Master of the understatement novelist Alexander McCall Smith ...

CommunityShantiniketan Indian School organises

an event to celebrate ‘Keralapiravi Day’.

P6 P16 CommunityWith little maintenance and fresh

water, backyard wildlife habitat can become essential to visiting birds.

Sunday, November 11, 2018Rabia I 3, 1440AH

Doha today: 250 - 310

Prolific prowessCOVERSTORY

LIFESTYLE SHOWBIZ

Weigh daily to lose weight.

4

Thugs Of Hindostan crosses

Rs52 crore on opening day.

Page 15

Master of the understatement novelist Alexander

McCall Smith on his life’s work and more. P4-5

Sunday, November 11, 20182 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY ROUND & ABOUT

Community EditorKamran Rehmat

e-mail: [email protected]: 44466405

Fax: 44350474

Emergency 999Worldwide Emergency Number 112Kahramaa – Electricity and Water 991Local Directory 180International Calls Enquires 150Hamad International Airport 40106666Labor Department 44508111, 44406537Mowasalat Taxi 44588888Qatar Airways 44496000Hamad Medical Corporation 44392222, 44393333Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation 44845555, 44845464Primary Health Care Corporation 44593333 44593363 Qatar Assistive Technology Centre 44594050Qatar News Agency 44450205 44450333Q-Post – General Postal Corporation 44464444

Humanitarian Services Offi ce (Single window facility for the repatriation of bodies)Ministry of Interior 40253371, 40253372, 40253369Ministry of Health 40253370, 40253364Hamad Medical Corporation 40253368, 40253365Qatar Airways 40253374

USEFUL NUMBERS

Quote Unquote

PRAYER TIMEFajr 4.29amShorooq (sunrise) 5.48amZuhr (noon) 11.17amAsr (afternoon) 2.26pmMaghreb (sunset) 4.50pmIsha (night) 6.20pm

“Failure will never overtake me if my

determination to succeed is strong enough.” — Og Mandino

A Private WarDIRECTION: Matthew

HeinemanCAST: Rosamund Pike,

Jamie Dornan, Faye MarsaySYNOPSIS: One of

the most celebrated war correspondents of our time, Marie Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit, driven to the frontline of confl icts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless. Driven by an enduring desire to bear witness and give voice to the voiceless, Colvin charges into danger, constantly testing the limits between bravery and bravado.

THEATRE: Royal Plaza

Thugs of Hindostan DIRECTION: Vijay Krishna AcharyaCAST: Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Amitabh Bachchan SYNOPSIS: Based on Philip Meadows Taylor’s 1839 novel

Confessions of a Thug, the movie tells us about a thug named

Ameer Ali and his gang, whose nefarious ways posed a serious challenge to the British Empire in India between 1790 and 1805.

THEATRES: Royal Plaza, Landmark, The Mall

The Mall Cinema (1): Sarkar (Tamil) 11:15am; Sarkar (Tamil) 2pm; The Grinch (2D) 4:45pm; To Love Some Buddy (Tagalog) 6:30pm; Sarkar (Tamil) 8:30pm; Sarkar (Tamil) 11:15pm.The Mall Cinema (2): Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 11:30am; The Grinch (2D) 2:30pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 4:15pm; Bohemian Rhapsody (2D) 7:15pm; Overlord (2D) 9:30pm; Al Fundok (Arabic) 11:30pm.The Mall Cinema (3): The Grinch (2D) 12:15pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 2pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Tamil) 5pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi)

8pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 11pm.Landmark Cinema (1): Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 11:15am; Sarkar (Tamil) 2:15pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 5pm; Sarkar (Tamil) 8pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 10:45pm.Landmark Cinema (2): The Grinch (2D) 12:15pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 2pm; Sarkar (Tamil) 5pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 7:45pm; Sarkar (Tamil) 10:45pm.Landmark Cinema (3):

Sarkar (Tamil) 11:30am; The Grinch (2D) 2:30pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 4:15pm; Al Fundok (Arabic) 7:15pm; To Love Some Buddy (Tagalog) 9:15pm; Overlord (2D) 11:15pm.Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (1): Sarkar (Tamil) 2:30pm; Sarkar (Tamil) 5:15pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 8pm; Sarkar (Tamil) 11pm.Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (2): The Grinch (2D) 2:30pm; Thugs Of Hindostan (Hindi) 4:15pm; A Private War (2D) 7:15pm; Bohemian Rhapsody (2D) 9:15pm; Overlord (2D) 11:30pm.

3Sunday, November 11, 2018 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYROUND & ABOUT

Compiled by Nausheen Shaikh. E-mail: [email protected], Events and timings subject to change

EVENTS

Doha Air ShowWHERE: CornicheWHEN: TodayTIME: 1:40pmItalian Airforce Acrobatic Team and

Qatar Display Team will exhibit a stunning air show for the residents of Qatar. The teams have joined forces to perform their stunts. The Italian Embassy has invited residents to visit the Corniche to view the amazing display as it will take place over the skies of Doha.

Cross Country raceWHERE: Al Rayan ParkWHEN: TomorrowCross Country Race to be flagged off

tomorrow will herald the track and field events programme to be conducted by the Qatar Association of Athletics Federation (QAAF) sports season. The season opener will be held at Al Rayyan Park. The first day of the event will be allocated for grassroots and sub-juniors categories, the second day for youth and juniors and the third day for men and women.

Qatar Finance and Installment Exhibition

WHERE: DECCWHEN: Ongoing till November 15TIME: 7pm – 10pmThe QFI Exhibition is a 3-day event that

brings together the best of Qatar’s finance community, and local and international visitors who are keen to access Qatar’s robust market. We are pleased to present this opportunity to local and international investors, banking, finance and government institutions, along with leading firms in the real estate, investment and fin-tech sectors.

Katara Beach - School StudentsWHERE: KataraWHEN: OngoingTIME: 9am – 12pmBy participating in the programme of

‘Our culture is a school’, Katara Beach emphasises the Qatari marine tradition and introduces to students the meaning of Dasha, Al Qafal and various type of pearls. The students will discover all details of the Fath El-Kheir journey.

Ballet LessonsWHERE: Music and Arts AtelierWHEN: OngoingTIME: 4pm – 8pmFor more info e-mail at registration@

atelierqatar.com or call on 33003839.

Cycling: Losail Circuit Sports ClubWHERE: Losail CircuitWHEN: OngoingTIME: 5pmLosail Circuit Sports Club, in association

with Qatar Sports For All Federation, invites all cyclists, runners and walkers to train under the floodlights of Losail International Circuit every Wednesdays.

Startup Weekend CompetitionWHERE: Tawar MallWHEN: November 15 – 17TIME: 6pm – 10pmIn just 54 hours, you will experience the

highs, lows, fun, and pressure that make up life at a startup. As you learn how to create a real company, you’ll meet the very best mentors, investors, cofounders, and sponsors who are ready to help you get started.

