A report from the desk of Jyothi Bharat Divgi
Photographs credit : Krishnanand Heblekar

    When the heart is filled with warmth that comes from the Grace of the Guru, and the sheer joy and happiness of being a part of the Sanskriti Parichay Shibir ; frosty nights , chattering teeth and bitterly cold winds are all put up with a smile, and beleive me , a radiant smile at that !! Pure happiness reflected on every face of the shibirarthi at the end of the nine day shibir that was held in Punyanagari from the 2nd to the 10 th of January, 2001 .

Welcome then, to the blissful world of the shibirarthis !!

The spirit of the shibir................

    The thirtyfive blessed youngsters all from the age group of 15 and 25, came from all over India ; Chennai, Mumbai, Bagalkot……And crossed the international border ! yes , we had one who had come from Mumbasa , Africa ! These bundles of energies and enthusiasm were grouped in five groups with inspiring names of Bhakti, Kshama, Prem , Maitree and Satya .

Pitching in ....................

    Equipped with a session on first aid by Dr. Amita Pitre and a fire fighting demonstration at the Math, and with haversacks made by the handicapped children of Sri Parijnanashram Swami School at Virar, strapped on the backs, the shibhirarthis set out to begin what was an out of the world experience .
    With fresh air in abundance , away from the grime and the dust of the city, greenary in all its resplendence , clear starry nights and ofcourse the beautiful Khadakvasala lake in the background, what better place to pitch up tents ............and so the shibirrathis on day one pitched up tents with an enthusiasm that was spilling over . And with mother nature to inspire the names given to the tents were Nilgiri, Deodhar , Pepul, Bilwa, Ashwath, and Chinar .

Arising to the Suprabhatam ..................

Even before the winter sun slowly climbed up the eastern horizon , the shibirarthis were up for the suprabhatam.....  Indeed, invoking the blessings of our Lord Sri Bhavanishankar and the Guruparampara at dawn is the right way to begin the day. This was followed by the chanting of the shibir gana, the Shanti paath and stotras. Vyayama and Meditation , the simply - must activity for the body and the soul , was the finale to the early morning session .

Out door activities with a bang .............

* Trekking: The shibirarthis trekked all the way to the Simhagadh fort a good five kilometres uphill and another five down .

* Water sports : Under the able leadership of Vivek Mundkur and Heblekar Kuttimam, the dynamic sangchalak of the shibir , the youngsters enjoyed kayaking, boating and sailing in the lovely waters of the Khadakwasala .

* Star Gazing: Ten days under clear starry skies, the shibirarartis did so one night under the professional guidance of Prof. Lokhandwala .

* Bird watching: The feathered variety , of course, our friends watched coppersmith barbets , coots and spot billed ducks, grey hornbills and marsh hens , herons and egrets , fantail flycatchers and bee eaters........................

* Energetic activity : The shibirarthis were exposed to rapelling, rope walking, commando crawling , burma bridge and monkey crawling ........this was done under the guidance of Amladimam and Gautam Mavinkurve of Vasundhara. And what a demonstration ! The shibhirarthis were treated to a wonderful paragliding demonstration at the picturesque Khadakwasala lake by Shri Vivek Mundkur .

Intellectual Activities Too.................

The Shibir had organised a series of lectures .

• Amladimam spoke to the young participants on " Environment and your role in preserving it " . This was followed by a slide show that night.
• Sriram Shinde , a veteran journalist and animal lover took the shibirarthis in the creepy crawly world of Snakes and reptiles .
• A talk on Music Appreciation was given by Chaitanya Koppikar
• A puppet show conducted by Hemant Kanitkar of the Peoples Universal Popular Puppetry Educational theatre kept the shibirarthis engrossed one evening.

Saraswat sanskriti parichay……………..

catch them young !

Heranjal mam painstakingly introduced the shibirarthis to the world of the saraswat sanskriti. This was followed by a relevant slide show titled " Paay vaat ; henchi saraswatangele…. "

All that was learnt here was put to an acid test in the quiz that was conducted by the redoubtful Dr. Chaitanya Gulwady .

The Sanskriti Parichay Shibir introduced a whole new world of " lekhiyos, aadgatis , and yes, adjectives , proverbs, riddles .....the whole works !

(And so if you find our youth now conversing in shudh konkani with aadgatis peppering their conversation , you 'll know where they learnt it from !! )

Bhajans and shlokas .....

When Meera Balsavar is around, can bhajans be far behind ? No way !! and that was how, with her at the helm of the youngsters , the shibir always reverberated with melodious bhajans and stotras from a little book beautifully hand written by Viju and Aanand Nayampalli .

Precious time , Quality time with Poojya Gurudev :

The highlight of the shibir, that time of the day when all the shibirarthis looked forward to with a child like eagerness was the time when Poojya Swamiji came down to the shibir every evening . That , agree all the shibirartis unanimously , was the best time ever ! Paramarsh , the question and answer session was always interesting . High intensity deliberations, vimarsh , on varied topics like " Religion and Spirituality " and "atheism " was followed by the Ashtamoorthi Upaasana , that inspiring meditation with all the senses open to the five elements of earth , water, fire, air and space and simply being aware of its presence in our shareer. A truly magnificent experience indeed !

Of Cultural Sparks and Camp fires !

On the eve of the last day in the shibir, a night that all the shibirarthis will always remember with nostalgia, was the camp fire . The cultural show had a fusion dance on " abhayan mitran " , the shloka that the shibhirarthis had learnt and another dance based on the famous Meera Balsavar bhajan, " vana maali radha ramana ..."...

The shibirarthis narrated their experience and had a whale of a time playing the game based on the " whose line is it anyway " .

And then, the final day dawns at the shibir..............

To make the last day as treasured as the rest of the days were , a " Treasure hunt " was organised and in keeping with true spirits of the shibir, the clues were based on stotras and shlokas and activities of the last nine days

Poojya Swamiji arrived at the shibir to give certificates , a copy of the Sri Chitrapur Stuti Manjiri and a cassette of bhajans to all the shibhirarthis .The best shibirarthi award went to Anand Rajiv Chandawarkar of Bagalkot and to Gowri Shirur of Mumbai. The most popular shibhirarthis were Pia Chandawarkar of Pune and Nikhil Gonsalves of Mumbai . The best " Toli " went to " Kshama" .

Resounding applause …………….

The Sanskriti parichay Shibhir Committee did a wonderful job and the joy that reflected on the faces of the shibhirarthis at the end of the Shibhir said it all ! Generous contributions in cash and kind from sadhakas from Punyanagari went a long way in helping organize the Shibhir.

At the shibhir, the Sangchalak, Heblekar Kuttimam and his wife , the shibhir " amma " as she was popularly and lovingly called , Rupali Heblekar , Karpe Manoharmam who was responsible for discipline , Vijaya Bagde who firmly believed that the way to a shibhirarthi’s heart is through the stomach and so, strived to do just that and won them all over , Meera Balsavar who made the shibir melodious …………..these five volunteers did their best to make the shibhir a resounding success.

From the horse’s mouth……….

• The Shibhir taught me a lot about Indian values, religion and spirituality. It taught me tolerance and adaptability. My mental, physical, emotional, psychological , religious and spiritual attitude has undergone a tremendous sea change ………… ARCHANA GULVADI
• The " Ashta moorthy upasana ". was a simply wonderful experience !………. PRABODH PANDIT

• This Shibhir has energized and pepped me to lead a more meaningful life ………….PRIYANKA KALBAG

• The teamwork, closeness, brotherhood amongst us as we stood together throughout the nine days experience has been the biggest turnover in our lives …………….KUNAL BIJUR

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