DOHA 16°C—27°C TODAY PUZZLES 12 & 13D LIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE 11L P

Monday, January 9, 2017Rabia II 11, 1438 AH

CommunityIbn Ajayan Projects, the managers

of Asian Town, organise their first “Weekend Festival” at Plaza Mall.

P6 P16 CommunityThe game Sea Hero Quest has

generated huge amounts of data for dementia researchers.

COVERSTORY

Seed of passionWhy the pomegranate is

family tree for a budding

American botanist

John Chater. P4-5

Community EditorKamran Rehmat

e-mail: community@gulf-times.comTelephone: 44466405

Fax: 44350474

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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

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Monday, January 9, 20172 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY ROUND & ABOUT

The FounderDirected by: John Lee HancockWritten by: Robert D SiegelCast: Michael Keaton, Nick Off erman, John Carroll LynchSynopsis: The Founder is an American biographical drama

fi lm directed by John Lee Hancock and written by Robert Siegel. It tells the story of Ray Kroc, a salesman who turned two brothers’ fast food eatery, McDonald’s, into one of the biggest restaurant businesses in the world.

Locations: The Mall, Landmark, Gulf Mall, Villaggio

Florence Foster JenkinsDirected by: Stephen FrearsWritten by: Nicholas MartinCast: Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg Synopsis: Florence Foster Jenkins is a 2016 biographical

comedy-drama fi lm directed by Stephen Frears and written by Nicholas Martin. The fi lm stars Meryl Streep as Florence

Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress who became an opera singer known for her painful lack of singing skill. Hugh Grant plays her husband and manager, English Shakespearean actor, St Clair Bayfi eld. Other cast members include Simon Helberg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Nina Arianda.

Locations: Gulf Mall, Landmark, City Center

Mall Cinema (1): Snow White’s New Adventure (2D) 2pm; Assassin’s Creed (2D) 3:30pm; Moana (2D) 5:30pm; The Founder (2D) 7:30pm; The Great Wall (2D) 9:30pm; The Great Wall (2D) 11:30pm.Mall Cinema (2): Ozzy: Fast & Furry (2D) 2:45pm; Florence Poster Jenkins (2D) 4:30pm; Snow White’s New Adventure (2D) 6:30pm; Dangal (Hindi) 8pm; Dangal (Hindi) 11pm.Mall Cinema (3): Level Up (2D) 2:30pm; Ozzy: Fast & Furry (2D) 4pm; The founder (2D) 5:30pm; Al Maa Wa Al Khoudra (Arabic) 7:30pm; Al Maa Wa Al Khoudra (Arabic) 9:30pm; Sardar Saab (Punjabi) 11:30pm.Landmark Cinema (1): Moana (2D) 2:30pm; Ozzy: Fast & Furry (2D) 4pm; Assassin’s Creed (2D) 5:30pm; Ozzy: Fast & Furry (2D) 7:30pm; Florence Poster Jenkins (2D) 9:30pm; Level

Up (2D) 11:30pm.Landmark Cinema (2): Snow White’s New Adventure (2D) 3pm; Snow White’s New Adventure (2D) 4:30pm; Dangal (Hindi) 6pm; The Great Wall (2D) 9pm; The Great Wall (2D) 11pm.Landmark Cinema (3): The Founder (2D) 2:15pm; Level Up (2D) 4:15pm; Ozzy: Fast & Furry (2D) 5:45pm; Al Maa Wa Al Khoudra (Arabic) 7:15pm; Sardar Saab (Panjabi) 9:15pm; The Founder (2D) 11:30pm.Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (1): Snow White’s New Adventure (2D) 2:30pm; Snow White’s New Adventure (2D) 4pm; Snow White’s

New Adventure (2D) 5:30pm; Al Maa Wa Al Khoudra (Arabic) 7:30pm; The Great Wall (2D) 9:30pm; The Great Wall (2D) 11:30pm.Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (2): Ozzy: Fast & Furry (2D) 3pm; Ozzy: Fast & Furry (2D) 5:15pm; Level Up (2D) 7:15pm; The Founder (2D) 8:45pm; Dangal (Hindi) 10:45pm.Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (3): The Great Wall (2D) 2:30pm; The Founder (2D) 4:30pm; Florence Poster Jenkins (2D) 6:30pm; Sardar Saab (Punjabi) 8:30pm; Al Maa Wa Al Khoudra (Arabic) 11pm.Asian Town Cinema: Dangal (Hindi) 6 & 9:15pm; Oru Muthshi Kadha (Malayalam) 6:30 & 9:30; Ore Mukham (Malayalam) 6pm; Katapana (Malayalam) 8:30pm; 10 Kalapanakal (Malayalam) 5:30, 8 & 10:30pm.

PRAYER TIMEFajr 5.00amShorooq (sunrise) 6.21amZuhr (noon) 11.40amAsr (afternoon) 2.40pmMaghreb (sunset) 5.02pmIsha (night) 6.32pm

Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it

coming. – David Bowie

3Monday, January 9, 2017 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYROUND & ABOUT

E-mail: gtlisting@gmail.com, Events and timings subject to change

EVENTS

Trevor Noah live at the Doha Comedy Festival

WHEN: Feb 2- Feb 4TIME: 8pmWHERE: Qatar National Convention

CenterDoha Comedy Festival is returning for a

third time. The line-up includes the world’s top performers from the US, UK, Middle East and the GCC.

The festival will host world-renowned standup comedian and international TV host of The Daily Show – Trevor Noah and the British comedian, ventriloquist, and winner of Season 10 of America’s Got Talent – Paul Zerdin.

These talents will join extremely popular performers from the Middle East and the GCC including Bader Saleh whose YouTube show garnered over 346 million views, Nemr Abou Nassar entitled with ‘Lebanon’s King of Comedy’, the Jordanian comic critic Rajae Qawas, Syrian social media activist and comedian Mohanad al Hattab, Egyptian standup comedian Mohamed Salem and the fl uent Arabic-speaking comedian from South Korea - Wonho Chung to name a few.

Ooredoo Marathon 2017WHEN: January 13TIME: 6:30amWHERE: MIA ParkNow in its fi fth year, the 2017 Ooredoo

Marathon will take place on Friday, January 13. Ooredoo has promised that this year’s marathon will be ‘more professional than ever’.

This year, the Ooredoo Marathon will feature courses for all abilities of runners including a 10km run, half-marathon, full marathon and special children’s 1km fun run.

The route, which will start at the Museum of Islamic Arts Park, will follow the stunning Doha Corniche and prizes will be awarded to the best runners in a range of categories, based on age and gender.

Ooredoo has also confi rmed today that 100% of this year’s registration fees for the Ooredoo Marathon will be donated to the charity Reach Out To Asia.

Auditions for SingersWHEN: January 14Doha Youth Choir & Junior Choir have

“exciting plans for the year 2017,” including an European tour. If you can sing, love singing and can commit to the choir’s rehearsal then you may be the right fi t for

them. For auditions details, please call the choir at 5578-0355 or e-mail them at info@dohayouthchoir.com

The Arabian HorseWHEN: January 11TIME: 7pmWHERE: Multipurpose hall, Al Shaqab,

Main Arena Building (Access through gate 7 or gate 8 on Al Shaqab st.)

Dr Mats Troedsson, Consultant Director of Al Shaqab Equine Veterinary Medical Center/Professor at the University of Kentucky, MHG Equine Research Center, will give a talk on the history of the Arabian horse, its importance in the history of Qatar, and current strategies for horse breeding and equine welfare at Al Shaqab. The talk is being organised by the Qatar Natural History Group. For more details, please visit www.qnhg.org

FCC Vanithavedi’s Women’s FestWHEN: January 12, 13 and 14WHERE: Friend’s Cultural CentreFriends Cultural Centre Vanithavedi will

be organising a variety of programmes on the occasion of World Women’s Day and Qatar National Sports Day. The programmes are to commence with the Cultural Fest to be held at FCC in Hilal on the 12th, 13th and 14th of January.

