D Lakshmanan, B E (Electrical), Engineer, Vestas Wind Technology India Pvt Ltd.

Good Days

“Good days” – It means we are happy physically and mentally and we also learn new things and new ideas. Here I am sharing my good days at YOKE,  how I enjoyed and learned in such wonderful times.

The year 2006

This was the first year of YOKE camp in our village. At that time we did not know why we were there, what was the purpose and goal of camp.  It was explained by Chitra akka. All the participants were split in four teams –  teams names were:

  1. NANGAI – red cap
  2. BRAHAN- blue cap
  3. KAILASH- white cap
  4. ABIMUKTHI- green cap

At that time I was in Brahan team. We had blue caps and Padma amma was my team in-charge. On the first  day the camp started at 11 o’clock . Chitra akka explained the importance of our river Thamirabhrani and how the river was now threatened by “ahaya thamarai” (the water hyacinth weed). It was a new thing for us to know the weed consumes more water and reduces the path-way of the river. We also discussed what are the ways to reduce the weed growth. Even now I remember talking about the chemical way of using some herbicides. It is one option to reduce the weed  in water bodies, but we don’t know the side effects of this method.  We discussed other methods also and participated in a physical clearance that was done using big Hitachi excavator.

Activities

What were the actitivies at the camp?

  1. Craft
  2. Tour
  3. Origami
  4. Drama
  5. Game
  6. Communication method and way of communication
  7. Movie

mgd1These were the major tasks at our camp;  each task was explained and guided by our mentor in-charge .

I was little bit lagging in Craft, but my friends in Nangai team were doing very well because of Esakki raja, who was very good with clay craft .

We went to Pattamadi and  Kuniyur (Cheranmahadevi) on the final day of the camp to see how to make mats and clay pot .Why were we going to these places? Because these are natural products and famous across the world. We had discussion and learnt about how these wonderful crafts are made .

I was very happy  when we had drama workshop, because I like to act and write plays. That was the time I thought and wrote the drama for final day of the  camp. Still I am remember my first drama .

We had a cricket match on the fourth day of the camp.

Communication Workshop

We had an interesting workshop on Communication.  We were taught the importance of “EYE CONTACT” which was the most important part of this workshop. It was very useful in my career because I started my career as a sales engineer. When you speak with any one  you must have eye contact with the opposite person.  We learnt that it is the best communication method .

I saw my first Hindi film at YOKE –  “Iqbal” – such a wonderful motivational film.  That was a cricket-based story. The hero was a physically changed person.

I found Origami most difficult, I could not get it right at all.

The first summer camp at YOKE, which was 15 years ago, is still fresh in my memory.