Television’s clean-up act

TV channel adopts a Mumbai slum for a year. Are channels headed the social way?

They traded in their Blackberries for scrubbing brushes, their mansions for huts. The mission: to experience how ‘the other side’ lives. This experience formed the crux of the storyline for UTV Bindaas’ ongoing reality TV show, The Big Switch.

Now, taking this idea a bit further, the same team has adopted a slum at Juhi Nagar, in Mumbai for a year. Called the Bindaas Big Switch Connect, the initiative is a collaboration between Bindaas, the BMC and United Way of Mumbai, an NGO dedicated to civic issues in the city. The focus is on tackling real issues, which affect the inhabitants of the slum, while partnering with them to create real and sustainable change.

Reaching out
“The idea behind this association was to put people in a wholly new environment. This enables us to meet people we wouldn’t have met otherwise,” says Zarina Mehta, CEO, UTV Bindaas. To achieve development, four big activities are planned in every quarter. First in this series, a cleanliness drive was held on December 15, wherein more than 200 local residents, college students, UTV employees, BMC officials, United Way members, participants of Big Switch, and TV actors participated.

The plan was to clean up the area and spread awareness in the slums regarding hygiene and sanitation while appealing to the youth to bring about a real change. To achieve this, students from Mithibai and KC colleges were paired up with one slum kid each. “The idea is to spend quality time with a person you are not likely to meet otherwise. This way, an exchange of ideas takes place and there is healthy interaction,” says Adam Bedi, TV actor. He stresses that his involvement in the project will not be restricted to just one day. “I will help out, as long as time and money permits.”

Logistics involved
Details about the other three activities remain a mystery with both the channel and the participants unwilling to divulge anything except that United Way of Mumbai will handle the day-to-day working and logistics. “The initiative will create popular appeal, but it’s also a way to go beyond it,” says Sunit Mehra, chairman and founder member, United Way of Mumbai. “We hope this event will be the trigger which ensures that an increasing number of people come forward to adopt slums. If we all work together, a lot can be done for our fellow human beings,” says Sunny Sara, participant, The Big Switch.