Good morning, Chennai!
🌤️ Today’s weather: High: 36 ℃ | Low: 26 ℃ | Mostly sunny for the day.
🧐 Did you know? Chennai’s Aminjikarai is a distortion of the term “amaindha karai”, meaning formation of an embankment. It’s believed that this came from the fact the Buckingham Canal, curving toward Choolaimedu, deposited silt and formed a bank.
📖 Celebrating Kafka
The Goethe-Institut has organised a series of events to celebrate the life and work of Franz Kafka.
What’s it about? Kafka was a pivotal figure in literary history, and many of his works were published after he died by his friend Max Brod. To mark the centenary of Franz Kafka’s death, the Kafka Celebrations at the Goethe-Institut will host several events and an exhibition on his life and works.
- An illustrated poster exhibition called “Komplett Kafka” based on the book by Nicolas Mahler and inspired by Kafka’s biography and work, will take people on a visual journey through Kafka’s life and literary contributions.
- There’ll also be a VR experience called “VRWandlung”. It’s a VR adaptation of The Metamorphosis, where you’re placed in the heart of the story.
Celebrating his life: During the five-day celebrations, each evening will feature several events catering to kids, culinary enthusiasts, and literary aficionados.
🫴 Combating hunger and homelessness
A new scheme from Feed of Love aims to provide basic necessities to the poor and homeless in Chennai.
What’s it about? Feed of Love, by Johnson Jebakumar and his wife Shareen Joshua, aims to tackle hunger and homelessness since its launch in 2014. The team recently launched Love on Wheels and Mission 35 to provide food and basic supplies.
- Love on Wheels is an e-vehicle with a wide range of basic supplies like blankets, sanitary napkins, snacks, and educational materials for kids. It also collects excess food and second-hand clothes.
- Mission 35 pertains to every donation of ₹35 to help feed a homeless person.
Star-studded launch: Apart from the volunteers, the launch of Mission 35 and Love on Wheels saw Archana Ravichandran, Thaadi Balaji, and music composer duo Vivek–Mervin on hand.
🏗️ Costlier homes?
Owning a home in Chennai could get more expensive as the government has increased the guideline value for land by 10%.
What’s it about? The government has decided to increase the guideline value by 10% in the city and for a few old corporations. The revision covers over 2 lakh streets and over 4 crore survey numbers. Builders say this could lead to a higher premium floor space index charges, which could be passed on to consumers.
- The guideline value per square foot on Alandur Road will increase from ₹5,500 to ₹6,100. At Abhiramapuram 3rd Street, it increased from ₹16,000 per sq ft to ₹17,600.
- While builders weren’t against the hike, they wanted the changes implemented after a certain period. It becomes hard for them to adjust when it’s announced and implemented in a day.
Revision history: The Madras High Court set aside a March 2023 circular increasing guideline values, citing procedural reasons. The 2010 TN Stamp Rules were implemented in 2010 and 2017 when guideline values were cut by 33%. Sub-committees, headed by collectors, prepared a draft guideline value document, which was cleared on June 29.
🏅 Conclave for sports tech startups
IIT Madras will conduct a Sports Tech Startup Conclave in Delhi to promote sports development.
What’s it about? IIT Madras’ Centre of Excellence in Sports Science and Analytics (CESSA) will organise the event on July 12 and 13 to showcase the institute’s commitment to promoting sports startups in India and its plans to provide technical support to the Indian government’s ambition of hosting the 2036 Olympics.
- One of the CESSA’s main objectives is to work toward indigenisation and technology support for Atmanirbhar Bharat in the sports sector. The conclave comes a couple of weeks before the Paris Olympics begin.
- The event will see CESSA promote and support 10 sports technology startups with a total investment of ₹5 crore. Over the next five years, IIT Madras will also incubate 200 sports technology startups from India.
Technology and sports intertwined: Technology is being increasingly used across several sports. The CESSA provides sports education for PE teachers, coaches, referees, analysts, managers, and players.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Have you eaten at the city’s Amma Canteens?
- I have eaten at the city’s Amma Canteens.
- I haven’t eaten at the city’s Amma Canteens.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
If you could have a pet dog, what breed would you want?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- The Chennai Police booked a snatching case as the first FIR under the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita criminal laws.
- Over 84 lakh passengers used the Chennai Metro in June, an increase from May.
- English Electric Nagar, under the Tambaram Corporation, has become an unofficial dumping ground.
- Labrador retrievers are the most chosen breed, topping the Corporation’s registrations.
- Daily wage workers at the Amma Canteens will have their salaries hiked to ₹325 per day.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I have more than one TV: 72.2% 🏆
- I don’t have more than one TV: 27.8%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What’s a book you’ve read multiple times?
Suchi: “Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself by Dr. Joe Dispenza”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!