Zoom to set up new tech centre in Bengaluru after it sees 6700% growth; hiring across various verticals to begin soon

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Zoom will also expand its existent Mumbai office, to almost triple its size, an official statement said.

A billboard of Zoom app. (Photo| AP)
A billboard of Zoom app. (Photo| AP)

Popular video conferencing app, Zoom which counts tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Jio as its rivals, will soon set up its first tech centre in Bengaluru to aid India and global operations, Velchamy Sankarlingam, President of Product and Engineering for Zoom said.

The video conferencing platform will immediately begin hiring DevOps engineers, IT, Security, and Business Operations for its Bengaluru tech centre the video conferencing service saw a 6700 per cent growth in the country from January to April, 2020 during the COVID pandemic.

“Paid user base has increased by 4 times in India from January-April,” Sankarlingam added.

Zoom will also expand its existent Mumbai office, to almost triple its size, an official statement said. California headquartered firm has also data centres in Mumbai and Hyderabad. Without revealing the current employee strength, Zoom has in India, the company’s top management said that all the employees will continue to work from home.

“India is a strategically important country for Zoom and we expect to see continued growth and investment here. We are proud to provide our services for free to over 2,300 educational institutions in India during the COVID-19 pandemic, and look forward to continuing to work with the people and government of India hand-in-hand,” Eric S. Yuan, CEO of Zoom said.

“We plan to hire key employees for the technology center over the next few years, pulling from India’s highly-educated engineering talent pool. This facility will play a critical role in Zoom’s continued growth,” he added.

Zoom to focus on safety/ privacy issues in India

Delving on the security concerns raised by Indian government and activist groups while using Zoom app, the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Aparna Bawa said that the platform is working to ensure end-to-end encryption for all its users in India  and that following the advisories issued by MHA and cybersecurity regulator, Computer Emergency Response Team of India( CERT_ on May 29, Zoom has enhanced its security features. “ We are providing the ‘control your own data routing’ features wherein all our paid customers have the option to completely safeguard the data.”

CERT had earlier pointed out that meeting apps like Zoom, Microsoft Team, Cisco Webex are vulnerable to cyber attacks which may allow criminals to have an easy acess to sensitive information shared on these platforms.

Zoom’s top executives said that the advisories are a routine feature in a COVID pandemic environment where work from home has become a norm and hence the governments are advising on enhanced security features.

Founded in 2011, in San Jose, California, Zoom has been able to scale up its services to overseas markets besides US. The company’s Q1 revenues for the quarter ended April 30, 2020 saw a growth by 169% at $328.2 million and the number of daily active users jumped to 300 million in April from 10 million in January.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Business / by Bismah Malik / Express News Service / July 21st, 2020

Megalithic antiques said to date back to 1,000 BC discovered near Kollur

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A menhir discovered by a team of archaeologists near Kollur in Udupi district recently. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A menhir discovered by a team of archaeologists near Kollur in Udupi district recently. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A team of archaeologists led by T. Murugeshi recently discovered a menhir, a cupule, a well cut in round shape in hard laterite, and pottery of the megalithic period on the foothills of Mookasura Betta, near Kollur, in Udupi district.

Prof. Murugeshi, an associate professor of Ancient History and Archaeology with Mulki Sundar Ram Shetty Memorial College, Shirva, in Udupi district, said the exploration site where the menhir (a tall upright stone of the kind erected in the prehistoric era) was discovered was very close to Kollur Mookambika Temple. In a statement, he said the menhir was similar to the ones discovered in the adjacent Malnad region.

He said Mookasura Betta has a fort-like structure constructed using undressed stones. Locals call it “Mookasurana Kote”. According to Indian mythology, Mookasura was a demon king who was killed by Devi in Kollur to restore dharma, and hence came the name Mookambika.

The menhir found at Mookasura Betta was about 2.1 metres tall, 55 cm thick, 65 cm wide at the bottom, and 55 cm at the top. It was lying on the ground and originally seemed to be oriented towards the east. About 40 such menhirs were reported by researchers at several places, namely Baise, Nilskar, and Heragal in the adjacent Hosanagar taluk of Shivamogga district, Prof. Murugeshi recalled.

