The Outbound Learning....

Here comes more on the OBL....

We had our Out-Bound Learning on 3rd June. The idea behind the entire affair was to break the ice between the new students and help them get to know each other and help each other out. It was held at a place called "Lekha Farms" which was about 15 min from SCMHRD on the Dehu - Katraj highway (just off the Mumbai - Pune Expressway).

We left from college around 7:30 am (you heard me right...7:30 am...) and we in the venue by 8. The SCMHRD batch of 2009 is of 197 students out of which about 170-180 odd must have been to the OBL. Hence, we were divided into more manageable groups of 40. We called our group as "The Incredibles". This group was further divided into 4 groups of 11-12 each. We called ourselves "We".

Now, two such groups together initially went through an ice-breaking exercise, wherein we were made to stand in a circle and given a ball. We basically had to throw the ball to each other after calling out the person's name. This helped us in remembering the names of few of our batch mates.

Next, the four groups of "The Incredibles" were made to compete in three group tasks. Points were allotted based on the performance of the teams in each of the tasks. Each task focused on a different area if team work. First task was "The Chariot Game", wherein 2 team members had to become the chariot for the third one by holding hands in a given manner and then carry the third guy across to the finish line. This process had to be repeated for each team member. Next, was the game where the team was divided into 6 pairs and each pair had to cover a certain distance with their backs facing each other and a ball between the backs. Of the ball fell down, then the pair had to stop and restart the race from that point after putting the ball back in the desired portion. Last one in this segment was a race wherein the entire team had to form a chain by holding each other’s hands in between the legs. In this segment, my team we the winners but from the other side :) :) :)

In the next segment, we had a confidence building activity, which basically involved Burma bridge crossing...Some of us also managed to convince the instructor to allow us to do some money crawling. This activity was a lot of fun...with some people really trembling at the thought of walking on the rope...

Next was a Group task called "The Cobweb”. In this task, the 'cobweb' was basically a structure of two poles about 7-8 ft in height placed about a meter apart. The poles had five ropes tied at equal distance through its height. The poles and the ropes and the some area around the poles was supposed to be electrified and mined. Hence, we were not allowed to touch it. The idea was to cross the cobweb at each level and each of the team members must do so at each level before the team can move on to the next level. Incase, somebody touched the rope/poles, he or she would have to redo the task at that level. During this task, Subbu (the director) dropped in and made the task all the more difficult by preventing the use of those body parts which were "blasted off due to the mines". The task was hilarious and a lot of fun...We really had a ball while strategizing our plan for each level and revisiting the plan, when it didn't succeed. Overall, the lighter ones sailed through, the the heavy ones, (who initially did most of the carrying and supporting of the weight), giving us a tough time. The highlight was the daring of Ananya (a batch mate of mine), our genie pig, to cross the top most level 1st (only two had to cross at this level) as she had to completely trust her teammate's instincts to be sure that she wouldn't fall...this was definitely on of the games where we had some great time.

After lunch, we had an average stuff for some time. In this segment, we were reorganised into groups of three and were supposed to introduce one of the group members and draw his/her caricature...the event was time consuming and only a few of the profiles had a funny touch given by the presenter...anyways, during this time rain played a spoil sport for some time...

Next was the "Plank Game" which focused on developing our skills on working as a one. Here, we were given two wooden planks about 6 fts long and about 10 ropes. 6 members of the team had to cross the designated area, which was mined and hence, none of the team member could lay his/her foot on it. We also had four lives or replacements incase anyone does touch the mined field. In the 5 min planning time given, my roomie Ajay came up with the idea of tying knots in a certain way, which we quickly managed to test a little. However, this planning and testing gave us very little time to actually tie the knots. So ultimately, when the race was started, 6 of us got on to the two planks, a leg on each one. Only 3 of us were knotted to the planks. After some initially setbacks wherein we lost 2 of our members just about a meter into the race, we managed to beat the hell out of the other 3 teams as we finished way ahead of the rest. Infact, when we finished, 2 teams were just about a meter in and the 3rd one had covered only 25% of the distance.

After this comprehensive win, we came to the last segment. This segment was focused on the communication skills and we played a game called "The Shepherd and the Blind Sheep". Here, there were 10 blind sheep (10 team members were blind folded) and a shepherd. The task of the shepherd was to direct all the sheep into the pen and his only means of communication with the blind and mute sheep was a whistle. Using this whistle, he was supposed to direct the sheep to the pen. We had developed a series of whistles to indicate various instructions such as turn left, right, walk, stop and the sheep which is being guided to the pen. It was fun to develop communication skills and we were told in importance of clarity, understanding and brevity in communication.

This ended the day...We had a good time...There were various positives such as we got to know our batch mates; ourselves and our ability to work as a team, and learned the importance of quick strategy formulation and execution along with some do's and don'ts of communication.

This was all about the OBL...Will tell you about the updates until week 3 soon.