Meditation RetreatWHERE: Banana Island ResortWHEN: December 14 – 15Imagine waking up with the peaceful

silence of a paradise beach as your senses are lured by the smell of essential oils, vegan food and fresh herbal tea. With each breath, your whole being feels relaxed and recharged. You can finally release all the tension you’ve been carrying for years. The bright sunlight warms your face as you walk on the beach to join morning yoga, sound healing and mindfulness meditation.

After School ActivitiesWHERE: AtelierWHEN: OngoingMusic and arts Activities for students

taking place after they finish their day in school includes Group Music lessons, Hip-

hop, Ballet, Drawing and Painting, Drama Theatre & Taekwondo. Ages between 5 and 10 years old after school hours.

Hobby ClassesWHERE: Mystic Arts Centre behind Al

Hilal Focus Medical CentreWHEN:Wednesday – MondayMystic Art Centre, is a holistic

performing artsinstitution and a one stop solution for adults as well as children looking to explore their talents in various art forms. We offer classes in Carnatic Music, Hindustani Music, Karate, Yoga, Zumba, Classical Dance, Salsa, Hip Hop, contemporary and Bollywood dance forms. For details, call 33897609.

Dance and instrument classesWHERE: TCA Campus, Behind Gulf

Times BuildingWHEN: Wednesday – MondayLearn the movements of dance styles

in Bollywood, Hip Hop and also the musical instruments such as Piano, Guitar, Keyboard for adults as well kids and move in the world of music. For details, contact 66523871/ 31326749.

Heritage Library’s Permanent ExhibitionWHERE: Qatar National LibraryWHEN: Ongoing till December 31TIME: 9am – 8pmThe exhibition displays around 400 items from the QNL Heritage Library collection that

illustrate the spread and evolution of ideas throughout the Arab and Islamic world, as well as document interactions between Arabs and the West over the past several centuries. The exhibition features books, manuscripts, historical photographs maps, globes and travellers’ instruments that tell the story of Qatar, along with the history of science, literature, writing, travel in the region, and much more.


COMMUNITY COVER STORY

Place is often terribly important to us. And to describe it is to describe our feelings for the world‘ ’SUNDAY

CONVERSATION

“I love writing people’s conversations”

— Alexander McCall Smith, writer

By Laurie Hertzel

Alexander McCall Smith — overachiever, master of the understatement — sounds a bit

apologetic as he explains that he has lost track of the number of books he’s written.

“I actually really stopped counting,” he said in a recent phone interview from his home in Scotland. “That sounds a bit pretentious, I’m afraid, but if you count the children’s books, it’s over 100. So it’s quite a number.”

Quite a number indeed, given that he started writing in earnest only 20 years ago, when he was 50 — and given that he writes only a couple of hours a day. Any more than that, and “I get a little bit exhausted,” he said. “But I’m in a very fortunate position of being

able to write quickly. And that does make a real difference.”

McCall Smith is the author of several series for adults. (How many? At least five, maybe six, with a new one beginning next year.) But he is perhaps best known for his first, the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, which has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, has been translated into more than 45 languages and was made into a show on HBO.

The Colors of All the Cattle is the 19th book in that series — unless you include the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency children’s books, of which there are at least five.

You see? It is no wonder that he has given up counting.

McCall Smith’s books are witty, gentle, observant and very human, more akin to Jane Austen than to John Sandford. They are grounded in character rather than


COMMUNITYCOVER STORY

drama; the ladies of the detective agency do not solve grisly murders but, instead, might sit around discussing teacups.

“I love writing people’s conversations,” McCall Smith said. “I very much enjoy observing people — as I think we all do — and I think if one is a writer one has to have a strong interest in the lives of others.

“We don’t need pyrotechnics in plot. We don’t need a high body count. Some of my books have been described as ‘crime fiction,’ but they aren’t really, actually, because I don’t have crimes in them. I have examples of human bad behaviour.”

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is set in Botswana, a country he fell in love with when he travelled there in 1981 to help set up a law school at the University of Botswana.

“I’ve been in Botswana every year since then,” he said. “It’s a remarkable place. The people are so nice — it’s a very spiritual part of the world, very intensely beautiful.”

But he also sets books elsewhere, including Scotland, where he lives. The Sunday Philosophy Club series stars an Edinburgh philosopher named Isabel Dalhousie, and the 44 Scotland Street series has an ensemble cast of characters centred on an Edinburgh apartment building. (That series includes perhaps his most beloved character, an endearing 7-year-old boy named Bertie.)

McCall Smith was born in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), where his father was a public prosecutor. At 17, he moved to Edinburgh to study, eventually earning a doctorate and becoming a professor of medical law. He had always been interested in writing — but he was always interested in a lot of things:

medicine, law, music (in 1999, he and his wife started the Really Terrible Orchestra, where he plays contrabassoon and she plays the flute), the out-of-doors, food, travel, the African continent.

“I remember I used to scribble away when I was a little boy,” he said. He wrote children’s books and short stories while teaching at the University of Edinburgh, but things really took off the year he turned 50. That was the year The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency was published, and it became an unexpected hit. McCall Smith soon had to make a choice.

“I had to make a decision as to what I wanted to be, and I decided to be a full-time author,” he said. “It was not without some regret — I enjoyed my previous career. But it really wasn’t possible to carry on with that. So I did that, and I haven’t really looked back.”

The location is as important as the characters in his novels. “Place is often terribly important to us,” he said. “And to describe it is to describe our feelings for the world.”

He heads out on book tour several times a year, finding beauty just about wherever he goes. He feels at home in sub-Saharan Africa. He finds some of Australia’s landscapes “quite haunting.” He loves a chain of uninhabited islands off the Scottish coast so deeply that he bought them and is placing them in trust to protect them forever.

In the United States, he is deeply fond of Muncie, Ind., and ever since his first visit (where he received “a lovely welcome from the people”) he has dropped references to that city into many of his novels.

“And Bloomington, Indiana — very lovely. I like those college towns,” he said. “Oxford, Mississippi. They’ve got a gorgeous square in the middle of

town, and you almost expect to see Atticus Finch walk past.”

McCall Smith gets up most days at 4am, writes for a few hours, and then goes back to bed. “The small hours of the morning — I find that is a very good time to write,” he said. “Quiet. No disturbances. And the mind is very fresh.”

He usually has two novels in progress at a time, and only very occasionally does he find one of his vast array of characters slipping from one book to another. “I have to be a little bit careful about that,” he said. “There have been occasions — certainly one occasion when I slipped between fictional worlds and my editor said, ‘Do you imagine that Mma Makutsi is sounding like Isabel Dalhousie?’

