Trying to make a difference -- this Diwali #DeepWish

Disclaimer: This post might sound a bit narcissistic.

I remember, right since the day I started earning my first 2 pence, I had been craving to donate some of my earnings to help the needy, the poor, the less privileged. However, I could never cough up the sum of money that would actually make some difference. Always ended up embarrassing myself.

However, it is @twitter and the twitterati that finally came forward and gave me the chance to lend my bit of hand to someone who might need it. How?

Well, thanks to the Diwali festivities and everything, a few friends from @twitter decided we should try and make a few more people's Diwali a cause for celebrations and seeded the idea of donating some money to Goonj, a charity for the girl child. While the idea germinated from Anaagh's blog post, it spread like wildfire and a few more also joined in the cause. The list of contributors is like this -

@anaggh Rs1.00

@aneebunee Rs1.00

@atulkarmarkar Rs2.50

@chiefsanjay Rs 1.00

@b50 Rs1.00

@deepakshenoy Rs2.00

@fartfree Rs1.00

@gagrin Rs1.00

@gkjohn Rs1.00

@gopinathmm Rs 1.00

@hp_livelife Rs2.00

@iamshishir Rs2.00

@krist0ph3r Rs1.00

@limeIce Rs3.00

@mloclam Rs 1.00

@nichetechie Rs1.50

@nihang Rs2.00

@pramodscom Rs3.00

@PreetChandhoke Rs5.00

@prolificd Rs1.25

@prashantsolanki Rs 0.50

@rak35h Rs3.00

@realin Rs 1.00

@s4sukhdeep Rs0.50

@shamz911 Rs3.00

@shayonpal Rs3.00

@simple_sy Rs1.00

@sizzler_chetan Rs1.00

@sudhiru Rs1.00

@trakin Rs. 1.00

@unitechy Rs0.50

@virajj Rs3.00

@v_shakthi Rs 1.00

So, that means a total of Rs 53.75 for every wish we get. All one needs to do is wish us on this Diwali season, with #deepwish as the hashtag and we donate the money towards charity.

(Update: I guess a lot of you are still confused about how we raised the money. The idea was, every time someone wished for the festive season, with #deepwish as the hashtag, we donated money for the charitasble cause. For example, I pledged to donate Rs 3 for every wish. So, that means I would donate 3x476=1,428 rupees to the cause. With more than 30 people joining in and pledging to donate for the cause, the amount of donation for every wish rose up to Rs 53.75, till the last moment.)

By the way, @b50 has created a Google Doc SpreadSheet with the list of Diwali wishes we got. #FTW!

So, just keep the wishes coming, guys!!

P.S. - The deadline for the wishes is October 19, '09 (9PM IST)

Update: Thanks to the idea I got, from Jyotsna's comment, I shall also include a donation of Rs 1.50 for every wish I get, on this blog, to the #DeepWish proceedings! So, even if you are not a member of Twitter, you can still help light a few smiles! Rock on!!

Some more blog posts on the #DeepWish effort -

1. Diwali - Putting money where your mouth is!
2. The Prolific Dyslexic  
3. Bombay Diaries 
4. Chetan Bhawani 
5. Cheethein aur Bauchharein 

Update (October 19, 2009 -- 0010 hours): According to @b50's latest tweet, #deepwish has been closed and we are counting no more wishes for the donation. We had targetted Rs 25,000 until tonight (tonight, 'coz it's already 19th) 9PM (IST) but we managed to achieve that within a single day, by around 10pm of yesterday.

The whole experience was simply inexplicable. The best was, the frequency at which I would check up the current status of tweets and donations would easily make one confuse me as a forex dealer. There was excitement in the air, happiness in our hearts and there was this calmness I experienced, knowing that we all shall be able to make a difference in a few lives.

I remember having an argument with Manavendar about the usefulness of a service like Twitter and nothing else could have proved the power of social media more than what this experience did.

I am deeply grateful to all those who wished us on this festive season and to all who have helped us reach our target of Rs 25K so soon. It was an exhilarating experience that I shall never forget. A warm thanks to all my co-contributors too, for pitching in and helping this endeavor be so popular and successful. I sincerely wish and hope we manage to repeat such feats again, in our lifetime!

(Phew! That sounded like quite a well-rehearsed speech, didn't it? :-p)