The Echoes of Lead The Change-Shuchi (LTC-Fall'13)

'Has LTC only, peeled off the layers of adulteration and returned back to me the person that I was before stereotypes and fears started to twist me? '

I faintly remember reading something some three months back that said if you can after a month look back at life, and say that you definitely are richer by experiences than you were a month ago, then you are leading a life worthwhile. I was fresh out of college then, clueless about the road to be taken ahead. After scattering myself here and there in order to be richer in experiences, I came across Youth Alliance. A friend took me through the process of application, selection and joining of the program. So was his conviction in the program that he was ready to return back my money if I didn't like it at any point.

Conviction has always been a strange concept to me. I used to be one of those politically correct individuals who due to lack of conviction never took a stand. Would I be exaggerating in saying that LTC has changed the way I was, the way I behaved, the way I perceived and the way I learnt? Or has LTC only, peeled off the layers of adulteration and returned back to me the person that I was before stereotypes and fears started to twist me? 

We have reached the end of this eight weeks program, I don't really feel sadness. It could be because I suffer from a delayed emotions syndrome. Or it could also be because LTC has been an extremely fulfilling experience and the only emotions that I feel are those of contentment and satisfaction. It has been all that I wished it should be, a classroom full of lessons, a box full of experiences, a bunch of great friends, a team of great mentors and a bag full of memories.

For somebody as clueless and confused as I was, it was but a blessing in disguise.  It could be Vivek Sharma's 'ten year goal' strategy or Ravi Gulati's  'How you do anything, is how you do everything' quote, it could be the collective advice to be the change you wish to see or it could be that last coffee chat with Prakhar. Whatever it was, nothing changes the fact that every new encounter, every new session with a mentor, every new activity, every new field visit, the chance to work on a beautiful project called 'Compassionate Delhi', just about everything here has taken me a step closer to a dream I have cherished for a long time in the deepest corner of my head and heart but whose voice I somewhere lost in the noises of the world.

To me LTC was the voice I desperately needed to sort out the clutters in my head, the light I needed to muster the courage to step out on my own, it was the support I needed to lose the fear of falling, the direction I needed to start off on a road less taken. I think as a youngster well guided I am ready to go out there in the world, ready to take responsibilities, ready to fulfill my dream of being an educator, ready to map, explore and understand the yardsticks of the education space in our country and contribute to refining it in whichever capacity I can.

This one's just a little tribute to one of the best experiences of my life till now, a tribute to the best kind of people i have ever come across, a tribute to the starting of a phenomena. So when I look back and ask if I am richer in experiences than i was a month back, then I will say hell yeah, I am richer than I ever was.