Oasis Game

The month of October had a not-so-ordinary agenda for this hilly home of ours. The Triveni office had  created space for different people from both  the ”outside” world” as well as from the college to share with us ideas and / or initiatives through workshops. One of the workshops -- facilitated by the wonderfully spirited Azeer, Rachana, Sumi, Sumeet and Santosh -- was about a game, or movement, or philosophy, or simply something impossible to label, referred to as the Oasis Game. Now you may ask  “why Oasis?”  Well, because what this term advocates is a somewhat paradisiac refugee for the exhausted traveller, where she / he can find water in abundance in the middle of the dry desert.
This metaphor does great justice in describing what goes on in the minds of those who experience the game, for it is an experimental process of discovering beauty where we are lead to suppose there is none. The game is about understanding that you, I and everything surrounding us, are all the resources we need to make life good, worth living and, last but never least, b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. 

It all started with a group of students who wanted architecture to change not only physically the space they were working in, but to transform the reality of those who share that particular space. The aim of the game is to create simple and fun platforms to strengthen the relationships within the community and stimulate them to figure out what is -- and  then build -- their own oasis, questioning what society seems to generally agree to be one.

It was a bit complicated to call It a game when telling any of our peers that 4 hours of each day were committed to the “workshop”, and that on Saturday we happened to spend some –oops--- an extra 10 hours. It was altogether a very intense week. We laughed until our stomachs hurt, we questioned everything and everyone, we danced every time something sounded musical and we even let tears escape from our eyes when reminiscing and sharing each other’s realities. But most importantly, it was one of those unique moments when I genuinely felt that we were all sharing the same space, the same beat of the music being played through the very same game. We talked about our individual problems at some point during the sessions; we all have them – or they have us – but whatever. Life is just too beautiful to be bothered. Moreover, one could find the oddest combination of souls inside and outside the MPH, looking forward to Azeer exposing his “ESPETACULAR” way of articulating his hips and hands while delivering such inspiring ideas (sometimes spoken in a sweet “indianized” Portuguese, sometimes in English, often times not in words). Faculty, staff, students, construction workers, Oasis facilitators… all together, all-the-same.

In spite of my attempts in this article to explain the meaning of the Oasis Game, it does not seem right to do so by describing it with words. Perhaps covering your eyes with a  piece of cloth, positioning you at the edge of a slightly high platform and shouting “let go, we are here!”, perhaps then you would understand a little better. 

Sofia Class of 2012