It was a lazy Christmas morning in Dhanbad. Since it was a holiday, people were relaxing in their rooms and houses. A few determined people, who don’t feel the cold, were running throughout the campus, picking cardboard cartons filled with clothes. These were the volunteers of Karma Jyoti – A social-cultural organization at IIT (ISM) – Dhanbad. They collected the clothes throughout the campus in order to distribute among the poor in the coal capital.
The organization planned this event weeks ago. The volunteers – who were mainly students at the institute – put cardboard cartons at every nook and corner of residential areas in the campus. This includes staff resident as well as student hostels. They collected the boxes on Christmas and accumulated the clothes. The volunteers checked the condition of the clothes and segregated the torn ones. Later, they categorized them on the basis of types and then went out to deliver in the evening.
The team of Karma Jyoti went to Chaai Gadda and near the railway station. The crowd was enormous but also disciplined. People picked clothes which matched their respective sizes and then they left. After distributing clothes, the team went back to the campus and resumed their normal schedule. Thus, satisfying the necessary condition of charity i.e., bringing cheer to others without a slight amount of self-interest, not even craving for recognition.
Not the First Time and not the last
This is not the first time Karma Jyoti led the world with an example. In September, in order to promote menstrual hygiene, they collected and distributed sanitary napkins in the villages near the campus. Besides, they are actively engaged in blood donation and cleanliness drives in the campus and in the villages of Dhanbad. They also have a vertical which gives JEE MAINS and NEET coaching for free for underprivileged students. The teachers are the students of IIT (ISM) Dhanbad only. Through Karma Jyoti, we can learn that to bring change in the society, we just need will-power and determination, nothing else.