THE MOSQUITO REGIME !

Our video originated not far from our homes!! In the past few months, we have seen Darya Ganj become a place of total mess in the name of beautification and restoration of the area. What started in July-end with a simple small-scale digging of the road in front of our homes soon turned out to be a large scale project of underground wiring by BSES (Electricity Board), where all overhead wires would be placed under the ground and all pillars with numerous crossing and dangerously overlapping wires would be removed, making the clear blue sky visible at the least!! The people living in Darya Ganj were not complaining as they realised that overhead naked and loose wires were anyway accident prone and can 'spark' current (if not protests!) anytime. So, despite the risk of water and telephone lines being damaged while digging, we were hopeful of a restoration of our area.



We too were pretty happy and what contended us even more was the speed with which the work was progressing. Throughout the day and also the night, labourers were working as if not only their wages, but their lives depended on the project!


Soon, the wires were placed underground, the wire-filled (yes, they were literally 'filled' with wires) pillars were removed. Street lights were installed as well, and that too those extremely bright ones. However, they were so many that even the night sky was visible as clearly as during the day!! Anyway, now what we have is an overly illuminated Darya Ganj.


So Far, So Good!! As soon as all the work was finished, we were happy that now the work of restoring the roads and removing the debris will start. However, all the labourers and the contracters disappeared as discreetly as they had come. The place was left in a mess. We were disturbed seeing the scattered debris all around. So, this is how the idea struck!!


As long as the debris was dry, it was still bearable. However, soon our fears were confirmed and with the onset of monsoon, our locality turned into a mess, complete with the water effect. "Where there is water, there is life"!! It soon became a heaven for mosquitos and malaria-dengue found an additional place to breed. The ambulance parked amidst all this only deepened our concern for those dependent on the doctors and medical facilities during their health trauma.


This is not the story of only our locality. We knew the weather would have created similar situations elsewhere too, as there is always debris scattered here and there, waiting for the water to come to it and hence inviting diseases. Again we did not have to go too far. The Rajendra Place metro-station near our college provided us with enough footage!


So basically, our video is about the unhygieninc surroundings created by unprotected disposal of waste and scattered debris in which water accumulates which in turn leads to diseases like Dengue. Some of the preventive measures are also mentioned.


We got this opportunity following our assignment in Development Communication given by Abhay Sir. We thank you Sir for giving us a push to take up this unique and probably the best medium as you said, to express ourselves - movie making.



So, not testing your patience anymore, here is the link to this video...

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bWshGPD9Ok