Activity week was meant to be fun, the only time in the entire year where you didn’t get the chance to think about work. And so, for that reason, Week of Wilderness, or WoW, was my last choice – the place I thought I’d be least likely to end up. But, after hearing the things being said about WoW from the previous batch  “oh the views are so nice” to “Oh you’ll have so much free time!” I convinced myself – and a couple of my friends – to go with me.

Never in my life did I think I would be on the side of a mountain performing a “leech-check”

The first  few days, I didn’t feel like we were out of school. It was Hanifl, after all. Same food, same whiteboard, same wake-up calls in the morning. But I never realized how in-depth the WFA (Wilderness First Aid) course would be. WFA was a program not for the faint-hearted, containing sessions from about 8 am to 6 pm every day, with lots and lots of real-life scenarios. The amount of fake blood I saw in those days I know I’ll never see again. 

A core part of the WoW was – Mr. Vishal,  with his top-tier acting, his wincing and screaming every time his “wound” was touched, combined with his manic yelling to try and act out for mental disorders. WFA didn’t only allow us to be certified, but to also practice our acting skills. When we were patients, we tried to make life as hard as possible for our fellow doctors, with screams, cries, and whines that probably echoed all the way to school. Throughout our time there, we went through various procedures: ranging from the scene survey, to checking for massive bleeds, and C-spine injuries, and following it up with a full primary and secondary checkup on the patient-  I learned a lot more about the human body through the situations, than in school (Sorry Ms. Manisha!).

But this wasn’t all! After 3 consecutive days of learning about wilderness medicine – EpiPens, and performing CPR, we went on a hike to apply the skills we had learnt. We started our hike with hiking bags that carried our tents, food, cooking supplies, ‘droms’ to fill water and garbage. Starting with a steep descent full of slippery leaves, we held on, pressing our heels firmly into the ground, until we reached the flat and uphill parts of the side of the mountain.  We hiked 7 hours on our first day and ended the day with a… somewhat questionable pasta – that we cooked independently.

On the second day, we trekked for about 5 hours and cooked three meals—pancakes for breakfast, popcorn and soup for lunch, and pizza for dinner. The food, with our blood, sweat, and tears (quite literally—as most of us ended up with some sort of injury on this hike), tasted delicious. 

However, it was then we came across possibly the lowest point of the entire trip: walking through extremely wet areas in our trek, to the point where our legs consisted of more leeches than skin.

 Never in my life did I think I would be on the side of a mountain performing a “leech-check,” with a 20 kg backpack, metal instruments clanging in the back, barely hanging on; with a cold soaking wet hat on my head; and a packet filled up of salted nuts and chocolates, the only thing getting me through it all. 

Sleeping under the stars and learning about wilderness is  well and good until you hear thunder and start counting backward from 5 to try and count how far the lightning was- the answer: pretty close. We barely managed to get everything packed in the morning while drinking steaming hot cocoa and overlooking the mountains- and in those couple moments- oversized ponchos hanging onto our bodies, rain continuing to pour on us and tents getting shoved into bags as fast as possible- may have been some of my core memories from the trip. 

Finally, on the last day of WoW, after hiking for about 3 hours, we managed to reach the spot where the bus took us back to school. And in those fleeting moments, I realized that no matter how harsh, scary, cold, or hot, activity week was- it was worth it. 

From playing UNO inside the tent, getting stuck in there with a giant cricket to loudly chasing away ladybugs, playing Mafia sitting outside on our “Sit-pads,” and doing our rose-bud-and-thorn reflection every single night- WoW was worth it. From being splashed in the face with burning hot oil, to getting 7 still-very-itchy leech bites on my legs, twisting both my ankles, and being tired to the core- I would somehow do it all over again. So, the main takeaway is this –  10th grade, WoW: success. 

Tisya is a staff reporter.

Edited by Trishana and Narayani