Sneha Krishnan, a student, shares her experience of going through the Relead experience in 2014

Honestly, when I was headed to Bangalore for Relead, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. Sure, the brochures and schedules looked fancy, but as they say some things can’t be put into words; you have to experience them yourself.

Right from walking into Eco Haya, the first day, till the last day tour at Fireflies, time really flew. The fact that the sessions were neatly compartmentalized into topics (Academia, Politics, and Ecology etc.) gave us an opportunity to understand each one in depth and at the same time have a wholesome learning experience out of each one of them. And as stark the contrast may seem, the two different settings – IIM Bangalore and Fireflies Ashram, provided for a wholesome experience.

Experiential learning was one of the cornerstones of the program
All the sessions were followed by a carefully planned activity. The interesting part, however would be, that we would get the entire lesson only at the end of it. We would not be fed into behaving in a particular manner. I was awestruck by how they took into account basic human behavior, how the masses as a whole behave and consequently catalyze a number of day-to-day phenomena.

I particularly remember this one about Public- Private Partnership. We were divided into groups and made to play out a scenario keeping the needs of the public and government workers in mind. The way it played out and how we came to the conclusion, was mindblowing.

One of my favorite parts about Relead was Family Time. Every night, post dinner, we would form groups and talk about what happened during the day – our learning, our introspections, our involvement and most importantly, diff erent perspectives on the same lessons. It is amazing how things we see as defiant from our world-view, are perfectly plausible when we understand someone else’s take on it. And I believe this is fundamental to our understanding of the way world works, not only when it comes to one’s leadership question but all facets of life.

Most importantly, Relead made me question a lot of things that I saw as static, perhaps even axiomatic. The shift in perception that followed has motivated me to do what I think Relead wants from all its participants – contrive the possibilities within ourselves.