Quoting former director of State Archaeology A. Sundara, Prof. Murugeshi said the name Baise was a vernacular version of the Sanskrit word Mahisha. Dr. Sundara had dated the megalithic menhir culture of Nilskar, Baise and Hergal to c. 1200-1000 B.C., he said, adding that the discoveries at Kollur too could be dated back to 1000 B.C. or much earlier. Prof. Murugeshi has already reported menhirs at Kurkal, Adkadakatte, and Buddhanajeddu of Udupi district. The menhir found at Kollur could be from the beginning of the megalithic culture, he added.

Menhirs were locally known as Anekallu, Dibbanadakallu, Nilskallu, Barbiniyarakallu, etc. Prof. Murugeshi thanked Muralidhara Hegde, Ramesh Anagalli, U.B. Chandr Guddemane, Raghavendra Aithal, Janardhana Achari, and Bhaskari Nuksal of Kollur for their help in the exploration.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mangaluru – July 19th, 2020

Eminent scholar U.P. Upadhyaya passes away near Udupi

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Uliyar Padmanabha Upadhyaya | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Uliyar Padmanabha Upadhyaya | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

His book – The Tulu Lexicon, comprising six volumes, was a major contribution to the linguistics

Noted scholar and the Chief Editor of monumental linguistic work, The Tulu Lexicon, Uliyar Padmanabha Upadhyaya, passed away near Udupi on Friday night. He was 88 and is survived by a son and a daughter.

Sources said that he passed away at a hospital in Manipal at about 11:30 p.m. on July 17.

His wife Susheela who was also an eminent Tulu scholar and who had compiled The Tulu Lexicon with him had passed away on January 14, 2014 at the age of 77 years.

Mr. Upadhyaya was born in a priestly scholar family on April 10, 1932 at Uliyar in Majur Village near Kaup in Udupi district. His father, Sitaram Upadhyaya was a reputed scholar in the court of the Raja of Travancore.

The Tulu Lexicon, with six volumes, was a major contribution to the linguistics by the Upadhyaya couple. Its first volume was published in 1988 and the last volume in 1997. The Lexicon has been published by Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Samshodana Kendra at Udupi.

Playwright K. Mahalinga Bhat, Associate Professor in Kannada, St. Aloysius Evening College, Mangaluru told The Hindu that his Tulu lexicon project was a major work in Indian languages. The couple had followed the dictionary science and methodology in compiling it and it is of international standard.

The Upadhyayas did serious research work in linguistics and folk culture and produced a number of books-some of them jointly, some individually and some in collaboration with others, he said.

Some of the significant books and articles of Mr. Upadhyaya included Nanjanagudu Kannada (Vokkaliga Dialect), Coorg Kannada, Kuruba – A Dravidian Language, Kannada – A Phonetic Language, Malayalam Language and Literature (with Ms. Susheela), Effect of Bilingualism on Bidar Kannada, Coimbatore Tamil, Kannada as Spoken by Different Population Groups in Mysore City, Dravidian and Negro African: Ethno Linguistic Study (with Ms. Susheela), Conversational Kannada, Coastal Karnataka and Bhuta Worship: Aspects of a Ritualistic Theatre (with Ms. Susheela).

He had acquired three Post Graduate (MA) degrees in Sanskrit, Kannada and Linguistics from Madras, Kerala and Pune Universities, Vidwan in Hindi and PhD in Linguistics from the Pune University for his thesis titled “A Comparative Study of Kannada Dialects”. He had command over Hindi, Kannada, Tulu, Malayalam, Tamil, English, French and Olof, the language of Senegal in Africa.

He was a visiting Professor at the Universities of London and Paris.

Noted critic Muralidhar Upadhya Hiriyadkka said that in addition to Tulu, the couple had made significant contribution to folklore research.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mangaluru – July 18th, 2020

CM launches purifier for airborne viruses

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

The product uses metal nano particles with coated reusable membranes and liquid nanofluids.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa inaugurates the Nano Corona Air Purifier-Cum-Steriliser at his official residence Krishna in Bengaluru on Friday
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa inaugurates the Nano Corona Air Purifier-Cum-Steriliser at his official residence Krishna in Bengaluru on Friday

Bengaluru :

A city-based start-up, incubated by Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Nutan Labs has developed Nano Corona Air Purifier Cum Steriliser which purifies indoor air by killing Covid-19 virus and other pollutants. CM BS Yediyurappa, while launching the product at his home office ‘Krishna’, said: “This kind of technology will be useful to help combat the virus. In a first, we are using nano-material in liquid form for absorption of pollutant gases and pathogens.”