The competitions that will be conducted at the festival include: fl ower making, draw and colour, best out of waste, cartoon drawing, clay modelling, Mappilappattu, light music, moniact, poem recitation, extempore speech, composition of poetry, story writing, photo caption, essay writing, kadhaprasangam, collage, debate, nadan pattu, skit, and mime.

The sports festival will be on January 17. For more information, please www.

fccvanitavedi.wordpress.comYou can also contact 4466-1213, 5527-1038,

6647-0400.

Shop QatarWHERE: Across QatarWHEN: Until February 7Shop Qatar will be the fi rst edition of

Qatar’s month-long shopping festival. As part of eff orts to provide visitors with the complete package, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has partnered with Qatar Airways to ensure fl ights to Qatar from within the GCC region booked on the airline for the period between January 7 and February 7 will be available with a 25% discount.

In addition, members of Qatar Airways’

Privilege Club will receive double Q-miles on their booking during Shop Qatar.

Retail outlets around the country will

be providing discounts of up to 50% on a range of consumer goods including clothes, electronics, cosmetics and accessories for men, women and children.

To fi nd out more, visit www.shopqatar.qa

Color RunWHERE: QNCCWHEN: January 28The 2017 edition of The Color Run returns

on Saturday, January 28 at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) as the Tropicolor World Tour makes its mark on Doha.

Color Runners are promised a lively island-style experience complete with lots more fun and colour, as they run, walk, dance, jog or even skip through the fi ve kilometre course with their family and friends, whilst getting covered head to toe in colour at every kilometre mark. Color Runners are encouraged to arrive at the QNCC on the day by around 7am, with the fi rst wave of runners setting off at 8:30am.

Once they have completed the fun run, the runners will be able to continue on with the festivities at the memorable Finish Festival, a larger than life party, with Rainbow beach, an interactive island featuring music, dancing, photo opportunities, entertainment, sponsored activities, and massive colour throws.

To learn more and register, please visit the event’s offi cial website at www.thecolorrun.qa

Karting and Minimoto @ LosailWHERE: Losail Circuit Sports ClubThe Karting and Minimoto track at Losail

International Circuit is open for public on multiple days in January. The next dates are January 12 and 13, from 5pm to 10pm. Price is QR100 per 15 minutes session. Add another QR15 for helmet mask (the track will provide a helmet if you do not bring your own). The minimum age for karting is 15 and participants under the age of 18 will need signed permission from a legal guardian. For the Mini Moto track, any participant should bring their own bike and safety equipment.

Al Gannas(For school students) Until March 31, 20179am–NoonAl Gannas SocietyFree ( For boys only, requires registration)

Al Gannas association is participating in the “Our culture is a school” programme, by organising many activities for the students

every Monday and Wednesday of the week.These activities include explanations on

hunting and related items tools, kinds of falcons and preys, in addition to workshop on how to carry a falcon, set a traditional tent (made of goat & camel heir), prepare traditional Arabic coff ee and start a fi re. For further details, visit katara.net

Muhammad Ali: Tribute to a LegendDATE: Until February 25, 2017WHERE: Eastern Gallery, 4th Floor,

Museum of Islamic Art The temporary exhibition is curated by

Qatar Museums’ 3-2-1 Olympic and Sports Museum and presents a unique collection of artefacts from the boxing legend’s career, including photography from Ali’s outdoor exhibition bout at the Doha Stadium in 1971 and memorabilia spanning his journey to the 1960 Rome Olympics; Ali’s world title winning bout against Sonny Liston in 1964 and his fi nal world title winning fi ght against Leon Spinks in New Orleans in 1978.

Qatar Music Academy(For school students) Until March 28, 201711am–2pmFree (Requires registration) Qatar Music Academy focuses on teaching

its students the principles of Arab and Western music. As part of the “Our Culture is a School” programme, Qatar Music Academy has off ered interested schools the opportunity to attend various workshops. These workshops will include an introduction to Arab and Western music and instruments, as well as the teachers giving a brief overview of the educational music programmes at the Academy. For further details, visit katara.net

FragmentsDATE: Until January 30VENUE: KataraIn this exhibition, Mahmoud Obaidi retraces

the ‘organised chaos’ that led to the destruction of Iraq, and presents a response to witnessing the city of Baghdad fall piece by piece. Obaidi recreates what has been stolen or destroyed to try to piece the city back together again.

Fitness TrainingDATE: Sunday, Tuesday, ThursdayTIME: 6pm-7pmVENUE: MIA ParkThere are fi tness classes in the park on

Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday nights between 6 and 7pm. Open to all levels of fi tness, Bootcamp is an intensive and fun way to train and also meet new people in the open and friendly group atmosphere. More information, from Bootcamp, Qatar or info@bootcampqatar.com

Monday, January 9, 20174 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY COVER STORY

Pomegranate chroniclesA doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside’s Department of

Botany and Plant Sciences, John Chater is cultivating and studying the same

pomegranates — at least a dozen novel types — his grandfather once grew

DELICIOUS: The first pomegranate John Chater tasted was handed to him by his grandfather.

By Geoff rey Mohan

The fi rst pomegranate that John Chater grasped bled crimson drops onto his tan suede shoes.

The leathery hull brimmed with dark, translucent seeds bigger than his baby teeth, and when he nibbled them they burst with a sweetness his toddler tongue had never experienced.

After that, no other fruit proff ered by his Lebanese grandfather would do. Not his sweet loquats. Not his tart Persian mulberries, carefully tended

in a quarter-acre backyard in Camarillo. “Every time I’d go to my grandfather’s house to visit, I would ask for them,” said Chater, 34, “Because I didn’t understand seasonality back then.”

Chater understands seasonality now in ways that go beyond botany.

A doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside’s Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, Chater is cultivating and studying the same pomegranates his grandfather once grew.

Sassin John Chater, it turns out, is responsible for at least a dozen novel types of pomegranate that are loved by the discerning few but remain rare to this day, abandoned in favour of

a single variety that goes onto most produce shelves in the US, and into juices such as Pom Wonderful.

John Chater, the grandson, is out to change that.

Chater is up against history and billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, whose nut and citrus empire sprawls across 125,000 acres in the San Joaquin Valley.

The US grows about 33,000 acres of pomegranates, nearly all of it the variety called “wonderful,” according to the US Department of Agriculture. The Resnicks own more than a quarter of that acreage, squeezing most of what it bears into hourglass-shaped bottles of Pom Wonderful juice.

The wonderful cultivar has become so central to the Resnicks that they renamed their $4.8 billion holding company, Roll Global, to Wonderful Co. in 2015 and rebranded their packaged nuts and trademarked clementines with the same adjective.

How wonderful rose to prominence, and how the Resnicks came to dominate its cultivation, is a product of chance and savvy marketing.

While some pomegranate trees probably arrived with Spanish missionaries, the wonderful variety was brought here by a man known to history only as “Mr Baers of Porterville,” who obtained a cutting from Florida in 1896. Within a

couple of decades, wonderful was to pomegranates what the Washington navel was to oranges. It has dominated the US market ever since, and has made inroads in Europe.

If Stewart Resnick had listened to his farm managers, he would have torn out the fi rst 100 acres of wonderful pomegranates that he belatedly realised were part of his 1987 purchase of a pistachio orchard, Lynda Resnick said. Convinced the rare fruit had a higher profi t margin than pistachios, Resnick instead planted thousands of additional acres in the ensuing decade — even though marketing reports showed barely 1 in 20 US consumers had ever tried one.

“We weren’t exactly responding

5Monday, January 9, 2017 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYCOVER STORY

to pent-up demand,” Lynda Resnick wrote in her memoir, Rubies in the Orchard.

The Resnicks created a market much the way citrus growers dealt with an orange glut in the 1940s: by promising that drinking their fruit juice would extend life spans.

In 2002, the newly launched Pom Wonderful boasted that consumers could “cheat death” with pomegranate juice, loaded with antioxidants. Five years later, the company was bringing in a reported $165 million in revenue — and drawing rebuke from federal regulators. The company has since toned down its claims.

