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Contents november 2016
56 AbhimAnyu, our son

Living with autism, and how P. | 56
a loved one is more than
their diagnosis.
m a d h u s u da n s r i n i va s
62 DefeAt DiAbetes
now!
Take ownership of your body
and beat the disease.
Kat h a Ko l i das g u p ta
70 the briDge of Life

As the water rose, hope floated.
n i r m a l a r a n g aswa m y
Cover story
78 get on boArD the brAin
heALth revoLution
How to keep your mental
faculties up, sharp and
running smoothly.
92 who they reALLy Are

Clinton and Trump, decoded. 120 how trAveLLing hAs
chAngeD me
drama in real life Wandering across the world
102 A mountAin of troubLe and what it teaches you.
A complex climb and an Ka lya n i p r a s h e r
impossible rescue.
viKram s ha rma
Ken miller bonus read

126 hunting the
110 room At the tAbLe cocAine crooks
When food bolsters fraternity. Did they catch the bad guys?
C h lo Ë b rya n - b r ow n tim bouquet
reader’s digest | november 2016 | 5

Vol. 57 | No. 11
november 2016
voices & views

department of wit
24 ernest hemingway’s
Performance review
at buzzfeed
How the literary genius would
measure up in the digital age.
ralph jones
P. | 27 words of lasting interest

27 Do you hear us?
in eveRY issue A child pleads grown-ups
not to lose the way.
12 editor’s Note
severn Cullis–suzuKi
16 Over to You
34 good News you be the judge
46 News from the World of Medicine 32 the case of the
141 that’s Outrageous Photocopied textbook
top leFt: i ndia piC ture; leF t: i llustration by nis ha nt C hoKsi

Is photocopying books for
147 studio
students a copyright violation?
ReadeR FavouRites n ao r e m a n uja
20 see the World differently Finish this sentence

30 Life’s Like that 40 sounds that conjure up
36 it Happens Only in india my childhood the best ...
38 Points to Ponder
52 all in a day’s Work
60 shocking Notes
77 as Kids see it
90 Photo of Lasting interest
100 Laughter, the Best Medicine
140 Humour in Uniform
142 sudoku
143 Word Power
P. | 24
148 Quotable Quotes
6 | november 2016 | reader’s digest ➸

Vol. 57 | No. 11
november 2016
who Knew?
138 13 things your Dreams

reveal About you
miChelle CrouCh
145 entertainment
ou r top piCKs oF th e month
P. | 145
P. | 48
aRt oF Living
41 i’m a slob and you

should be one too!
a n dy s i m m o n s
health
44 natural ways to fix
your knees
riChard laliberte total number of pages in this issue of
Reader’s Digest, including covers: 150
technology
48 game, set, match
C h i t r a s u b r a m a n ya m
Food
51 crack the colour code
i ndiap iCture
K e l s e y K lo s s a n d g a r i m a g u p ta
Family ConCept image: getty images

54 Positive Parenting stoCK images: indiapicture
digital imaging: Keshav Kapil
d r s h e l ja s e n Cover design: sadhana moolchandani
8 | november 2016 | reader’s digest

vol. 57 No. 11
November 2016
Editor Sanghamitra Chakraborty Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie

Deputy Editor Chitra Subramanyam Chief Executive Officer Ashish Bagga
Senior Research Editor Mamta Sharma Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa
features Editor Suchismita Ukil
Editorial Coordinator Ruchi Lodha
BUSINESS
Art Director Sadhana Moolchandani
AGM, Marketing &
Chief Designer Keshav Kapil Circulation Ajay Mishra
Chief Manager,
Operations G. L. Ravik Kumar
Marketing Manager Kunal Bag
IMPACT (ADVERTISING)
Production Anuj Kumar Jamdegni
Publishing Director Manoj Sharma
Associate Publisher Anil Fernandes
Mumbai: Senior GM (West) Jitendra Lad
Bengaluru: GM Upendra Singh
Chennai: GM Velu Balasubramaniam NEWSSTAND SAlES
Kolkata: Deputy GM (East) Kaushiky Chakraborty Chief GM D. V. S. Rama Rao
GM, Sales Deepak Bhatt
Deputy GM, Operations Vipin Bagga
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10 | November 2016 | READER’S DIGEST

