HSS Chicago Annual Picnic 2009
Posted by abhimanyu on August 1, 2009
HSS Chicago Vibhag had their Annual Family Picnic on Saturday Agust 1st 2009. It was a full day event held at Deer Grove Forest Preserve in Palatine IL.
HSS Picnic 2009
The pictures of the event can be viewed here - http://www.hssus.org/gallery/v/MWEST/Chicago+Vibhag+Picnic+2009/
Over 120 participants of all ages, representing 42 families from across the Chicagoland area made the best of the rainy day. An unseasonably cold, windy, overcast and rainy climate failed to dampen the spirits of these enthusiastic picnickers.
The day started at 10AM with just a few karyakartas present in the picnic shed, wondering if anybody would show up in that kind of weather. People started coming slowly and within 30-40 minutes, the grove was filled with kids screaming and running around, and adults helping with vyavastha and chit-chatting with others.
All families were asked to register and the picnic officially started around 11 AM. We played the first game, which was actually a cleverly crafted introduction of the entire group. 3 ganas were formed to play various games. One group went on to play a game of Lagori, while the second group played kabaddi. A separate 3rd gana was made for the shishus and balas.
Lunch was served at 12.30 and it needed no further evidence to the saying that the way to happiness begins and ends in stomach. All the families had contributed in bringing the food.
After the heavy lunch, some preferred to stay put and chit-chat, while most were off to playing more games again. We played volleyball, cricket, tag football, frisbees, etc. Sevikas made their own gana and played some light games. They were the group who enjoyed the most because they did not want to take a break even for the ice-cream! Others took breaks for ice-cream and then for tea.
The final session started at 3.30 PM and was the main attraction of the picnic, especially for the kids. We played various races, incluing freestyle running, lemon-spoon race, sack race, and 3-legged race. Finally there were two special races for the couples.
We started the concluding session at 4.30. After a sanghik geet, Madhav’ji Naidu gave a bried concluding message. He talked about the purpose of coming together in functions like the picnic and weekly shakhas. The picnic ended with Prarthana.
As usual, it was a display of great team effort – the arrangements, the food and the cleanup.