Back to basics. Wilderness first aid is about paying it forward.

August 29, 2016August 30, 2016 ~ Lalitha Krishnan ~ 1 Comment

I have in my possession two little cards that slide into my wallet that qualify me to administer CPR and first aid. These will stay put, unseen for another two years, till I do a refresher. It’s nothing to crow about but I silently feel empowered with life-saving skills.

I live in the hills where like anywhere else, emergencies are aplenty but opportunities like this course, rare and far in between. When Hanifl Centre for Outdoor Education in partnership with Aerie Backcountry medicine offered this course, I enrolled immediately.

“Do no harm.”

Wilderness First Aid (WFA) makes sense because of where I am. It would make as much sense in an urban setting. The difference as far as I can see is the high-caliber of the course for a reasonable price. The idea, I think, is to make it affordable for everyone – paying it forward right there. The other huge advantage of this wilderness first aid training is that it teaches you to be resourceful. To make do with what you have or what is around you, in order to prevent serious injuries from potentially becoming deadly. I especially like the emphasis on “do no harm” while doing good!

Unlike first aid courses often held in air-conditioned conference rooms, this one also exposes you to the elements, where scenarios, complete with blood* and gore, make it scary-real. It’s also a very interactive course (with many light moments thrown in) that builds confidence to go solo and work as a team. What really sticks is the creative use of the body as a teaching aid and unconventional props.

Hanifl Centre has trained 370 people in small batches across India, in 1 1/2 years including professionals from the outdoor/tourism industry, corporate world, housewives, university students, and teachers. I would highly recommend it. Take it forward. Share.

Write to info@haniflcentre to know more.

*Realistic makeup

How a visit to an obscure Himalayan village proved that my street knowledge of villagers is all wrong

September 4, 2014February 6, 2017 ~ Lalitha Krishnan ~ 1 Comment

'Himalayan' Buffalo — ‘Himalayan’ Buffalo

In fact, it’s all blah. I was invited to Dunda village (Uttarakhand, India) by a colleague who heads ‘Community Engagement’ through the school I work for. These service projects, a collaboration between a hospital, an NGO and my school is a mutually beneficial arrangement between villages and us; mostly, providing opportunities to our students; exposing and sensitizing them to village life, actively engaging them in bringing about change, and hopefully impacting them for life.

Most of these projects are student-driven. They are instrumental in replacing destroyed irrigation systems, roofs, in some cases, houses and providing employment. Besides providing training in revival of more eco-friendly farming, animal husbandry, poultry farming, construction techniques and use of poly houses, building a brand new primary school, creating sand-based water filters and benefiting lives in other small ways. But this post isn’t what is being done and planned for the village but it’s about my undoing!

The familiarization trip in a glossed-over-by-rain landscape was a great out of office experience. The sound of gushing waterfalls and paddy fields were a sight for sore eyes. In spite of all the green cover we could see where last year’s landslides had covered up fields with rocks and rubble, devastated irrigation channels overnight destroyed the livelihood of several villagers.

I always thought it was impossible to get two neighbouring villages to agree on anything.

There were 2 villages gathered under one roof that day, representing around 75 families. Though voicing their concerns rather rambunctiously at first, they simmered down to discussing and making decisions on their own.

An alcove originally used for oil lamps in an himalayan village-home — An alcove originally used for oil lamps in a Himalayan village-home

I believed a woman has no voice in an Indian village

The head of the village/gram pradan who is a young woman chaired the meeting while lots of other women attended. They are no less vocal than their menfolk. I found out just how hard their lives are; even basic necessities like sanitary napkins are beyond their reach, making it almost impossible to venture too far from home when they’re menstruating. Plans are on to teach them to make low-cost yet hygienic and eco-friendly sanitary napkins. The younger girls, like all young girls, aspire for more. “English-coaching” and tailoring skills are part of their bucket list.

