Good morning, Chennai!
🌧️ Today’s weather: Generally cloudy with some rain.
🧐 Did you know? The ITC Grand Chola is the world’s largest hotel to receive the LEED Zero Carbon Certification.
🛠️ Restoring Rajaji Hall
Rajaji Hall, one of the city’s landmarks and heritage structures, will be restored by December 2024.
What’s it about? Damaged due to its old age, the three-storey building spread over 3,987 square metres will be restored by December 2024. The basement roof was leaky, and the floor would routinely get waterlogged since the road level kept rising.
- Initial work of removing the plastering and strengthening the roof is in progress. The ceilings and walls will be replastered using lime mortar with Mangalore tile roofing. The top of the Madras terrace roof will be finished with machine-pressed tiles.
- To prevent water leakages, the terrace will also undergo a water membrane treatment. Furniture and fittings will be painted with synthetic enamel paint.
History: The building’s history goes back to the end of the 18th century. To mark Tipu Sultan’s defeat, Lord Clive wanted a memorial park, and a new building was constructed. It served as a banquet hall attached to the Governor’s residence. The banquet hall was renamed Rajaji Hall by a Madras Government Order in 1948.
🌊 Flood mitigation
To prevent flooding, the WRD has identified locations to build freshwater channels in the Adyar and Kovalam basins.
What’s it about? The Water Resources Department (WRD) has identified the locations based on revenue records. Chennai and a couple of other districts previously had over 4,000 small and medium waterbodies. Now, the WRD controls less than 1,000 channels.
- More than 10 potential sites have been identified to build new channels. Due to recurring flooding and inundation during the monsoon, WRD officials said the channels will drain surplus water from the Porur and Chembarambakkam lakes into the Adyar basin.
- The WRD is also looking to identify missing channels in Kovalam, Pallikaranai, and surrounding areas. Many of these areas also have encroachers to whom notices will be sent.
Feasibility: The project to build these channels at the selected locations is feasible since much of the land is still under WRD control.
🎭 Portraying Ennore through theatre
An interactive play by theatre artists and young professionals showcases the changes and challenges in north Chennai.
What’s it about? Residents gathered at a convention centre across the Ennore Thermal Power Station to watch Oru Ooril Oru Aaru (There once was a river). The play was enacted by 10 kids from the Arunodhaya Children Sangam, part of the Arunodhaya Centre, which works for children’s rights.
- The play, supported by the British Academy’s Good City Project, uses stories of pre-industrial Ennore to portray the changes undergone by Ennore as Chennai has developed.
- The play began with a question to the audience, “What is a river?” The play lays out the damage to their land, sea, drinking water and the livelihoods of fishermen. It ended with their hopes for a good city.
Experiencing it first hand: The actors went on a ‘toxic tour’ to see first-hand how people’s lives had changed. For many Ennore residents, their dream is for their localities to not become unfit to live.
🍽️ Sweet and savoury success
From humble beginnings, Sweet Karam Coffee has tasted the sweet and savoury smell of success.
Who are they? On a rainy Diwali in 2015, a few members of a family yearned for their grandmother’s special snacks. With a ₹2,000 investment, the husband-wife duo Anand Bharadwaj and Nalini Parthiban and others distributed pamphlets to get customers. Relying on a few home chefs, soon family and friends backed their venture.
- Memories of their grandmother making traditional sweets and snacks inspired them to start the company. Demand for their products has increased since the pandemic, especially during Diwali.
- Many of the women quit their day jobs to set up full-fledged cloud kitchens with their own staff. Their products are made in the tried and tested ways their mothers and grandmothers used to.
Growth story: The company makes an annual revenue of $1 million. Apart from its co-founders, it’s managed by Srivatsan Sundararaman and Veera Raghavan. The company sells its products through its own app and site across India and 32 countries. There are plans to set up retail stores in Chennai and Bengaluru.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you think Chennai’s proposed new airport at Parandur is too far away?
- The new proposed airport at Parandur is too far away.
- The new proposed airport at Parandur isn’t too far away.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What’s your favourite flavour of Lay’s chips?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- One-stop quick fixes won’t solve Putheri Lake’s pollution issues.
- The Tambaram subway has been neglected by authorities and taken over by hawkers.
- The Park Sheraton played an important role in shaping India’s cricketing future.
- The ticket counter remains closed and inconveniences passengers at the Pazhavanthangal railway station.
- The popularity of bike taxis in the city means they need to be regulated.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I have had a part-time job: 66.7% 🏆
- I’ve never had a part-time job: 33.3%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
Apart from your present location, what other area of the city would you love to live in?
Suchi: “ECR”
Shiva: “Kodambakkam (Mahalingapuram)”
Chitra: “Besant Nagar near beach”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!