picturesque parts of Tapovan, currently called the Baba Hut or Baba Niwas. One theory is that people meditating at the bench there looked like babas (ascetics), and thus the name.

The cottage now has space for 4-5 beds, a small kitchen, and a bathroom with an installed geyser to accommodate families and those who want a more luxurious stay with a view. The structure is made with mud, stone, and glass beer bottles.

The Baba hut began with a thought of building a creative space for sessions. An eco-building workshop, conducted by eco-architects  Azeer, Mukund, and Vishal helped initiate the process . People of all ages- kids, families, the elderly - came together to get their hands dirty and feel the earth to create something. There were several techniques that were  demonstrated in that workshop, including piling sandbags, adobe brick method and so on. Initially, 2-3 benches were created and the roof was repaired.

It looked like an open space, but the baba hut needed to evolve. More guests were also coming in, and as Tapovan became more and more active, it was decided to modify this space a bit.

A few more benches were added, and curtains were added such that a makeshift room could be created. People from the village helped khojis in making this.

The need for new rooms became more and more evident . The 3rd stage of this finalized it into the cottage it now is. Most material was sourced locally, but some like the grass for the roof, was brought all the way from Jaisalmer. The building was constructed out of carefully placed stones, and with a plaster of cow-dung and mud, walls are now smooth.  

An interesting technique was used for ventilation. The principle used was that wind blowing through a wide opening will usually be warmer than wind blowing through a small opening. Glass bottles with their wide portions opened and facing outside and narrower portions inside help cool the room in the summers. Empty beer bottles that would have otherwise been dumped in a dump-yard created efficient air conditioning.

Bhagwaanji and other locals helped a lot in using traditional and local knowledge to set up the building. Tushar, Gaurav, Vikas , Anuj and other khojis came together with others to build this structure.

As the world gets more and more conscious about the environment, eco-building is a great alternative to the modern construction processes. We hope that many efforts like these continue around the world, and hopefully with you.

For more, check out “Put your hands together” for work that they are associated with. Many of Vishal’s products are displayed at the Eco-Hut at Shikshantar.

Swaraj University hosted a 5 day Compassionate Living Retreat in Tapovan this January. It was based on Non-Violent Communication (NVC), but it expanded from focussing just on communication to include empathetic living together. This went beyond sessions in NVC- people learnt and grew through conversations, cooking and cleaning together, sharing skills and gifts while living together.

Fifteen people from diverse backgrounds, places and ages joined Anhad, the 5thkhoji cohort at Tapovan, for this retreat. Here are some responses from participants and an insight into the experience.

Harshad, experiencing NVC for the first time says, “In outside situations, either you listen or share. Here we were free to do both. It was remarkable for me to realise how empathetic it is possible to be when listening to people. It really teaches you how you can build and manage relationships.” Harshad is a young English language trainer for different groups of people including professionals and Adivasi students. Regarding the community aspect he says, “Living with people gave the immediate opportunity to apply whatever was learnt in the sessions.” He felt that it was very helpful to interact and practice empathy with people from various backgrounds.

Compassionate Living was much about living and making decisions, both for ourselves and others at the same time. It was about learning to ask the question “Why are we not able to understand each other?” when in conflict or disagreement, instead of judging the other person.

Sonika, a facilitator at Swaraj, says, “It is something that can be used anywhere, anytime and with anyone. It was real time learning during the retreat.” The first issue itself was that two people were from Andhra Pradesh and could not speak English or Hindi. This became an opportunity to learn the art of inclusion, meeting everyone’s needs (those who needed flow, the difficulty for the one who is translating, them to be reassured that they were not causing inconvenience) and also taking decisions together. The newly formed community of people talked about it, understood each other, brainstormed how to make things work and went on to take a decision together.