Editor’s Note
For Our Children’s Sake
EvEry timE you hEar ‘war’ —and we have
far too often in recent times—searing images of
children from the conflict zones come back to
assault you. That picture of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-
old Kurdish boy who washed up face down on the
water’s edge in Turkey, is hard to erase. Then there was
five-year-old Omran Daqneesh, who sat blood-smeared
and dazed after surviving an airstrike in Syria. What
kind of a world have we brought our children into?
I hold my teenaged son and take a deep breath.
“Everything okay?” he asks. “Of course,” I say. Except
that it’s not. We should say sorry to Alan, Omran and
every other child hurt by grown-ups locked in war.
This Children’s Day, it is our wish at the Reader’s Digest that peace will prevail
everywhere for their sake, if nothing else. Children in the subcontinent need not
just safety and security, but good health, education and a happy childhood.
Many parents are still compelled to put them to bed hungry or send them to
work. Some marry (read That’s Outrageous on p 141) or sell them off. Girls don’t
even have a chance—they die in the womb.
Yet, heroes are born out of adversity. Take Phiona Mutesi, a chess champion
from the Kampala slum of Katwe, who started playing the game at nine to beat
hunger. At 20, she’s on top of her game and the subject of the Mira Nair film
Queen of Katwe. hai r & m ake-uP by rolika P rakash
Let us wish we can make the world a safer space for every child to flourish in,
PhotograPh by aNa Nd gogoi
including those that are differently abled. Read ‘Abhimanyu, Our Son’ (p 56) a
father’s narrative of bringing up an autistic boy. Do not miss our cover story on
new insights into the human brain (p 78) and ‘How Travelling Has Changed Me’
(p 120). Also, ‘The Bridge of Life’ (p 70) set in Chennai during last year’s deluge,
where an elderly couple survived, thanks to the kindness of strangers. There is
still too much good in the world to give up on it.
Let’s cheer to that! Send an email to

editor.india@rd.com
12 | November 2016 | READER’S DIGEST

Over to You
FeedBaCK on our septemBer issue write
&
win!
MAN’S BEST FRIEND
Congratulations on the NoT A DRoP
cover story ‘54 Secrets Your To DRINK
‘thirteen things You
Pets Won’t Tell You’. To love
should Know about
and nurture our furry saving Water’ was very
friends we need to be useful. may i add some
knowledgeable, cautious methods i practise?
and sensitive. You are 1) When we serve water
right—only food will not do. to guests, most people
don’t drink it or have only
They need our attention, half a glass. pour the
cuddles and playtime. If we remaining water into a
cannot spare time for them, flower pot. 2) in many
we should not keep pets. I toilets, a half flush does
appreciate the tips on how to interact the job. 3) don’t let the water
tank overflow. 4) Kitchen gardens
with the street dogs we feed. Thanks
use water profitably. 5) there
for giving voice to these little darlings, should be a fixed time for water
whose love for us knows no bounds. supply. We often leave the taps
Monideepa Chowdhury, Kolkata open and waste water if the time
is not known. lilian Stanley, Ve l l o r e
HEAlINg ToucH Lilian Stanley gets this month’s
‘Mother’s Touch’ brought back Best Letter prize of `1,000.—edS
memories of Saint Teresa’s loving
grace. She was the chief guest at the experience thus: “Before boarding
Kurukshetra University convocation the aircraft at Calcutta, when I held
in 1980. Thousands of graduates her only belonging—a hand-stitched
listened to her speech as she extolled old cloth bag—I was on cloud nine.”
the virtues of love and sacrifice. “I Such was the overpowering magic
consider the charity of 10 paisa given of the Mother’s presence.
by a Calcutta beggar greater than the rajendra Maleyvar, New Delhi
Nobel Peace Prize, because he gave
me all that he had,” she said. HEAR AND Do
My Calcutta-based brother-in-law, Every RD issue has at least one
late D. V. Singh, had escorted her article that touches your soul, and
to Kurukshetra. He described his for me it was ‘Hearing for the First
➸
ov e r to Yo u
Time’. It’s inspiring to see people go eliminated if the highest peace

through so much and yet have the forum is to deliver consistently.
strength and courage to defy all Amidst growing terrorism, the UN
odds. Not only did I fully realize the can play a pivotal role if the per-
challenges that differently abled manent members of the Security
people face every day, but also how Council put aside their interests and
much we take things for granted. contribute towards a better world.
Meet MuChhala, Jamnagar, Gujarat Surinder SharMa, Pragpur, Himachal Pradesh
BEHAVE YouRSElF ARE WE SAVAgES?

