Diwali is round the corner and we are all excited to make the preparations for the festival. Lights, candles, sweets, new attires and gift boxes bring a big smile on our faces.
We gleam and cheer at the thought of Ganesh-Lakshmi Puja, lighting up the diyas and bursting firecrackers later. Diwali seems to be incomplete without all of this. Isn’t it?
But picture this, a little girl called Pinky is staring blankly at the sky full of sparkling firecrackers; she does not get to eat one meal a day forget about a box full of sweets; the only frock she has is torn at multiple places, leave aside getting new clothes.
Pinky is trying to smile thinking if she could also get new clothes, sweets and some firecrackers. Alas! The poor girl spends each Diwali staring at the skyline and does not get to celebrate the festival like we-the fortunate ones do.
The sight isn’t a happy one right? Not just one, but there are many others like her who have to struggle a lot to be happy. This Diwali, can all of us try to bring joy to any one Pinky’s life? Can we try and make this Diwali special for one poor child?
There are quite a few people who are trying to make Diwali exuberant for underprivileged kids this year.
Shailesh who is a banker with Deutsche bank says, “This year we are planning to gift blankets, sweets and some candles to an orphanage which is near our house.”
“I’ve never been a fan of crackers. It’s like money going up in flames, smoke and noise. Instead of doing that, I would like to spend that money buying blankets for at least 5 homeless people. With winters approaching, I feel that would be a sensible thing to do”, says Harish Bhardwaj, Director, Abhyaas Edu Corp.
Sachi who is the founder of Ehsaas NGO in Lucknow says, “This year we are planning to gift blankets and new clothes to all the kids in our NGO along with sweets. Every year, all the kids here prepare candles together for the festival and also make rangoli. Whoever makes the best rangoli gets a gift hamper as well.”
In order to light up the lives of children of migrant labourers and slum dwellers, the philanthropists in NCR had decided to form a group, get together and send gifts for those kids in 2013. All they had to do was to take a box, fill it with gifts, wrap it nicely and drop it off to any one of the collection centres. The volunteers would then take the gifts from various centres and give it to the underprivileged kids.
Every year, even if one locality takes the initiative to light up the lives of these needy children, the picture of young India can be painted differently. It is a given fact that children are the foundation of our nation’s path to growth and development and providing happiness to the children will contribute to our country’s development.
So whose life are you planning to light up this Diwali?