Balvihar Residential Summer Camp 2019 At Chinmaya Gardens In Coimbatore

On April 15, 2019 around 40 students from Classes 5 and 6 of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Hyderabad (CVH) and 4 teachers of the school assembled in the school lobby at 6 a.m. They started the day with morning prayer followed by roll call.

These young students of CVH went on a 3-day Balvihar residential summer camp to Chinmaya Gardens in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. After the morning prayer, the students lined up with their baggage and backpack. The children were too excited and thrilled as for most of the children it was the first time to travel to distant place without parents. While the parent were worried to stay away from their little ones for 5 days. The children boarded the bus and reached Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. After the check-in formalities, the students accompanied with teachers boarded the Indigo flight 6E 744 bound to Coimbatore. The flight took off from Hyderabad airport at 9.30 a.m and landed in Coimbatore at around 10.45 a.m.

Day 1 at Chinmaya Gardens, Coimbatore

On reaching Chinmaya Gardens the students occupied the rooms / dormitories assigned to them.

After refreshing themselves, the children had lunch at Annakshetra - the ashram's dining lounge and then they had the fun of outdoor games in the gardens. In the evening the children were engaged in bhajans by Swamini Vimalanandamma followed by sandhya aarti to Ananda Nartana Vinayaka i.e. Lord Ganesha in blissful dance posture. After evening bhajans the children had their dinner at Annakshetra and then went for an after dinner walk within the campus.

About Chinmaya Gardens

Chinmaya Gardens is an ashram operated by Chinmaya Mission. The ashram is located at a beautiful and serene place in Siruvani at the foothills of Siruvani Hills in the Nilgiri Hill Ranges of the Western Ghats. It is at a distance of 26 Km from the city of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

At sunrise the ashram reverberates with Vedic Chants followed by puja and aarti to Ananda Nartana Vinayaka - the presiding deity of the ashram. It's a temple of spiritual wisdom where one can enjoy divine bliss and gets spiritually elevated. The ashram conducts regular camps, yajnas and classes.

Day 2 at the gardens / Day 1 of Balvihar camp

Day 1 of the summer camp at Chinmaya Gardens started with morning prayers and aarti to Ananda Nartana Ganapati. The children of CVH woke up at around 4.30 a.m, refreshed themselves and attended the morning prayers and aarti to Ananda Nartana Vinayaka. After aarti, the children meditated in the temple till sunrise and then they walked to Annakshetra for their morning milk. From Annakshetra, the children then walked to Satsang Hall to attend the invocation (inauguration) of the camp followed by an address by one of inmates of the ashram.

The students of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu also attended the Balavihar camp along with the students of CVH. The students of these two schools were divided into groups before they took part in various activities. After invocation of the camp, the children were busily engaged in a fun activity. The children then took part in various outdoor fun activities / games. And then involved in some indoor activities too. After a busy day with full of activities, the children had a late night session till 10 p.m.

So that was a hectic Day 1 of the Balvihar camp and the children who were damn tired had a sound sleep at night.

Day 3 at ashram / Day 2 activities in the camp

The children started their Day 2 activities in the camp with an early morning walk before sunrise. The present generation children are habituated to live in concentrate jungles. In Balvihar summer camp, these e-generation children got an opportunity to spend time in communion with nature. The energizing morning walk was followed by a light trekking on the hill. After an exhausting hill trek, the children returned to ashram and took part in Gayatri Homam. After homam, the children of the two schools were engaged in some indoor activities like Ganesha-making with paper. and flower-making with wool and newspaper. After indoor activities, the children enjoyed some outdoor games like Kho-kho. After a day full of activities, the children participated in a mass Ganesh puja at night. followed by a late night session. In the 2nd day of the residential camp the children were fully engaged in various indoor and outdoor fun as well as religious activities.

Day 4 in the ashram / Day 3 - the last day of the Balvihar camp

On the last day of the residential summer camp, the children spent some time in the lap of Mother Nature who was at her best. They spent some time enjoying the early morning, before sunrise, chirping of birds in the serene atmosphere. And then enjoyed the beautiful view of sunrise from behind the woods. After recharging their body and minds, they took part in few outdoor games. In the afternoon the teachers took the children to Isha Foundation where they spent some time in silence. Isha Foundation is a global organisation started by Jaggi Maharaj popularly known as Sadhguru. After spending some time in the spiritual atmosphere, they then proceeded to Kovai Kondattam Amusement Park located in Siruvani Main Rd. The children had fun time at the amusement park and they enjoyed the Rain Dance in the park. The last day of the camp was enjoyed the most by the children who returned to ashram rooms with full of satisfaction and contentment.

Day 5 in the ashram

On Day 5 in the ashram i.e on April 19, 2019 (Friday) the children packed up their baggage for their return journey and spent the time in leisure. In the morning, the children were taken to the small shrine of Lord Hanuman in the ashram campus. They took part in the mass recital of Hanuman Chalisa on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. After lunch the children vacated the rooms and proceeded to Coimbatore airport. They took the return flight to Hyderabad and carried home the wonderful memories of the camp.

Foot Note - Benefits Of Residential Summer Camps

Residential summer camps are a great pass time for children during the summer vacation. Here are some of the important reasons for encouraging the children to take part in summer camps.

• The children get an opportunity to develop their life skills.
• Children learn to stay away from their parents and they learn to do things independently without the involvement of their parents who do helicopter parenting on their children.
• They improve friendship skills as they get an opportunity to interact and mingle with children from different schools.
• It inculcates in them to live a disciplined life.
• Children live in natural surroundings which help in developing immunity in them.
• The physical activities in summer camps help them to stay fit and healthy.
• Above all it provides them a great memorable experience and cherished moments.