The product uses metal nano particles with coated reusable membranes and liquid nanofluids. “In the first stage of nano filtration, we have coated noble metal nanoparticles of 10-20 nanometre each on sandwiched membranes or non-woven fibres. The nanoparticles eliminate the virus by disrupting the outer coating and damaging the genetic material (of 30-140 nanometre each) and ruptures it,” said Nuthan H S, CEO, Nutan Labs.

Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences & Research permitted the start-up to conduct real-time studies with COVID19 positive patients at the hospital’s isolation wards . It is claimed that the instrument purifies, sterilises and recirculates clean and sterile air in a rapid way without using much energy. Recently ‘Nutan Labs ‘ got the ‘Elevate Call 2 Award’ by Start-up Karnataka, Dept of IT- BT, Science and technology, Government of Karnataka.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / July 18th, 2020

Residents in Bengaluru join hands to rent ambulance on standby for 3700 families

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Records, All
For representational purposes (Photo | PTI)
For representational purposes (Photo | PTI)

Worried by multiple news reports of patients failing to get an ambulance or being charged exorbitant costs if they get one, the residents decided to gear up for an emergency.

After incidents where a shortage of ambulances led to the deaths of patients, a group of 37 residents welfare associations (RWAs) in Kanakapura in Bengaluru have rented an ambulance to cater to 3700 families.

Done under the banner of Change Makers of Kanakapura, the cost boils down to Rs 60 per month per family, with the vehicle on standby at Kanakapura road, Konankunte cross, with ICU trained nursing staff and driver at their beck and call.

“One resident who suffered a heart attack passed away as the hospital said their ambulance was preoccupied and could only reach him in an hour. In another case, a person who suffered a mild heart attack and was breathless could not get an ambulance because all hospitals feared it was COVID-19. Finally, the family had to drive him down in a car, where he was tested for COVID-19 and only after he turned negative was he sent for angioplasty,” said Abdul Aleem, member of the RWA federation.

Worried by multiple news reports of patients failing to get an ambulance or being charged exorbitant costs if they get one, the residents including apartment dwellers decided to gear up for an emergency.

The total cost is Rs 2 lakh per month and the ambulance is equipped with a ventilator, ambu bag, suction apparatus, bain circuit, PPE kits, cardiac monitor, infusion pump and oxygen cylinder provided by JK Ambulance Service.

It will cater to residents along the Sarakki signal to NICE road junction stretch. There will be 3 nursing staff on three 8-hour shifts and 2 drivers on 12-hour shifts.

They have even prepared for a scenario where a vehicle is required by more than one patient.

“In such a situation, the vendor has promised to give one more ambulance at the same time,” Aleem said, adding, “We will use it for all kinds of patients. If a patient is COVID positive or a suspect, the vehicle will be sanitized after transporting them. PPE kits will be provided to the patient and staff.”

This ambulance is a form of insurance for residents for the next six months, so they are not left helpless in case there is a medical emergency.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Ranjani Madhavan  / July 17th, 2020

31 get ‘Best Teacher’ award in Karnataka

Education, Records, All

As many as 31 teachers from the state have been chosen for the ‘Best Teacher’ award for the academic year 2019-20.

Bengaluru :

As many as 31 teachers from the state have been chosen for the ‘Best Teacher’ award for the academic year 2019-20. They are Asha Hegade from Kalaburagi, Naganna from Mysuru, Savitramma and Rajashekar BR from Bengaluru North, Shamsiya from Sirsi, Padma D from Dakshina Kannada, omalingappa MT and Danamma Jhalaki from Belagavi, Lingaraju from Mandya, Umadevi LN from Bengaluru South, Ratnakumari S from Shivamogga, Nirmala Ramachandra and Hanumappa G Huddara from Bagalakote, B Usha from Davanagere, Mallikarjuna Shivalingappa from Vijayapura, Geetha KH from Chikkamagaluru, Narayana from Chamarajanagar, Umesh from Udupi.

