Today was a day of serious business—constructing the Mountain Children's Forum. We started by discussing the need for a structure, some rules and regulations, and functions and logistics. The analogy of building a house, collecting the raw materials, laying a foundation, and working towards putting a roof on it helped us conceptulize the structure.

We then divided into groups to start developing the structure of the MCF. Today was also the first day that we took control of the discussion and it was up to us to ask the adult facilitators for input. Our most important rule was that there would be very few rules!

After lunch we got a change of scene, and in the wide open grounds of the Forest Research Institute (FRI), our focus on what objectives and the rules would govern the MCF became clearer.

The FRI is the largest such institution in Asia and the building is the second largest in India. Here we took time out to discuss the environment, visit their museums and stroll through the botanical gardens. Mr. Paramjit Singh, public relations officer of the FRI, walked with us through the botanical gardens and told us about the different plants we saw there

 

Afterwards we sat on the lawns and got back to work. By this time we were ready to ask the facilitators to leave the inside of the circle as we drafted out our plans for the MCF. Somewhere along the way, the facilitators became the spectators and the MCF began to become ours.

Later in the evening, we celebrated with an ICMC cake and chicken for those who had missed a non-veg diet and had been wondering how anybody could live without it. Traditional drums helped us dance it all off.