Bhopal has been one big city which i have been travelling for the past 2 years and been organizing and conducting the marvellous yes+ courses. Somehow the courses had started big in the start and then the numbers had been denominated to digits un-mentionable here. With four teachers here I was searching a methodology to get bhoapl back to normal, minus the tragedy of dwindling numbers in the courses. i was looking for the perfect recipe.
Prabha, the queen of bhopal had suggested we take a plunge into organizing a 500 people course. Ramya, Divya in thier most optimistic style nodded and the targets were set. We knew what we wanted to create. The questions now were only ‘How’.
The approach most of us in organizing yes+ courses has always been from bottom to top. Which means get the students and someday, yes someday they will convince thier directors and trustees that they want the course as part of the curriculum. We decided to go the top to bottom approach. We decided to convince the directors why the courses were like breath and water, a necessity for every living entity in their college.
We armourmed ourselves with some testimonials, colleges statistics and the best smiling faces and walked into the spacious rooms of the chairmans. To my utter shock, I realised my way to approach a director had changed. I was more positive in my approach, and was in a discussion rather than justification or explanations to how the course can benefit his bacchhas. Leave aside one of them, the rest agreed.
An AC seminar hall was made ready by a college, another one giving us prime time in his institutes for talks, some others explaining us why Guruji should visit their institutes, some plying their buses in routes to help majority of students and some nominating their students for the course.
The course started yesterday with 300 students from 9 different intitutions and it was an effortless effort. While India play Pak today in the semis, a win for bhopal has already been secured, with 300 students doing the kriya, breathing and re-connecting, establishing that age old matra withing themselves – So Hum.
