Good morning, Chennai!
☀️ Today’s weather: Clear and sunny skies for today.
🧐 Did you know? According to a bird census conducted earlier this year, Chennai is home to 126 of the state’s 313 species.
🛍️ Shop and dine before a flight
The Aerohub Mall attached to the airport serves as a respite for passengers.
What’s it about? For the first time in India, a mall attached to the airport will be open to both the public and passengers. While it’ll be officially inaugurated next month, the prospect of a mall next to the airport is a relief to passengers and crew who want to relax before their flight.
- The mall has all the usual trapping you’d expect, with shops, a gaming zone for kids, restaurants, and coffee shops. The food court will be open 24×7.
- To ensure passengers don’t miss their flights, airline information is on display on all floors and at the entry and exit. The mall also has a PVR multiplex.
Promoting transport hubs: The government wants to promote the airport and railway station as more than just important transport hubs. The Aerohub Mall is strategically located since the city limits are now beyond the airport.
🤱 Promoting breastfeeding
Vijaya Hospital hosted an event to promote awareness of breastfeeding.
What’s it about? Chennai Corporation commissioner J Radhakrishnan was on hand to inaugurate the event at the hospital. Interestingly, Vijaya Hospital became a Baby Friendly Hospital in 2003 based on criteria set by the WHO and UNICEF. The event’s theme was ‘Breast milk – A right of every infant’ – Translating passion into practice.
- The events brought together healthcare professionals & organisations, and NGOs to share the latest knowledge and best practices. The events advocated for every mother to provide breast milk to their infants for the first six months.
- The sessions included the role that government institutions, private hospitals and the community play. There was also a panel on how to set up a Human Milk Bank in hospitals.
Panelists: Among those who participated in the sessions were experienced paediatricians, Corporation Medical Officers, and neonatal nurses. There was also the founder of an NGO that supports the Human Milk Bank initiative.
🚌 Training school bus drivers
IIT Madras has developed a system to help train school bus drivers.
What’s it about? The system, developed by the Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS) at IIT Madras, is to help prepare young drivers before they’re issued a license. The Centre organised a training course for over 2,000 drivers from educational institutions in and around Chennai.
- The first step involved using a simulator. They were exposed to different road and weather conditions and helped experts gauge their basic skills.
- Then came training through a mobile app for a month. A debriefing session ensured every driver was given feedback for their improvement.
Implementation & feedback: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has directed all states to implement a 3-gate licensing model based on the new system. Officials have also received feedback from schools where kids expressed concern about drivers not following the rules.
❓ Quizzing craze
Chennai has a long and storied history with quizzing.
What’s it about? The iconic Landmark Quiz, held every year on Independence Day, is back in a new avatar after a two-year gap. It’s now the Zifo Open Quiz 2023. For quizmaster Navin Jayakumar, it goes back to his days as a student in 1980. Thanks to technology, quiz events have also evolved.
- Thanks to social media, smartphones, and sites like Quora and Reddit, curating questions has become relatively simple and fast. The trick is to ensure the information is authentic. It has also encouraged more people to participate.
- With more quiz competitions in schools and colleges come new genres and categories that cater to mainstream and niche audiences.
Moving with the times: With PowerPoint presentations, audio-visual hints, and buzzers, quizzing has adopted new tools to keep things fresh. Traditional quizzes with short questions and answers have evolved into tricky questions with longer answers.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Have you participated in an official quiz competition?
- I have participated in an official quiz competition.
- I haven’t participated in an official quiz competition.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What improvements need to be made for the upcoming next phase of the metro?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Incidents of manual scavenging result in a blame game between Metrowater and Chennai Corporation.
- Retteri Lake becomes a dump yard for construction waste as officials don’t take notice.
- The Tambaram Corporation has allocated ₹54 crore to install LED lights in all zones to increase safety.
- 15 renovated police stations in the city have been awarded ISO 9001-205 certification.
- Madras Reporters Guild condemned publisher Badri Seshadri’s arrest and demanded his release.
That’s it for today. Have a great day!