Pom Wonderful is in no hurry to expand beyond the variety that gave the company its name. While the company regularly experiments with other cultivars each year, none match the taste, look, durability and consumer appeal of the original, said Erik Wilkins, the beverage company’s director of crop research.

“We’ve screened some of the material from Mr Chater,” Wilkins said. “If you try to make pomegranate juice from the kinds of lines that John Chater’s grandfather had over in Camarillo, it has diff erent fl avours to it, defi nitely, but it’s not the traditional fl avour that we have from wonderful — it’s still the gold standard.”

Wonderful, he added, “has been part of the California agricultural landscape for over 120 years.”

Sassin Chater wasn’t trying to create the premiere pomegranate. He was honouring memory.

For generations, the Chater family had tended orchards near Beirut, Lebanon, growing olives and other fruit. But pomegranate varieties often don’t adapt well — most thrive better in hot, dry climates of the Middle East and Asia, and will split open or produce bitter arils in the cool and moist Mediterranean climate of Ventura County.

When Sassin Chater tried his luck with a seed from a common variety grown in Lebanon, he got a completely diff erent type of pomegranate — a common occurrence in many domesticated fruits, whose seeds frequently don’t carry genes identical to the parent. This one bore pale red fruit that was unusually sweet, even when still green and the size of a walnut. He named it Eversweet, and obtained a 20-year patent in 1983.

John Chater paid little attention to the hobby of a hospital janitor who could be as gruff as he was kind. Like most teens do, he drifted away from his grandfather. After he left for UC Santa Barbara, he visited his grandparents sporadically, stopping by for the last time only a few months before Sassin Chater died November

6, 2001. Wandering through a series of post-college jobs at nurseries, Chater began hearing tidbits about his grandfather that suggested he was no ordinary backyard botanist. Small memories began to fi t together: strangers dropping by to buy saplings, or to carefully take clippings from the trees. A strange shed in the backyard, stained garnet with pomegranate juice.

It started to nag him that he had never learned his grandfather’s full story, and that it might be too late.

So when a supervisor chided him to stop wasting time clipping roses and get a graduate degree, he applied to a horticulture and crop science graduate programme at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He talked his way into the exclusive programme based less on his grades than his backstory — a

former dean at the California Rare Fruit Growers group vouched for the tale. He was accepted provisionally.

“They didn’t have a whole lot of faith in me,” John Chater said. “They were living off this guy’s word.”

His graduate adviser told him there weren’t enough of his grandfather’s trees on the family’s Camarillo property to be able to conduct good science with them. She sent him to Dee Slayman, a longtime pomegranate grower in Kern County, who escorted John Chater to a single row of trees he immediately recognised from his childhood.

“It was so quiet out there in the middle of nowhere with nothing but you, some birds … and the 10- to 12-foot trees bearing these delicious fruit to which nobody on Earth really has access,” John Chater said.

Word got out he was looking for samples of his grandfather’s cultivars. One day, he got a call from Jeff Moersfelder, a researcher at the US Department of Agriculture’s clonal germplasm repository in Davis — a kind of genetic bank and doomsday vault charged with collecting and preserving the nation’s fruit and nut trees.

“He said, ‘I just wanted to let you know we have your grandfather’s pomegranates up here, and if you’re ever interested in visiting, feel free to come up,’” John Chater said. “I didn’t realise they had put his pomegranates in the collection.”

John Preece, a supervisor at the repository, showed Chater an 8-inch by 10-inch poster on the wall. It had a grainy photo of his grandfather in his Camarillo backyard. Around the margins were photos of 13 of the cultivars he had donated to the repository.

John Chater was wide-eyed. They drove out to the nearby Wolfskill Experimental Orchards and followed a map to trees that he again recognised.

He said, ‘Oh, rosa mia — he named that one after my grandmother,” Preece recalled. “I got goosebumps.”

He has not fi nished analysing how his grandfather’s pomegranates fared when compared with other varieties. He has a year left to write his dissertation — “Ecophysiological Parameters and Agronomic Traits of 10 Cultivars of Pomegranate,” a fancy name for putting science behind his grandfather’s passion for sharing fruit.

John Chater has no idea what he’ll do next. “It’s been a wandering path,” he said. “I’m trying to straighten it out.”

In an ideal world, he said, he would start a pomegranate breeding programme. Or, he joked, maybe he’ll just wind up at the garden section of Orchard Supply Hardware. — Los Angeles Times/TNS

When (John’s grandfather) Sassin Chater tried his luck with a seed from a common variety grown in Lebanon, he got a completely different type of pomegranate — a common occurrence in many domesticated fruits, whose seeds frequently don’t carry genes identical to the parent. This one bore pale red fruit that was unusually sweet, even when still green and the size of a walnut. He named it Eversweet, and obtained a 20-year patent in 1983PRIZED CATCH: John Chater didn't realise how famous his Lebanese grandfather was among rare fruit cognoscenti, until he started

studying the pomegranate.

VARIETY: Pomegranate seeds come in a variety of colours and distinct flavours.

Monday, January 9, 20176 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYNoble International School conducts orientation session for its teachersThe Noble International School conducted an orientation session for its teachers at its Preparatory campus. Dr Azad Chalikuzhi, management consultant and trainer specialised in strategy, programme and project management, conducted the training that was titled “communicating to win”. He told the teachers about techniques that they can use to in classrooms to enable easier comprehension.

Ibn Ajayan Projects organises ‘Weekend Festival’ at Asian TownIbn Ajayan Projects, the managers of Asian Town, recently organised their first “Weekend Festival” at Plaza Mall. This is a new initiative to entertain visitors to Plaza Mall. The entry to the event venue was free for public and a large number of workers and labourers living in and around Asian Town attended. The event included a magic show and live music show that enthralled thousands of viewers gathered at the event. The organisers even gave a chance to people in the audience to perform

on stage. The show started at 6pm and ended at 8pm. In the coming weeks, the “Weekend Festival” will feature dance performances, comedy shows and many more artistic performances and will be organised throughout the year on every alternate weekend. Plaza Mall is an aff ordable shopping mall in Qatar, which attracts a lot of visitors in the weekends. It has four cinema screens and amphitheatre and has the only international cricket stadium in Qatar.

The St. Regis Doha appoints new deputy general manager

The St. Regis Doha has announced the appointment of Saleh Bataineh as Deputy General Manager at the

award-winning property. With Bataineh stepping into his new role in December 2016, he will oversee all aspects of The St. Regis Doha including day-to-day operations as well as being involved in all features of running the hotel.

Additionally, in his new position, Bataineh will also be closely involved in employee training, coaching and mentoring at all levels; will work to sustain The St. Regis Doha’s unique positioning as the preferred address and most exclusive hotel in Doha; and continue providing undisputed luxury services and bespoke

experiences to guests – a signature stamp of The St. Regis Doha.

Prior to joining The St. Regis Doha, Bataineh worked at a number of prestigious brands including Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, where he had diff erent leadership roles in cities like Amman, Toronto, Dubai and Beijing, with his most recent role being a Hotel Manager at Four Seasons Cairo at The First Residence.

A seasoned hotelier with close to twenty years of international experience, Bataineh said: “My new role as the Deputy General Manager of the hotel is an incredibly unique opportunity for me to continue working in one of Qatar’s most luxurious hotels. Since opening in 2012, The St. Regis Doha has

built up an unrivalled reputation for off ering guests an unsurpassed deluxe experience every time, and I look forward to maintaining this reputation and personalised guest experience.”