Reading ‘Oh, Behave’ reminded me of I felt sad and angry after reading
a tricky little question that can help about animal cruelty in That’s
when conversing with friends. Are you Outrageous. To prevent it, we should
prejudiced? I am and I think, to some teach our children to love and
extent, everyone is. People are pre- respect animals and nip the violence
judiced because they are conditioned in the bud. We should provide short-
by their culture and environment; term shelter to animals that are
their upbringing, education, religion; abused, injured or neglected, and
they are prejudiced against colour, hand them over to the nearest
and food choices. Good manners are animal welfare agency for treatment
essential to overcome preconceived and care. Finally, we should support
notions, because first impressions and legislation that promotes kindness
judgements can be misleading. The and report abuse to the authorities.
easiest way out: get to know the other It’s high time we learnt about love
person’s point of view, be willing to and compassion towards the
admit to your own prejudices and try innocent. r. raMakriShnan, Mumbai
and understand those against whom
we are prejudiced. Beena Mathur, Pune A coRREcTIoN
While converting knots to km/hour
SAVE THE uN! in ‘Welcome Strangers’ (p 150), an
‘I Love the UN, But it is Failing’ is a error was introduced. Instead of
thought-provoking read. There is no 100 km/hour, it should have been
denying that since its inception, it 37.04 km/hour. We regret the error
has played a significant role in and would like to thank S. Chaudhuri
conflict resolution, providing relief for drawing our attention to it.
during human disasters and —edS
launching health and education write in at editor.india@rd.com. the
programmes. However, the alleged best letters discuss rd articles, offer
criticism, share ideas. do include your
mismanagement needs to be phone number and postal address.

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photos: © ala my stoc k ph oto
20 | November 2016 | reader’s digest

see
the world ...
Turn the page
reader’s digest | November 2016 | 21

... differently
a boat trip on railroad tracks?
you will probably find such an
engineering marvel only in poland!
to travel the 81 kilometres from
ostroda to elblag via the elblag
canal, boats have to overcome
a height difference of almost
100 metres. By water, this would
take more than 30 locks to do so.
since 1860, five rail-mounted trolleys
master this difficult task. with the
help of counterbalances and water
power, they pull the boats across the
dry, hilly sections—on railroad tracks.

voices views
department of Wit
Ernest
Hemingway’s
Performance
Review at
I llustratIon by n Ishant ChoksI ; jones IllustratI on by joe m Ckend ry

BuzzFeed
by ralp H jo nes fr o m t h e toast
naMe: Ernest Hemingway

position: Staff writer
wHat Has been going well?

eMployee: The days are long, the work is shallow and
the only piece of mine that went ‘viral’ this year was
‘27 Kick-Butt Things You Learn When You Catch a Marlin’.
RAlpH Jones
is a comedy
writer and Manager’s coMMents: Though ‘27 Kick-Butt Things
a journalist You Learn When You Catch a Marlin’ was an unexpected
who lives in triumph, Ernest isn’t working to the standard achieved
London. by other BuzzFeed writers. His ‘18 Things You Know

Only If You’re Ernest Hemingway’ Manager’s coMMents:
is our lowest-performing piece of Ernest still struggles to understand
content since we launched 10 years that our audience does not pay to
ago; 202 people have read it, and I read our website. He is confused
know that three of these were Ernest whenever I remind him that we
on different devices. Only 612 have are not a print publication. He is
read ‘Buy My Novel For Whom the frequently surly, hungover and
Bell Tolls’, and most of this traffic verbally abusive, especially in
came from Japan as the morning meetings. It
result of a technical has not escaped my
glitch. And ‘14 Hats attention that he has
I Wore While Writing ‘14 Hats I Wore reported to work drunk
A Farewell to Arms’ While Writing on dozens of occasions
significantly under- and that sometimes he
performed, as did A Farewell simply lies under his
‘31 Lions I Still Really to Arms’ desk for hours.
Need to Catch’ and the Ernest refuses to
interactive quiz ‘Can
significantly publish picture round-
You Guess Where Ernest underperformed. ups, claiming that they
Hemingway’s Pen Is?’ In are beneath him and
retrospect, I’m not sure that they “dull the
why I commissioned these. intellect”. When shown statistics on
how well these pieces perform, he
wHat Has been going tends to make offensive comments
less well? about the “fools” who write them.
eMployee: This job blights me
like a sore tooth, and our audience How is tHe Morale
is vapid, and the majority of our around you?
content is vapid. (I do not include eMployee: My fellow workers seem
my contributions in this assessment.) to be having no shortage of LOLs,
Most of my pieces running to more but I find this flippant atmosphere
than 16,000 words are decimated, unconducive to fine writing. I prefer
and they are stripped of their to wear headphones and listen to
integrity and filled with infernal a recording of men cutting wood in
‘memes’. a forest. The forest is wet, and the
I am told I ought to be more active men are fine workers.
on social media. I see no reason why The free BuzzFeed coffee is a
these cretins ought to be allowed to bonus, of course. Fortifies the spirit.
read my writing for free. Keeps the voices at bay.