The youngest member Shuchita, just seventeen years old, talks about her experience doing a compassionate listening exercise: One member was very frustrated with a situation with his parents. Shuchita role-played his parent and responded to him by sharing what they are feeling with compassionate understanding. She says, “I could see that the parents were really in pain and I burst out in tears. It is the first time that I have seen inside another person with so much clarity.”

Shammi Nanda, who facilitated the retreat, keeps asking “What is the feeling and need that is present behind it?” Recognizing this in both ourselves and the other gives us the freedom to be present in challenging times for those we care about as well as for ourselves.

Shuchita is also home schooled. Being our star karate teacher she says, “Here, no one belittled me for being homeschooled. Outside I am treated as someone mentally impaired or immature because I didn’t go to school. Here, I was able to open up without being judged.” One powerful thing about NVC is that it heals old wounds of being excluded, judged, unheard and hurt – no need to be scared and protect oneself or another in this space.

This same exercise was also carried out with a member who opened up and spoke about being sexually abused, with the whole group. Hari, a khoji, reflects on this, “She shared with us after just two days of knowing all of us... Till then I did not think much of NVC but this really demonstrated the power of the process. Her mother was there in the group. It really moved the whole group and brought us all together to be there for her. We felt honoured to have been trusted.” Another person reflected that NVC was about being able to truly see and empathise with the source of your pain. Here this participant started actually doing this with her abuser. Later she said, “Everything was erupting inside me... I feel really lightened now.”

One important aspect of the retreat was ‘Open Space’ which was a time set every evening for people to share a gift or a skill with others who wanted to learn or receive. There was sharing of karate, story-telling, sharing about a visit to a nearby craft community and Osho meditation, among others. Shammi says, “People innately enjoy contributing to each other. So how can we create a soil where we are connected to our need and feel its beauty, and try to feel the other’s need and its beauty, so that we can be nourished by contributing to each other?”

Chitra, another participant, has been facilitating NVC with Mahila Panchayats and practicing it when counselling rural women, for almost 2 decades now. She says, “It builds trust, understanding and cooperation. There is heart to heart connection. It is very enriching. Women have cried because someone asked them about their needs for the first time.” In this workshop this had been combined with community living and people just eased in with each other. Some especially noted feeling no inter-generational gap. Chitra says, “Community living experience here was very unique, there was a lot of beauty to witness and I did not feel the division at all. We were all sharing the same energy and laughter - this is my biggest take away.”

As this retreat showed, it is possible to build a community out of trust and empathy. Yes, there could easily be conflicts, but through these conflicts people get enabled to go deeper into themselves and each other.

For more on this topic, please check out Shammi’s blog: Courageous Communication

Siddharth is an Aagaazi -he completed his 2 year program at Swaraj in September 2014. A mechanical engineering walkout from Mumbai, he has been making innovative solar bags and cookers for more than two years now.

Initially at Swaraj, he chose a mentorship in solar energy since he was interested in the mechanics of greener solar alternatives. He started by buying a solar cooker, taking it apart and rebuilding it – reverse engineering. He then started making solar cookers by hand and offered them to people in exchange for being given a place to stay. This is when he also started making solar bags.

Ever since then he has been constantly creating more efficient products. His passion and focus is palpable. He wants to take this forward and mass produce so that good solar alternatives are more readily available for people. To realize this dream, he is currently  a fellow at Venture Studio in Ahmedabad. He is getting technical help, the use of a workshop, and guidance in identifying the right market for his products. He wants to find the needs of his customers and satisfy them instead of creating needs that don’t exist.

At present, he is focused on building more efficient and versatile solar cookers - reducing cooking time to 20 minutes and designing it so that it can be used even in a city; in high rise apartments and slums alike, even at anytime of the day. He is also working on solar ovens to replace electric ones.

For his solar bags, the whole supply chain has been devised, ready for when he wants to start production.  

Siddharth’s dream is to help many households and other spaces use solar and other eco-friendly products. It is important for him that his solutions should be affordable and useful for all. If you connect to his dream, want to know more, help in anyway, question / challenge him or just connect with him, then write to him at siddharthyamkar42@gmail.com.