Tareq Derbas, Area General Manager of The St. Regis Doha, said: “The St. Regis Doha has always prided itself on being an exceptional hotel in Qatar, and a core component of this is also working with the most talented and dedicated hoteliers. Bataineh has shown a remarkable ability to provide comfortable and unique guest experiences along with leadership and management traits over the years, and we are delighted to have elevated Bataineh to the position of Deputy General Manager at The St. Regis Doha.” Saleh Bataineh

7Monday, January 9, 2017 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYPakistan International School students visit ice-cream factoryThe Pakistan International School in Doha arranged an educational trip for the students of its Junior Wing to Dandy Ice Cream Factory. An ISO 9001:2000 certified company, it is reckoned to be one of the most well-respected brands in Qatar, with claims of a growing presence across the GCC region. The students were accompanied by their teachers, Tauseef Fatima and Noshaba. They were greeted by Wajid Sofi, marketing executive at Dandy. They were taken on a tour of the factory and

got to eat some ice-cream at the conference room, where they also got a chance to questions about the process. Later, eight students – Hadia Ghaff ar, Safi Naz, Rehab, Sara Zahid, Abdullah Mohsin, Ahmed Hesham, Masood and Shaarif Imran – participated in a competition of making ice-cream desserts with the help of coloured syrup and nuts. Each student was given three minutes for this. Hadia Ghaff ar and Safi Naz won the competition. All students were given certificates for participation.

By Mike Fischer

The most obnoxious soccer parent is no match for Mohan Kumar, bullying father of two cricket-playing prodigies in

Selection Day, Aravind Adiga’s scathingly satiric novel of modern Indian life.

Adiga’s title refers to the pivotal day when teens like Mohan’s sons are evaluated and potentially chosen for one of India’s select cricket teams; imagine the NFL’s Scouting Combine and draft, rolled into one. The novel opens three years before selection day for 14-year-old Radha and his brother, 13-year-old Manju.

When we meet them, they’re living with Mohan in a rat-infested Mumbai slum. Mohan ekes out a living selling chutney, while dreaming that Radha and Manju

will make it big in cricket, thereby erasing a lifetime of humiliation that includes poverty, a wife who left him and the sense that his boys hate him.

Can one blame them? Mohan beats them, as he’d once beaten his wife. He sabotages their school projects, lest they become encouraged to focus on education rather than cricket. And he demands adherence to numerous wacky rules, including one banning them from shaving before age 21, for fear it will detract from their athletic prowess.

Mohan isn’t the only one willfully stifl ing the boys’ intellectual and emotional growth. So do two piquant characters — a cricket coach and an entrepreneur — interested in the boys for their own selfi sh ends. Each also serves as a mouthpiece for Adiga’s bitterly trenchant observations on India.

Tommy Senior, coach and mentor, looks back nostalgically toward an imagined, pre-British past in which

India stood tall; tellingly, he spends much of his spare time chronicling and glorifying Indian bravery during an 18th-centry battle against foreign invaders that the Indians actually lost.

Anand Mehta is a failing businessman who invests in the Kumar boys as though they’re stock market futures. He also continually laments the decision to come home from New York to Mumbai, which he describes as a “citadel of brain-dead wealth, fortress of the world’s least educated elite.”

During the formative three years that take up most of this novel — which concludes with a 15-page supplement looking back from eleven years later — Radha and Manju struggle to forge an identity in a culture corroded by cynicism and punishing originality. Here’s

one character, bitterly descanting on a country where everyone imitates someone else, from somewhere else:

“What is an Indian, after all? Picture today’s young man from Mumbai or Delhi as a vulture above the nations, scavenging for his identity. He sees a pretty thing in Dubai, and he brings it home; he sees a pretty thing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and he brings it home. One day he looks at his life, fi nds that it makes no sense at all, and then he turns to religion.”

It wouldn’t be cricket to tell you whether this India destroys Adiga’s two teen protagonists, but I will confess to a suspicion that Adiga focuses on cricket because it’s an apt embodiment of the debased India his characters describe.

A vestige of British colonialism that the narrator describes as a “quarter sport” for “quarter men” and which one character describes as a “mediocrity,” Indian cricket

has also been mired in cheating and gambling scandals, discussed here.

Adiga’s account of the brothers’ eff orts to grow up and fl y free of the nets holding them back is itself held back by Adiga’s broad and satiric focus, which stunts his characters’ growth and results in a disjointed narrative. While much more ambitious, Selection Day is ultimately less eff ective than Adiga’s tighter, Booker Prize-winning The White Tiger (2008).

But Selection Day is also fi lled with smart, spot-on observations about the perils of growing up in a country where both sports and politics have become increasingly degraded forms of mass entertainment, in which games are rigged and in which “big thief walks free. Small thief gets caught.” Americans may not know cricket. But much of this novel will feel all too familiar. —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS

Adiga’s Selection Day scathingly satiricBOOK REVIEW

Monday, January 9, 20178 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY MARK

Panasonic unveils LUMIX GH5P

anasonic has introduced the new LUMIX GH5 – the latest fl agship model of LUMIX G digital single lens mirrorless

cameras based on the Micro Four Thirds system standard.

The new GH5 evolves to achieve 4K 60p/50p ultra high-defi nition, smooth, video recording for the fi rst time as a digital single lens mirrorless camera without a time limit. Furthermore, the GH5 is also capable of 4:2:2 10-bit 4K 30p/internal video recording as well as outputting even more faithful colour reproduction for the fi rst time as a digital interchangeable lens camera.

The company is optimistic that the latest version of GH series will cement its position as the leading consumer electronics brand in the region and exceed the expectations of the customers across UAE.

The new LUMIX GH5 has advanced functions such as Post Focus option that enable users to select the in-focus area even after shooting. This is helpful in situations like macro shooting where strict focusing is required or for changing expressions by changing the focused subject.

The LUMIX GH5 comes equipped with the new 20.3-megapixel Digital Live MOS

Sensor and new Venus Engine to achieve highest-ever image quality in the history of LUMIX G digital cameras. It also supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, offering users a more flexible shooting experience, and instant image sharing with easy operation.

Additionally, the new model is packed with features like the new AF system with advanced DFD technology. The focus areas are increased from 49 to 225-areas on the LUMIX GH5 in addition to the conventional Face/Eye Recognition, Tracking AF, 1-area AF and Pinpoint AF.

In the LUMIX GH5, the conventional ‘4K PHOTO’ function is dramatically advanced to form ‘6K PHOTO’ which lets the user to capture all candid moments at 30 fps by extracting the frame with the best timing out of a 6K burst fi le (in 4:3 or 3:2 aspect) to save as an approximately 18-megapixel equivalent high resolution photo.

Taking advantage of its high-speed, long-time burst shooting capability, spur-of-the-moment shots can be saved in beautiful photos with higher resolution that complies with larger-sized printing by substantially increasing the resolution from approximately 8-megapixel (4K PHOTO) to

approximately 18-megapixel (6K PHOTO). Furthermore, 4K Photo is also upgraded to enable 60 fps high-speed capture in approx.8-megapixel equivalent resolution.

Panasonic’s LUMIX GH5 is designed to withstand heavy fi eld use and is not only splash proof and dustproof, but also freezeproof down to -10 degrees Celsius. It also comes with a double SD Memory Card slot compatible with high-speed, high capacity UHS-II for the fi rst time in LUMIX digital camera series.

The device also off ers new and improved DMW-BGGH5 battery grip, and a plug-in type microphone adaptor to record high quality stereo sound.

In addition to the above, the new camera comprises a host of practical features like dedicated microphone to monitor and cancel the noise caused by mechanical movements inside the camera and lens, a Focus Bracket and Aperture Bracket apart from the conventional Exposure Bracket, and a variety of shutter type and speed to choose from. The camera is ready to evolve even further and has several functional upgrades scheduled from April 2017 onwards.

The LUMIX GH5 will soon be available in stores across GCC. The LUMIX GH5.

BMW will have autonomous test vehicles on road by the second half of 2017

BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye recently announced that a fl eet of approximately 40 autonomous BMW

vehicles will be on the roads by the second half of 2017, demonstrating the signifi cant advancements made by the three companies towards fully autonomous driving. Revealing this at a podium discussion held during a joint press conference at CES,

the companies further explained that the BMW 7 Series will employ cutting-edge Intel and Mobileye technologies during global trials starting in the US and Europe.

This news follows the partnership that was announced between the BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye in July of last year. The companies have since developed a scalable architecture that can be adopted by other automotive developers

and carmakers to pursue state of the art designs and create diff erentiated brands. The off erings scale from individual key integrated modules to a complete end-to-end solution providing a wide range of diff erentiated consumer experiences.

