Some weeks ago, a senior outdoor educator conducted a clinic for approximately a dozen people working in the outdoor industry. They were people who had, for long, set up climbing and abseiling systems, using ropes and climbing gear, which the industry uses as framework to run outdoor management programmes. Let me emphasise — a dozen people aren't indicative of the whole industry. What was interesting was that while everyone set up a reasonably safe system, when viewed against the requirement of being as safe as safe can be, there were flaws.

Some of these flaws appeared the result of overconfidence; a feeling that mistakes won't happen, because the process, repeated umpteen times, had become the outdoor expert's comfort zone. Even more interesting was that due to inter-personal issues, the team which erred, had its members contribute their part individually, and missed the shared overview of a project, that usually produces good work. Doubts were hence left unclarified; those who could clarify didn't have the behaviour that brought questions to their doorstep for answering.

COMFORT ZONES

All of us have comfort zones. We have been in it for long; we have wallowed in it, we see everything else through its tinted glasses. Comfort zones are further reinforced by the fact that individuals belonging to one comfort zone seek out others like them till everyone is bonded together. When challenged, you justify instead of seeing and learning. It goes on till the equivalent of a badly-dressed knot or poorly-angled anchor produces an outcome that no amount of justification would be able to condone. In office, after office, strutting around as experts, they will offer no defence when something goes grievously wrong. Of course, the extent to which you will be shaken out of your comfort zone depends on the nature of work and what the consequence personally means to you. When you hang from a rope on a cliff side, the provision for debate and grey area vanishes. Everything is black and white. You see.

Parliament isn't a vertical cliff. Metaphorically, its verticality and ability to hold serious consequence are proportionate to how seriously you take your work. For us on the street, Parliament is what Parliament does. For those in Parliament, Parliament should be what Parliament can be — that's the hope with which we elected them to Parliament. Assuming that Parliamentarians are unchallengeable because Parliament is supreme is definitely a line of thought that betrays the comfort zone. This is no different from an outdoor expert passing off the system he rigged as infallible because that is how he has been doing it for years, because he is an ‘outdoor expert'. Assuming that Parliament doesn't merit being consulted or co-opted because it has never changed is no different from one outdoor expert not talking to another, working separately, and delivering a mediocre system. What you need is dialogue, so that a piece of work is properly and comprehensively done, irrespective of everyone's comfort zones.

REFRESHER COURSE

The entire Lokpal Bill issue reminded me of knots gone wrong on a cliff face. Rampant corruption holds serious consequence for India; poorly-imagined anti-graft machinery holds serious consequence for India. Yet, in the countdown to Tuesday's vote in the Lok Sabha, it was two fortress camps opposing each other. Every Parliamentarian who defended the supremacy of the Parliament, as if the quality of our Parliamentary debates and the conduct of elected representatives aren't known to the public, betrayed the fear of losing a prized comfort zone.

At the MMRDA ground, Anna Hazare delved into inflexible fasting, his comfort zone. On the cliff face, pondering the safety of the fate entrusted to these folks, are the rest of us. Back at the camp, the outdoor educator analysed the situation and facilitated a dialogue between the members of the erring team. Ego problems, attitudinal problems, technical problems — all tumbled out. The experience was aptly titled, ‘Refresher Course'.

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