A Diwali evening, seen through a child's eyes

This Diwali, 35 children at Riddhi Siddhi Charitable Trust have made a wish, and we are asking you to be the one who makes it come true.

Think back to Diwali when you were a child. The smell of fresh mithai in the kitchen. New clothes laid out the night before, too exciting to sleep. Your father holding your hand as you lit your first phuljhadi, your mother drawing a rangoli at the door and letting you fill in the colours.

And somewhere in the middle of all that light, someone asked you: "Is baar Diwali pe tujhe kya chahiye?" What do you want this Diwali?

For most of us, that question came from a parent. Someone who listened, remembered, and quietly made it happen.

Now imagine Diwali night with no one to ask you that question. Every house on the street is glowing. Families are laughing on balconies, children are running to show their parents their new clothes. And you are standing at the window, watching, with a wish you have never said out loud because there is no mother or father to say it to.

That is Diwali for the 35 children in our care. This year, we want to change that.

Who we are

Riddhi Siddhi Charitable Trust is home to 35 children who have lost one or both parents. Some lost a mother to illness, some a father to an accident, and some have never known either parent.

Each child arrived carrying a loss far too heavy for their age. Our job is to make sure that loss is not the end of their story.

Every day, the Trust provides these children with:

A safe home, with a roof, a warm bed and people who look out for them

Nutritious meals, three times a day, every day of the year

Education, including school fees, books, uniforms and help with homework

Healthcare, from regular check-ups to medicines when they fall sick

Love and attention, from caretakers who know each child by name, their favourite food, and what makes them laugh

We work hard to give them everything a family would. But there are moments in a year when the absence of a parent is felt most sharply. Diwali is one of them.

The Diwali wish box

A few weeks before Diwali, we placed a small box in the children's common room. We asked each child one simple question, the question a parent would ask: What do you wish for this Diwali?

Some children wrote their wishes in careful handwriting. The younger ones drew pictures. A few whispered their wish to a caretaker because they were too shy to write it down.

When we opened the box, we found 35 wishes. None of them were big. All of them were precious.

One wish, written in shaky letters by an eight-year-old boy, is one we will never forget:

"Agar mummy hoti toh mere liye mithai banati. Kya koi mere liye mithai la sakta hai?"

If my mummy were here, she would make sweets for me. Can someone bring me sweets?

These are not wishes for luxuries. They are wishes for the small, ordinary joys every child deserves on Diwali.

If their parents were here

If their parents were alive, none of these wishes would have stayed in a box.

A father would have come home from work with a surprise hidden behind his back. A mother would have stayed up late stitching the last button on new Diwali clothes. There would have been a plate of homemade laddoos, a new pair of shoes by the door, and a whole evening of diyas and laughter.

These children do not have that. But they have us, and this Diwali, they can have you.

We are not asking you to replace their parents. No one can. We are asking you to do, just for one festival, what a parent would have done: listen to a child's wish, and make it come true.

When a child opens a gift with their name on it, they learn something that no lesson in school can teach. They learn that someone out there thought about them. That they are not forgotten. That they matter.

That feeling stays long after the diyas go out.

Our promise to you

We know that when you give, you want to know your kindness reached the right hands. Here is what we promise:

Every wish is fulfilled. Each child receives the exact gift they asked for, chosen with care.

You will see the joy. We will share photos and videos of the celebration and the children opening their gifts, with care for their privacy.

Full transparency. We will post an update on this page showing how the funds were spent.

Anything extra goes to the children. Any amount raised beyond the Diwali budget will go towards their education, food and healthcare in the months ahead.

[Add the Trust's registration details, 80G tax-exemption status if applicable, address and contact number here.]

This Diwali, be their family

Diwali is the festival of light, the victory of light over darkness. For these 35 children, you can be that light.

You will light diyas in your own home this year. You will share sweets with your family and watch the sky fill with colour. This year, let that joy reach a little further, to a child standing at a window, waiting for someone to ask what they wish for.

This Diwali, let's make sure that no child at Riddhi Siddhi goes to sleep with an unspoken wish.

35 children. 35 wishes. One Diwali. And you.

Donate now, and share this page with your friends and family. Every share brings a child one step closer to their wish.

Shubh Deepavali from all of us at Riddhi Siddhi Charitable Trust, and from 35 children who will be waiting to say thank you.