“Making autonomous driving a reality for our customers is the shared ambition behind our cooperation with Intel and Mobileye. This partnership has all of the skills and talent necessary to overcome the enormous technological challenges ahead and commercialise self-driving vehicles. Therefore, we are already thinking in terms of scalability and welcome other companies – manufacturers, suppliers or technology companies – to participate and contribute to our autonomous platform. This year our fl eet of vehicles will already test this joint technology globally under real traffi c conditions. This is a signifi cant step towards the introduction of the BMW iNEXT in 2021, which will be the BMW Group’s fi rst fully autonomous vehicle,” stated Klaus Fröhlich, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG for Development.

As part of this partnership, the BMW Group will be responsible for driving control and dynamics, evaluation of overall functional safety including setting up a high performance simulation engine, overall component integration, production of prototypes and eventually scaling the platform via deployment partners.

Intel brings to the partnership innovative high performance computing elements that span from the vehicle to the data centre. The newly launched Intel GO solution for autonomous driving off ers world class processor and FPGA technologies for the most effi cient balance of performance and power, while meeting the stringent thermal and safety requirements of the automotive industry. Within the car, the Intel GO solution off ers a scalable development and compute platform for critical functions including sensor fusion, driving policy, environment modelling, path planning and decision making. In the data centre, Intel GO off ers a wide range of technologies ranging from the high performance Intel Xeon processors, to Intel Arria 10 FPGAs and Intel Solid State Drives

to the Intel Nervana platform for artifi cial intelligence that provides a powerful machine and deep learning training and simulation infrastructure required for the autonomous driving industry.

Mobileye contributes its proprietary EyeQ5 high-performance computer vision processor off ering automotive-grade functional safety and low-power performance. The EyeQ5 is responsible for processing and interpretation of input from the 360-degree surround view vision sensors as well as localisation. EyeQ5, in combination with Intel CPU and FPGA technologies, which forms the Central Computing Platform to be integrated into each autonomous vehicle.

Mobileye will further collaborate with the BMW Group to develop the sensor fusion solution, creating a full model of the environment surrounding the vehicle, using input from vision, radar, and lidar sensors. As well as establishing a driving policy, including Mobileye’s reinforcement learning algorithms used to endow the vehicle system with the artifi cial intelligence required to safely negotiate complex driving situations.

The partnership between the three companies was announced in July of last year.

9GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYMonday, January 9, 2017

ETING

Sony unveils new TVs, sound bars at CES 2017

Sony Corporation unveiled its new line-up of products slated for a 2017 release at CES 2017.

Sony’s booth this year showcased the company’s latest off erings and initiatives, centring primarily on products that, with HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology, signifi cantly raise the bar on picture quality. Attendees to the booth were able to go hands-on with Sony’s wide range of products, from home entertainment off erings like 4K HDR TVs and audio equipment that produces detailed, three-dimensional acoustics, to cameras, projectors, and gaming consoles, all of which are designed to expand the ways people can enjoy the entertainment content they care about, and be moved emotionally.

At the Sony press conference held on Wednesday, January 4,

Sony Corporation President and CEO Kazuo Hirai took the stage and introduced the audience to the ever expanding world of HDR-enabled products and content, beginning with the unveiling of the A1E series, Sony’s fi rst ever line of 4K BRAVIA OLED TVs. He then touched on Sony’s wide array of products that enrich customers’ everyday lives and inspire and fulfi l their curiosity, as well as the company’s initiatives aimed at expanding the possibilities of the consumer electronics realm.

Sony has been a driving force in the popularisation of HDR, incorporating the technology into its visual and audio products, as well as its content, in order to provide customers with more true-to-life viewing experiences.

The new A1E series of BRAVIA OLED brings together the best of Sony’s unique picture quality

technology, including the 4K HDR processor X1™ Extreme featured in Sony’s fl agship Z9D series. X1 Extreme, which accentuates the visual appeal of 4K HDR content, is capable of drawing out the full potential of self-emitting OLED panels, producing deep blacks and bright that more faithfully capture real world visuals. The A1E series is also equipped with Sony’s unique Acoustic Surface™ technology that vibrates the display and enables sound to be output directly from the TV screen. By eliminating the speakers ordinarily placed around the periphery of the screen, this series achieves a speaker-less and stand-less form factor. Because sound is emitted from the screen, the picture and sound become as one, heightening the reality of the visuals before you. Moreover, you can enjoy an ideal

viewing experience from anywhere in your living room, thanks to the combination of the OLED panel, with its wide viewing angle, and the Acoustic Surface technology which fuses together image and sound.

The BRAVIA X93E series of 4K HDR TV is equipped with Sony’s unique and advanced Slim Backlight Drive+(plus) technology, taking brightness and contrast to even greater heights. Moreover, the 4K HDR processor X1 Extreme features HDR remaster for upscaling standard dynamic range (SDR) content to near 4K HDR quality, as well as a host of other technologies for boosting picture quality for a wide range of content. With X1 Extreme, the X93E series realises 4K HDR levels of visual expression with high picture clarity, high contrast, and a wide colour. This new BRAVIA TV, when hung

against a wall, virtually disappears into it thanks to their stylish form factor, leaving behind nothing but the picture itself.

In the realm of audio equipment, Sony announced a range of cutting-edge products that enable users to enjoy the impact of 4K HDR. Among these is Sony’s new fl agship sound bar, the HT-ST5000 that supports not only Hi-Res, but also the Dolby Atmos next-generation 3D surround sound format. It also features the unique wave-front control technology of Sony’s S-Force PRO Front Surround, which channels sound waves in just the right direction to realise powerful room-fi lling audio. Additionally, sound professionals at Sony Pictures Entertainment lent their expertise to the HT-ST5000, helping to calibrate audio quality and optimise it for the playback of movies.

LG Electronics (LG) took the stage at CES 2017 to unveil its newest top-of-the-line LG SIGNATURE OLED TV W as the pinnacle

of its new line-up of fl at-panel TVs at CES 2017. Featuring Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos sound, the new line-up includes a total of ten diff erent models, highlighted by the 2017 CES Best of Innovation Award winner, the 77-inch LG SIGNATURE OLED TV W exemplifi ed by its Picture-on-Wall design.

The LG 2017 OLED TV lineup, consisting of models 77/65W7, 77/65G7, 65/55E7, 65/55C7 and 65/55B7, will continue to live up to its “unrivalled” ability to reproduce the most lifelike images of any TV product with perfect blacks, infi nite contrast and an expanded colour

gamut. The company’s latest OLED TVs are built on this foundation of excellence and come with a number of new cutting-edge features designed to transform the TV into a comprehensive entertainment hub. LG’s 2017 OLED TVs feature the amazing blade-slim design of the B7 and C7 series, Picture-on-Glass design of the E7 and G7 series and the unique Picture-on-Wall design of the newest W7 series.

The innovative design of the W7 series follows LG’s “less is more” philosophy, stripping away everything to emphasise the beauty of the screen alone. The W7’s sleek razor-thin profi le makes the TV appear to be levitating in mid-air, adding to the sense of immersion. The OLED panel, measuring only 2.57mm thin in the 65-inch model,

can be mounted directly on the wall with only magnetic brackets, eliminating any gap between the TV and the wall. The sense of immersion is completed by up-fi ring speakers and Dolby Atmos sound. This design of the W7 series invites the illusion of gazing out a window, not of watching TV.

The W7 OLED TV series builds on LG OLED’s revolutionary pixel dimming control technology, which renders perfect black without any light leakage to off er a limitless contrast ratio, with one billion possible colours. What’s more, all LG’s 2017 OLED TVs use ULTRA Luminance technology to deliver greater brightness where needed.

Leveraging the high dynamic range (HDR) technology that powers Dolby’s most advanced cinemas

around the world, Dolby Vision elevates the home TV viewing experience by delivering greater brightness and contrast as well as a fuller palette of rich colours. Dolby Atmos puts viewers inside the action with rich sound that fi lls the entire room – even the space overhead – with powerful, moving audio that fl ows around the audience. Dolby achieves this by isolating the relative location of each sound to create incredibly intricate audio that is as rich and multi-layered as the real world.

