Reflections from Youth Alliance's 5th Gramya Manthan

Contributor: Shashank Kalra

28 diverse people decided to trust Youth Alliance to embark on a journey to explore themselves, explore the villages and begin/intensify their journey to contribute more meaningfully to the world.

As we look back and ask ourselves, was it worth it – this Gramya Manthan? The answer is yes. And how? We feel it’s the seeds of trust, empathy, community and inner transformation that were sown or nurtured in the space that was created during Gramya Manthan. I have been asking myself where is this going or what is the purpose of GM? At one level, I feel that it is complete in itself - people getting closer to their authentic self, of a community being formed that accepts without judgment, of relationships being created that may last a lifetime, of practicing empathy to explore the world. And it’s the ego that wants to control the outcome in a certain way. At the other level, we at Youth Alliance are seeking to build a stronger support community that can inspire and support the journey of these individuals to serve the world in a way that makes them come alive.

During Appreciation Whisper

So many stories emerged that amazes us at the possibility of what can happen in 9 days and also the potential that these people and so many others have, to make our world more loving, just and sustainable. It was visible how Ridhima took ownership and brought herself to the service of her peers; how Harsh found the courage to face his own story; how Divyanshi lived the values of oneness and empathy; how Noel had joy flowing through her; how Shiv decided that he shall listen to his heart more; how Shreya connected to a girl in the village whose freedom to study was curtailed and saw a glimpse of her purpose in life; how Vijay found reassurance and support to continue working in Kathputli Colony (Delhi) with more zeal. 

Lipa Poti

The 5th Gramya Manthan was also about a lot of new experiments, that we undertook to explore the possibilities of the work:

First, we moved to a trust-based financial contribution structure from fee and scholarship structure. Now the participant would choose what s/he can contribute financially to the program, the trust is when s/he makes the decisions/he keeps the needs of the community in GM in mind – participants who shall be able to contribute very little and people working in the team to put in together. Earlier the team would award scholarships based on its understanding of a person’s need. We noticed the relationships that were formed before the program with participants and also other invited applicants were much more fluid and open as the equation with money got transformed.

Second, we practiced curiosity more deeply in the application process that we called Engagement Process and not Selection Process. The underlying belief being each human being is unique. Through the process, we sought to understand the journey of the applicant and gauge each other’s expectations and do a matchmaking. For me, 95% of about 40 hour-long conversations that I did during the Engagement Process, I felt amazed; I was surprised and grateful for the trust applicants had on me to have shared such personal stories during the conversations.

Third, this was the most diverse cohort with participants from 10 – 31 years of age, three religions, and several languages. 15 of them were students, 5 of them teachers, 4 of them corporate professionals, others working in development space. It was interesting to see how everybody had their moment during Gramya Manthan.

Fourth, we found this article by Rechel Remen on how Serving is different from helping and fixing and it resonated with us deeply. We experimented with how we can serve with whatever we have for 3 days in the villages. This manifested in manual labor, learning-fun camp with children, plantations of trees, nukkad natak and health camp with 5 doctors and over 250 village people.

Lastly, we are grateful to Dev Bhaiya who spent 2 days with us as a mentor. Rahul Bhaiya and Ridhi Didi (Swatantra Talim & GM’13 Alumni), Ashish Bhaiya & Shalini Bhabhi (Shiksharth), Krishna (Acumen) and Mini Ma'am (NFI) joined us as mitras and enriched the space with their presence and inspiring the participants through their journeys or the work they do. Ganesh Ji (Shramik Bharti) also shared his journey of service with the cohort. This was the first we had so many inspiring people amongst us adding value to space.

Nukkad Natak in Kharagpur 

Noel shared GM’s sharing circles are the most inclusive and subsume every bit that is showered at it,it has all the variety of emotions there ever can be in one space. [For me] self-discovery can only be possible with the discovery of the community that one can be a part of. Read more.

Sameer shared it’s been a month and I am returned to my hometown and I can feel something has changed in me. I can feel the gratitude for each thing which I have in my life like when I drink a glass of water, on having meals three time a day, electricity which I use, and so many small things which I was thinking I need more.

Vabhravi shared going to the villages, serving people, playing with kids, spreading awareness and living life away from all the gadgets and luxuries made me realize that we humans have big tasks in life, one of them and the most important is spreading love amongst the mankind. Read more.

We are grateful to forces, known unknown who have contributed for Youth Alliance to reach where it has. We are committed to create spaces where human beings can connect to their authentic selves, explore the world and serve in whatever way they chose. Thank you :)