The glitterati of tinsel town and those in power came
together for a cause. The man who
brought them together was philanthropist Asif Bhamla.
Political leaders Ashish Shelar, Sanjay Nirupam, Priya
Dutt, Poonam Mahajan, Smita Thackeray, Piyush Goyal, and stars of the likes of
Sanjay Dutt, Zarine Khan, Jackie Shroff, Smita Thackeray, SharadUgade, Sonu
Sood, Raveena Tandon, Dia Mirza, Saher Bhamla, Sooraj Pancholi, Shabbir
Ahluwalia, Salim-Suleiman, Armaan Malik,
Pooja Batra, Raju Shrivastava, Shadab Faridi, Asif Faridi, Jyotika
Tangri, Sachin Kumar Valmikan, Kushal Paul and Rupali Jagga, Gurmeet
Choudhary, and Kunal Ganjawala attended
the event among others.
Sanjay Dutt took to stage and went ahead and made a paper
bag that he learnt to make in jail, and shared his experiences with the
audiences urging them to reuse waste and save Mother Earth.
Says Asif Bhamla, “We have been organising the World
Environment Day event for eight years, and we have always received tremendous
support from the celebs, those in power and our partners, residents’ groups and
especially the enthusiastic locals. We are elated that people will come forward
to help us spread the message this World Environment Day as well. We all need
to come together to make the world a better place. And to make our tomorrow
secure, we all need to pledge our support to Mother Earth today.”
Added Sehar Bhamla, “World Environment Day is one of the
principal vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness for the
environment and also encourages positive action. This event is one step in the
right direction.”
Organised by the Bhamla Foundation, and supported by the
Ministry of Environment (Govt. of Maharashtra) and the Maharashtra Pollution Control
Board, the event, thronging with people from all fronts, had an interesting and
varied line-up of day-long activities.
Zarine han flagged off a massive cycling rally from
Bandra Bandstand to Carter Road, an indoor cycling workout on the Carter Road
promenade, stalls on environment awareness and preservation, keynote sessions
by noted environmentalists and a tree sapling distribution drive among others.
The local Residents Association Groups were also felicitated at the event for
their role in preserving the environment.
The celebrities were very vocal in not just acknowledging
Asif amla’s environment preservation
initiative, but also in their stand to preserve the environment. Said Sanjay
Dutt, “Even if research never excited you, nor did facts and figures, the least
you can do is look around yourself. It is so hot that you cannot live without a
fan or an air conditioner. Today, if we do not cut down pollution and stop
damaging the environment, we don’t need to bother about our future generations.
We ourselves are in big trouble. So it is time we act today.”
Arjun Kapoor’s words were inspiring. “Recycling water,
planting trees; the possibility of us making that change exists,” he averred.
“Let us get out and be the difference. The solution is within us.”
Saif Ali Khan put it simply with: “The change in the
environment is our biggest threat. We consist of 1.2 billion of the world’s
population. Surely, we can make the difference,” he asserted.
Sonu Nigam said, “I don’t waste water, I save
electricity, keep my environment clean and make sure my son understands the
value of hygiene; but now, our responsibility is much larger. Climatic changes,
extreme heat and cold, floods, famines, we are responsible for them. Respect
mother earth today.”
Sachin Tendulkar‘s inspiring words were: “Let each of us
do our bit. We can slowly and steadily make the change and difference to our
planet.” Suniel Shetty looked at the environment as “A heritage and lineage passed
on to us”, and wanted people to “contribute to save Mother Earth.” Yo Yo Honey
Singh, in his characteristic style expressed, “It is too hot to even play
basketball today. Look and see the warning. Stop global warming. Act today.” “Natural disasters occur because we play with
nature. Let us change our mindset and change our future,” said comedian-actor
Kapil Sharma.
Poonam Mahajan wishes that trees granted Wi-Fi so that we
would see the need to plant them. “Unfortunately, trees only give oxygen,” she
stated. “And breathing is the most important thing we do. The best time to
plant a tree was 20 years ago,” she said. “And today is the second-best time.”
Farhan Akhtar hit the bull’s-eye when he asked us a
question… “If something untoward happens in an area where you live, you can
shift, but if it happens to the earth, where will you go?
Randhir Kapoor got nostalgic when he talked of the times
when the Bandra promenade, where he now stood was once beach and sand. “Today,
there is no beach, no sand. If we don’t conserve our environment, soon there
will be nothing.” Indeed!
