Memories of Hindu Heritage Camp Sonia Gosain (13) These past three days have been an incredible experience. The Hindu Heritage Camp 2000 has taught me many songs, shlokas, and games. This camp also taught me many songs. This camp also taught me about my heritage. There were many different activities that we had. They include playing the flute, making up skits with children of different ages, playing force and skill games, and drawing several different styles of art. Two of the activities that we had were the most interesting of all … playing the flute and performing skits with younger children. Playing the flute was a wonderful experience. I leant the song: Sa Re Ga Ma and how to play many notes on the flute. Now since I took this session I learnt how to play a new instrument. Although there are only six holes, each hole has a different sound. Another activity that interested me was performing a skit. Some of the people who were in my group included.. Vidya, Tanay, Raashi, Vikram, Param, Keshavi, and Akshay. We performed a skit about devotion. The story included a Narrator, Guru, and a group of children who believed in God, and a group of Children who didn’t believe in God. The good kids got hurt by thorns and the bad kids received a dollar. Then all the children come to the God [i.e. me in the skit] and tell me this story. I reply that behind the gold children was God, otherwise they were almost bitten by a snake but since they were devoted to God , they only got hurt by thorns. The bad children were going to get so many dollars but received only one dollar because they didn’t believe in god. This activity gave me a chance to work with different aged kids and teach them as well. This camp was a very enjoyable and educational place. I learned about all our Indian Festivals and our culture. This camp also helped me make new friends that are also Indian. Hopefully next year there will be another camp similar to this one. Thank you for a remarkable place to learn while having fun. Go to Top Malini (13) Hello, my name is Malini. I am twelve year old and I hailed from India about 18 months ago. When I first came to this country, I really missed all Indian Festivals such as Diwali, Holi, etc……………… when I say I missed celebrating festivals.. I mean I missed all the fireworks, sweets etc… But after attending the 3-day heritage camp I understood why those festivals were celebrated. I was speechless! I was already proud to be an Indian, but after this camp I was not only proud to be an Indian but also to be a Hindu. What did this camp teach? Is that what you are asking? This camp first of all told me what makes Hindu different from all other religions, it told me why festivals were celebrated and I also made many new and interesting, young and old friends. I got to meet a Saint from Ammachi ashram who told us who is god, where he lives, what does he do etc… Today I got to go to the Livermore temple with all my friends. These 3 days were differently fun. Definitely I will urge every Indian tens kids to attend this camp which teaches one of the most important information to know:” Why be Hindu”? and many other Shlokas. See you in Balagokulam [Sunday 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.] Meenakshi (13) My experiences in the Hindu Heritage Camp were drawing, playing with the small kids, playing the flute, games, watching the video ‘Animated Ramayan; We drew all the avatars and Ganesh. I learnt a lot like Shlokas, Bhajans, and a song called ‘Hum Honge Kamyaab’. We also played skits with the small kids. We also had a tour of the Livermore temple. Go to Top Sudharsan (11) When I went to the camp I didn’t know much about Indians. I only knew 4 prayers. When I came here I learnt pretty much about Indian History that I had forgotten. My favorite lunches we had here are alu, poories and lemon rice. I also like the Pizza. I like learning the flute a lot. This is the first Indian Camp I have ever gone to. If I had to grade this camp I would grade it 100% A+. I think it’s fun arguing with Malini, Meenakshi, Sonia, Shreevidya. I also like to run through their conversations. In this camp some people asked me for my nickname and I answered ‘shawn’. When they call me Shawn, I tell them not to call me that. In my school everyone calls me Shawn, but I encourage them to call me Sudharsan. Here I don’t let the kids call me Shawn because when you can pronounce my real, then call me by it. I am glad there is a Sunday Balagokulam thing. I’m glad because I will miss this camp, if I am not able to come here again. I think Malini acts just like my Indian friend’s sister whose name is Ambika. I have enjoyed learning songs, math and prayers a lot. The games played are