“Where No One Stands, I Do” Pooja Sharma’s Diwali of Light and Peace

For most people, Diwali is about homes glowing with lamps, streets shimmering with lights, and hearts filled with joy. For Pooja Sharma, Diwali is different. It’s not about sweets or gifts, it’s about giving peace and dignity to souls who no longer have a home, a family, or anyone to mourn them.

Every year, as the festival approaches, Pooja sees a growing number of abandoned bodies arriving at her cremation site. Elderly men and women who passed away quietly in hospitals or on streets, and countless others whose families couldn’t or wouldn’t claim them, they all come to her. Her hands, her heart, and her resolve are the only ones left to guide them on their last journey.

She says, “People say ‘My home is filled with light this Diwali.’ I say ‘My heart is filled with light. Because when I light the pyre of a forgotten body, I see the true meaning of a lamp. I see a soul finding its way, finally free from this world’s suffering.”

Every fire she lights, every ritual she performs, is a prayer. It’s a way of telling the world that even the forgotten deserve peace, even the abandoned deserve respect.

Yet, the work is not easy. Sometimes she feels overwhelmed. The number of bodies coming in seems endless. Hospitals call her for bodies that families refuse to collect. Stray deaths on streets, accident victims, unidentified patients, they all arrive at her doorstep. And every single one is a life, a story, a soul deserving a farewell.

“Sometimes I feel exhausted,” Pooja admits, “but when the fire burns, when the smoke rises, I feel a sense of peace. I know someone has found their way home.”

Unlike festival celebrations that are planned and sponsored, Pooja’s work is fueled by compassion, and by the generosity of strangers. Wood, ghee, flowers, and incense, even these basic materials for last rites are sometimes hard to afford. But she never stops. She believes that no one should leave this world without dignity.

She often hears the question: “Pooja, why do you do all this?”  She answers simply,
“Because if I don’t, who will?”

This Diwali, Pooja’s plea is simple. As you light your lamps at home, remember the ones who cannot celebrate. Light a lamp in her name. Let that light travel through the smoke of every pyre she tends, giving peace to souls abandoned by the world.

“I am Pooja Sharma,” she says,  “and as long as I breathe, I will not let anyone walk into darkness alone. This is not my job, it’s my calling. And with your help, I can keep lighting the path for those who have no one.”

This Diwali, your small contribution can ensure that even the forgotten leave this world with dignity. Because the true light of Diwali is not the one that shines on walls, it’s the one that illuminates hearts and souls.