Thetrailblogger

To be honest, doing a certification in scuba diving is something I had never considered. I looked at scuba diving as something similar to sky diving. You do it once to experience it and that's good enough. And I did. I dived in Croatia while on a vacation and was extremely satisfied with the glimpse of the ocean I got. But then, over only a year later I met a cousin who in casual conversation asked me - Do you dive? She could've asked me- Have you done scuba diving? But her question was different. She had done over a 100 dives in her life. When she shared her experience, I finally realised that diving was not a one time sport like sky diving or bungee that you did to tick off a list. Rather, it was almost a way of travelling. She convinced me to go get my PADI Open Water certification, a simple 4 day course. And she promised me that life wouldn't be the same after. I followed her advice, and I couldn't say it in any other words but that yes life has not b...

‘I feel my heart beating I feel my heart beneath my skin I feel my heart beating’ These lines from the song Adventure of a lifetime by Coldplay, aptly describes my experience on the adventure camp I had this January in Karwar. Though I was aware it would be an outdoorsy camp that involved living in tents and being surrounded by nature, I wasn’t prepared for what was to come. The 6 days that I was there, tested my strength, endurance and confidence! Rewarding, exciting, unforgettable and unadulterated fun are just few of the words that describe the camp. The campsite was exquisite! Right on the banks of the river, greenery everywhere, the sounds of nature followed you everyw here you went. What I am going to focus on in this post is the adventure activities. Rock climbing, rappelling and kayaking sounds super exciting but when you get around to doing them, they are challenging! Let me start with rock climbing and rappelling, if you ever thought pull ups were difficul...

The International Baccalaureate (IB) learner profile describes a wide range of human capacities and responsibilities that go beyond academic success. They imply a commitment to help all members of the school community learn to respect themselves, others and the world around them. The profile aims to develop learners who are: inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective. Having worked with many international schools for their outbound programmes, teachers sometimes struggle to ensure that children imbibe these values. Outbound programme is one such opportunity for students to explore themselves and the values that IB encourages them to have. Trailblazers  organised  an adventure programme in the scenic environs of Lower Himalayas for a group of students from MYP 4, 5 and DP in February 2017. Students enjoyed their stay in tents and did wide range of activities including valley crossing, jummaring,...

The Forest Owlet (Athene blewitti) is a small 23 cm owlet endemic to Central India. This species was once known to be almost extinct until recent sighting in the forest of Central India in Melghat in 1997. Regular sightings of this owlet are documented from Melghat near Nagpur, Tansa near Mumbai, Nashik and Toranmal regions in Maharashtra and some parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat states. It is listed as Schedule I species of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972, the highest protection possible for an owl species in India. This is also listed as Critically Endangered in IUCN Red List and also listed under CITES Appendix I. The owlet prefers deciduous forest habitat especially dominated by teak trees. They are mostly diurnal but active during early morning and late evening hours. Due to its shy nature, these owlets are quite difficult to be sighted and generally they go unrecorded. An estimated global population of this species is 300-400 all around Central India. The threats...

So many questions and we are looking all around…….. the answer my friend…. is blowing in the wind. Last month the Nobel Committee on literature in Sweden awarded the Nobel prize for literature to the uncivil but iconic figure of the 21st century, Bob Dylan. A rebel with many causes. Bob Dylan came by at a unique time where the world was undergoing changes. Industrial revolution was taking shape in Europe and America.The world was just about settling down after being battered by two world wars and the first use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The world was broadly drawn apart by two primary political ideologies. The Communist thought, practiced and led by Russia and China, large parts of Eastern Europe, many Latin American countries besides many African and Asia countries and the other called themselves Free world democracies where the people decided who would lead them through elections like Western Europe, India, Japan, USA, Australia etc. The world was bipolar one l...

Every year, the months of March to June are times when both parents and children undergo an arduous journey of being tested, getting admitted and being bench marked, notwithstanding the interventions of the government education officers and the glee amongst the journalists of the fourth estate. The news being created for them free of charge means they have to use less grey cells to write meaningful, impacting, transformational articles or editorials. All the good deeds and misdeeds across the nation come out from all parts of the country. There is woeful lack of clarity and purpose all around, be it examinations, results, admissions, discipline, leaking of question papers, the toppers and the failures, the success against all odds and failure due to missing the train to help you reach the examination hall on time… the train being cancelled, the inability to show compassion by educationists and soulful efforts of a rickshaw puller in Patna whose son or daughter makes the grade. ...

Every once in a while we are faced with a grim reminder as people, as organization, as a country, that how callous are we when dealing with human life. The tragedy of young engineering students falling prey to the inviting sea near Alibaug when the college went on a “Picnic”?!! Not far back a school kid crushed his leg in one of the rides during a school trip. A year back we saw another set of young students of engineering from Hyderabad washed away in Manali when the sluice gates of the river were opened. We saw school children from Mumbai on a school trip, injured seriously while taking a horse cart ride in Panchgani tableland, another where the child was dragged by the horse and killed, and when a travel company took children to a high altitude camp in the Himalayas and had no clue why the child was having a headache. They gave the child crocin and the next morning the school child was no more having passed away in the night because of high altitude sickness. The company did not...