extraordinarily fun. I would like to thank all the aunties, and uncles for making this camp possible. I would also like to thank them for the food, the flute, the book of prayers and most of all for being kind. Thank you very much. See you in Balagokulam. Go to Top Sreevidya (14) By coming to the three days Hindu Heritage Camp, I had lot of fun and learnt new things. The different activities we had were songs and bhajans, Vamshi lessons, Drawing class, Vedic Mathematics, Boudhik on Hindu Festivals and Hindu Dharma, Ramayan video, Games of power and skill, Group activity with children of all ages and trip to Livermore temple. In Vamshi lessons, we learnt how to play Sa Re Ga Ma in flutes, I always wanted to learn flute, which I did here. I also liked drawing and art very much. Here we learnt to draw Ganesh, symbols for the 10 Avatars if Vishnu and still life drawing. In the group activity I learnt how to manage other children and teach them to do and enact the skit on the theme given to us. It was difficult but also a lot of fun. We also had a judge, which made it more enthusiastic. By Prabhaji’s answers to our questions in Livermore temple and by the Boudhiks, I learnt more on Hinduism and its Hindu Dharma. I learnt some new songs and shlokas. My favorite song was the Ramayan A B C Song. In Vedic Mathematics session we learnt many short cuts to multiply big numbers and find square roots of big numbers very easily and fast. I liked Vedic Mathematics. By coming to this camp I had lot of fun and Interesting experiences. I will always look forward for such camps. Go to Top Shyam Veerasankar (12) The things I liked about this camp are that we learnt how to draw 3D pictures and that we learn stuff about our religion all the time. I wasn’t here on the second day and I can’t believe that I missed it and I didn’t get to learnt that day so I came back on the third day asked everybody what I missed. I would recommend this cam to anyone wanting to learn the Hindu Heritage, Gods and Temples. The way to do yoga is what I leant and I couldn’t believe how fun it was and I could honestly say that it was one of the best experiences in my life. Here you watch videos and play lots and lots of games outside. My mother who I should be grateful for giving me one of the best experiences in the winter vacation introduced the Hindu Heritage Camp to me. This camp only has about a 25$ fee to join so it isn’t much but worth a million dollars. Questions are always asked about God and a lot of other subjects to the Guest speaker Shlokas and the camp song is a great start to learn and memorize songs and prayers. Plays are always fun and in this camp there is a lot of topics and these topics teach us the meaning of Gods and our very own life. This camp, I will attend every time it is available and I will tell my friends at school so they can join along with me as they also learn about our Culture and join the fun and be learning at; the same time. Chandrashekar Swaminathan (11) This year’s Hindu Heritage Camp was three days long. On the first day we learnt an Indian song and some shlokas. Some people who were 10 yrs old or older like me learnt to play the flute. After that we played Jeopardy and learnt games with the little kids. At the end, we said the Sangh Prarthana and we went home. The next two days were pretty much the same except on the second day a Swamiji from the Amritanandamayi Ashram gave a speech on Hinduism and on the third day, we went to the Shiva-Vishnu temple in Livermore, The best thing was that I liked everything. Karan (10) A fish that was what I really liked to draw in the drawing class, plus it was the first Avatar of Vishnu. Go to Top Pooja Jaeel (11) In the past three days, I have enjoyed. I loved all the games. Especially the ones that we won. The food was fantastic. I truly loved it. The animated Ramayan was cool and I enjoyed watching it. When Hanumanji went to Sita and told her about Lord Rama, was my favorite part. when we drew the 10 Avatars of Vishnu. Apurva (11) I enjoyed these past three days of camp very much. I had fun watching the Ramayan movie and then playing ‘Jeopardy’. Most of all I enjoyed the games, we played. Once when we were playing ‘Steal the Bacon’, I stole the ‘bacon ‘ first and my partner got so confused that instead of trying to catch me he just walked away! It was very funny. I also enjoyed the drawing periods. We did very interesting drawings. We drew the 10 Avatars of Vishnu. The other thing I enjoyed was doing ‘yoga’. I also like the food that they served. Most of all, I liked the ‘Macaroni & Cheese’. I took four serving of it! On the last day of camp they took us to the Livermore Temple. I enjoyed the field trip. Apoorva Charan (8) This