Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
2018
`100
HA!
REALLY DUMB
CRIMINALS
FAIL TO JAIL:
Funny Tales of Bungling Bandits
PAGE 56
Classic Read
78 ADVICE TO A BOY LONELY
IN MONTRÉAL 122 TERROR ON THE ROAD
A father writes to his millennial Shot during an armed robbery in
son trying to find his way in a Honduras, it was up to his family
big city. C. Y. GOPINATH to save his life. JIM HUCHISON
P. | 64
T I TAS PA N DA
Dreamers
18 The Festival Of Giving
DaanUtsav celebrates 10 years
this month. ABHA SRIVASTAVA
In My Opinion
28 Will the Spirit of Alma-Ata
Come Alive in Astana?
Fingers crossed for the fate of
READER FAVOURITES
health care at the WHO conclave.
DR K. SRINATH REDDY
12 Humour in Uniform
22 Life’s Like That Words Of Lasting Interest
36 Points to Ponder 32 Fight for a World of Reason
53 It Happens Only in India The iconic speech from the
76 Laughter, the Best Medicine 1940 film The Great Dictator.
151 As Kids See It SIR CHARLES CHAPLIN
152 Sudoku
Finish This Sentence
154 Laugh Lines
38 “The one thing I would
155 Brain Teasers
never give up for my TOP LE FT: A L A M Y, LE F T: I N D I A P I C T U R E
REGULAR FEATURES
10 Dear Reader
14 Over to You
34 Good News P. | 38
46 News from the World of Medicine
163 Studio
164 Quotable Quotes
Æ
4 | OCTOBER 2018 | READER’S DIGEST
Vol. 59 | No. 10
OCTOBER 2018
WHO KNEW?
Me & My Shelf
159 Tishani Doshi’s perennials
Entertainment
161 Our Top Picks of the Month
P. | 48
P. | 161
ART OF LIVING
Health
44 The Importance of Iron Total number of pages in this issue of
Food
48 Frozen Food Myths
M A R I S SA L A L I B E R T E
Travel
50 5 Reasons To Visit
New Zealand S H E I L A KU M A R
Home
54 A Checklist For New Homes COVER IMAGES: ALAMY, INDIAPICTURE
DIGITAL IMAGING: AMARJEET SINGH NAGI
BUSHRA AHMED COVER DESIGN: SADHANA MOOLCHANDANI
HOW TO REACH US
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people have given us in the form Indira Ganapathy gets this month’s
of praise, affection and genuine ‘Write & Win’ prize of `1,000.—EDs
esteem. In fact, every day and every
relationship teaches us something INSPIRING COMPASSION
about loving, trusting, forgiving, ‘The Transformative Power of Giving’
setting boundaries and taking care is sure to inspire readers to extend
of each other. BEENA MATHUR, P u n e help to deserving people who struggle
The Festival Of
Giving
BY AB HA S R I VASTAVA
Earlier called the Joy of Giving someone who needs your time, exper-
Week, DaanUtsav is the brainchild of a tise or resources positively impacts
small group of volunteers and leaders your sense of self, boosts compassion
from the non-profit sector, who got and sets goals for generosity that soon
together in 2004 and developed become a part of your life.
the idea of a ‘national day of giving’. The festivities are deliberately
Although the concept generated much devoid of a rigid framework, explains
excitement, it was only in 2008 that Krishnan. “There are at least 50 to
serious planning could begin 100 activities that are run by
and the first DaanUtsav various organizations and
came to life in 2009. groups.” These include
“Once the idea was collection drives, dona-
revisited, it simply took tion events, tree-planting,
off and soon expanded painting murals at railway
from a giving day to stations and more. Sara
a giving week,” says Adhikari, founder and
Venkat Krishnan N., trustee of the NGO
one of the volunteers “Hopefully, one Small Change, and a
involved in the initial day, we volunteers DaanUtsav volunteer
stages of the event. since 2013, adds, “We
What began as just will be redundant hope that in the near
an idea among a few because people future, DaanUtsav
like-minded folk, has becomes a part of
today turned into a
won’t need to be the festival calendar
nationwide movement persuaded to give.” in India like Diwali,
with several millions Eid or Christmas—and
raised in funds and we volunteers become
500 volunteers across 200 redundant because people won’t need
Indian cities organizing 1,500 to to be persuaded to give.”
2,000 programmes and activities in “When I was a child, Independence
collaboration with schools, colleges, Day was celebrated in homes and
NGOs, businesses, housing societies schools across the country. I see
and government departments. DaanUtsav there in the next 10 years,”
This year’s event will mark the says Mumbai-based Bharati Dasgupta,
10th anniversary of DaanUtsav. co-founder of the non-profit Catalysts
This festival is unique in that it for Social Action, and a DaanUtsav
shifts focus from the person receiving volunteer for the past three years. The
a gift to the act of giving, and how it 75-year-old retired professional firmly
makes one feel. Reaching out to believes that anyone who joins the
FOODSTUFF
Billion-dollar idea: A smoke detector that shuts off when you yell,
“I’m just cooking!”
@L EM M YW I NK LE R
I wanted to go out tonight, but the avocado I bought this week will
finally be ripe enough to eat between 8 p.m. and 8:15 p.m., so I can’t.
@TANIS H ALOV E
“And if you fall behind on payments, it drives itself back to the dealership.”
THE FIRST REACTION to R. K. Nara- then, you cannot stay inside a tiger
yan’s Tiger for Malgudi, in which the for long.” C. V. VENUGOPAL, B e n g a l u r u
narrator is a tiger, was not compli-
mentary. But all that changed when AS MY WIFE AND I prepared for our
CARTOON BY RON MORGAN
| |
Æ
22 OCTOBER 2018 READER’S DIGEST
L I F E ’ S L I K E T H AT
Department of Wit
Monkey
Business
BY SA M IT B ASU
This moving speech was written for the 1940 film The Great Dictator.
Here, Charlie Chaplin’s character, a Jewish barber thrust into the
position of a lookalike despot, seizes the opportunity to speak out
I’M SORRY, BUT I don’t want need humanity. More than cleverness
to be an emperor. That’s not my busi- we need kindness and gentleness.
ness. I don’t want to rule or conquer Without these qualities, life will be
anyone. I should like to help every- violent and all will be lost …
one, if possible—Jew, Gentile, black The aeroplane and the radio have
man, white. We all want to help one brought us closer together. The very
another. Human beings are like that. nature of these inventions cries out for
We want to live by each other’s happi- the goodness in men, cries out for
ness—not by each other’s misery. We universal brotherhood, for the unity
don’t want to hate and despise one of us all. Even now my voice is
another. In this world there is room reaching millions throughout the
for everyone. And the good earth is world—millions of despairing men,
rich and can provide for everyone. women and little children—victims
The way of life can be free and beauti- of a system that makes men torture
ful, but we have lost the way. and imprison innocent people.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls, To those who can hear me, I say—
has barricaded the world with hate, do not despair. The misery that is
has goose-stepped us into misery now upon us is but the passing of
and bloodshed. We have developed greed, the bitterness of men who
speed, but we have shut ourselves in. fear the way of human progress. The
Machinery that gives abundance has hate of men will pass, and dictators
left us in want. Our knowledge has die, and the power they took from
made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard the people will return to the people.
and unkind. We think too much and And so long as men die, liberty will
feel too little. More than machinery we never perish …
to create happiness! You, the people, The final speech from The Great Dictator.
have the power to make this life free Copyright © Roy Export S.A.S. All rights reserved
Good News
BY MAD HU R I CHOW DHU RY
Everybody’s welcome
EQUALITY Looks like eating
out in India just got a whole
lot more inclusive! After a
transgender individual was
allegedly denied entry into
a mall in Pune, 45 hotels,
restaurants and service com-
panies, including UrbanClap
and the Olive Bar & Kitchen,
have pledged to make all
people feel more welcome, regardless still define as a man and woman
of gender and sexual preference. together. We have started addressing
Keshav Suri, executive director of a couple as a twosome instead,” he
the Lalit Suri Hospitality Group and told Hindustan Times.
one of the petitioners for decrimina- The establishments will make
lizing Section 377 of the Indian Penal various changes such as training their
Code, has been a vocal advocate for staff to provide more inclusive service,
gay rights in India. “It begins with better hiring processes and gender-
a fundamental concept such as not neutral bathrooms wherever possible.
assuming that if two men are checking This is another big step in the right
in together, they have to be provided direction for India and will hopefully
with twin beds; and changing the pave the way for a safer, happier,
concept of a couple, which people more embracing society for all.
Yvo nn e Kemp , leader of a successful project to introduce the normally forest-dwelling wild
European bison on the Dutch coast 80 years after they were hunted to extinction from the continent.
the eight-kilometre trip on foot to and what kind of food Tiljala’s chil-
perform an emergency laparoscopy. dren needed. “With 4,000 students, I
Parking his car at Hadapsar, Pune, was sure we could make a difference,”
at 10 a.m., the doctor walked for four said school principal, Anjana Saha.
Sources: Equality—The Better India, 26.6.18. Space—FirstPost, 23.6.18. Health—The Logical Indian, 18.7.18.
Giving—Dailyhunt, 25.7.17
READER’S DIGEST | OCTOBER 2018 | 35
Points to Ponder
If our parents didn’t love and
understand each other, how are
we to know what love looks
like? … The most precious
inheritance that parents can
give their children is their own
happiness. Our parents may be
able to leave us money, houses
and land, but they may not be
happy people. If we have happy
parents, we have received the
richest inheritance of all.
THICH NHAT HANH,
Buddhist monk and peace activist
… my viewpoint.
PRIYANKA GARHWAL,
… my love for
Jo dhpur
books and
travelling.
SHIVANI SINGH,
Allahab ad
… biryani!
SOURAV BANERJEE,
Bhilai
… my weekly
solo coffee outings: ... healthy eating
I N DI A P I C T U R E
my ‘me time’.
KAVITA RAO, Pune
habits.
