In celebration of the festival, Puja and Dipesh Dedhia in Mumbai have made an unusual request to guests: instead of traditional festive treats, they are asking people to bring notebooks, pencils, paints, or any other new, unused stationery supplies.
After the festivities conclude, these donations will be directed beyond their own home. The couple plans to use them to create stationery kits for approximately 400 students at Adivisi Ashram Shala in Hadavali, ensuring each child has fresh school supplies for the entire academic year.
For Puja and Dipesh, this is an extension of their Ganesh Chaturthi celebration traditions. Their approach to Bappa is eco-friendly: the immersion ritual is conducted at home, and the water from it, containing seeds, is then used to water their plants.
This year, they aim for the festival to extend beyond their home, transforming into stationery kits that will ultimately end up in children's school bags.
Constant Involvement
Puja, who is qualified as a chef and certified nutritionist, and Dipesh, who works as a banker, are the founders of the Matoshreee Foundation. For this couple, this initiative is not a one-time act of charity. Since July 2023, they have been preparing and distributing breakfasts to over 100 needy people from low-income groups every week.
What started as a small effort has turned into a regular weekly commitment. They have successfully completed 167 consecutive Sundays without missing a single one.
This belief that significant change is achieved through consistent participation is reflected in and shapes their Ganesh celebration.
From 40 Children Last Year to a Goal of 400
During Ganesh Chaturthi last year, Puja and Dipesh decided to add another type of offering to their celebrations. They collected 40 stationery kits for children from the underprivileged community. These included items that many of us might not consider when shopping: notebooks, pencil cases, paints, and other everyday school supplies.
However, how happy the children who received something of their own were deeply moved the couple. This year, they decided to think on a much larger scale. Their goal is to collect kits for about 400 students, including useful items such as notebooks, pencils, pens, paints, drawing albums, and geometry sets.
Nevertheless, preparing 400 kits is not an easy task. It requires coordination with suppliers, discussing requirements, monitoring supplies, and ensuring the delivery of everything needed to the children. Nevertheless, for Puja and Dipesh, every kit justifies all the effort if it helps one child feel slightly better prepared for learning.
How You Can Help—Even If You Are Not in Mumbai!
On September 14th and 15th, when friends and family visit the Dedhia home for Ganesh worship, the couple asks them to bring stationery instead of usual gifts. They accept new, unused stationery until September 20th.
Help can also be provided by those living far from Mumbai. Residents of other parts of Maharashtra, India, or even outside the country can contact Puja and Dipesh. The couple is ready to provide a list of necessary stationery items and supplier contact details, allowing supporters to coordinate their actions directly with the seller and contribute to creating one or more kits.
Since the offering to Bappa does not necessarily have to remain on the altar, it can become a new notebook in a child's hands, paints waiting to fill an album, or a geometry set packed in a school backpack for the coming year. For Puja and Dipesh, this is the essence of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebration: welcoming Bappa into their home while carrying the spirit of generosity beyond it.