e r n e s t h e M i n g W ay ’ s p e r f o r M a n C e r e v i e W a t b u z z f e e d
Manager’s coMMents: be “more likely to get 500K clicks”.

Ernest regularly threatens to
damage team morale, ignoring his Manager’s coMMents:
colleagues in order to listen to his Ernest is pitching increasingly
headphones. He does not realize that bleak pieces, most of which pertain
often the rest of the office is able to to alcoholism, lions or writing
hear what he is listening to because alone in a shed.
he has not plugged in his
headphones correctly. is tHere anytHing tHe
coMpany can do to Help you?
How do you feel you could eMployee: I should like a pay raise
iMprove your work? and a bigger chair, and I should like
eMployee: The responsibility lies my bouts of inebriation to pass
not with me but with BuzzFeed. unremarked upon.
My work is strong, and my hands
write good words. When I pitch Manager’s coMMents:
about my experiences hunting lions For the benefit of both Ernest and
in Africa, I am told that a compen- the company, my advice is that his
dium of “cute baby lion pics” would contract be terminated forthwith.
The ToasT (16 July 2015), Copyright © 2015 by ralph Jones, The-ToasT.neT.
idioMs for tHe indecisive
■■ out of sight, out of mind ...
but absence makes the heart grow fonder.
■■ the pen is mightier than the sword ...

but actions speak louder than words.
■■ What you see is what you get ...
but don’t judge a book by its cover.
■■ birds of a feather flock together ...

but opposites attract.
■■ Many hands make light work ...
but too many cooks spoil the broth.

brandon spektor

words of lasting interest
A lesson in consideration, from a child to the

grown-ups—still relevant 24 years later
Do You Hear Us?

BY se v e r n c u l l i s – suz uk i
Hello, I’m Severn SuzukI SpeakIng for

eCo—the Environmental Children’s Organization.
We are a group of 12- and 13-year-olds trying to make
a difference: Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle
Quigg and me. We’ve raised all the money to come here
ourselves—to come 5,000 miles to tell you adults you
must change your ways.
Coming up here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am
fighting for my future. Losing my future is not like losing
Severn Cullis–
an election, or a few points on the stock market.
Suzuki (b. 30
November 1979) I am here to speak for all generations to come. I am here to
is a Canadian speak—speak on behalf of the starving children around the
environmentalist, world whose cries go unheard. I am here to speak for the
TV host and author. countless animals dying across this planet, because they
Her 1992 speech at have nowhere left to go. I am afraid to go out in the sun now,
the Earth Summit
i llustration: kes hav ka pil
had such an impact

because of the holes in our ozone. I am afraid to breathe the
that she became a air, because I don’t know what chemicals are in it.
regular invitee to I used to go fishing in Vancouver, my home, with my
UN conferences. Dad until, just a few years ago, we found the fish full of
Since then she has cancers. And now we hear of animals and plants going
spoken extensively
extinct every day, vanishing forever. In my life, I have
around the world
on environmental dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles
issues. and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I
wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
➸
reAder’s digest | november 2016 | 27
d o yo u h e A r u s ?
did You have to worrY of these world how I feel. In my country we

