Good morning, Chennai!
☀️ Today’s weather: High: 32 ℃ | Low: 23 ℃ | Clear skies for the day.
🧐 Did you know? The Regent Queen of Travancore, Sethu Laxmi Bai, constructed a beach resort in Kovalam in 1920, known as the Halcyon Castle. European guests of the King of Travancore would visit the place. It later became a favoured beach destination.
🎦 Keeping Tamil cinema literature alive
Tamil Studios is helping keep Tamil cinema literature alive by publishing books and scripts of Kollywood.
What’s it about? While Tamil cinema produces about 250 movies in a year, literature about the art form has been scant. Arun Mo, the founder of Tamil Studios, has begun publishing scripts of Tamil films under its sister brand Pure Cinema. They even had a stall at this year’s Chennai Book Fair.
- The genesis came from wanting to educate people about a scene that was written and shot. In 2015, their publishing house began working with filmmakers. One example is collaborating with Mysskin for his script for Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum.
- Most of the scripts they publish are hand-written by the directors. In some cases, the scripts are written after watching the movie since some directors don’t use finished scripts. Last year’s bestsellers were Maanagaram, Kaithi, Vikram, and Master.
A dearth of Tamil cinema literature: According to Arun, cinema is seen as a business, so many people don’t see a reason to publish or buy such books. Some also look down on cinema as an art form that has impacted society.
🚻 Public toilets privatisation
A failed privatisation deal to clean and make public toilets usable comes under the scanner.
What’s it about? Councillor and Standing Committee Chairman K Dhanasekaran demanded an investigation into the failed ₹430-crore privatisation deal to clean public toilets. He questioned why there hadn’t been any action taken against the contractor.
- The deal was approved in December 2022 to reconstruct and maintain toilets in Royapuram, Teynampet, and other zones. RSB Infra was tasked to maintain toilets at 372 locations and demolish and rebuild 90 new toilets.
- Six months after the tendering process, the contractor began work only on 22 toilets and deployed 53 workers against the required 300 plus.
Contractor failures: The contractor was tasked with revamping old toilets with new tiles, taps and equipment. They were also asked to install CCTV cameras at the entrances, appoint staff for maintenance and provide sanitary napkin dispensers.
🏥 Kalaignar Hospital’s expansion
With a good response from the public, the Kalaignar Centenary Hospital got more operation theatres.
What’s its history? The government spent ₹452 crore to build the hospital, which was inaugurated last year. Spread over 6 lakh square feet in Guindy, the 1,000-bed hospital has completed 792 surgeries with just two operation theatres.
- So far, over 1 lakh outpatients and over 20,000 inpatients have benefitted. The hospital sees 750-800 outpatients and 180-200 inpatients daily.
- Recently, 10 more operation theatres were inaugurated along with 70 beds for paid wards. The minimum fee for these rooms is ₹1,200 going up to ₹3,000.
Facilities: The new rooms have ICU equipment. The hospital also has a 3D surgical microscope that allows doctors to see small tissues and vessels for brain surgeries.
🛣️ Flyover on GST Road?
Slow vehicle movement after the Kilambakkam terminus opening has the NHAI mulling a flyover on GST Road.
What’s the story so far? The GST Road has been widened to eight lanes, and there’s now a flyover at the Vandalur junction. Since the opening of the Kilambakkam bus terminus, traffic has persisted. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is studying the possibility of a flyover on the GST Road – Iyyencherry Road junction.
- Construction of a flyover is being considered despite the upcoming elevated corridor from Perungalathur to Chengalpattu. The challenge will be building a flyover amid traffic.
- The new terminus operates thousands of buses daily. Mofussil and omnibuses take a U-turn below the Vandalur flyover, and MTC buses leaving the terminus take a U-turn on the GST Road – Iyyencherry junction.
Elevated corridor delay: The 6-lane elevated corridor from Tambaram to Chengalpattu on the Grand Southern Trunk Road could be delayed. The state government hasn’t decided on the GST waiver for elevated road projects in Tamil Nadu.
✨ Things to do…
Here are some fun and interesting things to do in the city over the weekend!
- Catch 60 theatrical productions at the KISS Theatre festival this Saturday.
- For anime lovers, there’s the Ani X Con Extreme this weekend.
- Music and comedy collide in the unique ALEXPERIENCE this Saturday.
- Theatre Ko presents short stories in Nam Arumai Pudhumaipithan this Saturday.
- Harris Jayaraj comes to Chennai for Rock on Harris 2.0 this Saturday.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll Results:
- I jog or go for walks daily: 80.0% 🏆
- I don’t jog or go for a walk daily: 20.0%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
Which foreign languages would you like to learn?
Suchi: “French”
That’s it for today. Have a great weekend!