On a drive along the countryside,
I happened to visit this hamlet of about 300 people along with my cousin who
has worked in this region supporting the lives of these people through various
social initiatives. All the residents in this village are small farmers and
herdsmen. Almost all the produce that they are able to make just about sustains
their food supplies for the year. They don’t make much money to support their
other needs and rely on government support for their education and other needs.
Needless to mention, it’s a poor hamlet with limited resources for livelihood.
What was fascinating was that I
could see a lot of small children and many of them had a very basic lifestyle
just about enough to satisfy their needs or in some cases even less but they
were all cheerful!
I was touched by the love of the
people here and they were extremely warm
and welcoming. Everybody’s face lit up when I started talking to them and
asking how does their daily routine look like. Most of the youth in the hamlet
was literate but due to limited opportunities, went back to farming, although
not so lucrative.
Since the festival of Diwali,
India’s biggest celebration was round the corner, I wondered if it would be
possible to make this Diwali special for this hamlet? Could I do something
within the limited time I had? The challenge was that I was about to go back to
Mumbai the following day and whether it would be possible to organize something
while I am back home especially when one tends to drown in one’s daily routine.
Nevertheless, I decided to give it a shot and prepared a small write up/slide
of this initiative, this village, its people and requested people to donate
their used belongings such as clothes, bedsheets, shoes etc. anything that they
are willing to give. Nothing in cash only in kind. I circulated this in my
groups and connections on social media, mainly whatsapp and Facebook. Slowly people started responding asking me
more information about this initiative.
Within a week, I received an
overwhelming response, a lot of them sent across whatever they could including
colleagues at Qlik. Some came personally with their gifts, some sent their
drivers and for those who couldn’t come, I collected their gifts. In one
particular incident, I received a call from a gentleman whom I didn’t know
personally but when he received information about this initiative through
social media, he took all the effort to come over with a bagful of his
donations. In fact, after meeting me, he arranged for another bag of clothes
the next day! The gifts came pouring in. At the end of this drive, my car was
full of all the goodies and donations I received. At one point in time, I had
trouble stuffing in all of that in my car- a rather good problem to have!
The following weekend, I drove
back to this village and the folks were thrilled to know when I told them that
there was something special for Diwali this year. The kids were ecstatic with
what they got. There was something for
everyone, clothes, household items, bedsheets, blankets, winter clothes, toys.
People had generously donated and I was able to share all that with these
people.
Fortunately, every family in the
hamlet received something for themselves.
All this felt great and it was an
extremely gratifying experience, especially when this happened just before
Diwali.
As the next step, my plan is to
create employment opportunities for the youth of this village through some
skill building activities or projects.
