WEDDING GIFT FOR A CAUSE!

(असाही एक आहेर …) To read in Marathi Click Here

Iwas having a casual chat over phone with my friend Adv. Nikhil few months back. He knew about my fellowship at Goonj. He was asking about the initiatives and work of Goonj. I told him about various initiatives of Goonj like Cloth For Work (CFW), Not Just Piece of Cloth (NJPC), School 2 School (S2S) and Rahat. Similarly I told him about the work of Goonj in Urban areas. Nikhil specifically liked the ‘Cloth for Work’ initiative of Goonj the most.

Under this initiative, Goonj encourages the rural householders to solve their local problems with local solutions in exchange of daily useful goods like clothes, utensils, games, books, school material etc. which is converted into a family kit. Under this initiative rural locals come together to solve the local problems which they face daily. For example if there is a problem of water scarcity in a village people come together to dig/repair wells build bunds or ponds, clean lakes etc. Till now people have constructed and repaired bridges, ponds, roads, wells. Family kits are given to the locals who get involved as a reward for their work.

His wedding ceremony was to take place in January 2020. He thought that instead of receiving gifts from people it would be a great idea to receive old reusable or new clothes from the guests and contribute them to Goonj. He thought that there are some clothes which are never used and also some which are not used much. Such clothes could be utilized for the people who really need them. His idea was one of its kind but there were some doubts about response of the people. Further, support of the family was necessary.

Our talk happened in August 2019 and the wedding was on 30th January 2020. He shared this idea with both the families involved and all of them encouraged it! Surabhi Keskar, Nikhil’s friend made a sweet poem about his initiative which was written on the invitation card. I have attached the photo (in Marathi) below.

Organizing a collection drive in a wedding was totally new thing for us. There was no surety about the success of the initiative. None of us had experience of carrying out such an idea. Nikhil had let people know about this initiative. Now we were ready for the judgment day! On one hand there were doubts in our mind and on the other confidence was building up as there was positive vibes too.

Finally, the calendar displayed the Wedding date – 30^th January, 2020 of Advocate Nikhil! Akshay had taken up the responsibility of receiving clothes from guests. Akshay set himself up for battle of clothes whilst Nikhil readied for battle of Life! As the ceremony timing neared, people started arriving in huge numbers. Many people brought old and new reusable clothes in a wearable condition with them and gave it at the Counter setup by Akshay. I was very overwhelmed by the fact that people had brought the reusable clothes in a properly ironed and packed condition. Time passed and the counter was flooded with bags of cloth! Funnily many people discussed about the clothes they had forgotten at home! Akshay gave information about Goonj to people who enquired.

We were satisfied with the response. Two of the most important things were initiative and participation. Initiative and lead taken by Nikhil to carry out such an activity on his wedding day and the active participation of the people by contributing clothes made the experiment a success. This experiment underlined the fact that both initiative and participation are equally important and incomplete without each other.

Teamwork made it possible and hence it is important to mention the team. First of all Adv. Nikhil and Mukta and their family supported the cause. Secondly the guests gave a helping hand. Akshay and Yash undertook the task of management. Akshay and Kajal delivered all the clothes to authorized dropping centre of Goonj Pune.

While reading this many of us would remember that offbeat/hatke ideas like these have come to our mind too. But many of us think about what the society will say and limit our ideas. But Nikhil has shown us what we can do if we gather some confidence and combine our ideas with action.

So! Aren’t you ready to act now?

To start with, think less and start acting! Please comment your ideas and share this post. That would be great for  a start!