BENGALURU: “I’ve heard that Alia Bhatt is a film heroine but have never seen her. But for us, she is the light of our lives,” says Akmal, whose hut in Kikkeri village in K R Pet taluk of Mandya district was on Friday lit up after dusk for the first time in the 25 years since he and his family have been living there.Akmal’s hut is among the 40 houses that were provided solar lamps under Bollywood star Alia Bhatt’s philanthropic initiative ‘Mi Wardrobe is Su Wardrobe’. The residents built the huts near APMC Yard towards Mysuru Road, and moved in two-and-a-half decades ago.Sharing his excitement, Akmal told TOI, “I want to thank Alia. Despite several petitions to the authorities to provide electricity, none cared about us. There were just assurances and nothing turned into reality all these years. On Friday, when people came to install these solar lights, we were amazed.”Nearly 200 people living in the 40 huts are seeing their houses lit up for the first time. Under ‘Mi Wardrobe is Su Wardrobe’, fans could buy handpicked favourites from Alia’s wardrobe, and the money raised was used to light up the Kikkeri huts.Alia donated the money to a Bengaluru-based NGO, which worked on the logistics of implementing the project. Plastic bottles were recycled to manufacture solar lamps.Zarina Begum, 45, says she has never had dinner after 6.30pm. “Now I can have it even after 8pm. I don’t know who Alia Bhatt is, but I definitely want her to come here once and see how she has benefited us. Now, our children can study at home, which they couldn’t do all these years.”

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