Children and their teachers have acknowledged that outdoor experiential camps for local children help build a perspective about nature at a crucial stage of their life. For a few children from towns like Kaza and Rangrik in Spiti, these nature camps have been the first such experience in the outdoors. But the kind of effort that goes into organizing such camps and the associated life-stories not always make the headlines. These behind the scene memories remain with us forever to cherish.

The build-up to the camp starts a month prior to its commencement. We have to mobilize the village youth to volunteer for tasks such as cooking, kitchen assistants, nature educators and camp cleanliness and maintenance. Once this is sorted, we have to ensure permissions for Government schools to participate, from the concerned authority. Then we have to coordinate with school teachers, arrange transportation from schools to the campsite and buy groceries in bulk, among other work. We have to get the consent of the villagers to get the camp site for two-three weeks. Cleaning of tents, sleeping bags and mats follow. Transportation has to be arranged for these equipments from the field office in Kibber to the camp site. It has to be ensured all required kitchen equipment like utensils, cooking cylinder, stove, etc. are transported to the camp site. All set and done, we have to pray for the weather to stay calm and not spoil the party.

The camp starts after all the struggle and children start coming like angles sent from heaven. The enthusiasm among children is infectious- the children within us start overpowering our adult bodies as we mix with them. Due to the difficult terrain, sometimes we have to drop the kids a bit away from the campsite and trek towards it due to no road connectivity. For this, two-three village volunteers are always ready to pick up the bags of students and teachers on the trek and to guide them to the campsite. On a few occasions, there is a sudden disruption as the weather gets bad and it snows heavily. On such days, sadly, due to safety of the students, we have to send the students back to their homes. In 2019, a school teacher from Lalung was so disappointed that he said – “I have heard a lot about these camps and I have been waiting for three years to participate, now that I have come, it seems the snow has followed me here, I cannot believe that I have to return after such a wait.”

It’s not all work and no play, the village volunteers do manage to have some fun after a hard day’s work. Take for example the Chomoling camp of 2019. When a batch of students leaves, our boys play cricket- the number of wide balls and no balls exceed the runs scored via the bat and the time taken to run after the ball and search for it in the meadows is more than the entire duration of actual play. We have to trek downhill after every batch, to a place where we get mobile network and to update our program coordinator about how the camp went. I remember during one such phone call, I had to climb up the window to get a clear network signal on the phone and broke a wooden chair in the process. In the morning, there is a competition for the ‘Kibber book of world records’ on who would use the hot water shamam (heater) first. During all these, we do get time to say hi to the occasional birds and animals that come to the camp to say hi to us! Teaching wildlife names in bhoti to newcomers to the camp is another task we enjoy a lot.

After sunset, the kitchen tent is the place from where light waves radiate in all directions as it attracts soulful fireflies towards it when the children have gone for rest. A ‘radio-man’ updates everyone about the ‘secret’ stories that is going on in the village. Then there is a ‘khabri’ (informer) who leaks whatever goes on here to the whole village every other morning. The tent turns into a fish market when a few think, in haste, that their dabba (tiffin box) has been stolen as there is a mad rush to take the leftover kheer (sweet dish) to their homes.

Then there is a stand-up comedian and entertainer who is known as ‘TikTok’ due to his antics and ability to make everyone laugh with only a few spoken words. He is in high demand among camp staff as we have no mobile network connectivity to watch entertainment videos on our mobile phones. And then there are legends who trek between the campsite and the village every day as they have a ‘someone special’ back home to bond with. Villagers joke a lot about these legends- “How much will you climb up and down nono (boy/ son); we feel tired only by seeing you trek every day, don’t you get tired?” And how can we forget the plate washing game- ask any random number from those who don’t understand the game (like the volunteers who come from the plains) and while we all are sitting in a circle- do a headcount starting from the person who told the number and stop at the person where the number ends- that is the ‘chosen one’ who has to wash all the plates. But after all the fun and name-calling, 2-3 friends do join to help the chosen one.

The thing that I like the most is that the village youth keep coming back year after year to help us- in the 2019 camp, there were eight youth volunteers who had attended these very nature camps when they were kids. These behind the scenes are an import factor for the success of the camps. The greater the bonding and understanding among us, the more successfully we manage to implement these camps.