As the fi rst TV in the world to off er Dolby Atmos, 2017 LG OLED TVs can deliver content with both cutting-edge imaging and state-of-the-art sound technologies simultaneously, creating an entertainment powerhouse.

Together, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos deliver a comprehensive solution supported by professional content creators and distributors the world over.

The W7 series and all LG 2017 OLED TVs feature Active HDR for displaying next-generation HDR content designed to render brighter scenes and greater shadow detail. Active HDR allows LG TVs to process the picture frame by frame, inserting dynamic data where needed. This technology allows the TV to off er the best picture even if the original HDR content contains static or no metadata at all. And all of LG’s 2017 OLED TVs support the full palette of HDR formats, including Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) and are ready to support Advanced HDR by Technicolor technology. This versatility is compounded by the new HDR Eff ect feature which processes standard defi nition content frame-by-frame to improve brightness in specifi c areas, enhance contrast ratios and render more precise images.

Featuring the latest version of LG’s intuitive webOS smart TV platform, version 3.5, viewers will have no trouble accessing premium HDR content online. In order to off er viewers access to the most convenient home cinema experience possible, LG has partnered with leading digital content providers such as Amazon, Netfl ix and Vudu.

The new LG OLED TVs embed cutting edge technology and renowned colour science expertise from Technicolor. They apply the same technology and expertise used in the majority of premium Hollywood productions from movies to episodic series. This allows consumers to enjoy the most vibrant and lifelike viewing experiences while accurately recreating the artistic intent of content creators. Because of the superior picture quality of OLED technology, Technicolor is working with LG to expand the capabilities of its OLED TVs for use in production facilities around the world.

LG Signature OLED TV W pushes TV design

The LG SIGNATURE OLED TV W.

Monday, January 9, 201710 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY INFOGRAPHIC

11Monday, January 9, 2017 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYLIFESTYLE/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

The Moon in Gemini and Mercury moving direct makes today and

the rest of the week much easier rams, with some very positive

cosmic energy around you. Workwise particularly, the pieces of the

various puzzles should start to fall nicely into place.

Now that Mercury the planet of communication and planning has

moved direct in your one on one relationship zone where he remains

through early February, this is a great time for you to reach out to

anyone you want to connect with today.

Sometimes it’s easier to agree with someone even if you don’t

necessarily agree with them, isn’t it Librans? Keeping the peace is

important to you but at what cost today?

If you don’t let someone help you with something today Capricorns,

you might never get it done. Everyone needs a helping hand or

some good advice at times, and right now it’s you. So ask and

accept!

Don’t let someone get you down today. You’re bigger and stronger

than that bulls and all they are trying to do is get your attention. Sure

there are easier methods of doing that, but if someone feels that

have to taunt you in order to get your attention...so be it.

Don’t neglect yourself today Leos. While it’s great to help out those

around you and be present around your friends and family, looking

after number 1 which is YOU is also important.

If you don’t feel as if your opinion is really being heard or being

counted for much today, it might be an idea to speak up – louder and

reiterate what you have to say Scorpios.

There is nobody better than you at quickly assessing a situation and

knowing whether or not to get involved. You usually know when to

ignore it and when to step in. With the Moon in Gemini today, your

self–fulfilment zone, today’s a good day.

There are always going to be those people who don’t take you

seriously enough twins. Annoying as that is, it’s a way for you to

prove yourself by doing something they honestly didn’t think you

could.

Stop feeling as if everyone is doing better than you are and you

feel as if you are being left behind. Simply not true. Jealousy and

competition are worthy opponents but you can’t buy into them too

much.

Even when you feel others are simply not getting you and what you

stand for. It’s vital that you keep on with whatever message you are

trying to pass on and send out Sags.

Don’t be too worried about something you haven’t done work wise

that you feel you might get into trouble for. Now that Mercury the

thinker has moved direct, it’s time to play catch up and push ahead,

Pisces.

By now, kids have settled into their school day routine, teachers know each student’s abilities and potential,

and you’re feeling like you have a moment to catch a breath before the holidays arrive. Then, an envelope comes home from school with a troubling surprise: your child is having diffi culty seeing the white board in class. The school recommends a full eye exam.

“It’s not uncommon for parents to be unaware their child is having vision issues, and children themselves may not realise it either,” says Dr Mark Jacquot. “Kids use their eyes constantly in the classroom and on the playground. Problems often come to light during the fi rst months of the school year, when children either have a vision screening in school or their teacher notices them struggling academically.”

Between 15 to 20 percent of

pre-school-age kids have a vision problem such as nearsightedness, lazy eye (2 to 5 percent), and 3 to 4 percent have a condition that causes the eyes to turn in or out, according to the expert. However, two out of three kids start school without having had a comprehensive eye exam.

Undiagnosed vision problems can also lead to behavioural problems in school and diffi culty with class work. Some kids may even have their vision issues misdiagnosed as attention defi cit disorders. Some signs of vision issues – like a short attention span for close work or diffi culty reading – mirror ADD symptoms.

The vision care professionals recommend parents be alert for common signs of vision problems in children, including:

Pupils of diff erent sizes Red eyes Swollen eyelids Excessive blinking, stumbling

or daydreaming Rubbing eyes Squinting Headaches, dizziness, nausea

or double vision Holding reading materials

very close to the face“In-school vision screenings

generally only test for how well a child sees at various distances, so it’s important for children to have the health of their eyes checked by a doctor through a comprehensive exam each year, even if you haven’t noticed signs of a problem,” Jacquot says. “Eye health can be a valuable indicator of overall health, and a comprehensive eye exam can detect or rule out serious health conditions.”

New technology makes eye exams easier, more accurate and more kid-friendly than ever. New digital exam, Clarifye, measures fi ve times more optical characteristics of the visual system, on both the inside and

outside of the eye, to provide the most detailed picture of eye health. The exam pinpoints the smallest changes that occur in eyes over time, allowing eye care

professionals to detect early signs of conditions like glaucoma, diabetes and high blood pressure.

©Brandpoint

It’s kids’ eye exam season: Tips for children's vision health

Monday, January 9, 201712 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY PUZZLES/CARTOONS

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

CARPETCRUMPETLAPPETLIMPETPARAPETPETALPETARD

PETITEPETITIONPETRELPETROLEUMPETTICOATPETUNIAPOPPET

PUPPETSNIPPETTAPPETTIPPETTRUMPETWHIPPET

Pet Shop

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.

13Monday, January 9, 2017 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYPUZZLES

Colouring

Answers

Wordsearch Codeword

DOWN1. Increase (7)2. Pious (7)3. Squirm (6)5. Complete (5,3)6. Sailor (6)7. Mould (6)13. Stylish (8)14. Hereditary title (7)15. Keepsake (7)16. Showy (6)17. Rebound (6)19. Brawl (6)

ACROSS4. Take for granted (7)8. Sparse (6)9. Lasting (7)10. Duration (6)11. Numb (6)12. Shrill voice (8)18. Franchise (8)20. Exit (3,3)21. Prisoner’s conditional release (6)22. Denote (7)23. Hidden (6)24. Cajole (7)

ACROSS4. Have something in mind (7)8. Pressed on amid dire trouble (6)9. The upper hand (7)10. Resent having to change one’s name (6)11. It was once worn to cause a stir (6)12. Means speed, but not excessive (8)18. Traffic force includes thousands (8)20. He is entitled to a share of whatever is left (2-4)21. Draw results in little play (6)22. Animal gets the ball back in the way (7)23. The bay of the hounds? (6)24. Speech and attire of modern times (7)

DOWN1. Raising one’s hat to a girl presents a problem (7)2. Storm ruined a party (7)3. Holy smoke! It could be responsible (6)5. Sunny reflection? (8)6. Agrees to make a lubricant (6)7. Almost none start before time (6)13. A writer’s attributes (8)14. Complain about a nuisance who puts rubbish inside (7)15. Becoming engaged (7)16. Animal on a road is easily frightened (6)17. He pays out money for an informer (6)19. Compensate with cosmetics? (4,2)

Quick Clues

Cryptic Clues

Yesterday’s Solutions

QUICKAcross: 1 Safeguarded; 9 Use; 10 Alleviate; 11 Enact; 13 Furtive; 14 Fiasco; 16 Letter; 18 Cottage; 19 Cadet; 20 Arbitrate; 21 Too; 22 Detrimental.Down: 2 Axe; 3 Exact; 4 Uplift; 5 Reverse; 6 Emaciated; 7 Superficial; 8 Celebration; 12 Adaptable; 15 Charter; 17 Becalm; 19 Clean; 21 Tea.

