School celebrates Diwali with orphanage children

BENGALURU: With more and more people preferring to lace their Deepawali celebrations with social concerns, an east Bengaluru school got its students to celebrate the festival of lights with over 500 children from seven different orphanages on Sunday evening.

Students staying in the school hostel joined the children from orphanages to make the occasion an unforgettable experience. The celebrations began at 4.30 pm at the Marathahalli campus of New Horizon Educational Institutions and went on till late in the night. Dance performances and games marked the celebrations during which the guests were gifted traditional wear and hygiene kits.

The children also participate in the Diwali Pooja and havan along with the hostel students who are just as excited to see them as they are. A DJ dance session and a a lavish dinner brought the celebrations to an end.

"These children dream of having a quintessential Diwali experience with sweets, firecrackers, new clothes, good food and nice music. We want to give them that every year. We also encourage a green Diwali with minimal or no crackers. We had sky lanterns instead of crackers," Sargam Manghnani, Director, New Horizon Institution, said.

The children were dropped back to their homes later in the night.

"We would like to share our happiness with the children and have been doing it for a very long time now. Last year we gave them blankets but this year we would be giving them hygiene kits consisting of essentials like soap, shampoo, and toothbrush along with snack boxes" said Manghnani.