Looking Back - Looking Forward

On Monday the 20th, as part of the seminar, our very own Anand Kasturi will be conducting an exercise titled Looking Back, Looking Forward. We ask that you read what this is all about below and do some pre thinking. Please note that while family members will be in attendance, only alums are expected to participate in the exercise.

Key Points

Purely as context, some key points to note:

We are getting together in this large a number probably for the first time

70 alums, plus another 50 family members
Many people would be only meeting others after 1984, or thereabouts

We've all changed, grown, evolved … and yet each of us will retain the core that was/ is and will be always a part of us

How many of the others will we recognise visually?
Some concerns remain the same "Will there be enough to drink?"
And some are new "Should I brush my teeth with bottled water?"

Family members - spouse, children (grand children??) will also be there for many
Don't think any grandchildren are going to be there :-)

We would have all reached 61+ at least … senior citizenhood in a manner of speaking

Outcomes

The outcomes we'd like to aim for at the Looking Back, Looking Forward session are:

Stoke - memories, friendships, stories, events/ incidents … starting from that golden time forty years past
Re-connect - enable fellowship, networking, meet ups with families, and sharing
Build - new connections and friendships, new bases for engagement among the class, new inspirations for the way forward

#1 and #2 will both be anyway happening throughout the time spent (18 to 22 Jan), in informal conversations and activities done together.

In the session on 20 Jan, it would be super to get into some meaningful reflection and sharing.

The Hero's Journey

We'll leverage Joseph Campbell's concept of the "Hero's Journey" as a framework for the reflection, sharing and discussion. If you're not already familiar, do check out https://www.jcf.org/learn/joseph-campbell-heros-journey. There are also tons of videos and books and articles and so on available online.

We are all heroes and heroines. We've each heard the Call To Adventure, and perhaps multiple times.

In Sri Lanka, forty years after that momentous call to adventure that first brought us all together in the summer of 1979, let us reflect and share a little bit of the journeys we've taken, and most importantly talk about the paths ahead for each of us heroes, the Next Journey.

Here below is one representation of Campbell's original concept, modified to depict The Next Journey.

Add a title here. Ma

Pre-work

Please folks - I urge you to do some pre-work so that we can leverage the time we have in the session (1.5hours) to the maximum. We have a lot of people there (70 alums, remember!) and therefore lots of adventures to talk about. But time, as always, is limited. So - here's what we'd like you to do:

Reflect on your own life.
View it from the perspective of You as Hero, as someone who has had an adventure (or even having it as we speak) that you'd like to talk about/ share at the reunion.
As you reflect, do answer these questions for yourself. We urge you to invite others close to you to contribute their perceptions also, of you as hero … and your journey/ adventure.
- The three questions in bold/ blue are especially important
- The last question in bold/ red is most important
- Feel free to add more questions as appropriate
- Do note => these questions are only guidelines, not meant as JEE-type stuff. Use them to trigger reflection, capture the essence of your Heroic Adventure

What was your call to adventure?
Who was a mentor(s)?
What was one big threshold you crossed on this Hero's adventure?
What were some important trials you experienced as a Hero?
Who were Allies? Enemies?
What defined your "Rebirth" on this journey?
What was the reward, the pot of gold at the end of the 'ordeal'?
What do you see as the Hero's future journey, what's the path forward?

Please do this before the session on 20 Jan

We will jump straight into sharing and discussion on that day, with no time for individual reflection!