CrypticAcross: 1 Chaperonage; 9 Out; 10 Laterally; 11 Rocks; 13 Oculist; 14 Jousts; 16 Repair; 18 Set free; 19 Put up; 20 Eucharist; 21 Moa; 22 Painted lady.Down: 2 Hit; 3 Poles; 4 Ration; 5 Nurture; 6 Gallivant; 7 Court jester; 8 Mystery-play; 12 Crustacea; 15 Terrain; 17 Define; 19 Petal; 21 Mad.

Monday, January 9, 201714 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY BOLLYWOOD

THE ORIGINAL: Arshad WarsiAPPALLED: Akshay Kumar recently tweeted that the recent harassment incident in Bengaluru was "shameful".

Sultan overtaken

There is little debate about it now – Salman Khan might be getting more blockbusters but Aamir Khan is the bigger draw. And if it doesn’t look like that it is only because Aamir does a movie once in a year or two.

Consider that Dangal, a movie on wrestling, had appeared after Sultan, another super-blockbuster themed around wrestling. One would assume that would lead to audience fatigue. Then there was demonetisation which would ordinarily lead to people not fl ocking to single screen theatres.

But Dangal has been unaff ected by anything and has easily overtaken Sultan’s revenues. It should also beat Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s total collections this week and after that the only movie left to beat is Aamir’s own PK. There is some distance for that but if Dangal does it then it will be the biggest blockbuster of all times in revenue terms. It is extraordinary that most of the movies in modern times that have set new records have been by Aamir.

There is something more at work here than just the selection of good scripts. It is as if Aamir has an uncanny knack of knowing which

movie will hit the exact pulse of the audience to make it a record breaker. Dangal has still not lost steam, so there is plenty of more raking in to do.

A father’s rulesT

he world is well aware of Shah Rukh Khan the superstar, but how is he as a father? A hint of it came this week following

an interview of him with a popular women’s magazine in which he spoke of how he related to his kids.

It included a tongue-in-cheek bit on how he would deal with someone who was dating his 16-year-old daughter. He came up with a set of rules which included asking the imaginary dater to get both a job and a lawyer. Plus, how he should not expect to be liked by Shah Rukh who would be everywhere which meant he could not hide. And then there was the ominous part about Shah Rukh not being afraid to go back to jail if it was necessary to protect his daughter.

Some years back one saw Shah Rukh in one of his rare angry avatar when a cricket stadium security guard had prevented his daughter and her friends from coming on the ground after a match went in favour of Shah Rukh’s club cricket team. He might be a very busy man but clearly his children are always at the top of his priorities.

On the work front and the reason why he is giving so many such interviews to disparate publications, Shah Rukh is eagerly anticipating the release of his movie Raees later this month. Hopefully, it will be the one that puts him back in the reckoning at the top after a very tepid last few years.

There was also another interesting rumour that he is

going to be part of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s biopic on the poet and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi. What is however making waves is the fact that the heroine acting opposite him might be Aishwarya Rai.

The two had last come together also for a Bhansali movie, Devdas. And there had been a nasty falling out later when Aishwarya had been dropped from his home production Chalte Chalte. This was after Salman Khan, who was in a relationship with Aishwarya, had come onto the sets and created a ruckus.

Aishwarya had not forgiven Shah Rukh for many years and the two had not been on talking terms. If they are coming back on screen again, then it might mean that the hatchet has now been well and truly buried.

PROTECTIVE: A recent interview with Shah Rukh Khan shows that he puts his children quite high on his priority list.

Bollywood shocked

A horrible incident in Bengaluru where during the New Year revelries a large drunken crowd indulged in mass molestation of women has aroused the social conscience of Bollywood actors.

There was Akshay Kumar who uploaded a video on Twitter in which he spoke of how he had just returned after spending the New Year in Cape Town to hear about the incident. And that any society that allowed such a thing to happen loses its right to call itself human. He also tweeted, ‘The Bangalore incident makes me feel we r evolving backwards, from humans to animals, rather beasts coz even animals are better! Truly shameful’.

John Abraham, who was addressing a press conference about the Mumbai marathon, also

used the occasion to speak about how appalled he was and that this was a sign of the moral fabric breaking down. He added that the molesters were vermin who needed to be exterminated.

Hrithik Roshan said that he was deeply aff ected by what had happened while Aamir Khan said that it was saddening and shameful.

Farhan Akhtar tweeted, ‘Women should not dress like westerners b’coz men dressed like westerners are molesters, says the man in the shirt.#oxy (deprived)morons’.

Varun Dhawan too wrote on Twitter, ‘Argggh how this angers me. Sir punish the criminals not the victims. Women can wear what they want it’s their choice.’

Send your feedback tobollywood.eye@gmail.com

Sequel timing

One of the last hits of Arshad Warsi was Jolly LLB in 2013. It was a movie that had been made at a very low budget of a little under Rs15 crore but managed to rake in about three times in profi ts. It was also critically appreciated.

Ironically the popularity of the movie turned out to be a bugbear for Arshad when a sequel was planned. Usually the same actor who had delivered the initial hit would have been cast and that was how its director too wanted it to be. But the studio that was producing the movie decided that they wanted a bigger star and zoomed in on Akshay Kumar.

Probably, poor showing of Arshad’s subsequent movies led them to this decision. Arshad backed out gracefully and also encouraged the director to work with Akshay. Jolly LLB 2 is supposedly slated for release on February 10 but there is an odd happening around it. Apparently an Arshad movie called Irada will also release on the same date. It is being speculated whether this is deliberate move in retaliation for being dropped from the sequel. Though Irada’s producers claim it is only a coincidence.

BIGGEST DRAW: Aamir Khan

Monday, January 9, 2017 15GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYSHOWBIZ

Affl eck not to allow kids to become actors until 18

Actor-fi lmmaker Ben Affl eck says he would not encourage his and his estranged wife Jennifer Garner‘s children to jump into acting.

“I wouldn’t allow them to do it until they are 18,” the 44-year-old Oscar winner said during an interview on Extra show, reports people.com.

“Once they were 18, they can do whatever they want to do — but I would discourage it.”

He has daughters Violet, 10, and Seraphina, 7, and son Samuel, 4.

Refl ecting back on his success from the 1997 fi lm Good Will Hunting, he said: “Overnight, I went from somebody no-one ever heard of, to somebody that gets recognised on the street and could get a table at a restaurant.”

“I was 24 years old and it was a confusing time. I’ve got three kids now, and it’s a whole long road later. I have a much better perspective on it all, although it still can be confusing and diffi cult to deal with... there’s no map to it, you’ve just got to fi gure it out on your own.” — IANS

LAST WORD: ‘My contribution will be visible once I leave this world’

Did Om Puri have a premonition about his death when he spoke about it to IANS just a fortnight ago? In

retrospect, it would seem so, because he talked about “leaving the world” and that his legacy would be “visible” once he departed.

His comments on leaving the world have become a reality too soon.

In one of his last interviews, which took place on December 23, 2016, Om Puri told IANS: “My contribution as an actor will be visible once I leave this world and the young generation, especially fi lm students will watch my fi lms.”

The 66 year-old actor died of a heart attack at his residence early morning on Friday.

Today, as he leaves a void in the world of cinema with his untimely demise, the fi lm fraternity is looking back at his vast contribution to showbiz. Theatre, television, Indian and British fi lms, Hollywood and Pakistani cinema — he did it all and left a lasting impression. His legacy, celebrities said, will live on.