AMITA KORGAONKAR KUBAL,
Mumb ai
“You may know it intellectually but alone in this struggle.” While not
not emotionally or spiritually,” Wolfelt many support groups for bereave-
says. “And a big part of mourning is ment exist in India, many hospitals
integrating that loss from your head have therapists and counsellors who
to your heart.” can provide the right support for
These events also provide a context people experiencing grief.
within which to share memories of Whereas the elderly find solace
the departed, validate and gain a sense of
your grief and access a purpose and strength
community that pre- from spiritual or religious
vents you from feeling “You may know it communities, younger
isolated. That assis- intellectually but people have the addi-
tance, says Wolfelt, tional option of exploring
shouldn’t end there. not emotionally. online support groups,
“In what I call a buck- A big part of where people share
up, move-on culture, stories, express feelings
we can’t identify peo-
mourning is with relative anonymity
ple who are grieving,” integrating that and offer encouragement
he says, adding that it’s loss from your and positive messages,
consequently impor- all of which are impor-
tant for them to seek head to your tant steps on the path
ongoing support. heart.” to better emotional
Gurugram-based health, she adds.
psychotherapist For immigrants
Aparna Samuel Balasundaram says, like me, with members of families
“Death is not something you can spread out across many countries,
put a lid on. Many people, especially distance is a complicating factor
young adults, who lack a strong sup- because it isolates us from the
port system, often because they live communities where healing would
in different cities from their home- begin. Grieving without the friends
towns, reach out to me for emotional I’d had in Singapore meant I had to
guidance.” Counsellors can also put take tiny steps alone, and I never
people in touch with others going considered reaching out to a support
through similar trauma. According group or relying on close friends in
to Balasundaram, “The process of Canada who didn’t know Jacob.
talking to and hearing others’ experi- Looking back, I wish I had done
ences makes it easier to acknowledge those things. Finally, after many
and accept one’s own feelings and years, I’m ready to take that leap.
internalize the idea that we are not —WITH INPUTS BY ISHANI NANDI
The
Importance
Of Iron
BY SA M A N TH A R I D EO U T
can use them. Iron supplements are reserve. However, sustained low
another possibility; as their name intake or low absorption can lead to
suggests, they’re intended as an anaemia, which is a lack of healthy
addition to a nutritious diet when red blood cells for carrying oxygen.
necessary, not a substitute for it. The possible symptoms include
There are two main types of fatigue, shortness of breath, a feeling
dietary iron: haem (from meat only) of being cold, headache, irritability,
World of Medicine
How to live longer almond, coconut and rice milks and
Researchers have devised a simple concluded that soya milk offers the
study to test the assumption that a most nutritional value. Why? It con-
healthy lifestyle really adds years to tains a balanced blend of the three
your life. They looked at the lifespan macronutrients—carbs, proteins and
of more than 1,23,000 Americans fats—plus isoflavones, compounds
and then checked to see who had that may help prevent hormone-
stuck with these five daily habits: related cancers by binding with
eating well, exercising regularly, main- oestrogen receptors.
taining a healthy weight, avoiding
smoking and drinking in moderation. A quicker antidepressant
Sure enough, the folks who followed Esketamine, currently used as a
all five lived longer, but even the re- general anaesthetic, could prove to
searchers were astonished by how be a powerful weapon in the fight to
much longer. Women who at age 50 prevent suicide. In a small study,
followed all five healthy habits lived volunteers with severe depression
43 years more on average, compared who used an esketamine nasal spray
with 29 years for women who didn’t reported greater improvements in
follow any of them. Men who main- their symptoms (including feelings of
tained all the habits lived an addi- sadness, difficulty concentrating and
tional 38 years beyond 50, compared suicidal thoughts) just four hours after
with 26 years for those who didn’t. their treatment, compared with those
who used a placebo. This is signifi-
Plant-based milks are cantly faster than the four to six weeks
not all equal it takes for most antidepressants to
Cow’s milk is nutritious for those who take effect. However, no benefits were
can digest it properly, but as many observed after 25 days, suggesting that
as 65 per cent of the world’s adults the spray works for only a short time.
cannot. What about plant-based
milks, which are more widely Charting cancer pain
tolerated? Scientists from McGill During a five-day trial with nearly
University in Montréal, Canada, 2,000 patients in 19 different cancer
compared unsweetened soya, centres, medical staff regularly noted
5 Reasons To Visit
New Zealand
BY S H E ILA KUM AR
the Maori and the new arrivals were Gallipoli Lone Pine, the solitary tree
initially amicable, land disputes soon that survived the battle at Gallipoli,
arose, and so did conlict. However, are planted as WWI memorials. Anzac
earnest eforts have been ongoing Day, 25 April, is observed as a day of
since 1999 for a more inclusive society commemoration for those who died in
and to ensure that the Maori, who the service of their country. One finds
form 14.9 per cent of the population as many young people as older ones
today, are active in all spheres of paying their respects with warmth
New Zealand life and culture. and passion on this day.
Only in India
CALLING CARD
George Clooney’s heist in Ocean’s 11 unfortunately could not be recreated
in rural Bengaluru’s Nelamangala taluk—for reasons that are … well,
embarrassing. Last year, thieves broke into the house of an industrialist in
Arisinakunte village, who was away with his family. They first poisoned the
pet dog, and afterwards, proceeded to loot `3 lakh and 400 grams of gold
jewellery. When the homeowners returned and discovered a trashed home,
they called the cops. A search of the premises led to the discovery of a
mobile phone, which didn’t belong to anyone in the family. Turns out one
of the thieves had forgotten his phone—an inadvertent calling card that is
bound to ruin his promising career!
It was early April and the wild roses The langurs in the oak and rhodo-
were flowering. There were still yellow dendron trees, who would at first go
and blue primroses on the hill slopes, leaping through the branches at my
saxifrage growing in the rocks, and an approach, now watched me with curio-
occasional late-flowering rhododen- sity as they munched the tender green
dron providing a splash of crimson shoots of the oak. The young ones scuf-
against the dark green of the hill. fled and wrestled like boys, while their
I walked down to the stream almost parents groomed each other’s coats,
every day, after two or three hours of stretching themselves out on the sunlit
writing. I had lived in the cities far too hillside. But one evening, as I passed, I
long, and had returned to the hills to heard them chattering in the trees, and
renew myself, to get rid of some of the I was not the cause of their excitement.
surplus flesh that had gathered about As I crossed the stream and began
my waist and to write a novel. climbing the hill, the grunting and
Nearly every morning, and some- chattering increased, as though the
times during the day, I heard the cry of langurs were trying to warn me of some
the barking deer. And in the evening, hidden danger. A shower of pebbles
walking through the forest, I disturbed came rattling down the steep hillside,
parties of khaleej pheasant. The birds and I looked up to see a sinewy orange-
went gliding down the ravine on open, gold leopard poised on a rock about
motionless wings. I saw pine martens 20 feet above me.
and a handsome red fox; I recognized It was not looking towards me, but
the footprints of a bear. had its head thrust attentively forward
As I had not come to take anything in the direction of the ravine. It must
from the jungle, the birds and animals have sensed my presence, though, be-
soon grew accustomed to my face. Or cause slowly it turned its head to look
possibly they recognized my footsteps. down at me. It seemed a little puzzled
After some time, my approach did not at my presence there; when, to give
disturb them. A spotted forktail, which myself courage, I clapped my hands
at first used to fly away, now remained sharply, the leopard sprang away into
perched on a boulder in the middle of the thickets, making no sound as it
the stream while I got across it. The melted into the shadows.
forktail’s plumage blended with the I had disturbed the animal in its
rocks and running water, so that the quest for food. But a little later I heard
bird was difficult to spot at a distance, the cry of a barking deer as it fled
but the white ‘Cross of St Andrew’ through the forest; the hunt was still on.
across its back eventually gave it away, The leopard, like other members
its sharp, creaky call following me up of the cat family, is nearing extinction
the hillside. in India, and I was surprised to find
The stream had at least one other her by surprise, and jumped up like a
regular visitor, the spotted forktail, and jack-in-the-box, in time to see—not the
though it did not fly away at my ap- forktail on her doorstep, but the leopard,
proach, it became restless if I stayed bounding away with a grunt of surprise!
too long, and then it would move from Two urgent springs and it had crossed
boulder to boulder uttering a long, the stream and plunged into the forest.
complaining cry. I spent an afternoon Needless to say, I was as astonished
trying to discover the bird’s nest, which as the leopard, and forgot all about the
I was certain contained her young, be- forktail and her nest. Had the leopard
cause I had seen the parent bird carry- been following me again? I decided
ing grubs in her bill. The problem was against this possibility. Only man-eaters
when the bird flew upstream I had dif- follow humans, and, so far as I knew,
ficulty in following her rapidly enough, there had never been a man-eater in the
as the rocks were sharp and slippery. vicinity of Mussoorie.
Slowly making my way upstream, deco- During the monsoon the stream be-
rated in bracken fronds, I hid myself came a rushing torrent, and the friendly
murmur of the water became a threa- And then the rains were over and it
tening boom. I did not visit too often, was October and I could lie in the sun,
but it was always worthwhile tramping on sweet-smelling grass, and gaze up
through the forest to feast my eyes on through a pattern of oak leaves into
the foliage that sprang up in profusion. a blinding-blue heaven. I thought no
more of the men. I had seen them as
One day I found the remains of a their species Homo sapiens, and not
barking deer, which had been par- as individuals. My attitude to them was
tially eaten. I wondered why the leop- similar to the attitude of the denizens of
ard had not hidden the remains of his the forest. They were men, unpredict-
meal, and decided it must have been able, and to be avoided if possible.
disturbed while eating. Then, climbing On the other side of the ravine rose
the hill, I met a party of shikaris. They Pari Tibba, Hill of the Fairies, a bleak,
asked me if I had seen a leopard. I said I scrub-covered hill, where no one lived.
had not. They said they knew there was It was said, in the previous century
a leopard in the forest. Leopard-skins, Englishmen tried building their houses
they told me, were selling in Delhi at there, but the area attracted lightning.
over a thousand rupees each! Of course After several houses had been struck
there was a ban on the export of skins, down, the settlers had moved on to
but they gave me to understand that the next hill, where the hill station
there were ways and means … now stands. To the hill-men, it is Pari
I thanked them for their information Tibba, haunted by the spirits of a pair
and walked on, feeling uneasy. of ill-fated lovers who perished there in
The shikaris had seen the carcass of a storm; to others it is known as Burnt
the deer, and they had seen the leop- Hill, for its scarred and stunted trees.
