"The question of development" is not a dialogue which will serve you the
answer on platter. This workshop rocks you to the core and makes you
question yourself and your understanding of the world development. It
was in this workshop that I realized how loosely I have used this word
over and over again in my life without even understanding what lies in
the core. This workshop helped my reshape my views about villages and
myself. The journey which began in a small "Tara Hall" doesn't end after
those 6 days but actually starts after those.
The amount of research and thought that Ashish has given while
developing this workshop is amazing. Above all the patience and calmness
he brings along with him stays with you for days after.
These 6 days rocked me and pushed me
towards my dream of Sustainable Development of Villages. This dialog
helped me understand why I had not been able to and what it takes
actually to walk on this path.I would like to say this to anyone who is
coming to the workshop "Be open to challenge yourself. Your Beliefs.
Your Concepts. Your versions of Truth. Your Core. Be Ready to get
Transformed into something new." - Rahul Garg, Haridwar, Uttrakhand
"My Learnings in the Dialogue were:
- The more I go inward, the deeper and further I will go outward.
- When you design a plan for others it is different from the plan you design for yourself.
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The importance of being stable (sthir) so that I am not swayed by
externalities. And I am able to understand without getting lost in
emotional high, the opposing viewpoints.
- Unlearning. There is a lot of unlearning to happen. More than learning, unlearning.
- Self Reliance. The biggest shift was the perspective on Self Reliance.
- I realized how Self Reliance was systematically undermined for flourishing of markets.
- I deepened my theoretical understanding of 'growing your own food', getting back to farming.
- The visits to the community to validate the simulations were super effective.