Bathi Bandh

One of the catastrophes that threaten the existence of mankind is Global Warming. Scientists have been warning us about this for quite sometime but no one seems to take notice of this. But there was one particular awareness event in Mumbai last week(I think the date was 14th December, 2007), which is worth an applause. This event is called “Bathi Bandh”. Bathi, in Hindi, means light while bandh means stop. So the phrase “Bathi Bandh” means stopping of electric lights. The whole idea of the event is something like this: All the Mumbaikars were to switch of their lights on that particular night. This might help reduce the global warming by at least a minor margin. We were shown on TV’s how the city was engulfed in darkness and how the people were sitting beside earthen lamps: all for a noble cause. But there was something which really made me sit up. The organizers did not forget the people who live in slums without any electricity and running water. Lampposts were kept in some regions with a switch to shut them off and a board written “For those who don’t have a bathi to bandh”. What a noble thought!!!!!!!!!