Sumit is from Khudgaon in Nimad region, MP but he grew up in Indore. Being deeply in love with the village life, he has strong ties with his village. He brings from there a refreshing inflow of stories to Swaraj, stories of simple wisdom, mythological tales and folk tales. Graduating in journalism, he worked for a month in a newspaper but struggled to see there the kind of social impact he sought. So he quit and is now finding his way forward. Here is a little about his current journey.

In a workshop held at Swaraj on creativity, the khojis were asked ‘What would you want if you could have anything at all that you wanted?’ Sumit surprised himself by saying “I want to have a thousand cows”. Deciding to follow this unexpected answer for his first mentorship period, he arrived at Sri Ram-Roti Anna Kshetra Ashram started by Waja Bhagat ji in Kothariya, Surendranagar. What he did not know was that he would soon be standing frozen with terror in the middle of a field with hundreds of powerful Gir cattle stampeding towards him. He survived however  (pulled aside by a server at the goshala) and still dreams of having a goshala himself.

It was a religious atmosphere in the goshala he says, where there was a feeling of service to the gomatha. The 800 Gir variety cattle were not tied but left free. Sumit felt really calm and happy being surrounded by so many cows all the time. He was fascinated also by the intelligent and aware Gir variety cattle. Every morning, after milking, the calves would be let out one by one. The calf would call out to the mother and the mother would respond, the calf finding the mother among all the other cows. After milking, a man would lead the cows to the lake for resting. The relationship was such that they would simply follow him to the lake – they were never beaten and no force was used to direct them.

Along with taking care of the cows, Sumit also stacked cornstalks for cattle feed and cleared up the cattle dung with the others. He worked with the daily wage workers getting to know the routine. It was challenging labour intensive work, and he tired easily.

The ashram itself was an intriguing space for Sumit. It sheltered and fed sanyasis of all paths - Shaivaits, Vaishnavaits, Nagas, Fakirs, Aghoris – and he was surprised by how they all stayed together in harmony without the usual clashes because of difference in beliefs. Sumit also worked there, serving food and tea to the sadhaks. He speaks of several encounters where he experienced their strong powers and eccentricities. He says one particular Naga had such a strong presence that it filled an entire room with a clear spirit.

It was tough work and practical learning. He had to manoeuvre his way with the workers who did not fully understand what he was doing there. He says eating with them after the day’s labour he managed to forge some relationships. Getting to know them he realised that most of the ashram workers were farmers who had lost their land to the pollution from the hundreds of industries around. In their own villages they had to buy water, there were no streams left to drink from anymore. Facing these extreme realities shook him, and made him wonder about our industrial growth. In the midst of this, he was then called home to attend an event, where he did not know how to make peace with so much buying and spending.

Sumit simply wanted to see how a goshala works. In the process he experienced and witnessed much that deepened him as a person. At Swaraj he is finding himself wanting to contribute to the world in different ways. He wants to know how he can protect the simplicity and wisdom of the ways of his village even as development takes over.

The stones that pave our paths also make us capable of what we dream of. How willing are we to follow our fascinations through all the challenges that they come with?

Ekta Parishad, an organisation working for the rights of tribal and landless people, organised a Padyatra for ‘Nyaay, Shaanti aur Samman’ (Foot March for Justice, Peace and Dignity) in November 2014. A few khojis, friends and parents joined them in this 200 km walk with the tribal people through their remote villages in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. This was a life altering experience for many of them. Here are some testimonials.

Sauharda speaks about living among the tribal people, “Sleeping with them, walking with them, eating with them, their pain became my pain, their story my story.” During the march the villages that they walked through spoke about the atrocities committed against them by the forest department. Their animals would be taken away from them, their agricultural lands destroyed, men and women beaten in police stations. Sauharda also relates how a friend of his responded to hearing about all this by saying ‘Someone has to pay’. He says, “I felt like someone hit me. Modernisation is making us numb...”

