NOVEMBER 2019 `100

GET
TER
SMAR R
U T YOU
ABO
BR A IN
BOOKS SPECIAL

‘Why I Write’
7 WORDSMITHS SHARE WHAT
REALLY INSPIRES THEM

Blue-Collar
Authors
KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

Stranded in
Srinagar

Extraordinary Build
Children! Healthier
6 REMARKABLE CHANGEMAKERS Bones
 CONTENTS
Features 58 86
books special kindness of strangers

32
cover story
‘Why I Write’
What inspires authors to
start, and go on, writing?
Stranded in Srinagar
Stuck in a city lockdown.
by kartik gera

38 WAYS TO GET
compiled by saptak
choudhury
SMARTER ABOUT 90
YOUR BRAIN travel
How to sharpen your 64 Windswept Beauty
mental machinery. drama in real life A visit to the
by tina donvito and The Dog Walker Shetland islands.
jenn sinrich Who Disappeared by nellie hermann
An hour’s stroll turns
42 into a three-day absence.
by katherine laidlaw 98
children’s day special
Extraordinary Children bonus read
Partisan Promise
These six remarkable
youngsters are leading
72 The moving tale of
health a World-War-II hero.
the way to a better world. Help for Brittle Bones
by team rd by marc mcevoy
Osteoporosis needn’t
be a dire diagnosis.
50 by anita bartholomew
with nishi malhotra
books special
Working-Class Writers
They toil hard for a
photograph by subir halder

living but also write

to express themselves.
by v. kumara swamy

50
readersdigest.co.in 3
Reader ’s Digest

11 Dear Reader department of wit

12 Over to You 18 Opening Moves
125 World Wide Weird by anne roumanoff

finish this sentence

Conversations 19 The title of my
autobiography

16
the future of would be ...
16 Press Freedom
by samit basu points to ponder
20 Virat Kohli, Jack Ma, good news
and Greta Thunberg 22 A Helpful
Couple, Rice
for Plastic
and the Nobel
Winner
by v. kumara
26 swamy

Better Living
food
26 The Truth
About Protein
by ishi khosla

health
29 The Perils of
High Blood
Sugar
news from
the world
of medicine
30 Water for
Sleep, Why
Fish is Good
for Diabetes
indiapicture

and Better
Vision to Deter
Alzheimer’s

4 november 2019
Reader ’s Digest

Culturescape review
117 Unmasking
interview with The Family Man
filmmaker by jai arjun singh
shonali bose
110 Drawing on studio
the Personal 118 Shipping in
by anna m. m. vetticad the Hooghly by
rd recommends Samuel Bourne
112 Films, Streaming, Humour by saptak choudhury

Books, Events and me and my shelf

15
Throwback 120 Jeffrey Archer’s
Humour in
Favourite Reads
Uniform
112 24
Life’s Like That
The Genius
57
All in a Day’s Work Section
122 Wish You Were
80
Laughter, the More Creative?
Best Medicine Just Pretend!
by susie neilson
116 126 Brainteasers
Laugh Lines 128 Sudoku
131 129 Word Power
As Kids See It 132 Quotable Quotes

On the Cover
PHOTOGRAPH BY Russ And Reyn
hair and make-up: cindy adams for halley resources

Get Smarter About Your Brain............................................32

‘Why I Write’ ..........................................................................58
Blue-Collar Writers.............................................................. 50
Stranded in Srinagar ............................................................86
Build Healthier Bones ..........................................................72
Extraordinary Children! ..................................................... 42

6 november 2019
 VOL. 60 NO. 11
NOVEMBER 2019
Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie
Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa

editor Sanghamitra Chakraborty IMPACT (ADVERTISING)

group creative editor Nilanjan Das publishing director Manoj Sharma
group photo editor Bandeep Singh associate publisher Anil Fernandes
senior assistant editor Ishani Nandi mumbai: senior gm (west) Jitendra Lad
assistant editor V. Kumara Swamy bengaluru: gm Upendra Singh
consulting editors Pratishtha Dobhal, kolkata: general manager (east) Kaushiky Gangulie
Mohini Mehrotra,
BUSINESS
Saptak Choudhury
group chief marketing officer Vivek Malhotra
editorial coordinator Khushboo Thakur gm, marketing & circulation Ajay Mishra
chief manager, operations G. L. Ravik Kumar
senior art director Sadhana Moolchandani
agm, marketing Kunal Bag
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Reader’s Digest in India is published by: Living Media India Limited (Regd.
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throughout the world. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or part, in English or other languages, is prohibited. Printed and published by Manoj Sharma on be-
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Editor: Sanghamitra Chakraborty (responsible for selection of news).

10 november 2019

DEAR READER
From One
Reader to Another
B
efore I fell in love with my hus-
band, I fell in love with his books.
When I first entered his room
years ago, I immediately knew he
P HOTO GRA P H BY A N A N D GO GO I , HAIR & MA KE - U P BY R OLI KA PR AKAS H ; IN DI API CT U R E
would be my friend. Each wall in the
room was lined with books—there were
piles on every available space. Litera-
ture, art, history, science, philosophy—
you could just get lost among them.
Books received from loved ones, picked
up at second-hand bookstalls, won as
prizes—they were love, pure love.
There was a prop in one corner,
where a sign hung: ‘Pregnancy
Tests Done Here’. Someone had
left it there, I learnt later. The
young man, who lived there,
barely noticed—immersed as
he was, mostly, in reading.
Our home today is full of
books, each of them precious,
of tremendous sentimental
value. Our son’s room is a
more modern haven full
of books and music. I
wonder if some
young lady will
find her way
Reader ’s Digest
into his heart through them.
Books bring us together, help us
survive many odds and make us
smarter. There’s no specific time to
celebrate books and reading, so we
chose this month. Read our stories
‘Why I Write’ (p 58), ‘Working-Class
Writers’ (p 50) and a special Me and
My Shelf from Jeffrey Archer (p 120).
Our cover story ‘Get Smarter about
Your Brain’ (p 32) tells us how to keep
our brains sparkling. And do not miss
the delightful read on Extraordinary
Children (p 42).
In this strange, strife-ridden
world, children—and books—
hold out hope. If you have been
a bit out of touch with books,
there’s really no better time
to start. Start small and
build up your reading habit
once again. You will be a
happier person.
My best wishes to you all.
Sanghamitra Chakraborty
editor
Send an email to
editor.india@rd.com
readersdigest.co.in
readersdigest.co.in 11
67
 and recollect those

OVER TO golden days.

—Ami Kardam Yagnik,

YOU
Notes on the
Vadodara, Gujarat

21 Ways Sugar is
September issue Making you Sick
The cover story on sugar
reveals a harsh reality—
a vast array of extremely
When New Miss Came to Teach Us harmful sugary junk food
and sugar-loaded colas
This was such a heartwarming article. Sadly, are available, quite easily,
in India, teachers are expected to be strict and off the shelf. These silent
stern with the sole aim of ‘getting the work done’. killers are being adver-
Their duty is limited to ‘explaining the lesson’ to the tised with much fanfare.
class. But what the children need is acceptance, an They contain loads and
emotionally secure space to grow, and a spark for loads of processed sugar
learning. So, to quote the author of this story, and selling them is akin
“Perhaps, we must begin with kindness.” to selling poison to the
unsuspecting consumer.
—Jayshree Thatte, Thane
It is the responsibility
Jayshree Thatte gets this month’s ‘Write & Win’ prize of `1,000. —EDs of everyone—manufac-
turers, advertising agen-
This story took me on a excited. When they cies, celebrities endorsing
trip down memory lane. came back I asked such products and, most
Nearly four decades ago, them to make a word, importantly, parents—to
I, too, was a ‘new miss’. using the leaves. spread awareness about
It was never my This moment proved the side effects of these
dream to become a to be a turning point in consumables.
teacher, but here I was, my life. We grew fond of When an epidemic like
assigned to class 1, and each other, so much so polio can be eradicated,
40 tiny kids were staring that by the time the year the right approach and
at me. I was equally ended, my students, and learning can surely ad-
puzzled about what to even their parents, did dress the multiple health
do. So I took them out not want me to leave! risks that arise as a result
to the playground and This amazing bond of high-sugar foods too.
asked them to collect still brings a wonderful —Prem Singh Mehta,
leaves. They were quite feeling today, as I sit New Delhi

12 november 2019
 Reader ’s Digest

My Coma Miracle Act. Surely, there is Kiss Them Goodbye

Every second can make nothing more important It is shameful that chau-
a difference for an in- than saving the life of a vinistic practices, such as
jured person lying help- fellow human being. the tradition of podium
less on the roadside. —Sreema Kasi, girls, have flourished all
Despite this, why do Bengaluru these years and continue
most of us remain reluc- to exist in some sporting
tant to come forward Taking a Stand events still. In an era de-
and help? Instead, we While the anti-bullying fined by gender activism
run away, and in the movement has gained and movements against
odd instance, stay busy momentum across the sexual harassment, this
on our phones or take world, there is still a cer- is a serious setback. It is
selfies to show that we tain stigma attached to time ‘traditions’, where
were present at the this social malaise. The women are treated as
site. As a result, many notion that a bullied commodities, with scant
accident victims do person is somehow regard for their dignity, be
not get immediate help weak and/or oversensi- given up and a message
and meet a tragic end. tive can shatter a per- of equality and justice
Next time, rather than son’s sense of self. There be sent out to the world.
standing as mute spec- is a need to allow indi- —Gaurav Pant,
tators, we must take ap- viduals going through New Delhi
propriate action. Aiding such abuse, the room to
road-accident victims is open up and heal. They Write in at editor.india@
now free from legal or should be seen as survi- rd.com. The best letters
discuss RD articles, offer
procedural hassles with vors and not victims. criticism, share ideas. Do
the recent amendments —Simran Kaur, include your phone number
to the Motor Vehicles New Delhi and postal address.

Good advice from people who have lived experiences can

The Best Advice
add an edge to our own lives. Reader’s Digest has, down the
I Ever Got
years, brought us wisdom and inspiration that are practical
and easily applicable to our lives. Tell us about the most
meaningful advice you’ve ever received and you could
be published in our special feature ‘The Best Advice I
Ever Got’. Send in your entries to editor.india@rd.com by
30 November 2019. All anecdotes should be 150 words
and include your name, location and contact number.

readersdigest.co.in 13
 GET MORE RD
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“In his spare time Milton dabbles in foreign policy.”
you also make me ner-
Humour in
vous when you visit.”
UNIFORM
—Col. Richard A.
Virant (Ret.)
In San Diego to work
A friend paid my with military linguists,
mother a visit. Later, my colleague and I
I spoke with Mom. checked into a hotel
“I was very ner- and ordered a 5 a.m.
vous,” she said. wake-up call. The next
“Why?” I asked. morning, the phone
“Because he’s a cap- didn’t ring until 5:30.
tain in the Air Force.” “You were supposed
“Mother, as you to call us at 5 a.m.!”
know, I, too, am a cap- I admonished the
tain in the Air Force.” desk clerk on the other
“Yes,” she said. “And end of the line. “What
Cartoon by Chris Weyant
Reader ’s Digest
if I had to close a
million-dollar contract
this morning? Your
oversight would have
cost me the deal!”
“Sir,” he said calmly,
“if you had to close
that type of deal, I
doubt you’d be staying
in this type of hotel.”
—Yefim M. Brodd
Reader’s Digest will pay
for your funny anecdote
or photo in any of our hu-
mour sections. Post it to the
editorial address, or email
us at editor.india@rd.com
readersdigest.co.in 15
 CONVERSATIONS

The Future of
Press Freedom
The fourth estate faces a mounting challenge,
yet thrives on the struggle

By Samit Basu

the 2019 global press freedom index
ranks India as 140th among 180 coun-
tries in the world. This is alarming in
itself, and even more so when you con-
sider that press freedom is inextricably
linked with the functioning of demo-
cracy. And India is not alone in this—in
several countries around the world, the
most startling declines in press freedom
have occurred in countries with elected
leaders, mostly using technology and
majoritarian values to stifle dissent,
criticism and information about govern-
ment failures and excesses. The future of
press freedom is not just tied to the
future of journalism, but the future of
democracy itself, both of which are
extremely uncertain at this time.
Journalism has been changing rapidly
over the last two decades with the

16 november 2019

exponential expansion of digital media,
and this is likely to continue. We’ve seen
major upheavals in both the format and
the essential nature of media. The biggest
issue has been one of control—finance
models have been broken, the need to
constantly churn out content and attract
eyeballs has led to a drop in investigative
stories, original research and fact-check-
ing, and in the resultant chaos, advertis-
ers, corporations, politicians, govern-
ments and technological platforms have
placed journalism itself under immense
pressure through ceaseless attempts at
influence, manipulation and censorship.
Simultaneously, there have been con-
certed efforts by authority figures every-
where to erode people’s trust in the
media, both by subversion, proclama-
tions and the menace of fake news—an
industry of deception and distraction
created by political troll factories and
compliant platforms. This is not going to
change with more technology shifts—as
we move from smartphones to smart
scrolls, smart glasses, augmented-, vir-
tual- and mixed-reality journalism and,
eventually, news fed directly to your
brain, the constant struggle of journalists
will be to retain enough freedom, finan-
cially, editorially and physically, to not
turn into propagandists and PR engines.
News automation, which will seek to
replace the journalist entirely, is going to
make this even more complicated.
The upcoming age of near-total sur-
veillance is going to make finding whis-
tleblowers and retaining anonymous
sources even harder, and will also make
Reader ’s Digest
it even easier for the powerful to prevent
news from reaching the public at every
stage of its dissemination. So while the
need for the news media to keep a check
on governments, businesses and reli-
gious authorities gone rogue, will be
greater than ever, finding the resources
to do this will only become more diffi-
cult. Along with these threats, the data
age will provide new opportunities for
journalism, as more things become mea-
surable. We’re already seeing diverse
communities and their interests being
represented in the news, from main-
stream journalism about neglected
groups and niche interests to new voices,
crowdsourced or public journalism. The
demand for good journalism has not
gone away yet, nor is it likely to—but the
speed and flexibility required to adapt to
this demand are already extraordinary.
The future will bring more personaliza-
tion, more cross-media consumption,
more experiences, challenges, points of
view and voices. It will also require more
skills, creativity and empathy.
Ultimately, journalism is not about
technology or finance, but about people.
If people can be tricked into believing
they don’t need a free press, or if algo-
rithm-enabled totalitarianism over-
whelms democracy, or if humankind
somehow loses the fundamental desire
for liberty and choice, the future of press
freedom is indeed bleak. But the free-
dom of the press was never easily won or
handed over; it has ever emerged out of
struggle and evolution, both of which are
absolute inevitabilities in our future.
readersdigest.co.in 17
Reader ’s Digest

whether it’s men or women that

DEPARTMENT OF WIT I really go for.
) My legs are swelling up, I feel so
bloated. I’m always like that after more
than three beers.
) I’m ready to be giving in a relation-
ship … as long as I receive a lot.
) All men are bastards.
) Oh, so you’re only 36? You look older—
much older.
) Are you free on Sunday so that I can
take you to meet my mother?
) I’ve got an uncanny feeling we’ve met
before in a previous life. Don’t tell me
we’ve already slept together!
) My heart is completely faithful
Opening but my body isn’t.
) I’m wondering whether to have garlic

Moves mayonnaise or snails …

By Anne Roumanoff
On a first date, here’s what NOT to say:
) You don’t look at all like your photo
online. You’re a bit older and a good bit
heavier, aren’t you?
) I’ll leave my mobile on, my hubby’s
supposed to call me.
) Let’s share the bill. `1,169 divided by
two. How much is that? Hang on, I’ll get
out my calculator.
) Your double chin is really cute.
Honestly!
) I can’t stand people who make out
) I love getting little presents, just
simple things, like a piece of jewellery,
a cashmere sweater, a bottle of
perfume, a holiday in the sun …
) Isn’t it a bit boring being a
Scientologist?
) I’m just going to take a photo
of us together. It’s for my Facebook
page. I can’t wait to tell my friends
all about you.
) Let me show you a pic of my four
kids. They’re sweet, aren’t they?
) Guess what? You’re the 73rd person
I’ve met through online dating.
) What time do you think we’ll
be finished? I need to let my
wife know when I’ll be home.
indiapicture

they’re looking for love on the internet.

All I want is sex. Anne Roumanoff is a well-known
) I’ve been wondering for a long time French humorist. She lives in Paris.

18 november 2019
 Reader ’s Digest

FINISH THIS SENTENCE

The title of my
autobiography would be …
... The Journey Of A Comma
Amidst Full Stops
ANJALI M. NAIK, E rn akul am , Kera la

... When Procrastination

Met Me
BEDHYA SURANA, Ben ga l ur u
... The Story Of My
Experiments With Lies
AMRUTHA GIRISH, Ko dag u, Kar nat a ka

... Why Did I Eat That?

KHIANGTE MARY LAL, Ai zaw l

... Life Gave

... Hustling Till The End Me Lemons,
RADHIKA, M um b a i But I Lost
Them
ARAVIND K. MENON,
Koc h i , Kerala
I N DI A P I C T U R E

... Open At Your Own Risk!

CELESTY HAKMAUSA, Gu wa ha t i

readersdigest.co.in 19
 POINTS TO PONDER

Humans have a light side and a dark side, and it’s up to

us to choose which way we’re going to live our lives. Even if
you start out on the dark side, it doesn’t mean you have
to continue your journey that way. You always have
time to turn it around.
Taraji P. Henson, actor

Irrespective of whether you have talent or not,

one has to work hard. Just being talented doesn’t mean
anything—you can end up wasting it before
you realize.
Virat Kohli, cricketer

We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right

indiapicture, alamy (2)

now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And
change is coming, whether you like it or not.
Greta Thunberg, environmental activist on climate change

Taraji P. Henson Virat Kohli Greta Thunberg

20 november 2019
 Reader ’s Digest

I’ve learnt that I just need to keep being honest. But

if you’re telling the truth, you’re likely to be frightened
by it. I suppose that’s when I’m most enjoying it.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, actor and playwright

If you don’t give up, you still have a chance.

Giving up is the greatest failure.
Jack Ma, entrepreneur

[…] People were upset. They thought, why is a gay

Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative
Republican President? […] I’m friends with George Bush.
In fact, I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share
the same beliefs that I have. We’re all different, and
I think we’ve forgotten that that’s OK that we’re all
different. [...] Just because I don’t agree with
someone on everything doesn’t mean that I am not
going to be friends with them. When I say, be kind
to one another, I don’t mean only the people that think
the same way you do. I mean, be kind to everyone.
Ellen DeGeneres, comedian and talk-show host
alamy

Jack Ma Ellen DeGeneres

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

readersdigest.co.in 21
 A member of ‘Mana
Peddapuram’ exchanging
rice for plastic
GOODforNEWS
a
Better Planet
BRING PLASTIC, TAKE RICE
environment Mana Peddapuram
(Our Peddapuram), the social media
group comprising youths of Pedda-
puram town in Andhra Pradesh’s East
Godavari district, came up with the
concept of ‘rice-for-plastic’ to encour-
age people to part with their non-bio-
degradable waste. “The slogan was
‘Avoid Plastic—Avoid Hunger’. We
wanted to get rid of plastic and also
feed the hungry,” says Naresh Pe-
direddi of the group. The programme
22 november 2019
was launched on Mahatma Gandhi’s
150th birth anniversary on 2 October.
Within days, the group was able to
heroes: rohit chawla/India today
collect around 400 kgs of plastic and
an equal amount of rice and other
above: naresh pedireddi
eatables were distributed during the
drive. Now they plan to do it every
Sunday.“It has led to people in other
towns of the district to launch such
initiatives,” says Pedireddi. A good
idea, whose time has come, cannot
be stopped.
 Reader ’s Digest

A Park with a Difference

access A trampoline for the wheel-
chair-bound and a basket-like seat on
springs, on which children with low
motor control can sit and bounce:
These are some of the play equipment
at a park in Haryana’s Panchkula. It
was thrown open to the differently-
abled children and others recently.
“The state’s Social Justice and Em-
Sources: Environment—The New Indian Express, 05.10.19, Access—business-standard.com, 01.10.19, Welfare—indiatoday.in, 07.10.19,
HEROES:
Shining Bright
The 2019 Nobel Prize for Econom-
ics was awarded to Abhijit Baner-
jee, Esther Duflo and Michael
Kremer “for their experimental ap-
proach to alleviating global pov-
erty.” Those who know Banerjee
and Duflo and their work have
been expecting the US-based hus-

powerment department approached

band-wife duo to win the Nobel
us and we developed it within two
for some time now. Over the years
months,” says Rommel Rajain, vice
president, corporate social responsi-
bility, Reliance Industries’ Limited.
Let us hope there will be many more
such parks around the country.

