Tattva

Vishwa Samiti Shiksha Varg 2008, a 15-day international training camp, was held in Bhagyanagar (Hyderabad), India this past summer. It started off with a graceful welcome ceremony where all participants were welcome with Tilak, flowers and Aarti, followed by a blissful Yajna. Vishwa Mangal Shanti Sukhado Hindu Dharma Vijayatam was the theme of the camp. 64 girls from 11 countries were fully energized and enthusiastic to spend the next 15 days under hard core training and discipline. The countries represented were USA, UK, Kenya, Guyana, Trinidad, Mauritius, Malaysia, Holland, Denmark, Sri Lanka and Dubai.

There were 8 instructors and over 30 full time helpers from different parts of Bharat, who made sure that every part of the camp was perfect, in terms of activities, facilities, book store, kitchen and others.

All the activities were divided into two sections: physical training and intellectual development. Physical activities covered topics like yoga, layzims, martial arts, games, etc. All theses were carried out with a lot of enthusiasm. The intellectual development sessions involved lectures, discussions, stories and team-building workshops. A wide range of topics were covered related to Hindu Dharma, Bharat and current issues. Some of the popular topics were: Glorious History of Bharat, The message of Vedas and Upanishads for Youth, Hindutva- a Global Ethical System, Challenges faced by Hindus all over the World, The Concept of Sewa, among others.

Some very interesting features at the camp were as follows:

• Route march of 3 miles passing through some of the highly populated areas of Hyderabad. Over 200 sevikas participated in this (from both Bharat and other countries). Throughout the route, we were showered with flowers and small sevikas performing traditional dances. The route march ended at Asthalaxmi Mandir, followed by prasadam.

• Matru bhojan, where some local families were asked to bring a meal for 3-4 camp participants and eat as a family. All the families were very enthusiastic about it and made sure everyone ate well; it felt just like home.

• The exhibitions displayed were a great source of knowledge and inspiration to everyone. Some of the displays were on great Indian women in the past and traditional Indian dressing from different parts of India.

The camp concluded with the concluding ceremony where all the physical skills learnt over the 15 days were demonstrated and a very inspiring speech by Van. Pramila Tai Medhe, Pramukh Sanchalika (chief of Rashtra Sevika Samiti). Van. Pramila Tai Medhe tied rakhi to each of us and blessed us on completion of our training.

The 15 days flew by, learning, getting to know each other and having fun. The time to leave was a moment of mixed emotions for everyone, sad because it was over, but also proud on the accomplishment and promising that everyone will take back everything learnt back to our respective countries and represent ourselves as proud cultural ambassadors of Bharat and Hindu Dharma.

Khyati Vaidya lives in Houston, TX. You can contact her at kvaidya55@gmail.com.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 7:04 am and is filed under Editorials/Reflections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.