‘All the world is my school and all humanity is my teacher.’ Never before in my life was this quote by George Whitman truer than when we prepared ourselves to trek deep into the woods surrounding the city of Shillong. As part of the Sustainability Module, the entire incoming batch at IIM Shillong must complete this exercise to gain bragging rights and tick off another box in a long list of things to do at IIM Shillong.
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you”
In the words of William Hazlitt,” First Impressions are often the truest, as we find to our cost, when we have been wheedled out of them by plausible professions or studied actions. A man's look is the work of years; it is stamped on his countenance by the events of his whole life, nay, more, by the hand of nature, and it is not to be got rid of easily.” My first impression of Shillong resonates well with this sentence. I still remember the day when I was travelling from Guwahati to Shillong the path to the campus itself is a dream. As soon as we cross Assam border and enter into Meghalaya, you are welcomed by clouds true to its name.
In this piece, I will be introducing some of the people here at IIM Shillong whom I feel make stories interesting just by featuring in it.
I have just sat down to write down this article. It's 4 am in the morning. I can hear the chirping of the birds. The slight golden rays of the sun are painting the black canvas of the sky with vibrant colours. That’s the perk of studying at IIM Shillong. Just when you are feeling tired, just take a look around the campus where you stand. It amazes me every time even though this is my second year at the college.
How often is it that a B-School turns into a court with heated arguments being shot from both sides and the students vouching for the innocence of their friends and the erudite judge sits there listening to the arguments being made and with his appealing voice controls this electrifying atmosphere. There are no blackboards to be seen, no attendance sheet, no scoring sheet, yet the auditorium is filled with the enthusiasm of 180 participants which are least concerned about their evening break as their friends are fighting the battle with their utmost wits. This was the final class of Business Law which was being undertaken by Dr K.C. Kankanala on a fine Saturday evening.
I have always known Shillong as a beautiful place. But I never understood how beautiful it is until after I joined IIM Shillong, and to be even more precise, until after November 2017. For a person from tropical Kerala, a shift to Shillong meant changes… change from humid to pleasant, change from rain once in a while to rain all the time and change from paddy fields to mountains. And all those changes manifested themselves in the wonder that struck me when I first saw Shillong and more importantly IIM Shillong. I joined the campus in July and my initial reaction was that “It cannot get better than this”. And it just took one November week of cherry blossoms to prove that I was wrong…
Everyone was very excited for the foundation course trek. So, we boarded the bus and left for our first destination Mawphlang sacred forest. Reaching there we were divided into groups and given a tour guide. Our guide was Mac. He took us through a path which no other group took, hence we got an opportunity to enjoy the serenity of the sacred forest. Before entering the forest, he informed us about the sacredness of the forest and warned us from doing anything that would harm it. Thus, we entered the forest and were treated by the low sounds of leaves, a bird here or there, nothing else. Now, throughout the trek he kept talking about the forest and the rituals of the tribe there. He took us to the river where they washed the animal carcass after making the sacrifice. After that we encountered a swing, where everyone turned into a gymnast and had a great time. Post that, we were taken to the wishing stone where the leader of the tribe must sit while performing the ritual before he can be crowned the leader of the tribe. Similarly, we encountered the Ekmukhi Rudsraksh tree in our path, where every one of my group wished for whatever they wanted. I don’t believe in any such thing, but, seeing people believe in something, having faith in something is a delightful sight always. All in all, the entire experience was enriching. We learned a lot about sustainability from the villagers. How they have conserved the forest through the 800 years when it was all started by their forefathers, How, they made a world record by planting the highest number of saplings on world environment day, 2017. Finally, if I can summarise my entire experience of the Mawphlang sacred forest in one line, it would be the line Mac said before taking us into the forest, I quote, “The footprints you leave is the memory forest has of you, and the photos you take here is your memory of the forest, except this you take nothing from the forest and you give nothing to the forest”. That’s how a forest should be sustained.