Good Samaritan Couple

welfare Last month, Yogesh and

Sumedha Chithade, a Pune-based
couple, travelled to Siachen, consid-
ered to be the world’s highest battle-
ground, to see their dream come true.
Banerjee set up “work laborato-
An oxygen generation plant, they had
ries” in developing countries like
raised the money for, was inaugurated India, Kenya, Morocco, Indonesia
to help the soldiers posted on the gla- and others. The aim is to under-
cier. Sumedha sold her jewellery to stand the reasons for poverty and
make the first contribution. The cou- explore methods to alleviate it.
ple then travelled around Maharashtra Former Nobel Prize winner for
Heroes—The Telegraph, 15.10.19.

to raise the money. They had set
themselves the deadline of 15 October
2019 as the date for the installation, as
the conditions would get worse with
the winter setting in. Their mission
was accomplished well in time.
—COMPILED BY V. KUMARA SWAMY
Economics, Amartya Sen, praised
this Kolkata boy and said that he
was “very very happy and de-
lighted” at Banerjee winning it.
That sums up the sentiments of
most Indians, we say.

readersdigest.co.in 23
 will smile sweetly, nod One day, my physician

LIFE’S
my way, and explain, father treated himself
“We both love me.” to a plate of raw oys-
Like That —Marian Pitcher ters and offered to
share them with me.
jack ziegler/the new yorker collection
My friend took her Just as I was about to
teenage daughter to dig in, he picked up
a new doctor for a an oyster, examined
When people hear that check-up. The nurse it, and commented,
my husband and I just asked the usual ques- “They remind me of
celebrated our 60th tions, including if she infected tonsils.”
wedding anniversary, had an STD. And that’s the story
they inevitably ask us “No,” said the teen. of how he ended up
the secret to our long, “We have a Toyota.” eating the entire plate
successful marriage. In —Barbara Gavlick of oysters himself.
response, my husband Hartnett —Chris Twyeffort

24 november 2019
 Reader ’s Digest

I accidentally threw away my four-year- After my 91-year-

old’s favourite candy wrapper. Please keep old mother finished
having her hair cut
us both in your thoughts during this and shaped, the
difficult time. stylist announced,
— @aknott21 “There, now you look
10 years younger.”
My 80-year-old dad I held a garage sale with My mother, un-
looked hassled. He was my little blonde cairn impressed, replied,
facing a “new problem” terrier for company. “Who wants to look
logging on to his bank Soon came the first cus- 81 years old?”
account, he said. tomer. He took his time —Calvin Unruh
“There’s something browsing and examining
called Captcha. I am able everything I had out for
to enter the characters. sale. Eventually he found
But I don’t know how to something that interes- Reader’s Digest will pay
for your funny anecdote
draw the wavy lines.” ted him. “Excuse me,” or photo in any of our
— SQN LDR (DR.) he said. “How much for humour sections. Post it
Sanjay r. SinvhaL the dog?” to the editorial address, or
(Retd) , Mumbai —Mildred Ross Drum email: editor.india@rd.com

WHO’S A GOOD BOY!

If only we humans could always enjoy our food as much as dogs do. Timing it just
right, photographer Christian Vieler caught these chow hounds in mid snare.
christian vieler ( 3 )

readersdigest.co.in 25
26 november 2019

BETTER LIVING
The Truth About
Protein
Expert advice on how much is good for you
By Ishi Khosla
P
roteins are a large group
of nitrogenous organic
compounds that are essential
constituents of living cells. They
indiapicture
consist of polymers of amino acids,
essential for growth and repair
of tissues, and can be obtained
from meat, eggs, low-fat dairy and
legumes. However, the perception
that too much protein is harmful
is not unfounded. Consuming
a n i m a l p ro t e i n t h ro u g h
meats, poultry and dairy in
excess can lead to increased
levels of cholesterol
and saturated fats. This
further ups your risk of
cardiovascular diseases. So
make sure you consume your
required daily allowance (RDA).
Reader ’s Digest
The Right Amount
There is no change in your daily
protein requirement until you are
60. You can continue consuming
0.75 gm protein per kilo of ideal body
weight. So if you are 40 and your
body weight is 58 kilos, your daily
protein requirement is 43.5 gm. At
60, the level goes up to 1 gm per kilo
body weight. Most Indian diets fail to
provide adequate protein. The salads
and dals we eat daily do provide pro-
tein, but are not consumed in suffi-
cient quantities (see box). However,
protein supplements alone may not
be the answer. Those switching to
a gluten-free, soya-free diet should
include legumes (chickpeas, kidney
beans, peas), lentils, sprouts and
nuts to get adequate protein.
readersdigest.co.in 27
 Reader ’s Digest Better Living

Check for Excess PROTEIN CONTENT OF COMMONLY

An increasing number of people are CONSUMED FOODS
consuming protein shakes or supple-
FOOD PORTION PROTEIN
ments in lieu of regular meals in order SIZE (G/UNIT)
to lose weight. Please understand that
a supplement is just that—a supple- BREADS & CEREALS
ment. It does not have all the benefits Roti 1 3.0
of a regular meal. Besides, a glass of
Poori 1 2.0
protein shake might have as much
as 20 gm of protein—possibly half of Paratha 1 4.0
your daily requirement. And by the Dosa 1 3.1
end of the day, you would have con- Bread 1 large 2.2
sumed more protein than your body slice
actually needs. E xcess
LEGUMES (UNCOOKED DAL-25 G)
protein intake can tilt
the pH balance of your Bengal Gram 25 g 5.2
body, which in turn can (Chana Dal)
lead to biochemical imbal- Black Gram 25 g 6.0
ances, causing hyperacidity and other (Urad Dal)
digestive issues. It can also strain your Green Gram 25 g 6.1
kidneys, increasing the level of uric (Moong Dal)
acid in the blood, leading to joint pain Soya Bean 25 g 10.8
and gout. Excess intake, especially
Chickpea 25 g 6.8
of animal protein, could also leach (Kabuli Chana)
calcium from your bones, leading
to osteoporosis. Rajma 25 g 5.7
A balanced diet with adequate MILK PRODUCTS
servings of legumes, pulses, low-fat Milk 1 cup 8.5
dairy, nuts or animal food should
meet the daily protein needs of Buttermilk 240 ml 2.0
most adults. Yogurt, 1 cup 9.8
low-fat
Ishi Khosla is a clinical nutritionist MEAT, FISH & POULTRY
and founder, theweightmonitor.com
Lamb Chops 90 g 19.2
and Whole Foods India. She is also the
indiapicture

founder president of Celiac Society of Chicken 90 g 21.6

India, Delhi. She recently launched her Fish 90 g 25.5
book Eating at Work, published by
Egg 1 (50 g) 6.6
Simon and Schuster, India.
UPDATED AND ADAPTED FROM PREVENTION INDIA © JULY 2009, LIVING MEDIA INDIA LIMITED.

28 november 2019
 HEALTH
The Perils
of High
Blood Sugar
Here’s why it’s important to take
control of your prediabetes
W
hen you eat, the carbohy-
drates in your food are turned
into glucose (sugar), which
circulates in your bloodstream. Insu-
lin, a hormone that’s produced in your
pancreas, lets your cells absorb the glu-
cose from your blood and use it for the
energy they need to function.
If you have type 2 diabetes, your
body doesn’t respond quite as well to
insulin, so the unused sugar builds up
in your bloodstream. When you have
prediabetes, you’re not fully reacting
to your insulin, but your blood sugar
levels aren’t as high as they would be if
you had full-fledged diabetes.
High blood sugar is dangerous be-
cause it harms your blood vessels by
lowering your level of nitric oxide,
indiapicture
which keeps blood vessels open and
supple. The result is narrowing and
stiffening of blood vessels, which can
UPDATED AND ADAPTED FROM PREVENTION INDIA © JULY 2013, LIVING MEDIA INDIA LIMITED.
lead to high blood pressure, blood ves-
sel damage and may cause heart dis-
ease as well as affect your vision, your
kidneys and your ability to heal. The
damage to your blood vessels starts
well before your blood sugar reaches
the level at which type 2 diabetes is
diagnosed. That’s why doctors are so
keen on recognizing and treating pre-
diabetes early—so you can stop or slow
down problems down the road.
Getting at least 30 minutes of exer-
cise, eating low-cal, high-fibre nu-
tritious foods, cutting down stress,
sleeping well and losing weight is the
key to managing the condition. “Your
doctor will prescribe you medicines
for elevated blood glucose if the levels
are not controlled in spite of adequate
dietary restrictions and exercise,” says
Dr Binayak Sinha, consultant endocri-
nologist at AMRI Hospitals, Kolkata. He
also recommends that people with pre-
diabetes check their sugar levels once
in three months and an HbA1C blood-
sugar test every six months.
—WITH INPUTS FROM KATHAKOLI DASGUPTA
readersdigest.co.in 29
 Exercise
Prevents Falls

Each year, at least a

third of people over
the age of 65 take a
tumble. A meta-ana-
lysis of 108 trials
found that there’s one
factor associated with
notably reduced risk:
physical activity. Peo-
ple who participated
in tai chi fell 19 per
News From the cent less often, while

WORLD OF those who did bal-

ance and functional
MEDICINE exercises (such
as step-ups, chair
rises or standing on
one leg) fell 24 per-
SHORT ON SLEEP? DON’T cent less often. Most
effective of all was
FORGET TO DRINK WATER combining multiple
In a Pennsylvania State University study types of exercise, in-
cluding lifting weights
involving more than 20,000 participants, and balance exer-
people who said they got only six hours of cises; people who did
sleep regularly ran a greater risk of de- that reduced falls by
indiapicture, iren key/shutterstock

hydration than those who got eight hours. 34 per cent.

The reason might lie with a hormone called
vasopressin, which helps regulate the body’s
fluid levels. It’s released in greater quantities
later in the sleep cycle, so people getting less
shut-eye might not have the optimal amount
of it. If you know you’re short on slumber,
make a point of drinking water.

30 november 2019
 Reader ’s Digest

FISH IS GOOD FOR Improving Vision

and Hearing Deters
DIABETES, BUT ONLY Alzheimer’s
IF UNPOLLUTED Researchers at the Uni-
versity of Manchester
Researchers have long been stumped by whether found that treating two
eating fish reduces the risk of developing type 2 common complaints
diabetes. Some studies have shown that it does, of older adults can have
while others have detected no effect the happy side effect of
or concluded that it tends to keeping their brains
increase the risk. sharp. One study
A Chalmers University of followed 2,000
Technology, Sweden study older adults from
may explain the contradictory the English Longi-
results. The study compared tudinal Study of
blood samples and diet ques- Ageing; their rate of
tionnaires from 842 participants, cognitive decline was
half of whom developed type 2 dia- slowed by 50 per cent
betes after about seven years. This following successful cat-
showed that fish consumption as a aract surgery. In another,
whole has no effect on diabetes risk. 2,000 participants in the
Then, using a new data-analysis method, said one U.S. Health and Retire-
of the study authors, “We screened out the effect of ment Study showed a 75
environmental pollutants. We were then able to see per cent slower rate of
that fish itself provides clear protection against cognitive decline after
type 2 diabetes.” they started using hear-
However, participants who ate a lot of fatty fish, ing aids. Experts theorize
such as salmon and herring, also had high levels that the social isolation
of environmental pollutants in their blood. These that often accompanies
fish are the most likely to contain accumulated hearing and vision loss
pollutants such as DDT and PCB, which have both can mean less intellec-
aungkachan/shutterstock

previously been linked to increased risk of type 2 tual stimulation for your
diabetes. The Food Safety and Standards Authority brain. Fixing these issues
of India (FSSAI), the premier agency that sets the allows you to participate
standards for food products in the country, has also in more brain-activating
fixed the limits for pollutants in fish and fisheries pastimes, thus helping
products. The guidelines can be checked on its ward off dementia and
website www.fssai.gov.in. Alzheimer’s.

readersdigest.co.in 31
 COVER STORY

WAYS TO GET
38
SMARTER
ABOUT YOUR
BRAIN
As scientists probe the mysteries
inside our heads, their discoveries
are providing new insights into how we
can all sharpen our mental machinery
By Tina Donvito and Jenn Sinrich

Photographs by Russ and Reyn

32 november 2019
 Reader ’s Digest

Researchers
haven't found any
correlation between
brain size and
intelligence.

readersdigest.co.in 33
Reader ’s Digest Cover Story
THE BASICS
O YOUR BRAIN IS FAT
In fact, your brain is the fattiest organ
in your body, consisting of a minimum
of 60 per cent fat. That’s why a good
balance of omega-3 and omega-6
fatty acids is vital for brain and
overall body health. “Fat stabilizes
the cell walls in the brain and carries,
absorbs and stores fat-soluble vita-
mins in your bloodstream,” explains
Brandon Brock, DCM, a chiropractic
neurologist and the medical director
of Innovative Health and Wellness in
Dallas, USA. “It also reduces inflam-
mation and helps the immune system
function properly.”
O WE CAN GET SMARTER AS WE
GET OLDER
Rawan Tarawneh, MD, an assistant
professor of neurology in the division
of cognitive neurology at Ohio State
University, points out that although
some mental processes decline as
we age, not all do. “Some of our brain
functions—such as short-term me-
mory, processing speed and visuo-
spatial functions—show some decline
with healthy ageing,” she says. “On
the other hand, language functions
tend to remain well preserved as we
get older.” In fact, research from Har-
vard University and the Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology shows
that arithmetic skills don’t peak until
age 50, and vocabulary and cumu-
lative intelligence (all the facts and
knowledge we’ve acquired) peak even
later, into our early 70s.
34 november 2019
O BIGGER ISN’T NECESSARILY BETTER
Comparing the brains of great thin-
kers, writers and mathematicians pos-
thumously hasn’t yielded conclusive
evidence that the size of the brain has
a correlation to intelligence.
O IQ CAN GO UP—OR DOWN
Although the origins of intelligence
are still being researched, it does seem
clear that your IQ, or intelligence quo-
tient, can change throughout your life.
In fact, some experts argue that there’s
no such thing as IQ at all. Instead, ex-
periences and learning, as well as the
testing itself, can change over time.
O INTELLIGENCE MIGHT START WITH
IGNORING DISTRACTIONS
A study from the University of Ro-
chester found that people with higher
IQs were better at detecting the move-
ments of small objects on a screen
but worse at detecting movements of
larger background objects. This may
be because in nature, large movements
such as the wind in the trees are irre-
levant, but the harder-to-see animal
that’s about to pounce is essential. In
our info-laden modern world, the abi-
lity to focus only on what’s important
might give some people an edge.
O THE BRAIN CAN ADAPT
In the same way that someone who
loses both hands can learn to pick
things up with his or her toes, the brain
can ‘recruit’ different parts of itself to
compensate for damaged areas when
needed, a phenomenon known as
brain plasticity. For example, experi-
ments have shown that people who
 IQ can change
throughout your life.
Some experts claim
there’s no such thing
as IQ at all.
were born blind use the visual parts of
their brains for tasks other than seeing.
O A GROWN-UP BODY DOESN’T
ALWAYS HOUSE A MATURE MIND
The prefrontal cortex is responsible
for higher-order thinking: judgment,
problem solving, decision making,
complex planning and impulse
control, Tarawneh says. But that part
of the brain isn’t fully developed until
around age 25.
STRANGE BUT TRUE
O THE BRAIN DEVELOPS BACKWARD
The brain is built from the bottom
up, with simpler neural connections
forming first. It also matures from the
back of the head to the front, with
the prefrontal cortex the last to finish
developing. In the first few years of
life, more than one million new neural
connections form every second.
O OUR BRAINS ARE SHRINKING
Paleoanthropological research proves
our brains are about 10 per cent smaller
than those of Cro-Magnons, who lived
20,000 to 30,000 years ago. Scientists
aren’t entirely sure why. One theory is
that smaller brains are more efficient.
O THE BRAIN FEELS NO PAIN ...
Ever wonder how brain surgeons are
able to perform surgeries on patients
who are awake? Even though the
brain contains layers of coverings and
blood vessels that have pain recep-
tors, the brain itself has zero, says Beth
McQuiston, MD, a neurologist and a
medical director at Abbott Laborato-
ries in Illinois, USA. Patients may still
be given a nerve block and/or a local
anaesthetic during surgery to protect
the surrounding tissue from pain.
O … AND IT’S GREEDY
Your brain may account for only about
two per cent of your body weight, but it
uses approximately 20 per cent of your
body’s oxygen and calorie intake.
OTRUE LOVE LIGHTS YOU UP
Being in love isn’t an abstract emotion.
Your brain knows when it’s happen-
ing. “In people who are romantically
in love, functional MRI brain scans can
show activity where dopamine, the
‘feel-good’ neurotransmitter, is pres-
ent,” says McQuiston.
readersdigest.co.in 35
Reader ’s Digest Cover Story
OYOU CAN—AND SHOULD—TRAIN
YOURSELF TO BE HAPPY
Our brains are predisposed to see the
glass as half-empty. This ‘negativity
bias’ might have helped our ancestors
recognize threats to their survival.
But in today’s world, our brains
benefit from a more positive outlook.
In a small study, participants who
practised being mindful about positive
experiences increased the amount
of grey matter they had in the brain
regions involved in learning, memory
and emotion regulation.
OYOU AND YOUR BESTIES MIGHT
BE ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH
Scientists who scanned a group of
graduate students found that the
brains of close friends responded in
remarkably similar ways as they viewed
a series of short videos: the same ebbs
and swells of attention and distraction,
the same peaking of reward processing
and the same telltale signs of boredom.
OMUSICIANS CAN MIND-MELD TOO
There’s a scientific reason why the
musicians in your favourite bands
blend harmoniously. A team of scien-
tists at the Max Planck Institute for
Human Development in Berlin used
electrodes to record the brainwaves
of 16 pairs of guitarists as they played
the same musical sequence. Even
though the two individuals in each
pair played different parts, their brain-
waves synchronized. “This study sug-
gests that there’s a neural blueprint
for coordinating actions with others,”
explains Brock.
36 november 2019
OTHINKING IS POWERFUL—
LITERALLY
“Neurons in the brain make enough
electricity each day to run a light bulb
[about 20 watts],” Brock reports.
OYOU ARE MORE EFFICIENT THAN
A COMPUTER
A robot with a processor that’s as
intelligent as the human brain would
require at least 10 megawatts to
operate—about 5,00,000 times the
amount of energy the human brain
needs. And the brain works faster than
the world’s greatest computer. “The
information going to your brain from
your arms and legs travels at 241 km
per hour,” says Brock.
O‘BRAIN FREEZE’ IS REAL
When your brain senses a drop of
temperature on your palate, it leaps to
action. “Your brain quickly increases
blood pressure in an effor t to
tell you to slow down to prevent
unwanted changes due to
temperature,” says Brock. It’s that
increased pressure that can make you
feel momentarily uncomfortable.
O... AND SO IS INTUITION
When you think you have a ‘gut fee-
ling’, are you just imagining it? Turns
out, there’s something to it. According
to research, hunches are the result of
our brains’ receiving and processing
information so fast that our conscious
minds don’t even realize it.
OSOME MENTAL DISORDERS MAY
HAVE THE SAME CAUSE
In a study that reviewed the brain
scans of nearly 16,000 people,
Dreams help us process
negative emotions.
If we don't dream,
we are left in a state
of anxiety.

researchers at Stanford University

School of Medicine found a pattern
among psychiatric conditions—
including schizophrenia, depression
and addiction—that previously had
been considered very different.
Patients with those illnesses all
had less grey matter than healthy
individuals in the same three brain
structures. What’s more, the affected OMANY PARTS OF YOUR BRAIN

parts of their brains are all associated
with higher-level executive functions
such as planning, decision making and
resisting counterproductive impulses.
Researchers are now exploring the
possibility that these disorders could
have similar causes—and treatments.
O BRAIN HEALTH MAY START
ARE ‘AWAKE’ DURING SLEEP
“Even when we are sleeping, areas such
as the frontal cortex, which controls our
higher-level thinking and awareness,
and the somatosensory cortex, which
allows us to sense our surroundings,
are active,” says Tarawneh.