But generally I manage to keep them quite separate.”

Next year, Pantheon will publish the first in a new series set in Scandinavia. The Department of Sensitive Crimes is described by the publisher as a novel in which a “Swedish police department is tasked with solving the most unusual, complicated, and, often, insignificant crimes.”

“We’ve all enjoyed Scandinavian noir,” McCall Smith said, so he calls his series “Scandinavian blanc” — Scandinavian crime with no violence and no dead bodies.

The main character is named Ulf Varg — “Ulf means wolf in Swedish and Varg is wolf in Danish, so his name is Wolf Wolf,” McCall Smith said. Varg has a hearing-impaired dog that is the only lip-reading dog in Scandinavia. (“I’m having great fun with this,” he said, almost unnecessarily.)

The Scandinavian blanc book will be published in April. Pantheon will issue the second in his Paul Stuart series (The Second Worst Restaurant in France) in July

and the 20th in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series next November.

So has anyone figured out a precise number of books he’s written? After several emails, his publicist finally concluded that

between novels, photography books, academic books, cookbooks and children’s books, Alexander McCall Smith has written 110 books.

And counting. —Star Tribune (Minneapolis)/TNS

So has anyone figured out a precise number of books he’s written? After several e-mails, his publicist finally concluded that between novels, photography books, academic books, cookbooks and children’s books, Alexander McCall Smith has written 110 books


COMMUNITYSIS celebrates ‘Keralapiravi Day’Shantiniketan Indian School (SIS) recently organised an event to celebrate ‘Keralapiravi Day’ to reflect the rich culture and traditions of the State of Kerala, India. The students including Muneef Muneer, Aneesa, Ridha, Maria Abraham, Nishan, Sneha, Rasha, Gloria, Anar, Nusaira and Mirza spoke about ‘Human Values and the Modern World’ at the event. Noof, Riya Prakash and Sneha, all SIS students, performed group songs while the event also featured a classical dance performance by Sruthi and Nyla. Arjun M Mohan and Iza Lamya, SIS

students, recited poems at the event. A presentation by Syed Purayil, a student of SIS, on the culture of Kerala was also part of the event.Dr Subhash Nair, Principal of SIS, welcomed the gathering. Shihabudeen Pulath, Senior Vice Principal at SIS, narrated the poem ‘AMMA’ at the event. Dudley O’ Connor, Vice Principal SIS; Mathew, Head Teacher at Middle Section SIS; and Prabha Saji, Academic Mentor at SIS, also attended the event.

MEDHHPQ all set to organise International Education FairMichael E DeBakey High School for Health Professions-Qatar (MEDHHPQ) is all set to organise International Education Fair ‘Global Awareness at DeBakey’ as part of International Education Day celebrations. The event is scheduled to take place today on the school premises from 7:30am onwards.

Bhavan’s Public School honours Sir C V RamanBhavan’s Public School recently organised an event to honour Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, Indian physicist and Nobel Prize Winner for Physics in 1930, for his achievements in the field of science. The students of Bhavan’s spoke about Raman’s achievements and displayed his ground-breaking discovery of the phenomenon of ‘scattering of light’, also known as ‘Raman Eff ect’, at the event.

M P Philip, Principal of Bhavan’s Public School, applauded the students’ eff ort. Dhrmarajkumar, Vice Principal at Bhavan’s Public School, also spoke at the event. The Headmistresses of both the campuses of Bhavan’s urged the students to be critical thinkers. The students who had qualified for the third review session of SIFQ Students’ Science Congress 2018 were also felicitated at the event.

IEI, BPQ pay homage to Animesh Chandra SarkarAnimesh Chandra Sarkar, a prominent leader of Indian community in Doha and Doha resident, recently passed away in US, where he was undergoing a cancer treatment. Institute of Engineers India (IEI) Qatar Chapter recently paid homage to Animesh at Ashoka Hall, Indian Cultural Centre. Bangiya Parishad Qatar (BPQ) also organised a condolence meeting with its members in the presence of IEI Engineers. Abdul Sathar, Chairman of IEI; Milan Arun, President of Indian Cultural Centre; and Jayati Maitra, from Bangiya Parishad, along with other committee members and engineers attended the condolence meeting.Animesh joined Shell Qatar as an Electrical Engineer in 1978. Sarkar

was the Founding Secretary of IEI – Qatar Chapter and Founder member, Former President and Adviser of Bangiya Parishad Qatar, a socio-cultural organisation of the expatriate Bengali community in Qatar. Animesh Sarkar leaves behind his wife Rita Sarkar, son Anwesh Sarkar and daughter Piu Sarkar, who are currently settled in Canada and United States.


COMMUNITYBOOK REVIEW

Hart’s biography is incomplete portrait of a private woman

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life ably makes the case for Ginsburg’s iron will to succeed

and for her standing as a brilliant lawyer and jurist. By Mary Ann Gwinn

These are fraught times for anyone concerned with the ideological balance of the United States Supreme Court. With

the appointment of right-leaning Brett Kavanaugh to a seat on the court, this new biography of liberal stalwart Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be snatched up by those eager to learn what makes RBG (as her adoring millennial fans call her) tick and to seek reassurance that the 85-year-old Ginsburg can shore up the court’s embattled liberal minority.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life ably makes the case for Ginsburg’s iron will to succeed and for her standing as a brilliant lawyer and jurist, but it is an incomplete personal portrait of a very private woman. It’s an unauthorised biography: Although Ginsburg agreed to six interviews and made available her legal fi les from her career as an American Civil Liberties Union attorney,

author Jane Sherron De Hart had no access to any diaries or personal letters from Ginsburg’s early life. De Hart, professor emerita of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, also reveals that in 2008, in the middle of the project, she lost her home, her research, and two completed manuscripts of her writings on Ginsburg in a California wildfi re.

In a straightforward, linear chronology, De Hart lays down the tracks of Ginsburg’s life. Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn in 1933 to middle-class parents. They admired and doted on their brilliant daughter and helped instill in her the concept of repairing the world. Her mother, Celia Amster Bader, was the chief nurturer; mother and daughter were extraordinarily close. It was a devastating blow to Ginsburg when she lost her mother to cancer just two days before her high school graduation.

At Cornell, she excelled

academically and met the love of her life, Martin Ginsburg. It was a love match for the ages; Marty, who would become a successful tax lawyer, supported his wife at every turn; cooked gourmet dinners for family, friends and colleagues; and mounted a personal Washington campaign to advance his wife’s nomination to the US Supreme Court. His family’s relative wealth ensured that the busy couple had the resources they needed to excel.

