'Joy of giving' week

In the great Indian epic of Mahaabhaarat one of the main characters, Karna, is an epitome of generous donor or a 'giver'. It is said in the epic that Karna possessed a divinely gifted protective layer on his body and pair of ear-wear that made him invincible. In one of the incidences in the epic he ends up giving away these items to a stranger, sherely out of his generosity, eventhough it meant endangering his own life. Although not as selflessly generous as Karna, all of us have done our bit of donating in cash or kind for some cause or the other in our lives. And all of us would agree that there is definitely some kind of innate joy in the process of giving without expecting anything in return. There is a very different kind of satisfaction to know your contribution is going to help another human(s) to lead a better life.

Based on and appealing to the same ideology a 'Joy of Giving Week' (JGW) was started in India in 2009. Its Wikipedia page describes it as a 'festival of philanthrophy'. Starting on a Sunday and ending on a Saturday, containing October 2 within, this time frame is chosen to coincide with Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary on 2nd October. This year it falls within Sept 26 and Oct 2. The Week is temporarily hosted at GiveIndia till it reaches critical mass, but several organisations and people including Goonj, Riverside School, JAM, ISB, Toofles, the various Media Houses of India, celebrities and individuals have come together to make it possible. The Joy of Giving Week is 100% volunteer driven  and co-ordinated. City level volunteers anchor different "verticals"- corporates, schools, colleges, media, celebrities, NGOs and others, engaging with them and helping them plan, execute and participate in "giving events". One can register on their Ning page in order to host an event or to volunteer. You can also find out what events are taking place in which city and what category (corporate, school, NGO etc.) that event falls into. They also update their blog regularly with new information about JGW.

So go check out their Ning page and (if you're in India) see how you can experience the joy of giving yourself or (if you're outside India) get inspired to do something similar that will make this world a more joyful place! I would like to end this post with an African proverb, "If you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito in it."