‘All the world is my school and all humanity is my teacher.’ Never before in my life was this quote by George Whitman truer than when we prepared ourselves to trek deep into the woods surrounding the city of Shillong. As part of the Sustainability Module, the entire incoming batch at IIM Shillong must complete this exercise to gain bragging rights and tick off another box in a long list of things to do at IIM Shillong.
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you”
In the words of William Hazlitt,” First Impressions are often the truest, as we find to our cost, when we have been wheedled out of them by plausible professions or studied actions. A man's look is the work of years; it is stamped on his countenance by the events of his whole life, nay, more, by the hand of nature, and it is not to be got rid of easily.” My first impression of Shillong resonates well with this sentence. I still remember the day when I was travelling from Guwahati to Shillong the path to the campus itself is a dream. As soon as we cross Assam border and enter into Meghalaya, you are welcomed by clouds true to its name.
In this piece, I will be introducing some of the people here at IIM Shillong whom I feel make stories interesting just by featuring in it.
I have just sat down to write down this article. It's 4 am in the morning. I can hear the chirping of the birds. The slight golden rays of the sun are painting the black canvas of the sky with vibrant colours. That’s the perk of studying at IIM Shillong. Just when you are feeling tired, just take a look around the campus where you stand. It amazes me every time even though this is my second year at the college.
How often is it that a B-School turns into a court with heated arguments being shot from both sides and the students vouching for the innocence of their friends and the erudite judge sits there listening to the arguments being made and with his appealing voice controls this electrifying atmosphere. There are no blackboards to be seen, no attendance sheet, no scoring sheet, yet the auditorium is filled with the enthusiasm of 180 participants which are least concerned about their evening break as their friends are fighting the battle with their utmost wits. This was the final class of Business Law which was being undertaken by Dr K.C. Kankanala on a fine Saturday evening.
I have always known Shillong as a beautiful place. But I never understood how beautiful it is until after I joined IIM Shillong, and to be even more precise, until after November 2017. For a person from tropical Kerala, a shift to Shillong meant changes… change from humid to pleasant, change from rain once in a while to rain all the time and change from paddy fields to mountains. And all those changes manifested themselves in the wonder that struck me when I first saw Shillong and more importantly IIM Shillong. I joined the campus in July and my initial reaction was that “It cannot get better than this”. And it just took one November week of cherry blossoms to prove that I was wrong…
Everyone was very excited for the foundation course trek. So, we boarded the bus and left for our first destination Mawphlang sacred forest. Reaching there we were divided into groups and given a tour guide. Our guide was Mac. He took us through a path which no other group took, hence we got an opportunity to enjoy the serenity of the sacred forest. Before entering the forest, he informed us about the sacredness of the forest and warned us from doing anything that would harm it. Thus, we entered the forest and were treated by the low sounds of leaves, a bird here or there, nothing else. Now, throughout the trek he kept talking about the forest and the rituals of the tribe there. He took us to the river where they washed the animal carcass after making the sacrifice. After that we encountered a swing, where everyone turned into a gymnast and had a great time. Post that, we were taken to the wishing stone where the leader of the tribe must sit while performing the ritual before he can be crowned the leader of the tribe. Similarly, we encountered the Ekmukhi Rudsraksh tree in our path, where every one of my group wished for whatever they wanted. I don’t believe in any such thing, but, seeing people believe in something, having faith in something is a delightful sight always. All in all, the entire experience was enriching. We learned a lot about sustainability from the villagers. How they have conserved the forest through the 800 years when it was all started by their forefathers, How, they made a world record by planting the highest number of saplings on world environment day, 2017. Finally, if I can summarise my entire experience of the Mawphlang sacred forest in one line, it would be the line Mac said before taking us into the forest, I quote, “The footprints you leave is the memory forest has of you, and the photos you take here is your memory of the forest, except this you take nothing from the forest and you give nothing to the forest”. That’s how a forest should be sustained.
