Mulshi, Pune
I used to call Élan my dream project. I still do, but I’m more careful with the word “my” now.
Jacinth and I first talked about Élan on the walk back from lunch. It was easy, then, to picture the opening ceremony. I had much less of an idea what it would take to get a room ready, bring students in from another city or keep a session on time. Sakshi Baldawa, Prachi Belagali and Jacinth Jebaraj built Élan with me. Our organising committee took on the parts of that idea that had to work on an actual Saturday morning.
At the first summit, Crisis Command ran longer than we had planned. As director, I wanted to give the discussion time. A student waiting for the next session had every reason to want us to keep to the schedule we’d given them. I think about that difference when we plan the next edition. People gave us their weekend. Their time deserves as much care as the programme itself.
What I want to keep is the responsibility we gave students. In a cabinet, you have to make a decision alongside people who may see the problem differently. On the committee, someone else is counting on the work you agreed to do. I wanted both experiences to be worth having, even for someone who never went near the stage.
To the students, teachers and organisers who came to Mulshi: thank you for trusting a first edition. You gave us something real to build on, and you gave us honest reasons to do better.