Good morning, Chennai!
⛅ Today’s weather: Cloudy with some sunshine.
🧐 Did you know? The Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital was previously called the Royal Victoria Hospital. It was set up by Dr Mary Scharlieb in 1883, especially for women.
🥘 Global community for food and culture
Payal Rajankar’s new venture is a learning platform for food and culture enthusiasts to connect.
What’s it about? The Chennai-based chef and founder of The Gourmet Gig’s new venture, Dear Food, aims to connect people worldwide to help them cook and eat mindfully. It’s the world’s first plant-based food and culture learning platform.
- The courses and recipes on the platform will be plant-based to provide people with an alternative to meat. The learning platform has basic, intermediate, and advanced levels. The first course is called the Art of Insta-Worthy Beverages.
- The platform will also connect people, professionals, or otherwise, to share tips and recipes. People can share stories about their travel and food journeys and the history of a particular dish or ingredient.
Future plans: Chef Payal hopes to have creative learning centres and events around food tourism, and experimental foods.
🚉 Cancelled trains yet to return
Commuters on the Gummidipoondi-Chennai route suffer as cancelled trains have yet to resume.
What’s it about? During the pandemic, the Southern Railways cancelled some trains on the route and have yet to resume their operations. Commuters who travel during the peak morning and evening hours have had to deal with crowded trains.
- The 8.25 am train at Athipattu is crowded. If people miss this train, they’ll reach the city only after office hours. Some have to wait for over an hour at the Moore Market Complex.
- The late-night train at 12.15 am was useful for those who work late shifts at factories. Commuters have petitioned the railways, but officials said they’ve extended services to Velachery and Chengalpet.
What’s ahead? Only when the tracks are doubled can suburban services get dedicated tracks for the routes. The Railway ministry said increasing the frequency during peak hours isn’t possible due to path constraints.
🚗 Clearing abandoned vehicles
The Chennai Corporation wants to clear illegally parked or abandoned vehicles.
What’s it about? Currently, only the traffic police are allowed to clear vehicles and penalise the owners. The Corporation, which gets at least 30 complaints every day, will write to the government seeking permission to do the same. This would mean amending the 2023 Tamil Nadu Urban Local Body Rules.
- The Corporation organises special drives with the help of the police to clear abandoned vehicles. However, the civic body does have the manpower at the divisional level to undertake this task.
- Before removing any vehicles, the Corporation needs to have adequate strength and coordinate with the police. Advocate N Vishwanathan said owners should be fined ₹1,000.
🖳 Coding for seniors
Coding can offer a respite from combating loneliness and growing old.
What’s it about? Tech entrepreneur Manu Sekar, CEO and founder of HashHackCode, wanted to help senior citizens engage themselves and help in battling loneliness and dealing with old age. His free coding workshop for seniors hopes to do just that.
- Coding has cognitive benefits, just like how physical activity stimulates the body. It can help enhance memory and help in problem-solving.
- Providing them with digital literacy is another part of the equation. The pandemic pushed senior citizens to adopt digital technologies. One example Manu cites is a 92-year-old Japanese woman who developed a mobile app.
Why a workshop? A workshop has a mixed group of participants from different generations. So, there’s a social learning aspect that can help form connections.
Details: The workshop will take place on July 9 at the Anna Centenary Library. You can register here.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
How often do you buy groceries?
- I buy groceries weekly.
- I buy groceries monthly.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What’s your go-to market in the city for everyday items?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Going down memory lane of the Cosmopolitan Club as it celebrates 150 years.
- The Water Resources Department is looking to link the Kosasthalaiyar and Arani rivers to mitigate flooding.
- The proposed Greenfield airport at Parandhur will cause water shortages for Chennai, according to activists.
- Government approval awaits the plan to build a surplus channel to the Adyar River.
- IIT Madras and HMLAIL will team up to develop advanced automotive technology products.
That’s it for today. Have a great day!