Good morning, Bengaluru ☀️
Bengaluru has a museum with over 400 preserved human brains - and visitors can touch a real one. “Pick someone’s brain” is apparently a weekend activity here. Keep reading; the city gets stranger.
☕ Bengaluru Trivia
Which Bengaluru market was originally called the New General Market?
Answer at the end.
The Big Bengaluru Update
Your Food Apps May Go Quiet
Image Source - AI
Bengaluru’s hotel and restaurant associations have given Swiggy and Zomato until August 15 to address concerns over commissions, discounts and unexplained deductions.
If the dispute is not resolved, participating restaurants could stop accepting orders through the platforms. The associations are also asking for clearer settlement reports, consent before discounts are applied and compensation when prepared orders are cancelled.
No need to start hoarding idli, guru. But saving the direct numbers of your favourite neighborhood restaurants may finally become useful.
Startup Watch
This Bengaluru Startup Is Teaching AI Biology
Image Source - AI
Bengaluru-based Mandrake Bio has raised ₹16 crore to develop an AI-powered gene-editing platform.
The startup is working on programmable enzymes that could eventually support new solutions in agriculture and medicine. The technology is complex, but the idea is simple: use AI to design better tools for editing genes.
Only in Bengaluru can “What does your startup do?” lead to an answer involving algorithms, enzymes and crops.
Worth the Hype?
Image Source - AI
Mahalakshmi Tiffin Room, Basavanagudi
Older than many of the city’s famous breakfast queues, this 1926 tiffin room is known for sagu masale dose, khali dose and filter coffee.
Upahara Darshini, DVG Road
Walk a little further for shavige bath, crisp dose and quick standing-table energy. No mood lighting, no twelve-page menu - just thindi and move, boss.
Weekend Preview
DND Ft. Swarathma Live in Concert
July 31 | 8:00 PM onwards | DND – The Venue, HSR Layout
Bengaluru’s folk-rock favourites bring Kannada roots, energetic rhythms and a proper Friday-night sing-along.Kisi Ko Batana Mat Ft. Anubhav Singh Bassi
July 31 | 4:30 PM | MLR Convention Centre, Whitefield
Bassi returns with everyday disasters, long stories and the kind of jokes your friend will badly repeat on Monday.The End
August 1 | Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar
A contemporary Hindi play mixing drama, romance and music for your theatre-friend era.Cities as Transformative Agents
August 1 | 11:30 AM–1:00 PM | BIC, Domlur
A free conversation on how cities like Bengaluru can respond to climate and sustainability challenges.
One Hidden Recommendation
Prints Without the Gallery Pretence
Image Source - AI
The Graphic and Digital Print Show at Gallery Time and Space features work by 19 artists across woodcuts, etchings, lithographs, photogravures and digital art. It runs until August 9.
You do not need to understand every artwork. Pick one favourite and invent a confident explanation later.
New to Bengaluru?
Two Plans for Introverts
National Gallery of Modern Art, Vasanthnagar
Walk through the galleries alone or join the guided gallery walk on Saturday at 4:00 PM. Art does not demand small talk bro.
Structure and Light at BIC
July 31–August 3 | 11:00 AM–9:00 PM
An exhibition of architectural photography and film. Easy solo plan, no introductions required and nobody will ask why you came alone.
Your Turn, Bengaluru
Would you order directly from a restaurant if it meant better prices and more money reaching the restaurant?
Reply: DIRECT or APP
See you in the next kaapi. Same city, slightly better plans.
Trivia answer: KR Market