Expressing everything that happened in the 10 weeks would perhaps never be possible because there are so many things that survive only in memory. I could list down a sequence of events, that is very possible, but that would tell you nothing more than the sequence. The things that remain are not a mere jotting down of events, but the experiences of the events. I do not know if I will be able to encapsulate fully the time in Pondicherry but I will attempt to.
Perhaps the most important question in the mind of a student while applying for a course, is what the course will teach one other than what is printed in books. In Pondicherry we were taught so much more than only books. We had a trip to Auroville, which is an experimental township near Pondicherry. The trip to IIT Madras allowed us to experience studying in one of the best institution sin the country and live in its campus. The trips to the NGOs gave us a real life experience of seeing how much people can accomplish with a desire to help others. Tutorials taken by our seminar leader, Katya, from time to time really helped us to grasp how things work in academia and how to go about writing our papers. The presence of Katya itself made us happier in Pondicherry along with Armin, Senthil and Niti. You’ll never feel away from family with them. Although all of the classes we had were thought provoking, the classes with Michael Fryer took a special place in all of our hearts. He gave us exercises that put us in situations of crisis, it showed us how important communication was to peacebuilding. Most importantly, the exercises were the most fun ones I’d ever done. One day we all played with Lego!
When I was given the opportunity to blog about my semester in Pondicherry, in my head, I had a thousand ideas about the blog posts. It had only been a few weeks and most of the 10 weeks were yet to happen. Now all the weeks in Pondicherry are over and I am back home and I have not been able to document even half of what I experienced. The thing about the best experiences is that, they change you in ways that cannot be easily pointed out.
