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:)