Have you outgrown your comfort zone

Let me start with a real incident instead of writing about the theory of comfort & discomfort zones.

I was Vice President of Rural Youth Fellowship and was handling (ofcourse with my efficient team of 5 people) the fellowship activities from selection process to onboarding to following up their projects.

The rural fellowship is a 13 month fellowship and is reserved for educated urban youth to participate through a selection process, wherein the fellow is placed with an established partner NGO and he or she selects a project of his/her own interest aiming at understanding the rural community issues and finding a resolution with their academic knowledge which they have acquired from their vast degrees and ideating the solution to implementation with the assistance for the NGO partner. One important aspect of fellowship is the fellow gets the freedom to choose the project in consultation with the partner NGO, but no choice in the selection of the project village and he/she is assigned a remote village (outside his/her state) - the 1st discomfort of culture, food, language and not to speak of absence of other urban comforts. You can imagine the discomforts you have faced when you moved from Chennai to Kolkata or Delhi - they being metros and all facilities available, but still you planned, planned & planned your migration. Think of a youth, who lived in metros or major cities, a room with attached bathroom, educated in a 5 star college (many of them from foreign universities), always connected to the world with Internet ensuring that everything is available at the touch of a button. Never bothered about the whether conditions (you had 24 hours running fan or AC), never bothered about water (you had running water). The best thing in the fellowship is you have the freedom to choose your project intervention, but not the village (always fellowship is not about 'buy one, take one free').

Let me come to the incident which I am supposed to write about. In 2016, we completed the selection process and the journey started with a orientation programme at The DHAN Academy, T.Malaipatti (located near Madurai). Selected fellows started their journey from long distances from North, East, West & South to the Academy for their orientation with lots of dreams in their mind. They were briefed about the discomforts and difficulties, they may face during the fellowship days (but few issues were kept secret). I was a part of their whatsapp group which they formed even before their journey to the academy and the discussion in the group was revolving around what to carry, what not to carry and how to plan to live in a rural village with rural folk etc. Everybody was giving suggestions on the issues of power, water, food, language, stay, internet connection, call drops etc - everything revolving about me and how?

They were exited to see a campus surrounded by greenery and no sound and air pollution with serene atmosphere all around. They were happy till they checked into their rooms. I could see the facial expression changing when they saw the stay arrangements - no cots, beds spread on the floor, small room with no attached bathroom and 2 -3 people sharing a single room. They looked at each other, though most of them strange to each other at that point in time - eyes conveyed the feelings between them. One participant, clicked the photos of the arrangements and I think, shared with his parents. By evening, I received a call from a parent shouting at me about the arrangements and also gave a detailed description of how his ward lived his life - never travelled in a bus, never slept on the floor, never washed his plate or clothes etc etc. He was also sceptical about his ward continuing the fellowship. I tried my best to convince him that this is going to be the life in the next 13 months and they should take a decision now. The ward, who was bent upon continuing his journey to the village and with the discomforts, convinced parents and continued. In a very short period, he got used to the village atmosphere and was highly sought after guy in the community. He involved himself in not one, two to three projects - education, sports and solar power. I found him working round the clock for a meagre amount of stipend - so money was the criteria, it was fellow's involvement in experiential learning and the satisfaction of solving a problem of a rural community. When finally, he completed his project, the same parent called me to thank for the skills which his ward learnt during the fellowship, the change in his attitude towards life and most important, the independent life which he led (with all discomforts) in a unknown rural and the hottest place in the country.

In the evening, the fellows freshned up and waited for the next shock. When they went to the dining area, they found that they have to take the plates, serve the food, wash the plates & keep it in the designated place. In the morning, get up early and carry water in buckets, freshen up for the day which usually starts at 9.00 am. I saw few of them carrying water in the buckets from one room to another and few finding it difficult to carry a bucket with 15-20 litres of water. The fellowship wanted to give them hands-on experience before they land up in the village.

The fellow were stiff for 1-2 days and from third day onwards, talking to each other, as if they know each other for decades, jumping to the dining area with their plates washed, and lot of other 'cooperation & coordination' was visible in their actions.

They were even made to sit on the floor for the classroom sessions & activities. Nobody found it strange and got adapted to it, thinking this is the next 13 month life. When my team visited few of them during the onsite project reviews - into their 3-5 months fellowship, they were so happy to receive us, make arrangements for our stay, food & visits, introduce villagers and with great interest explain the project intervention to us. Many villagers were so friendly with these fellows that they offered to tea, food etc to them. Overall in a 3-4 month time, they became part of the village and few, extra-stayed with the villagers after the fellowship duration. Few of them have moved their base camp from the cities to these villages and have set up social enterprises.

To cut the long story, out of many fellows who completed their fellowship (few dropped out in between) shared their life lessons learnt from staying in the villagers - adjusting, adapting, being humble, humility, living a simple life etc etc. Approximately 50% of the fellows left the dream of joining a corporate job and few of them who took sabbatical did not return back to their cabins. They decided to continue their journey in the development sector - either with the same NGO partner or pursuing higher studies in the development sector at foreign universities and few starting their own social enterprises.

Testimonial to prove my point:

"Strawcture Eco | BioPanels | Eco Friendly Panels | Green Building Panels| Sustainable Building Panel

Strawcture Eco develops next-generation sustainable building materials out of waste in form of High Engineered panels. Our vision is to add value to waste – but we do not compromise on functionality, aesthetics, and durability. Our Founder & CEO Shriti Pandey left her cushy job in the New York City and headed to spend a year in rural India. Travelling the length and breadth of the country, she discovered a myriad of possibilities to reinvent the existing practices in the construction industry and that gave birth to Strawcture Eco. We harness the potential of agricultural residue to build structures which are cost effective, sustainable and exhibit a lower carbon footprint.

About Us – Kinglee Xperience [Inspired Goat Milk Bathing Bar]

Growing up in the Tea Gardens of the Dooars (Bengal) gave me first hand insight into the plight of the rural folk. Their determination, kindness and simplicity left an indelible mark, a mark that make’s its presence felt today, a mark I carry with care for it illuminates my path. After completing my Masters in Business Administration from Christ University Bangalore, I entered the corporate world but the call to head back to rural India was loud. Four years later, I got the opportunity to answer that call through the State Bank of India Youth for India fellowship, (a 13 month fellowship that places young men and women in rural India so that they can learn, understand, develop, appreciate and give back to their country). I was placed in Pandhana, 20 km from the district of Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh working alongside the Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSPI), one of the seven NGO’s that works with the fellowship. After my fellowship, I decided to return to Pandhana and continue my bathing bar operation in a small remote village called Udaypur Gaon, 13 Km from Pandhana and I have never looked back since. "

My association with the fellowship, fellow, partner NGOs, community did brought a change in me and I too decided to quit my corporate job, associated in an advisory role with an NGO in addition to doing freelance consulting in my domain area.

My observation is - always, there is an initial resistance to any change and that too 'that change' which is totally against the way you lived your life, say 20-25 years. But you accept the change and the discomforts you undergo, the end result is something which you haven't imagined. I invite readers to speak to some of the fellows and get to know from the 'horse's mouth' the experience which no IIT, IIM can teach you. Am sure you should jump into water to 'learn swimming' instead of wasting time in reading a book on understanding swimming skills.

Leave further thought to you.

To know fellow's profiles and stories, you may please visit SBI | YOUTH FOR INDIA