Scouting for Solutions

Flash back to my school era. Work and play was the mantra - then and now. Blue ties with surf-white uniforms, that turned brown by the end of the day. My parents enrolled me in a rough-n-tough program called The Cubs. I loved my life as a Cub - from camps & experiences, to ropes & lashings. It was all good!

From them I learned how to solve problems with minimal resources and loads of creative thinking. And at Grade 4, I morphed from Cub to Scout by way of gruelling tests with the requisite pomp and ceremony.

Our real mettle was tested during scout camps. One such incident was a cooking test. Totally unprepared, we were given the task of cooking a tasty dish, but with the following constraints -

1. Find and make your own fire without a match box, lighter, or anything to spark a flame.

2. The distance between the fire and the base of the vessel should be at least 2 feet.

3. You can't buy any ingredients. Just find out smart ways to work out deals with the grocery store to manage.

4. We were given just 1 hour to make this happen.

So 3 little cubs and yours truly got together and quickly formed a cracker of a team. The first of many in my life.

My Learning No 1. I learned that teamwork thrives under pressure.

Our first 10 minutes were spent in ideation and planning. Once we’d done that, we proceeded to designate tasks based on each one’s strengths and weaknesses.

Cubbie 1 cut a deal with Uncle Louis, our nearby grocery store owner - he promised to source all our stuff for the upcoming fete from him if he gave us stuff for free that day - Uncle agreed. So we got some Bhaingan, oil, onions, spices etc...

My Learning No. 2: From this I learned Negotiation ...at the tender age of 10!

Cubbie 2 dashed off to our canteen and grabbed the utensils, a bunch of candles and a handful of loose matchsticks, from Brother Pardo.

For the 2 feet challenge we really had to think on our 2 feet!!

We came up with the idea of an iron pipe at least 6 inches thick and 2 feet long.

Scouring through our school godown we found some scrap material and Voila! We found one just a bit longer at 2.5 feet.

My Learning No. 3: From this I learned to derive solutions from available resources.

Finally we were set with the prep.

The clock was ticking!!!! We were at the half way mark.

Now for the fire. One would think it's absurd, but when adversity strikes, it comes with no conditions. We had learned (from the scouts) that we could ignite a flame using a magnifying glass. Fortunately the Sun Gods favoured us that day so Cubbie 3 ran to our physics lab and sweet-talked our lab keeper Baburao into letting us borrow a large magnifying glass.

The next 10 minutes went with one guy chopping all the veggies and two of us 'firing' up for the challenge.

Sunlight was good and as the rays converged to a point on the paper, we could see the paper burn. We were jumping with excitement! We placed a string of matchsticks under the most scorching fire dot created by our magnifying glass..and within seconds our flame took off. Placing the wick of a candle near the flame, we got our fire going and lit all the candles so the fire was big enough for cooking.

My Learning No. 4: From this I learned that survival is a natural instinct especially through adversity.

Time left- 6.35- even though we needed a good 10 mins to finish the cooking. The fire lit up well, we placed the pipe over the fire and concentrated it towards the top where we had perched our cooking vessel with oil. Soon we heard the sweet sound of oil sizzling- that was our ‘Aha’ moment! After crossing all these hurdles cooking seemed like child's play (pun intended).

Maybe my love of food started here? Making something from nothing. Taking something and making it better.

Anyway….

We finished on time, were applauded for our team work, the food turned out edible and yes we did keep our promise with Uncle Louis!

My Learning No. 5: Constraints and adversity make one creative and solution-oriented.