Pics courtesy: Interact Club

Pic courtesy: Rajpal Sethi

The spectre of commercialisation has gripped oversaturated neighbourhoods like Indiranagar, Whitefield, HSR Layout and Koramangala. The other day, a few youngsters supported by adults went from shop to shop on 100 Ft Road in Indiranagar, requesting them to remove ‘fairy lights’ on trees as they are damaging to the trunks as they are nailed into them. Not to mention, the birds who cannot bear a series of bright lights in their habitat.

Organised by youngsters of The Interact Club, the initiative did have its fair share of naysayers who asked the residents to do better things than mess with the shop’s aesthetics. Others said that the respectability of resident associations will lose its sheen if these initiatives were supported by them. Clearly, the reactions appeared to be either unfounded or had some vested interest as the arguments in favour of ‘fairy lights’ lacked substance.

The shopkeepers finally saw reason. Today, the fairy lights opposite Vapour pub and brewery, much to the relief of the residents. Today, the youngsters had also gone on a follow-up round of the shops. The store staffers promised them that they will abide by the law and remove the bright lights shortly.

Sonalee, the person coordinating the initiative for the youngsters confirms that most stores that the students visited last week had switched off their fairy lights since last week. “They have also promised to remove the tree lights in the coming week,” she said.

The stores covered in the follow-up drive included Allen Solly, Simon Carter, Van Huesen, Sony, Bhartiya Jalpan, US Polo, Chai Point, Bohemia, Bumble and O2.

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