Vipin ji, the father of one of the khojis who also walked with them says “I came upon corruption for the first time. Adivasis have no need for us – they have time, space, air and healthy food. Government schemes trying to get them into the mainstream education and employment have no understanding about their life and community. Govt officers see them as insignificant, trying to take the forest away for resources and drive them into the city.”

The stakeholders involved in the issues of the forest spaces are extremely varied in their worldviews and needs. Ekta Parishad held public meetings in every village, engaging in open dialogue with the government as well, trying to bridge the gap and address the conflicting needs of the different parties.

As Sonika witnessed, there were struggles in co-existing on many levels, “The tug-a-war of the Baiga tribal people with the wildlife and with the other tribal people; the older generations with the new dreams and desires; tribal culture with their home in the forest with the modern world wanting their Jal Jangal Jameen as resources for development; everyday dreams and lives of people with political and economic agendas; even the tribal rights activists with the wildlife activists. Is there a way for everyone to live and thrive together?”

Bhumi speaks about Ekta Parishad, “I have never seen that level of heart-centeredness and broad mindedness in any organisation, especially one that has been working for so long. They are walking the Gandhian talk.” Being quite equipped in understanding the law, Ekta Parishad empowers the tribals with the knowledge of the law so that they can stand up for their rights instead of being taken advantage of because of ignorance.

Shivendr says “I was really touched by how strong the local people were; they had many empowered leaders amongst them. Also the role of women is so powerful in their society.” He loves singing and learnt many songs that they sang along the march, motivational songs asking for inner strength and inner power and a strong and kind heart. Bhumi adds, “The co-existence of pain and laughter was remarkable. There was a sense of coming together and celebration throughout the march”. Women of a village undergoing a particularly hard time strung their pain together into a song. People were shaken and moved to tears as they sang and danced the story of their ordeal. 

Ekta Parishad is a 25 year old grassroots movement in India. This is one of many marches to come for ‘highlighting land right issues’, creating dialoguing spaces between locals and government officials and promoting values of peace and justice. You can join them for upcoming action in February (Palwal to Delhi). For more information click here

There was something about how things came together that was effortless, almost like it was ‘meant to happen’. Sayani had dreamt for two years of setting up a breakfast stall on the promenade of one of her favourite places in Udaipur, Fateh Sagar Lake. She wanted to offer healthy breakfast and a space for people from all backgrounds to converge. She voiced it, and then, somehow, everyone else took it up.

"Aiyyo Upma", as Anhad called it, unfolded on Christmas Morning. Selling 10 rupee plates of upma, making music and conversation, Anhad, the 5th batch of khojis, offered time and company to everyone on the street. Something happened, something that touched many people. Some people would call what she did a social experiment.

Here are excerpts from an interview with Sayani about what it was and how it came together. Read on to be inspired.

Can you describe how ‘Aiyyo Upma’ looked that morning?

Yes, it did not look like a breakfast stall at all. We were sitting like everyone else along Fateh Sagar lake. Some of us were singing, and playing music. Someone was standing, someone was talking... We had a big casserole with the upma and ‘donas’ to serve it with... we hadn’t made a proper signboard or anything. People who came didn’t feel like it was a market.

It wasn’t like a college assignment either. We were just there being ourselves. A lot of people were not even aware that we were selling something - they came because of the music and the energy.

I think that was welcoming for different kinds of people - Police walas, the usual morning walkers, hawkers. Some people came for 5-10 min and some hung around for an hour or two. A married couple sang duets to one other. There was a mother with her son and husband, she hesitated for a while and then started singing with us. The father and son had probably never seen her that way, happy, singing with strangers in public. Others stood at a distance, listening.

There was wonder and fascination that things like this can be done. People spoke about how places like this aren’t there anymore. There was no expectation and no intention from us, people could just come and be.

What was it that you wanted to create?

