Good morning, Bengaluru!
☀️ Today’s weather: Sunny and warm.
🧐 Did you know? The Indian Music Experience Museum in JP Nagar is India’s first interactive music museum.
📹 A documentary by you
A crowd-sourced documentary seeks to increase mental health and wellness awareness.
Story so far: I Hope This Helps is a crowd-sourced global feature-film project on mental health that started in April. It’s part of the Wellcome Trust’s international cultural program, Mindscapes. “I try hard to look for beautiful things every day because I don’t see it in myself,” a young woman says in its trailer.
- The project hopes to destigmatise mental health while helping people understand their journey. Through the film, they want to share the reality of the human experience.
- The team asks people from all over the world to send them video footage of what their day or life looks like. So far, people from 45 countries have contributed.
Why it matters? The Wellcome Trust wants to transform the way people think about mental health. Art is a non-judgemental way to encapsulate the discussion yet leave enough space for all thoughts and feelings. Midscapes’ programmes are being held in many international cities, including Bengaluru, Berlin, New York, and Tokyo.
📺 IISc seeks to advance television tech
The IISc and the Department of Telecommunication host SG9 meetings to advance standards for television technology.
Story so far: The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) are hosting international experts to discuss ways to improve the quality of television content transmission. The meetings with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s Study Group 9 (SG9) began on May 9 and will end today.
- ITU is a United Nations agency that enables global connectivity in communications networks. Over 200 delegates from Brazil, China, Congo, Egypt, and other countries attended the meetings.
- They deliberated on advanced technologies. The countries highlighted the challenges of transitioning from analogue to digital broadcasting.
Why it matters? DoT’s Telecommunication Engineering Centre is IISc’s partner in organising the SG9 meetings, which focus on various elements of digital broadcasting like transmission and distribution. This is India’s maiden attempt at playing host.
🏗️ Unscientific demolition in Central Bengaluru
A demolition exercise incurred residents’ legal wrath as it damaged nearby buildings and residential compounds.
Story so far: On Tuesday, when workers were carrying out a building demolition, the dismantled debris caused damage to adjoining structures in the area. A real-estate firm planning to erect a luxury apartment complex purchased site number 174 on Albert Street, Richmond Town, where the old three-storey building used to rest.
- Residents allege that the firm didn’t adhere to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s rules on the demolition of old buildings in residential neighbourhoods. It reportedly caused a park wall to collapse.
- The residents have complained to the Ashoknagar police station, calling the demolition reckless and unscientific.
What next? Police officers have already visited the site. They plan to take action after going through the complaint. The residents have made it clear that they had warned the real estate company’s workers of possible damages, but the latter didn’t pay it any heed.
🚗 Endless waiting during peak hours
A Twitter user shares a screenshot of an Uber auto 71 minutes away from pick-up.
Story so far: A user named Anushank Jain’s screenshot of his Uber app after he booked an autorickshaw sent shockwaves through Twitter. His to-be ride was 24 kilometres away, and the waiting time was a startling 71 minutes.
- Bengalureans often complain about traffic troubles and the endless hours it takes to arrive at their destination.
- People who live on the outskirts scramble to find a ride even.
Sound familiar? Not just Anushank Jain but a lot of Bengalureans were recently stuck in a bad traffic nightmare when a fallen tree and a broken-down vehicle caused a notorious gridlock.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you usually pronounce Dengue with a ‘u’ sound at the end or ‘ee’?
- I pronounce Dengue with a ‘u’ sound at the end.
- I pronounce Dengue with an ‘ee’ sound at the end.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What’s your worst traffic jam experience?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- A man smoked a beedi on Akasa Air’s flight to Bengaluru.
- Bengaluru’s industrialists and hoteliers are hit hard by a power tariff hike.
- ₹3.5 lakh worth of clothes were stolen from a roadside cart in Bengaluru.
- Despite fewer rainy days, dengue cases have shot up in the city.
- 97% of MLAs are crorepatis in Karnataka’s new Assembly, and 55% have criminal charges.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I have used Namma Metro’s WhatsApp tickets: 23.1%
- I haven’t used Namma Metro’s WhatsApp tickets: 76.9% 🏆
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
Which birds do you spot the most near your home or office?
Madhura: “Kabootar/Pigeon”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!