A lover of alternate cinema with socially relevant themes at its core, Om Puri said: “For me, the real hard-hitting cinema was between 1980s and 1990s where Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Basu Chatterjee, Mrinal Sen and Gulzar made some remarkable fi lms.”

He worked in multiple projects with Nihalani and Benegal — fi lms like Aakrosh, Ardh Satya and Tamas which catapulted him into the realm of great actors. Both the directors were overcome by emotion when IANS contacted them after news of Om Puri’s death broke. In shaky

voices, both said it was too early to talk.

Just days earlier, he was happily interacting with young scribes to promote his upcoming political satire Rambhajan Zindabad. Casually dressed in a pair of baggy jeans and a black shirt, he was, as was his style, devoid of any airs about his stardom — a position not defi ned by fanatical, frenzied fans, but by the sheer following of his nuanced performances and undying passion for art.

He was — as the biography by his former wife Nandita Puri rightly says — an Unlikely Hero.

The veteran actor, a recipient of Padma Shri, started his journey as an actor with a Marathi fi lm Ghashiram Kotwal in 1972. If he featured in some intense dramas, he also balanced out his fi lmography with movies like Mirch Masala, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Chachi 420, Hera Pheri, Malamaal Weekly and more.

“There are two kinds of cinema — one is just for entertainment, the other touches your heart. Both have their own purpose,” Om Puri had told IANS.

When he was chairman of the National Film Development Corporation, Om Puri was focussed on encouraging meaningful fi lms. The National School of Drama alumnus was also president of Cine and TV Artistes Association.

More recently, he featured in Bollywood fi lms like Ghayal Once Again and Mirzya, as well as in Pakistani fi lm Actor In Law. He even used his distinct baritone for the voice of black panther Bagheera in the Hindi dubbed version of Hollywood fi lm The Jungle Book.

Age did not slow him down. He was busy dabbling in multiple projects like Viceroy’s House, Tubelight and Manto.

The two-time National Film Award winner was bestowed the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award, in 1990.

His international career took off as early as 1982 when he featured in a small role in Oscar-winning fi lm Gandhi. It also set the stage for him to explore more on foreign shores — his British fi lms were My Son the

Fanatic, East Is East and The Parole Offi cer, and his Hollywood movies included City of Joy, Wolf, The Ghost and the Darkness and The Hundred-Foot Journey. In 2004, he was made an honorary offi cer of the Order of the British Empire for services to the British fi lm industry.

While he had a glorious journey in the fi lm world, his personal life went through turbulence. In 2013, his wife had fi led a case against him, alleging domestic violence. They separated, leaving him with only visitation

rights to their son, Ishaan.He was frank and blunt about

his views — and just last year, he faced the brunt of it when a police complaint was fi led against him for his comments that were found to be insulting to Indian soldiers. In 2015, he spoke on the issue of cow slaughter in India. In 2012, he had landed in a bit of a soup after he called Naxals “fi ghters not terrorists”.

But Om Puri remained fearless till the end — in his works and his words. — IANS

Wahlberg hints at new project with Bieber

Actor Mark Wahlberg seems to be hinting at a new project with Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer Justin Bieber.

During his appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Friday, the actor said he had a “Canadian fellow” over for a family dinner, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Wahlberg was asked about his 13-year-old daughter Ella.

“I had a very successful friend who was there, and she’s a big fan. We invited him over for dinner,” Wahlberg said.

“It’s a young man who’s been (on Ellen’s show) before. He’s a very nice young man, Canadian fellow.”

“She liked him a lot when she was younger, then turned on him completely, and then came back with a vengeance like, ‘Dad, that’s going to be my husband’,” Wahlberg told Ellen DeGeneres.

“I said, ‘Over my dead body. Actually, over both of your dead bodies. I’ll just go back to jail.’ But then, not a word.”

The 58-year host concluded: “So Justin Bieber

is sitting there.” Then she asked: “Are you going to work together?”

Wahlberg cryptically replied: “Maybe.” While it’s unclear what kind of project he’d like

to work on with Bieber, he later did confi rm that he wouldn’t be working on “any music”. — IANS

By Arundhuti Banerjee and Radhika Bhirani

PROTECTIVE: Ben Aff leck with his kids Samuel, Seraphina and Violet.

BUZZ: Wahlberg, left, and Bieber.

THE LAST STAND: Om Puri has left behind a huge void.

Monday, January 9, 201716 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY

Game fuels dementia research

Sea Hero Quest gathers data on how adept people are at spatial cognition at various ages.

Data from the game Sea Hero Quest shows

that spatial cognition starts declining at 19

By Fabian Nitschmann

A mobile game, of all things, is providing dementia researchers with huge amounts of data. Called Sea Hero

Quest, it’s helping them understand how our brains navigate space and is being used to create a benchmark for early detection of dementia, one of the fi rst symptoms of which is the loss of navigational skills.

Participants in the project are the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK, University College London and the University of East Anglia in England, and the German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom.

Developed by the British video-game company Glitchers and available for Apple and Android phones and tablets, the free game involves a sea journey taken by a son in a quest to recover the memories his father has lost to dementia. There are three main tasks: navigating mazes, shooting fl ares to test players’ orientation, and chasing creatures to capture photos of them.

As players move around the game, their position is relayed anonymously to scientists several times a second and analysed using a heat map to assess how well they memorise the diff erent positions and fi nd their way around.

Ultimately, the crowd-sourced database will provide scientists insights into a normal, healthy population’s navigational skills across age groups.

Since its release in May 2016, Sea Hero Quest has been played by almost 2.5 million people, generating a data set for which 9,500 years of laboratory studies would otherwise have been required, according to Deutsche Telekom.

Up to now there has been a lack of normative data on spatial navigation abilities in various age groups. When are they at their peak? And at what point is their

diminution a signifi cant sign of dementia?

From the data gathered by the game so far – evaluated by scientists at the participating English universities – it’s now possible to infer what level of navigational ability is normal at what age, says Dr Stephan Brandt, director of the department of neurology at Berlin’s Charite hospital.

The scientists have learned, for example, that 19-year-olds are the best navigators, reaching their destination 74 per cent of the time, on average, compared with 46 per cent for 75-year-olds.

“The next step will be to use the game to diagnose dementia on the basis of this data,” said Brandt, who wasn’t involved in their evaluation.

“Dementia is usually diagnosed in people aged 60 and older. But it starts much earlier without being noticed,” Brandt pointed out, adding that although dementia was mainly associated with memory loss,” it also aff ects spatial orientation and at some point the person can’t fi nd the supermarket anymore.

But is fi nding one’s way around images on a smartphone display comparable to getting one’s bearings in real life?

“I think a comparison is possible to a limited extent only,” remarked Dr Josef Kessler, a neurologist at Cologne University Hospital, who said navigating a smartphone’s small display was more diffi cult than using a conventional map, for example.

“And there’s also the matter of players’ unequal experience in using a smartphone.”

What’s more, a player’s score in Sea Hero Quest, designed to be an entertaining diversion, depends on his or her level of concentration. Frank Griesel, 48, played it in a train. “What else can you do on a train?” said Griesel, who has played through all the game’s levels. “The game gets increasingly diffi cult, especially in rain and high waves. When you sail into a wave trough, you often can’t see the destinations anymore.”

Despite scepticism from some quarters, Deutsche Telekom has expressed confi dence that dementia researchers will benefi t from the enormous quantity of generated data.

“We’ve been active in the strategic field of health and digitalisation for more than six years, and so we were able to give scientists an opportunity to use smartphones for research,” said Axel Wehmeier, managing director of Telekom Healthcare Solutions.

The game’s popularity has surprised him, he says, as no one had expected the number of players to reach seven figures.

Kessler, too, regards the Internet as a useful tool for basic research. But he says he doubts that Sea Hero Quest is suited as a diagnostic test for dementia.

“In my experience,” he said, “even people with intermediate-stage dementia won’t be able to handle the game.” –DPA

A woman plays Sea Hero Quest on a smartphone. Photos by Thomas Ollendorf/Deutsche Telekom AG/dpa