It was a happy place in my head, where there was music, there was food, a place open for all classes of people without bias. Fateh Sagar is a very special place for me and I really wanted to do this here in Udaipur, which is my hometown. There is no place here where you can get healthy breakfast. There is also no place to just hang out in, with sharing and creativity coming together, a place in which to experiment with new things, especially for the youth.

It was one of the many start up ideas I wanted to try two years back... At that time I was studying in Bangalore and experienced a divide between the North and the South Indians. Food is like a language, it can really help bring together cultures and communities. The idea was to serve South Indian food here to help bridge the gap.

That’s why we called this breakfast stall ‘Aiyyo Upma’ – since the ‘aiyyo’ exclamation is something that us north Indians associate with the south Indians.

What do you think made the space so magical?

All of us, individually and put together as a group... we were being ourselves, each doing something we enjoyed doing. For us it was fine to sing anything, to not talk even if people are talking. I was just singing, and my brain was telling me people are calling out to me, reply, but I was just singing. Basically I ended up ignoring people <Laughter>. This is new for people, an atmosphere of being laid back and comfortable and not trying to be any particular thing. That let them feel ok also about being however they wanted to be.

Was this about carrying out a social experiment?

I am suddenly hugging people a lot over here. Gift culture or hugging are things that many people haven’t even imagined to be possible. There’s so much about ourselves and how we live that we start seeing differently here at Swaraj. I really wanted to share this with others, at least with those that really matter to me. I wanted to challenge normally accepted codes of behaviour... ask questions like ‘How would this be instead?’

Social experiment, I got that in my head 2 months back. But if we go beyond the term, I just wanted to try out new things with people and see what happens. Especially with my family, sharing feelings, playing games together, watching a documentary is all something they are not used to. So no matter what platform or approach I take it will end up being a social experiment, right?

How did money play out in the Aiyyo Upma experiment?

Coming to Swaraj, we start thinking about making life simpler. I wanted to explore how much I really needed in order to live. I wanted to explore in what ways and with what emotions I wanted to make that living.

Here, we learnt amazing stuff about earning in a group. Everyone is in a different mindset so how do we not impose or dominate, and how do we make everyone feel heard? We had the space to experiment and learn.

It was also visible that the minimum price was making it approachable for diverse people. We might have made more money by increasing the price but we wouldn’t have gotten all those people. We gave away some bowls for free and some people didn’t pay. This might have otherwise bothered me but it’s a different feeling when you are not doing it for money. I had a feeling that even those that didn’t pay would have walked off happily and not with that fear or sneaky feeling. That made me very happy.

I also want to try offering such spaces with gift culture, pay-it-forward, for free, and maybe other ways.

Many people dream about different things but it doesn’t always happen – what do you think made this happen?

When I had the idea two years back I just gave up. I was thinking of doing it alone and everything seemed like a task. I would imagine stuff like this - a bunch of friends doing it together, going and sharing love with people. Now was the perfect time and place, I had the perfect people around me. I started thinking about how khojis could add a different flavour...

All I did was announce it in the group. We thought of different ways to go about it – we could have a core team or I could take the lead... But finally, things just fell into place. Everybody dreamed with me and it just happened. Whatever people wanted to do, they ended up doing that. We need more communities that come together to support each other’s dreams like that...

If you feel like doing something then just put it out there and do it. Don’t make a big deal out of it – that’s something that I felt.

 “Social Experiment” has become a buzz word in certain circles. It refers to experiments that generally challenge the way that society functions and break existing boundaries, somehow... lovingly.  

But it is quite simple: You can sit down and talk with relatives that you don’t usually talk to. You can visit neighbours who you haven’t bothered to get to know. You can offer free hugs in a mall with your friends. You can visit your house-keepers’ community and spend an afternoon there. Visit the slum next door with your mom. Watch a documentary with your family instead of a movie. Host a potluck in your housing community. Offer music on the street with your college mates, take some extra instruments and invite people to play. Clean up a dirty area on your street with your friends and see if you can keep it clean somehow. What is Your Aiyyo Upma?!