Younger readers may be taken aback at the discrimination Ginsburg confronted as a young woman aiming for a career in the law. To gain admission to law school, she had to surmount restrictive quotas for women (10 percent of the slots in many schools); although she had a brilliant record and a prodigious appetite for hard work, she could not fi nd a job, hobbled in part by her ‘small size, soft voice, youthful image and feminine appearance.’

Only the intervention of a Columbia University law school mentor set her on her path with a key clerkship to a federal appeals court judge.

De Hart’s narrative is most revealing when she analyses Ginsburg’s work as a brilliant legal strategist whose advocacy career began in earnest in 1972 when she helped found the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU. From that point on, Ginsburg’s mission was to bend the law toward equal rights, fi rst as a litigator, then as a federal appeals court judge, and fi nally as a US Supreme Court judge. De Hart displays an impressive grasp of each area of Ginsburg’s legal influence, from women’s rights to voting rights to gay rights to immigrant rights, with a particular focus on striking down laws that discriminated on the basis of gender. Her eye was on equality, even as the court swung further to the right with each passing decade.

De Hart’s fi delity to detail in these matters may frustrate those hoping for more about Ginsburg’s

private life. Her long and happy marriage, her love of opera, her ability to forge friendships with ideological opponents such as conservative Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, her struggles with her own cancer and Marty’s, these stories are inspiring, but they offer few windows into the dark times that any human soul must endure. Ginsburg is a warrior and does not show weakness easily ‘she absolutely doesn’t forgive herself,’ observed daughter Jane. Statements from friends and colleagues are largely encomiums. However sincere, there’s a certain deadening quality to praise heaped on praise.

And what does Ginsburg think of the future of the court, and the country? The book ends short of Kavanaugh’s appointment to the court, and Ginsburg is still very much on stage, so those questions remain unanswered. A complete portrait of her inner struggles, and the outcome of her very public ones, will have to wait for a future biography.– Newsday/TNS

JURIST: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of off ice on August 10, 1993.


COMMUNITY TRA

SURPRISES: Anyone who frequents California’s well-travelled mountains would definitely find a few surprises and challenges in hiking or climbing in Armenia.

By Ralph Vartabedian

My son, Marc, and I had tromped through shin-deep snow for several hours, and by the

time we reached the blustery top of the peak, we couldn’t see more than 25 feet because of a whiteout. Somewhere in front of us was a deep crater and the surrounding peaks of a volcanic rim we had hoped to reach. But as we stood on one of the highest peaks in the Armenian Caucasus Mountains, we were satisfi ed we’d made it this far.

For much of the last century, nobody would have considered the former Armenian Soviet Socialist

Republic a hiking destination. But a few decades of independence and a strengthening democratic government have given the little nation a growing reputation as an interesting, safe hiking place. We met hikers from France, England, Canada, Belgium and Australia in just a few days on the trails.

Smithsonian magazine earlier this year identifi ed Armenia as one of the next world-class hiking destinations. The nation’s beautifully wooded Dilijan National Park resembles Great Smoky Mountains National Park US. The plateaus of volcanic Mount Aragats look something like the Sierra Nevada California’s high country, with barren igneous rock, gravelly slopes and snow-covered peaks.

Lake Sevan is twice as large as

Lake Tahoe US and a thousand feet higher in elevation. Although its waters don’t have the clarity that makes Tahoe so spectacular, you won’t fi nd a traffi c jam around the lake’s perimeter or dense neighbourhoods of mansions. What the country lacks in affl uence is off set by the warmth of the people, whose identity is anchored to its long history. Yerevan, the capital, was founded in 782 BC, decades before Rome. Between hikes, you can visit ancient temples and some of the oldest churches in the world.

But anyone who frequents California’s well-travelled mountains would fi nd a few surprises and challenges in hiking or climbing in Armenia. You often won’t fi nd marked trail heads. The weather will be unpredictable. The

fl ora will be foreign. You might end up driving your rental car across a boulder-strewn mountain river to get near a trail. If you fi nd a topographic map, it will probably be written in Armenian, which doesn’t use the Latin alphabet.

Just how surprising travelling around Armenia could get dawned on me when Marc and I rented a car in early June in Yerevan, and the rental agent warned me that my California driver’s licence wasn’t strictly legal. If I was stopped by police, he said, just off er money. How much, I asked? About $10 would be more than enough. Now that’s the kind of advice you don’t get at a US rental counter. Fortunately, it wasn’t needed.

Just to get to Armenia requires a long fl ight that takes you to a place

that’s 11 hours ahead of California. That’s important in planning strenuous hiking, because it takes a while to get over that day-to-night jet lag. But the country rewards those who make the eff ort. It will be a liberating experience from the crowded trails, packed parking lots and scarce back-country permits in California. In fact, you won’t need any permits in Armenia.

I had long searched for a good reason to visit Armenia. As I grew up in Detroit, my father often reminisced about growing up in the Caucasus Mountains in the early 20th century. Marc had just completed graduate school and had a one-week window to join me in Armenia. He spent a week surfi ng in Indonesia and fl ew west, and I fl ew east.

A hiker explores his fatherArmenia’s beautifully wooded Dilijan National Park resembles Great Smoky Mountains

National Park US and the plateaus of volcanic Mount Aragats look something like the Sierra

Nevada’s high country, with barren igneous rock, gravelly slopes and snow-covered peaks

9GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYSunday, November 11, 2018

AVEL

r’s homeland peak by peak

After a day of exploring Yerevan on foot, we planned for three or four days of hiking. On the way to Dilijan National Park, we stopped at the Sevanavank Monastery, two 1,100-year-old stone churches overlooking Sevan Lake. We went on two hikes in Dilijan National Park, one to pleasant back-country Gosh Lake, along the Transcaucasian Trail, or TCT. At the lake, we met a Canadian hiker who seemed lost. He joined us, and we gave him a ride back to the city of Dilijan.

A few days later, I met Armen Abrahamyan, Park Superintendent, at the park’s headquarters just outside Dilijan. The park now has 124 miles of trails, about half of them on the TCT, he said. Some of them are Jeep roads, although we

didn’t encounter vehicle traffi c on our hikes. The TCT will eventually extend from Georgia through Armenia, covering 1,864 miles and connecting existing and future national parks.

The second hike took us to the ruins of the 11th century Jukhtak Monastery, deep in a forest. I imagined how people, isolated from the rest of the world, would hike to that mountaintop 1,000 years ago. The main objective of our trip was Mount Aragats, the highest peak in the country, about an hour’s drive east of Yerevan. I found a crude digital topographic map of Aragats on the internet that a graphic artist at the Los Angeles Times was kind enough to print. I wasn’t sure there was an actual trail, and we didn’t have time to fi nd our own route.

