The Magic of Teamwork ... A Tribute to RCNM

The O.R.O and Lessons on Teamwork


"The answers to some of the most complex challenges in life are often the simplest"

The study of Team dynamics has been an offshoot in my Leadership Career... My tenure at RCNM was a roller-coaster ride ... so many highs .. so many lows ... the exultation of victory ... the heart-breaking failures ...

Now, leading such a passive life makes me uncomfortable ... and yet as i slowly tune myself out of presidential powers ... i find Zen ..


As a part of our annual excursion called the O.R.O - Official Rotaract Outing (a result of creative malfunction), We, the members of RCNM trekked our way up the Karnala Fort. In a matter of twelve hours, I experienced what i probably did not
during my eight month long tenure as the President of RCNM ... I, or should i say 'WE', experienced the magic of Collective Victory ... Collective Joy ... Collective Celebration ... Collective Evolution ... and in retrospection : t'was so god damn simple...


Presenting to you ... The TEAM .... Team O.R.O. ... Team RCNM


How it all began ?

O.R.O : The build up ... 14 hours prior to the O.R.O. ... destination decided : Trek to Karnala Fort, 10 kms off Panvel, Maharashtra

The Mess. Board : Interesting Propostion for like-minded people to come together ... Team is mentally prepared to have fun and enjoy

The energy in the mornin': sleepy yet restless ... ice-breaker required to eradicate the slumber...

The longish train journey serves as a mini ice-breaker... Humour, abuses, and talkin' about random people beyond the team is an effective tool ... A good lesson was the power of observation : Stinky armpits, ear-hair dude ( whoa! he was some guy! ) ... general tk. abt new year's ... Gyaan : Finding common ground in an uncommon arena

The rickshaw ride - ice-breaker for rickshaw groups ... the vada-pav, cricket bat (a sense of comfort) ... pratik rickshwalla, prerna's wisecracks ... my fascination with gross humour... The Marwari Philosophy Gyaan : Warming up and sensing the wavelength of the team members is very important) .... it happenned to all rick' groups .... the water fights in the other two ricks .. the smaller team was formed .. bonding happened ... funn happened ... the journey began ..

Guys' and the peeing episode ... common comfort ground .. easily identifiable..
My tryst with Mother Nature's Lap : Fertilizer .... doin' sumthin outrageous ... induces a level of crazy comfort ... induces risk-taking if the leader does sumthin crazy (hehe!)

The trek began ... The famous bird sanctuary with soooooooooooooo many birds ... wannabe ducks ...wannabe birds .... team laughing at the pure stupidity of the sanctuary .... Oh it was soooo BIG : Wannabe Bird sanctuary ... The lingo happened ... one more common ground ...

The base was set ... a set of small rick' teams getting together to form the big ORO team ... ice-breaking 2 on the way up ...

The initial stages of the trek when wannabe trekker Nilaang rushed ahead with heart-throb Kahaan ... Shanelle giving up repeatedly ... The beginning is always difficult ...someone has to egg you on ... We give up so many things purely bcuz'the
start seems difficult ...That's where a team is bigger than an individual .... Team is responsible for individual success ... You need the backing cuz u cannot last long by yourself ..

Music and teamwork : Songs and crazy ones unique to a team are often most inspiring : jaadu teri nazar (aarti style), laila o laila, hooo ha hooo ha, he laal laiyo-haiyo haiyo .. they form a sense of connect for the entire team ... songs tht have energy and are yet stupidly unique ..

The halt ..biscuits shared ... distance analyzed ... some juice and water ... everyone halted for the team .. including trekker nilaang and heart-throb kahaan ... team chills..

Respect for individual stamina's and energy levels ...

The journey continues till we reach View-point ...
Pratik Bubna checks his hair out ... humour, leg-pulling happened, but only once the team was relatively comfy with each other .... Had is happened before ... rifts wud've been created .. This is a very sensitive situation .. can create that uncanny
discomfort and which overlooked can be catastrophic ...

Trust Begins :

Nilaang discloses half-monty episode to me ... I laugh ... more importantly ... i understand .. i find solutions ... i go beyond myself ... i look at team selflessly .. everyone does ... the magic of trust begins ...

We race ahead .. wait ...collective victory ... people fool us with time to goal analysis ..
some get irritated ... the motivated empathize ... Thakk kar baith gaye kya bhai manzil door nahin hai...

The flat terrain : The goal in sight .. some run cuz its so close ... some say : itna aur

The positive outruns the negative ... the weak get renewed vigour .. the strong continue ...

The Peak : It's often said that the toughest part in a journey is the final climb to the top... As i write this i realize it .... i wish i had a team to egg me on ... but wht the heck .. u've got to be your own team in life ... outrun the negative
... kill the final fontier ... Win ... Celebrate .. Whoa !

The process is called future pacing ... visualize success .. A lot of members did it ... Apoorva for one, hell bent to win it for the team.
She helped me change my mind. I was about to succumb to mediocrity at the plateau before the peak...

The Crisis : Tanvi dizzy ... the studs at a higher level ... rest of the gang down ... Studs waiting ... get to know abt the crisis ... immediate reaction ... Apoorva ... biscuits ..My stunt ... all for the team ... the offered help by Poo and A-Poo ( though in vain ) ...all for the team ... I go down ... they scream .. sharing the team's fall ... ( could've been human emotion ... who cares? ) ... t'was all for the team ...

Meeting on the plateau .. Plans reassesed ...

Gyaan : Reflect on Past Action at periodic intervals

Reflection : All cool .. Nilaang to wait down with the bags .. Team continues .. ( Nilaang- you're one heck ova dude mann .. way to go bro - torn track pant et all ... he was the studd )

VICTORY : We reach the Top !

Inspire Nilaang to come up as well

He Does

VICTORY : We ALL Reach the Top ! ( Grammatically incorrect : who cares ? )

Celebration happens ... Meal sharing Happens ... WATER-SHARING Happens ( That was it! )
Success needs to be celebrated ... be it team or individual ... sense of fulfillment

TEAM changes Gears :

The Way Down ...
High levels of comfort within the team ... Sudden splurge of energy ... the high of success has an inertia to it .. we capitalized on it ...

Love blossoms :-) ... Kavan and Stuti, Pappu and Shannelle... Apoorva and Poorva + a dash of Prerna to go with it ...

Come down ... Team drinks water .. enjoys some personal space which was very essential to restore sanity ( it hardly worked though;-) )

TEAM Kicks ASS .... Big Time

Vada Pav ... Sxy Stoberi Milkshake + Majnoo Mango + Vastaad Vanilla .. yes sense of adventure like u've never seen .. omnipresent ... i'd call it collective 'ass-kicking'

The Icing on the Cake : TEAM Spreads its Wings - The Epic Train Journey

AS RCHR's motto goes : Leave Your Mark ... Dunno whether they do ... We Certainly Did ...

As the President of RCNM ... i strongly believe in The 'Make your own Rules' chain of thought ... cuz that's the only way to do things that no one dares to ...

In a matter of 12 hours ... i saw it happen ... and No it ain't as simple as it seems ... It took me eight months to figure it out .. I pray you don't have to wait that long..


Go Play. It's your Game.




P.S : Tell me when you crack it. I'll be waiting...