It was my first KAA. I started with the decision of theme. What should be the theme?? We decided the theme as land. Next was how do we explore land and planning of the same. We decided to explore land of different states of India. We wanted to keep first kaa short. So, we decided to explore land of Tamilnadu. Next step was to decide where in Tamilnadu? Keeping short trip in mind, we decided the route which will cover a variety of land in nearby villages. So, we came up with a route which was 295km long, to reach a place which was around 165 km far.
I was so excited about the route. The whole map was in my mind as well as on my printouts. Now the question was how to travel? I thought it would be so easy to book a vehicle. When I came to know about the permit price from one state to another I was shocked. New learning started. I have done a lot of travel but, always outsourced few responsibilities to others. I realised value of doing all planning and inquiry by self. The first option which looked very expensive and impractical became first choice after checking rates at minimum ten to fifteen travels at Banglore and at Hosur and evaluating the pros and cons of each. Finally I chose the option which I had found the first but, with understanding and awareness. The whole process was enriching for me. I felt relieved once the vehicle was booked.
Preparation for the trip was at high on the previous day. We all were busy deciding teams, roles, and responsibilities. All different teams were busy, first aid team busy checking medicines, food team busy checking water arrangement, safety team busy working on badges and attendance system, emotional team busy thinking how to counsel people coming for first time, passenger team busy watching others. Energy was so high and I was just there, everything was led by children. They were senior to me in KAA. I was the only person who was going for KAA for the first time.
Finally the awaited day came. All reported in time. All children were there by 6:15am at the centre. Bus was late. We were waiting eagerly for the bus. Bus came at around 6:45am. As soon as we started, children became busy playing, chatting and writing. I was concerned as route was bit long and we had started late. We reached Hosur and had our breakfast. We started with land exploration from there. Children were ready with their record books, questions, tools and observation questionnaire. Few looked confused and not clear about the goal, few had forgotten their notebook and few were just chilling out. We had discussion with all this three variety to understand from them their purpose of coming to KAA. This time trip was designed in a way that the travelling was part of learning. I was enjoying questioning children to understand what they wanted to know about the land. Few were interested in worms, few in trees and plant, few in direction, few in temperature, few in sample collection and so on. We stopped at different places and explored differently at every stop using different MIs. At the third stop, when we took out the map we realised that we were very far from the destination and it was 12 in the noon.
In all this excitement I totally forgot about the food, my co faculty reminded us and we all had frooti as well as had some snacks. We reached at hotel at around 2:45pm. All were very hungry. It was very small setup and all did not get place to sit at one go. Few had to wait. Hungry souls ordered food and when they got it we realised we did not wash our hands. We quickly got up and stood in queue for hand wash. It was only sambhar and rice. We enjoyed it as we all were so hungry. I was now concerned about time. At this point we could have taken decision of going to Hogenikal and skip mettur OR at least I could have shared the same with the groupL. I did not do any of this. Though I was clear, I didn’t share it with group or with schedule team. I missed a learning opportunity which I could have brought as facilitator. We reached Mettur quite late than planned. It was cold and cloudy. We went near Kavery river and explored land on the bank of the river. It was risky, we went in small groups to be more safer. It started raining we rushed back to the bus.
It was around 5:45pm by now. Hogenikal was 60km from the place where we were. We started towards Hogenikal with only one choo choo break. We could reach around 8:00pm there. On the way children kept on asking me “what time we will reach”. I had great time with those children as we calculated minutes and hours by counting. We wrote few scenarios that if we would reach by 7:30 then how much time we took? We compared the time taken to cover kilometre to mettur and from there we estimated how much it will take to reach Hogenikal. We decided to eat and then go to our dormitory. We had hot dosas and chapaties with chutney, sambhar and subzi. The dinner hall was full of noise due to our loud chatting. We reached around 9:00pm in the room. We all were busy getting relaxed, change, choosing bed, playing, brushing and so on. I was not at peace from within. I was upset with something; I was not so clear about it. So, I chose not to speak much and was with myself to understand my discomfort. The next day morning I wanted to go walking near by places and explore land/crop etc till 10am. I thought people can choose to take rest or come for exploration. Again all this were my thoughts, my planning to myself not talked or conveyed to othersL((((((( my bad.
The next day morning I got up and wanted to go out and explore but as there was no clarity amongst the group we decided to reflect and be clear about the same. My main reflection was the group was missing totally on planning. We sat and discussed our plan and brought clarity about the roles and responsibilities. I was puzzled with my own execution, my own reactions and needs!!??? Schedule team was now up-to-date and in action. Emotional team did a small gv to bring all of us at peace. Now the rope was in children’s hands – where to stop, when to stop, how much time to spend at one stop, etc. Everything was decided by them. All teams had some role to play, which was missing the previous day. Better late than never. We stopped at only two places to ensure we reach in time. We had a great time while having lunch. We had grand lunch at Padmavati hotel with cold drinks and Ice creams. My co faculty was full in action and took over all responsibility of coordinating food needs. I was down physically with my body as well mentally with my reflection of the whole trip.
My key reflections:
1) I missed to grab many learning opportunities.
2) I missed the difference between a family trip and KAA trip.
3) In my zeal to make arrangements for the trip, I ended up serving everything to the children in platter.
4) It was fun and learning for me to work on arranging the trip starting from KAA theme to choosing the routes to choosing the travel options.