The Shola Fellowship is a network (that means that they talk to each other fairly regularly) group of concerned (about each other and the world around)people (not professionals nor organisations) who are primarily friends (rather than adversaries or competitors) and come together annually to spend some time with one another along with their families. They come from different backgrounds and fields of endeavour and hence the variety to thinking and talking about life, systems, development…The Fellowship is not a formal entity, just a powerful binding spirit, with a core group of about 12 persons at its center, and regular and irregular invitees who join in each meeting. The strength of the group is in its will to be part of an adventure, to think, experience and create – and then transport bits and sparks into our lives. Each Shola has a theme (livelihoods, lifestyle, happiness, fear, wealth, ….) and children run their parallel activities too….
The fellowship was born in the Sholas (pristine natural rainforests of South India) in 1996 when it met in Northern Hay, Kotagiri. It has met thirteen (13) times till in different parts of the country including the Kumaon Himalayas, coastal Karnataka, Rajasthan, Sunderbans, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.