Abacus Children's Camp, Suryanelli

The Kalypso team was all geared on a beautiful Tuesday morning for the children’s camp at Suryanelli. On arriving there, we were absolutely taken aback at the scenic splendors of the place. If one were to describe the most beautiful thing they have seen, they would be at a loss for words. Suryanelli seemed to have that kind of an effect on me. Being my first time at the camp there, the first bit of my trip lay in just looking out into the landscape. The one thing that stood out so magnificently was the strip of water running down from the foot of the mountains. What looked like a line of mounds piled in rows and rows and soon disappearing into the mist was Suryanelli. This got me extremely thrilled. I knew the next few days were going to be just brilliant.

A couple of hours after our arrival, we could hear the distant screams of excitement. The children had arrived. They were thrilled. They were like little kids at a candy store. Everyone was running and jumping around, till the sound of the loud whistle hushed them up. “I am hungry” yelled one little kid. They were starving. After a long journey by train and then a long bus ride to Suryanelli, they were exhausted but all set to camp it out. Thus, after a short briefing about the camp, the kids had lunch.

After a heavy and relieving round of lunch, they were divided into two groups. The first, named them IBN (Irritated By Nishit) and the second BC (Butt Crackers). On forming the teams and the spirit of competition slowly beginning, we headed for a tent pitching demo. The teams were asked to watch the guides set up a tent, and later, each team was given open space to pitch four tents each. That got the whole team working together, lot of laughter and fun. They finally successfully pitched eight tents with a little help from the guides. We then started the team games. The two teams were further divided into two groups within their teams and simultaneously had two games going. The kids loved it.

We then moved on for tea after which we had the boy’s tug of war. This was where all the adrenaline came to play. The girls cheering for the boys in their teams at the top of their voice… the boys struggling and the tug of war boy’s champs were “TEAM IBN”.

That wound up all the activities of the first day. The evening ended with a nice camp fire set up for the kids and a lovely dinner.

The next day was a bit of a downer for the children because it started raining but that didn’t kill their spirits. They had a trek arranged for two hours, and they completed it successfully, without any complaints. After lunch and little time to relax, the kids enjoyed the river crossing. Later, the girls had their tug of war competition, which was even more interesting than the boy’s.

The highlight of the entire trip, however was on the third day. The kids were all taken to the lake, where they were made to build a raft and had a few competitions. This was followed by a lunch which was to be prepared by each team with a certain amount of provisions which were provided. The children enjoyed themselves thoroughly. This was the best part of the entire trip for them

The last day concluded with the competition games. And entertainment programmes by the kids. After lunch it was time to depart. All in all, the children found this an experience to remember a long time forward.