New Year celebration with Clothes Distribution by DIYA Pune

It was a chilled morning, the Sun was under the clouds and the feeling of giving and sharing at cloud 9 among DIYA (Divine India Youth Association) Pune team members when we started from our respective places for New Year celebration. The plan was to celebrate by giving some pleasure to those who are usually left without it, especially on such pleasant occasions. We were heading towards Pune Railway station for Clothes distribution to Needy people.

We reached the destination only to see what was expected.  Many people were sleeping on the ground without any sheet, neither over them nor under. Few were wearing very old and torn clothes, and few were even without considerable amount of clothing. It was really very hard to even imagine our life when we put our feet in their shoes.  We couldn’t wait for another second. Filled the area with roars of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and started with the distribution. We had a few Bed sheets and Blankets, many clothes and some woolens. All this was arranged over a few weeks to ensure the availability of all that could be needed.

We visited Railway station area, Bus stand and a Hospital to help many & many people. Distributed clothes to everyone there who was in need of those; A few months old baby girl with her family, a blind man with her wife, few old men and many incapable families. But during this distribution act among different people one thing was common, that was the Shine in their eyes, bliss at their faces, love and blessings in their hearts and enormous feelings of greatest joy, divine pleasure and everlasting satisfaction within all of us.

In the end, we were just finishing off and an old man, with no legs, sitting over a pushing trolley waved towards us and started approaching. He was wearing a very old shirt which was torn at many places and his face was completely shrunk with feelings of inability to work and to enjoy as others could. We headed towards him and asked him if he is fine?? The answer was a few blank words and a pair of eyes looking at us with expectations. We handed him over a woolen shirt as that was the only thing left with us for him at the end. His face just got radiant with an appealing and grateful smile, his eyes filled with tears of delight and hands came together to greet us. We were really so very overwhelmed with emotions of joy and satisfaction. Our hearts became light, but he almost brought us to tears in our eyes. We were heading back to our places, while he saluting us again and again for the difference we as DIYA could make to him and many others on the first day of fresh year. Now this was really a very “HAPPY” New Year.