Sunday 26 February 2012

Reflection

- Nicolai Nazareth

During the Galatin course, we brushed upon and delved into several concepts and terms, some new and some not so much. Glocal, globalization, cultural heritage and identity, local and sustainability are just a few. The Jugaad beyond jargon course was a smooth transition  since sustainability was a key point stressed upon on several occasions during the galatin course. My mind was set in a particular mold which facilitated easier understanding of this new one.

The term Jugaad was new to me, though I was familiar with the concept. The extent and feasibility with which Aravind Gupta executed it was simply inspirational. Its beauty lies in its simplicity, and I would love to actually have a chance to work with him.

Thus having a previous learning of sustainability and then being duly inspired I was ready to work. looking back, however, I feel I started off with my head in the clouds. I was dreaming of big change and I was expecting it fast. I was put in place in time, during extensive research, where I found out how radical change was not really a sustainable solution. Modification of systems and slow implementation was a more practical approach, specially since it involved changing the behavioural patterns of people. I had to work around the people and not make them work around me.

The most concrete learning experience I had was learning about different human mentalities (mainly those involved in the process of designing for a specific client) and how to constantly keep them in mind. It was a pillar that would keep any project proposal standing. It involved understanding how I had to make the changes personally profitable (not necessarily on monetary terms, even though one of the ideas my group presented did provide an economic benefit). No one was going to use anything I had to suggest unless it made them feel good about themselves. Guilt trips about saving the environment would only go so far.

Even though I regret not being able to execute my ideas, and I was stuck at the proposal level, I feel I learnt a lot that would be involved at the corporate level. The work we did was detailed and extensive. It provided a fresh outlook on what to expect, and it was a big learning. It was a big jump from doing college projects to meet the expectations of what is entailed in the real world. I thoroughly appreciated it even if didn't enjoy doing it as much. It was an experiential learning that I felt I really needed to go through.

The icing on the cake was the feedback we received when we presented our ideas to our peers. The affirmation to its implementation still makes me believe that the idea has potential to bringing about change, however small it may be. As I have always believed, the way to change the world is with one small change at a time.

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