Superstars aur Nanhe Sitaare.
There are days that feel boring from the beginning. It is like- I know there is nothing special going to happen today. That feeling of ordinary stagnation where everything is just the same. The same sky, the same road, the same divider, the same weekend when we go to our designated places for Didi Bhaiyas from Pehchaan The Street School to come and teach us.
But then, it was that day.
It felt special, like the sky was maybe a different shade of blue, or the road was a bit warmer than the days before, or the paint on the divider was maybe more chapped.
There was something about that day, maybe it had a light of its own,
Something that truly made it different from the rest.
The day felt like it was bringing something to me that would matter for years to come.
Hi everyone! I am the boy from the divider. I know you all must be bored with my weekly diary dumps, but these are little pieces of joy that are etched in my heart and I try to give them a rhythm by putting them into words.
It was the day we went to meet the team from the movie Thamma.
A starstruck affair. I still can’t find enough adjectives to describe my happiness.
Joyful? Too normal.
Ecstatic? Not apt.
Overjoyed? Ugh no.
Nothing’s ever enough. I’ll have to ask didi to teach me more words that express EXTREME HAPPINESS. Because that is what I felt.
The day wasn’t a loud affair. At least not as much as the pre-Diwali celebrations on Delhi roads. It was quiet. But my heart?
It was thumping against my chest. As if it would get out of my body any moment, and explode with firecrackers!
My heartbeats were so fast, even Shatabdi couldn’t match. My hands were getting slippier, stickier with each step we took to reach the stage. I didn’t know what to do with them. I kept on wiping them on my t-shirt. To wave or to wipe, was the question.
My friends too were as nervous as me. They too were jittering, humming a tune that felt familiar.
And then the team came.
Do you know the actors Ayushmann Khuranna, Rashmika Mandanna and Nawazuddin Siddiqui?
And the famous Producer Dinesh Vijan?
THEY ARE ALL SO COOL!
They smiled at us and waved at us! They even asked our names! I felt like I was on cloud nine.
This is my new flex now.
I MET THE STAR-STUDDED CAST OF THAMMA!
But they didn’t seem anything different. They too had the same two eyes as us that shone just as brightly. Their lips were similar to ours. Their faces were much like ours.
They just had a smile that was gentle and wide that made us comfortable. Something that made me feel like they’re just like us. It didn’t feel like I was sitting in front of such famous people. They made us feel like we, too, with our tiny bodies, mean something, and are seen.
There were cameras all around. We knew it would all be broadcasted. But somewhere between that tiny moment of anxiousness and the brief eye contact with the cast, I felt a comfort. A comfort that made me believe that it’s all okay. This is a safe place to be at.
It wasn’t about their fame, or their films, or the cameras capturing every moment. It was about the way they felt like people noticing you, not a crowd, not a screen. Personal. Gentle. Real.
There was something magical in that. They didn’t show great gestures. It was just their presence. Their presence made everything brighter.
I realised that there is something special to be looked at with care without being asked to do something or being expected to impress anybody.
The children on the roadside often jump through ropes or pass their whole body through a loop to impress people to love them.
But I didn’t have to.
The simple approval in their eyes, that acknowledgement made me feel so important, that I felt like I could take on the world!
Get Manya Joshi’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
It made me feel like I discovered a part of me that was hidden within, a lotus in my own jungle that needed somebody to throw light at.
I kept looking at them while they spoke. Ayushmann seemed to have a calm energy, like he knew exactly what to do even when things got confusing. Rashmika’s laughter was contagious, and she had a way of making you feel that being yourself was the best thing you could be. Nawazuddin’s words sank deep inside me — slow, steady, full of meaning — like he was teaching without even trying to teach.
As the day ended we were told we have to leave. But I didn’t want to.
In that little time that we spent with them, I felt at peace. My feet didn’t budge. I wanted to stay still and stand there for some time more. On that chair, staring at that stage, looking at my role models talking, hoping to catch another glimpse.
We walked back, all of us in a line, and the street didn’t look the same anymore. It felt warmer. Even the traffic didn’t bother me. Maybe because something inside me had changed. Maybe because the world had just shown me what kindness looked like — not the grand kind that comes wrapped in gifts, but the quiet one that fits inside a smile.
That night I kept thinking- what if i too end up on a stage someday? What will I do? What will I say?
I imagined that woman interviewing me. But what for?
What am I going to do?
How great does one have to become to reach that stage and that red carpet?
But one thing that I am really sure of is that I too will make somebody feel seen. When I reach that stage, the children in the crowd will remember me.
They’ll all remember me.
I know it is a dream, a distant dream for somebody like me who belongs to the divider. But isn’t dreaming too a kind of courage?
A dream that makes me feel alive is a dream worth achieving, and I’ll make it come true.
I’ll work very hard. And I’ll live that day.
Call it my way of manifesting!
I was thinking about it all and then I suddenly got up from my bed and took out my notebook. I didn’t know what to write. So I just drew.
I drew rows and rows of diyas. Then I drew the team standing next to me. Like in the pictures we took.
And on the next page, I drew myself. I drew myself on that stage sitting on that chair in front of that anchor who was interviewing.
Diwali felt like a diwali this year. The best diwali, for real.
It wasn’t the one which came with firecrackers bursting in the sky,
But the one which lit up hearts.
I think this is what diwali feels like.
Not just fairylights and diyas, but lights within us.
When I finally felt brave enough to sink all those thoughts in, I laid down and slept in one of the best slumbers of all time.
The sweetest of all.
— — — — — — — — — -
And before I close this diary entry, I want to say thank you.
Those tiny tokens of love were all that we needed!
To everyone who reads about us, supports us, or simply remembers that there are children learning by the roadsides, under flyovers, beside dividers — thank you for keeping our lamps burning.
Because every message, every bit of love you send, adds another diya to our world.
You make us believe that Pehchaan ki Diwali — our Diwali of dreams, laughter, and learning — isn’t just ours anymore. It’s yours too.
Thank you for making Pehchaan ki Diwali a success.
For lighting not just streets, but hearts.
For reminding us that even the smallest flame can change the night.
When the world claps for a big success, the sound fades quickly. But when someone claps for us — for our tiny wins, our scribbled notes, our chalk-stained palms — the echo stays longer. It travels with the wind, seeps into our dreams, and wakes us up with hope the next morning.
Each diya you’ve lit for us is not just a symbol of celebration, but a promise — that we are seen, we are remembered, and we are loved. And that promise makes us study harder, smile wider, dream bigger. Those gifts that we got because of your blessings motivate us to do better and be kinder when we grow up.
Maybe one day, we’ll grow up and pass it on.
We’ll light diyas for others too — for children who stand where we once stood, thinking no one notices them.
And when we do, we’ll remember this day, this warmth, this light that began with you.
So thank you — for believing in Pehchaan- The Street School,
for believing in us,
and for reminding us that light, when shared, only grows brighter.
