Pehchaan ki Holi: Gratitude and Goodwill
No social work is easy, and the beginning is always the hardest. Perhaps one of the reasons people are aversive to social work is that it brings little to no material return. But again, can people who strive for material return in everything they do, really contribute to society through social work? Perhaps not. Any form of social work first requires a sheer goodwill of heart, a desire to give back to your own society, to want to better the life of someone beyond one’s own self. And one can only discover then, that social work does bring in returns, of its own kind, like peace, satisfaction and contentment at having done something ‘right’, which are far more fulfilling than any material wealth could ever be.
Initiatives like Pehchaan the Street School and the success of their recent event ‘Pehchaan ki Holi’ are remarkable examples of this. Pehchaan the Street School is a Non Profit Organisation birthed in Delhi almost nine years from now, and is working towards making education accessible to underprivileged children across the city. Currently they have ten centers under their aegis, where volunteers gather every week to teach young children. However, Pehchaan the Street School’s aim is not limited merely to textbook education, they also ensure that the children get their fair share of dance, fun, games, art,music and other engaging activities, as they rightly deserve. Festivals are also celebrated with much vigor and enthusiasm, with children, volunteers, organizations and organizers coming together and putting up a wonderful celebration.
The festival of Holi is a celebration of color, delicacies, friendships and hence, of joy. ‘Pehchaan ki Holi’ was exactly this, with individuals and organizations from all over the city sending in gifts, donations, visiting the centers to celebrate with the students, to many artists performing for the children, all of this contributing to the success of the event. ‘Pehchaan ki Holi was not a one day celebration, in fact, it went on for more than a week, as the word spread and more and more people extended a hand and joined in on the celebration.
The event could not have been the roaring success that it was, if it were not for the many, many individuals who donated extensively during this time, from materials ranging from colors and sweets to school supplies, food and clothes. Pehchaan the Street School is extremely grateful, also to all the social media personalities like Rachhit Singh, Ashish Dawar, Karan Chugh, Tejas Singh and many others who took out the time from their extremely busy schedules and visited the various centers in person, and interacted with the children, sharing jokes, laughter and life with them. The organization is also extremely thankful to the various organizations and small businesses, who continue to send in gifts and donations of various sorts, for the children as well as the volunteers.
We also extend our gratitude to the entire team that works tirelessly behind the scenes to put together a celebration like this. The volunteers, the organizers as well as the entire ionline team, who also played a pivotal role in spreading the word about the event, with the hashtag #PehchaanKiHoli making several rounds on social media. The organization is eternally indebted to all individuals and groups who came forward on their own accord and did their own bits in making the celebration of Holi a wonderful and joyous one for all the underprivileged children.
At Pehchaan the Street School, it is a firm belief that joy, especially the joy of festivities, is as much a right of every child as education. We would like to thank everyone who was involved in any way in the celebration, and who contributed from within Delhi, or from cities and countries far away. We are eternally grateful for all that you have done, and continue to do, to help us further our mission. We close the celebration of Pehchaan Ki Holi with hearts full of joy and gratitude, and look forward to the same cooperation and contribution for future events and celebrations as well.
For more information, please visit:
https://pehchaanstreetschool.org/