was my first time going to Hindu Heritage Camp and boy! I did a lot in just 3 days, it was fun too. When we first came here we got name tags and played jeopardy. Our team won. A girl named janani was there and s was a girl named madhu. I made friends quickly. On the last day we had a pizza party. On the second day a swami came. We learnt a lot of Shlokas and our camp song. I Love Camp 2000. Go to Top Chinmay Bhatt (8) The camp was very fun. I did all kinds of stud. I learnt new prayers like Om Sahana Vavathu. Our camp song is Ham Honge Kamyab. At camp I did many fun things. Everyday we drew or did origami right before lunch. We watched the Ramayan Movie for 30 min but we did not finish it. HSS Camp is the best. Sumit Mitra Hi my name is Sumit and I went to a Hindu Heritage Camp. It was lot of fun. There was a lot of stuff to do. I am going to tell you what I liked in this camp. I liked Jeopardy because it had lots of Question and fun. Also they had one of the best movie I have every seen it is called Ramayan. They had good food and drinks. There were lots of games we could play with. We made rachis and other stuff. All the people were nice and ants and uncles were to. And that is all. Thank you. Karthik (8) I like this camp because there’s lot of wonderful games and I learnt a lot!!! One of the things I learnt Shlokas. My favorite thing was Tug of War. I also made a flower at art. I love this Camp!!! Vanya I liked jeopardy. Aditya Gupta I liked jeopardy because we won. I knew the answer for the question.’Who is the creator “God Brahma” Sreekar (9) In this camp you could learn a lot of things about Hindus and the Gods. You could also learn a lot of games you have never played before. You could learn how to make rachis and how to make flowers. We played jeopardy once. The topics were about some of the things we learnt in camp. It was really fun. This camp is the best!!!! Go to Top Priya Thapar We watched a movie. My favorite song was Hum Honge Kamyaab. Ambika First I was nervous of the Hindu Heritage Camp then I came to like it. Some of the people were older kids or younger kids but all of us were happy. My most favorites were the Art lessons from Anupama aunty. In the Hindu Heritage Camp there were more than eight games, Arts and crafts and rachis. The rakhis were made with sparkling fabric string and Stars. That was my favorite time in the Hindu Heritage Camp. Janani Meenakshi (8) This was my first time going to the Hindu Heritage Camp. It was a lot of fun. I learnt a lot of shlokas I didn’t know. Also I liked the camp song. And when we went to the park we’d play games like “Tug-a-war” and “relay races” and I liked the “shloka contest’. The people were very nice too and at the last day we got pizza! On a scale front one to ten. This camp being incredibly fun. I would rate this camp ‘one’. Abhimanyu Singh (8) I liked Jeopardy in camp and also the song “Hum Honge Kaamyab”. I even saw the movie Ramayan. It was where Ram tried to rescue Sita. We had great food when it was time to play tug of war sometimes. We ate pizza in the Central Park and in the park it was very very very fun in the three days camp I can tell all of you thanks. See you soon! Vikram Gosain (10) I liked the food. Singing songs was fun too. The tug’ war was a cool game. I made lots of friends like Tanay, Prasad, I like watching Ramayan. I really like the camp. I would recommend you to be in this camp. Go to Top Neha (6) We played with balloons. We did a quiz. We watched a movie. We did songs. We went to the grounds. The meaning of the Camp song- We will be successful one. We will be successful. The confidence is in us. Full confidence that we will be successful one day. Madhu Joshi (7) This is the Hindu Heritage Camp2000. This is what we had for lunch. Macaroni and cheese, puri and pizza. I like the pizza yum… in games I liked Jeopardy. We learnt a lot of songs. We had 52 kids. I made a lot of new friends. We watched a movie about Gods. It was the best camp ever! Swamiji came over. He lives in India. He came from a temple called Ashram. In India we call him Guru. We had a lot of fun. Do you think the next camp will be as fun? I hope so. Vikalp Malik (7) I like this camp because this is lots activities and games. Mostly this camp is fun because there are many kids to make friends. I liked the food and everything we did. I also liked how we made pictures and figured out what games we played. I liked the Ramayan Video tape. One of the games we played was ‘tug’ war’. My best part of the camp was the drawing. We drew all of Vishnu’s transforms and I also liked the stories and demonstrations. I also like the songs. Prerna Gundu We went to the park. We watched a movie called Ramayan. We played lots