I quickly realised we would need a guide. A hiking brochure, produced under the sponsorship of the US Agency for International Development, advised guides for many of the much less ambitious hikes in Armenia. The only problem was fi nding a good one. I talked with Armenian travel agents, Armenian journalists and Armenian aid offi cials. I found hiking guides online and tried to email them. I talked with a couple of guys with the Armenian Hiking Society whom I’d met on the Sam Merrill Trail above Altadena, Calif.

It wasn’t until I got to Armenia that things fell into place and I met Hovik Mizrakyan, a jewellery designer and strong hiker affi liated with FindArmenia.com. Marc and I camped the night before at sub-

alpine Kari Lake. There were no fi re pits, picnic tables, fee stations or infrastructure you’d expect when car camping. Mizrakyan would meet us the next morning.

We met a group of Belgians camping nearby, led by Nver Avetisyan, a friendly mountain guide. He drove the only Dodge Caravan we saw on our trip. He invited us into his dining tent for some tea and coff ee. We brought a bag of ripe cherries we had bought earlier and talked about the future of democracy in Armenia.

Mount Aragats has four peaks, the highest being the North summit, at 13,420 feet. It was still snow-covered in mid-June and would have required a 6,000-foot vertical climb in one day or an overnight stay in the crater. Either

way, we would be traversing deep, soft snow.

The weather wasn’t cooperating. The Caucasus Mountains can be unpredictably stormy, with violent lightning. In the morning, the storm clouds roiled. So we nixed climbing Aragats North and chose the much tamer Aragats South, at 12,756 feet. We weren’t disappointed.

Our hiking trip barely scratched the surface of what Armenia’s four national parks have to off er. I ran out of time before we could get to Arevik National Park along the southern border. Maybe some day I’ll try again for Aragats North, knowing I’ll need more time.

Even in the Sierra, you sometimes have to try more than once to reach a peak.– Los Angeles Times/TNS

TRAIL: The Transcaucasian Trail runs from Georgia through Armenia, marked by small signs nailed to trees.

SAVIOUR: A roadside bakery near Geghard sells Armenian sweetbread, a good item for the backpack and a food item that helps one survive on the long trial.

HOTSPOT: The Garni Temple which is at a short drive from Yerevan, is a hotspot for visitors worldwide and was built in about 100 AD.

RUINS: A reasonably short hike in Dilijan ends at the ruins of the 11th Century Jukhtak Vank cathedral.


COMMUNITY QUIZ

Ditch the razor, hide away those clippers, and trouble the barber no more. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, moustaches are

having a moment.If you notice, more and more men

are transforming from clean shaven to mustachioed; don’t assume it’s out of laziness or straight from the ramp. It’s that time of year again, the particularly hair-raising one. No, Halloween is long over. It is time for perfectly ordinary men to brave the task of sprouting those nose caterpillars, all for a noble cause.

‘Movember’ is a month-long campaign to raise money and awareness for men’s health issues, including prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health issues, including depression and suicide. Bringing the diminutive word ‘Mo’, meaning moustache, and ‘November’ together, Movember is about spreading awareness on the biggest male killers and to raise money for charities.

The term ‘Movember’ is believed to be coined barely two decades ago by a group of young men in Adelaide, who grew out their moustaches for charitable causes. In 2003, in a not far-off Melbourne, an unrelated group of 30 Aussie friends (self-proclaimed ‘Mo Bros’) challenged each other to grow out their moustaches for an entire month, simply to see if they could bring the style back to popularity. They were so blown away by their bold moustaches’ ability to spark conversation, the following year they made ‘Grow a Mo’ charity campaign in a bid to attach the challenge to a worthy yet overlooked cause, men’s health. And thus was born ‘The Movember Foundation’. ‘Movember’ has since become an incredible way to break the silence and stigma surrounding men’s health. And, ‘The Movember Project’ has spread to United States, Europe, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, China, and beyond.

And for the rules, you can’t get a head start. You can’t begin ‘Movember’ with even a hint of facial hair. And, it’s offi cial. No beards or goatees. It’s moustaches only. If you’re desperate to grow a beard, you’ll have your chance, just wait until ‘Decembeard.’

But then why should boys have all the fun? Special kudos are for women who have to put up with their partner’s horrible crumb catchers for the month. Some even rally around men in their lives to join

the movement and have important conversations about their health. Still more, there are prizes for women who take photos of their very own Misstache (or Hair-tache).

Bristle batons, Bro-stache, Cookie duster, Face-lace, Grass grin, Lip shadow, Manometer, Mouthbrow, Moz, Mr Tickles, Tea strainer, Upper lipholstery, Whiskers, Wing. Call whatever you may, they’re practically magnetic. An average man with a mo

touches it 760 times a day.Truth be told, women prefer

men with a little facial stubble. Researchers have found that men who sported moustaches and beards were viewed as more masculine, healthier, and more likely to be good parents. Policemen in some Indian cities are paid a bonus if they grow a mo, considered a symbol of virility and power. The bigger the ‘stache, the higher the pay. And, when twisted at the ends, moustache wearers have been known to exhibit fi ts of evil genius. Check out those of Indian cricketers including Ravindra Jadeja and Shikhar Dhawan, who support Movember.

And some ‘staches’ are simply more likeable than others. Burt Reynolds’s iconic moustache has its very own Facebook page with nearly 4,000 fans. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr is remembered as ‘one of the most infl uential moustached Americans in history’. Spanish artist Salvador Dali loved his super ‘stache’, claiming that “like two erect sentries, my moustache defends the entrance to my real self.” Dalí even published a book dedicated solely to his moustache.

Welcome to Nutty’ Infotainment. YAYS! Your time starts NOW!

Which is the only king in a deck of cards without a moustache?

The King of Hearts

As per Guinness Book of World Record, what is claim to fame of Ram Singh Chauhan of Rajasthan in India?

He holds the record for longest moustache, spanning 14 feet long.

‘Pogonotomy’ is a fancy way to say what?

Shaving or cutting of beard.

It became an important fashion statement for the mod subculture in the West after the Prime Minister of a certain country was featured in Vogue in 1964. Leading the pack were British rock bands like The Beatles and the Monkees. Frank Sinatra sported it and Sammy Davis Jr. claimed to own 200 of them in his closet. What is it?

Nehru jacket

He is named after an artist, as his pregnant mother was standing in front of one of his painting the fi rst time she felt him kick. In 2010, he donated $1mn to the Wildlife Conservation Society at a Russia’s tiger summit, which prompted Putin call him a ‘real man’. Name this actor-producer who celebrates his 44th birthday today.

Leonardo DiCaprio

An annual event popular among Chinese people that celebrates their pride in being single, it is a 24-hour buying frenzy that exceeds the combined sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States, and acts as a barometer for China’s consumers. In 2017, Alibaba alone had a sale of $ 25.4 billion, smashing its own record from last year and cementing it as the world’s biggest shopping event. What is this called and when is it celebrated?