things when you were my age? All make so much waste, we buy and
this is happening before our eyes throw away, buy and throw away, buy
and yet we act as if we have all the and throw away, and yet northern
time we want and all the solutions. countries will not share with the
I’m only a child and I don’t have all needy. Even when we have more than
the solutions. I don’t—I want you enough we are afraid to share; we are
to realize, neither do you. You don’t afraid to let go of some of our wealth.
know how to fix the holes in our ozone
layer. You don’t know how to bring in canada, we live the privileged
the salmon back up in a dead stream. life. We’ve plenty of food, water and
You don’t know how to bring back shelter. We have watches, bicycles,
an animal now extinct. And you can’t computers and television sets. The
bring back the forests list could go on for
that once grew where two days. Two days
there is now a desert. ago, here in Brazil, we
If you don’t know how You teach us how were shocked when we
to fix it, please stop to behave in the spent time with some
breaking it. children living on the
Here, you may be world ... then streets. This is what one
delegates of your why do you do child told us: “I wish I
governments, business was rich and if I were, I
people, organizers,
the things you would give all the street
reporters or politicians. tell us not to do. children food, clothes,
But, really, you are medicines, shelter, and
mothers and fathers, love and affection.”
sisters and brothers, aunts and
uncles—and all of you are someone’s if a child on the streets who
child. has nothing is willing to share, why
I’m only a child, yet I know we are are we who have everything still so
all part of a family—five billion strong; greedy? I can’t stop thinking that
in fact 30 million species strong— these are children my own age, that
and borders and governments will it makes a tremendous difference
never change that. I’m only a child, where you are born, that I could
yet I know we are all in this together be one of those children living in
and should act as one single world the favelas of Rio. I could be a child
towards one single goal. starving in Somalia, or a victim of
In my anger, I’m not blind; and in war in the Middle East, or a beggar in
my fear, I’m not afraid of telling the India. I am only a child, yet I know if
28 | november 2016 | reAder’s digest

all the money spent on war was spent Parents should Be aBle to
on finding environmental answers, comfort their children by saying,
ending poverty and in finding “Everything’s going to be all right, it’s
treaties, what a wonderful place this not the end of the world, and we’re
Earth would be. doing the best we can.” But I don’t
At school, even in kindergarten, think you can say that to us anymore.
you teach us how to behave in the Are we even on your list of priorities?
world. You teach us to not to fight My dad always says, “You are
with others, to work things out, to what you do, not what you say.” Well,
respect others, to clean up our mess, what you do makes me cry at night.
not to hurt other creatures, to share, You grown-ups say you love us. But
not be greedy. Then, why do you go I challenge you, please, make your
out and do the things you tell us not actions reflect your words.
to do? Do not forget why you are Thank you.
in di api Cture
attending these conferences—who

you’re doing this for. We are your own the original speech delivered by severn
Cullis–suzuki, founder of eCo, at the age
children. You are deciding what kind of 12, at the 1992 earth summit in rio de
of a world we are growing up in. Janeiro, brazil.
reAder’s digest | november 2016 | 29

Life’s Like That
That’s not fair.
IllustratIon by raju; conc ept by rajesh m ahadevan

“I don’t want a whole dessert; responded promptly, “You have seven
let’s just get two spoons.” choices!” padMInI srIdhar, B e n g a l u r u
—Former friends of mine.
A c t r e s s anna KendrIcK when we taKe our dog on car
trips, we carry his drinking water in a
My husband stored the numbers of gin bottle. During one jaunt, we’d
some of his friends’ wives in his mo- stopped to let him out of the car. As I
bile phone as ‘Wife of X’ or ‘Wife of Y’. was pouring some water into his
One day he was connecting his phone bowl, I noticed a man watching. He
to the Bluetooth device in his car. To came over and whispered, “I hope
test it, he said, “Call wife.” The device you won’t let him drive!” source: gcfl.net

scene: My teenage daughter and cautIon!
me in the car. actual warnInG lanGuaGe
Lauren: Dad, do you know what Found on products:
the most commonly used letter in
a girl’s name is?
!
For accessory use
Me: Hmm, is it a consonant or a
only. not to be used
vowel? (Silence ensues.) Please tell as a battle devIce.
me you know what consonants and
vowels are. On a toy Star Wars lightsabre
Lauren: You’re no fun, Dad. Forget it.
Me: What is a vowel?
Lauren: OK, OK. A vowel is … ahh … warnInG!
eh … well, oh … uh … Cycling can be dangerous. Bicycle
Me: Close enough. source: wattpad.com products should be installed and
serviced by a professional mechanic.
Failure to heed any of these warnings
a new yorK matchmaking service
may result in serious injury or death.
has launched ‘Smell Dating’, which
allows users to choose potential On a bicycle bell
mates by sniffing swatches of their
unwashed T-shirts. The Week asked
its readers to title a romantic comedy reMove chIld beFore FoldInG
about an aromatic couple:
n You’ve Got Smell On a baby stroller
n The Musk of Zorro
n Soapless in Seattle
n Bridget Jones’s Laundry
n When Harry Sniffed Sally
one day, I overheard my wife fuss- do not drInK