of games. We did a quiz, had lunch. Sang camp song and shlokas. We had stories, Art, Origami, Jokes and Breaks. Go to Top Avani Palvankar In this camp, I liked most of the things! In the past three days, there was a lot of stuff to do! I liked watching the Ramayan animated movie (even though we didn’t get t finish it) I like doing yoga too, like when we had to stand on our head etc! I especially liked playing the games and drawing; it was really fun! I liked playing ‘Steel the bacon’! it was fun drawing the 10 Avatars of Vishnu, and Ganesh. At the last day, we went to the Livermore Temple, it was fun! We got to pray to all of the gods! The good was pretty good. But I thing we should have had more contests like drawing contest or we could have made a play together on Ramayan (I did that in another camp). This camp was really fun!!! - Pooja Jaeel In the past three days I have enjoyed. I loved all the games that the older groups played. I especially liked the games that my teammates and I won. The food was fantastic. I truly loved it. The animated Ramayan was cool and I enjoyed watching it. When Hanumanji went to save Sita and told her about Lord Rama was my favorite part. I had fun when we drew the 10 Avatars of Vishnu. The one I liked the most was when we drew Ganesh I drew him okay. I liked the Camp Song, Hum Honge Kaamyaab. Whenever I get home I sing it. I loved shakha camp. ShinuPopat (10) The Hindu Heritage Camp is for 3 days there are lots of activities like drawing class, fun games and Hindu prayers. I liked in this Camp playing games and drawing. The drawing teacher teaches neat stuff about drawing. The teacher of drawing class teaching you great drawing. And in game class you have really fun! Go to Top Rajsekar (11) For 3 days I enjoyed the best camp called the Hindu Heritage Camp. We learned a lot here. We learnt stuff like to draw God (something about God). We also learnt shlokas and songs. We had a special song for this camp. For lunch the 3rd day we had pizza and drinks, it was fun. We also watched the movie of Ramayan, which we didn’t finish. A Swamiji also visited us; it was very honored to meet him. Here’s a drawing of one of Vishnu’s Avatars. We also played many games like stick pulling. There has to be 2 people or more to play this game. There has to be 2 people on each side of the stick. Then when the whistle blows, they start pulling on each side, then the person who pulls his opponent to his side, gets a point like that everybody in that teams take turns and plays the game. At the end the team with the most points win. Most of all I loved the camp very much. That’s what really counts. Namasthe. Anjana Patel (14) The most thing about the HSS is that we learn to pray because everyone can learn that how people can do different prayers and so much. Another thing is that to learn art with Anupama aunty and learn about the 10 Avatars of Vishnu. I want to tell the new comers that if you think that this camp looks boring trust me it is not would learn, have fun and freedom in this camp and everyone is nice and if you be mean or rude and unmannered then they can be upset too. Jai Hind and Good luck. Raashi I liked the camp song. Hum Honge Kaamyaab… One day we will be successful. The confidence is in us. Full confidence we have in us. One day we will be successful. The confidence we have in us. One day we will be successful. Shyam Prasad (7) I liked Hindu Heritage Camp. The best of all I liked the camp song. I learnt many pictures from an aunty. I also learnt many other things. It was a fun a lot. I liked it. I also liked the food there you know! I also liked making rakhi. I could even make it at home. It is very very easy. It was fun I liked it. I even made new friends. Their names are Tanay, Aditya, Vikram, and param. Those are my friends and I liked them. I wish it were a 7-day camp. I liked it a lot. Go to Top Tanay Jaeel (7) I liked Hindu Heritage Camp. One of my favorite things is playing ‘Lion and the Goat’. I also have been learning a lot about Gods. I also liked it because I made new friends. I liked watching Ramayan. I also met one of my classmates. The teachers are nice too. I had fun going to the Livermore Temple. Mihir Bhatt(11) I liked the kids praying at the Hindu Heritage Camp. Shree Mundra (5) I liked to make Rakhis in the Hindu Heritage Camp. Go to Top Sonia Gosain Malini Meenakshi Sudharsan Sreevidya Shyam Chandrashekar Karan Pooja Jaeel Apurva Apoorva Charan Sumit Mitra Karthik Chinmay Bhatt Vanya Aditya Gupta Sreekar Priya Thapar Ambika Janani Meenakshi Abhimanyu Vikram Gosain Neha Madhu Joshi Vikalp Malik Prerna Gundu Avani Palvankar ShinuPopat Rajsekar Anjana Patel Raashi Shyam Prasad Tanay Jaeel Mihir Bhatt Shree Mundra