Earth Hour: Hype or Necessity?

So tomorrow is Earth Hour. An hour in which some 20 odd famous cities of the world will shut down power for one hour to warn people about global warming. Was browsing through a number of news sites and saw diverse reactions from people. A number of reputed news agencies (although they were once reputed, now are nothing short of being tabloids) such as times of india, rediff, etc. have followed a typical blind man's approach and criticized about India's absence in this initiative.

When I read some of the biased articles I was amused though not surprised. After all most of these editors sit in air-conditioned offices, drive air-conditioned cars and again sleep soundly up in their air-conditioned houses. Maybe they are not aware of the buzz-word 'load shedding'. Many and I mean many cities in India have been subjected to load shedding in peak summer heat. No power for 5-10 hours a day in cities where temperatures soar above 35 degrees almost daily, where farmers are forced to shut down their activities since their farming equipments require power (which is not provided), and where students are expected to give exams in dingy classrooms with no lights or fan due to power cuts? Aren't these Indians doing their bit for global warming?

Besides if these tabloids are so concerned about global warming, let me ask this - why does Times of India spend so much power on lighting for the no-good filmfare awards? Couldnt they shut the crap out of the mouths of saif and shahrukh, wind up their show in 30 minutes and save power for more than 3 hours instead of wasting it on hideous crap?

So my simple answer to the question posed by these news sites as to why India didnt participate is - "The world may just follow earth hour, however thousands of families in India follow an earth day"