Winter Break 2010
When & Where?
Date: Dec 2010
Place: Bangalore
After a lot of sweeping, scrubbing and mopping, the Vishala Canteen of The Art of Living International Center was ready to welcome the Winter Break participants. WAYE's wish to add new flavour to the Winter Break 2010 became true.
The 20 volunteers of WAYE transformed the Vishala Canteen into "La Khana", a tantalising bistro. On the 27th of December 2010, as the participants walked in to get their housing done, the delicious aroma of pasta and idlums beckoned to their hungry stomachs. Hearts and stomachs full, the air resonated with the spirited chatter of the 1080 attendants of the Winter Break. Ages ago Indian students would stay in the place of their guru and learn life and domain skills required to excel in life. As an initiative to remember and cherish this system of Gurukulam, "Back to Gurukul", was made the theme of this Winter Break upgrade.
It was a 3 hour live adventure game played by 62 teams of 15 people. The participants ran around the entire Ashram, painting, deciphering clues and hunting for their next clue. The tasks varied from making a chooran, to attending a quiz, to deciphering calculus, to painting walls. The participants faces were upgraded to shiny pink, radiating victorious satisfaction and mild exertion at the end of the day.
After a completely noisy and rambunctious day, the 29th dawned to be the first day of the advanced course - YES!++. Having chosen to be far away from the maddening crowd, the participants put a pause to all their chatter, gadgets and outward frolicking. Their deep meditative silence enveloped the entire area expanding tranquility into the already serene ambiance. The 31st of December faded into the 1st of Jan in silence, satsang and gratitude for the previous year. The first morning of 2011 the youngsters broke silence.
On the 2nd evening, a Bhakti concert was specially arranged for the participants. It turned to be a 5 hour Bhakti which made the audience dance and meditate to its tune. On 3rd Jan the participants had a session with H.H. Sri Sri. Ravi Shankar. He encouraged them to be more creative and use their youthfulness and imagination in doing whatever they enjoy.