Singles Day on 11th November (11/11).

Name the German mathematician who conceived the ideas of diff erential and integral calculus, and in 1675, demonstrated integral calculus to fi nd the area under the graph of y = f(x) function.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

‘Punjab’ is a state in India. It is also the name of Pakistan’s second largest province by area. What does ‘Punjab’ mean?

Five Rivers

This nickname of New York is forever tied to the Batman comic universe. In fact, author and NYC native Washington Irving started using the term in 1807 in his satirical periodical, Salmagundi. What is it?

Gotham

Identify this young man who shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. His death, on this day in 2004, is considered controversial.

(Answer next week. Answer to last week’s photo-quiz: Brannock)

What’s the Good Word?

1. Contrite: (a) delight (b) disagreement

(c) remorseful (d) collision

2. Abnegation: (a) self-denial (b)

aberration (c)deluge (d)sanction

3. Vitriolic: (a) gigantic (b) harsh (c)

bland (d)vivacious

4. Enervate: (a) invigorate (b) liven (c)

emulate (d) weaken mentally

5. Nomophobia: Fear of (a) numerals

(b) newts (c) being without mobile

phone (d) losing name and fame

6. Torpid: (a) sluggish (b) warm (c)

energetic (d) cruel

7. Staid: (a) constant (b) stoic (c)

frivolous (d) dignified

8. Rescind: (a) remiss (b) annul (c)

ratify (d) reveal

9. Graminology: Study of (a) grass (b)

gems (c) handwriting (d) gestures

10. Arrant : (a) list (b) bland (c) haughty

(d) utter

Answers: 1. (c); 2. (a); 3. (b); 4. (d); 5. (c);

6. (a); 7. (d); 8. (b); 9. (a); 10. (d).

Raising awareness for men’s health

1. pH scale is a measure of acidity or alkalinity of water soluble substances. What does ‘pH’ stands for?

Potential of Hydrogen(Mohammed Youssef, National Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait)

2. For T S Eliot, Macavity was the ‘Napoleon of Crime’. Name the machiavellian criminal mastermind in some of the Sherlock Holmes stories, whom Holmes describes as the “Napoleon of Crime”.

Professor James Moriarty (Bassima Abdo, The Lebanese School, Doha)

Do you have some interesting bytes to share? And, does your vibe attract you to the ‘Tribe NI.yays!’ Every week two of your best questions will be featured here. Please do write to us at [email protected].

Tribe NI.yays

CHARITABLE CAUSE: The term ‘Movember’ is believed to be coined barely two decades ago by a group of young men in Adelaide, who grew out their moustaches for charitable causes.

MATHEMATICIAN: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was the German mathematician who conceived the ideas of diff erential and integral calculus.


COMMUNITYINFOGRAPHIC


COMMUNITY CARTOONS/PUZZLES

Adam

Pooch Cafe

Garfield

Bound And Gagged

Codeword

Wordsearch

Every letter of the alphabet is used at least once. Squares with the same number in have the same letter in. Work out which number represents which letter.

Puzz

les

cour

tesy

: Puz

zlec

hoic

e.co

m

Sudoku

Sudoku is a puzzle based

on a 9x9 grid. The grid is

also divided into nine (3x3)

boxes. You are given a

selection of values and to

complete the puzzle, you

must fill the grid so that

every column, every anone

is repeated.

Discuss

ARGUEBANDYBARGAINCOMMENTCONFERCONSULTCOVER

DEBATEDICKERDISPUTEEXAMINEFORUMMENTIONNARRATE

ORATEPARLEYPOWWOWQUESTIONRELATETALK


COMMUNITYPUZZLES

Colouring

Answers

Wordsearch Codeword

Across1. What made the reformed drunk

feel so well? (5,5)6. Say nothing when the coat with

the pound in it is returned (4)10. Place one, with astute

manoeuvring, on the outside (7)11. Stagger, holding the right foot (7)12. Join with, to get back on the train

going out east (9)13. She went off the day after with

Arnold (5)14. Concerned with, for a spell (5)15. Puts into practice in one’s studies

(9)17. The wicked ladies cast off the

veils dancing (3-6)20. Before the fellow goes in to meet

the Queen, you conclude (5)21. Creature the little black girl is

carrying (5)23. Bean that’s a standard

accompaniment to eel stew (9)25. He helps free the tot the wild

bear captured (7)26. Having an extreme thirst, should

get on to the doctor (7)27. Objects when it closes (4)28. A capital protection in wet

weather (10)

Super Cryptic Clues

Yesterday’s Solutions

Across: 1 Sabotage; 5 Spared; 10 Initial expenses; 11 Cutters; 12 Oversee; 13 Mistrust; 15 Ticks; 18 Right; 20 Deriding; 23 Despair; 25 Relieve; 26 Grave misgivings; 27 Losing; 28 Degraded.

Down: 1 Switch; 2 Bristling; 3 Trident; 4 Giles; 6 Present; 7 Rises; 8 Dispense; 9 Exporter; 14 Underlie; 16 Concerned; 17 Prodigal; 19 Trade in; 21 Deliver; 22 Leased; 24 Seals; 25 Rogue.

Down1. It’s up to the head to

nominate the composer (5)

2. Ill-at-ease when away (3,2,4)

3. To phone here from outer space collect would be very expensive! (6,3,5)

4. The girl takes time out, as usual (7)

5. Once the meter’s fixed, it’s great (7)

7. Following up, it’s real, and about time (5)

8. It flies the Germans out and back again (9)

9. A word for a group of state-controlled farms? (10,4)

14. Link, as with ‘coast’ I link ‘sea’ (9)

16. What you see the loft suffused in? (4,5)

18. Operating, which is nice for a change (2,5)

19. Having the boys stand outside the prison is disgraceful (7)

22. By the sound of it, raised the money (5)

24. He’s great not to slack up, you say (5)


COMMUNITY LIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE

ARIESMarch 21 — April 19

CANCERJune 21 — July 22

LIBRASeptember 23 — October 22

CAPRICORNDecember 22 — January 19

TAURUSApril 20 — May 20

LEOJuly 23 — August 22

SCORPIOOctober 23 — November 21

AQUARIUSJanuary 20 — February 18

GEMINIMay 21 — June 20

VIRGOAugust 23 — September 22

SAGITTARIUSNovember 22 — December 21

PISCESFebruary 19 — March 20

This will be a great day for you, Aries. Everything you touch will

seem to turn to gold. The day’s events will fall right into place. You

will take pleasure in being calm and eff icient. But what you may

not realise is that this could happen every day. Take the time to see

what’s going right today in order to make it happen again tomorrow!