ard’s pug marks, and they kept coming One day, I climbed Pari Tibba—a
to the forest. Almost every evening I stiff undertaking, because there was no
heard their guns banging away; for they path to the top and I had to scramble
were ready to fire at almost anything. up a precipitous rock face. But at the
“There’s a leopard about,” they al- top was a plateau with a few pine trees,
ways told me. “You should carry a gun.” their upper branches catching the wind
“I don’t have one,” I said. and humming softly. There I found
There were fewer birds to be seen, the ruins of what must have been the
and even the langurs had moved on. houses of the first settlers—just piles
The red fox did not show itself; the of rubble, now overgrown with weeds,
pine martens, who had become quite sorrel, dandelions and nettles.
bold, now dashed into hiding at my ap- As I walked through the roofless
proach. The smell of one human is like ruins, I was struck by the silence that
the smell of any other. surrounded me, the absence of birds
00
68 || OCTOBER
OCTOBER 2018
2018 || READER’S
READER’S DIGEST
DIGEST
R E A D E R S D I G E S T. C O . I N
and animals, the sense of complete mind. I did not seek physical contact,
desolation. The silence was so abso- or even another glimpse of that beau-
lute that it seemed to be shouting in tiful sinewy body, springing from rock
my ears. But there was something else to rock. It was his trust I wanted, and I
of which I was becoming increasingly think he gave it to me.
aware: the strong feline odour of one of But did the leopard, trusting one
the cat family. man, make the mistake of bestowing
his trust on others? Did I, by casting out
I paused and looked about. I all fear—my own fear, and the leopard’s
was alone. There was no movement protective fear—leave him defenceless?
of dry leaf or loose stone. The ruins Next day, coming up the path from
were for the most part open to the sky. the stream, shouting and beating
Their rotting rafters had collapsed and drums, were the shikaris. They had a
joined together to form a passage like long bamboo pole across their shoul-
the entrance to a mine; this dark cavern ders. Slung from the pole, feet up,
seemed to lead down into the ground. head down, was the lifeless body of the
The smell was stronger when I leopard. It had been shot dead.
approached this spot, so I stopped “We told you there was a leopard!”
again and waited there, wondering they shouted.
if I had discovered the lair of the leo- I walked home through the silent
pard, wondering if the animal was now forest. It was very silent, almost as
at rest after a night’s hunt. Perhaps it though the birds and animals knew
crouched there in the dark, watching that their trust had been violated.
me, recognizing me, knowing me as I remembered the lines of a poem by
the man who walked alone in the forest D. H. Lawrence; as I climbed the steep
without a weapon. I like to think that he and lonely path to my home, the words
was there, that he knew me, and that he beat out their rhythm in my mind:
acknowledged my visit in the friendliest “There was room in the world for a
way: by ignoring me. mountain lion and me.”
Perhaps I had made him confident—
Excerpted from A Time For All Things: Collected
too confident, too careless, too trusting
Essays and Sketches by Ruskin Bond, written
of the human in his midst. I did not over a period of 60 years; published by
venture any further; I was not out of my Speaking Tiger, New Delhi 2017
Lower
Your
Risk for
Breast
Cancer BY L I SA B E NDALL A N D I SHA N I N A N DI
C
URRENTLY, BREAST CANCER IS THE MOST COMMON
cancer among women worldwide. In India, it is the
number one female cancer, occurring at an age-adjusted*
rate as high as 25.8 per 1,00,000 women, according to
the Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology. Equally
concerning is that the mortality rate among breast
cancer patients in India is fairly high—12.7 per 1,00,000 women.
the exercise is moderate or vigorous There are many likely ways physical
(gauged by whether or not you can chat activity protects against breast cancer.
comfortably while engaged in it) and Exercise reduces oestrogen levels in
how long you stay active. postmenopausal women and improves
“The more you exercise, the lower the immune system. If you are active
your risk for breast cancer,” says outdoors, vitamin D exposure from
Dr Jayant Vaidya, MBBS, PhD, breast the sun may even make a difference.
surgeon and professor of surgery and However, further research is needed to
oncology at University College London. understand the impact of different
Studies show that premenopausal kinds of activity on the body’s cells.
women who are the most active cut Along with staying physically
their risk by 17 per cent. But starting active, getting enough sleep is also key
well before you are menopausal has its to preventing cancer. As founder and
obvious advantages. medical director of the Cancer Center
for Healing in Irvine, California, USA,
Leigh Erin Connealy, MD, writes in her
book The Cancer Revolution, insuffi-
THE MORE cient sleep causes you to produce fewer
YOU EXERCISE, THE natural killer cells—the body’s first line
LOWER YOUR RISK of defence against tumour cells—and
FOR BREAST CANCER. prevents the body from clearing out
AIM FOR AT LEAST toxins, which accumulate and become
30 MINUTES EVERY DAY. a potential set-up for cancer.
PREVENTION IN A PILL?
levels, like hot flashes, sleep disruption supervision,” advises Sarin. Ahmed
and vaginal dryness. It involves taking concurs and suggests younger women
supplemental oestrogen by pill or consult a doctor regarding the use
patch, sometimes in combination of hormone-based contraception to
with another hormone, progestin. assess the potential risk of breast cancer.
But experts estimate that HRT ,
which exposes postmenopausal REDUCE ALCOHOL INTAKE
women to increased oestrogen, If you are drinking to your health, think
causes 15 per cent of all new cases again. What you are actually doing
of breast cancer. is raising your risk of seven different
“Deciding whether to take HRT is a cancers, including colorectal and liver
complex decision a woman needs to cancers. Results from a comprehen-
make with a specialist,” says Vaidya. sive study by the American Institute
“ HRT increases the risk for breast for Cancer Research and the World Can-
cancer, but can also make a huge im- cer Research Fund in 2017 reveal that
provement in the quality of life in some drinking a small glass of wine or beer
women with severe menopausal symp- a day (equal to about 10 grams alco-
toms. Each woman needs to carefully hol) increases the risk of breast cancer
consider the pros and cons to make a by five per cent among premenopausal
joint decision with her doctor.” and by nine per cent among post-
Depending on your symptoms, menopausal women. A standard drink
your doctor may suggest local is 14 grams of alcohol.
oestrogen therapy, which uses low- “A lot of women are shocked by that,”
dose vaginal oestrogen, like a cream says Kim. “They want to drink a glass
or ring, and carries a much lower of wine to relax, and they think they
risk because very little oestrogen gets are getting away scot-free.” Alcohol can
into the bloodstream and circulates. increase levels of oestrogen, which, like
“Combined oestrogen/progesterone other hormones, delivers messages
therapy has the greatest risks when that control cell division in the body.
used for longer than three to five Increased lifetime oestrogen exposure
years, so … take it for no longer than is associated with breast cancer.
this time,” says de Azambuja. That’s why getting your first period
“Although HRT is not common in before age 12 and reaching menopause
India, it can help women with severe after 55 are risk factors for the disease.
postmenopausal symptoms. However, Plus, when we metabolize alcohol, it’s
women at a high risk for breast can- converted into a toxic by-product
cer, due to, say, family history of the called acetaldehyde, which can
disease, should choose this with great damage DNA and interfere with our
caution and only under close medical ability to repair it.
a guard, “Can you tell me how old here, and that was 11 years ago.”
the dinosaur bones are?” Source: haha.cafe
Advice to a
Boy Lonely
In Montréal
BY C . Y. G O P INAT H
O
ne day, one of these thinking of your dinner. You raid
days, you’ll come back the fridge but all you find is what
to your hostel room in you put in there. No magic elves are
downtown Montréal, stocking it up any more with juice and
switch on the lights and cheesecake for a late-night snack. You
look down upon the evening lights of sleep late but there’s no one to wake
Sherbrooke Avenue far below — and you up so you don’t miss class. You
you’ll suddenly feel utter loneliness. wake up feeling feverish and ill — but
You’ll wish you were back home— there’s no one to cool your brow.
where winter is a warm season; where Maybe this is what a baby bird feels
everyone is familiar and friendly. like when it is nudged off the branch
You’ll long for your childhood. You’ll by mama and papa because it’s time
ache for your past. for the little one to fly.
I heard it yesterday in your voice Let me prepare you for what’s
and your words when we Skyped. “I coming, because loneliness comes
know this is what I wished for,” you like an illness, with its own symptoms
said. “I wanted to leave home, and go and aches and pains.
to McGill University. But my wishes Here’s what will happen.
have come true, and it’s nothing First, you will feel depressed. I saw
like the pictures.” it on your face when we spoke last
At this very moment there are a week. Your world will lose colour
couple of hundred thousand young and you will yearn to just get on a
men and women like you, sitting in plane back home. That will be partly
their rooms and thinking nearly the because Montréal in November is like
same thoughts. Their dreams came that—grey and gloomy. Everything
true—but now they just want to will seem pointless.
go back home. But because a part of you knows
Here’s a simple truth, son: You’ll that things could not really be as
want to go home for the rest of your meaningless as they feel right now,
life. To a simpler time, a safer, better you may begin reflecting. You’ll
place, where someone else took wonder about God, or religion at
care of everything. But you can never least. When my loneliness as a young
go home again. man in Mumbai became unbearable
Till you start college, you do not I began attending bhajans (religious
know what it is like not to have a rapture music)—swaying, eyes closed,
parent always anticipating your daily with about 200 people. I fell in love
needs. But that disappears overnight, with the mystic Meera’s achingly
with almost no time to prepare. devotional songs to Lord Krishna,
You come home and no one’s been and would sing them in my room
and weep in my solitude. But they did and soon, slowly, art and other pretty
nothing to ease my loneliness. things will start going up on the walls,
So one day, perhaps as your second sills and mantels.
term starts, you’ll That metaphori-
leave God alone cal empty house is the
and start wondering rest of your life, yours
about yourself. You to take and make your
will want to know ver y own. Here are
who you are, and who some ideas from me on
you want to become. how you can make gold
You’ll want answers out of your loneliness:
to the big questions:
Why are you here? MAKE FRIENDS
What is it all about? WITH THE NEW CITY
One day you may The only way to make
start to realize that the past feel like less is
t h e re i s s t i l l o n e As you add things by making the present
person who cares, to an empty house, feel like more. You have
who can and will nine years of memories
do anything for you,
it will transform in Bangkok and two
who will never leave into a warm months of nothing in
you for the rest of home. That Montréal. Make time
your life. You only to explore your city. Be
have to ask. That
metaphorical adventurous. Have fun.
person is you. empty house is Make the city yours
your life, to take through discovery. Find
LONELINESS IS AN lanes and corners no
OPPORTUNITY ...