IN THE GUT THINGS THAT ARE GOOD

Science is uncovering more and FOR YOUR BRAIN
more information about how the ODREAMS

bacteria in the gut, known as the
microbiome, affect the brain. “Animal
studies indicate that gut bacteria may
affect everything—from mood to our
response to stress,” says fitness expert
and dietician Erin Palinski-Wade. “A
diet rich in prebiotics and probiotics
may help to alter gut health to fight
depression and anxiety.”
Brain activity during dreaming in-
creases to a similar level as when we
are awake, says behavioural sleep the-
rapist Richard Shane, PhD. That may
help you solve problems and boost
your ability to cope with struggles and
stress. A Harvard Medical School study
showed that participants who achieved
REM sleep (when dreaming usually

readersdigest.co.in 37
Reader ’s Digest Cover Story
happens) were better able to detect
positive emotions in other people,
while those who did not were more
sensitive to negative emotions. The
study’s author suggests that dreams
help the brain process negative emo-
tions safely. If we fail to dream, then we
fail to let go of these emotions and are
left in a constant state of anxiety.
OGUM CHEWING
In a 2013 study in the British Journal
of Psychology, researchers had two
groups of people listen to a 30-minute
recording that included a sequence
of numbers. After listening, the par-
ticipants were asked to remember the
sequence. But only one group chewed
gum—and people in that group had
higher accuracy rates and faster reac-
tion times than the non-gum chewers.
The researchers say that chewing gum
increases the flow of oxygen to regions
of the brain responsible for attention.
OSOCIAL INTERACTION
A 2015 review of previously published
research showed that less frequent
social interaction was associated with
a higher incidence of new cases of
dementia. Volunteering, visiting with
friends and family and staying active in
social groups can help keep your brain
healthy as you age.
OVIDEO GAMES
A recent review of research found that
gamers show improvements in the
brain regions involved in attention.
There’s also evidence that playing
video games can increase the size
and efficiency of the regions of the
38 november 2019
brain that control visuospatial skills.
Researchers are even developing
video games that can modify regions
of the brain that control mood—
there’s one video game designed to
treat depression. But be careful—video
games can also be addictive because of
the structural changes they cause in the
brain’s reward system.
OSEX
As if you needed another excuse:
Sex may help your brain think better
as you age. A new study found that
adults ages 50 to 83 who were sexually
active scored better on cognitive tests
than those who weren’t. Sex may also
reduce anxiety and depression and
help you sleep, which benefits brain
health as well.
OVACATION
Studies show that time off helps you
be more productive. “Our brains are
not machines that can work endlessly
without a glitch,” says psychologist
Deborah Serani, author of Depres-
sion in Later Life and a professor at
Adelphi University, New York. Down-
time “allows the regulatory systems of
your brain to chill out,” she says.
OMEDITATION
“Brain-mapping studies show that
meditation reduces anxiety, depression
and stress,” Serani says. “Meditation
also sharpens attention and improves
cognitive functioning.” One study
showed that a long-term meditation
practice can help save your grey mat-
ter from atrophying with age, perhaps
because it stimulates the formation
 Love literally
lights up your brain,
flooding it with the
‘feel-good’ substance
called dopamine.
of synapses or because it reduces the
harmful immune response caused by
chronic stress. Another study found
that meditation could also improve
concentration and memory.
“Ancient knowledge has always told
us that meditation is great for the mind
and now new research is proving it,”
says Dr P. Murali Doraiswamy of Duke
University School of Medicine, one
of the pioneers of scientific studies
on meditation. A large review of the
effects of meditation on the brain,
led by Doraiswamy, concluded that
meditation positively affects multiple
brain processes, including strengthen-
ing brain circuits, slowing down age-
ing and boosting brain-friendly chemi-
cals. “Moreover, it reduces stress and
improves memory, alertness and
attention. It also makes you more em-
pathetic towards your colleagues and
peers,” says Doraiswamy. He also high-
lights a trailblazing study led by The
Chopra Center at Southern California,
where a group of individuals who were
meditating were put through a series of
tests to study the impacts at a cellular
level—the study showed that medita-
tion profoundly changes the expression
of genes and improves many aspects of
mental well-being.
OLAUGHTER
“There’s a long history of research
showing that laughter increases feel-
good hormones dopamine and se-
rotonin,” Serani says. This, in turn,
reduces pain and improves resilience.
OEXERCISE
In one study of adults ages 65 and
older, those who exercised four times
a week cut the risk of dementia in
half, compared with those who either
weren’t active at all or were active
only one day a week. Plus, “exercise at
every age has been shown to improve
memory, concentration, and other
cognitive functions,” says Palinski-
Wade. This appears to be linked to an
increase in circulation, bringing oxy-
gen and nutrients to the brain while
also helping remove waste.
“Exercise does amazing things for
your brain and protects you from
various diseases,” Doraiswamy says.
readersdigest.co.in 39
Reader ’s Digest Cover Story
Researchers at Duke University studied
200 people between the ages of 25 and
50 and found that exercise improved a
person’s decision making. Other stu-
dies show that exercise releases up to
25 different body chemicals, increases
blood supply to the brain and encour-
ages the production of nerve growth
factors. “The latter enables the nerve
cells in the brain to make more con-
nections, making your brain sharper
and work faster,” he adds.
OHEALTHY EATING
A recent study found that older adults
who followed the Mediterranean diet—
rich in vegetables, fruit, wholegrains
and fish—retained more brain cells
than older adults who didn’t follow
the diet. Another study found that
compounds in extra-virgin olive oil,
an important part of the Mediterra-
nean diet, “may reduce brain inflam-
mation as well as prevent the build-up
of plaque and neurofibrillary tangles,
which are suspected to contribute
to the symptoms of Alzheimer’s,”
Palinski-Wade says. In addition, “DHA
and EPA omega-3 fatty acids from
salmon and other fish have been found
to be protective to the brain and con-
tribute to improved memory function
in older adults,” she says.
THINGS THAT ARE BAD
FOR YOUR BRAIN
OSLEEP DEPRIVATION
In repeated studies of participants who
went 24 hours without sleep, “cognitive
functioning and response speed were
40 november 2019
equivalent or worse than if they had a
blood alcohol content of 0.10 per cent
[0.02 per cent higher than the legal
limit for drunk driving],” Shane says.
(The National Institute of Medicine es-
timates that drowsy driving is respon-
sible for nearly 20 per cent of serious
car-crash injuries.) And you don’t need
to be up for 24 hours straight to be im-
paired. Other research has shown that
the cumulative effect of consistently
getting six or fewer hours of sleep can
lead to similar results.
According to Doraiswamy, “For
a long time, it was thought that our
brains rest when we sleep, but research
from the University of Rochester found
that the brain is more active when we
are asleep. They discovered a new sys-
tem in the brain that comes alive when
we are sleeping, called the glymphatic
system. The glymphatic system re-
moves all the by-products of the day’s
activities. When people don’t sleep,
the trash accumulates as proteins that
could lead to future illnesses. We need
an optimal of seven hours of sleep a
day, or else the brain is unable to clear
out trash, increasing your risk for future
cognitive diseases.”
OALCOHOL
It’s not because drinking kills large
numbers of brain cells, as is commonly
believed. Rather, alcohol significantly
diminishes the production of new cells.
A 30-year-long study from the United
Kingdom found that having as few as
two to three drinks per day does long-
term damage to your brainpower.
 The brain can
‘recruit’ different parts
of itself to compensate
for damaged areas
when needed.
OSUGAR
Although your noggin needs glucose
to function, too much has been shown
to have detrimental effects. “In teens,
just one soda per day was associated
with a decline in test scores,” says
Palinski-Wade. Too much sugar may also
accelerate ageing of cells, according to
Harvard Medical School.
OMIGRAINES
Brain scans of people with common mi-
graines or migraines with aura (symp-
toms that occur before the onset of the
headache) found that they were 34 to
68 per cent more likely to experience
white-matter brain lesions than those
who did not have migraines, according
to researchers from the University of
Copenhagen. Some tiny brain lesions
are nothing to worry about, but others
may be associated with multiple sclero-
sis, stroke, tumours and other diseases.
OMULTITASKING
“Multitasking hijacks your frontal
lobes, the brain’s higher-order thinking
centre,” says Sandra Bond Chapman,
PhD, the founder and chief director of
the Center for Brain Health at the Uni-
versity of Texas at Dallas. “You think
you are doing two or more tasks at the
same time, but your brain is actually
switching rapidly from one task to the
other,” causing you to take longer to do
each one. Multitasking reduces crea-
tivity, increases errors, lowers your
ability to focus on what is most impor-
tant and increases problems with sleep,
stress and memory, she says.
OOBESITY
“Have you ever wondered about the
connection between obesity and
the brain? When you’re obese, your
metabolic system is irregular and
research suggests that the higher your
weight, the smaller the size of the
memory centres of the brain. Newer
studies also say that there may be a
correlation between obesity and your
risk of future brain conditions such
as stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. So
make sure your body weight and BMI
are in the healthy range. If not, consult
a physician,” says Doraiswamy.
—WITH INPUTS FROM MOHINI MEHROTRA
readersdigest.co.in 41
Reader ’s Digest

42 november 2019
 CHILDREN’S DAY SPECIAL

These six young guns are showing the world

a better way and a brighter future through
bravery, kindness, talent and intelligence.
Reader’s Digest salutes these
photos courtesy: ridhima pandey; randeep singh; d.c archanamayi deep; indian council for child

EXTRAORDINARY
CHILDREN By Team RD

The Girl who Faced the Fire

welfare; t. kharbyngar; nidhi mayurika

For 12-year-old Camelia Kathy Kharbyngar, it was just another quiet evening
at home in Shillong, Meghalaya on 6 July 2017. She was in her room studying,
when she heard her aunt calling from outside. “Fire!” The inferno first started
at their neighbour P. Kharmalki’s house and soon spread to theirs. Her parents
were away at work at the time.
Camelia ran while calling out to her brother, who was also inside. “The fire
was spreading and he didn’t respond, so I ran in,” she says, recalling the events
of that day. Her brother, who is mentally challenged, is five years older than
her. “He didn’t know what to do and was scared when the fire spread,” she says.
Camelia swung into action and carried her brother out on her shoulders while the

readersdigest.co.in 67
43
Reader ’s Digest

fire raged. She laughs when asked if he

was too heavy for her. “It was hard, but
I managed,” she says. Her only goal was
to bring him to safety. “I was afraid but
I thought about my brother and ran in-
side. At the time, I didn’t fear anything,”
she explains. The house was gutted
within a few minutes.
Camelia, now 14, studies in class
nine at Shillong’s Loreto Convent. She
loves biology, reading and, like other
teenagers, hanging out with friends.
For her valiant act, she earned the
Bapu Gaidhani National Award for
Bravery in 2018. “We are very proud of
her,” her mother, T. Kharbyngar, says.
Camelia, with her brother, Keith
at their home in Shillong By V. Kumara Swamy

photos courtesy: (top) t. kharbyngar; (bottom) d.c archanamayi deep; (right)

The Girl who Fought her Fate
Two years ago, in a small boarding
school in Odisha’s Kalahandi district,
all the children were preparing to
leave the hostel and return home
for the Durga Puja holidays, except
one. Twelve-year-old Ranjitha Majhi
simply refused to go. When the
headmaster asked why, she offered
a heartbreaking explanation: Her
parents were planning to get her
married to a much older man, despite
her protests. If she went home, her
fate would be sealed—under the
thumb of a 30-year-old alcoholic.
nidhi mayurika

For her parents, who made ends

meet by providing occasional manual
labour or selling gutka and vegetables (Right to left) Ranjitha, with her sisters
grown in their locality, the decision Archana and Sanjita

44 november 2019
 Children’s Day Special

was not extraordinary. Caught in the district’s Child Protection Unit.

a grim cycle of poverty, lack of
work opportunities and antiquated
traditions, most families in their
tiny tribal village married off their
daughters at a young age. But the
intrepid pre-teen dared to explore a
different path. “Children should be
allowed to study. It’s wrong for parents
to marry them off at a young age and
deny them the opportunity to stand on
their own two feet,” says the youngster,
who loves geography and music.
Ranjitha wrote a letter to the school
headmaster stating her dilemma.
He sent it to the district collector,
who passed on the document to
With their help, she was relocated to
Nehru Sevashram, a local children’s
home, with her two younger sisters,
Archana and Sanjita, then seven and
10 years old respectively.
Ranjitha’s stand against child
mar r iage earned her an ICC W
National Bravery Award in 2018.
Archana and Sanjita, who had so far
not been allowed to study, are now
regular students at the local school
along with their braveheart sister.
They hope to, one day, become
gainfully employed—a future far
brighter than the one they once faced.
By Ishani Nandi

The Girl who Shoots for the Stars

If the human race ever finds a way to
live in space, 15-year-old Nidhi Ma-
yurika’s ideas may help. The class-10
student at Bengaluru’s Narayana Olym-
piad School, won the prestigious NASA
Ames Space Settlement contest three
years in a row for her space colony
designs and concepts—Saikatam, a
three-layered settlement with Earth-
like conditions on the moon (2016);
Soham, a colony that can launch sa-
tellites (2017); and Swastikam, where
synthetic organisms will adapt to space
conditions and evolve to create a new
ecosystem (2018).
A long-time participant in
science competitions, Nidhi first came Nidhi proudly shows off the medal and
to know of the NASA contest from her certificate from her first win in 2016.

readersdigest.co.in 45
Reader ’s Digest
school principal in class five. She dove
into the subject, seeking help from her
brother and idol, A. K. N. S. Mukundh
Bhushan. “Creating the designs was
certainly time-consuming, but very in-
teresting as well,” she says, “Research is
never a waste of time because it gives
me a chance to learn more and be able
to come up with my own theories.”
Ever assiduous, Nidhi starts her day at
5:30 a.m. for study daily, goes to school
and special classes for her engineering
The Boy who Captures the Wild
Arshdeep, next
to his winning
photograph, titled
Pipe Owls, at the
Wildlife Photography
award ceremony
46 november 2019
entrance exams and does extra reading
on space as well.
Nidhi dreams of being a cosmologist
one day, and believes that education
“should break boundaries rather than
creating them. I aspire to create a more
reason- and science-oriented society,
and emphasize on the scientific aspect
of saving the Earth,” she says. Her ad-
vice to youngsters: Know what you’re
best at, work on it and be unique.
By Vanya Lochan
“I used to travel with my father, an avid
wildlife photographer, to the forests.
He was the one who introduced me to
the medium,” remembers 11-year-old
Arshdeep Singh from Jalandhar. “One
day, I grabbed my father’s camera to
photos courtesy: (left) randeep singh; (right) ridhima pandey
take a picture. Seeing my efforts and
the result, my father gifted me a DSLR
camera on my fifth birthday.” Since
then, there’s been no looking back for
the young Arshdeep, who became the
prestigious Wildlife Photographer of
the Year in 2018 in the Young Awards
category (10 Years and Under).
Arshdeep hones his skill behind
the lens during trips to wildlife
sanctuaries and national parks under
the expert guidance of his father, who
he says is his “guru, who taught me
everything.” His other idols include
the Amer ican photojournalist,
Tim Laman, and British photographer
and conservationist, David Yarrow.
 Children’s Day Special

His role models and experiences Having recently visited Madagascar,

have taught him far more than just the
technical aspects of photo-capturing
and image composition. “First,
wildlife photographers need to have
patience. Second, they should know
everything about their subject. Third,
and most important, is knowing the
right moment to click. Photography
has helped me become a little more
patient with wildlife and in real life as
well,” he explains.
Arshdeep now awaits permission to
go to Antarctica, where he wants to
photograph penguins, blue whales,
seals and dolphins.
“If you love taking pictures, just
get out there and click away. I would
request parents to support kids in
their passions. You never know your
child might be the next wildlife
photographer of the year!” he quips.
By Ishani Nandi

The Girl who Fights for the Planet

The devastating floods of 2013 in field of wildlife protection. “I am able
Kedarnath, Uttarakhand, had a deep to understand the importance of our
impact on Ridhima Pandey. She was environment because of them,” she
only five years old then, but she al- says. Dubbed the ‘Greta Thunberg of
ready knew that the climate crisis was India’, after the world-famous teenage
responsible for it. “If such disasters con-
tinue, what if, one day, I have to face
such a situation, I asked myself,” says
Ridhima, now 11. So in 2017, she filed
a petition with the National Green Tri-
bunal, holding the Indian government
responsible for not taking adequate
action to tackle climate change.
A resident of Haridwar, Ridhima is
one of 16 pre-teen petitioners from
around the world protesting govern-
ment inaction to fight the current
climate crisis. She even spoke at the
United Nations, calling for strong ac-
tion to save the planet while criticizing
governments for not doing enough.
Ridhima developed a love for nature Ridhima (left) at a climate-crisis
from her parents, who work in the demonstration in New York City

readersdigest.co.in 47
Reader ’s Digest
environmentalist from Sweden, she
feels that the comparison is “good” but
creates a sense of “pressure”.
Ridhima, who wants to become
an environmentalist, feels Indians,
in general, are unaware of the im-
portance of environmental protec-
tion. “I am doing my best to save
our environment and wish that
The Boy who Saved a Life
On 14 August 2017, Biswajit Puhan
heard loud shouts for help from a
nearby canal while he was playing out-
side his house. Alarmed, the class-eight
student from Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur
district rushed towards the commo-
tion and found that a five-year-old
girl had slipped and fallen into a canal
Former President of India,
Pranab Mukherjee, congratulating
Biswajit on the ICCW award
48 november 2019
Indians everywhere support me in my
mission. Just like our parents and
grandparents, we also have the right
to breathe clean air and drink clean
water and, for this, we must raise our
voices, because we are the ones who
are going to suffer in the future,” she
says determinedly.
By V. Kumara Swamy
while playing. Without a thought, Bis-
wajit jumped into the seven-foot-deep
trench and pulled her to safety. He then
performed chest compressions to expel
water from her stomach, and then car-
ried her on his back to her aunt’s house
in Icchapur village. “I have been swim-
ming since childhood. So I didn’t think
that I was putting my life on the line.
It seemed like the normal thing to do,”
the young braveheart says simply.
Biswajit’s selfless act earned him the
photo courtesy: indian council for child welfare
Biju Patnaik Bravery Award, 2017 (the
state’s highest award for bravery) and
the ICCW National Award for Bravery in
2018. “He managed a similar rescue by
himself before,” his businessman father
states proudly. “He has always been an
active, energetic lad and quick-to-act.”
Despite all the recognition and praise
from friends and well-wishers, 13-year-
old Biswajit remains humble—“What I
did wasn’t special. Anyone can pull it
off—as long as they have the heart and
himmat (courage) to do so.”
By Saptak Choudhury
 BOOKS SPECIAL

They pull rickshaws, sell tea,

work as domestic help and as
daily wage labourers for a living.
They also bare their souls in their
writings and touch many hearts

WORKING
CLASS
WRITERS by V. Kumara Swamy

50 november 2019
P H OTO G R A P H BY J E E VA C H A N D R A K U M A R
Reader ’s Digest

Coimbatore-based auto
driver M. Chandrakumar
has authored several books.

readersdigest.co.in 51
Reader ’s Digest Books Special
Channelling Anger
M. Chandrakumar or ‘Auto
Chandran’, as he is called
in his native Coimbatore,
couldn’t continue his educa-
tion beyond class 10 singed
by poverty, but his love for
literature never waned. By
the time he was 15 he had finished
reading the works of Bhagat Singh
and French author Henri Charrière. As
a restless teenager, he ran away from
his home one day after a fight with
his parents and landed in Guntur. His
life took a tragic turn when the police
picked him up along with his friends
for questioning. “We were in our teens
and early twenties and all of us were
innocent. But we had to undergo 13
days of horrific torture in custody.
The police wanted us to confess to a
theft we had not committed,” recalls
Chandrakumar. Now 57, he sports an
intense look with a clean-shaven head
and a thick white beard.
He and his friends spent an ad-
ditional five months in a Guntur jail
before a court threw out their case. He
returned to Coimbatore, after a year, in
1984. “I started driving the auto for a
living, got married and buried myself
in books. But deep inside, I was boiling
with rage about the brutality I had suf-
fered,” says Chandrakumar. He finally
decided to pour out the anger, humili-
ation and the sheer powerlessness of
ordinary folk in a book. Lock Up, writ-
ten in Tamil, was released in 2006 to
52 november 2019
critical acclaim. Almost a decade later,
it was made into a super hit Tamil film
Visaaranai, which was India’s official
nomination to the Oscars in 2017.
Chandrakumar has written and pub-
lished several books since then, with a
few more in the works. Meanwhile, he
continues as an auto driver to support
himself and his family. “When I write,
I don’t think of fame, money or even
the reader. The challenge for me is to
satisfy my own creative urge. If I am
happy with what I have written, that’s
all that matters. I have my auto to take
care of my other needs, which aren’t
too many,” he says.
“WHEN I WRITE, I
DON'T THINK OF
FAME, MONEY OR
EVEN THE READER.”
Chandrakumar isn’t alone. Several
writers, across the length and breadth
of this country, are exploring their cre-
ativity and have found a voice, while
leading beyond ordinary, working-class
lives. They either tell their own stories
or of others like them in their writing.
Sometimes they immerse themselves
in a world of fantasy to create great fic-
tion, and, at other times, they translate
hidden gems from regional literature.
While monetary compensation helps,
given their financial status, these writ-
ers are not in it for the money. Fame

has come their way, somewhat, but
they have remained grounded, carry-
ing on with their mundane jobs. After
all, where is the option?
Writer–Dreamer
Like Chandrakumar, Lax-
man Rao also left home, in
Amaravati, Maharashtra, way
back in 1975. But unlike the
man from Coimbatore, Rao’s
aim was fairly clear. “My fa-
vourite Hindi novelist was
Gulshan Nanda. I wanted to write
like him, become famous and earn
money,” says Rao stirring tea on a ker-
chandradeep kumar/india today
osene stove in front of him. Delhi was
the place to be, to become a novelist,
he believed. “I could study only until
class 10, but becoming a writer was an
obsession,” he says. While working as a
daily wage labourer and later as a seller
of bidis and cigarettes, to make his ends
meet, Rao managed to write his first
Laxman Rao’s dream of becoming
a writer came true , but he
continues to sell tea in Delhi.
novel Nayi Duniya Ki Nayi Kahani in
1979. But he couldn’t find a publisher.
“How could a person doing menial
jobs be a writer?” they asked. But Rao
did not give up. He self-published this
book from his savings. “I thought my
book would become a classic—nothing
of the sort happened. But that didn’t
stop me from carrying on,” he says.
He set up a tea stall under a tree,
right in front of Delhi’s Hindi Bhavan,
sometime in the ’90s. Rao completed
his graduation when he was in his 50s
and did his post-graduation in his 60s.
Twenty-five books later, he continues
to sell tea and his books from the
same spot. Rao claims that selling tea
was his main source of income until
around five years ago. “I am 67 now
and my sons tell me that I should stop
selling tea. Writing has brought me
fame, but this stall is my identity,” Rao
says, as he poses for a photo with an
admirer who has come to introduce
his newly-wed wife to him.
readersdigest.co.in 53
Reader ’s Digest Books Special
Liberated by Writing
Far away in West Bengal,
Baby Halder, 46, was faced
with her own challenges,
growing up. She loved go-
ing to school, but the condi-
tions at home were so bad
that she had to give up after
class eight. She laughs when asked if
she ever nursed dreams of becom-
ing a writer. “No, no, no. All I hoped
for, as a child, was to get a meal and
some sleep without facing any abuse.
Survival was my only aim,” Halder
says. These weren’t big goals, but
little Baby could not have taken them
for granted. Her mother abandoned
Halder and her sister when she was
barely four. Her abusive father forced
her to marry a much older man when
she was 12. She faced unimaginable
Baby Halder, formerly a
domestic help, now works
with sex workers and their
children in Kolkata.
54 november 2019
physical and mental abuse from
her husband and in-laws and was a
mother by 14. “I wanted to play and
study, but I could do neither,” says this
mother of three.
After years of hardship, she found
an employer in Gurugram, Haryana,
who treated her with respect and dis-
covered her love for books. Halder re-
membered most Bengali authors she
had read in school—Rabindranath
Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bankim
Chandra Chatterjee and others. Her
employer encouraged Halder to write
her own story. Which she did.
subir halder/india today
Says Halder: “I felt immense relief
after writing my book. I had poured
out all the sorrows and struggles I had
gone through, and felt totally liber-
ated”. Her memoir Aalo Aandhari was
published as A Life Less Ordinary in
English in 2006 to great acclaim.
 She continued to work as a domes- Rajbir Singh has
penned a book
tic help for several more years after based on his
which she started to work with NGOs conversations
in Mumbai and Kolkata. She is cur- with the people
rently in Kolkata working with sex travelling in
his rickshaw.
workers and their children. “I have
written some more books and I am
ready with two more manuscripts
about the life and struggles of sex
workers and their children,” she says.
Halder says that she has found her
calling and hopes to continue—and
inspire others.

