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A weekend with Sathya Sai at Normanville

After driving with friends for more than an hour, through green androlling hills and meadows, dottedwithcows andsheep,we arrivedat thesprawling Dzintari Latvian Camp at NorrnanviUe. \Y/e were there for a weekendcamporganised bythe SathyaSai Organisation, SouthAustralian Chapter, themed 'Love is ' Mydaughter and I hadlooked forwardto this withexcitement.

Normanville is about 84kmsouthof Adelaide. Situatednext tothemouth of the BungalaRiverit isthe largest regional centre onthe western side of the Fleurieu peninsula.

The camp siteitselfhadquite a few dormitories with bunk-sryle beds,a large kitchen cumconference haU,vast surrounding paddocks andthe view of the ocean.This mokthecake, andwhenever

Istepped out, I foundmysdf staring open-mouthed.Appearinglike avastbowl because of the hills at thetwoends, the changelingwaterwasattimes molten silver andclear blue,greeny-gold,or sunset pinkhuedat others.

The programme had the morningwakeup song or S1tpmbbata111toSwami,as Sathya Sai Babais lovingly called, foUowedbylead andfollowstyledevotional singing. I theJ1 leadashort yogaandPranayamasession, whichwas followedbybreakfast.

There were at least 100 people, young and old,some havingcome for the entire weekendandothers asdayvisitors. Fivemonch-oldbabyOjas and75years young Amma, as she is known toaUof us, formed the twoends of thedelightful spectrum.

Childrenasyoungas five,alongwith older girls andboys, \vokeearly, ate heartily andplayed non-stop,be it basketball,soccer, mini-golf orboard games.Theyattended just acouple of sessions in die conference hall andled the Bhajans one evening.

Weadults hadthepleasure of attending rivetingtalksof aformer student, Amitabh Duttagupta, fromthe Sad1ya Sai Educational Institutions,basedin Puttapard1i, India. He rookus up anddown an emotional roller-coaster ride asheshared snippets frornhislife in Purtapard1i blessed bySaiBaba's constantphysicalpresence.

Laughter andmoisteyes alternated listening to his memories as be unfoldedhis heart before us.

There wereod1erspeakerstoowhowere interesting andengaging,allworking around the central theme.

The small group of ladies whocooked aUd1roughthe weekend wereinspirational,