Malleshappa Addedara and Kavitha Diggavi from Koppal, Jayasingh Ambulal Thakur from Bidar, K Ramesh from Kolar, Bheemaiah from Yadagir, Rajanagowda Pattara and Sharanappa Karishetty from Raichur, Krishnamurthy N from Haveri, Narayanaswami R from Bengaluru Rural, Renukaiah HR from Tumakuru and Channegowda from Ramanagara. The government, via the teachers’ welfare fund and students’ welfare fund, has sanctioned `50,000 each to the 31 schools where these teachers are employed.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Service / July 16th, 2020

How Bengaluru was bought for Rs 3 lakh 333 years ago

About Bangalore(Bengaluru) / Karnataka, Amazing Feats, Records, All, World Opinion
(Clockwise) A painting of Chikkadevaraja Wadiyar; the Kote Venkataramanaswamy Temple was commissioned by Chikkadevaraja after he took over the city; earliest known painting of Bengaluru from 1792 by an anonymous British painter. This was a century af...
(Clockwise) A painting of Chikkadevaraja Wadiyar; the Kote Venkataramanaswamy Temple was commissioned by Chikkadevaraja after he took over the city; earliest known painting of Bengaluru from 1792 by an anonymous British painter. This was a century af…

This story has all the hallmarks of a contemporary property dispute: an owner making a distress sale, relatives trying their best to take over the property, the eager buyer rushing in to take possession and a land shark stepping in to occupy the land illegally. The only catch is that this incident occurred exactly 333 years ago, on July 10, 1687, and the property in question was the city of Bengaluru.

The principal characters in this dispute are historical figures we are familiar with: the seller was Ekoji (Venokji), the half-brother of Maratha King Shivaji. The relative was Sambhaji, Shivaji’s son. The buyer was Chikkadevaraja Wadiyar, the ruler  of Mysore and the land shark was Kasim Khan, the Mughal general sent by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

Chikkadevaraja
Chikkadevaraja

The entire ‘property deal’, so to speak, took place for Rs 3,00,000. But how did this come to be?

Chikkadevaraja ascended the throne of Mysore in 1673 and is credited with expanding the frontiers of the kingdom to its largest extent. Three of his military exploits stand out.

The first was his defeat of Sri Ranga VI, who was propped up by the rulers of Ikkeri, Bijapur and Golkonda under the pretense of re-establishing the erstwhile Vijayanagara empire.

His victory against Chokkanatha Nayaka of Madurai extended Mysuru’s influence till Tiruchirapalli in the south.

His other big success was stopping Shivaji at Srirangapatna, when the latter was mopping up old Bijapur possessions during a campaign in South India. In April 1682, Chikkadevaraja won multiple battles against the Marathas, even defeating the combined forces of Basappa Nayaka of Ikkeri, Qutb Shah of Golkonda and Shivaji’s son Sambhaji at Banavara, in present-day Hassan.

So when the Mysore forces came face-to-face with the Mughal army at the gates of Bengaluru on July 10, 1687, they were no pushovers.

The Maratha connection

Shahaji (Shivaji’s father), who was a general in the Bijapur army, was given Bengaluru as a jagir by an Adil Shahi ruler. This was passed on to his son Ekoji.

In 1674, when Ekoji was dispatched by Adil Shah to sort out a succession dispute of the local ruler in Thanjavur, he did one better. Ekoji eventually crowned himself the king of Thanjavur.

However, Ekoji now faced a family dispute over the jagir of Bengaluru. Both Shivaji, and later his son Sambhaji — not always on cordial terms with Ekoji — coveted it. Ekoji held on to Bengaluru and Thanjavur.

After their conquest of Bijapur in 1686, the Mughals rapidly pushed towards the south.

