Being a new-normal intern

Unfortunately, before starting with the internship itself, we had to face an unimagined new situation resulting from Covid-19 and as a part of it we had to undergo a virtual internship. It was a new experience for both the foundation and us. Amidst all of these unprecedented obstacles, the foundation tried its best to make the internship fruitful through providing us with the best possible virtual learning environment. As a part of it, we had sessions like a virtual campus tour, introductory talk on Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and weekly interactive sessions on different thematic interventions. What I got attracted to in the beginning of the internship was the campus tour which helped me see the fenceless campus arranged for free movement of wild animals and the nature friendly materials used to construct the buildings in the campus. It showed me that the foundation is strictly adherent to its working philosophy of looking at human beings and nature as interdependent. Along with that I was surprised to know that through following the ‘wellbeing perspective’, the foundation thinks of the community as the agents and active participants of development programs. The community led production company called Aadhimali-where the local community members are managing the different stages of procurement, processing and value addition- and a new venture from the Nilambur region called Toduve Community Foundation were some of the examples which helped understand that people centered and driven development initiatives are possible.