PANIC?
Not so much. 2 days before the
samelan is due to begin, Belay Veerji (lawyer) loses his voice. Funnily enough,
I (and the rest of the core team) am calm and proceed to ring my Golden Girl,
Manpreet – just a quick “Can you do the 2 morning IPS sessions?” and a “Sure”.
Just a quick run through about the session and its done.
Needless to say, it was a lovely
session.
This is not a Mini Samelan,
it’s a … MEDIUM samelan
We started the camp on a
Wednesday. During the school holidays. At 7p.m. Logically, I expected lots of
parents to bring/ send their kids on the Thursday before work.
I check with Pervin (who’s crazy
knee deep in registration) at some point on Wednesday evening and there are 100
or so kids.
The ice breakers/ introduction/
games session was a hit.
By the time it is Thursday, there
are close to 200 kids. The joy of this, the ‘Raunak’ is unparalled. Children
all over the gurdwara, children heading to the youth and sports complex next
door, children running up to you at intervals with a million questions,
statements, observations, and yes – just for a quick hug and to say hi. (There
is no way a sewadar, especially one who is involved with the Mighties can ever
be tired when they get this)
And the heading – someone said
this in disbelief looking at the organised chaos. And the fact that there was
an actual Nikkey Khalsey section, complete with their own module, activities,
sewadars.
Which brings us to the next
point:
This is like an Annual Samelan
We wouldn’t go so far as to say
that, but what we will admit is that it probably does not conform to your idea
of a ‘mini’ samelan. The routine was – Nitnem, Breakfast, Selami and Exercise,
Learning Module or IPS, followed by IPS/ Learning Module (the Mighties and
Miris were split here), followed by the M&M’s session (more on this later)
and then lunch.
After lunch they have 4 hours of
games and activities. These included a 4 Sanskar Workshop – where participants
(both Mighties and Miris) were exposed to the Janam Sanskar (Naamkaran), Amrit
Sanchar, Anand Karaj and Antim Sanskar elements. The Miri Piri participants had
Autar Singh Ji – who asked them to include what they thought were superstitions
semata-mata and I must say, those
were hilarious (and highly accurate)!
Besides that the Miris had their
group dynamics, which included team building games, station games, and mind and
body challenges. (Thank you, awesome people who planned/ executed these)
Meanwhile, the Mighties were kept
busy – on the first day, after the workshop they had a host of traditional/
classic games to choose from; kite flying, Pepsi Cola, snakes and ladders, board
games, and even Twister (and loads more) which kept them well and entertained. The
wide grin on face factor here for me was the fact that adults enjoyed
themselves as well, mengisi masa lapang.
On the arts and crafts front they made
some adorably adorable Singh and Kaur people on ice cream sticks. There was
also a telematch session for them – this was almost a mini Holla Mohalla!
And of course, they were treated
to their favourite superheroes on Saturday, when Super Kaur and Super Singh
made an appearance.
OK OK, if you read on you'll realise I originally did not include some things, so on the Miri front there was a debate on current Sikh and general issues ; and this was such a paradigm change for some! Also, lest you think the Miris died of boring learning stuff, they had a host of activities including a Gurbani antakshari and such.
IPS
If you are like us, and have been
to a Samelan (Gurmat Parchar) – you will know that an all important part of the
daily routine is the Inspirational Session (IPS). Deepest gratitude goes out to
the following jathas who took the time out on a weekday.
Every single jatha NAILED it.
Manpreet Kaur, Balvinder Singh
(Belay, Australia) (Doouble thanks for singing our favourite Har Sache Takht Rachaya
on the guitar), Sukhdev Singh and the Sri Dasmesh Jatha and Band, Gurmukh Singh
and Jatha, Serjit Singh (Senjay) for the talk, Autar Singh for coming despite a
bad back! , and Harcharanijt Singh (Raja) with jatha for the perfect ending. (Note
that I have randomly included non IPS speakers here, as I can do whatever I like
in my post)
Near and far
The sewadars, who showed up from
as far as Johor, deserve a Jaikara – for stepping in wherever needed, and to
the local youngsters (read: children) who are now grown up enough, we cannot
express how proud we are.
It is with Guru’s blessings that
a 20 year old prepared (and headed) the Mighty Khalsa module and section.
The darbar committee consisted of
two 18 year olds.
