“Burst Hunger not Crackers” was the theme of a recently organised event at Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences. From 11-13 the October 2017, the students of Bioethics Wing joined together to celebrate an eco-friendly and Green Diwali. The aim of the event was to create awareness in the community and sensitize them towards building a pollution free environment.
The campus witnessed a unique Diwali celebration when a bunch of students promoted green Diwali in the campus. They celebrated the Diwali with planting saplings, green greetings and food for underprivileged rather than fireworks, crackers and bombs. The students gifted medicinal saplings and green Diwali greetings to all the departments. Overwhelmed with the revolutionary initiative, faculty, residents, and staff and generously appreciated the noble initiative.
The students also approached the hospital in-patients and their relatives to educate them on the down side of the great festival. Pictorial charts, true stories and live examples were used to sensitize the listeners on the harmful effects that crackers bring along with. The campaign was well applauded by the audience and they seemed all determined to adopt the green Diwali concept back home. Students along with several others took a pledge of making this Diwali a victory of green over evil of pollution. They also resolved switching over to traditional earthen diyas to avoid wasting electricity.
The fierce positive drive in the campus continued when the students visited Shri Chaya Balgrah orphanage and Blind Boys School to spread happiness this Diwali. Students approached the underprivileged children with saplings and a bag of rice as a token of green Diwali. The budding doctors also tried their hands on Braille writing system to visualise the world from a visually impaired eyes.
Akshay Yadav (2013 Batch), Anik Pal (2013 Batch), Sarang Bomabatkar (2013 Batch), Anagha Potharkar (2013 Batch), Sahitya Rao (2013 Batch), Nikhil Honale (2014 Batch), Aneesh Karwande (2014 Batch), Cheryl Mankar (2016 Batch), Sujay Srivastava (2016 Batch), Shreya Namjoshi (2016 Batch), Prachi Kamble (2016 Batch), Ganesha Sakpal (2016 Batch), Gayatari Lele (2016 Batch), Simran Raka (2016 Batch), Mimansa Dixit (2016 Batch), Arnav Ramteke (2016 Batch), Ridhi Patel (2016 Batch), Aman Singh (2016 Batch),Mehul Dhabaliya (2016 Batch), Ajay Kedar(2016 Batch), Yogesh Khalane (2016 Batch), Aniket Lambat (2016 Batch), Atharva Kokaje (2016 Batch), Sankalp Hingmire (2016 Batch), Kratik Patel(2016 Batch), Sadaf Azam (2013 Batch), Pallavi Thakare (2013 Batch), Surabhi Waghmare (2013 Batch), Hema Sathya (2015 Batch), Nihar Sherke (2016 Batch), Sushant Deshmukh (2016 Batch), Akshay Rathode (2016 Batch), Kalyani Kodwate (2016 Batch), Shreya Bhagat (2016 Batch), Shraddha Bhanse (2016 Batch), Shriddha Sidhgur, (2016 Batch), Shital Gije (2016 Batch), Samiksha Tamrulkar (2016 Batch), Megha Girpunje (2016 Batch) participated in the green Diwali campaign.
“Why Burst Crackers when you can Burst Hunger. Donate grains to Orphanages”, cried Ms Cheryl Mankar. Lightning up the lives of differently abled children, Mr A Yadav (Batch 2013) exclaimed, “There is no better way to celebrate Diwali than bringing smiles at so many faces!” “I am grateful to each one of us who has worked out on this campaign by saving the money which otherwise would have been spent in buying the fire crackers”, he added. The students thanked the management of the institute for appreciating and promoting such activities in the campus.