Greater Atlanta Vedic Temple, from where one normally hears Vedic Hymns, Aum Dhwanee and smells purified air emanating from the Hawan Kund, was louder on the weekend of July 25 to 27, because of the additional happy sounds of excited children, enjoying the yearly summer camp at the temple complex. They all (52 of them in the age group 5 to 18) arrived on a Friday evening and immediately started having fun, running around and playing games.

In the next 48 hours, they ate delicious food; saw a movie, a puppet show, and played volleyball, badminton, soccer, tug-of-war, jump-ropes, water balloons, carom, chess etc. An outsider, hearing the sounds of the children would have thought that the children were out of control. But the truth was that they were all well-behaved, and in reality were following all the rules of the camp.

Knowing that they had come also to learn, they quickly picked up knowledge of the vedas, mantras including their meanings and the process for Hawan and performing Yoga-Aasans and Pranayam. On the lighter side, they, with help from guest-professionals, learnt to paint, make potteries, and picked up steps for popular dances.

On the intellectual side, Acharya Ashish Ji of Tapovan Ashram Dehradoon, India taught the methods for improving memory and concentration through Patanjali Aushtang Yog. In the follow up tests, the children surprised all adults by reciting up to 25 unrelated words in the same sequence as dictated to them by the teacher 3 to 4 minutes earlier.

On the closing day of Sunday, they pleased their parents, by showing them on the stage, all the knowledge and talents that they had learnt from the camp. Selecting winners for awards such as most congenial, natural leader, helpful, monitor, most inspiring child etc. was not easy for the selection committee. However, majority of them got recognized by Acharya Ashish Ji for their individual talents or qualities.

This whole program was conducted by a number of dedicated volunteers including but not limited to Sunita Bagga, JayShree, Scott, Vijay Arora, Dhirendra and Pramila Sharma, Pramila Chandora, Abhai Chandora, Vishrut Arya, Swasti Arya, Dr. Savitha, Mr. Sasi, Savitri Chandora, Mini Sharma etc etc. All of them worked effortlessly along with other volunteers to make the camp successful.

In the end, they were all given certificates of participation and left with happy faces, and a strong desire and promise to come back again next year for the camp, in the month of July 2009.