Batti Bandh Bengaluru, scheduled for February 13th 2010, will call on Bangaloreans to switch off all their electrical appliances for one hour, from 7 to 8PM, and in doing so, ‘unplug’ not just for the day but also through their lifestyles in the fight against climate change.

Batti Bandh Bengaluru is part of an annual nationwide series of events that was started in 2007 by Keith Menon in Mumbai. The build-up to Batti Bandh Bengaluru will include programs such as flash plays, flash performances of music and singing, flash performances of dance, hula hooping, djembe performances, posters in schools and colleges, and the use of Facebook and other social networking sites as well as the radio to publicise the event. In addition, various colleges in the city such as Mount Carmel College will hold a Day Time Dark Event at their respective institutions, for one hour.

February 13th will witness the much-anticipated Dark Event, in which an hour of music, dance and art will be hosted at Jaaga, encouraging people to attend, relax and experience the joy of being part of a community and the numerous ways one can have fun without using electricity. Jaaga site is located on Rhenius Street, Off Richmond Road, Opposite the Hockey Association Stadium main gate, Shanthinagar. The only form of illumination for the event will come from the solar-powered lamps and torches handed over to visitors as they manoeuver through the maze at Jaaga; artists will be present at every turn of the maze to enthral visitors with their talent while passing on the climate message. All performances lined up for the evening will be unplugged events, including a capella singing, playing of acoustic music, shadow plays, beat boxing, a magic show and a play. A large canvas, to be set up for visitors to leave messages on, will be displayed at Batti Bandh Bengaluru 2010.

In addition to this main event, housing complexes will host community events like Housie, Antakshari, a game of volleyball, a pot luck dinner, story-telling and other community activities, during this one hour of Batti Bandh. Certain restaurants will be holding an LED or CFL powered evening, with bees wax candles and acoustic music, while a few malls and the hoardings of certain companies will be dimmed as well. Schools and colleges will be helping this cause by planting saplings at their respective campuses.

Batti Bandh Bengaluru will be carried out with Idea Cellular as the Communications Partner and Radio Indigo as the Radio Partner; TERI (The Energy Resources Institute) will supply the solar-powered lamps for the Dark Event, in connection with their Light A Billion Lights Campaign; Youth For Seva, Greenpeace and IYCN (The Indian Youth Climate Network) are also helping with the event.

Batti Bandh Bengaluru hopes to witness high levels of participation and interest from Bangaloreans in the event, similar to those seen in Mumbai. In Mumbai in 2007, 3 million people participated in Batti Bandh (384 business houses, 100+ NGOs, 300 schools, and 78 colleges), and 178.5 mega watts of power was saved (equivalent to taking 2.35 lakh cars off the road for an entire lifetime, or to 122.5 metric tonnes of CO2 not being emitted).

Batti Bandh Bengaluru’s greatest objective though this event would be, not just to get the city to unplug for an hour, but also to spread awareness on various issues related to the environment, and foster in Bangaloreans a sense of responsibility towards the climate cause.   ⊕