Day hikes and multi-day excursions to wild forests near around Ooty were a huge part of life in BMS. Those breaks into nature that now seems so dear to us working folk, we took for granted back then. Taught us the importance of going still and bodily connecting with the solid silence of life beyond human, even though one might not have articulated as such back then but definitely felt. Maybe words, definitions and making sense of things mentally becomes important as adults? Rationalising... My 1st experience of this body connection was coming upon a shola(a small rain forest like catchment area) with a little spring stream, and the thing that came naturally to do was sit in silence, on my own, breathing it in. Then others caught up with me, and for a while more than one seemed to be called to do similarly...for a while...we were around 10-12 years old after all. But while on my own, i distinctly remember feeling no fear of being alone, in this damp, mossy, heavily shaded thick forest, rather a sense of safety, of being held. My adult brain rationalises maybe because I knew others weren't too far away, and more importantly, it was day, but i remember the feeling distinctly. Although on my first ever such jungle excursion, on a dark moonless night, two of us wanted to poop, and resorted to squatting side by side over the poop hole holding hands, petrified of every little sound. A bird call or wind through tiger grass, made us leave our skin. I don't think we were successful in our endeavour, and what seemed like hours probably only lasted only a couple of minutes. . . . . #bms@60 #thebluemountainsschool #daretobefree #boardingschool #family #ooty #nilgiris https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci8MNiEPiDq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