Aurangzeb’s expansion of the Mughal empire culminated with the fall of Bijapur (1686) and Golkonda (1687). The gates to south India, then known as Karnata Empire (the official name of the Vijayanagara empire), now lay open to them. Led by Kasim Khan,the Mughal army’s run through the South began in Penukonda, in the present-day Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Chikkadevaraja managed to keep Tumakuru out of Mughal hands. Ekoji, now faced with the prospect of losing his jagir to the Mughals, made the offer to sell Bengaluru to Chikkadevaraja, for a very reasonable price of three lakh rupees. Contemporary accounts suggest that the amount was paid by Chikkadevaraja even before his troops were sent to take possession of the city.

On his part, Sambhaji sensed an opportunity to settle an old family dispute and dispatched his generals, Santaji and Kesava Triyambak Pant as well as Haraji, the governor of Gingee, to take control of the city before Chikkadevaraja reached there.

The Mughal general Kasim Khan reached Bengaluru before either of the two. When the Marathas reached the city, they found the Mughal flag fluttering over the ramparts and turned back without a fight.

Chikkadevaraja, having already made the purchase, was not willing to give up so easily. He went into battle with the momentum of his victory over the Mughal forces a few months earlier, in Tumakuru. The hostilities lasted four days.

The Apratima Vira Charitam, a contemporary work written by Tirumalaraya, during the life of Chikkadevaraja, records the result of this battle, ‘Mogalr savari sade badidu, manidar Mogalar, odida Mogalara padeyam, Mogala Maratarganjuva perarayar rayaraltu, avaram jayisirpa Chikadevarayane Rayan.’ (He overcame the Mughal forces.The Mughals were defeated. The Mughal forces fled. Those afraid of the Mughals and Marathas are not kings. Chikkadevaraja who defeated them both is the real king.)

Historian Ravikumar Navalgund explains the significance of the king taking over Bengaluru. “Till that point, Mysuru was one of the petty kingdoms trying to build on the ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire and the Bijapur sultanate. With this victory, the Bengaluru region firmly became part of Mysore and even today is considered part of the ‘Old Mysore’ region. Mysuru, for the first time fought and defeated the Mughals, making them recognise Mysore Kingdom as a force to reckon with. From this point onwards, the kingdom continued to expand for nearly 100 years,” he says.

On July 14, 1687 Kasim Khan concluded an agreement with the king, securing for the Mughal’s a transit through Benglauru to Sira, in Tumakuru, where the Mughals established their regional government.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Spectrum> Spectrum Top Stories / by S Shyam Prasad / July 11th, 2020

Deepthi Anjanachar: The Class XII topper with big dreams from a family of dropouts

Education, Records, All

After sharing the fourth position in the science stream with three other students in the IIPUC exams by scoring 593 marks out of 600, Deepthi is now determined to become a scientist.

Deepthi TMK with her mother. (Photo | EPS)
Deepthi TMK with her mother. (Photo | EPS)

Tumakuru :

Deepthi Anjanachar is soft spoken to the point of being inconspicuous at times. But beneath it all is a steely determination to excel.

Nobody in her family including her brother has studied beyond class XII. Deepthi, though, is dreaming big.

After sharing the fourth position in the science stream with three other students in the IIPUC exams by scoring 593 marks out of 600, she is now determined to become a scientist.

“Since I had no one to inspire me in particular, I had to inspire myself,” she asserted.

Neither her father, a class IX dropout, nor her mother passed SSLC. Her older brother dropped out of school after failing in II PUC.

Deepthi’s achievement comes even as her father Anjanachar, who has been working in a garage, has been laid low by gangrene brought on by uncontrolled diabetes. He is recuperating at Sri Siddhartha Medical College.

Her mother Jayalaksmi TV, a homemaker, on Tuesday accompanied the proud girl with sweets to meet the Vidhaynidhi Independent PU college’s secretary Pradeep Kumar as the latter had helped them.

“Alongside her father, in the hospital, she had been attending the online classes to crack the NEET and CET with great determination,” remarked Dr Devipriya, her biology teacher.

Deepthi scored cent per in Biology, Physics, and Chemistry, and 98 in Mathematics. In Kannada, she scored 99 and 96 in her second language English.

She not only wants to become a doctor but also wants to research and discover drugs for life-threatening ailments.