and make one knows about, and
... It’s like your first your own. search out experiences
days in an empty the guidebooks don’t
h o u s e w h e re y o u tell you.
will live for many years to come. As Away from home, I would drive
you start adding things to make it around the different quarters of
cozier and more liveable, it will start Mumbai, through ancient lanes and
blossoming from mere walls and past gracious buildings centuries old.
a roof into a warm home that is This was how I stumbled upon the
uniquely yours. The necessities will Portuguese quarter, and also an
come in first—the kitchen will grow, alley I christened Literacy Lane. It was
your workspace will take shape— a brightly lit, hush-silent lane filled
GLOBAL
A
SERIES OF fast-mov- embodied in the Paris agreement
ing global mega- is going to be critical.”
trends, spurred
by trillion-dollar METHANE:
investments, indi- Getting to the meat
cates that humanity C a r b o n d i o x i d e f ro m b u r n i n g
might be able to avert the worst impacts fossil fuels is the main greenhouse
of global warming. From trends already gas, but methane and nitrous oxide
multinational giants Danone and Nestlé. the Good Food Institute. Plant-
The Chinese government in 2017 put based meat and dairy produce are
US$300 million [`2,000 crores] into not only environmentally friendly
Israeli companies producing lab-grown but also healthier and avoid animal
meat, which could also cut emissions. welfare concerns, but she says these
New plant-based products, from benefits alone will not make them mass-
chicken to fish to cheese, are com- market : “We believe the products
ing out every month. “We are in the themselves need to be competitive on
nascent stage,” says Alison Rabschnuk taste, price and convenience.”
at the US non-profit-making group Plant-based milks—soya, almond,
oat and more—have led the way
and are now about 10 per cent of
“I BELIEVE THAT the US market and a billion-dollar
IN 30 YEARS OR SO business. But in the past year, sales
ALL MEAT WILL of other meat and dairy substitutes
EITHER BE LAB- have climbed eight per cent in the
OR PLANT-BASED.” US with some specific lines, such
RICHARD BRANSON, business magnate as yoghurt, shooting up 55 per cent.
and philanthropist “I think the writing’s on the wall,” says
Alison Rabschnuk.
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard
Branson agrees. “I believe that in
30 years or so we will no longer need
to kill any animals and that all meat
will either be lab- or plant-based.”
RENEWABLE ENERGY:
Time to shine
The most advanced of the megatrends
is the renewable energy revolution.
Production costs for solar panels
and wind turbines have plunged, by
90 per cent in the past decade for
solar, for example, and are continuing
to fall. As a result, in many parts of the
world they are already the cheapest
electricity available and installation is
soaring: Two-thirds of all new power
in 2016 was renewable.
This extraordinary growth has con- choked China, there are now no
founded expectations: The respected provinces where new coal is needed,
International Energy Agency’s (IEA) so the country last year mothballed
annual projections have anticipated plans for 151 plants. Bankruptcies
linear growth for solar power every have torn through the US coal indus-
year for the past decade. In reality, try and in the UK it has fallen from
growth has been exponential. China 40 per cent of power supply to seven
is leading the surge but the impact per cent in the past five years.
is being felt around the world: In “Last year, I said if Asia builds what
Germany one week last November it says it is going to, we can kiss
2017 there was so much wind power goodbye to two degrees Celsius
that customers got free electricity. (the internationally agreed limit for
dangerous climate change),” says
KING COAL: Liebreich. “Now we are showing coal
Dead or dying [plans] coming down.”
The flipside of the renewables boom A second tipping point is needed, he
is the death spiral of coal—the filthi- says. That will occur when renewables
est of fossil fuels. Production appears are cheaper to build than running
to have peaked in 2013. The speed existing coal plants, meaning that the
of its demise has stunned analysts. latter shut down. If cost of renewables
In 2013, the IEA projected that coal continue to fall as expected, this would
demand would grow by 40 per cent happen between 2030 and 2040.
by 2040—now they project a growth
of just one per cent. ELECTRIC CARS:
The cause is simple: Solar and wind In the fast lane
energy are cheaper. But the conse- Slashing oil use—a third of all global
quences are enormous: In pollution- energy—is a huge challenge but a surg-
235 million electric cars will be opera- argues Liebreich, as the metal is not
tive by 2040. ExxonMobil and BP are rare. “You can be sure lithium-ion will
bumping up their forecasts too. Heavy get cheaper and you can be sure there
transport remains a challenge, but even is enough.”
here ships are experimenting with wind It is true, however, that batteries will
power and batteries. Short-haul electric not be the solution for energy storage
aeroplanes are on the drawing board, over weeks or months. For that, the
too. Meanwhile the Global EV Outlook physical links that transfer electricity
(a publication from the International between grids or across borders, are
Energy Agency) reports that, “Between being built and the storage of renewable
nine and 20 million electric cars could electricity as gas is also being explored.
In countries with cool winters, bet- DC, USA, “Climate policy is massively
ter insulation is also needed, particu- underfunding forests—they receive
only about two per cent of global has removed more than 12 billion tons
climate finance.” Furthermore, the of CO2 from the atmosphere—three
US$2.3 billion [`16,000 crore] commit- times the entire EU’s annual emissions,
ted to forests in key deforestation coun- Wolosin says. This action was driven by
tries since 2010 is tiny compared with fears about flooding and food supply.
the funding for the sectors that drive de-
forestation. “Brazil and Indonesia’s gov-
ernments alone invested US$276 billion
[`19 trillion] in agricultural subsidies
W ILL THESE MEGATRENDS move
fast enough to avoid the worst
of climate change? Opinions vary and
in the same time frame, in just the Manchester University’s Kevin Ander-
four key driver commodities: palm oil, son is among the most hawkish. He
soya, beef and timber,” says Franziska says it remains possible for now, but
Haupt, a member of the Climate is pessimistic that the action will be
Focus team, and lead author of the taken. “We have to actively close down
annual New York Declaration on Forests the incumbent fossil-fuel industry.”
Progress Assessment. The LSE ’s Nicholas Stern is cau-
In fact, new research has shown tiously optimistic, saying that what has
that, and Michael Wolosin says, changed in recent years is the realiza-
there are some grounds for hope that tion that green economic growth is the
new forests can be planted. “Achiev- only long-term option.
ing large-scale forestation is not just “I am very confident now we can do
theoretical. A few countries have done this, but the change has to be radical,”
it successfully.” he says. “Will we have the political and
In the past two decades, tree-plant- economic understanding and commit-
ing in China, India and South Korea ment to get there? I hope so.”
COPYRIGHT © GUARDIAN NEWS & MEDIA LTD 2018
BY R O B E R T K I E N E R
I L LUSTR ATI O NS BY M IC H AE L BYE R S
A
Serna had passed every biweekly FTER THREE tours of duty
screening—until the week before. in Afghanistan, countless
Positive. He decided to try to bluff combat missions, two Purple
his way out of trouble. “I never Hearts [a highly respected US military
had a drink, Judge,” he told the decoration] and the memories of way
court. “Honest.” too many “best buddies” losing their
I f Ju d g e O l i v e r a s u s p e c t e d lives, 39-year-old Joe Serna left the
anything, he didn’t let on. Both men army in 2013 after 18 years of service.
were veterans, and Olivera had come By 2016, he was living in Fayetteville
to know and admire Serna as he with his wife and three children and
participated in the court’s programme studying for an accounting degree at
to help vets [war veterans] with nearby Methodist University. But in
drinking and addiction problems. truth, he had never really left the army,
Though their lives had gone in opposite and it certainly had never left him. The
directions since they’d left the military, memories would lie low for a while, like
they were still connected by their a hidden enemy, only to re-emerge in
service. And that was what ate at Serna, a nightmare or a tormenting flashback.
what had brought him back to Olivera’s His wife, Rocio, had learnt the warn-
court a week after his lie. This guy is a ing signs: his cold sweats, the way he
fellow soldier, he told himself. I need to would tense his shoulders or cry out
make this right. So Serna stood before in the night. She was rarely surprised
Olivera and admitted quietly, “I lied.” when he woke her up, thrashing in bed
As beads of perspiration rolled down and whispering, “Bad guy … Bad guys.”
his forehead, he said, this time a bit Sometimes he’d kick and shout, “IED!”
louder, “I lied, Judge. I was drinking.” Then, “No! No!”
S
TILL, HE NEVER gave up the asked him, “Do you trust me?”
fight, and Judge Olivera knew “Yes, sir,” said Serna.
that. On the day when Serna “Then get in my car,” Olivera said.
stood in the courtroom to admit he He drove Serna to nearby Lumber-
had lied about drinking, the judge ton, North Carolina, where he knew
wasn’t angry. He was moved. the local chief of police.
“One of the main aims of the Veter- An hour later, Joe Serna, dressed in a
ans Treatment Court is to build trust jail-issued orange jumpsuit, walked into
and relationships with the veterans a ten-by-seven-foot one-person cell in
who appear before us,” Olivera says. the Robeson County Detention Cen-
“We are one big team—we are all ter. As the heavy steel door slammed
veterans—and when one of us screws behind him, Serna sat on the hard steel
up, the rest of the team says, ‘You have cot. He felt his shoulders tightening, his
to square yourself away.’” heart beating faster. He tried to fight the
He listened familiar feeling of
to Serna’s con- We are ONE BIG TEAM dread, but as his
fession that day
and when one of us screws body tensed, the
and decided on g u n m e t a l - g re y
the punishment: up, the rest of the team says, walls began to
one night in the ‘You have to SQUARE close in on him.
Cumberland YOURSELF away.’ He knew he
County jail. would soon be
The next after- flashing back to
noon, Olivera got a text telling him, that armoured truck, feeling help-
“ FYI , Joe Serna is reporting to jail less as the water rose up to his chin,
today.” Olivera crossed the street reliving the horror of that night. His
to wish Serna luck. He found him mind was racing. How do I get out of
highly agitated, his white T-shirt here? he thought. There is no way out!
soaked with sweat. Then the door jangled as the jailer
“You OK?” asked Olivera. unlocked it. Standing in the open
Serna, his eyes locked on the doorway was Judge Olivera, carrying
floor, mumbled an answer. Suddenly two dinner trays.
Olivera remembered the story of “OK , Joe, are you ready?”
