At 8.30 pm on Saturday night, all of Delhi seemed to have had a massive power cut. Lights went off at shops, hotels and even Rashtrapati Bhavan, Red Fort, India Gate, Akshardham Temple and many residential complexes as Delhiites came together to observe Earth Hour 2010.
This World Wildlife Fund initiative, supported by Hindustan Times, is aimed at spreading awareness about global warming, and was labelled “a huge success” by the brand ambassador Abhishek Bachchan. “I’m told that the earth hour was a huge success. Well done guys,” wrote Bachchan on Twitter.
A live concert was organised at India Gate to mark the hour, which saw performances by dance exponent Shovana Narayan and fusion band Indian Ocean. All guests at Le Meridien hotel, Janpath, gathered in darkness to make a giant-size ‘60 Earth Hour’ logo with candles.
Actor Riteish Deshmukh tweeted that he switched off lights till 9.30 pm, while celebs Deepika Padukone, Karan Johar and Gul Panag also spread the word. Hollywood stars such as Demi Moore and Kylie Minogue wrote about it.
Over 6,000 cities in 125 countries were part of this campaign. In Delhi, five star hotels, radio channels and offices, too, switched off their lights for the hour. Live tweets from the world over were uploaded on the official Earth Hour twitter page, which has over 30,000 followers.
Caught in between
Actor Abhishek Bachchan’s Earth Hour posters were removed from the event at India Gate allegedly because of a controversy involving his father Amitabh Bachchan.
{{/usCountry}}Actor Abhishek Bachchan’s Earth Hour posters were removed from the event at India Gate allegedly because of a controversy involving his father Amitabh Bachchan.
{{/usCountry}}Abhishek tweeted, “I had sent a video msg for all at the event, but for some reason that couldn’t be shown.”
Big B wrote on his blog, “I wonder why? Abhishek, who has been working hard on the cause, is obviously disappointed.”