Serve as a Family by Vijay Sethi, Vanyatra Co-ordinator, Vice-President, FTS Delhi

It was sunny morning of 20th June 2014 when I along with family of Sri Harmohanji from US (consisting of his wife Jayshriji, son Vivek and daughter Nikita) set out for Vanyatra to villages, Amarkavaas and Seradhna Dhani near Alwar in the state of Rajasthan.

They were taken to the Vidyalaya in procession with the beating of drums and folk dance on reaching the school. After Sarsvati Vandana 'He Hamsavahini...’ children showed their skill of solving sums of addition, subtraction and multiplications, then family had an interaction with the children and distributed sweets & biscuits to them.

The family exchanged views with village elders. Acharya Shaloo had arranged a simple but very delicious lunch prepared with desi wheat and natural flavored cow pure ghee. On our way to Vidyalaya, we stayed at Siliserh, a beautiful lake. We spent half an hour to enjoy the beauty of the lake.

Next we reached village Seradhna Dhani at a distance of 5 kilometers. Village elders greeted Sri Suri family members by offering Patka (a typical Rajasthani multicolored turban) and marigold garlands. Children recited poems in local language. When asked what they would like to be in life, they expressed their desire to join military, police, some wanted to join air force and girl students expressed their desire to become school teachers and nurses. They recited tables fluently even of 13 and 16. Vivek became friendly with the children and villagers. He even tried his hands on fodder cutting machine. Vivek & Nikita distributed biscuits and toffies to the children.

The villagers young & elders gave us a warm send off and requested us to visit again.