Her proud brother Abhishek, who works with a private company told The New Indian Express , that his younger sister has been fulfilling the dreams of the entire family and he sees her continuing to do so.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Express News Service / July 14th, 2020

With 10,100 beds, BIEC centre will be India’s biggest Covid-19 facility

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion
The Covid Care Centre at the sprawling Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) campus on Tumakuru Road. DH PHOTO/B H SHIVAKUMAR r
The Covid Care Centre at the sprawling Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) campus on Tumakuru Road. DH PHOTO/B H SHIVAKUMAR

The BBMP is preparing to open a massive Covid Care Centre (CCC) on the sprawling Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) campus on Tumakuru Road to combat the spiralling coronavirus cases.

Civic officials said the 10,100-bedded facility will be the country’s largest. New Delhi’s Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre currently holds the honour of being the world’s largest Covid care facility with 10,000 beds. The BIEC facility will accommodate asymptomatic Covid-19 patients or those with mild symptoms.

Initially, the BBMP planned to arrange 5,000 to 7,000 beds in BIEC’s five halls with two-metre distance between the beds. “But the latest standard operating procedure released by the Centre says one-metre distance between the beds is sufficient. So, we scaled up the capacity to 10,100 beds across five halls,” explained Sarfaraz Khan, joint commissioner (SWM), BBMP.

BBMP commissioner B H Anil Kumar said the centre is well-ventilated with enough toilets, nursing stations, kitchens, and other facilities necessary to attend to asymptomatic patients.

“We have decided to set up 10-bedded ICUs at every Covid Care Centre,” Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan, who visited the facility, said. “In BIEC alone, a 100-bedded ICU will be set up with all medical facilities, including oxygen supply. By Monday, 7,000 beds will be ready to occupy and the remaining 3,000 beds will be added in a week.”

The civic body has put up LED screens to beam entertainment programmes, especially for children and the elderly to help them overcome boredom. Good quality food has also been organised for patients with separate bins to dispose of the plates.

A bio-medical waste agency has been given the tender to clean the facility. The centre will have separate cabins with 40 beds and televisions sets in each cabin.

“High-tech toilets and washroom facilities have been provided at all the halls. Separate oxygen chambers have also been set up,” K Narasimhamurthy, joint commissioner, Dasarahalli Zone, explained.

Narayan said patients will be diverted to BIEC by the end of the week. “All medical staff have been relieved from their non-medical duty and directed to these clinical services. Additional trained staffers will also be deployed at these Covid centres. If there are any more complaints about the quality of food, the suppliers will lose the contract without notice,” the deputy chief minister cautioned.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / DHNS / July 06th, 2020

Building a safe haven

Business & Economy, Records, All

When their property in Banaswadi turned vacant after their tenant left, brothers Sandeep, Sachin and Ashish Jain tried to turn adversity into opportunity.

(From left) Ashish Jain, Sachin Jain and Sandeep Jain
(From left) Ashish Jain, Sachin Jain and Sandeep Jain

Bengaluru :

When their property in Banaswadi turned vacant after their tenant left, brothers Sandeep, Sachin and Ashish Jain tried to turn adversity into opportunity. They decided to help those struggling to find places to quarantine themselves. “Initially, there was a lot of confusion. People who couldn’t quarantine at home were having trouble finding a place. And we found that we had vacant rooms. We gave it out to those in need,” says Sandeep. The brothers run Global Wings Group, a multi-diversified business.

Now hosting doctors, nurses, and paramedics from government hospitals, the brothers have been working to help people with quarantining. “During the lockdown phase, most of the hotels were shut and there was no staff. We had to activate the properties in short notice. We used to get calls at odd hours and we had to take care of safety, security and hygienic food. Our team was placed at the airport too to coordinate with officials for quarantining,” says Sandeep.

Amid the crisis were also challenges, in terms of keeping the rooms clean or serving food. Sandeep, whose team was also serving meals to the needy at their restaurant Desi Masala, says, “Several of our workforce returned to their hometowns, so we had to manage with the staff we had.”  A stable back end machinery was put in place in association with BBMP. “We are working to help healthcare workers, police personnel, primary and secondary contacts and migrants from other cities. This also entailed ensuring timely meals. Whatever the challenge we faced, our goal was to pull this off,” says Sandeep, who is now partnering with over 20 local hotels to help people find places to quarantine.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / July 19th, 2020