Dubai
Khyati Saxena is a resident of the Al Majaz area, in Sharjah, and goes to school every morning at 6.45am. At this time, she sees that the streetlights are switched on.
“It is only later in the day, though I don’t know exactly when as I am still at school, that the lights are switched off,” she said. Her mother, Nikita Saxena, a homemaker, sends her daughters to school and is left with ample time for herself during the day time.
Saxena said: “Our residential building faces the Al Majaz Park and I witness atrocities like lamp posts still being on at 9am. I take pictures of such occurrences as and when I see them, as part of my personal record. My phone’s photo gallery will stand testimonial to the fact that this is not the first time it is happening. One evening last summer, my daughter was crossing the road and to tail her, I stood by the window. I was amazed to see that the streetlights were already switched on at 4.30pm.”
Saxena believes in imparting values of environment conservation to her daughters, Prashasti, aged 13 and Khyati, aged nine.
“My daughters are also very conscious of the environment. They always switch off the lights that are on unnecessarily. At home, my husband and I have trained them to practise whatever they learn at school about saving energy,” says the proud mother.
Khyati who is a member of the ‘Students of the Earth’, a youth group that aims at promoting environmental and humanitarian issues and also a Grade 5 student at Our Own English High School, Sharjah said: “Electricity is vital for generations to come and we must conserve it.”
— The writer is an intern with the Readers Desk at Gulf News.
