Woodstock School Alumni Magazine Vol CIV, 2011

Quadrangle - 15
Read two testimonials from weary but lifechanged
young people just arrived back
from the inaugural Woodstock Gap Semester.
Chaperone, coordinator and translator Necha
Varma, an experienced trekker, accompanied
the travelers through all the activities. Meet
Sarajane Clark from Washington and Varun
Sarin from Virginia.
How did you hear about the Gap
Semester?
SARAJANE: I graduated from High School
last year and my grand-dad Bob Harwood ’43,
an alumnus, suggested it. I was open to having
a gap year in a Himalayan environment
VARUN: My father and Krishnan Kutty, head
of Outdoor Education at Woodstock, shared a
mutual friend who suggested the Gap Semester.
I had just finished my sophomore year and
wanted to take a break.
When did you arrive?
SARAJANE: We flew into India on August
7, to begin on August 11. The timetable tries
to allow 10–14 days for each activity.
Where did you begin?
VARUN: We began at the Landour Language
School for a two-week conversational Hindi
course, which gave us the basics to be able to
ask for things, thank people and ask questions.
It was hard but fun.
SARAJANE: After that we went to the Hanifl
Centre here at Woodstock for a two-week
Intensive First Aid Course called Wilderness
First Responder. This was so much fun and
focused on rescue and dramatization of events
that may happen while we are hiking and scaling
mountains.
And after that?
SARAJANE: We then began our trek into
the Rupin valley and attempted to cross the
Rupin pass. However, very heavy rains and
raging rivers prevented us from getting to the
pass. We had to turn back just one day before
the crossing. On the return, we trekked long
hours and stayed in the jungle for a night before
getting to a roadhead. This was a ten-day
trek and was awesome.
VARUN: Then it was on to a home-stay in
a village called Demul, close to Kaza in the
Lahul-Spiti District of Himachal Pradesh,
where we helped build a greenhouse for the
village people to use in winter to enable them
to grow green vegetables. Demul sits at an
altitude of 14,300 ft. The greenhouse was
made of mud and local materials. The food
at the home-stays was great and we felt very
comfortable.
The next stage of their journey brought them
back to Mussoorie to participate in the 3rd
Mussoorie International Writer’s Festival with
the theme of “Mountain Literature”. They got
an opportunity to interact with luminaries like
Dr. George Schaller, Harish Kapadia, Jim
Curran, Bernadette McDonald and others.
After the Writer’s Festival, the group went
to the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering,
Uttarkashi, for a 16-day session to learn
basic camping, trekking, rock climbing and
mountaineering skills. The culmination of the
training was an attempt to climb a peak called
Draupadi-ka-Danda II (18,600 ft). They had
to turn back about 300 ft below the summit
because of hip-deep snow and worsening
weather conditions.
Next they left for the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand.
They stayed with CHIRAG for
ten days. Their time with this NGO was spent
with an exposure to women’s self-help groups,
children’s education, organic farming and village
forestry issues. This was followed by ten
days in the periphery of the Corbett National
Park. The focus here was on human-animal
conflict as it relates to wildlife tourism, the
politics of eco-tourism, wildlife viewing, birding
and angling.
What did you get out of your Gap
Semester?
VARUN: I discovered myself. I am more
independent than I thought I could be. I also
learnt that I could be on my own and enjoy
it. I came with no expectations and an open
mind, I am proud of myself , I have grown and
gotten stronger. I will have a month off and
go back to my Psychology major. I will look
at it differently now, because of the changes
in me. I am so glad I did this. It challenges
you not only physically but mentally as well.
Sometimes during the semester I felt I was
not part of the real world, or any world, due
to the remoteness. It exposes you to cultures,
but so do many things. This is really something
so different. The trek was the hardest thing I
have ever done both physically and mentally.
SARAJANE: I thought I was used to pain
through the physical challenge of all the sports
I play, but with the mental challenge as well, it
was such an achievement. I guess I learned I
do not want to be a mountaineer! I got to know
myself too. I understand my own personality
through these challenges. Why would you not
want to experience this?
Sarajane returns to casual work for six
months before going to college in the fall of
next year. She has a choice of Washington,
California and Montana. “I am still thinking
through my decision. I look at things
differently now.”