The Award in Action - Silver level Award Participants of Sri Sri Academy, Kolkata

 The Silver level Award Participants of Sri Sri Academy, Kolkata went to the Aravallis in Dhauj, Faridabad for an Adventurous Journey. Following is a writeup submitted to us by Kavya Gupta from 10-B, who is pursuing the Silver Level of the Award.

"We boarded the Duronto Express from Howrah at 8:35 a.m. on 14th October 2022 and divided ourselves into groups for assigning of cabins. The train journey consisted of lots of chitchats, games, and sightseeing outside the train window.
We reached Camp Wild Dhauj on 15th October in the morning (at about 8 am), after a bus ride from the New Delhi Station. We played team building games and divided ourselves into 4 groups or ‘ropes’. We had a brief know session and a bonfire at night.
We slept early to prepare for an early morning trek. The trek introduced us to thorny bushes, a scorching sun, and a beautiful view of a hidden lake for which we travelled around 5 km. We went back to the campsite through a tractor and got ready to zipline. We finished the day with dinner and a bonfire.
The next day and the day after encompassed rock climbing, rappelling, an obstacle course, and our last night at the camp. We prepared food in the evening ourselves, with one of us leading the whole process and teachers (Award Leaders) guiding us. We prepared paneer and aloo tikka, and saved some for later at the bonfire. We sat at the bonfire and reminisced about the whole trip, and what it taught us.
It was one of the first times we were in such an unfamiliar environment, and things like bathing in ice-cold water in the early mornings, or living with insects, rats, and lizards required some getting used to but we learnt to adjust and live with the basics. We were blessed with good food and friendly instructors who guided us at every step of the way.
On the 5th Day, we got ready early in the morning and visited a village near our camp site. The objective was to interact with the villagers to understand how they live their daily lives. We came to know about their language, their food habits, the problems that they face in everyday life, their festivals and recreation. We also visited a primary school to interact with the students there and spent the day with them.
On the 6th day, while coming back, we faced heavy traffic and stopped the bus to board the metro. We took 2 metros and got off at the New Delhi Station stop. From there, we each ran frantically with our luggage to the Railway Station. We were all tensed, nervous, and scared to miss our train but somehow we all made it just before the train departed.
The journey back to Kolkata was also memorable, and we all wished the trip would not end.
We all said our goodbyes on reaching back to Howrah Station, a place where we all once gathered excitedly to start our trips. This trip taught us a lot and gave us a lot of happy moments with our friends and teachers, becoming a memory to remember for a lifetime!"

- by Kavya Gupta,10-B, Sri Sri Academy, Kolkata