Cancer, don’t be surprised if you meet people who are quite self-

centred today. In general, it could be that you have a hard time

understanding people who are egotistical and don’t participate

in activities with others. Today you could try looking at them as if

they had something to teach you – the value of living a bit more for

yourself and less for others.

Today might be a little rough for you, Libra. It’s as if reality were

waiting to trip you up. Nothing about you is realistic. If you’re still

a bit childish or irresponsible, today may be rather hard on you.

It’s nothing serious, so don’t worry. However, if you feel as though

your back is to the wall, don’t react. Try to calmly accept what’s

happening to you.

Today you should think about your overdependence on money

and material possessions, Capricorn. Don’t you think you spend too

much of your precious time thinking about money and where you’re

going to find it? Are you careful with your money? Do you stick to

or even have a budget? These are important questions and this is a

good day to find the answers.

Today you may be feeling a little surer of yourself than usual. You

can be fairly shy and reserved. Today you should try and make

people a little more aware of you, to take you seriously. It’s time that

people respected you more, especially the people around you. Try to

think of yourself before you think of other people. You’re worth it!

Today could be rather constraining, Leo. Despite your great

aspirations, today will be marked by the need to take care of the

small problems that arise in everyday life. In other words, just what

you love. That said, being more down to Earth or in contact with the

realities of the world can never do anything but good for you.

Here’s a day that will be rather calm for you, Scorpio. Peace has

replaced all your soul searching. You feel in contact with life’s daily

routine, including aspects that you don’t always consider like the

weather, people’s expressions, or small coincidences. You seem to be

floating on a cloud. You’re going to have a good deal of confidence

today!

The last few weeks have been a little too serious for your tastes, but

this is good for you every once in a while, Aquarius. You may have a

tendency to want to play, which sometimes keeps you from getting

your work done. Take today to try and get your daily life organised

so you can have time to take care of your responsibilities and have

a little fun.

This would be an ideal day to think about your personal interests in

all areas of your life, Gemini. You’ve surely noticed that in various

relationships you tend not to consider yourself and what you

get out of it. The configuration of the planets today can help you

concentrate on yourself and think about what you give up in return

for your need to please others.

Even if it’s true in general that Virgo have strong bodies like

you, there are times when it’s important that they take care of

themselves. This would be an ideal day to be more aware of that

fact. It isn’t that you’re going to have health problems. Rather, the

planets are positioned in the middle of abundant activity, suggesting

that you’d be wise to take care of your body – your greatest asset.

It’s time to get yourself together. You have a tendency to be all over

the place. You need to channel your energies into something you

really care about. Tell yourself how proud you would be if you could

get this done. Don’t give up and don’t change directions on your

way. Stay focused!

Pisces, you’re someone who needs to have a lot of time to yourself.

You often dream of curling up in bed with a good book or going for

a bike ride. This is just your natural rhythm. Don’t try and ignore it,

because doing so could only mean problems for you. Give in from

time to time. If you don’t, at least use today to think about how you

could.

Weigh daily to lose weightS

truggling to lose weight? Weighing yourself daily could be the key, suggests a study.

The fi ndings, led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California in the United States, showed that

people who do not weigh themselves at all or did rarely were less likely to lose weight than those who weighed themselves often.

Those that weighed themselves six to seven times a week had a signifi cant weight loss (1.7 per cent) in 12 months.

Monitoring your behaviour or body weight may increase your awareness of how changing behaviours can aff ect weight loss. These fi ndings support the central role of self-monitoring in changing behaviour and increasing success in any attempt to better manage weight, the researchers stated.

The results will be presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientifi c Sessions 2018 in Chicago.

For the study, the team examined the self-weighing patterns of 1,042 adults (78 per cent male, average age 47) and whether there were diff erences in weight change by these self-weighing patterns over 12 months.

The participants weighed themselves at home as they normally would, without interventions, guidance or weight loss incentives from researchers.

The team identifi ed several categories of self-weighing adults, from those that weighed themselves daily or almost daily to adults who never used at-home scales.

They found that people who never weighed themselves or only weighed once a week did not lose weight in the following year. — IANS

Sunday, November 11, 2018 15GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYSHOWBIZ

Ben, Jennifer celebrate divorce with ice-cream trip

After getting divorced, actor Ben Affl eck and his ex-wife Jennifer Garner went on an ice-cream outing to celebrate their offi cial split.

The former couple, who got offi cialy separated on Thursday, spotted enjoying ice cream together with their six-year-old son Samuel, reports tmz.com.

Ben – who recently completed a stint in rehab for alcohol addiction, wore a checked shirt for the outing, while Jennifer also dressed casually in a beige jacket, white t-shirt and blue jeans.

Also, as per the reports, a private judge has offi cially signed off on the couple’s divorce papers which were submitted to an LA County Superior Court judge earlier in November. – IANS

Diego Luna to appear in Star Wars series

Actor Diego Luna will star in a new Star Wars series, which will be a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Luna will reprise his role as rebel spy Cassian Andor, the cocky daredevil who helped Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso steal the Death Star plans in the hit 2016 movie, reports variety.com.

“Going back to the Star Wars universe is very special for me. I have so many memories of the great work we did together and the relationships I made throughout the journey. We have a fantastic adventure ahead of us, and this new exciting format will give us the chance to explore this character more deeply,” the 38-year-old said. The series will telecast on Disney’s upcoming streaming service. The company has also tapped Jon Favreau to write and executive produce another Star Wars TV series titled The Mandalorian, which centres on a “lone gunfi ghter” and his adventures. – IANS

Thugs Of Hindostan crosses Rs52 crore on opening day

Katrina Kaif shares her idea of love

Actress Katrina Kaif believes love should be liberating and that people should free themselves from judging themselves based on how their partner makes them feel.

Katrina shared the love advice in a chat with fi lmmaker Karan Johar on a forthcoming episode of Star World’s Koff ee with Karan Season 6, read a statement.

The actress and Karan spoke about how it is widely accepted that it is necessary for a woman to have a man while she believes that this is not true for everyone. She feels people tend to burden their partners with the responsibility of making them happy and that’s where relationships go wrong.

“You somehow always judge yourself based on how much love or attention you’re getting from your partner. Your relationship suff ers just a little bit, and your self esteem and your image take a beating, which is not

a good thing,” said the actress, whose latest fi lm to release is Thugs Of Hindostan.

Both Katrina and Karan were in agreement that one shouldn’t feel anything on the basis of how somebody else is trying to make them feel.

She said her singleton period has got her to be really comfortable with “who she is”, which she didn’t think she was for a large part of her life.

Sharing her personal interpretation of love, Katrina said: “When neither of you need each other, when there’s no great dependency on the other person. There’s just admiration, there’s respect, there’s companionship and there’s a space of ease between you.”