Serna’s truck rollover and the linger- Olivera asked.
ing claustrophobia it had caused. The “Where are we going?” asked Serna.
judge asked the jailer whether he had “We aren’t going anywhere,” Olivera
an open cell, one with bars instead of said. “We are staying here.”
cinder blocks and a door. He didn’t. Serna was confused. But a few
The judge turned to Serna and minutes later, after the jailer brought
A
comrade in arms. Olivera’s compas- FTER GRADUATING FROM
sion nearly drove Serna to tears. But Me t h o d i s t U n i v e r s i t y i n
he managed to regain his composure May, Serna plans to move to
enough to beg Olivera to take the cot California with his wife and their chil-
and let him sleep on the floor. dren, Matthew, Efrain and Andrea, to
“Judge, I can’t give you the floor,” run his father’s construction company.
he said. (Matthew is named after the man
“Call me Lou, Joe. And I have slept who saved Serna’s life: Sgt James
on the floor before. In fact, you and I Matthew Treber.)
have slept in worse places.” For his part, Judge Olivera insists
They traded war stories as they that any veteran would have reacted
tucked into jail-issued meat loaf and to Serna’s plight just as he did. He is
mashed potatoes. “Nasty stuff, isn’t fond of telling a story he once read
it?” joked Olivera, cutting the tension about a veteran who was suffering
in the cell. Serna told the judge about from PTSD: “The veteran was in a deep
the day he was almost blown to bits hole. First his family threw down a
by the Afghan suicide bomber, and rope, but he wouldn’t come out. Then
he found himself actually laughing his therapist threw down a rope, but
as he described the ping he’d heard again he didn’t come out. Then his
when the grenade pin had hit the floor. minister, with the same result. Finally,
Olivera laughed, too, sharing in a a second veteran came by, and he,
shade of black humour only a fellow too, threw down a rope. But this time,
veteran would understand. he climbed into the hole with the
The two talked for hours about first vet. ‘What are you doing down
their service, their families and their here with me?’ the vet with PTSD
hopes for the future. At around one asked. The second vet answered,
in the morning, Olivera heard Serna’s ‘I’m here to climb out with you’.”
breathing get deeper, and he even- “I’ve never forgotten that story, and
tually began to snore. He will be OK I know that there are many veterans
now, the judge said to himself as he who would have done the same. These
rolled up his shirt into a makeshift are our brothers. We never leave each
pillow. He’ll be fine. other behind.”
T
HE RAIN COMES DOWN steady and hard. Jason Storie hears
it but is not worried as he prepares for a day of caving
with five friends in a remote spot about 129 km north-west
of his home in Duncan, on Canada’s Vancouver Island.
A
for it. It’s 10 a.m. They pull the door B OU T 45 minutes in, Adam
open and climb 30 feet down a rickety announces he can’t go any
aluminium ladder into the black, each farther; his back, injured a few
anchored with carabiners to a rope. weeks earlier, is twinging. The constant
The last one in locks the door behind hunching over has taken its toll. Matt
him and ties the key to the bottom of escorts him to the entrance to let him
P RE V I O U S S P R E A D A N D T H I S PAGE : ANDR E W M UNOZ
the ladder. It is damp and chilly, about out. He closes and locks it again, and
five degrees Celsius. With their way then rejoins his four waiting friends.
illuminated by headlamps, they walk For the next 90 minutes, they are ex-
down a narrow passage studded with plorers, taking their time as they crawl,
jagged boulders. The silence is broken stride and slide through the cave’s two
by a drip-drip-drip from above. Soon very different environments: either
the drip turns into a light but steady pipelike passages barely big enough
flow, and they are wading in water up to fit a grown man or chambers that
to their ankles, then to their shins. are like the nave of a church, big but
“Everyone OK?” Andrew, the de facto not overwhelming. Wherever they go,
leader of the group, calls out. they try to stay within a 100 feet from
“Yeah,” comes the reply. the first person to the last, congre-
“Yup.” gating in the chambers between the
“Me too.” more challenging crawls and climbs.
Entrance
50 feet Theatre
Room
100 feet
The Tight
Squeeze
(20 feet long)
150 feet
Bastard’s
Crawl
Cascade,
200 feet about
1.6 km long in Where Jason
total, twists got stuck
and turns for
Andrew (in front) and another
Jason recreating their Double
400 metres.
16-hour ordeal at the base Trouble
250 feet of Bastard’s Crawl
Jason is in awe of his surroundings. stew with rice. After their 20-minute
Andrew once told him, “There are lunch, the five head out again, slid-
over a thousand caves and tunnels on ing and crawling their way down to-
Vancouver Island, and it’s never the wards the cave’s end, less than 400
same.” Cascade is like nothing he’s metres away. But they get only 300
seen before. feet when Zac begins shivering vio-
Soon they approach one of the fea- lently. Although the temperature
tures that make the cave unique: a nar- hasn’t changed, the cold inside a cave
row passage not big enough to stand up can hit unexpectedly. The five decide
in that leads into a short, tight down- to turn back together.
hill. This has a name: Bastard’s Crawl. They start to retrace their route.
Four streams meet here and indeed, First Matt goes, then Arthur, then
the water is flowing more quickly. Jason, Zac and Andrew. The sound of
“Crab-walk!” Andrew calls. rushing water grows louder. There is
Once they emerge from more mud than there was on the way
Ba s t a rd’s C rawl , t h e y
approach the top of a THEY SET UP ROPES TO RAPPEL
waterfall called Double 50 FEET. BOOTS AND GLOVED
T r o u b l e — s o n a m e d HANDS CLAW FOR LEVERAGE.
because a jutting rock
splits the stream in two. They set up down a few hours earlier, and it sticks
their ropes to rappel 50 feet. Boots heavily to their heels. Plus, they are
and gloved hands claw for leverage now climbing up, so it’s taking much
on slippery ledges. The water gushes longer to return than it did to come
I L LU ST R AT I O N BY JOS É DE LA ROSA. AND RE W M U NOZ
on either side of the rock formation, down. “Careful!” one of the cavers up
landing at the bottom in a spray of front yells to those behind.
bubbles. There’s a reason this cave is As it nears 2:15 p.m., the cavers
called Cascade. approach Double Trouble. The sound
As Jason descends, his heart is beat- of the water has turned into a roar.
ing so hard, it feels as if it will jump What had before been a gushing but
out of his chest. You wanted a harder manageable flow is now a churning,
challenge, he thinks. You got it. angry white froth. How could this hap-
pen so quickly? Jason wonders. Is it
A
F E W M I N U T E S beyond run-off from the rain?
Double Trouble, they stop Matt hooks the rope that was left at-
for a quick bite. It’s just tached at the top of Double Trouble to
before 1 p.m., and they’ve been in the his harness and starts hauling himself
cave for three hours. Andrew fires up up. The journey is not long, maybe
the Jetboil to make beef and chicken 50 feet, but it’s tough, precise work:
hoisting one leg to find a tiny, wet It feels like forever. Images of his family
shelf in the rock wall; then a gloved flash before him, like a mental photo
hand; then the other leg. Once he has album he tries to hold on to: Caro-
climbed to the top, he throws the rope line, whom he has been married to for
down and Arthur follows suit, then 16 years and who had warned him to
Jason. At the top, Jason gets on his be careful that morning; Jack, five, who
stomach to pull himself up the incline loves aeroplanes; and three-year-old
of Bastard’s Crawl. The water, deeper Poppy, his princess.
than before, smashes into his face as Zac, having followed Jason up, is
he powers through it. God, it’s cold! now atop Double Trouble. He shouts
Finally emerging through the open- down to Andrew, “Jason’s in trouble!”
ing and into the next tight passage, he Andrew clambers up behind Zac
pauses, puzzled, because it splits into and goes to the bottom of the crawl.
two. He can’t see the two cavers ahead “Head up, Jase,” he yells to his friend.
He can barely see his friend’s
JASON TRIES TO CALL FOR face through all the water.
HELP, BUT INSTEAD HE GASPS Jason is only a couple of
feet away, but he’s in such a
FRANTICALLY FOR AIR. precarious position and in
of him and is nervous about waiting such a tight space, Andrew can’t easily
at the top because there is really only pull him out. “Keep on coming, dude.
room in this spot for one person at a Towards me! Head up!” Jason is flail-
time. I’ll just go back down and ask, ing. “Place your feet against me! Lift
he decides. your butt up and float. C’mon, Jase!”
He carefully crab-walks about Jason’s gloved hands emerge from
15 feet when the streaming water sud- the water, then his wet face. He is
denly sweeps him on to his back, sub- gulping air as if he has hiccups. “My
merging him. He feels the pressure of leg’s caught.” Jason doesn’t recognize
more water building up behind him. his own voice because it comes out so
If he doesn’t get out of the crawl fast, slurred and slow, as if he’d suffered a
the merciless surge of water will pop stroke. He tries to dislodge his boot. It
him out like a champagne cork, over won’t budge.
Double Trouble and on to the rocks “It’s OK, dude,” Andrew says, reach-
below. But he can’t move—his boot is ing into the rushing water and fishing
stuck between two rock shelves. around for the stuck boot. He grasps
Lying on his back with the water something solid. “Is this it?”
rushing over him, he tries to call for “Yeah.”
help, but instead he gasps frantically “Well, we got ourselves in a jam.
for air. It has been about five minutes. OK, we’ll do this together.”
before we try to get out,” he says. “If we and the ceiling, not enough for them
don’t catch up to you in 30 minutes, to keep their heads up to breathe.
notify Search and Rescue.” “It’s too high!” Andrew calls.
Unspoken is Andrew’s fear that “Turn back!”
C
Jason spots a ledge; although the O N S E R V I N G T H E b a t t e r-
wall is at an awkward 45-degree ies in their headlamps,
angle, there is room enough for the they sit mostly in the dark,
two of them. Andrew perches in front which makes them forget what
of Jason to take the brunt of the spray a tight space they are in.
from the water, his legs uncomfortably Jason draws on his theatrical train-
braced against a ledge on the other ing, forcing his breathing to slow
side of the waterfall. down and move through his dia-
The water keeps rising, almost to phragm and up to the tip of his skull.
the ledge, and its sheer force and fury Trying to warm his face, he pulls his
cause a wind to come up. Both men sweatshirt up over his nose. He thinks
know that caves have their own micro- about his family and wonders how
climates, and with nowhere to go, the much life insurance coverage he has.
wind whistles and keens. It is 6 p.m. Andrew silently recites a mantra
They are about 200 feet underground based on a passage from the science
at this point. Zac left them three hours fiction novel Dune: Fear is the mind
RO B C A M P B E L L
ago. They huddle together under a killer. Fear is the little black death that
blanket. The Jetboil is out of fuel. brings total oblivion. I will let the fear
“If we don’t get out of here, our pass through me, and when the fear is
wives will kill us!” Jason says drily. gone, only I will remain.
