Good morning, Chennai!
🌤️ Today’s weather: High: 38 ℃ | Low: 27 ℃ | A little cloudy but still humid.
🧐 Did you know? The Regional Institute of Ophthalmology is the oldest eye hospital in South Asia and one of the oldest in the world.
🌆 Expanding the city’s limits
The state government is looking at the possibility of adding three suburbs to the Chennai Corporation’s limits.
What’s it about? The Tamil Nadu government has formed a committee to study the possibility of adding Perumbakkam, Vanagaram and Medavakkam within the Greater Chennai Corporation limits. The committee will likely take till December to study the feasibility.
- The committee will study revenue, population demographics, and infrastructure needs. Perumbakkam and Medavakkam are village panchayats but are more urbanised with the metro and other amenities.
- Perumbakkam and Medavakkam share borders with the Perungudi and Sholinganallur zones. Vanagaram shared a border with the Valasaravakkam zone.
Why is this necessary? Infrastructure work in these three localities is inadequate since the local bodies have insufficient manpower. They also don’t have enough people to collect taxes, implement animal birth control policies, relay roads, etc.
🎨 Art workshop
A workshop from two friends helps people express themselves through art.
What’s it about? Bianca Joseph and Harshitha Murali bonded over their love for art, not just about the process and result but as something to spark their creativity. Their philosophy is “Art of Art’s sake”, and through their workshops, they hope to provide people with that same spark.
- They saw a gap in the art workshop scene in Chennai and launched Planned Accidents. It’s a space for people to come together, remove their inhibitions and just create art.
- Their first workshop had participants from different backgrounds and age groups. At the Art Kin Centre, along with its founder, Anahata Sundarmurthy, they helped form an art playground.
What’s next? The duo hope the workshop becomes a regular endeavour to create a space for people to connect and express themselves with plans to expand to Bengaluru.
💯 Class 11 exam results
The city’s corporation schools registered an 80.08 pass percentage in the class 11 exams.
What’s it about? The class 11 exam results were announced, and the city’s corporation schools secured an 80.08 pass percentage compared to the state’s overall 85.75%. Girls outshined boys with an 87.24 pass percentage compared to 70.98%.
- Keerthika V of Pulla Avenue Girls High School scored the highest, with 592 out of 600. The city corporation has 35 higher secondary schools, and over 5,600 students appeared for the exam.
- No school secured a 100 pass percentage. The Nungambakkam Girl’s Higher Secondary School continued its winning streak with a 96.1 pass percentage.
Comparison unnecessary: One school principal said comparing the results of corporation schools with others doesn’t make sense. Some of the students are from marginalised backgrounds and broken dysfunctional families.
🚌 Tracking and maintaining MTC buses
The state transport department will acquire buses equipped with technology to better help track and maintain them.
What’s it about? Part of the upgrade by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) includes 640 MTC buses in Chennai. The new diesel and electric buses will have onboard intelligent transport systems (OBITS), including Automatic Vehicle Location Systems (AVLS).
- A tender has been floated to link GPS data from the ALVS to the onboard Passenger Information System (PIS) boards at major terminals.
- Real-time tracking is currently only available for some MTC buses in Chennai and select long-route buses operated by the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC).
How will this help? The GPS data will help the MTC better optimise planning and scheduling. The schedules can be adjusted based on demand and travel times and provide passengers with real-time timetables.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you have a DTH connection in your home?
- I have a DTH connection in my home.
- I don’t have a DTH connection in my home.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
Who are your favourite bands to listen to?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- The Vande Metro trains will be rolled out in two months from Chennai’s Integral Coach Factory (ICF).
- Chennai will play host to its first women’s Test match in almost 50 years as India takes on South Africa.
- The Chennai Metro’s passenger numbers for April saw a noticeable decline.
- The lack of toilets on MEMU trains in the Chennai division has affected passengers.
- IIT Madras has fared better than other IITs in recent rounds of placements for BTech and Master’s students.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I prefer cycling: 30.0%
- I prefer walking: 70.0% 🏆
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
If you could get a tattoo, what would it be?
Suchi: “Absolutely no tattoo for me!”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!