Life on a Rickshaw
Like the rest of the authors
here, grinding poverty also
f o rc e d A m r i t s a r- b a s e d
r i cks haw -pu l l e r R aj b i r
Singh to drop out of school.
“I was in class 10 when my
father fell so badly ill that
we could no longer afford school,” suggested that he should write
says Singh, 42. He did not know that about his passengers. There was no
his writing was worth anything, until looking back, thereafter. Two years
he wrote a letter to a newspaper. ago, he published his own book
It was in response to a television Rickshaw Tey Chaldi Zindagi (Life
programme in which a well-to-do on a Rickshaw). “People from around
group of Sikhs was being felicitated the country and the world have
as the “real upholders” of the faith. travelled in my rickshaw. The book is
Singh wrote back a sharp missive, about the conversations I’ve had with
saying that every honest Sikh, no them,” he says. The book has gone
matter how poor, was an upholder of for two reprints already within a span
the faith. He had identified himself of two years.
prabhjot gill

as a rickshaw-puller at the end of the His greatest moment, Singh says,

letter. This letter was published and was when he saw the pride in his
soon he was asked by the newspaper parents’ eyes at the release of his
to write a column. One of his readers book. “My father, who also pulls a

readersdigest.co.in 55
 Shafi Cherumavilayi
is a master translator,
who works as a
labourer for a living.
rickshaw to this day, had tears of joy.
That was enough for me,” he says.
Blue-collar Translator
It was while working in
a tea stall in Bengaluru
that the Kannur-based
Shafi Cherumavilayi, 57,
discovered his love for
Tamil. “That was in the
mid-’80s. I picked Tamil,
as most of our customers were
labourers from Tamil Nadu,” he says.
A Malayalee, Cherumavilayi slowly
fell in love with the language and its
literature. Thirty-five years later, he
has translated many popular Tamil
books into Malayalam and has even
won three awards. Meanwhile, he
also works as a daily wage labourer,
to earn a living. Cherumavilayi has
translated the works of Perumal
Murugan, Thoppil Mohamed, G.
Thilakavathy and quite a few others
56 november 2019
so far. Did he not look for an easier
j o b ? “ No b o d y o f f e re d m e o n e
and working as a labourer is the
only thing I have done for almost
30 years now,” he says.
“I love it when my translated works
win awards. I am really pleased when
someone like Perumal Murugan
praises my translations—what more
do I need?” Cherumavilayi asks. He
emphasizes that his needs are limited.
A school dropout, he has been too
busy with his translation work to think
of either writing a book of his own or
getting a formal degree.
The satisfaction of seeing their
names on their published works is
probably the greatest motivating
factor for these extraordinary authors.
In their heart of hearts they would
probably like to take up writing full
time—only if there was another less
taxing way of making their ends meet.
k. sasi
Who knows, writing could pull them
out of their situation some day?
 Reader ’s Digest

“It’s the shower drain again.”

The test question asked: What do you

All think is the best answer to overpopulation?
in a Day’s The student’s answer: the Hunger Games.
WORK —weareteachers.com

“I’ll be right back.” one really angry one.”

He ran off, only to —John H. Flynn
A man came through return a minute later
my lane at the grocery with a second jug of
store with a jug of wine and another Reader’s Digest will pay for
wine and a bouquet bouquet of roses. your funny anecdote or
of roses. But before “Two girlfriends?” photo in any of our humour
sections. Post it to the
paying, he set the two I asked. editorial address, or email:
items aside and said, “No,” he said. “Just editor.india@rd.com
Cartoon by Evan Lian readersdigest.co.in 57
Reader ’s Digest

58 november 2019
 BOOKS SPECIAL

‘WHY
I WRITE’
Authors share with us the real reasons they
are compelled to put pen to paper

Compiled by Saptak Choudhury

illustrations by Keshav Kapil

TA SL I MA NA SRE EN
Physician, human-rights activist and
award-winning author
I have been a reader since childhood. I read
storybooks hidden under my textbooks in our
Mymensingh home. My brother published little
magazines, in which I was first published at the
age of 13. My notebook of poems turned out to
be an object of curiosity for my elders. Later,
my writing appeared in the national press of
Bangladesh and I wrote columns on gender
equality, founded a cultural organization
and a wall magazine. I was a poet mainly,
but wrote my first fiction, inspired by the

readersdigest.co.in 59
Reader ’s Digest

political turmoil in my country. We West Bengal too, my book Dwikhandito

were the resistance—at the forefront
of the protest movements. Our pens
were our weapons against religious
oppression, misogyny, regressive
forces against democracy, human
rights and freedom of expression.
I focused mainly on women’s rights
and how religion compromised them.
The more I wrote, the more women
started responding to it.
O n the other hand, protests
against me started gathering steam,
until there was a fatwa against me.
I was forced to go underground,
and eventually left the country.
I wrote Lajja, in which I criticized the
Bangladesh government’s inability to
provide security to Hindu minorities
in the aftermath of the Babri-Masjid
demolition. The government banned
Lajja. All doors were closed for me. In
was banned by the state, and the
authorities were upset when the High
Court revoked the ban later. The
backlash forced me to leave Kolkata.
Today, I live in Delhi and move
around with security, under the
shadow of death. I am not allowed
to return home, which kills me from
within. I had begun doing important
work, making an impact, providing
strength and courage to ordinary
women with my writing. No matter
what the fundamentalists thought, my
work with women was significant—it
was a battle cry against patriarchy.
So, why do I write? I write because
I want to change the status quo, wipe
away the cultures of oppression,
witness the state being separated from
religion, see women free and human
rights being upheld everywhere.

PER UMAL MUR U GAN

Author, scholar, poet and literary chronicler
When I was young, my family and I lived in a portion
of agricultural land with only four or five houses.
Consequently, there were few children I could play
or speak with, which left me lonely most of the time.
A new world emerged once I went to school and
began mastering language. I started to write
stories based on the poems and tales I found
in my schoolbooks, which helped drive
away my loneliness. They also gave me the
opportunity to fashion a world of my own
creation. I wrote copiously, until I reached
a point where I couldn’t go without

60 november 2019
 Books Special

writing—this persists even today.
I regard writing as an intimate friend.
I love writing poetry, as it is a
concise device to express my feelings.
The satisfaction I get from finishing a
poem is an unparalleled experience.
Following this, I trained myself to write
short stories, novels, essays and other
literary forms. They give me the feeling
of flying in a wide open sky. I seek out
poetry over and over again to befriend
loneliness. To this day, I find no other
form more concise.
— TRANSLATED FROM THE TAMIL BY RAM SARANGAN

DEV IKA
R ANGACHAR I
Award-winning children’s-book
writer and author of the White
Ravens-nominated Queen of Ice
I started writing as a consequence of
my love for reading and the world of
books. Initially, I wrote realistic fiction
for children, but now my focus is on
historical fiction for young adults, fea-
turing remarkable women from India’s
past whom I uncover in the course of
my academic research. These figures
are largely unknown due to the gender
bias that exists in the writing of history.
Each book is a challenge, not textbooks convey. I cannot afford to be
just because my audience is highly complacent but have to keep raising
discerning but also because it has the bar with every new work. What
to be readable and engaging. I need keeps me going, though, is the positive
to prove to my readers that history response from my readers and their
is not boring or remote, which is eagerness for more. Writing is a truly
the overwhelming impression that gratifying experience!

HA NS DA S OWV EN DRA SHEKHAR

Author of the 2019 JCB prize-shortlisted novel, My Father’s Garden
When my first book, The Mysterious because I want to express myself,
Ailment of Rupi Baskey, was published having no other means of doing so.
in 2014, I used to say that I write Now, circumstances have changed,

readersdigest.co.in 61
Reader ’s Digest

and so have my reasons. With a

hectic schedule, I am unable to
create longer works, for example, a
full-length novel. In the limited time
I chalk out, I keep writing shorter
works—book reviews, short essays
and picture books for children.
My previous reason—that I want
to express myself—still holds,
but now I have another one. I am
writing because it’s really like an
escape for me right now. Besides,
I want to keep on creating more
written works.

K. R . M EE RA
2015 Sahitya Akademi
award-winner for the
Malayalam classic Aarachar
Why I write is partly physiological,
partly psychological. Writing takes
place in my mind, even if I am not
putting it down on paper. It’s as if
there’s a magical candle inside me
which catches fire unexpectedly,
melting and burning in pain—all
the while also giving off a light in
which I see the world and myself
and even the candle within me.
There are several reasons for me
to publish what I write. One is that
I can ‘rewrite’ my own life, giving it I am doing my best to fulfil what
a newer, nobler meaning. Another is women of previous generations
to take revenge on life for all the junk had set in motion: to document our
it has buried me under; I can recycle history of emotional evolution for
and transform it into things of beauty. future women to take note and make
But most importantly, by publishing, the world a better place.

62 november 2019
 Books Special

AMI SH TR IPAT HI
Bestselling author of the Shiva trilogy
I was always a voracious reader, but I never thought I’d
be a writer. I had written no fictional work—not even
short stories—before my first book, The Immortals of
Meluha. And now I have written seven reasonably long
books! I think authors write about what they know best.
My grandfather was a pandit in Kashi and my parents were
deeply pious. I read a lot of books dealing with spirituality
as well as our ancient [religious] texts. Naturally, the
ideas for my stories tend to originate in this genre.
What keeps me going? Well, what can stop me? I
get to do something I love, and I actually get paid
for it. Could anything be better?

R A NA SAF V I
Historian, columnist, translator
and author
I have always been fascinated by
our heritage and monuments. On a
trip to one such historical site, I felt
that they were speaking to me and
beckoning me to tell their story. It may
sound fanciful, but at the age of 56, I
decided to start writing and become
their voice. It has now become my
passion. Documenting our incredible
heritage via its monuments, food, as though I’m racing against time—
clothes and history is what makes me pushing my physical boundaries and
push myself to the utmost limit. I have trying to pack in more into each hour.
had wonderful experiences during my But it is a great feeling when I realize
trips to historical cities and desolate that I am playing a part in creating
monuments, but have also faced some awareness about our heritage. This
heartbreaks at their pathetic upkeep whole experience completes me.
and encroachment in such sites. — WITH INPUTS FROM ISHANI NANDI AND
I started out late, and at times, I feel SANGHAMITRA CHAKRABORTY

readersdigest.co.in 63
 DRAMA IN REAL LIFE

THE
Dog Walker WHO
Disappeared
Annette with
some of her
‘regulars’,
including Chloe,
her own border
collie (top row,
second from
right)

64 november 2019
 Reader ’s Digest

Annette Poitras had planned to be gone

only an hour. That was three days ago
By Katherine Laidlaw

readersdigest.co.in 65
 W
Reader ’s Digest

hen Annette Poitras regained consciousness, winded

and dazed, she saw two sets of canine eyes peering
back into hers. Moments before—or was it hours?—
the professional dog walker had been working her
way along a familiar gravel trail that snakes across
Eagle Mountain, a 10-minute drive from the home she
shares with her husband, Marcel, and their 20-year-old daughter,
Gabrielle, in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada.

She had three dogs with her: Roxy
the boxer, Bubba, a mix of poodle and
pug, and Chloe, her own black-and-
white border collie. When the four
of them came across a fallen tree—
its trunk, thick as a barrel, stretch-
ing over an expanse of soggy moss a
metre below—Poitras clambered up
to cross over it. That morning, after a
walk in the rain, she had exchanged
SHE DIDN’T KNOW
HOW LONG SHE’D BEEN
shot from her left armpit all the way
down to her calf and she wondered,
dizzily, if she’d cracked a rib. She
slowly and carefully stood up, and got
back onto the trail.
Looking around past Roxy and
Chloe, unleashed at her side, Annette
realized that 13-year-old Bubba had
bolted. She didn’t know what time it
was or how long she’d been knocked
out, but daylight was already disap-
pearing, and the temperature, only
seven degrees Celsius, was starting to
fall. But she knew she needed to find

photo, previous spread: courtesy of annette poitras

KNOCKED OUT, BUT
DAYLIGHT WAS ALREADY
DISAPPEARING.
her soaked hiking boots for gumboots.
As she trod on the slick wood, she’d
slipped, striking her back and head
hard against the fallen tree as she fell
to the forest floor. A bolt of pain had
seared through her, and then the
world went dark.
Now, as she lay on the ground, pain
Bubba before she could head home;
leaving one behind was unthinkable.
THE MORNING OF Monday, 20 Novem-
ber, 2017, had started out like any
other on the quiet cul-de-sac where
the Poitras family lived. It was an
unseasonably cool day, and they knew
to anticipate a Pineapple Express—
a Pacific storm blowing in from
around Hawaii that brings so much
rainfall meteorologists call them
atmospheric rivers.
The family had lived in Coquitlam,

66 november 2019
 (approximately 32 kilometres east
of Vancouver) for decades. Annette
had been employed as a cashier at a
local Safeway grocery store and Marcel
worked for the company’s IT depart-
ment. Annette had retired a couple
of years earlier and started a dog-
walking business.
Around noon, she loaded Roxy,
Chloe and Bubba into the car. She
called out, “Have a good afternoon!”
to Marcel and closed the front door
behind her. Before long, she pulled up
at a parking lot off the side of a hydro
access road on Eagle Mountain, which
was zigzagged by informal trails made
by mountain bikers. Annette hadn’t
told anyone where she was going. She
didn’t think she needed to—she was
Eagle Mountain is covered with dense
planning to be gone only an hour. She
forest and a myriad of trails.
let the dogs out and began to walk.
through the forest along which electri-

S
haken and bleary-eyed from
her fall, Annette began search-
ing for her tiny charge. “Bubba!”
she yelled into the trees. “Bubba!”
She knew the dog had wandered into
the woods, so she left the trail, and
bushwhacking through the brush,
continued shouting his name. She
was disoriented, her head was throb-
bing, and the sky was nearly dark.
photo by marilee lamarque
cal transmission towers descend the
mountain—she could find her way
out. I’ve got to find the power line,
she thought.
She climbed over felled trees and
through marshes, branches and
thorns cutting her legs so badly they
bled. Still no power lines criss-cross-
ing the sky. When it finally occurred
to Annette to reach into the pocket of

Below the thick canopy of branches,
the forest was even darker, and before
long she’d lost track of what direction
she’d initially come from, or even how
much time had passed. But she knew
that if she could find the mountain’s
hydro right-of-way—the cleared path
her raincoat for her phone, she came
up empty—it must have fallen out af-
ter her tumble. In the throes of what
felt like delirium, the woman began to
panic. She wasn’t prepared to spend
a night outside on the mountain.
What am I going to do, she thought.

readersdigest.co.in 67
Reader ’s Digest
Dwarfed by the mighty tree trunks,
Annette began to cry.
Marcel Poitras didn’t know where
his wife had gone walking, but he
wasn’t too worried when she hadn’t
returned by mid-afternoon. “Hey,
how’s it going?” he texted her. When
she didn’t respond, he called, letting
it ring until her voicemail message
kicked in. She might be dropping off
Roxy and Bubba or getting a few gro-
ceries, he guessed.
AS THE WIND PICKED UP
AND IT STARTED TO RAIN
EVEN HARDER, ANNETTE,
EXHAUSTED AND IN PAIN,
BECAME CONFUSED.
But by 5:30, night had fallen, and he
hadn’t been able to reach her in more
than three hours. He knew something
was wrong. He jumped into the cou-
ple’s car and drove the 10 minutes to
Burke Mountain, one of the spots she
often took the dogs.
He didn’t see her van parked in the
lot, so he drove to her friend Fran’s
house. Nothing. For nearly an hour,
he drove the dark suburban streets,
checking one spot after another, keep-
ing his and Annette’s daughter, Gabri-
elle, updated on the search. It wasn’t
until his headlights swung around
the curve of the hydro access road on
68 november 2019
Eagle Mountain that his hear t
dropped: the van. He climbed out of
the car and walked over to the now
pitch-black trailhead, calling for Poi-
tras and whistling for the dogs. Noth-
ing. Just after 6:30 p.m., he dialled 911.
An alert went out : missing dog
walker, 56, female. “That should be
pretty easy,” said Aidon Pyne, a local
search-and-rescue [ SAR ] volunteer.
“She probably has a twisted ankle
off the side of the trail.” As a crew
assembled in the parking lot near the
mountain, the search slowly got into
gear. The 20 SAR volunteers figured
that after a couple of hours of yelling
her name and searching the perimeter
trails, Annette would turn up.
She didn’t, even after the team’s
more athletic members ran laps around
the marked trails looking for her. By
then, it was well into the night, raining
and only a couple degrees above freez-
ing. At 3 a.m., they put out calls to other
nearby search-and-rescue teams: come
morning, they’d search in the dense
forest circling the watershed.
A
t the same time the search-
ers were calling it quits for the
evening, Annette was slumped,
shivering, exhausted and dehydrated,
against a fallen tree. The rain was
relentless, and the temperature had
dropped as low as it would get all
night, just one degree above freezing.
When the morning light finally pene-
trated the forest, Annette felt like she

hadn’t slept at all. She dragged herself
to her feet, shivering and soaked, her
blond hair slick against her head. Still
determined to find Bubba, she ignored
the shooting pain in her back. Roxy
and Chloe, who’d stayed by her side all
night, looked at her quizzically. Mar-
cel’s going to find me, Annette thought.
He knows which mountains I usually
walk. He’s going to find me. “Bubba!”
she called out.
She’d been walking dogs in the area
for more than two years, always bring-
ing a kit that included a whistle, some
munchies, a dog bowl, an extra piece
of clothing and a bear bell tucked into
a fanny pack. But on November 20, she
didn’t bring it with her; with the el-
derly Bubba tagging along, she didn’t
think the walk would last more than
20 minutes.
Suddenly, as if reading her mind,
the puggle came running through the
trees. “Finally!” Annette hollered. But
her temporary burst of gratitude at
seeing Bubba was tempered by the
task at hand: getting herself, and the
dogs, off the mountain alive—even as
the wind picked up, the air pressure
dropped, and the rain began lashing
down harder.
Tree after tree looked the same, the
ground matted with seemingly iden-
tical remains of sodden old growth.
At this point, a confluence of factors
would have been conspiring to rob An-
nette of whatever lucidity remained:
the pain from her fall, the cold, the
fear, the exhaustion. And being as
Drama In Real Life
dehydrated as she was would have
caused serious confusion
Annette didn’t know it, but she was
walking deeper into the woods. The
dogs followed closely, shivering from
the cold. They hadn’t passed a stream
or anything that looked edible, and
in spite of her hunger and thirst, she
hadn’t thought to follow the dogs’
lead and drink water from puddles
or leaves.
Suddenly, Annette made out the
buzz of helicopters overhead—they
were looking for her! She grabbed a
long stick from the forest floor, tied
her pink rain jacket to one end and
began to wave her makeshift flag. But
her wild flapping was no match for the
thick and furious rain. The helicopters
moved on.
By 6 p.m., almost a full day after
Annette was first reported missing by
her husband, 50 defeated searchers
streamed back into the parking lot.
They’d scoured 15 square kilometres
for more than 12 hours in unrelent-
ing rain and biting wind. The helicop-
ters, which had been sweeping the
air for hours, had turned up nothing.
But with the weather turning against
them, they had no choice but to halt
the search for the evening.
Marcel reluctantly went home. He’d
been awake since the previous eve-
ning, and, after spiralling through a se-
ries of panicked thoughts about what
his life would be like without his wife,
he finally fell into a restless sleep.
On the mountain, Annette was
readersdigest.co.in 69
Reader ’s Digest

fearful as night fell that the

helicopters wouldn’t return
the next day. She lay down,
soaked, in a depression she’d
made in the dirt under some
ferns. I’ve had enough of this,
she thought, too dehydrated
to cry anymore. Roxy came
and lay lengthwise beside
her, their bodies shaking
in unison.
Deep in the night, Annette
could hear the dogs growl- Annette with her rescuers—Aidon (second from
ing. She knew there were right), and Darren (third from right).
black bears roaming the area
but didn’t hear the crashing steps that in the number of searchers—gave him
would forewarn of the animal’s arrival. a new optimism. At 7 a.m. he texted
The dogs upped her chances of staving his mother : “That lady’s coming
off an encounter, but she nevertheless home today.”
focused on remaining immobile. By 10:30 a.m. Annette still hadn’t
As the minutes crept by, she thought been found. Aidon had been bush-
of how scared her family must be. “I’m whacking through the forest with a
not ready to go,” she said out loud to no five-person team fanned out in a grid
one. She held her mouth open, trying search, each member 30 metres apart.
to catch the drops of falling rain to ease “The minute you’re looking for a non-

photo courtesy of coquitlam search and rescue

her thirst. She’d never been a religious responsive person, you need to basi-
person, but lying there in the mud, she cally walk over them,” says Aidon. As
began to pray. the team paused to reorient their line,
the team leader, Darren Timmer, blew

T
he next morning, the rain had three times on his whistle—and im-
turned to a misty drizzle, and the mediately the team heard the faint but
sun had started to poke through unmistakable sound of barking dogs.
the clouds. The dogs chewed on sticks Aidon and Darren shot each other
and licked their fur, eager for water wide-eyed looks. “Hold the team,”
and warmth. Annette was too weak said Darren as he moved toward the
to stand. “Please find me,” she whis- barking. Darren’s whistle sounded so
pered, as a helicopter flew overhead. quiet Annette thought she was hear-
Aidon arrived on site at 6 a.m. The ing things. But Roxy began to bark, and
turn in the weather—and a huge surge then she heard the whistle again.

