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Neel’s exams were over and Diwali vacations had just begun. He and his friends would gather to play in the park everyday. After sunset, they all walked to Neel’s house to watch television together. They played video games for a while and finally bade goodbye to each other. The next day, they did the same and a week later, they were bored of this routine.

“We have so many holidays left! What else can we do?” asked Sahil, impatiently, one day.

“Let’s think of something fun. I’m bored of playing the same games,” agreed Neel.

Neel’s grandparents had just came back for lunch after closing their stationery shop and saw the children sitting quietly in the living room. “What’s the matter, Neel? Why are you and your friends looking so bored?” asked dadi.

“We have so many holidays before school begins. And we’re bored of watching television and playing video games.What else can we do in our free time? Dadi, do you have suggestions to make our holidays more exciting?” asked Neel.

“I may have a suggestion,” said dadaji.

“Please tell us,” said Rohan, his eyes sparkling

“Would you all like to learn to make lanterns? When we were kids, we used to make lanterns to decorate our homes for Diwali. I’ll teach you!” said dadaji.

“That’s a wonderful idea!” said Chinmay, his eyes twinkling like the lights of a lantern.
“And I shall teach you how to make greeting cards for Diwali,” said dadi.

“Dadi, can you also show us how to make diyas?” asked Dipti. “Of course! Let’s go back to our stationery shop and pick all the material we need to make these things,” said dadi.

After that, Neel’s friends would come every afternoon and make lanterns, greeting cards, and colourful diyas.

Neel’s grandparents helped them. Soon, Neel’s house was full of Diwali decorations and cards.

“What do we do with all these now?” asked Neel. “Take a lantern, greeting card and a diya for your homes. We can display the rest of the decorations at our stationery shop for sale. Till then, you all think of what you would like to do with the money we earn from selling them,” said dadi.

Neel’s friends excitedly helped dadi and dadaji display their diya decorations at the stationery shop. ‘Made with Love’ was their motto and in a few days, all items were sold out.

A day before Diwali, all of them went to Neel’s grandparents and said, “Tomorrow is Diwali. We would like to celebrate it with kids from the orphanage near our society. We will use the money to buy sweets, clothes and some crackers for them that we can burst together.”

“That’s a great idea! With this, we all will have a brighter Diwali!” said dadi.

Next day, Neel, his grandparents and all his friends went to the orphanage and spent a great and memorable Diwali together!