ing over minor details in our newly
renovated living room. I told my On printer ink
daughter that perfectionists were
!
seldom happy. Pat came the reply:
“If she were one, she wouldn’t have For decoration only and
will not prevent you from
married you!” dr aMItav banerjee, P u n e
any bodily harm or injury.
reader’s digest will pay for your funny
anecdote or photo in any of our jokes On a sheet of bicycle-helmet decals
sections. post it to the editorial address,
or email: editor.india@rd.com source: Center for america

you be the judge
Does photocopying
books constitute
copyright infringement?
The Case
of the
Photocopied
Textbook
by N ao r e m a N uja
A librAry building on one University Press and Taylor & Francis

side, a canteen on the other, students lodged a copyright infringement
huddled in groups, drinking tea, case against the shop as well as
chatting and the college photocopy the University of Delhi in Delhi
shop—these are all essentials of an High Court. They claimed damages
Indian university campus. So, of `60 lakh.
Rameshwari Photocopy Service, in the Their contention: The practice of
Delhi School of Economics (under photocopying parts of various copy-
Delhi University) campus, does not righted books into unauthorized
warrant special attention. It is, after course packs and selling them for
all, your basic photocopy shop, ‘commercial gain’ was an infringe-
helping students access limited, ment of the Indian Copyright Act,
expensive books at a nominal price. 1957. The original books, whose
indiap icture
Until August 2012 that is, when it excerpts are used in the course pack,
became the site of a long-drawn could cost anywhere from `5,000–
copyright infringement suit. 7,000, whereas the photocopied
Oxford University Press, Cambridge course packs, priced at 50 paise per
32 | november 2016 | reaDer’s Digest

page, are a fraction of that price. They nor was it in the course of instruction,
contended that the university was they added.
party to the offence as well, because The counsel for Delhi University
the course packs were based on syllabi contested the suit: “ … copying certain
prescribed by the university, which pages for educational purpose is
was aiding the photocopy shop by necessary because purchasing
issuing books from its library to individual books is expensive and
prepare these compilations. several of the books are also out of
In October 2012, Justice Kailash print or not available in India …
Gambhir passed a temporary Copyright Act is a piece of welfare
injunction halting the sale of these legislation and the rights of authors
photocopied course books. and owners are to be balanced with
“… The objective of the plaintiffs is the competing interest of the society.”
not to stop the students from photo-
copying, but to stop the systematic Does the photocopying of copyrighted
photocopying of their publications,” books for the use of students, who
the counsel for the publishers argued. otherwise would not have easy access
The reproduction of the work was not to them, constitute copyright
being done by students or teachers, infringement? You be the judge.
the verdict
On 16 september 2016, the Delhi High Court Justice rajiv sahai endlaw
ruled against the publishers and dismissed the copyright suit: “Copyright,
specially in literary works, is thus not an inevitable, divine or natural right
that confers on authors the absolute ownership of their creations. it is
designed rather to stimulate activity and progress in the arts for the
intellectual enrichment of the public ...” Citing his student days, he
advocated, “ … with the advancement of technology the voluminous
books can be photocopied and at a very low cost. thus the students are
now not required to spend day after day ... copying pages after pages …
When the effect of the action is the same, the difference in the mode of
action cannot make a difference so as to make one an offence.”
the publishers have challenged the ruling.
agree? disagree? Sound off at editor.india@rd.com.
reaDer’s Digest | november 2016 | 33

