Good morning, Chennai!
☀️ Today’s weather: Clear and sunny for today.
🧐 Did you know? Tennis has a long history in the city. Women players got their chance in the early 20th century with facilities in the Queen Mary’s College, the Egmore Ladies Recreation Club, and the Mylapore Ladies Club.
🚗 CUMTA’s parking policy
As the Metropolitan area is set to expand, Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) has proposed a new parking policy.
What’s it about? The Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) will expand and cover more than 5,900 sq km. For urban developers, providing sufficient parking space for more vehicles is a challenge. The CUMTA wants a policy to streamline parking management and make roads commutable.
- The policy would be under the Chennai City Partnership programme funded by the World Bank. The first step will be studying parking patterns across the metropolitan area.
- The policy will have rules and regulations on parking-related projects, including monetisation methods and partnerships. CUMTA will also prepare a Chennai Road Safety Plan.
Previous attempt: The Chennai Corporation proposed a similar parking policy, but the plan stalled. The previous AIADMK government announced an integrated parking management system for ₹2,000 crore in the corporation limits. The project never took off.
🎼 Making digital musical waves
A Chennai digital media startup caught the attention of a music giant.
What’s it about? As YouTube began to take the digital music world by storm, Divo Music in Chennai began its journey. The digital media startup started offering consulting services to content producers and production houses on media digitisation. Warner Music India took notice and acquired a stake in the company recently.
- The company moved into online video, music distribution, and digital marketing for brands in South India. It now helps music labels, artists, and bands distribute and monetise their content across platforms.
- Last year, the company released 30,000 songs. It has been a long journey since getting Sun Networks as one of its first clients. For Warner Music, acquiring a stake is a way to expand its presence in the South.
Who said what? Jay Mehta from Warner Music India said it’s part of their strategy to partner with other companies. Divo co-founder Shahir Muneer said Warner was the right partner to broaden their presence, with 60-70% of brand integrations on YouTube going through Divo. With teams in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Kochi, the company is on the ascent.
🏞️ Anna Nagar tower reopening
The Corporation will reopen the tower to the public after more than a decade.
Story so far: The tower inside the popular Anna Nagar Tower Park, built in the 1960s, was open till 2011. The 100-foot-tall tower was a landmark in Anna Nagar, offering panoramic views of the city. With instances of suicide, it was closed to the public.
- Last year, the civic body began renovating it by installing grills to cover any open areas on each of its 12 floors. The walls now have Tamil cultural paintings to prevent their defacement.
- Non-skidding tiles have been put on the ramps with grills to prevent incidents like in the past. Ahead of its official reopening, the Corporation hasn’t yet decided whether it’ll charge a fee to enter the tower.
Residents speak: One resident from Anna Nagar said the Corporation should properly restrict the crowds to the tower as it now gets visitors from across the city. Another resident Suresh said they shouldn’t charge a fee, but there can be time restrictions.
👩💻 Showcasing tech innovations
IIT Madras held an open house that featured 70 student-led projects.
What’s it about? The Centre for Innovation (CFI) at IIT Madras held an open house to showcase technology and innovations from students. Among the new-age technologies on display were 3D printing, AI, ML, drones, and autonomous vehicles.
- Among the projects on display were an electric-powered Formula race car, a solar-powered electric vehicle, and a robot that mimics the movement of a fish using soft robotics.
- The open house provides students with a platform to showcase and share their work with industry professionals, potential investors, and collaborators.
Journey: The CFI was founded in 2008. It has 15 clubs dedicated to different activities and disciplines and 15 competitive teams. Over 100 patents and startups have originated from CFI.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you visit a place of worship regularly?
- Yes, I do visit a place of worship regularly.
- No, I don’t visit a place of worship regularly.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What’s your favourite planet, and why?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Curves and shorter distances mean trains on phase 2 of the metro will run slightly slower.
- The Museum of Possibilities (MoP) will host more startups and organisations in the assistive devices and technology space.
- Freshworks and Chargebee, both Chennai-based companies, have minimal exposure to the recently collapsed SVB bank.
- Chennai’s Lo 9 Material co-founder Akshay Singhal’s meeting with Bill Gates.
- Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) will open a new temple in the city dedicated to Goddess Padmavathi.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I still visit libraries: 40.0%
- I don’t visit libraries: 60.0% 🏆
That’s it for today. Have a great day!