Living in Mumbai on a No TV Day

{ This post was originally written for the website: Scroll360 }

Hindustan Times a newspaper daily that has been running in India since the past 9 decades started an initiative in Mumbai called ‘The No TV day’ two years back. Mumbai is the only city in the world that celebrates such a day! This year the ‘No TV Day’ was celebrated on the 1^st June. HT claimed it was bigger and better than the previous two years. In just the initial one week, there were almost 72,000 likes on the Facebook Page of the campaign taking the total fan base to 3.2 lakhs.  On 28^th May twitter, the micro blogging site saw #onnotvdayiwill trending as the No.1 topic not just nationally but worldwide.

What is this Day?

Under this campaign, Hindustan Times solicits the Mumbaikars to do something that might sound quixotic to a lot of us. On a pre-decided day every year, it wants us to switch off our television sets, get out in the city and spend some quality time with our family and friends.

Why the need?

On contemplating we realize that we waste a lot of our potential time sitting in front of the idiot box and watching useless daily soaps, saas bahu sagas, fixed cricket matches and scripted reality shows!  Every Monday as the week starts, we crib that our weekend just went away leaving behind umpteen uncompleted tasks.  We have an endless To Do List which has more and more additions than tick offs.  Not only have we entitled ourselves to a lot of delayed tasks but also to a life that is just going on and on. Our lives have become completely entwined with work. So much so that we fail to take time off for the people who matter to us.

There are so many things the city has to offer to its people. If you are an architecture fan you can go about exploring the historic structures and heritage buildings in South Mumbai. If you are a connoisseur of Food, you can relish the food in every nook and corner of the city. If you are a shopping buff you can indulge yourself in various street shopping destinations in the city. And finally, if you wish to spend some quality time with family, you can make an early morning escape to places on the outskirts of the city.

With this initiative HT is not just expecting people to switch off the idiot box, sit idle and get frustrated.  They  planned a lot of interesting, fun filled activities for the citizens. Dance and Baking Workshops, Comedy Shows, Heritage Bus tours of the city,  Art Workshops, Painting competitions, Trekking Activities, BMX Stunt Shows, Helicopter Rides and much more. To know more about them, click here. Also, they partnered with 54 restaurants across the city to offer you exciting discounts.

This year Hindustan Times planned to form the longest Human Chain at Carter Road Promenade, Bandra to support the cause of a Greener Mumbai. A lot of Advanced Locality Managements like Carter Road ALM, Ambedkar Road ALM, Hill Road ALM Veronica Road ALM etc. participated in the event.

But if nothing of the above picks your interest, you could laze around at home. Play board games with family, read a book, catch up on a latest movie in a nearby multiplex, relax yourself with a SPA session, clean up your wardrobe or meet up old friends and reminisce about the good days.

So folks I hope you are ready to 'Switch off the idiot box and Switch on your Lives' on the next NO TV DAY!!