Good morning, Chennai!
☁️ Today’s weather: Partly cloudy with the possibility of some rain.
🧐 Did you know? Abandoned air force strips were once used for motor races. The Sholavaram Air Force base next to Red Hills Lake hosted races from 1953 to 1989.
🏥 Upgrading the government hospital
The Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital has new facilities and amenities.
What’s it about? New buildings, including a modern kitchen, were inaugurated at the hospital to provide better services and space to patients and healthcare workers.
- The new kitchen has modern cookware, including automatic roti makers that can make up to 800 an hour. There’ll also be a menu to display every day’s meal.
- The hospital management said the management and staff will change bedsheets every day of the week. The dirty sheets will be washed in high-powered laundry every day.
Daily operations: The hospital handles 3,000 patients and at least 20,000 outpatients every day. There are also new resting rooms for doctors who work on 24-hour shifts.
🐕 Dog census
The Chennai Corporation will undertake a dog census in the city.
What’s it about? With repeated incidents of stray dogs biting citizens, activists and residents have criticised the Chennai Corporation for being unable to contain the city’s dog population. The civic body has decided to conduct a dog census across 200 wards.
- The survey will involve collecting information on pets, including registered ones. There will be six categories of community dogs – male sterilised, male unsterilised, female sterilised and unsterilised, lactating mothers, and puppies.
- The survey will be done along with a mass immunisation programme. After information is collected, there will be a week-long vaccination camp. The count will be done manually and uploaded on an app.
Previous effort: A dog census was done in 2018. At that time, the survey was done only for a day and didn’t include a mass immunisation effort.
🚶 Exploring St Thomas Mount
A heritage walk of St Thomas Mount explored the area’s history and heritage.
What’s it about? A group of residents explored St Thomas Mount, organised by The Hindu Made of Chennai as part of Heritage Week. The walk was led by historian Thirupurasundari Sevvel, who covered several historical aspects of the area and its heritage value.
- The walk focussed on the different heritage conservation initiatives and the metal bust, commemorating the Great Trigonometrical Survey, located in the Church complex.
- On their way down, the group were educated on the importance of St Thomas Charnockite, aka, Pallavaram granite. It’s a type of rock that was used for the pathway.
The Trigonometrical Survey: St Thomas Mount was where William Lambton began his work for the Great Trigonometrical Survey on April 10, 1802. This was done to understand how much of India they controlled with precise measurements.
📸 Showcasing Vyasarpadi
An upcoming photo exhibition will showcase Vyasarpadi through the lens of young photographers.
What’s it about? The photo exhibition titled, “Our Streets Our Stories: Life in North Chennai”, will feature photos from eight photographers organised by Vyasai Thozhargal, Palani Studio, Chennai Climate Action Group (CCAG) and PARI. The event aims to present narratives and the photography skills of young residents in the 15-28 age group.
- The goal of the event is two-fold. One, to change people’s perception of the neighbourhood and two, to raise funds to help first-generation residents attend college. They want to challenge the prejudices about North Chennai.
- Vyasai Thozhargal, a community that runs a free tuition centre, helped train the participants to take photographs. The centre has come a long way since beginning on the terrace of a house to its own space.
Empowering youngsters: Photographer M Palani Kumar, who tracks social issues, has helped students tell their stories through art, particularly photography and imagery. The exhibition is also a form of protest to say the Vyasarpadi community deserves better.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Have you ever had a part-time job?
- I have had a part-time job.
- I’ve never had a part-time job.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
Apart from your present location, what other area of the city would you love to live in?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- The Tambaram Corporation’s binless approach to garbage collection hasn’t paid off.
- The MTC will soon launch the Chennai Bus app for iOS.
- Over 100 streetlights have been abandoned in a vacant space due to metro work on OMR.
- The Tamil Nadu government has approved the patta land acquisition for the new airport at Parandur.
- The Chennai Corporation has urged citizens to register complaints against higher parking charges.
That’s it for today. Have a great day!