14 adults from Russia to understand learning/ unlearning, visited Aarohi. They stayed for a week toexperience Aarohi. They were on their learning journey to India. Each one brought a different energy – While we continued with our life at the campus, they became part of us. Some joined us, some held themselves while some shared their learning with us. Some took sessions with us, while some joined in our sessions. The group had teachers, educators, artist, yoga practitioners, traveler…they shared their music, culture, food, skills and love with us. A week was not a very long period to break the boundaries of countries.
A session on Russia began with a question ” what comes to your mind when you think of Russia”. We made guesses, wild guesses, guesses based on our perception, guesses based on our experience, guesses based on what we heard or read or assumed…Biggest Collector, Cold and snowing, opposite ( night and day) to India, Asian country, Northern most country, Communism, Christian religion, lot of politics, developed country, hi-tech, everyone has MAC book, currency Ruble, no leaves on trees during snow, nuclear power, huge military base, petrol, gold, monuments, skyscrapers, low-density population, hygienic, disciplined traffic, good city, Moscow, planning, group dancing and alcohol, spontaneous dancing, sports, gymnastic at Olympic level, houses are built close to water. Russian cartoon show was to check our own guesses. Some were right, while some were completely out of place. But it helped in knowing about Russia.
The learning was priceless. While none taught us about Russia, we learnt a lot about the different cultures and people. We learn from life while we live!