NGO gains world’s attention, BBA website crashes
Twitter followers soared to 6,820 from mere 200
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-10-11 06:23 GMT
New Delhi: Until this afternoon, L-6 Kalkaji was a nondescript building in a leafy south-east Delhi neighbourhood from where an NGO was being run. As evening descended, the world knew that the building housed the office of Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi.
Excitement was palpable in and around the office of Bachpan Bachao Andolan after the news broke. The road leading to the office was chock-a-block with a multitude of OB vans leading to a traffic chaos in an otherwise quiet locality.
Inside the office, a board at the reception read, “BBA total children released - since 1980 - 83,525”. One was greeted by a congratulatory message - “Kailash Sir, Nobel Peace Prize, congrats” scribbled on a white board even as the staff was finding it difficult to cope with an increasing
number of queries and requests for ‘bytes’ by the national and foreign media.
Sudeep, a family friend of Mr Satyarthi, could be seen shouting to the assembled mediapersons not to “create chaos”.
Minutes after Kailash Satyarthi’s name was announced on Friday as the winner of Nobel Peace Prize, the website of his NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan crashed due to heavy traffic while his name immediately started to trend on Twitter worldwide.
Followers of his Twitter handle — @k_satyarthi —also swelled remarkably after he won the coveted prize.
The 60-year-old child right’s activist had just 200 odd followers before the announcement which soared to 6,820 by 5 PM with the number growing exponentially.