70 november 2019
 Drama In Real Life

“Hello?” Annette yelled. “Hello! I’m
over here!”
Within minutes, Darren was with
her. Over his radio, he broadcast
“I am with the subject,” to the team,
who screamed with joy. Within five
minutes, they’d descended upon her
like muddy angels. Annette had been
found, deep in the bush, a kilometre
and a half from where she’d fallen, and
only 200 meters from a stream.
As rescuers questioned her about her
injuries and took her vitals, all Annette
could think about was the dogs. “They
have to go first,” she told Aidon, who
grinned but shook his head. Annette
was so cold and dehydrated that at first
he couldn’t find a pulse. “I’m still alive,”
she assured him weakly.
Her clothes, stiff and waterlogged,
had to be cut from her body, after
which the team bundled her into a
small waterproof shelter. Aidon be-
gan clearing trees to give more space
for the rescue helicopter. After half
an hour of warming and rehydra-
tion, Annette had improved enough
to be moved.
She was loaded onto a spine board
and secured with webbing and straps.
Before a technician clipped her board
to the longline cable that would draw
her up out of the forest, Annette
looked at Aidon. He’d been cracking
jokes the entire time, and now, her
senses returning, Annette tried one of
her own: “Sorry if my breath smells,”
she said, to laughter from the group.
At a nearby golf club, which had
been turned into the rescue command
centre, Marcel sat surrounded by fam-
ily and friends. An RCMP corporal
walked up to him and quietly took him
aside. As Marcel listened to the officer
tell him his wife was alive, he began to
cry, flashing a thumbs up to the group.
“All of my dark thoughts disappeared.”
The crowd at the command centre
cheered as rescuers carried Annette
from the helicopter and into a wait-
ing ambulance. After Aidon handed
off the three dogs to their respec-
tive owners, he paused to take in the
jubilant mood as volunteers, fam-
ily members and concerned citizens
exchanged hugs and high-fives.

The Fake News You Need

“Mysterious Leftover IKEA Parts Placed in Bin With the Others”

“Dozens Die in Cannabis Legalization Joke Overdoses”
“Local Couple Celebrates Anniversary With Cellphone-Lit Dinner”
Headlines from THEBEAVERTON.COM

readersdigest.co.in 71
 HEALTH

Help
for
Brittle
Bones
Osteoporosis needn’t be a dire diagnosis.
Here are some steps you can take to
ALL IMAGES: INDIAPICTURE

keep yourself strong and healthy

By Anita Bartholomew with Nishi Malhotra

72 november 2019
 Reader ’s Digest

readersdigest.co.in 73
Reader ’s Digest Health

Neelam Agarwal, a 57-year-old homemaker

from Noida, UP, was in the thick of festival celebrations, practising
her dance steps for a special show, when she started experiencing
pain in her right foot. Slowly, the pain exacerbated to a point
where she had to stop and sit down. By the time she reached
home, tears streamed down her face from sheer physical agony.
Her family rushed her to the hospital where an X-ray revealed a
hairline fracture. Her doctor said it was because of osteoporosis.

It turned out Neelam had a long
histor y that contributed to the
incident. Her mother had suffered
from Parkinson’s disease, osteoporosis
and osteoarthritis, putting Neelam at
risk for bone, joint and neurological
disorders. She had also experienced
debilitating foot pain after a
hysterectomy done in her 30s, and a
fracture when she slipped and fell in
the bathroom at age 50.
Like Neelam, many people
with a family history of frac-
tures and breaks tend to view
them as isolated events,
but it’s likely that such epi-
sodes indicate a deeper,
more insidious, problem—
weak bones caused by a large
variety of factors including poor diet,
lack of exercise, menopause, age and
even side effects of medication.
WHAT IS OSTEOPOROSIS?
The term osteoporosis means, liter-
ally, ‘porous bone’. The inside of our
bones resembles a honeycomb, a
web of cells that break down and are
replenished with new ones, just like
the cells in other parts of our bodies.
But, sometimes, the spaces in that
honeycomb-like structure become
too great when new bone cells are not
replenished, making our bones even
more fragile and brittle. The point
at which bone density becomes low
enough to be considered a serious
condition is called osteoporosis. It
leads to weakness of the skeleton
and increased risk of fractures,
particularly of the spine,
wrist, hip, pelvis and upper
arm, sometimes with fatal
consequences.
According to the Interna-
tional Osteoporosis Founda-
tion, one out of eight men and one
out of three women suffer from os-
teoporosis in India, making it one
of the most affected countries in the
world. Compared with most western
countries, where peak incidence of
osteoporosis occurs among people
70 to 80 years old, India sees the same

74 november 2019
affliction in people 10 to 20 years
younger. This is already visible in the
rising number of fractures among
people aged 45 and older, particularly
hip fractures—the incidence ratio
being one woman to a man.
Says Dr Rajesh Malhotra, president
of the Indian Orthopaedic Association
and head of the department of ortho-
paedics at Delhi’s All India Institute of
Medical Sciences, “There are no large
Indian studies to confirm these num-
bers but, by and large, it is a fact that
Indians, especially women, have poor
bone health during old age due to
rampant vitamin-D deficiency, malnu-
trition, multiple co-existing diseases,
frailty and poor mobility. Also, Asia
alone will have the largest number of
osteoporotic and related fractures in
the world by 2030.”

KNOW YOUR SYMPTOMS INDIANS IN GENERAL HAVE

While the high numbers are reason for
concern, what is perhaps more trou-
bling is the fact that not many people
realize they are developing osteopo-
rosis. Neelam, for example, practises
yoga regularly, and is careful not to
miss her daily calcium and vitamin-
D supplements but, considering her
history of bone health, she may have
benefitted from regular consultations
and treatment with oral drugs by a
medical expert before undertaking any
vigorous physical activity.
According to Dr Ashok Rajgo-
pal, group chairman at the Institute
of Musculoskeletal Disorders and
POOR BONE HEALTH DURING
OLD AGE DUE TO VITAMIN-D
DEFICIENCY, MALNUTRITION
AND POOR MOBILITY.
Orthopaedics, Medanta—The Medicity,
Gurugram, “A large proportion of indi-
viduals who have osteoporosis, present
symptoms that are easily misinter-
preted or ignored. Aches and pains,
such as lower back pain, in and around
the hips, legs and shinbones and dis-
comfort in the feet while walking bare-
foot or for long distances are some of
the early symptoms of osteoporosis.”

readersdigest.co.in 75
Reader ’s Digest Health
WHO IS AT MOST RISK?
GENDER: Women are more prone
than men: 80 per cent of cases occur
in women. The levels of oestrogen, a
natural bone protector, drop in post-
menopausal women.
AGE: In addition to becoming
more porous, the quality of our
bones deteriorates over time.
BODY TYPE: Because your bones
respond to the load that’s placed
upon them, the more weight your
skeleton carries overall, the
stronger it gets. Abdominal
obesity, however, can
actually increase the
risk of hip fractures.
HEREDITY: If one or both
of your parents suffered
fractures due to a com-
promised skeleton, you’re
likely to be at greater risk.
LIFESTYLE: Smoking, a poor diet and
a sedentary life all increase the risk.
MEDICATION: Corticosteroids
are the drugs most often implicated
in weakening bones, but other
medicines may also have deleterious
effects, including antidepressants,
anti-epilepsy, chemotherapy and
anti-diabetes drugs.
OTHER MEDICAL CONDITIONS:
Rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes,
and breast cancer are a few of the
conditions that are known to
increase osteoporosis risk.
76 november 2019
Left untreated, such pain can persist
and intensify due to the development
of stress lines and stress fractures,
Rajgopal warns. Another serious
repercussion of neglecting these
signs is the collapse of vertebrae in
the lumbar (lower back) area due to
demineralization, which means the
calcium in the bones is depleted,
causing them to become fragile.
“Sometimes 50- to 60-year-old patients
feel like they are getting shorter. This
is due to curvatures in the spine that
leads to a hunched lower back—again
a sign of osteoporosis and vertebral
collapse,” he adds.
So what can be done to pre-
vent it and protect oneself?
LOWER YOUR RISKS
Genetics, age, poor nutrition,
smoking and a sedentary life-
style are some of the key risk factors
for osteoporosis, but so are the side ef-
fects of drugs prescribed for illnesses
such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes,
or breast cancer. According to Dr Nara-
yan Hulse, director of orthopaedics and
joint replacement surgery at Fortis Hos-
pital, Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru,
“Anti-malignancy drugs, such as those
used in chemotherapy, and medicines
that comprise or include corticoste-
roids—used to treat conditions related
to immunity, allergies, asthma and
arthritis—are common non-age-
related factors that can lead to osteopo-
rosis in both men and women.”
Such was the case with Shravani
Sen, a 46-year-old Delhi-based mar-
ket-research professional and cyclist,
who was only 30 when she was bat-
tling lupus, a serious auto-immune
disease and going through chemo-
therapy for her illness. Her rheumatol-
ogist suggested she get a bone-density
test to detect possible weakening of
her bones, and, sure enough, the re-
sults revealed that Shravani had in-
deed developed osteoporosis, putting
her at an increased risk for fractures.
In cases where osteoporosis is
brought on as a result of medication,
the healing process can begin once
the drugs are discontinued, Hulse
says, but, in general, he advises
“increased physical activity, such as
brisk walking in sunlight (needed for
vitamin-D production in the body),
is one of the most important lifestyle
modifications that can prevent this
condition.” Exercise slows bone loss
and reduces the risk of a fall. Strength
training with elastic exercise bands,
SIDE EFFECTS OF DRUGS
weight machines or small free weights PRESCRIBED FOR CERTAIN
can improve both bone and muscle. ILLNESSES CAN RAISE
Nutrition, too, plays an important
role in prevention. A 2017 study in the
YOUR RISK OF DEVELOPING
Journal of Bone and Mineral Research OSTEOPOROSIS.
states that an anti-inflammatory diet
(high in fruits, veggies, wholegrains the body utilize calcium. Avoid bone
and fish) was shown to preserve toxins such as colas, alcohol and
bone density and reduce the risk of tobacco.” Also, since a person with
hip fractures. Malhotra recommends an osteoporotic fracture is two to
one should “build peak bone mass five times more likely to get another
in the early years of life through fracture and the risk multiplies
exercise and a generous intake of further with increasing numbers,
calcium and vitamin D, which helps “Fall prevention is an absolutely

readersdigest.co.in 77
Reader ’s Digest Health
essential intervention, especially
among the aged. Yoga, tai-chi and
Pilates help in improving balance.
Home modifications of bathrooms
and stairs to make them slip-proof
and providing additional support bars
or handles will help. Rectify eye and
hearing disorders in time and wear
sensible footwear,” he advises.
The planned diet and exercise
regimen Sen made for herself, and
follows to this day, for example,
helped prevent further bone
degradation. Today, she is able to
cycle and travel the world just the way
she always wanted to.
If you already have
o s t e o p o ro s i s o r o t h e r
signs of a compromised
skeleton, your approach
to exercise needs to begin
with a consultation with a
physical therapist or medical
expert to ensure you don’t take
on a programme that might actually
cause a fracture. There are still plenty
of options. “Every time you take a
step you send a signal to your brain
that something is happening and that
stimulates bone turnover in a good
way,” says Professor Kristina Akesson
of Lund University and Skanes
University Hospital in Malmo, Sweden.
TREATMENTS
If you’re diagnosed with osteoporosis
through a bone density test, it doesn’t
necessarily mean you’re as fragile as
an eggshell. “Also, being diagnosed
78 november 2019
with osteoporosis does not mean that
you will have a fracture,” says Rajgopal.
So is osteoporosis reversible? “Yes,”
he says, adding, “There are a number
of things we can do. Besides increased
vitamin D and calcium, there is a
cohort of drugs called alendronates,
which are basically building blocks for
proteins and bone density. These are
typically administered once or twice a
week over a period of about four to six
months. While these are excellent for
restoring bone strength, they should
be carefully monitored and taken
only under the guidance of a medical
expert due to reports that claim
prolonged treatment with
alendronates can cause
pathological fractures.”
Teriparatide, also used to
treat osteoporosis, actually
builds bone, says Akesson.
But it can only be used for
18 to 24 months due, in part,
to concerns that its ability to grow
bone might increase the risk for bone
cancer (although there is no human
evidence of this). “It’s a very good
way of getting a rapid increase in your
bone density,” says Akesson.
There are many treatment op-
tions, even if you already have a com-
promised skeleton, and research is
ongoing. But, just as important: You
can take steps right now, on your
own, to keep yourself strong, protect
yourself from loss of bone mass and
the risk of fracture and stay active
throughout your life.
 dog folks are supposed
to beware of?” he asks
LAUGHTER
The best Medicine
the store owner.
“Yep, that’s him,”
the owner says.
“He doesn’t look
dangerous to me.
Why would you post
that sign?”
“Because,” says the
owner, “before I posted
that sign, people kept
tripping over him.”
—petcentral.chewy.com

Raghu: “You said

Govind is likely to quit
his job at the glue factory.
What happened?”
Shyam: “He got
attached to it.”
— v. R. Shankar,
Visakhapatnam

Librarian/humorist
Roz Warren took to
Facebook to ask her
librarian friends a ques-
tion: If they died and
were sent to Hades,
which they discovered
had just one book avail-
As the customer ap- DOG! He carefully en- able to read, what
proaches the general ters the store, but once would it be? Here’s
store, he notices this inside all he sees is a fat the literature worthy
large sign on the door: old hound asleep on of Satan’s bookshelf:
DANGER! BEWARE OF the floor. “Is that the Ê“The manual to our

Cartoon by Dan Reynolds

80 november 2019
 Reader ’s Digest

My wife keeps telling everyone that she

can read their minds, but she never can.
She’s telepathetic.
—Brad Bridgwater
THE GENERATION GAP
office phone system.” stimulate the bull’s in- ) My daughter just
Ê“Dante’s Inferno; it terest. A few weeks later, asked why we say
would be like having the farmer ran into “hang up” the phone,
a Frommer’s guide.” a friend, who asked, and now I feel 90.
Ê“The second book “How’s that bull?” — @EnglishJason
nazar skladanyi/shutterstock (smartphone), oleg krugliak/shutterstock (rotary phone)

in a trilogy.” “Great!” said the ) Just called the DVD

Ê“Brimstone for farmer. “The bull is player a VCR in front
Dummies.” back to his former of the kids. Now this
Ê“My ex’s diary.” frisky self.” will become their child-
Ê“The Bible, so I could “That’s fantastic. hood memory.
look for loopholes.” What miracle drug — @ksujulie
did the vet prescribe?”
) My son picked up a
A plumber fixes a leak in “I don’t know,” said phone at my work and
a doctor’s house, then the farmer. “But it said, “What’s that noise?”
bills him for $1,000. tastes like liquorice.” His first dial tone.
“This is ridiculous!” — Don Youniss — @JasonDCrane
the doctor says. “Even I
) Seven-year-old:
don’t charge that much.” Thanksgiving jokes
Wow, this must be an
The plumber says, to share between
antique! It’s from way
“Neither did I when I courses: back in the 1900s!
was a doctor.” ÊWhat’s the smallest Me: OK, calm down.
—THEPLUMBINGINFO.COM unit of measurement in It’s from 1997.
the Pilgrim cookbook? — @maughammom
An elderly farmer had A pilgram.
an old bull that lost ÊWhat do you call
its usual desire and an evil turkey? Reader’s Digest will pay
for your funny anecdote
no longer went near Poultry-geist. or photo in any of our
the cows. The farmer ÊWhat kind of tan did humour sections. Post it
called the vet, who Pilgrims get at the to the editorial address, or
prescribed a pill to beach? A puritan. email: editor.india@rd.com

readersdigest.co.in 81
 KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

STRANDED
IN SRINAGAR
Stuck in a city on the verge of lockdown, two tourists
have only one chance to get home

By Kartik Gera
AS TOLD to Ishani Nandi
Illustration by Siddhant Jumde

T
hrilled … over the moon ...
how else would you feel when
you find out one of your best
friends is getting married? The
day Nishwan told me they’d set a
date, glowing with happiness and a face-
splitting grin, I started looking up tickets
from Delhi for my wife Charvi and I.
An August wedding in Kashmir was
sure to be a beautiful affair. I’d visited
Nishwan’s home in Rawalpora, Srinagar
once before but this would be Charvi’s
first trip and I was eager to show her
around. We were a bit concerned about
travelling to a place where violence and
unrest were not uncommon, but it was
Nishwan’s wedding, so there was no
question about it—we had to be there.
We landed at Srinagar’s Sheikh
ul-Alam airport around 11 a.m. on
2 August. The airport was packed and
busy, but without chaos. Soon we were
at the baggage carousel—Charvi was
on her phone informing our families
about our safe landing when she came
across a news item online—the Amar-
nath Yatra (a popular pilgrimage) was
cancelled due to a terror alert. All visi-
tors and pilgrims were to leave Kash-
mir immediately. No wonder there are
so many people huddled around there,
I thought, catching sight of a bunch

86 november 2019
readersdigest.co.in 87
Reader ’s Digest
of tourists lined up at a kiosk set up to
handle queries about the, now nixed,
event. We also noticed a large group of
soldiers, around 200 of them, waiting at
the next carousel and a military aero-
plane that Charvi looked up and found
to be a C-17 Globemaster airlifter. I felt a
ripple of discomfort, but reminded my-
self of the obvious—this could well be
commonplace here.
T
he friend who came to pick us up
reassured us that alerts like these
were indeed not uncommon. In
any case, we were headed to a secure
place, away from the city. His calm
demeanour and the sight of the local
people going about their day as usual
quelled the butterflies I felt in the pit of
my stomach. Charvi was less convinced
though. Closer to our destination, she
pointed out a few locals carrying large
loads of vegetables, egg crates and
other food supplies.
Meeting Nishwan’s family knocked
us out of our worried stupor. Between
the wedding regalia, family festivities
and upbeat music, we soon shrugged
off the stress and were swept up in the
celebrations. Yet, I could not shake
off the worry within that had gripped
me earlier. I tried to stay cheerful,
not wanting my paranoia to ruin the
mood, but it was hard. Snatches of
overheard conversations among the
guests snapped me back to the turmoil
building outside the happy bubble
we were in—“ … something major is
about to happen …”, “ … revokement
88 november 2019
of Article 370”, “ … no, no, they would
never do that. It’s too big …”, “ … the
protests will be massive …” Someone
mentioned that they had just returned
from the pharmacy, having bought
a month’s supply of his mother’s
medication. Everyone was weighed
down by signs of the gathering storm.
B
y the next day, speculation was rife
and information poured in from
different quarters. ATMs were out
of cash, petrol pumps were dry or re-
fusing service. That afternoon, Charvi
proposed that we cut our trip short.
Our families felt the same way. But
ticket prices for flights on the follow-
ing day had skyrocketed: The one-way
fare for a single seat to Delhi started
at `17,000. But since we had planned
for a longer trip, we got cheaper tickets
to Goa, instead.
Once our flight was booked, we re-
laxed a bit and focused on the last day
of the wedding celebrations, eager to
spend as much time as possible with
Nishwan and his family before we left
the following day. We even set out to
see a bit of the city. Our taxi driver ad-
vised us on areas to avoid, but, while
we felt safe with him, it was unnerving
to see the empty roads and dozens of
trucks filled with CRPF soldiers pass-
ing by. We also heard about the Parlia-
ment session scheduled in Delhi on
5 August, the morning of our flight.
Over the next few hours, things only
grew more dire. Around 9:30 p.m., inter-
net services stopped one by one; then