There is no sign of rescuers. Did the An hour later, the water level has
other three even make it out? Maybe gone down enough that they can
they’re lying on the other side of keep their heads above water and try
Bastard’s Crawl, blocked by water and an escape. Stiff from sitting in one
injured. Or dead. position for 12 hours, they slowly
What the two men don’t know is unfold their bodies. Jason screams
that their friends did make it out. They in pain. A muscle in his groin is
called for help, and at around 9 p.m., strained, but he is determined not to
members of the Ground and Cave let it stop him.
Search and Rescue squads arrived on Getting on all fours and through
the scene and entered the cave. But B a s t a rd ’s C raw l — n o t h i n g e l s e
the water level, as well as its ferocity, matters but that. Still, each time Jason
forced them to retreat. They would moves a leg, he cries out. “You can
have to try again later. do this,” Andrew exhorts. Then they
are through.
T
HE HOURS PASS. Jason and Over the next 90 minutes, they
Andrew don’t dare to move for make their way towards the entrance,
fear of slipping. They doze off, at times in chest-high water. Now, in a
then jerk themselves awake and they passage that is high enough for them
check in with each other ever y to walk upright, Jason sees something
20 minutes or so. flicker in the distance.
“You still with me?” Andrew asks. “Lights! I see lights!” Jason ploughs
“Yup. You still good?” ahead. Soon they hear voices.
“Yup.” “Hey,” they call out. “We’re here!”
Every once in a while, one of them “Andrew? Jason?” It ’s one of
turns on his headlamp to scan the the rescuers.
water level. Around 5 a.m., it seems For the first time since entering the
to be receding. cave, over 20 hours earlier, Jason’s
“Let’s wait for a bit and see,” emotions get to him and tears trickle
Andrew says. down his cheeks. “We made it.”
BY AB HA S RI VASTAVA
Flower
Men
Odhir Gayen sells false ashoka (debdaru)
leaves on the banks of the Hooghly River.
Flowers are so much a part of our lives in India. Above: Dileep Hajra sells
tuberoses (rajnigandha). Opposite, clockwise from top left: Ashok Goldar sells
Madurai jasmine (malli), S. K. Bhagat Chinese hibiscuses (gurhal), Sikanto Pawani
butterfly pea flowers (aparajita), Bacchababu Yadav roses (gulaab).
Opposite page: A vendor named Kulwinder sells orange marigolds (genda). This page, clock-
wise from top left: Sudeep Manna sells tuberose; Ramashish with lotus (kamal); Bablu Shah
sells true jasmine (chameli); Ramdayal Yadav sells bright red cockscombs (mawal).
P HOTO I L LU ST R AT I O N BY K E SHAV KA PI L
The Eamers: (from left to right) Gwen, Wally, Sharleen, Struan and Gil
“I want your guns and money,” meant leaving the other behind.
he growled. As the gunman focused on Wally,
Desperate to get the kids out of the again demanding guns and money,
line of fire, Wally yanked open the rear Sharleen slipped behind the wheel and
door on the driver’s side and ordered the kids quietly climbed back in. Her
(FAMILY PORTRAIT) ©JOHN YANYSHIN/VISIONS WEST
the children out. They stood by the eyes on the rear-view mirror, she prayed
wheel well, the Land Cruiser’s body her husband could talk his way out.
shielding them from the gunman. Suddenly, the robber became more
Wally walked back behind the car and agitated. A man at the truck grabbed
again motioned the robber over. He his bag to leave, not wanting to witness
had a plan. what was going to happen. Go now,
Sharleen! Wally pleaded silently.
IN THEIR 20 YE ARS of marriage, The gunman took three steps back,
Wally and Sharleen had taken many aimed and fired. Wally spun and
adventure trips, and their teamwork dropped to his knees, crying out,
had gotten them out of tight spots in clutching his groin as searing pain
the past. For their time in Honduras, shot through his body.
they had devised a strategy in case Sharleen knew she should speed
they were assaulted: Each would try off, but she couldn’t bring herself to
to get the children to safety, even if it leave the man she loved to die. She
ran back to where he lay sprawled on passenger seat. Another bullet zipped
the ground, one arm on the vehicle’s through Sharleen’s plastic seat belt
bumper and blood seeping from cover, just missing her thigh. Empty
between his legs. cartridge casings spewed over Struan
The gunman had turned his back to as a third slug plowed into the metal
them, waving his pistol and shouting window frame. Then the gunman was
at the other men. He had disabled left behind, still trying to shoot at the
the driver and could take his time. Land Cruiser.
Few women in Honduras drive, and Sharleen skidded around the corner
it didn’t occur to him that Sharleen and shouted, “Is anyone hit?”
would know how. “Nobody,” Gil assured her.
“We’ve got to go,” she urged Wally, The children stared at their father,
dragging him towards the car. With his who was pressing his hand to the
wife supporting him, Wally hopped to widening stain of blood soaking his
the door on his good leg and climbed white shorts. The bullet had glanced
in on top of the kids. off the bone, severing both the femoral
Sharleen got into the driver’s seat artery and vein. Without pressure on
and threw the Land Cruiser into gear. these major blood vessels, Wally would
She willed herself not to look back, bleed to death within minutes.
concentrating on a left-hand bend just “Get pressure on his wound!” Shar-
ahead. If I’m shot, Gil will have to take leen ordered, flooring the accelerator.
over once we’re around that corner, Gil pushed down with both hands on
she thought. top of his father’s. Wally grimaced in
Looking back, Gil saw the robber pain, his eyes rolling back in his head.
whirl at the sound of the revving Months of helping out with their
motor. The man’s face contorted with mother’s first-aid sessions were
rage and he sprinted after the vehicle. paying off. Gwen was about to breathe
He caught up to the open rear window air into her father’s lungs when, to her
and fired wildly. Gil ducked as a bullet relief, his eyes fluttered open.
thudded into the top of the front “Dad’s conscious!” Gwen yelled.
“Okay, press as hard as you can,” WALLY HAD NEVER FELT such pain.
Sharleen urged. Gwen jammed her “Give me something to bite on,” he told
elbow down on top of Gil’s and Wally’s Struan. Rummaging around, Struan
hands, but blood spurted between found Wally’s red address book. As he
their fingers and soon soaked the seat. watched his father bite down hard, he
Sharleen drove as fast as she dared. bent forward and kissed his forehead.
After 10 minutes, she skidded to a “I love you, Daddy. Please don’t die,”
halt at a fork in the road. A wrong he pleaded.
turn would cost Wally his life. Then “I’ll do my best,” Wally said, but he
she spotted a little restaurant with knew he was badly wounded. “Roll
people sitting around. “Which way to down the window and put my good
Juticalpa?” she yelled, aware that the leg out,” he said, hoping that raising
city was the site of the nearest hospital. his right leg would get more blood into
A young man approached. Shocked by his torso. Gil and Gwen struggled to
the sight of Wally and three children lift his leg and brace it on the window
covered in blood, he pointed down the frame. For a few minutes, Wally felt a
left side of the fork. little better, but soon numbness crept
Sharleen took off, wheels spinning. up from his legs into his arms.
YV E S LAC H ANC E
God, we really need you now, she After another 10 minutes of driving,
prayed. There was nothing she could Sharleen flagged down a truck, and a
do for Wally but drive. It was up to the passenger volunteered to guide them
kids to keep their father alive. to the hospital. In Juticalpa, as they
raced down side streets, horn blaring,
people leaping out of the way, Wally
N said weakly, “I don’t think I can last
another five minutes.”
E
LIZ
BE
AL
JUTICALPA
her engine, she pushed the truck to the trip, so Gil and Gwen rode in the
the side of the road and roared past. back with Wally while Sharleen and
Thirty minutes after the shooting, Struan followed in the Land Cruiser.
the family turned through the gates “Whatever you do, keep him
of the small rural hospital. talking,” Sharleen implored her
children. “Don’t let him go into
WA L LY ’ S FA C E WA S A S H E N a s shock.”
two orderlies rushed him into the Before they could take off, however,
emergency room. they learnt that the ambulance was
“ W hat b l o o d t y p e a re y o u ? ” out of fuel. Sharleen paid the $40 to
a d o c t o r a s ke d a s s h e c u t o f f fill the tank. Then, finally, lights
his shorts and started an IV drip flashing, they roared off through the
of saline solution to raise his blood winding countryside towards the
volume. Honduran capital.
“A negative,” he croaked. The external bleeding had slowed
need blankets, water and painkillers!” then began the delicate task of stitching
the children called to their mother. a four-centimetre artificial graft to join
Once they had covered their father the destroyed ends of the artery.
with blankets, the ambulance headed After more than two hours, the
off again. Wally gritted his teeth in surgeon held his breath as he removed
agony, his leg having ballooned to the clamps, then grinned with relief as
twice its normal size. Whenever he blood flowed into Wally’s swollen leg.
felt blackness closing in, he heard his
children’s voices: “You’re okay, Daddy. BY THE NEXT DAY, the patient was
Don’t go unconscious.” stable and his children were allowed
Wally’s head rocked back and forth to see him. They entered Wally’s room
as he mumbled in Spanish, “God, one at a time, and he gripped their
please protect my family.” hands. “Thanks for being there for
“Dad! Dad! Wake up!” Gil shouted. me,” he said.
But Wally felt himself being drawn into Nine days later, a boil appeared on
a peaceful place. He couldn’t think of his buttock. “That’s no boil. That’s
a better way to die, with his family the bullet,” Sharleen declared. It was
around him. Then he remembered removed, and 24 hours later Wally left
where he was. You promised the kids the hospital on crutches.
you’d try, he scolded himself, fighting Wally’s recuperation in Honduras
his way back to consciousness. lasted long enough for Sharleen to
oversee another four first-aid courses.
