He loves chakris but can't dream of spending Rs 150 for a box. Last year on Diwali, while rummaging through rubbish, five-year-old Nitin Kumar, a Dhanbad rag-picker, found an unused one which he had lit up.

This year on Diwali, Nitin got as many as six chakris as a gift from GRP personnel and NGO Samadhan.

Sounding over the moon, a smiling Nitin kept repeating he got six chakris.

He was not alone. Around 35 children, rag-pickers and beggars near Dhanbad railway station, who stay in Chaigadda locality once known as a den of criminals, got Diwali gifts on Sunday morning from GRP and Samadhan volunteers.

Their gifts included chakri and phuljhari, new tee shirts and sweets.

The celebrations began around 11am, when two dozen Samadhan volunteers along with its founder Chandan Singh and GRP inspector Dhanbad P.N. Mishra, OC Shashi Bhushan Prasad and other GRP personnel came to Chaigadda with gifts for the children, who were simply overjoyed. Volunteers led by Samadhan founder Chandan Singh also took selfies with the children and sang songs with them.

Brothers Saurabh (8) and Golu Ravidas (6), son of cucumber seller Mahendra Ravidas who help increase their family income by picking rags, said they had no idea they would begin the festive day on such a different note. "We were preparing for our daily job when we saw the guests arrive with gifts," Saurabh said. "Our day became different," he said.

"I loved the sweets," Golu added.

Thanking organisers for making the Diwali of his sons special, father Mahendra Ravidas admitted that poverty forced his boys to accompany him to sell cucumbers at the station or pick rags to augment the family income.

Samadhan founder Chandan Singh said they bought gifts for the children from the personal contribution of their over 30 members.

"We celebrated Diwali with poor children at Jharia's Chouthai Kulhi locality similarly as well," he added. "The idea behind our Diwali celebrations was to light up lives from within."

GRP officer-in-charge Shashi Bhushan Prasad called the effort heartfelt. "Full marks to Samadhan," he said. "Earlier in the past, the GRP carried out educational activities among these children but it had to be stopped due to staff crunch. So we really appreciate it when organisations come forward to do something good for these children."

Have you done something to light up lives this Diwali? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com