WELL AWARE OF THE
RISKS, OUR DRIVER
LOOKED TROUBLED BY
OUR REQUEST. BUT,
PERHAPS SENSING OUR
PANIC, HE AGREED.
mobile networks too. By midnight, we
were cut off from the rest of the world.
After a sleepless night, Charvi and I
headed out at dawn with a friend also
leaving that day. But the taxi we had
hired the night before was nowhere to
be found. We had no way to reach out
to him. With fuel stations dry, Nishwan
couldn’t drop us to the airport either.
We simply had to catch this flight. Three
of us set out in different directions to
find a ride, but to no avail. Time was
running out so we approached Ali,
the young security guard at the Airbnb
where we stayed. He was fast asleep
but groggily responded to our knocking
and offered to head out to search for
a car. As we watched Ali get on his bi-
cycle and slowly pedal his way through
Kindness of Strangers
the deserted streets, I realized he was
our only hope.
About 10 minutes later, Ali came back
with a cab—a miracle, since we had
tried to find and convince someone
for the last 40 minutes or so. The driver
was a middle-aged man who had just
returned after dropping someone at
the airport in his white Tata Sumo. Well
aware of the risks the short 7-km jour-
ney could involve, he looked troubled
by our request—and who could blame
him? In Kashmir, a communications
blackout and military personnel in the
city could only mean one, hauntingly fa-
miliar, thing—a red-alert crescendo that
rises from the expectation of violence.
This meant barbed-wire barricades,
arbitrary security checks, detentions,
even arrests by intransigent, armed en-
forcers on patrol, all in a state of mis-
trust. No one was safe. But, perhaps
sensing our panic, he agreed to take us
on, even charging just `600 for the ride.
I
t was only once we reached the airport
that it fully dawned on us—no way
would we have made it past the four
security blockades, multiple ID checks,
a litany of enquiries and full-body scans
of our car, and caught our flight, had
this gentleman turned us away. Over the
next few days, as reports of the city-wide
lockdown and turmoil began to emerge,
we felt nothing but gratitude for the be-
nevolence of the two ordinary citizens
who had every reason to refuse assis-
tance to complete strangers, but chose
to jump in and help instead.
readersdigest.co.in 89
Reader ’s Digest

Windswept
Beauty By Nellie Hermann
from THE NEW YORK TIMES

90 november 2019
TRAVEL

The Shetland Islands’

rich history, rugged
landscape and abundance
of knitters make it well
worth the journey

Grazing sheep, rugged coast

and seething ocean are never
far away in the islands.
Reader ’s Digest
J
ust a few days into my trip
to the Shetland Islands, the
Scottish subarctic archipelago
across the sea from Norway,
I found myself on the top of
a cliff face, peering through
the fog at a huge rock in the North
Atlantic Ocean. The rock was topped
with the Muckle Flugga lighthouse,
built in 1854, a mind-boggling feat as
the rock’s cliff face juts straight up out
of the roiling sea.
At this most northerly inhabited
point in the UK, I felt a profound sense
that I was very far from home.
I had disembarked to this spot from a
bus at the top of the tiny island of Unst,
the most northern and rocky of the
Shetland Islands, with a population of
about 500. On the bus with me was a
group of mostly women from all over
the world, all of us attendees of Shet-
land Wool Week, hailed through the
world’s knitting grapevine as the mecca
of all knitting and textile festivals.
To get to this spot, the bus had
driven us up the length of the ‘main-
land’, the largest of the populated
islands, crossed on a ferry to the
smaller island of Yell, then driven up
a snaking road to Yell’s tip and to a
second ferry ride to Unst.
Now, we stood at the top of the cliffs
of Hermaness, home to some of the
largest colonies of nesting seabirds in
the UK. We squinted through the fog,
trying to keep our feet on the ground
and our knitted hats on our heads as
the howling gusts of wind pulled at us.
92 november 2019
Before I arrived in Shetland, as the
islands are called, the only thing I really
knew about the place was that it is the
birthplace of Fair Isle knitting, a tech-
nique of colourwork recognizable in
traditional sweaters. What I found was
a place with a complex history beyond
that of the knitting industry, difficult to
get to, but well worth the journey.
T
here are about 100 islands
in Shetland, though only 15 are
inhabited. To get to mainland
Shetland, one either takes an overnight
ferry or a small plane from one of Scot-
land’s main cities to Lerwick, the hub of
the festival and the islands’ only town,
with a population of about 7,500. I took
the ferry, a memorable roller-coaster
experience on the heaving sea that I’m
not sure I want to experience again.
Mystery writer Ann Cleeves has
set a series of murder mysteries on
Shetland, which were made into an
excellent BBC series, Shetland. One
can easily see why: Driving around
the tiny islands is an experience in
YOU SNAKE DOWN
ONE-WAY ROADS
photo. previous spread: ©istock
THROUGH POCKETS
OF HOUSES AND
GRAZING SHEEP.

moodiness—you snake down one-way
roads through pockets of houses and
grazing sheep, the seething ocean on
one side or the other of you.
Often when you curve around a
bend in the road, the view before you
is breathtaking. If you are driving a car,
you have to be careful not to drive off
the road. Cliffs drop precipitously just
feet from the pavement; inlets have
choppy waves (and, in summer, killer
whales that pick off sleepy seals), enor-
mous rocks jut up from the ocean just
off the coast, and everywhere, roofs and
boats and houses are painted cheerful
colours that burst against the overcast
photo: ©shutterstock
sky. I had watched the BBC series, but
even such a well-crafted show is no
substitute for being there. One cannot
experience the Shetland wind through
one’s television. I was there for a week,
and there was only one night that I
The cliffs of Hermaness are home
to colonies of nesting seabirds.
didn’t hear the loud howl of wind all
night long. At one point, someone
asked a local farmer whether the wind
kept up all year long. “Wind?” he said
incredulously. “This is nothing! It’s
been calm ever since you came!”
T
he wind is a large part of life on
the islands: As winter approaches,
everything that might blow away
is removed from yards—wheelbarrows,
lawnmowers, wooden benches. When
the lighthouse keeper still lived at the
Eshaness lighthouse on the north-west
of the main island, our guide told us,
he chained his car to the cliff to make
sure it didn’t blow away.
In the winter, there is less than six
hours of daylight and in the summer,
less than six hours of darkness; the
wind, I was told, is constant no matter
the time of year, though at certain times
readersdigest.co.in 93
 (Left) Lerwick, the islands’ only town, has about
7,500 residents. (Right) A 16th-century castle in
Scalloway, once Shetland’s capital
it is known to gust harder, stronger or
more or less predictably. In September,
the month I was there, the winds are
known as ‘the Equinoctial gales’.
The people of Shetland, though,
could not be nicer—one is tempted to
think their isolation and hardiness has
formed them for kindness. At Virdafjell,
the bed and breakfast where my friend
and I stayed, owner Dorothy Stove
greeted us with a plastic bin of clean
house slippers for us to choose from,
and every morning put out a breakfast
spread fit for 10 hungry men: scones,
assorted bread, eggs, yogurt, fruit,
at least 10 different kinds of cereal
and even decorative butter slices in a
perfectly sized dish.
V
isitors are drawn to the Shet-
lands by archaeology (there are
ancient sites scattered all over
the islands), by geology (the islands sit
atop a network of tectonic plates and
94 november 2019
boast an array of ancient and volcanic
rocks), by caving and kayaking and by
an enormous diversity of nesting sea-
birds. Puffins, which nest there in the
hundreds of thousands in the summer,
are a popular draw.
Scalloway, once Shetland’s capital,
is the home of the 16th-century Scal-
loway Castle and the Shetland Bus, a
special operations group that carried
resistance fighters, materials and refu-
gees to and from Norway during World
War II. A sign on the castle’s gate de-
clares, “Castle Open, No Key Needed”.
My friend and I, the only ones there,
wandered through the cool and damp
rooms unrestricted. The main indus-
try on Shetland is fishing—primarily
mackerel, herring and salmon farming,
and more than 75 per cent of Scotland’s
mussels are produced there. But since
the medieval period, the textile indus-
try has been an important element of
Shetland’s economy.
 Local sheep on the islands produce
long soft fibres that make Shetland
wool unique. The islands’ women
spun the wool and knitted garments
that were then sold abroad. Today, knit-
ters in Shetland are celebrated for their
vision and skill; frequent signs on the
road advertise local designers whose
homes double as shops.
T
he main action at the time of
my visit was Wool Week. The
resurgence of interest in knitting
around the world has made knitting
festivals increasingly popular; tickets
for classes at festivals in Edinburgh
[in Scotland] or Iceland, for example,
photos: ©shutterstock x2
sell out within hours. In Shetland,
Wool Week is vast and diverse.
The nine-day programme features
myriad classes and exhibitions, tours,
gatherings, teas and lectures on nearly
all the islands; on one day, I counted
54 different offerings.
KNITTERS IN
SHETLAND ARE
CELEBRATED FOR
THEIR VISION
AND SKILL.
A day tour of the main island in-
cluded a stop at Ollaberry Hall on the
western shore, where a table more
than eight feet long boasted plate after
plate of handmade cakes and cookies
(‘homebakes’) and local women served
us tea. This spread accompanied an
exhibit of lace shawls knitted with
cobweb-thin yarn, so thin the whole
shawl could pass through a wedding
ring. It feels as if every local person
who has anything to do with textiles or
readersdigest.co.in 95
 Knitters unwind in
the education centre
in Sumburgh Head
Lighthouse.
wool is featured in some way. This in-
cludes Oliver Henry, the wool-sorter at
Jamieson & Smith, one of the two lar-
gest purveyors of Shetland wool, who
gives a talk about the job of sorting and
grading wool, and Wilma Malcolmson,
who makes the knitwear worn by the
detective on Shetland. She teaches a
class on knitting with multiple colours.
Even Hazel Tindall, the world’s fastest
knitter—262 stitches every three min-
utes, I was told—teaches a few classes.
A
highlight of my week was a
visit to Uradale Farm, one of six
organic farms on the islands,
where Ronnie Eunson gave us a tour
of his property. It sits high on a hill
overlooking many rolling acres and
the sea. The view was staggering and
the sheep unimpressed. Getting there
was a bit of a challenge—as with most
everywhere on the islands, there are no
96 november 2019
street addresses, so one has to know
the landmarks one is looking for or
pray that your smartphone map app
recognizes what you are searching for.
Ronnie decried the phasing out
of native sheep on Shetland. Of
about 1,50,000 sheep on the islands
(compared to 22,000 people), fewer
than 30,000 are native, though they are
adapted to thrive on the islands.
Most native sheep are black, brown
photo: andy haslam for the new york times
or grey, and for many years, only white
wool has been worth any money
because it can be more easily dyed.
Asked whether he saw any change,
Ronnie spoke about Wool Week
creating interest in native wool. “You’re
standing here, that’s the change,”
he said. Before Wool Week started
10 years ago, he said, the situation
seemed quite desperate.
In 2018, nearly 700 people—an
increase of 100 over the previous
 Travel

TRAVEL TIPS
getting there: Regular flights to
the Shetland Islands are available
from India. Routes involve stops at
Edinburgh, Aberdeen or London and
then switching over to a regional
airline (see loganair.co.uk) to
Sumburgh Airport. An overnight
ferry runs from Aberdeen to Lerwick
daily (see northlinkferries.co.uk).
lodging: Virdafjell B&B,
Gulberwick, double rooms from
£40 (`3,471) per person,
+44 1595 694336;
Kveldsro House Hotel in central local produce and seafood,
Lerwick, double rooms from £118 fjaracoffee.com;
(`10,239), shetlandhotels.com;
Frankie’s Fish & Chips, Brae,
Baltasound Hotel, Unst, bills itself offers a wide variety of fish,
as the northernmost hotel in the scallops and mussels, as well
UK; rooms from £125 (`10,847), as tours of the Shetland fishing
baltasoundhotel.co.uk. industry, frankiesfishandchips.com.
dining: Fjarå Café Bar, Lerwick, more information: shetland.org
offers sweeping views of Lerwick
Bay and a menu that highlights —Peter Dockrill

year—made the trip to the festival, pri-
marily from Europe, the United States
and Canada, but also from farther-flung
places such as Australia, Japan, Egypt,
Indonesia and Israel.
Where is all of this attention coming
from? The BBC series has helped, as
map: wikipedia
doesn’t want to get too positive.
The Shetland knitting industry still
faces high demand for inexpensive,
mass-produced white wool, and a
small market for handmade goods.
But standing on the shores of
Shetland, a knitter can’t help but feel

has perhaps a back-to-basics interest optimistic, and a person can’t help

in those of us who feel increasingly but feel swept away.
distanced from a natural form of new york times (21 november 2018), copyright © new york
community in our modern world. One times, nytimes.com

readersdigest.co.in 97
 BONUS READ

With the last remaining soldiers of World

War II well into their 90s, Ernest Brough and
veterans like him represent the precious final
links to a time when the world was torn apart

By Marc McEvoy
photo: national library of australia

A
khaki felt army cap has sat on a bookshelf in my home
in Sydney for nine years. Two metal press-studs secure the
brim, and the five-pointed, red communist star graces the front.
The crown has the faint odour of human sweat. It is a partizanka,
a cap worn by Yugoslav Partisan soldiers in Croatia and
western Bosnia during World War II. The partizanka is
something of a collector’s piece, as few like it remain. For me, it represents
a promise I need to fulfil. 

98 november 2019
 Reader ’s Digest

Ernest ‘Ern’ Brough,

pictured here soon after
the war, was just 20
when he signed up.

readersdigest.co.in 99
Reader ’s Digest Bonus Read
It is impossible to look at the cap
and not wonder about its bloody
history. It had two rightful owners,
Boris Puks*, a Croatian Partisan
fighter, and Ernest ‘Ern’ Brough, a
World War II veteran from Geelong,
Victoria, who gave it to me in 2009. My
part in its history is a small footnote
compared to the life it once led in the
mountains and forests of wartime
Yugoslavia. The cap arrived in the post
not long after I met Ern, accompanied
by a note: “Marc—a gift to me from
Puks Boris, 1944, at Cassma, Croatia.”
When I phoned Ern to thank him,
he made me promise to give it to the
Australian War Memorial when he
died. This artefact now belongs where
Ern had intended. The voices of World
War II are fast disappearing and as
Ern is still alive, I want him to have the
chance to once again share his story.
A Great Adventure
Six weeks after Ern turned 20, on
28 March 1940, he enlisted in the
Second Australian Imperial Force.
This apprentice butcher from
Drouin, in rural Victoria, had very
little life experience behind him, but
the Army deployed him to Libya to
protect the besieged port of Tobruk.
He arrived in May 1941. “It was a
case of keeping ’em out. Don’t let
’em in, that’s it. Fight for your life,”
he said later.
*Boris Puks is called Puks Boris in Ernest
Brough’s book, Dangerous Days.
100 november 2019
Following nearly three months of
relentless battle, Ern was wounded
by German machine-gun fire du-
ring a patrol. He recovered and was
then sent to Egypt to fight in the
pivotal Battle of El Alamein. Cap-
tured by German forces, Ern spent
time in a POW [prisoner of war] camp
in Italy before eventually ending up
in Stalag XVIII-A/Z, a notorious Nazi
THE VOICES OF
WORLD WAR II ARE FAST
DISAPPEARING AND AS
ERN IS STILL ALIVE, I
WANT HIM TO HAVE THE
CHANCE TO ONCE AGAIN
SHARE HIS STORY.
POW camp in Austria. After two years,
along with fellow Australian Sergeant
Arnold ‘Allan’ Berry, and New Zea-
lander Private Eric Baty, he escaped
from an Arbeitskommando (prison
farm camp) near Graz and spent two
months on a desperate flight through
first Austria, and then Slovenia, Croa-
tia and Bosnia.
Ern shared these wartime
experiences in 2009 in his memoir
Dangerous Days: A Digger’s Great
Escape, which he co-wrote with
author Kim Kelly. I first met Ern at
the Sydney office of HarperCollins,
 From left: Ross Sayers, Ern Brough, ‘Allan’ Berry and Harry Lesar on their return to
Port Melbourne in September, 1944. Sayers and Lesar had also escaped POW camps.
where I interviewed him about the
book. He was a big, robust man of
89, with sparkling eyes and a hearty
laugh. Our conversation flowed easily
as I knew the territory where the
Partisans had fought.
In the 1990s, I’d worked in the
photo courtesy of ernest brough
former Yugoslavia for the United
Nations as a press and information
officer and had travelled throughout
Croatia and Bosnia, and knew
the areas the three escapees had
journeyed through, a route that
included the Croatian towns of
Varaždin, Ivanec and Kalnik, the
capital Zagreb and Banja Luka in the
Serb region of Bosnia.
I had also experienced war in
that part of the world. I’d been shot
at and trapped under artillery and
mortar fire, seen people die from
gunshot wounds and burns, and
felt many times the uncontrollable
fear that can grip you in a war zone.
None of that compares to Ern’s war
experiences, whose courage earned
him the Military Medal. But I could
understand why returned soldiers
suffer from post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).
War occupied only a few years of
Ern’s young life but his scars have
never truly faded—it was hard not
to notice his shaking left hand, the
readersdigest.co.in 101
Reader ’s Digest Bonus Read

nerves damaged by shell shock. Yet 24, Ern, together with Allan and
he often insists he was not afraid in Eric, escaped the prison farm camp.
battle. “I wasn’t very frightened of Armed with only a tiny compass and
anything,” he tells me. “I think it’s a stolen map, the three men had
because I had a flash of blood from planned to flee through Slovenia to
my mother that I did not fear for the Adriatic coast and from there
anything.” Ern reckons he inherited hitch a boat ride to Italy.  
the fighting resilience of his mother’s But after days on the run in south-
cousin, Captain Albert Jacka, a World eastern Austria, hiding in lofts and
War I Gallipoli veteran who earned a ditches, the men were starving and
Victoria Cross. suffering from hypothermia. Lying
down back-to-belly, they tried to
A Compass and a Map stay warm during the nights, but
The chill of winter still hung in the always woke feeling so cold it was
air when, in April 1944, now aged difficult to speak. Late one inky black
night, ignoring their aching
bodies, they were forced to
AUSTRIA cross the freezing Drava River—
Graz
H U N G A RY which bordered Slovenia—now
Varaždin swollen from melting snow. Ern
S LO V E N I A and Allan couldn’t swim, so it
Zagreb
was the New Zealander, Eric,
C R O AT I A who took charge of the dan-
Venice
gerous river crossing.
They stripped naked and tied
Banja
Luka their clothes with bootlaces to
a makeshift raft. Trouble struck
an hour into crossing what they
BOSNIA
thought was a 15-metre span of
the river, when they discovered
they were in a section that had
been widened by a weir [dam].
I TA LY Allan developed a cramp while
Ern, trying desperately to stay
afloat by doggy-paddling, was
Bari showing worrying signs of shock.
Eric swam ahead to check how far
they had to go before returning
to help his struggling mates. “We

