28th March 2009
A lot of hurrah, had been made by media – social & otherwise about this date.
Newspapers spoke about it, as if it was something that would be followed by everyone; notices were put up in buildings, banners etc. spoke about it.
Being a bit of realist, decided to conduct my own little experiment in my own way:
1) Sent email to nearly 700+ known people
2) Sent a text to nearly 300+ people
3) As a society member, spoke to members (50+) about observing this.
4) Convinced my mother, a TV addict to switch it off during the hour (succeded partially thanks to my wife)
5) Decided to go around the area, try & take a couple of photographs.
AND now the results…….
Email – No response at all, not even a “will try” or whatever.
Text – Received around 10 – saying thanks for reminding, will try, will do it etc.
Society had the best experience………
Children – Yes Uncle! we will do it, at least in our room. Duh? Why not the house? When we told pappa/mummy they said, this is all nonsense; you have to study for your exams etc.
Neighbors –
i Let’s do it & then promptly forgot about it
ii What is this all about? This from a young 35+ neighbour, whose Dad had posted it on the notice board.
iii His wife said, Yes we should do it, let’s do this tomorrow between 7-9 pm:)
iv Another young lady said, please switch of one phase (I was delighted with the suggestion) & followed it up with a qualifier ‘ Wait till 10 pm, we are getting dressed & leaving for a wedding’
v And the biggest howler from a Businessman – Yes, Great initiative, Australia & other countries have already done it so I’m sure we do not need to do it.
Finally, went out to see how the area was reacting. Some photographs tell a nice tale.
Some thought provoking answers from Shop Keepers –
a) Why should we do it? Bizness ka time hai.
b) First ask Reliance & BEST to lower charges before asking us to switch off lights
c) Company has not told us anything (vodafone & bigflix)
d) Yeh drama harroz ka hai.
And so there ended my experiment & tale.
Yes! on twitter & elsewhere, people from New Bombay etc. said they have load shedding everyday; some sent messages that they had followed it thru etc. which is definitely positive.
But what really gave me reason to smile was the next day, No newspaper – at least the 7 I get carried anything about it:)
So Earth, India rocks, we do not need you:)
Why does India needs to save Earth? Already those thousands of villages who don’t have electricity in our country are saving it.