Welcome to my world. This is me at the summer camp in BaRu Sahib.

So, I ended up going to the Gurmat Camp in BaRu Sahib again this summer and I survived. (I had decided after my last year's experiences that I was absolutely not going but my evil Mata convinced me to go). There were things that I hated and things I loved. But most important of all were the things that I learnt and the friendships I made. So many people ask me about the camp, so I thought that this would be a fun way to share. Please click on the pictures to enlarge.
Enjoy!

The Valley of Divine Peace

This is the picture of the BaRu Sahib campus from one of our hiking trips. We stayed there for a month.

All the campers with teachers and Guests

This one is at the steps of Darbar Sahib on the opening day. You can see all the campers, teachers and the chief guests as well as Baba Iqbal Singh Ji.

The 4th in India

Most of the campers were from the U.S.A and the openening day happened to be the 4th of July. So we had officers from American Embassy visit us as Chief Guests and at the end of the opening ceremony we all sang the U.S. National Anthem followed by fireworks. (The opening ceremony started with Gatka).

The classroom

These are our Sikh History classes. We did an hour of history each day.

Learning the music

Learning to play the shabads. I leant some beautiful shabads at the camp. My partner was Dashmeet Singh (also from Atlanta). I enjoyed learning from some wonderful teachers. Most teachers were the previous students of Akal Academy.

The 'Mess Hall'

This is our mess where we ate most of our meals. The food was pretty simple and 100% vegetarian. I wish there were more fruits though. I strictly go by t he vegetarian food pyramid i.e 5 servings of fruit a day.

ps: Mess - A group of people, usually soldiers or sailors, who regularly eat meals together. Food or a meal served to such a group: took mess with the enlistees. A mess hall.

My teacher and me

There was a lot of learning at the camp. We learnt Santhya - The correct pronunciation of the Gurbani. We read almost 4-6 hours a day.

Big Boys with bigger agenda

Big boys classroom. They talked about some more recent history and current issues. Some big boys really liked the camp and Sikhi way of life and decided to keep their Kes.

Ardas before gatka

These are the boys from the Gurmat Vidyala in Akal academy. They focus on Gurmat education and Gatka. They were so good; you wouldn't believe your eyes when they swung those weapons.

I LOVE GATKA!!!!!!!!!

Gatka was my favorite thing to learn at the camp. I wish we had Gatka lessons in Atlanta and can practice it more often. I LOVE GATKA!!!!!!!!

Veer Ras

We learnt and recited some beautiful poems related to the history.

Langar Time

Boys eating in the Langar hall.

Ardaas , Waheguru !

We did our morning and evening Baanis at the Darbaar Sahib everday.
One of the things I learnt at the camp was to do the long Ardaas. This is me doing the Ardaas sewa.

Atul - The Immeasurable ones

This picture is from the Quiz competition. Our team was called the ‘Atul’ meaning incomparable or immeasurable. The others were Ajay (unbeatable), Abhay (fearless), and Amul (Priceless) (names from Jaap Sahib). Can you guess who won the first place ? ;-).

This is not all. There are more fun pictures. Please click on August Archives on top right of the page.

Big Brother and I

What made my camp bearable ;-) was having Gurvinderpal and Amritpal there (My big brother and little brother I made during my stay). This is Gurvinderpal and me. It was our second time attending the camp together. I hope they come next year too.

Hiking upto the cave - My next favorite part of the camp

I loved hiking trips in our camp. The trails were rugged and slippery. The air was pure and the views were awesome.

The Cave!

Getting there was difficult but worth it.

Reading from Guru Sahib!

After being able to recite the 5 Baanis correctly, I was graduated to reading from the Guru Sahib. What an honor. I did read about 230 angs of the Guru in the camp.

Gyan Singh

Gyan is the cutest little boy I know of. His Mom and Dad were the camp organizers and he hung out all the time with us. He is so full of fun. He is also from atlanta and I see him every Sunday. I will miss him since he will join his 3 sisters to go to Akal Academy for school next year.

The boys at the Dustaar Competition

Some were funny but overall everyone was a sport except one of my friends who was so embarrased that he went and hid under the bed rather than show off his skills.

Another one of the Dustaar Competetion

Since we didn't have access to mirrors at the competition, Gurvinder would take pictures of everyone with the digital camera and showed them how their dustaar came along!

And the winner is .....

We were judged by technique, time and ease of tying the dustaar. I had a head start since I had Satpal Veerji from my Moms hometown work with me before I went to the camp.

Another one of the Mountains

The mountains were absolutely gorgeous! My Mom was so envious of my hiking trip.

BadMinton

I even picked up the most favorite indoor sport enjoyed by Indians. Badminton. It was fun.

Time to Say Goodbye

So 4 weeks at the Valley were over and it was time to fly back.This is Balwant Singh Sekhon Uncle and me. He was the lead organizer of the camp and looked after all of us.

Will I come back ? - I think I will. Until then, Good bye, Baru Sahib, my wonderful Teachers, and beautiful mountains. Continue imparting the light of Sikhi for generations to come.

Quote of the Day!

Live Simply, so others may simply live!