Page 5 - Here and Now June 2022

admission of a member, facilitators who I interned with, before being considered competent to be
admitted or the two/ three persons who mentored me.

As Disney, which says it is in ‘the happiness business,’ I choose to think ISABS is in the 'business of fostering
relationships'.
Given this conviction I am writing, briefly though, about those persons who saw me through the journey
and have supported my ascendancy both as a facilitator, if I may so hazard, and as a well-meaning human
being.

Yawar: it was probably the first time, sitting among fellow human beings that I was confronted by my lack
of courage to hold myself both accountable and responsible. Yawar, his facilitation style being direct,
pushed for me to admit my fears. There was no coercion, only his sharing in the 'then and there' (the
event having occurred over 20 years ago) his experience of me as I spoke. What it meant to disclose, I
received my first experience of.

Oriol and Sukhi: Oriol was largely reticent and spoke almost monosyllabically and it was Sukhwinder, who
as an intern, in what I presume was one of her last internships did not restrain herself and offered
'feedback' as she observed, with data and without judgment. The loop of self-disclosure and feedback,
both of which form the bedrock of our process have been learnings that I imbibed from my first 2 labs.

Somesh: Somesh Chadda, who facilitated the first week of Phase A, pursued the discipline of eliciting
responses that required each of us to stay with what was happening to us. The distinction between
thinking and feeling concretized in me owing to the week in the lab.

Uma and Lalitha: Uma Jain as facilitator and Lalitha as a senior intern, also I imagine her final internship,
revealed with least doubt the importance of being ‘present.’ Nothing that did not belong to the group or
was not spoken in the lab was allowed to be brought up. Observing what was going on within the confines
of the lab and responding only to what was actually being spoken about, erased the possibility of losing
focus and rid the group of conjecture, interpretation and unexamined evaluation.

Sushma: In week 1 of phase B, with only 4 participants, Sushma facilitated interaction by bringing forth
spontaneity and creativity. Without prescribing she pushed for each of us to claim our space and offer in
the moment ourselves without inhibition. The surfacing of dormant potential, one of our stated
objectives, found expression in the room.

In a twist to the ' discomfort with ambiguity', she halfway through the lab, sprung Vasu on us, who was
facilitating another lab, and leaving us with him left us. Vasu, very definitive both in style and intent,
surfaced polarities by merely listening to us as we talked with one another and left us to hold those
extremities without apology. How the lab can actually become an ‘existential crucible’ was a remarkable
learning.

Udai and Rolf: Week 2 gave us the experience of balanced congruence. Both Udai and Rolf, sedate and
purposeful, with the precision of a surgeon sewed up the loose ends for us.

Rupert: Rupert, Dean PDP who saw me through my years in the professional stream was unbending in
what he sought from me. Every log I submitted had to be discussed and with his predilection for
mathematical accuracy he believed in being brief and direct. Surely, I have learnt to conserve the verbosity

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