SIREN BLARING, THE AMBULANCE By February, one month after the
sped through the hilly streets of shooting, he could limp a kilometre,
Tegucigalpa. At 5:30 p.m.—more than and the family drove to the Caribbean
four hours after the shooting—the Bay Islands—sticking to the main
family arrived at the hospital. None of highway—for the holiday they’d missed.
the staff preparing Wally for surgery They returned home to B.C. in March.
could believe he had survived for so The Canadian Embassy reported the
long. He had lost half the blood in crime to the Criminal Investigation
his body. Branch in Juticalpa. Armed with the
“I’ll do my best,” vascular surgeon Eamers’ description of the gunman,
José Carlos Alcerro Diaz told Sharleen, the police conducted an investigation,
“but I don’t know if we can save his but the robber was never caught.
life, much less his leg.” Wally Eamer kept the dented bullet
In the operating room, Alcerro Diaz that nearly killed him as a reminder of
clamped off the bleeding artery and his good fortune.
vein. Both were badly torn. He carefully “You have to be proud of kids who
sutured the damaged ends of the vein, saved your life,” he says, smiling.
Such is Warsaw, a city of exquisite Known as the Phoenix City for rising
food and enduring courtesy. from its ashes after being virtually
For those who return after a annihilated during the Second World
prolonged absence, the city exudes War and ravaged by four decades
a sort of poetry, an art de vivre that of communist dearth, Warsaw still
arises from the past. “Something wavers between withdrawing and
undefinable,” confesses Elizabeth opening itself to the world.
Gdulewicz-Jelen, a sculptor who fled In October, on the eve of my arrival,
the communist regime and settled in the Rosary at the Borders procession
Montréal, Canada, some 40 years ago. brought together demonstrators along
When in Warsaw, Elizabeth likes the country’s borders and at airports,
to linger on the Chopin benches. An seen as gateways, including Warsaw
initiative to mark the 200th anniversary Chopin Airport, less than 20 minutes
of the Polish composer’s birth (1810– from the capital.
1849), the 15 benches across the city Armed with rosaries and holy
play excerpts of Chopin’s works. At images, the faithful reaffirmed
the touch of a button, passers-by can Poland’s Catholicity and the need
listen to marvellous chords of the to protect it from secularization
piano and gaze at the Royal Castle or and Islam. The ruling conservative
the ramparts along the river Vistula. government effectively shut the door
to asylum seekers quite some time ago a sentimental hippie. He believes that
and many observers believe that the freedom is also market freedom and
threat foreigners pose to the nation is the freedom to get rich. But, as he
largely imaginary. explains, the collapse of the Eastern
Poland is in the midst of a major bloc left many in dire straits, and that
crisis. Since 2015, the conservative very gap between rich and poor is
Law and Justice (PiS) party has partially responsible for the problems
stepped up measures to restrict shaking Poland today.
P H OTOS , C LOC KW I S E FR O M TO P LE F T: © P HOTO B LISS /ALAM Y; © T IB OR B OG NAR /G E T T Y; © B AR TEK 7 1 / ISTOC K PHOTO
judicial powers and gag the press. Still, Warsaw remains a welcoming
Week after week, Warsaw is the stage city, openly relieved to have survived
of demonstrations and counter- the cruelty of the 20th century that
demonstrations. A nation divided. ushered madmen Hitler and Stalin
Krzysztof Materna, an opponent of into this world (and Poland).
the regime during the communist era Few vagrants roam the immaculately
and the co-author of a popular 1990s kept streets. Women are elegantly
television series recently resurrected dressed, bookstores are treasure troves
online, sees the current government’s for booklovers, churches are full on
actions as a menace to democracy. Sundays and most young couples have
“The state-inspired patriotism has a stroller in tow.
extremely corrosive effects on society,” Like all the world’s capitals, Warsaw
he tells me. is home to museums that feature
At nearly 70, Materna continues to avant-garde exhibitions, jazz, punk,
condemn the government’s abuse of rock and gay bars. But freedom is not
its power. The play he directed in a always a given.
Warsaw theatre in the autumn of 2017 On the night I happened upon
voiced hostility towards right-thinking a lesbian bar (a one-night affair in
racism and the fossils who manage to a fleeting space), the location was
breathe new life into the dark demons secured by hulking bouncers—
of the past. evidence that this type of event is not
Behind the wheel of his well- without risk.
appointed Audi, Materna is far from Downtown, coffee shops laden with
pastries and stylish restaurants have on erasing all traces of the regime
popped up where locals once queued have embraced a revisionist history
for basic necessities behind the Iron worthy of Cold War-era Stalinism
Curtain. Where there were back-alley itself. Claiming that John Lennon’s
dealings for luxury items, there is ‘Imagine’ is a communist manifesto,
now a genuine urban centre a right-wing city councillor sought to
with financial institutions, glass change the name of the street named
skyscrapers and buzzing shopping in the songwriter’s honour.
malls. The subway stations are like art City of creativity, Warsaw has always
galleries; the cemeteries like public found a way to defy nonsensical
gardens, and the public gardens like autocrats and politicians. “When I
enchanted forests. was in art school in the 1960s, artists
It has been nearly 30 years since tried every trick not to be silenced by
the fall of communism. In many censorship. And, for a long time, it
SUNDAE FUNDAE
T
“There were people there who didn’t HE STORY BEGINS on
know how to swim whatsoever, and 8 July 2017, on Florida’s
they were up to their necks in water, hard-work-and-cold-beer
holding on to other people,” says Bryan panhandle [an unofficial
Ursrey, the father of the two boys. term for the north-western part of
don’t see the boys at first, but they seaward from the shore]. Rips move
hear them. They leap into the water perpendicularly to the shoreline
and easily reach the brothers, who and can quickly exhaust swimmers
are still in fairly shallow water, less who try to fight them. A powerful
than six feet deep. The women reas- one can sweep even the strongest
sure the frightened boys and grab swimmer out to sea; the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- sees the trio of heads popping through
tration in the United States reports the waves. A hulking house framer
that 92 people drowned in rip currents from Georgia, he immediately strides
in 2017. Safety experts warn against into the water despite an unusually
fighting the current and advise that powerful reason not to. A year ago,
anyone trapped in a rip should swim Shaun was caught in a rip current in
parallel to shore until finally exiting its this very spot and narrowly escaped
deadly belt. The women try to do just drowning. He is uncomfortably
that, but no matter which way they try familiar with that feeling of the water
to swim, they find they’re still stuck. lapping about his nose and ears as
Brittany, who has eight-year-old the vacuum-cleaner current pulls the
Stephen, is petite and struggling to sand out from under his feet. Still, he
keep her head above water. Panick- wades out as deep as he dares, up to
ing, she releases the boy and makes a about his chin, until he knows he is at
frantic push for safety. By now, some the brink of no return.
teenagers have heard the commotion. A gaping space of 15 feet still lies
One of the teens, a boy who is tall between him and Tabatha and the
enough to keep his feet on the ocean boys. She is screaming for help, and
floor, dashes into the water, grabs he almost can’t bear to abandon them,
Brittany, and hauls her back to shore. but he knows that if he continues, he’ll
Meanwhile, Tabatha can feel become another victim. He turns
herself being pulled farther out. She is around. “Please don’t leave me,”
treading water, already exhausted and Tabatha pleads to the hulking stranger.
beginning to despair now that she is “I’m fixing to die!” “I’m not leaving,”
trying to save both boys alone. Shaun answers. “I’ll be right back.”
Onshore, Brittany is terrified and
I
hysterical. A man heading back to his T’S ABOUT THIS time that
car stops. “What’s wrong?” asks Shaun Roberta Ursrey, the boys’ mother,
Jernigan. “My wife is drowning!” returns from the bathroom and
Brittany says. Shaun looks out and looks around for her children.
flotation device. They likely came out he broke his hand playing football
to help the boys, but when Roberta on this same beach just a week
tries to talk to them, she runs into a before, he swims hard for the boys.
language barrier. Just beyond them “Don’t come out here!” Roberta says.
is a young man on a surfboard at- “We’re gonna drown.”
tempting to catch waves. Tabatha and He swims to them anyway. “Give
Roberta scream to him for help — me one of the boys,” he tells his
they know that if they can all cling to aunt. Roberta can’t bring herself to
F
O R T U N AT E LY, m o r e h e l p beach all the way out to the struggling
is on the way. Shaun Jerni- swimmers? As long as the farthest
gan, the homebuilder who link stays connected to those whose
almost drowned the year before, feet are still firmly planted in the sand,
has told his daughter to call 911 and they’ll be safe.
returned to the water’s edge. He is Of course, that will require more
s e a rc h i n g f o r a ro p e o r o t h e r links—probably dozens of them.
equipment when he sees a man running Shaun spots Derek and Jessica
t o w a r d s t h e w a t e r. H e t r i e s Simmons, a local married couple
ROBERTA URSREY
to stop him. “Don’t go out there!” in their 20s, on the beach and they
Shaun says. “We’re trying to get start rallying the folks who have been
them out!” But Bryan Ursrey charges watching the drama with passive con-
in anyway. “That’s my family out cern. “Don’t just stand there!” Derek
there!” he says. yells. “There’s got to be some hope left
for humanity in some of you!” ocean floor while holding the boogie
Then the most astonishing thing board over his head.
happens: One by one, link by link, Derek grabs Noah’s board from
total strangers wade into the waves Justin and tells the boy, “Everything is
and grasp one another by the wrists, going to be all right. Just stay on your
determined that no one will die on board.” At one point, Noah falls off,
this beach today. and Justin grabs him by his britches
and puts him back up on the board.
J
ESSICA SIMMONS is petite, As soon as Derek gets Noah to the end
but she’s an unusually strong of the chain where Shaun is, it’s like
swimmer. As her husband, lightning. Shaun starts passing him
Derek, continues to recruit rescu- back. He hears the chain shouting
ers, she grabs two boogie boards ‘Pull! Pull!’ all the way back to the
and swims out past the still-forming beach. It takes only a minute or so for
line to see how she can help. When the chain to ferry him to the beach.
she reaches the end of the chain, Jessica has been helping little
she sees that it is still 20 to 30 feet Stephen make his way over to
shy of the group of swimmers. A tall the chain, which is now some 70
man at the end of the chain says to volunteers strong, and when he
her, “Do you think you could get reaches it, he, too, is whisked ashore.
them close enough to where we Next comes Roberta, who is so
could grab them?” exhausted that she blacks out just as
“Yeah, I can do that,” Jessica says. Jessica helps her connect with the
When she turns around, she sees her chain. The people pass along Rober-
husband swimming just behind her. ta’s limp body, one link to the next,
“I couldn’t leave you out here,” Derek and deposit her on the beach. It will
says. Justin has been trying despe- be five minutes before she wakes up.
rately to get his young cousin over to As it turns out, that was a blessing,
the human chain, in part by plunging considering what’s happening with her
beneath the waves to ‘walk’ over the mother out in the ocean.
