Oxygen Parlor 

Welcome to the “Oxygen parlor’’   were our guides words when we entered a place named ‘Keshav Srusti’ ('Krishna's World') at Uttan Village, Bhayander.

Nature Trail 

Swadhyaya members along with their families… a group of 21 people visited this nature-surrounded place on 10 Feb 2013 by Car-pooling and some by train. The kitchen staff was informed in advance about our food requirements and as instructed, they served us sattvic breakfast and herbal tea.

This followed a guided nature trail where we saw 1100 varieties of trees planted here for their medicinal values and used for manufacturing Ayurvedic Medicines. Out of 3000, trees identified for their medicinal values in the world 1100 are grown here. After walking for almost an hour in this pleasant climate, some of us stopped by to enjoy and rejuvenate ourselves with their organically grown Coconut water.

That followed our trip to the ‘Gaushala’ / ‘Cow shed’ where there were almost 200 cows whose milk is given to the children studying in Keshav Srushti schools itself and the cow dung / Gobar and cow’s urine / Gaumutra are used for medicinal and natural fertilizer purpose.

Musical Housie

After the trail, we all sat to play a very common game in an uncommon way. ‘Musical Housie’ – as the name says we played Housie with 90 old songs sung by three of the members instead of just calling the numbers. This turned out to be fun and entertaining. Actually, we had two children in our group. However, this game brought in everyone’s inner child.  Post Lunch we had some time for relaxation before going into the next set of our activities. During this time everyone moved around the whole place either  strolling, visiting the small aquarium or  buying organic vegetables, saplings and natural products from their pharmacy and not to forget , some had the most energetic and naturally sweet  –  Sugarcane juice. The two children in our group aged 6yrs and 9 yrs. utilized this time by feeding the 200 cows for over an hour and could have gone on for another hour too.They even missed out an hour of their group games.  A perfect example of Karma Yoga by not even knowing what it means.

Feeding the Cows

The next session concluded with evening snacks, some group games and feedback for the association’s growth. The day ended with gratitude to the organizing/managing committee and to everyone including the two drivers of two of our members who were there throughout picking and dropping the members.

Swadhyaya Group with their families

At the end of the day, everyone had a smile on his / her face. Was it ‘each other’s company’? Or… was it the `Oxygen parlor’?  Or…. could be both. Well, I can guess for everyone, it was both. Felt like staying back. Unfortunately, they had no facilities to stay there. We wish to see such more exciting trips in future.

Swadhyaya Managing Committee