Katrina was joined on the show by actor Varun Dhawan, with whom she will star in the upcoming movie ABCD 3. They will spill the beans on their experience of working together. – IANS

IMPRESSIVE RETURNS: A scene from the movie. A majority of critics gave it a thumbs-down, but the team is humbled by the film’s box off ice numbers.

SPECIAL: Going back to the Star Wars universe is very special for me, says Diego Luna.

SEPARATED: Ben Aff leck, left, and his ex-wife Jennifer Garner. A private judge has reportedly off icially signed off on the couple’s divorce papers.

CANDID: Katrina Kaif believes love should be liberating.

Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan-starrer Thugs Of Hindostan surpassed Rs50 crore on its opening day. A majority of critics gave it a thumbs down,

but the team is humbled by the fi lm’s box offi ce numbers.

The fi lm minted Rs52.25 crore net when it released on Thursday.

According to a statement from its makers, Yash Raj Films, the fi lm’s Hindi version amassed Rs50.75 crore and Rs1.50 crore came in from Tamil and Telugu dubs.

Director Vijay Krishna Acharya said: ‘Thugs of Hindostan is the quintessential Hindi movie that we love to watch with our friends and families. We were lucky to get two of the biggest stars of our generation to come together for an out-and-out masala Diwali entertainer and we are humbled and ecstatic with the love and appreciation that audiences have showered on Thugs... to help the fi lm create box offi ce history on day one.

“We are thrilled to see that audiences across age groups, across India are loving

Thugs of Hindostan and have made our fi lm a part of their Diwali plans. We made Thugs... with a vision to provide a pure festive entertainer for the entire family and this result is extremely gratifying for all of us at YRF.” The action-packed adventure is set on the high seas.

Aamir, who plays the character of Firangi, said: “I am humbled by the love and aff ection of the audience.”

On the contrary, trade experts did not give promising reviews to the movie.

Film trade analyst Girish Johar said that the feedback is mixed.

“The feedback is neither good nor great as people were expecting huge and strong content from a deadly combo of Amitabh Bachchan sir, Aamir and YRF, so there’s a letdown in there certainly,” Johar said.

All in all, critics were not impressed by the “juvenile storytelling” of the fi lm, which also stars Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Shaikh.

Since this is the fi rst time that Amitabh and Aamir have shared screen space, asked if the cast will contribute to footfalls in

theatres, trade analyst Atul Mohan said: “Yes, the loyalists of Big B and Aamir Khan might just go and watch the fi lm once but that will not help the fi lm to survive for the longest because there is no good screenplay.”

The period fi lm is fi ctional and created an expectation to off er a big canvas experience to the audience, with its trailer.

Asked if the visual eff ects are engaging enough for the audience to watch the fi lm again, Mohan said: “I see no reason whatsoever to invest huge money on a Hindi fi lm to watch VFX... and something that people can watch in the international cinema.”

While the fi lm was expected to utilise the festive weekend, trade expert Taran Adarsh tweeted: “Thugs Of Hindostan may reap the benefi t of the holiday period + tremendous hype + impressive names in its cast... But will fi nd it diffi cult to sustain after the initial euphoria settles down.”

He called the fi lm “a golden opportunity lost” and “a king-sized disappointment”. – IANS


COMMUNITY

Two old tomato cages and a couple of rescued terra cotta saucers have made the Garden Guy’s yard a ‘Finch Riviera.’

It hasn’t been just fi nches but a host of birds. As a horticulturist I am pretty much up on plants that birds eat and have become fairly profi cient with the feeder aspect like I suppose as many of you are.

The question is whether you have accomplished the water aspect of the backyard habitat. One thing that really stressed me while I was director of the National Butterfl y Centre was that it was paramount for the birds to have water.

David and Jan Dauphin were the volunteer managers of the birding area of the butterfl y centre and developed a three-fountain system from which water dripped 24 hours a day and then gently ran out of the fountain to terra cotta saucers on the ground below. Even though the

Rio Grande was close by, as were irrigation canals, it was apparent that both the fountains and the saucers below provided ample water to the birds.

I’ve been working on a new home and landscape and my feeders were immediately bringing in the birds. It makes you wonder how they knew so fast. Even though I have a flowing creek, I knew from lessons learned that I needed to provide a source of water. Admittedly the ‘The Garden Guy’ does things on the cheap and I think my idea was a home run. Everything was created from things around the house.

As I write I have two birdbaths not only frequented by birds, but also provided fl owers for months. The recipe was two old large tomato cages and two old terra cotta saucers I found in a fi eld. I did purchase two 1-gallon mandevillas from the discount

garden graveyard section of a box store.

You get the idea: the cages went in the ground, the saucers placed on top and one mandevilla in the ground in the centre of each cage. The mandevillas immediately took off as if rewarding me for giving them attention. It wasn’t long before the birds took notice and visited the saucers for drinking, bathing and splashing.

The maintenance is not hard as I’ll head out to the baths with a watering can and paper towels and in a minute things are always presentable to the feathered friends. Sometimes when I water plants I’ll also send some spray into the saucers with the water wand to freshen up. The mandevillas quickly climbed each of the segments of the cage, encouraging me do a little weaving of the vines to train the direction of their growth.

It has been thrilling to see bright

yellow American goldfi nches, American robins, mourning doves, nuthatches, chickadees and a riotous saucer full of house fi nches all splish-splashing together. Then a couple of weeks a go it was a celebratory high fi ve with my wife when a hooded warbler visited. The point is you need to provide water with your feeding activities and it doesn’t have to be expensive to work. When you’re choosing a birdbath, look for one with a basin that you can clean easily. It should also have a gentle slope to allow birds to wade into the water. You can make your own bath out of a garbage can lid, a saucer-type snow sled, or even an old frying pan. But if you’d rather buy one,

look for a birdbath made of tough plastic that won’t break if the water freezes or if your dog knocks it over.

For the ultimate birdbath, set up a permanent pool in your backyard. Just dig a shallow hole in the ground and line it with plastic or cement to make it watertight. Plant ferns and other native plants around the pool to make it more attractive. You can add a pump to circulate the water if you want to create elaborate multi-level pools.

All you need is probably your garage or storage shed. With just a little maintenance and fresh water, your backyard wildlife habitat will become more beautiful and essential to visiting birds.– TNS

Your backyard birds need water

AMPLIFIED: Five finches make this bird bath a ‘Finch Riviera.’

HOMEMADE: This homemade bird bath was created out of an old tomato cage and terracotta saucer with an Alice du Pont mandevilla climbing from the middle.

All you need is probably your garage or

storage shed. With just a little maintenance and

fresh water, your backyard wildlife habitat will

become more beautiful and essential to visiting

birds, writes Norman Winter

Master of the understatement novelist Alexander McCall Smith ...

Documents

Transcript of Master of the understatement novelist Alexander McCall Smith ...