102 november 2019

 A female British liaison officer working with the Partisans (centre) with Allan Berry
and Eric Baty to her left, and Ern to her right, with Partisan fighters
nearly came undone that night,” Ern
says. As if the cold wasn’t enough, the
raft began to come apart and they lost
most of their meagre supplies.
Dragging the disintegrating raft
behind him, Eric saved the two
from perishing in the freezing water
photo courtesy of ernest brough
that night. Eventually reaching
the Slovenian side of the river,
they set up camp and dried their
uniforms over a fire started with
Eric’s cigarette lighter.
After recovering, they travelled
through Slovenia and crossed the
snow-capped mountains bordering
Croatia. The escapees were taken in
by a group of Partisan fighters, who
were part of the Yugoslav communist
resistance led by Josip Broz, known as
‘Tito’. Made up of Bosnians, Croatians,
Serbians and Slovenes, the resistance
included women and fought both
the Nazis and the Ustashi, the ultra-
nationalists who ran Croatia. The
Partisans were known for giving
fleeing Jews, refugees and Allied
POWs safe passage to freedom.
During April and May 1944, the three
men zigzagged across the country with
the Partisans, who raided villages and
clashed with the brutal Ustashi. Ern
witnessed extreme cruelty by all sides.
One time the Partisans attacked a vil-
lage near Varaždin and brought back
readersdigest.co.in 103
Reader ’s Digest Bonus Read
20 prisoners, one of whom was a Par-
tisan’s brother. He was furious with
his brother for siding with the enemy,
so he jumped on his feet, breaking
bones. Appalled, Eric went to inter-
vene but Ern stopped him, clamping
a hand over his friend’s mouth and
urging him to keep out of it.
Ern and his mates befriended Boris
Puks, a 21-year-old Partisan and for-
mer University of Zagreb student. In
Boris, Ern found someone who liked
to talk about the war and who liked
to postulate about what the future
might bring. “He was a nice guy,” Ern
writes in his book. “One day, he gave
me his Partisan cap as a gift.”
After 62 days on the run, the
escapees reached the Serbian town
Ern was given this partizanka as a
symbol of friendship by a young
Partisan, Boris Puks, in Croatia in 1944.
104 november 2019
of Banja Luka in Bosnia, from where
they were eventually evacuated on an
American DC-3 to Bari in Italy. When
they arrived in Bari they were all skin
and bones.
A Story Revealed
Ern offered me Puks’s cap during our
first interview in 2009. I had seen a
photograph of it in his book and was
taken by its historical significance.
I knew that he treasured the parti-
zanka cap and had proudly showed it
to mates at his local RSL club.
Ern appreciated my knowledge of
the place where he spent the final
months of World War II. “I reckon
you can use it more than me, now,”
he said. I was reluctant to accept Ern’s
cherished cap, but he sent it to me
soon afterwards.
Now, nine years later, I hoped to
return the cap to Ern and see about
giving it to the Australian War Memo-
rial. I call the phone number in Gee-
long that I’d dialled years earlier. After
a few rings, a man answers. It’s Ern,
who confirms he is very much alive.
We arrange for me to interview him
two days later. Not long after, Lizzie
Campbell, Ern’s carer, calls me to
check who I am. Ern has no problem
remembering the cap, but he can’t re-
member giving it to me. These days,
Lizzie explains, such memories can
photos: istock
elude him.
When I call him back as planned,
Ern has had time to flick through his
book. Details of his time in Tobruk
 of the Australian War Memorial.
and Croatia are clearer. “How the hell
did we ever get through it?” he asks
me in a wavering voice.
While in Tobruk, fear wasn’t part of
Ern’s thinking. “A lot of them used to
sweat it out,” he recalls. “They had a
terrible time. I didn’t care. I was walk-
ing around as if I owned the place.”
photos: australian war memorial
When I press him for more infor-
mation about the cap and Boris Puks,
his memory is sketchy. Ern remem-
bers that the cap belonged to Puks,
that he was a Croatian Partisan and
that Puks gave him the cap as a ges-
ture of thanks. That’s where it stops.
“No, I don’t remember,” he tells
me. “When you’re young, you learn
something and you shove it aside.”
More questions about the cap
eventually jog his memory. “I used
to put a big white turkey feather in
it,” he says with a laugh.
After the war, Ern returned to
country Victoria and resumed work
as a butcher. They were difficult
times. Shell-shocked and damaged,
adjusting to peacetime wasn’t easy.
He felt “wild on the inside” and, at
times, resorted to fighting and drin-
king. “Allan, Eric and I had lived like
dogs,” he writes in Dangerous Days.
“Every day had been a dangerous
day, every shadow a possible preda-
tor. We survived on instinct, so it was
readersdigest.co.in 105
Reader ’s Digest Bonus Read
always going to be difficult to slip
back into a civilized world.”
Getting the images of war out of
his head was hard and Ern believes
he suffered from PTSD . He tells
me about a time on a train to Mel-
bourne when he attacked a man who
had tried to scrounge the last of his
tobacco. It took four other men to re-
strain him. He was also plagued by
nightmares and one time woke to find
himself trying to throttle his beloved
wife, Edna May.
Puks wrote to Ern several times and
was interested in emigrating to Aus-
tralia, but Puks was a communist, so
the authorities kept an eye on the let-
ters Ern received, placing him under
surveillance for six years. Anti-com-
munist sentiment was strong at the
time. When Ern discovered his move-
ments were being monitored, he was
outraged but realized it was safer to
end their correspondence.
A Promise Fulfilled
Ever aware of my promise, I call
the Australian War Memorial in
Canberra to ask about donating
the cap to its collection. They are
keenly interested in Ern’s story—and
the rare artefact—so they decide to
fly Ern and Lizzie to Canberra and
appropriately recognize his donation.
On 6 February this year [2018], on
a hot, dry Canberra morning, I ar-
rived at the Australian War Memorial
ready to hand over the cap to Ern.
Frailer than when we last met, he
106 november 2019
still has that sparkle in his eyes
and an easy laugh.
In the Commemorative Courtyard
before the Pool of Reflection,
surrounded by the Roll of Honour
commemorating the more than
1,02,000 Australians who have died
in war, Sergeant Ernest James Brough
of the 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion
presented the cap to Brendan Nelson,
the director of the Australian War
Memorial. “People will look at the
cap and realize that a Partisan risked
his own life and safety to help this
Australian escape,” Nelson says. “And
at the end he gave his cap to Ern. It
“PEOPLE WILL LOOK AT
THE CAP AND REALIZE
THAT A PARTISAN
RISKED HIS LIFE AND
SAFETY TO HELP THIS
AUSTRALIAN ESCAPE.”
will make people ask, ‘Why did he do
that?’ Thanks to this simple gesture,
the memorial now has an important
artefact that tells Ern’s inspirational
story of survival and mateship.”
Across the courtyard, a group
of 18 soldiers are practising a
drill. Nelson calls them over and
introduces them to Ern, the former
 Ern with young Australian soldiers
POW and Rat of Tobruk. Each one
eagerly approaches the old man
to shake his hand. It is a moving
moment. Young soldiers paying
respect to a frail, decorated war hero
from their own defence history.
Ern visited Eric Baty in New Zea-
photos: australian war memorial
land 46 years after their escape. They
talked about the time the Partisan at-
tacked his brother and how Ern had
stopped Eric from getting involved.
“Eric thanked me for saving his life
that time,” Ern told me in 2009. “They
would have shot him for sure. But I
said, ‘No, Eric, it’s me who must thank
you for saving my life in the river.’”
It took Ern more than 60 years to
bring himself to write about his war
experiences. He comes from a genera-
tion who were taught to be stoic but
reticent in the face of misfortune.
Writer Kim Kelly worked closely
with Ern, talking with him every day
for a month to research his memoir.
She found that he did not want to
talk about what happened when he
returned to Australia. “The idea of
PTSD was not talked about in his day,”
she explains. “They used alcohol in-
stead. Today, he is clear-sighted about
it and believes returned soldiers
need a story debrief about their war
readersdigest.co.in 107
 Ern standing in the commemorative area at the Australian War
Memorial in Canberra
experiences, such as writing it down
or speaking into a microphone.”
It helped Ern to be able to tell his
war story. “He believed going to war
was important and why Australia
went to war was important, but Ern
is still anti-war,” says Kim. “He thinks
war makes no sense.” Ern remains
close to her heart—Kim last visited
Ern in Geelong last September.
Today Ern lives alone. Lizzie visits
most days and he keeps active tend-
ing oak trees in his garden. Most of
his mates from the war have gone. Al-
lan died in 1985, aged 67. Eric died in
1999, aged 80. Edna May, Ern’s wife of
more than 60 years, in 2004. She was
108 november 2019
81. Ern was so grateful for the treat-
ment she received at Melbourne’s St
Vincent’s Hospital that he sold his
land and donated $3,00,000 towards
buying an echocardiograph machine.
“I keep saying to him that he
has to get to 100,” says Lizzie. He is
now the last surviving Rat of Tobruk
photo: australian war memorial
in Geelong.
When I handed the cap back to
Ern in Canberra, he paused before
handing it over to Nelson. I thought
Ern was about to say what I was
thinking—that it was more than a cap,
that it is a symbol of the courageous
people who fought against tyranny,
a reminder of the debt owed to
 Bonus Read

those who gave their lives to protect Later he turned to me and

our freedoms. said, “What a wonderful day it is.”
But no—to the delight of Then a joyful expression spread
all present, Ern broke into the across his face and he let out an
Australian Football League anthem, uproarious laugh.
‘Up There Cazaly’.
The khaki partizanka cap that started
life in the hands of a young Croatian
Up there Cazaly resistance fighter and was gifted in
In there and fight friendship to an Australian POW escapee
Out there and at ’em is now carefully preserved in the Second
World War Galleries of the Australian
Show ’em your might War Memorial in Canberra.

History of the PARTISAN CAP

The military side cap, Triglav mountain,
or forage cap, that Slovenia's highest
Boris Puks gave to Ernest peak. Puks's cap is a
Brough in 1944 was part partizanka, so it has
of the Yugoslav Partisan a flatter crown and a
uniform. It was called folded brim at the back. 
the triglavka in Slovenian In 1943, the
and the partizanka in partizanka and the
Croatian. The design triglavka were replaced
was copied from the by the titovka, or Tito
cap worn by Republican Liberation Front of cap, which was named
faction soldiers during Croatia. In occupied after the Yugoslav
the Spanish Civil War. Yugoslavia during communist resistance
A feature of the Yugoslav World War II, this cap's leader, Josip Broz Tito,
Partisan cap was the use spread quickly and modelled on the
red communist star throughout the Partisan Soviet army cap, the
on the front. resistance. The Slovenian pilotka. After the war,
The first Yugoslav triglavka, adopted in the titovka became the
caps were made in 1942, had a three- official headwear of
1941 in Zagreb for the pronged ridge along the Yugoslav People's
communist People's its crown, representing Army, or JNA.

readersdigest.co.in 109
 CULTURESCAPE
Books, Arts and Entertainment

Drawing on
the Personal
Unlike her previous films,
The Sky Is Pink is not linked
to director Shonali Bose’s
own life

by Anna M. M. Vetticad

‘‘
You went to the US for a PhD.
How did filmmaking happen?
When my mother died tragically dur-
ing my final year of history honours at
Miranda House, Delhi, I just needed to
leave India. I wanted to teach history,
but I had the option to pursue politi-
cal science at Columbia University, so I
went there instead. However, I quit af-
ter my Master’s there, not making use
of the PhD scholarship I had earned,
because I was sickened by their almost
colonial approach to India, which was
my area of interest. While exploring ca-
reer options, I applied for film school

110 november 2019


and got into the University of Califor-
nia, Los Angeles. When I made my
first student film, I felt in my bones
that this was my calling.
Margarita With A Straw’s protagonist
has cerebral palsy and is bisexual.
What is your personal connection
with her?
My cousin Malini Chib was born with
cerebral palsy. We grew up like sisters
and did everything together. So from
childhood, I didn’t think there was any-
thing a person with a disability couldn’t
do. Years later, when I asked her what
she wanted for her 40th birthday, she
said, “I just wanna have sex.” That’s
when it hit me. I hadn’t thought about
my sister’s sexuality or that physical
need. But when I started writing Mar-
garita, I looked within. I am bisexual,
so I borrowed heavily from myself for
the story.
How did you hear of Aisha Chaud-
hary, the child in The Sky Is Pink?
Aisha Chaudhary had seen the trailer
of Margarita 30 times and told her
parents she hoped to live to see the
film. She died two weeks later. When
Margarita released in theatres, her
parents, Aditi and Niren Chaudhary
watched the film and learnt from the
‘dedication’ that I too had lost a child.
Perhaps they felt safer approaching a
filmmaker who understood loss, so
Aditi contacted me and asked if I’d
make a film on Aisha. I chose to make
a film on the parents instead.
Reader ’s Digest
Does the mother-daughter relation-
ship recur in your films because you
were close to your mother?
She was the centre of my life and
the wound from her loss was mas-
sive. When I made my first film Amu,
I had not fully recovered from it. I
subconsciously did it as a mother-
daughter film because of my close-
ness with her and later with my sons.
I wrote Margarita soon after my son
Ishan passed away. Although in the
movie, it is the mother who dies,
I also process the loss of my son
through the film. By the time I made
The Sky Is Pink, I had processed all my
wounds. This time I was intellectually
and creatively interested in death. For
the first time, it was not directly linked
to my own life.
Can one ever recover from a beloved
parent’s death?
Ten thousand per cent. In fact, a child’s
death is much bigger because it’s un-
natural for a parent to see their child
go. But no matter how deep the pain,
if you process your feelings, you will
transcend them.
You were open about being bisexual
even when same-sex relations were
criminalized in India. How come?
I’ve never been afraid to speak out on
anything. The fact that it was
criminalized made me talk about it
’’
even more. Even if I were straight, I
would say I’m gay just to stand
in solidarity.
readersdigest.co.in 111
 RD RECOMMENDS

Films find the source of Elsa’s magical

powers. Featuring the voices of Idina
Menzel and Kristen Bell, the film hits
ENGLISH: The latest CHARLIE’S AN- theatres on 22 November.
GELS film will be releasing in theatres HINDI: BYPASS ROAD, starring Neil Ni-
on 15 November. A bold, new genera- tin Mukesh and Gul Panag, will focus
tion of fearless Angels from around the on a paraplegic man who becomes a
world take centrestage. This time, they murder suspect. Trapped in his own
must put their lives on the line to pro- home after facing a brutal accident, he
tect the world when a whistleblower has to fend off attacks from the real
exposes a dangerous technology. The criminals, and expose their identity.
film features Kristen Stewart, Naomi The film hits theatres on 1 November.
Scott and Ella Balinska.
Matt Damon and Christian Bale will
headline FORD V FERRARI, a biopic
based on the American car designer
Carroll Shelby and the British driver
Ken Miles. Together, they battle corpo-
rate challenges and personal troubles,
while building a race car for the Ford
Motor Company that can take on the
legendary speed demons of Enzo Fer-
rari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in
France, 1966. Release: 15 November.
FROZEN II, the sequel to the 2013
Disney hit Frozen, continues the story
of royal sisters Anna and Elsa. This
time, Elsa is being beckoned by a
strange sound from the north. Their
friends Kristoff, Olaf and Sven join
them as they embark on a quest be-
yond their hometown Arendelle to

(Right) The cast of Charlie’s Angels

112 november 2019

Streaming
THE IRISHMAN: Directed by Martin Scorsese, The
Irishman promises to be an epic crime film chroni-
cling one of America’s greatest unsolved myste-
ries—the disappearance of the union boss Jimmy
Hoffa. The film offers a fascinating peek into the
world of organized crime through the eyes of World
War II veteran Frank Sheeran, a hustler and hit-
man. In the process, it exposes the hidden aspects
of the underworld and its links with mainstream
politics. Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Al Pacino (left) and Robert
Pesci, the film streams on Netflix on 27 November. De Niro (right) in The Irishman

#WATCHLIST: recall, through first- Queer Eye: We’re in

0N OUR RADAR hand footage and
interviews, one of the
Japan!: In this Netflix
series, streaming from
most devastating wild- 1 November onwards,
House Arrest: Starring fires in history that the hosts touch down
Ali Fazal and Shriya destroyed the town in Tokyo to explore
Pilgaonkar, this film of Paradise in Califor- the culture, and help
is about a man trap- nia, killing 85 people. four Japanese people
ped in his own fears Streaming on Netflix find the confidence
who locks himself in on 1 November. to be themselves.
his home, but can’t
stop the world from
influencing his life.
Directed by Shash-
anka Ghosh and
Samit Basu. The film
streams on Netflix
on 15 November.

Fire in Paradise: This

documentary will A still from House Arrest

readersdigest.co.in 113
Reader ’s Digest

Books
2019: How Modi Won India by Rajdeep Sardesai,
HarperCollins India
Veteran journalist
Rajdeep Sardesai
looks back at the Scope Out
2019 general elections Ghalib: A Thousand
that resulted in the Desires (Penguin):
BJP-led NDA returning Writer Raza Mir por-
to power. Reliving trays Mirza Ghalib as
the twists and turns an outspoken genius
in India’s political and game-changer
in this book.

book covers courtesy: harpercollins india, aleph book company, penguin random house
landscape between
BJP’s first victory in
2014 and its sweeping Accidental Magic
triumph in 2019, (HarperCollins India):
Sardesai attempts landmark 2019 verdict Keshava Guha’s debut
to analyze and make is likely to determine novel tells the story of
sense of the ever- the destiny of ‘new four people, whose
changing contours India’. The book lives are brought
and characteristics offers some detailed together by the magic
of an ever-changing and brilliant insights of Harry Potter.
India, its politics and into the constantly-
newsmakers. There’s unfolding story of A Life in the World
no denying that the our democracy. (HarperCollins India):
This book features a
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE ... The Silence and lively set of conversa-
the Storm: Narratives of Violence against tions, drawing on the
Women in India by Kalpana Sharma personal, between
(Aleph): Senior journalist Kalpana well-known public
Sharma investigates why violence intellectual U. R.
against women in India has barely Ananthamurthy and
abated despite reformed laws. Socie- academic Chandan
tal structures perpetuating this vio- Gowda, which took
lence have not changed. Sharma also place between 2012
links this sexual violence to the divi- and 2013.
sive politics dominating the nation.

114 november 2019

 A scene from the
Pushkar Fair

Events the longest moustache competition

The Pushkar Fair: Get ready to expe-
rience the best of what Rajasthan
has to offer this year, with the
Pushkar Fair—to be held from
4 to 12 November. The event, held
on the banks of the beautiful Pushkar
Lake, sees thousands of people each
year. The event starts with a camel
race—and over the next week, the
trading of livestock and local handi-
crafts continues in full swing. Then,
there are the songs, dances, hot air
balloon rides and unique cultural
events such as the matka phod and
that give this fair a carnivalesque feel.
The heady atmosphere of festivity
and celebration throughout makes
this one of the most sought-after
experiences for travel aficionados.
India Art Festival: The Delhi leg of
the India Art Festival will be held
at the Thyagraj Stadium from 14 to
17 November. Every year, this festival
hosts over 300 artists and 50 art
galleries from across India and
abroad—showcasing original
artworks, paintings, sculptures,
photography, ceramics, lithographs
all under one roof.

Historic milestones ÊA Few Good Men ÊDa Vinci domi-

THROWBACK

in sports, art and opens on Broad- nates: Da Vinci’s

entertainment way: Aaron Sorkin Salvator Mundi
ÊCricketing de- debuted his play, A sold for a record
buts: Sachin Ten- Few Good Men, at $450 million on
dulkar and Waqar the Music Box The- 15 November 2017
Younis made their atre in New York on after furious bidding
test cricket debuts 15 November 1989. at the auction house
indiapicture

on 15 November The show ran for Christie’s, New York.

1989 in Karachi. 497 performances. —PRATISHTHA DOBHAL

—COMPILED BY SAPTAK CHOUDHURY

readersdigest.co.in 115
Reader ’s Digest

LAUGH LINES

I sleep with a knife under

my pillow. You never know People in sleeping bags are
when someone is going to the soft tacos of the bear world.
break in and give you a cake. — @longwall26
— @shariv67

Any job is a
I used to be able to
pull all-nighters but
Sleep dream job if you
fall asleep in
now I can barely
pull all-dayers. Depraved meetings.
— @somaddysmith
— @wolfyneyda

alluneed/shutterstock

There are many theories

on why humans even need Accidentally fell asleep smoking
to sleep, but I’m pretty sure an e-cigarette and when I woke up
it’s to charge our phones. my whole house was on the internet.
— @alispagnola — @JermHimselfish

116 november 2019


REVIEW
Unmasking
The Family
Man
Nuanced and cheeky,
this series undercuts our
expectations of spy fiction
By Jai Arjun Singh
FOR VIEWERS of a cer-
tain vintage, the premise
of The Family Man re-
sembles that of the 1994
Arnold Schwarzenegger–
Jamie Lee Curtis film
True Lies: An espionage
agent conceals the true
nature of his work from
his family; meanwhile,
his wife yearns for some-
thing to break the mo-
notony of her own life.
These similarities not-
withstanding, the web
show—anchored by the
terrific Manoj Bajpayee
as security analyst Sri-
kant Tiwari—has many
other things going for it.
Nuanced and cheeky, it
undercuts our usual ex-
Culturescape
A still from
The Family Man
pectations of a spy very tense set of scenes
thriller; the emphasis is in episode 8 depicting
on how banal and thank- how the lives of Srikant’s
less the work of under- wife Suchi (played by
cover agents can be. At Priyamani) and two chil-
the same time, the show dren are unravelling, the
offers pointed commen- series moves the focus
tary on the brand of ter- away from the ‘family’,
ror perpetrated by the to the antagonists’ plans
Hindutva ‘gau-rakshak’ to launch a massive
squads and on the cag- terror attack.
ing of beautiful Kashmir. Taken as a whole,
The Family Man though, this is one of
builds gradually, pea- the most compelling
king in episodes 4 to 6. shows we have had. Like
This stretch includes two Sacred Games 2, it ends
wonderfully orchestrated on an unresolved note
single-take action se- that will put some view-
quences, and then it ers off—but the good
becomes a little diffused news is that the cliff-
in its final leg. My main hanger ending points
complaint is that after a to a second season.
readersdigest.co.in 117
Reader ’s Digest

STUDIO

photo courtesy: museum of art & photography, bengaluru

Shipping in the Hooghly, Calcutta (Kolkata), by Samuel Bourne
Albumen print, 8.6 x 13.3 in, c.1860

ACHIEVING RENOWN duced some of the more than 2,000 of

as a landscape photo- most definitive photo- them—act as important
grapher soon after he graphs of the 19th- historical records of co-
got his start in London, century Indian land- lonial outposts such as
Samuel Bourne made scape, by incorporating Kolkata, Agra, Shimla
his way to India in 1863 aesthetic, cultural and and Varanasi among
by boat, hoping to work philosophical notions others. The exquisite
professionally in the of the Victorian tradi- quality of his images
field. Over the next tion of the picturesque was a result of the care
seven, hugely prolific, in his works. he took in developing
years, Bourne pro- Bourne’s images— them, using the long

118 november 2019

 Culturescape

and laborious wet plate photographs is only were so vital to colonial

collodion process. His now being fully appre- trade and commerce.
photographic surveys ciated. Museums and Located on the banks
of the Himalayas, curators have, in the of the river, Calcutta
which represent some recent past, held acted as a major access
of the finest examples exhibitions displaying point and strategic hub
of 19th-century travel whatever remains of for transporting goods
photography, are a the Bourne & Shepherd and people into Bengal
testament to this mo- collection, after a and further inland. As
numental effort and massive fire in 1991 for the river itself, for
boast of an unbeatable centuries, the Hooghly
finesse in aesthetic BOURNE & was used as a trade
and technical quality. route for several em-
In fact, by the time SHEPHERD’S pires that set up com-
Bourne left India in EVOCATIVE mercial posts along its
1870, the Bourne & PHOTOS OF winding length. With
Shepherd studio, which time and the advent of
he helped set up and CALCUTTA more European traders,
which was functional HAVE THE its importance magni-
until 2016, was among EFFECT OF A fied, due to the route to
the most commercially international markets
successful studios in CITY FROZEN that opened up via the
the world at the time. IN TIME. Bay of Bengal and the
Admittedly, Bourne Indian Ocean.
considered Calcutta This is clearly
“totally devoid of archi- tragically destroyed evident from the
tectural beauty, and its most of the negatives line of people who
immediate neighbour- and archival material can be seen unloading
hood of pictorial inte- in its possession. goods from docked
rest.” Yet Bourne & Bourne’s work ships and the scores
Shepherd’s photos of (left) depicts a bustle of barrels propped
Calcutta are nothing of activity near the river up on the riverbank
if not evocative. They Hooghly, which runs in the picture. The
have the effect of through the erstwhile ships themselves
‘freezing’ Calcutta colonial capital. The add an element of
in time, particularly details of the image of- nostalgia, taking
during the era of the fer cogent answers to us back to a time
British Raj. The histo- the question of why that is forever lost.
rical worth of these this city and the river — BY SAPTAK CHOUDHURY

readersdigest.co.in 119
 ME & MY SHELF

Acclaimed novelist, playwright and

peer in the House of Lords, UK,
Jeffrey Archer (79) has spent an
illustrious 45-year-long writing
career creating bestsellers such
as Not A Penny More, Not A Penny
Less, Kane and Abel and Paths
of Glory, short-story collections,
a three-part prison diary and the
seven-volume saga titled Clifton
Chronicles. His latest is the
William Warwick series, of which
the first book, Nothing Ventured,
launched in September. He lives
in London and Cambridge. Here he
lists his all-time favourite reads.

