Night out at Yercaud 2013

             Sancta Maria students of grade 3 and above went to a summer camp with Youreka! The camping adventure was absolutely amazing. In my personal opinion i can not think of a greater holiday gift that can last a life time a parent can give to a child. It’s not easy, that’s for sure. There are challenges, tears, and homesickness on one hand but there are priceless rewards of personal growth and satisfaction on the other hand that greatly outweighs the hard parts – even if children are not quite aware of it yet.

While I was taking a precious break with a blue mustache drawn on my face (it was a mustache day theme, mind you) in the shade of the Lapa Lapa place, the kids were getting ready for the night out. You might ask: Exactly what is a night out when one is already camping in tents in the middle of nowhere? Nowhere in this case being in the middle of the Arabica coffee plantation and aromatic eucalyptus trees not far from Yercaud in Tamil Nadu. Sancta Maria students were getting ready to camp in the wilderness. Out in the open. Out, under the stars. Out, away from civilization. Out, away from the comfort of toilets.

 Imagine, just bunch of Sancta Marians, 3 instructors, heavy back packs filled with tents, sleeping bags, utensils, food provisions, small camping gas cylinders, canisters of water  - venturing out in the jungle to spend the night under the stars being self-sufficient. Pitching their own tents and cooking food without much help. Now, that is what I mean by night out! And what a night out it was!

Earlier in the day the children learned how to pitch tents in the camping ground. Little did they know that in the evening itself they will have to prove their skills and pitch them for real and actually sleep in them. They were briefed about the LNT philosophy (LNT =leave no trace), the most important aspects of fire safety when used for cooking a meal out in the open, the art of packing the rucksack and just like that they were ready to go in the late afternoon. The weather was not exactly on our side. It started raining heavily. Everyone got their rain ponchos out. Just as we were all ready. The rain stopped. “Ok, children, rain ponchos off and pack them inside.” Yay, sun! Just as we all undressed and packed the ponchos it started raining again. “Oh, come on!” kids exclaimed. “Ponchos on!” command was heard again. Some children lost it there itself – admittedly I myself was questioning the sanity of marching out in the rain, getting drenched and hike for few kilometers and set up the tents. Of course at that point I was not aware that before the monsoon sets in, the afternoon heavy showers are a normal thing in the area and they disappear as fast as they appear. Before everyone was ready with their ponchos on, the rain passed and the sun was out again. There were a lot of confused eyes wondering what to do next. Ponchos off, on, off, on! 

Well, the clear blue sky and the sun convinced us all that “ponchos off” is finally the safe option and that we are finally ready to get going. The centipede like row of enthusiastic campers finally started to move ahead. Loaded with heavy rucksacks the complaints started to rain in.

  “My shoulders hurt,” said Rishita.   “Well, the shoulders hurt, because you are carrying a heavy backpack – it is very normal. Get used to it,” I replied to her big astonishment.
 “This backpack is too heavy,” said Arnav. “If it was too heavy you couldn’t lift it.” Was the best I could come up with. 
“Are we there yet?” and “How much longer?” The most common ones they asked. “We just started! It’s too soon for such questions!” :)

Yes, it might be that for the first time in their lives they have experienced a bit of hardship in the nature and the answers were not very comforting. Half way through the easy hike we also had to carry 30 liters of water distributed in plastic canisters. But as with all things, the hike came to an end and we reached our camping ground. Well, it was just a ground, really, that we turned into camping. Children pitched their tents in very windy weather conditions that made the pitching harder and funnier, too! The tent fabric flapping like a distressed bird trying to escape the inevitable with lots of drama and sound.

Surprisingly fast the tents were pitched and ready. Everyone started preparing for the cooking part with great gusto. There were definitely more eager helping hands than tasks at hand. We had a team who cooked the soup, a team that cooked rice, a team that made potato curry and finally a team in charge of tomato dhal.

A lip-smacking dinner was served and tired and happy campers quickly retired to their respective tents for a good night sleep. Some tents went quiet almost in an instant while some were bustling with laughter and conversations for a long time. Finally, everyone went quiet and we put off the fire and slept.

The next morning it was like we needed to reverse the entire thing. We had to un-pitch the tents, clean, pack and walk back to our camping that all of a sudden gained an amazing respect with all of us. It almost seemed like a 5 star hotel just because toilets were available! Children enjoyed the night out without fail. So much team work and bonding happened in just one day. It was indeed a very precious experience for all of us.