They say the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach. Indeed, many conversations and relationships get built over a meal. Can we offer that for the larger community, not as a restaurant, but as a gift?

Hulchal café, at Shikshantar, Udaipur, is an attempt at this. Shikshantar is an organization dedicated to revisiting and learning from local values, and rethinking the modern education and economic systems. They started experimenting with this café 5 years ago.

Manish Jain, one of the co-founders of Shikshantar, shared that Hulchal (which means movement in Hindi) is a place where people can learn, experiment, connect with each other and share their gifts. With fast food becoming so common, Hulchal and many others around the world are trying to get back to “slow” food; the food that is made and offered here is locally sourced, organic, and mostly vegan.

Over the years, people have performed here, celebrated birthdays and anniversaries, given massages and so on, all in the spirit of gifting. “Anhad”, the 5th batch of khojis at Swaraj University, hosted Hulchal café on the 10th of January.

Performances included a radio-skit, a song written and composed by them and more music. There were corners dedicated to massages, art and understanding gift culture. About 80 people were served pumpkin soup, 3 bean salad, bajra biryani, sweet potato tikki and papaya halwa. The day closed with an intense drum circle.

Guests and khojis were touched by the connections, the ambience and the friendly family atmosphere. For many khojis this was the first time they had hosted such a thing together.

Before the café started, Manish had given a moving and spirited talk, about how he draws inspiration from one of his late aunts who enthusiastically and lovingly served every guest who came to their house, whether invited or not. He wanted this spirit of serving without expectations to flow to all khojis so they can serve guests with gratitude. “Those who were receivers [of food] were serving us by being open to receive,” is how Shivendra put it. He performs theatre and music, and he finds immense gratitude in audiences and guests; for they are the reason why he can perform or serve.

Preparation for food, decor and performances had been going on for a few days, and on the day of the café, people woke up early to start. Tons of things had to be done, but as Bhumi reflected, “There was happiness in the rush”. The spirit of service, of helping people enjoy their evening, had energized and united everyone. Abhijeet was all smiles as he shared, “Each individual wanted to give their best. And with the value of service, when each person is of this energy, there is strong group energy as well.” He felt that this really helped people bond and would want to do this more frequently.

Khojis and guests felt a deep heart-based connection with each other. Performers, servers, those in the kitchen and others could feel their actions coming from the heart, and feedback from the guests “could be felt,” as Abhijeet put it. He had also performed, and he shared how his fear and nervousness dissolved when he dedicated it as an offering, not as a performance.

The day had closed with a celebration in the form of a drum circle. A couple of local musicians, as well as several others took a few percussion instruments in their hands and played them with gusto. Many danced with intensity, shaking off all the tiredness that had built up.

This energy went on to the next day as well. Khojis had other activities the next day, but as Bhumi shared, “Everyone was so happy, energized and calm that nothing seemed like a burden.”

The amount of effort that was put in was well worth it. It is important to note that this had its share of challenges. A high energy team-based project can disconnect people in the whirlwind for a bit, and there were some who felt like they weren’t doing anything and others who felt that they were doing too much. Some people shared that the team could have been more efficient.

During the reflection the next day, many questions about the purpose and the method of Hulchal café were discussed. From a point that Ganesh shared, an idea of holding Hulchal in the slums was thought of. Unlike charity, which operates from a sense of pity and superiority, Hulchal allows everyone, of all ages, castes and classes to come together as a community and share gifts with each other, and this can be a gift along with food. The batch decided to think about it and hopefully take this up when they meet next.

As people shared in the reflections, it was one of the best team efforts that people at Hulchal had put up. Love, service, gratitude, and fun flowed around the space and their seeds were planted.

As spaces such as Hulchal and many others show, the spirit of gift is undeniably enriching and transformative, whatever the debates are around “gift culture”. How do you think you can experiment with gift culture?