B
ARBARA FRANZ, 69, saw her completely exhausted by now, sees a
two grandsons struggling and chance to save Barbara and prays for
swam into the danger zone strength. With a burst of energy, he
right after Justin—despite the fact picks her up and heaves her between
that she’d had two heart attacks in the couple. That’s where she stays
the past two months. Within minutes, until the three of them get her about
the water overwhelmed her. She is still 10 feet from the chain, where there is
out in the water when Roberta and the another boogie board. They manage
boys are conveyed to shore. In fact, to get her up on it.
she doesn’t realize they have been Somehow Justin swims to the end
rescued, and she sinks into of the chain to add a link and ensure
N
O W E VE RYO N E I S ashore the meantime, Bryan finds his foot-
except for Tabatha, who ing and wades in on his own steam.
flounders about 20 feet Everyone, miraculously, has made it.
from the end of the chain, and the
T
boys’ dad, Bryan. Tabatha is beyond HE VAST MAJORIT Y of the
exhausted, beyond despairing. rescuers from that day remain
“Hold on, baby girl,” Bryan tells anonymous : the teen who
her. “I got you.” Again and again helped Brittany ashore, the lanky
he digs the tips of his toes into the young man who swam Tabatha in, the
sand and tosses her forward—and Asian couple. Each deserves to be
again and again, the sea undoes his celebrated—but won’t be. This hum-
feeble progress. Shaun and the oth- bles the Ursreys almost beyond words.
ers in the human chain see what’s “It didn’t matter what colour you
happening, and the shout goes out to were, what age you were,” Bryan says
move the rescue operation down the now. “Everybody stopped what they
beach, closer to where Tabatha has were doing. They got off their phones,
drifted. There is a great scrambling in tablets, whatever, and helped get my
the surf, and a moment later the chain family out of the water.”
reforms, aligned to rescue Tabatha. “Those people on that beach that
A fresh swimmer splashes up to her. day were angels on earth,” says
“Come on—grab my arm,” he says. Roberta. “Whether it’s the first person
Tabatha reaches for him, and he tugs or the last person in that chain, they
her the last few feet over to the chain, were our heroes. Every link was just as
which zips her back to the beach. In important as the other one.”
“We’ve traced the call. It’s coming from INSIDE THE HORSE.”
If I got a horse, I’d name her Grace, just in case I fell from her.
@3S U NZ Z Z
13 Ways Your
Mobile Phone Affects Your
Body And Mind
BY MI C HE L LE CRO U CH
I L LU ST RAT I O N BY S E R GE B LO C H
9 Navigating by consulting a
map and trying to remember it
may be better for your brain than
12 We all know that walking
around town with your face in
your phone can be dangerous, and
passively relying on step-by-step there are studies that underline the
instructions from your phone’s GPS. point. City pedestrians using their
Researchers found that older adults phones looked left and right less
who chose the more active approach often and were more likely to be hit
increased activity in the hippo- by a vehicle, according to a review
campus, a part of the brain impor- of studies on distracted walking in
tant for memory. the Journal of Traffic and Transpor-
tation Engineering. In another small
IN ON THE JOKE
“I’ve been trying to get to sleep, but the monster under my bed snores!”
started licking my arm. Joel looked ME: You can’t buy a good personality.
at him seriously and said, “Norton, EIGHT-YEAR-OLD: Did you check
don’t lick Grandma’s arm. She Amazon? @XPLODINGUNICORN
is wrinkled enough.” THELMA FOX
Reader’s Digest will pay for your funny
anecdote or photo in any of our humour
MY FOUR-YEAR-OLD when I forced sections. Post it to the editorial address,
him to take a bath: “This is why I or email: editor.india@rd.com
7 1 8 5
8 4
4 7 9
9 4 5
2 8 3 1 7
3 2 8
2 1 6
7 9
2 7 4 8
TO SOLVE THIS PUZZLE … SOLUTION
You have to put a number from
5 8 1 4 9 7 6 2 3
6 2 9 3 8 5 7 4 1
1 to 9 in each square so that:
S U DO KU P U ZZ LE R .CO M
3 4 7 6 1 2 5 8 9
was coming
at me wearing
a fitted sheet
that I thought
I’d have to fold.
@PLOCKWOOD65
“I’m not really a big dog person.”
—Lying werewolf
@PATBRENCLASSIC
even diagonally.
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
GET YOUR
NUMBERS 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
STRAIGHT (Easy)
Hidden in the array
1 3 3 1 1 3 3 1 1 3 3 1 1 3 3
is a sequence of 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
seven consecutive
numbers in a straight 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1
line. Can you find it? 2 2 6 2 2 6 2 2 2 2 2 6 2 2 6
7 7 5 5 7 7 5 5 7 7 5 5 7 7 5
2 6 9 5 3 = 48
Brain teasers: Answers
STAR SEARCH WIN OR LOSE GET YOUR NUMBERS
THE REDS. The Blacks tied one STRAIGHT
game, so they won a maximum of
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
two games. They won more than 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
the Blues, so the Blues won 1 3 3 1 1 3 3 1 1 3 3 1 1 3 3
a maximum of one game. Since 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
the Golds lost more often than 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1
2 2 6 2 2 6 2 2 2 2 2 6 2 2 6
the Blues, the Golds must have
7 7 5 5 7 7 5 5 7 7 5 5 7 7 5
lost all three matches. The match
that the Blues won must have
been against the Golds, so they ARITHME-PICK
lost the match against the Reds. 2 x 6 + 9 – 5 x 3 = 48.
Word Power
From aria to zucchini, Italian words add beauty and flavour
to everyday English. Check out how familiar you are with
these Italian loanwords, and then take a gondola ride to the
next page for answers.
BY E M I LY COX AND HE N RY RAT HVO N
Answers
1. fiasco—[B] complete failure. 9. sotto voce—[A] under one’s
Though its premiere was a fiasco, breath. “I always speak sotto voce,”
the theatrical production became the whispered Sophia, “to make sure
smash of the season. people are listening.”
2. al dente—[C] cooked until firm. 10. bravura—[C] display of bril-
I like my noodles al dente, but these liance. The defence lawyer delivered
are practically raw! the closing argument with bravura.
3. incognito—[C] with a concealed 11. amoretto—[B] cherub. Why
identity. The spy travelled incognito, don’t you paint a little amoretto
using an assumed name. above the kissing couple?
4. vendetta—[B] blood feud. 12. forte—[A] loud. In my opinion,
Romeo and Juliet’s love affair was a trombone serenade is too forte to
doomed by their families’ vendetta. be romantic.
5. patina—[C] sheen produced by 13. bruschetta—[A] grilled bread
age. “You can tell this writing desk is appetizer. You can’t order the
an antique by its beautiful patina,” bruschetta and the garlic knots;
Marco explained. you’re supposed to be watching
your carbs!
6. dilettante—[B] dabbler. The
maestro seeks a professional singer, 14. campanile—[A] bell tower.
not some weekend dilettante. The village’s picturesque campanile
has been
7. belvedere—[C]
standing since
structure with a NAME THAT NOODLE
Can you tell rigatoni from buca-
medieval times.
view. From the
domed belvedere, tini? You could if you knew that a 15. brio—[C]
noodle’s name often tells you its
we could watch gusto. After
shape—when you go back to its
Mount Etna Italian-language roots. Rigatoni, just one sip
erupting. from riga or ‘line,’ has grooves; of espresso,
bucatini, from buca or ‘hole,’ is I feel my brio
8. cameo—[A]
hollow. Other varieties include returning.
small role. bow-tie-shaped farfalle (farfalla,
Francesca blew ‘butterfly’), pointed penne
her audition for (penna, ‘quill’), spiralled fusilli VOCABULARY
(fuso, ‘spindle’), and long, thin RATINGS
the lead, but she 9 & below: soloist
spaghetti (spago, ‘string’).
has a cameo as a 10–12: diva
taxi driver. 13–15: virtuoso
Films
Ayushmann Khurrana
plays a blind pianist
embroiled in a murder in
Sriram Raghavan’s much-
anticipated Andhadhun.
The film is inspired by the
1996 thriller Fargo as well
as the television series (From left) Tabu and Khurrana in
based on it. Scheduled for release on Andhadhun; Tom Hardy in Venom;
5 October, the movie also stars Tabu, (below) a still from Namaste England
Radhika Apte and Anil Dhawan.
In Namaste England, Parineeti Venom is the story of a journalist
Chopra is an ambitious young bride (Tom Hardy) who becomes host to
who leaves her husband an alien that gives him superpowers.
(Arjun Kapoor) to follow Directed by Ruben Fleischer,
B OT TOM : I ND IAPIC T U R E
BOOKS
Red Birds (Blooms- nation by inspecting
bury) is a hallucinatory what it means to be
tale about family and a Brahmin, especially
love during war. in the ancient, holy
Stephen Hawking’s city of Varanasi.
final thoughts on the The characters of
universe’s biggest Fatima Bhutto’s The
questions have been Runaways (Penguin
compiled in his post- Random House) come
humous book Brief from disparate back-
An American pilot Answers to the Big grounds but their
crash-lands and takes Questions (Hachette). paths meet in the
Jitish Kallat’s art is often about rethinking the past through the
utterances of the many men who moulded history. For his installation titled
‘Covering Letter’ (2012), he turns to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. A few
weeks before the onset of the Second World War, Gandhi wrote a letter to
Adolf Hitler urging the German chancellor to “prevent a war which may
reduce humanity to the savage state”. Hitler never received the note as it
P H OTO: B . H U E T/ TU T TI
was intercepted by the British authorities. Kallat uses the letter to create an
immersive installation: In a darkened passage, projected on to cascading
fog is the text of Gandhi’s letter. The spectator reads and walks through
this message. The evanescence of the fog is evocative of the fate of this
appeal for peace and of the many who walked into a different kind
of fog in Nazi Germany’s gas chambers.
— BLESSY AUGUSTINE