My APSI Experience!

“With realisation of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.”

- Dalai Lama

Sometimes your fortitude gets you into events or circumstances that are fulfilling and productive and also become memories of a lifetime. Such an experience was the APSI program at Jhalawar. In 2019, I was selected to represent my school as one in a team of 3 students to participate in the Asia Pacific school’s Initiative program carried out by the Centre for escalation of peace. It was a yearlong program for students aged between 14 to 17 years which mainly focused on inculcating ‘Leadership through serene strength’ and building a ‘network of future leaders in the Asia Pacific region through six core skills- rigour, resilience, compassion, comprehension, collaboration and assessment.

When I was nominated for this program, I was reluctant and indecisive if I should join program or not. The duration seemed to be very long, it seemed too rigorous and the living conditions seemed too harsh. I was anxious about being around strangers from all over the Asia Pacific Region. There were way too many apprehensions and questions; most of it - why me? I was afraid of feeling homesick and even more afraid of the fact that we were going to travel in sleeper class with so many unknown and dangerous people. So, in effect, a lot of doubts in mind.

During the length of this program, we got to learn lots of new things and visited lots of cool and interesting places that we never would’ve visited on our own. We made new interactions with many different people from different backgrounds and cultures. Meeting new people and learning more about their lives were one of the best learnings and experiences of the APSI program.

I got a chance to bond with other students and teachers from my school in a way that wouldn't have been possible if we had been in school.

We visited numerous places like the 'Kota mines', the 'Kolvi caves', century-old temples, organic farms, dairy farms and whatnot, learning more about the history, economy and environment of that place. In the Kolvi caves, we saw around 50 caves that had been carved by ‘Monks’ so that they could meditate and be close to nature. That they were able to attain enlightenment even in not so favourable circumstances by their sheer power of will. This shows us by being focused and resilient we can achieve our goals.

Learning how to make our own roadmaps and to work towards them for the rest of the year was a mind-opening experience. We had sessions on the development of five areas physical, social, spiritual, cerebral & emotional and this helped us shape our roadmaps. We also learnt about the watermarks, namely, compassion, rigour and resilience, and skills of comprehension, assessment and collaboration.

Through many sports activities, we learnt to collaborate with each other like the “ bob the weasel” game in which we had to work together to pass around a toy behind our backs in a circle so that the denner would not be able to guess who had the toy. We got acquainted with the PACT - perception, adaptation, communication and trust- through various theatre activities. One of the most enjoyable ones was the one in which we had to close our eyes and follow the leader. Gaurav Saklani's sessions were in themselves a new exposure. He made us understand that by making others around us unhappy and winning is not truly called winning. In life, we should always aim towards getting a win-win ratio, and not a self-centred achievement.

Through this program, I could see a significant change in myself. Like a butterfly comes out of its cocoon after completing its life cycle, I could feel myself opening up and moving out of my shell while expanding my boundaries. This program helped me gain confidence and made me blossom into a more assured, eloquent and responsible human being. It helped me forge new friendships with peers from across the Asia Pacific that can never be broken. This has formed long-term relationships that will last a lifetime with those from different countries and cultures. Learnings from this exposure have been immense. Those were the days that will be cherished throughout my life