I was of the opinion that the ‘caste system’ in villages is set in stone

What really made me sit up and take notice was the fact that these villagers whose lives are steeped and driven by caste equations were nonchalantly nodding their heads in agreement when it came to the ‘right’ to education. They promised us that the new primary school would be open to any child from Dunda and the neighbouring villages.

Was it the collaboration between the facilitators that in turn triggered the collaboration between the villagers? I will never know for sure but it was rather unexpected to see them take a common stand. Perhaps once in a while one needs to visit a village to look at life afresh.

7 Reasons Why I Inevitably Head Back To Ranikhet To Recharge

August 4, 2014November 6, 2017 ~ Lalitha Krishnan ~ 6 Comments

Considering I live in Mussoorie, it sounds a bit irrational that I should seek another hilltop to escape to; but there’s something to be said for wanting to get away from it all and I find Ranikhet is the place for me. Here’s why.

1. There aren’t many places on earth I can see the Himalayan range from Bandarpunch in the Garhwal, spanning across Trishul, Nandadevi, Panchaculi, in Kumaon, all the way to Apa Nampa in Nepal. After a good dousing of rain, the clouds settle and the air gets wafer-crisp. That’s when the peaks start revealing themselves. I can’t begin to describe how dramatically the colour of the setting sun sets the ice-cream peaks aflame. Come September, right through February, you can see the whole range, dawn to dusk. Imagine that! It’s reason enough for me!

Himalayan range upclose — Himalayan range up close

Himalayan snow peaks behind the foothills

2. Connectivity is erratic. Which turns out to be a good thing since the idea is to switch off from the everyday onslaught of data. Going to Ranikhet feels like checking into a spa where without paying spa rates. With the exception of my camera, I travel light into Ranikhet and feel better for it when I leave.

Himalyan Babbler after a dunking — Himalayan Babbler after a dunking

A differnt hue of Himalaya — A different hue of Himalaya

3. I can enjoy the simplicity of pastoral scenes that are becoming rarer by the day. I know I’m in Ranikhet when I see women carrying enormous piles of grass on their heads and sickles in their waistband. Or visit smoky tea shops where the tea and ‘fen’ taste better for reasons I can’t quite pin down. I love seeing village girls neatly turned out in school uniforms, their hair plaited with red ribbons, cheerfully walking miles, to school. I enjoy the sound of cowbells as much as I like chatting with locals who treat me like an old friend even time I visit.

Women working the fileds in a Himalayan village — Women working the fields in a Himalayan village

4. Wildlife comes to me. I don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to enjoy nature. Jackals, foxes, martens, Sambar, Barking deer and Serows, pheasants and leopard have literally crossed my path. As a nature lover, I can’t help but spew rhetoric about being awakened by the sweet melody of whistling thrushes on my rooftop. Or sipping chai in my garden watching the sunlight bounce off the iridescent head of the Flowerpecker. Or listening to the Francolin clearing his throat before every call. And hearing a carpenter drill only to discover it’s a Yellow-naped woodpecker. Or check out the latest leopard kill on the golf course. And seeing a jackal and a Steppe eagle soaking in the winter sun side by side! Or following butterflies that look so exotic, it’s a miracle they aren’t extinct. Need I go on?

5. There is no home delivery. No Mc Donalds, Pizza Hut, or Café Coffe Day outlets here as yet. Definitely no malls. And yes, I’m grateful for the “unspoiled ” flavour of the place. There are any number of restaurants and a proper market; so one won’t starve for want of sustenance. For those of us who have homes here, our small soirees end long before city-wallas begin their nightlife.

6. Every house has a fruit tree, flowering pots or a vegetable patch. It could be the humble geranium in a rusty tin or the ‘kaddu’ drying on the rooftop; they make Ranikhet homely.

7. Not too many tourists. Funnily enough some of the reasons I love Ranikhet are the reasons why it’s not a popular holiday destination. Lucky for me!