Good morning, Bengaluru!
☀️ Today’s weather: Sunny skies and moderate breeze.
🧐 Did you know? If you live in Embassy Golf Links on the Inner Ring Road, you inhabit a 1,300 years old area. Srinivagilu, behind Embassy Golf Links, is inscribed in a 750 CE stone.
🌹The legacy of Lal Bagh
Lalbagh is an archive of Bengaluru’s historical moments.
Story so far: As Bengaluru becomes increasingly urbanised, its historical past and green spaces assume more salience in the cityscape. One such historical landmark is the present-day botanical garden Lal Bagh, the roots of which can be attributed to Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan’s love of greenery.
- The park’s oldest section sits on a formation of ancient peninsular gneiss rock, roughly three billion years old. One of the four towers, erected by the 16th-century ruler Kempe Gowda II, was planted atop it to mark the city’s boundaries.
- INTACH reveals that the garden of Hyder Ali’s time likely came up around 1760 to Lal Bagh tank’s north. By 1791, it would have been laid out in the Persian ‘char-bagh’ style, then favoured by the Mughals.
What else? The garden has colonial Indian history woven into its crevices and corners too. The Glass House was inspired by its counterpart in the Crystal Palace, London. It was inaugurated in 1889 by Prince Albert Edward, a grandson of Queen Victoria, at a celebration organised by King Chamaraja Wodeyar.
- A soundly preserved British dovecote, dating back to 1893, can be found near the Kempe Gowda tower.
😷 Chickenpox cases in children rise
Low humidity leads to the increased spread of chickenpox and Influenza.
Story so far: In Bengaluru, many students, those below the age of 10 more so than others, have reported contracting chickenpox and fever. With exam season approaching, schools have sent out advisories to parents to send their children to school only after a full recovery. Doctors believe that low humidity caused the spread.
- Dr SM Prasad, president of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, believes that at this time, humidity should be around 40 – 60% rather than the current below 30% presence. The present humidity commonly occurs in the winter season.
- The Indian Medical Association (IMA) advised avoiding antibiotics. They have observed a sudden increase in the patients experiencing cough, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, fever, body ache and diarrhoea. Most cases are H3N2 influenza virus.
Why it matters? Chickenpox is a highly infectious disease that can spread by simply smelling the blisters. The problem is that everybody cannot afford chickenpox vaccines because they’re only available in private hospitals.
- A final cause of concern is the self-prescribed erratic use of antibiotics like Azithromycin, because of which people have developed antibody resistance.
♀️ Women’s day tourism offer
The government announced a 50% discount on rooms for women in the Mayura Group of Hotels.
Story so far: The Karnataka government announced a 50% discount offer for women on the occasion of International Women’s Day. According to the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC), it can be availed by all women in Karnataka from March 6 to 10.
- The offer entails half-off prices for rooms in the Karnataka government’s Mayura Group of Hotels. An additional 20% discount is also available on food in the state-run hospitality facilities.
- The state-run Mayura Hotels can be found in Mysuru, Hampi, Srirangapatna, Almatti, Madikeri, Nandi Hills, Hoysala, and Vijayapura in Karnataka.
Why it matters? International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8 to focus on the women’s rights movement, gender equality, discrimination, and violence against women. In the present day, it is also marked by various consumer brands offering discounts.
📚 Reliable Copy sticks to art books
The boutique publishing house, founded by Nihaal Faizal, is committed to artists’ work.
Story so far: Like all businesses, the publishing world too is recovering from COVID-19. Reliable Copy is a one-of-a-kind publishing house based in Bengaluru that publishes a maximum of four books annually.
- As part of the (Fine) Arts Dissertations series, they launched two books, ‘The Sculptor’s Notebook’ by Pushpamala N and ‘Urban Kitsch’ by Praneet Soi. The series focuses on dissertations written at the Faculty of Fine Arts in MSU, Vadodara.
- Artist Pushpamala recounts that Faizal and Sarasija Subramanian, the editor, were very professional and confident throughout – from the moment of approaching her to the book launch. They wanted to publish the book as a facsimile.
Why it matters? Reliable Copy’s mission makes it unique and niche. Their curatorial ethic is committed to publishing and circulating projects and writing by artists. They depend on fundraisers, grants, and co-publishing for support. Like other small-scale, niche publishers, they print small editions of 1,000-2,000 copies without any profit margin.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Would you rather live with chronic shoe bites or chronic paper cuts?
- I would rather live with chronic shoe bites.
- I would rather live with chronic paper cuts.
❓ Today’s Question
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What’s your favourite holiday destination?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Citizens want Agara lake’s custody to be handed back to the forest department.
- NHM contract staff say that the government-ordered 15% salary hike is a negligible concession.
- NHAI is racing against time to finish pending works on the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway.
- Bengaluru residents launch a surprise poster protest against the Sankey project.
- Many aspiring students thronged the IISc Bangalore campus to gain insight into science at its Science Day event.
That’s it for today. Have a great day!