I assisted in the Landmark Advanced Course on 18th September. The left home at 6.30AM and reached back at 4AM! But the twenty one and half hours were worth the experience!
I reached Jai Hind College (the venue) half an hour early, so took a stroll by the sea side at Nariman Point. The morning breeze was full of oxygen and I took enough of it to go for the whole day! Met the Production Supervisor of the course at 8 and got started.
The first task was to clean up the area – the stage area from where the coach speaks and the audience area of chairs. The rule – the job should be done with velocity and must be impeccable. I sweat was dropping off my forehead by the time I finished the task. Then was cleaning the water glasses and arranging them in an orderly manner. Then to fill them up.
I have never worked under somebody. I have always been the boss. Performing these chores got me the experience of following instructions; the struggle to perform an impeccable job in a time bound fashion, and the occasional grumble towards the boss. I also experienced what are the qualities of an effective employee – ownership, creativity, aptitude, persistence, communication and the ability to handle situations.
The supervisor asked me if I am good with Internet, I grinned! I then ran out to take an article from the Internet for the session. Managed to pull together the piece on time and got a big appreciation for it. And I said to myself, I am good at what I do for a living!
In one of the exercises, I got to sit next to the leader on the stage. The exercise was related to media. We had selected a story from a newspaper in the morning that I would read. Accidentally, that whole page was missing from the paper when it reached me on the stage! I then had to resort to my creativity and imagination to narrate the story – without it actually being on the paper! It was action packed and I learnt from the leader how to keep my cool in the worst of situations.
A lot of other things and lessons. The firefighting to get the tables arranged, taking care of the water stations as needed, the task of doorman, and post midnight toil to move the tables back to their original place and do the packing. And then to find taxi to get home. And to sleep on the way back!
The day’s high moment was to witness the new possibilities course participants invented. The whole group was excited, overjoyed and ecstatic. They recited poems and danced. And we couldn’t stop but celebrate.
It was indeed a day where I got three times worth the time spent!
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