Divine intervention: Lord Ganesha campaigns for road safety in Bengaluru

Bengaluru Police has solicited the assistance of Lord Ganesha to help spread awareness about road safety in the IT city. Earlier this week, a man dressed as Ganesha was seen at a busy intersection holding a placard that read: “Protect your head, or end of dead (sic).” Ganesha happened to be the second religious figure after Hindu god of death Yamraj to work with the Bengaluru Police. A theatre actor dressed up as Yamraj had joined police personnel on an earlier occasion to explain to commuters that if they broke traffic rules, they could meet with a fatal accident. He had also distributed roses among traffic rule violators while explaining to them that violation would invite legal trouble.

Batting for hockey

Preparations to host the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup are in full swing in Odisha. The state government is working on a discussion platform, Hockey Adda, which will be held in several Indian cities, to promote the tournament to be held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from November 28. There are plans to install specially-designed sculptures of hockey sticks in Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Bhopal, Rourkela and Imphal. There will be two permanent installations at the World Cup venue as well. Light duty buses decked in the hockey theme would be despatched to Jalandhar, Lucknow, Ranchi, New Delhi and Chennai. Earlier this week, the state government kick-started a digital campaign, Heartbeats for Hockey, aimed to woo people with music, entertainment, fashion, sports and panel discussions. Starring players from the national team, the tagline of the campaign goes, “My heart beats for hockey, does yours?”

Ask Motabhai

When the BSE introduced Motabhai, an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot to help visitors navigate its website and offer on-demand data and information, it joined a growing tribe of corporations that are deploying chatbots to assist users. Though not as cutting-edge as its contemporaries on applications such as Facebook’s Messenger, the name and the icon seem to have hit the right notes. “Love that the chatbot is called Motabhai. For us, Motabhai is someone we look forward to for advice. However, I am not sure if we can say that for BSE’s Motabhai. Maybe, it needs to be further refined,” said a Gujarati broker. Motabhai is a common Gujarati term used to address an elder brother.