ANNIVERSARIES:
ANNIVERSARIES:
As part of National Geographic’s multi-year global initiative Planet or Plastic?, a women led team of experts is documenting movement of plastic waste from source to sea along the River Ganga in Bangladesh and India. To enable participation from individuals to support the on-going research, National Geographic is urging individuals to join the #DebrisTrackerChallenge, using the Marine Debris Tracker app, which allows individuals to collect the plastic trash and track the items that are being collected.
The #DebrisTrackerChallenge has witnessed support from some of the country’s most celebrated personalities such as Sonu Sood, Neha Dhupia, Ali Asgar, Chetan Bhagat and Moni Roy, among others who collected and tracked plastic items in the Marine Debris Tracker app while plogging – a growing exercise trend that is good for both, environment and individuals’ health. These personalities showed support to the cause on the social media, and further encouraged their followers to keep the environment clean while promoting fitness.
To join the movement, download the Marine Debris Tracker App on Android and iOS and take the challenge
Co-designed by National Geographic’s global explorer, Jenna R. Jambeck, the Marine Debris Tracker is an open-data citizen-science tool to track footprint of global plastic litter. The app is used to compile global data on the amount, distribution and type of debris observed or collected by users. The user simply needs to download the app and capture data by adding the waste to the database while enabling public involvement. The app is available on Android and iOS. This information gathered using the app is helping build a better picture of marine debris around the world, which could help inform strategies and policies to combat the problem.
Those of you who have been around from the 1960's through the 1990's will remember the vibrant live music scene in almost every starred hotel in India. Those were the days when you walked into a nightclub like 'Rendezvous' at The Taj Mahal hotel and 'Supper Club' at the Oberoi Sheraton in Mumbai to see curtains going up on a band that was the prime focus of these outlets. Every seat in these restaurants allowed an unobstructed view of the band that performed every night on resident contracts. Today all this has disappeared thanks to some ridiculously high entertainment taxes on live music. Today, non off these hotels have complete bands playing save for a few that feature small duos or solo singers. The Lodhi in New Delhi, recently listed among the world's best hotels, decided to step in and rewind to the good old days. They got Goa's premier jazz quartet 'Jazz Junction' to move to Delhi on a resident contract and the decision has paid off in terms of footfalls generated by the band. Jazz Junction featuring singer Daniella Rodrigues, pianist Tony Dias,
bassist Colin D'Cruz and drummer Angelo Colasco began playing at The Lodhi in June 2018. Four months into the contract the band generated a sizeable following, with quite a few high profile guests choosing to celebrate their special occasion at the Elan bar where the band performs. Against all odds the rewind option proved to be a huge success and hopefully other properties around the country takes the cue to trigger a whole new revival of live music.