The mighties, miris and nikkey
all had their own modules, set of materials, and other items set out – which
could not have been possible without Rupinder Kaur, Pervinder Kaur; and Manraj
Singh, Jagjeet Singh, Karamveer Singh, Rabinder Kaur (Bindi), Ajeet Singh,
Gurpreet Singh, Gurleen Kaur, and the whole team preparing to a slight OCD
level. HAHA
There were makeshift toilets
created by a handful of the gurdwara sewadars
- these provided the ultimate showering experience of a samelan. WIN.
Gift
The theme was Banaa – and the
take home gifts were – Turbans for boys, Dupattas for girls. This would not be
possible without the kind gesture by Baldave Singh Ji of Leo Enterprises; who gave
us amazing prices on the materials, provided free stitching, and got everything
ready at express speed.
We are also blessed with amazing
sangat, who only needed to be informed “There are materials to be washed” –
they took as many as 40 turbans (6 meters each) home, lovingly washed, ironed
and folded and brought them back ready for distribution. Penjis and Matajis,
you inspire us.
Most of all, the gift is for us,
the children, call us what you like, Balak Satsang, Naujawan Satsang – we are
all the children of this gurdwara, and we are the children of the sangat.
It is thus that we can proudly
say, our elders – or committee, call them what you want, hand us the reigns,
sometimes unquestioningly – and let us grow.
And it is thus that we never have
to worry if they are enough roti makers, enough penjis to help out, enough daal
stirrers, bathroom washers, and so forth.
Another gift I will need to
mention is that of the monetary support. Someone asked me where we get the
money from, and we are extremely proud to say that it is because you, and
people like you contribute, we are able to push ourselves and transform bigger
and better plans into actions.
Mentorship
Here we are, at the M&M
finally (Were you still wondering?).
Mighties and Miris, a session
where both sections get to meet and interact with each other. The idea : a 30 seconds to fame session ;
where they would present the outcome of their interaction, and … you know..
meanwhile hoping that a friendship / veerji and penji ship / some kind of
relationship is forged.
The outcome: an incredibly
entertaining 30 second to fame – and the bonus? THOSE kids actually interacted/
became friends/ bonded/ whatever.
It was NOT easy – having LOADS of
kids, the pairing/grouping, ensuring that on the day of the performance all
Mighties had a Miri and so forth.
But thanks to all incredibly
amazing people, it happened.
Everything was pre- planned, so
on the day all sewadars knew their exact role in life (person to sort kids
according to groups, hand out the numbers, the penji who called out the number,
the penji ensuring stage smoothness, and so forth).
Also, very happy to say that our
pre-existing Naujawan program got new members after the samelan – Bole So
Nihaal, Sat Sri Akal!
SIKH (Yes, this is the edited version)
So what did we learn about? Continuing with the Annual Samelan theme ; Pehla Maran Kabool, Jeevan ki Chhad Aas - this shabad and that EPIC tune though, SO MUCH WIN.
The theme we went with is Bana ; from the Bani, Bana, Sewa, Simran and Satsang group. This is what the Mighties module comprised of, and we thought it would present well.
There was lots to share with them, from being proud with your Saroop, your Values that you carry, how Bani helps, and so much more - the speakers, jathas and sewadars all did a spectacular job.
Besides that, as you may have read above, there were a lot of other things to learn about, all this was enforced throughout.
Taeh Dilo Dhanvad
I am typing this after some time, and I can’t remember if I have thanked the photographers, so – a big thank you to Samreet, the Media team, Deven, and all camera phone owners.
I would also like to seriously thank all of you who provided actual, real feedback - this helps immensely!! (and to that person who actually reads my blog, who gave us those statistics on Saturday - that was cool)
I now realise I have not actually explained the essence of what the theme and learning outcome was, oh well let's just say that's for another post anyway. ;) (OK maybe I'll just edit it into this post later!)
Let me end this post here, and
let me end by saying that if at any point I sound like a bragger, please
disregard that thought, as all I am trying to do is share with you how amazing
you all have been, and how much of an inspiration some things and some people can
be to us. Also, our elders have appropriately ensured that we don’t get too big
headed! And most of all, how much fun we
have all had, how much we have learnt and how Vaheguru has blessed us.
I hope you’ve had a good read, as always stay
smiling, LOTS of love and God bless.
