The festival, that’s celebrated once in two years, will highlight the need to get environment-friendly and propose a plastic-free Bandra, this time.
The glitterati and the hoi polloi of Bandra will ‘go green’ this time for the suburb’s own festival on November 14. The festival, that’s celebrated once in two years, will highlight the need to get environment-friendly and propose a plastic-free Bandra, this time.
“It’s becoming imperative that everybody realises that we are becoming too eco-unfriendly. It’s also important to analyse the way we utilise our resources. Water resources are drying up and we need to look at where and how we are going wrong,” said Patricia Nath, co-convenor, Celebrate Bandra festival.
The ‘Going Green’ theme will debut with a nature heritage walk along the mangroves of the Arabian Sea, and a contest on how to preserve the Bandra Talao. Bird watching with a difference — ‘watch the tree to find a bird’ is also slated during the festival. A plastic-free Bandra campaign, a no-car day on November 29, where residents are urged to keep cars at home and walk or use the bicycle, have also been organised.
Bandra’s geographical lines have changed drastically over the years and the need to have a green plan for the suburb has been upheld by the residents. Having reclaimed large areas of the sea surrounding the suburbs for projects like the sea link, the residents feel that Bandra should be treated better.
“We paid a price for it when we witnessed the sea water entering huge chunks of the promenade. Unlike many other suburbs, Bandra’s geography is clearly defined by its coastline to the west, and the railway line to the east. It is the first suburb on the western seafront. Cheek by jowl with the coast is the mangroves, sturdy guardians that nature has bestowed on this suburb,” said Vidya Vaidya, trustee, Celebrate Bandra.
“We plan to distribute cloth bags for shopping. The art section will deal with how waste materials are overpowering our lives,” she added. In the festival’s official website
www.celebratebandra.net, Daryl D’Monte, chairman and convenor of the festival states, “Residents’ associations and citizen’s groups, which are the backbone of Celebrate Bandra, have given the coast a clear edge by building the two popular promenades on Carter Road and Bandstand, along with the Fort amphitheatre which is the main venue for the festival’s events. Permissions have been obtained from the Maharashtra Stare Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to use its promenade for the festival.”
The theme for 2007 was ‘heritage’ and in 2005 it was ‘education’. With funds collected from Celebrate Bandra 2007, the committee had sponsored a rain water harvesting project at Holy Family Hospital, a school bus and a solar water heating project at St Catherine of Siena Welfare Society for Destitute Children. The curtain raiser for the festival is planned on November 10. The festival will be on from November 14 to 29.
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