Bombay goes dark

Just when one got overwhelmed by all the noise, grime and the frenetic pace of life here in Bombay, here's a ray of hope that somehow restores faith in humanity.

Tonight, from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm, a group of people have initiated a 'movement' to increase awareness on global warming. What they have planned to do or, rather, what they hope to achieve is to get all the Bombayites to switch off their lights for one hour.

Apparently, HBO and Channel [V] have, also, agreed to go off air during the entire duration of this hour. Let me just copy paste some information from the website because it would explain things a lot better than I can.

Batti Bandh is an entirely voluntary event taking place on the 15th of December between 7:30 & 8:30 p.m. This event is aimed at requesting all of Mumbai to stand up for a cause that is greater than all of us. All you need to do is switch off lights and appliances in your home, shop, office, school, college or anywhere you are for 1 hour to take a stand against global warming. Just 1 hour.

What will this 1 hour do? This 1 hour for just 1 day is not our only aim. This 1 hour is to set an example to the world, to every person who witnesses it, to show that together we can make a difference. This 1 hour will save a lot of electricity as well as pollution and if done regularly can go a long way in reducing pollution that is released by electricity plants as well.

We were inspired by a similar event recently held in Sydney, Australia, called Earth Hour. In Sydney, 2.2 million people participated. Their one hour of lights out meant that 24.86 tons of carbon dioxide were not released into the air - the equivalent of taking 48,613 cars off the road. We are a city of more than 20 million people. Let this number be motivation enough to show that we can make a difference. Unplug Mumbai. Do this for every child who otherwise will never have the opportunity to witness snow capped Himalayas or the glorious tigers and lions or the sun kissed beaches of Goa. Because if we dont unplug from our ways now, nothing will remain the same. Batti Bandh.

For those who are unfamiliar with Hindi, batti bandh means 'lights off' (batti: bulb, bandh: close)