Beware of Pity The Count of Monte Cristo photo courtesy: samhita chakraborty
BY STEFAN ZWEIG, BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS, Rupa Publi-
Pushkin Press, `588 cations, `295
This book is a This is a masterpiece. It’s too long by
marvellous combi- modern standards, of course. If Dumas
nation of writing and was around today, he’d write books of
storytelling. Zweig 400 pages. With no television, no other
was one of the most distraction, he wrote books of 1,500
successful authors in pages. And the staggering thing is that
the world in 1938, and then went out he wrote The Count of Monte Cristo and
of print, and has now come back to The Three Musketeers in the same year!
be a bestseller again. You couldn’t do that today!

120 november 2019

 Reader ’s Digest

The Scapegoat combination of both. This book is a

BY DAPHNE DU MAURIER, gem, as is Narayan’s Malgudi Days.
Virago Modern
Classics, `599 Reunion
A very clever idea: BY FRED UHLMAN, Farrar, Straus
one man taking over and Giroux, `864
the life of another; A wonderful insight into two young
of them swapping Germans—one Jewish, one aristo-
their lives. And well- cratic—in 1939, when they’re both at
written too: She’s a fine storyteller. school. A very fine book, which would
The Scapegoat combines her amazing help anyone understand the problems
talent for observation with good the Jews were facing in the late 1930s.
writing.
A Tale of
A Gentleman in Moscow Two Cities
BY AMOR TOWLES, Windmill Books, `499 BY CHARLES DICKENS,
This is the last book I read and loved Penguin Classics, `250
this year. It’s my book of the year. It’s I think this is probably
such an original subject! Very, very a book I have re-read
few books are genuinely original, the most number of
with a theme or an idea that nobody times. I love the idea
has thought of before, that no one has of him (Dr Manette)
tackled, and no one can tackle again. sacrificing his life for something bigger
It’s just such a clever idea; too clever and more glorious than himself.
to have been invented. But having said Quaintly old-fashioned in the modern
that, it has to be true. Then you’ve got world—I love it. This was Dickens’s
to write it. And it’s beautifully written. most successful book, possibly because
it was story, story, story, and impossible
Sredni Vashtar to put down!
BY SAKI (H. H. MUNRO),
Dover Publications, On the Beach
`150 I put Munro’s BY NEVIL SHUTE, Vintage Classics, `961
short stories equal I’d take this blockbuster along to re-read
with R. K. Narayan’s. on any long journey. Its post-apocalyp-
They are my favou- tic world encountered by ordinary hu-
rite short-story writ- mans could serve as a warning of our
ers. Both write likely future and a reminder of frailties
beautifully, but they that still drive us towards the brink.
are also damn good stories. It’s that rare —COMPILED BY SAMHITA CHAKRABORTY
Book prices are subject to change.

readersdigest.co.in 121
 THE
GENIUS
SECTION
8 Pages to sharpen
Your Mind

WISH YOU WERE

MORE CREATIVE?
v. s. anandhakrishna/shutterstock

JUST PRETEND!
Thinking you aren’t gifted may be what’s
blocking your inner artist

by Susie Neilson from the cut

122 november 2019


I
want to ask you a favour.
I have a pair of pants. Tell me:
How many different ways can I
put a pair of pants to use?
Now imagine you’re an
architect. Same question.
Now imagine you’re Cher. Bill
Gates. A scuba diver. A medieval
knight. You still have the pants. What
alternative uses come to mind?
What you just practised—the
conscious act of ‘wearing’ another
self—is an exercise that, according to
psychiatrist Srini Pillay, MD, is essen-
tial to being creative.
One great irony about our collec-
tive obsession with creativity is that
we tend to frame it in uncreative
ways. That is to say, most of us marry
creativity to our concept of self :
Either we’re ‘creative’ or we aren’t,
without much of a middle ground.
“I’m just not a creative person!” a
frustrated student might say in art
class, while another might blame her
talent at painting for her difficulties
in math, deflecting with a comment
such as, “I’m very right-brained.”
Dr Pillay, a tech entrepreneur and
an assistant professor at Harvard Uni-
versity, has spent a good chunk of his
career subverting these ideas. He be-
lieves that the key to unlocking your
creative potential is to defy the clichéd
advice that urges you to ‘believe in
yourself’. In fact, you should do the op-
posite: Believe you are someone else.
Dr Pillay points to a 2016 study de-
monstrating the impact of stereotypes
Reader ’s Digest
on one’s behaviour. The authors,
educational psychologists Denis Du-
mas and Kevin Dunbar, divided their
college-student subjects into three
groups, instructing the members of
one to think of themselves as ‘eccen-
tric poets’ and the members of another
to imagine they were ‘rigid librarians’
(the third group was the control). The
researchers then presented all the
participants with 10 ordinary objects,
including a fork, a carrot and a pair
of pants, and asked them to come up
with as many different uses as possible
for each one. Those who were asked
IGNORE ADVICE TO
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.
INSTEAD, BELIEVE YOU
ARE SOMEONE ELSE.
to imagine themselves as eccentric
poets came up with the widest range
of ideas, whereas those in the rigid-
librarian group had the fewest. Mean-
while, the researchers found only small
differences in students’ creativity levels
across academic majors. In fact, the
physics majors inhabiting the personas
of eccentric poets came up with more
ideas than the art majors did.
These results, write Dumas and
Dunbar, suggest that creativity is not
an individual trait but a “malleable
product of context and perspective.”
Everyone can be creative, as long as
readersdigest.co.in 123
Reader ’s Digest The Genius Section
IDEAS GET DROWNED
OUT BECAUSE MOST
OF US SPEND WAY TOO
MUCH TIME WORRYING.
he or she feels like a creative person.
Dr Pillay’s work takes this a step
further: He argues that simply iden-
tifying yourself as creative is less
powerful than taking the bold,
creative step of imagining you are
somebody else. This exercise, which
he calls psychological Hallowee-
nism, refers to the conscious action of
inhabiting another persona. An actor
may employ this technique to get into
character, but anyone can use it.
According to Dr Pillay, it works
because it is an act of “conscious
un-focus”, a way of stimulating the
default mode network, a collection of
brain regions that spring into action
when you’re not focused on a specific
task or thought. The default mode
124 november 2019
network may be quiet, but it’s hardly
idle: It spends all day rummaging
through our memories and collaging
ideas together.
Unfortunately, those ideas often
get drowned out because most of us
spend way too much time worrying,
and about two things in particular:
how successful/unsuccessful we are
and how little we’re focusing on the
task at hand. These twin worries feed
on each other—an unfocused person
is an unsuccessful one, we believe—
and so we don’t allow our minds to
wander into its quietly fertile fields.
Instead, we buy noise-cancelling
headphones, knuckle down and
berate ourselves for taking breaks.
What makes Dr Pillay’s argument
resonate is its healthy, forgiving rea-
lism. According to him, most people
spend nearly half of their days in a
state of ‘unfocus’. This doesn’t make
us slackers; it makes us human. The
quietly revolutionary idea behind
psychological Halloweenism is: What
if we stopped judging ourselves for
our mental downtime and instead
started harnessing it? Putting this new
spin on daydreaming means tackling
two problems at once: You’re making
yourself more creative, and you’re
giving yourself permission to do
something you’d otherwise feel guilty
about. Imagining yourself in a new
situation, or an entirely new identity,
never felt so productive.
T he Cut (2 june 2017), copyright © 2017
by new york media, thecut.com.
 Reader ’s Digest

WORLD WIDE WEIRD

by Alex Verman

Double Trouble after they bungled a Using the alias Michael

In March, a single heist in May. The duo McDonald, Michael
mother in the Brazilian were spotted on CCTV Gene Roderick Huppie
state of Goiás went to camera trying to use a would allegedly chat
court to secure child- blowtorch to destroy up the staff, give them
support payments an ATM and get at the roses and tell elaborate
from a deadbeat dad. cash inside. Unfortu- stories to earn their
In the end, she got nately, their tactics sympathy before run-
twice what she bar- ended up enhancing ning off. His charm,
gained for. The child’s security—the heat and his luck, ran out
DNA matched that of a from the blowtorch after victims posted
set of identical twins, welded the hinges his photo online.
each of whom denied shut, making it effec- On 28 June, a cus-
being the father. The tively impossible to tomer spotted the
twins’ attempts to shirk open. The two ran lonesome cowboy at a
responsibility were off after their trial-and- restaurant and tipped
thwarted, however, error-by-fire, presum- off the staff, who con-
when Judge Felipe Luis ably to get a head start tacted the police. Hup-
Peruca ordered that on their new ATM- pie was charged with
both men pay up and security business. one count of ‘fraudu-
be listed as the young- lently obtaining food’,
ster’s parent—giving Dine and Dash though many more
her two dads for the Calgary restaurant restaurant workers
price of one. workers launched an chimed in on Twitter
online manhunt in to accuse him of skip-
Up in Flames June to find a serial ping out on bills at
When committing a dine-and-dasher. The their establishments.
pierre loranger

robbery, it pays to culprit was hardly Huppie was appre-

bring the right tools. subtle: He frequently hended in full yee-
That’s what a pair of sported a robust haw regalia right at
Florida would-be moustache and a his table, his bill yet
thieves discovered black cowboy hat. to be paid.

readersdigest.co.in 125
 BRAINTEASERS

1 1 2 1 2 2 2 1
Treasures 1
Moderately difficult Can you locate 1
12 hidden treasures in the empty
cells of this grid? The numbers outside 2
indicate how many treasures there 1
are in each row or column. Each arrow
points directly toward one or more of 1
the treasures—and does not share a cell
2
with one. An arrow may be immediately
next to a treasure it points to, or it may 2
be farther away. Not every treasure will
2
necessarily have an arrow pointing to it.

Enigma

(TREASURES, TIMES SQUARE) FRASER SIMPSON; (ENIGMA) DARREN RIGBY

Moderately difficult What should the next diagram in this sequence look like?

75
Times Square
16 Difficult Fill in each cell with a digit from 1 through
9. Each number outside the grid is the product
90 of the digits in its row or column. Important: The
number 1 will appear exactly once in each row and
81 column. Other numbers can be repeated, and not
every digit from 1 through 9 will be used. Can you
108 100 27 30 complete the grid?

126 november 2019

 reader’s digest

Capital Idea
Moderately difficult Below is a list of national
capitals as their names are rendered in official
languages of their respective countries (without
accents). There’s a way to enter six of them into
the grid, one per row or column, so that they
intersect like a crossword. They must be entered
left to right or top to bottom, without skipping
squares. Each capital city must intersect with three
others. Not every square needs to have a letter in
it. Can you fill in the six cities? One letter has been
placed to get you started.

ANKARA (Turkey); BAMAKO (Mali); BOGOTA

(Colombia); DAKAR (Senegal); HARARE (Zimba-
bwe); JAKARTA (Indonesia); KAMPALA (Uganda);
A Weighty Matter LUSAKA (Zambia); MALABO (Equatorial Guinea);
(A WEIGHTY MATTER) SUE DOHRIN; (CAPITAL IDEA) DARREN RIGBY. ILLUSTRATION: ISTOCK.COM

Easy The mass of an MBABANE (Eswatini); OTTAWA (Canada); SUVA

object in kilograms (kg) (Fiji); TARAWA (Kiribati).
stays the same no matter
where it is, but its weight
in newtons (N) changes
along with gravitational
conditions. On earth,
Mari weighs 686 N and
has a mass of 70 kg. Her
German shepherd, Chip,
weighs 343 N with a mass
of 35 kg. On Mars, they
each weigh 38 per cent
of their earth weight.
On the moon, they each K
weigh 16 per cent of it.
Which one weighs more:
Mari on the moon or Chip
on Mars?
Bonus: Which one has
the most mass?

For answers, turn to PAGE 128

readersdigest.co.in 127
reader’s digest

BRAINTEASERS
ANSWERS SUDOKU

FROM PAGES 126 AND 127

by Jeff Widderich
Treasures
1 1 2 1 2 2 2 1
1
1
7 5 4
2
1
1 6 7
2
2
2 5 1 2 9
Enigma 3 6 4
The diagrams are
numbers counting 7 4 2 8
up by 14, pushed together
so they overlap slightly. 3 8 5
The sequence leaves off
at 70, so the next diagram
should represent 84.
2 4 5 3
Times Square
3 6
1 5 3 5
2
6
4
5
1
3
2
1
1 9 8
9 1 3 3
To Solve This Puzzle
A Weighty Matter
Weight: Chip on Mars Put a number from 1 to 9 in
Mass: Mari on the moon
(and everywhere else.)
each empty square so that: SOLUTION
2 4 8 9 3 7 5 6 1
)every horizontal row and 9 1 5 8 2 6 3 4 7
Capital Idea vertical column contains all 7 3 6 5 1 4 9 2 8

M B O
nine numbers (1-9) without 6 5 4 7 8 3 2 1 9
J A K A R T A repeating any of them; 3 8 2 1 5 9 4 7 6
L M T 1 7 9 4 6 2 8 3 5
T A R AWA
)each of the outlined 3 x 3
8 9 3 2 7 1 6 5 4
B K W
B O G O T A 5 2 7 6 4 8 1 9 3
boxes has all nine numbers, 4 6 1 3 9 5 7 8 2
none repeated.

128 november 2019

 The Genius Section

c soldiers’ rations.
WORD POWER 10. ballistic adj.
(buh-'lih-stik)
a underwater.
These words are military-inspired, but can be used b of projectiles.
in civilian life too. March to page 130 for answers. c explosive.
11. cadet n.
By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon (kuh-'det)
a code breaker.
1. confederate n. a retired pilot. b officer in training.
(kuhn-'feh-duh-ruht) b warship. c female colonel.
a ally. c armoured car. 12. fusillade n.
b rebel. 6. garrison n. ('few-suh-lahd)
c drill sergeant. ('gar-ih-suhn) a outburst of shots.
2. armistice n. a military post. b plane’s engine.
('ar-mih-stihss) b surrender. c minor conflict.
a call to arms. c medal of honour. 13. bulwark n.
b land battle. 7. amphibious adj. ('bull-werk)
c truce. (am-'fih-bee-uhss) a battering ram.
3. flotilla n. a peace-seeking. b cyberattack.
(floh-'tih-luh) b international. c defensive wall.
a naval unit. c fit for sea or land. 14. rapprochement n.
b raid. 8. clandestine adj. (ra-prohsh-'mon)
c front lines. (klan-'deh-stihn) a violent disagreement.
4. détente n. a secret. b hand-to-hand combat.
(day-'tawnt) b tribal. c cordial relations.
a bomb shelter. c criminal. 15. infantry n.
b easing of tensions. 9. artillery n. ('in-fan-tree)
c surprise attack. (ar-'tih-luh-ree) a foot soldiers.
5. corvette n. a declaration of war. b recruits.
(kor-'vet) b weapons. c type of cannon.
Reader ’s Digest
A War of Words
If you find yourself in a
heated discussion about
words, you’re waging
logomachy (loh-'goh-muh-
kee). This useful term comes
from Greek parts: logos
(‘word’) and machesthai (‘to
fight’). Some other fighting
words: theomachy (‘strife
among gods’), tauromachy
(‘bullfighting’) and the rare
but beautiful sciamachy
(‘shadowboxing’).
Word Power
ANSWERS
1. confederate (a) ally.
The duke and his confe-
derates plotted to over-
throw the corrupt king.
2. armistice (c) truce.
There can be no armistice
between cats and mice.
3. flotilla (a) naval unit.
Surrounded by a flotilla
of smaller ships, the
aircraft carrier entered
international waters.
4. détente (b) easing
of tensions. The two
sides have reached a
delicate détente.
5. corvette (b) warship.
None of the army’s
130 november 2019
10. ballistic (b)
of projectiles. Captain
Nawaz planned a ballistic
assault to kill the giant
sea monster.
11. cadet (b) officer
in training. “Sir, yes,
sir!” shouted the
nervous cadets.
12. fusillade (a) outburst
of shots. The food fight
began with a fusillade
of meatballs.
corvettes could catch the
13. bulwark (c) defensive
fleeing pirate ship.
wall. The Great Wall of
China, a bulwark built
6. garrison (a) military
over thousands of years,
post. The garrison, home
is one of the world’s most
to about 200 troops, will
famous structures.
close next year.
14. rapprochement (c)
7. amphibious (c) fit for
cordial relations. The
sea or land. Leela began
current rapprochement
her Hawaiian vacation
between the countries
by touring Waikiki and
was achieved after years
Pearl Harbour in an
of tension.
amphibious vehicle.
15. infantry (a)
8. clandestine (a) secret.
foot soldiers. Hurrying
The twins worked out
across the bridge, the
a clandestine scheme to
last of the infantry got
break into Grandma’s
into position.
cookie jar.
matthew cohen
9. artillery (b) weapons.
Even without the benefit Vocabulary Ratings
of modern artillery, me- 9 & below: private
dieval armies were able 10–12: sergeant
to defend their castles. 13–15: general

“Could the Queen beat up Superman?”
When our son Taiga was
three, my husband was
working a night shift.
During the day, if we
were at home, Taiga
knew we needed to be
quiet because Daddy
was sleeping. We read
a lot of books about
animals and nature.
After a couple of nights
learning about nocturnal
CONAN De VRIES
animals, Taiga turned to
me and asked: “Mommy,
is Daddy nocturnal?”
—KIRSTEN MANLEY
AS KIDS SEE IT
My dad’s friend, who’s
a dentist, was talking
about his experiences
in dental school. He
mentioned that he’d
taken philosophy, but my
six-year-old ears heard
“flossophy”.
So I asked him if he’d
also taken brushophy.
—EMILY ADAMS
When I tell my three-
year-old ‘no’, I often
tease, “It’s like Mick
Jagger says, ‘You can’t
readersdigest.co.in
Reader ’s Digest
always get what you
want’.” Once his mother
wanted him to pick up
his toys. He asked me,
“Dad, who says you
can’t always get what you
want?” “Mick Jagger.” “I’ll
tell mom,” he answered.
—RYAN MILLER
Reader’s Digest will pay
for your funny anecdote
or photo in any of our
humour sections. Post it
to the editorial address, or
email: editor.india@rd.com
131
Reader ’s Digest

QUOTABLE QUOTES

Writing is always an act of hope.

Margaret Atwood, author and winner of the 2019 Booker Prize

[…] If you want to do something, achieve something,

you can’t be thinking all the time about what you
don’t have.
Kapil Dev, cricketer

Children are happy because they don’t have a

file in their minds called ‘all the things that
could go wrong’.
Marianne Williamson, spiritual teacher

indiapicture (2), alamy

Margaret Atwood Kapil Dev Marianne Williamson

Want to penetrate the

market? Pay attention to
price & size.
JAGDEEP KAPOOR, brand guru

Contact : Tel: 022-28477700 s enquiry@samsika.com s www.samsika.com

Copyright © 1995. Jagdeep Kapoor