some positive stories that came our way
Good News
In the right direction Though progressive legislation is
Policy In a welcome move, the critical for providing dignity to those
Union Cabinet has passed a revised living with AIDS, it is imperative to
draft of the HIV and AIDS (Prevention change societal attitude towards
and Control) Bill, 2014, foreground- the disease and those affected by it.
ing rights for AIDS patients. The bill Hopefully, the bill’s empowering
will provide a solid legislative frame- potential won’t just remain on paper.
work to the 21 lakh HIV-affected
citizens of India, making discrimi- Age is just a number
nation against HIV/AIDS patients a Politics Those who peg youth as
punishable offence with a jail term an essential driver of change should
of up to two years and a fine of up meet Gangubai Nivrutti Bhambure.
to `1 lakh. The proposed law will take This 94-year-old was elected as the
into its ambit discrimination at work, sarpanch of Bhamburwadi village in
educational institutions, insurance Pune district in September, and serves
and so on. as an example for all. At an age where
The bill provides for an ombuds- most people see change as an incon-
man to deal with cases of the insurer venience, she is raring to go. “Now it’s
refusing health insurance cover. time to work. I have to do something
It also instructs the Central and State for my people, otherwise it’s no use
governments to provide treatment becoming a sarpanch just for the sake
“as far as possible”. Keeping in view of it,” Gangubai told The Indian
the stigma that is generally associated Express. With the distinction of being
with AIDS, it recognizes the patient’s one of the oldest people to become a
right to keep their health status sarpanch, she believes that she is
private, mandating institutions to fighting fit for the job.
keep such information confidential. The first of her priorities is to
“Either I help the city, or we’re all brought to our knees.”

Ma nue l a D i sa nto , p a r ti ci p a nt i n a v o l u nt a r y pro j e ct i n w hic h re si dent s
o f R om e l e n d a h a n d i n cl e a ni ng u p t h e i r ci t y

address water scarcity, as this has
heroes
affected the livelihoods of farmers in
rescue on everest
her constituency. Other issues she
Just 500 metres from the summit
wants to address include a proper
of everest, British climber Leslie
drainage system, better roads in the
Binns was only hours away from
village and availability of toilets. scaling the world’s highest peak.
But he turned back to save the life
More power to women of a fellow mountaineer.
genDer The recent National Crime when the twice-decorated
Records Bureau data indicated that ex-serviceman (pictured below)
Uttar Pradesh was one of the most came upon climber sunita hazra,
from west Bengal, who had run
unsafe states for women—it
out of oxygen and was unable to
recorded 35,527 cases of crime
descend on her own, he decided
against them. To curb this, the UP he had to help.
Police launched the Power Angels “i told my sherpa we were not
initiative in April this year, recruiting going up and that we would give
school and college girls as special sunita my spare oxygen bottle and
police officers (SPOs). Their job is to take her down,” says Binns, 42, who
assist the police by keeping an eye lost sight in one eye while serving in
out for criminal activities. “Through
them, it will be easier to approach
women in villages to curb unlawful
activities,” Navniet Sekera, inspector
general, Women Power Line, told
The Times of India.
These ‘power angels’ are issued
identity cards and will serve for a
fixed tenure of up to five years. So
far, the UP Police has received
around 1,20,000 applications and
83,000 girls have been enrolled as afghanistan. after an arduous and
SPOs. Police records reveal that as dangerous descent, he managed
many as 1,172 child marriages have to get her back to his camp.
courtesy leslie bi nns
been stopped by these angels. More “he’s the reason why she is still
power to them! alive now,” said hazra’s brother,
—naoreM anuja anD MaMta sharMa Kingshuk chatterjee. “he is a very
brave man.” Binns says simply,
sources: policy: The Indian Express, 7 october 2016; “i am immensely proud that
politics: The Indian Express, 8 september 2016; gender:
The Times of India, 18 august 2016; heroes: BBC News, i helped sunita.” —tiM hulse
2 June 2016

it happenS
Only in India
2022: elon Musk’s space explorers discover ...
&
Basu
Samitu Epuri
Raj
... the omnipresent Indian tourist.
ZooKeepeRs at the Sajjangarh language or the caretakers here learn

Biological Park in Udaipur found Tamil.” Rama, however, did not travel
themselves reaching for a Tamil alone. His caretaker Chellan
dictionary with the arrival of Rama, a accompanied him. Hopefully that
five-year-old white tiger. The feline, helped with the initial introductions.
who recently moved from Arignar Submitted by: gaRiMa gupta, New Delhi.
Anna Zoological Park in Chennai as Source: hindustantimes.com
part of an exchange programme, only

understands Tamil. Hindustan Times the fiRst tiMe Amrit Singh, a
even quoted a rather desperate- 19-year-old from Delhi, allegedly
sounding park official as saying, stole a Honda City, he was thrilled
“Either the tiger learns Mewari with the air conditioning. He took it
36 | november 2016 | reader’S digeSt

on a joyride across the city and even asked while filing an RTI application.
slept in it, abandoning the car only The Ministry of Home Affairs replied
when it ran out of fuel. It was the with a rather staid response, saying
beginning of a long love affair, one they would not be able to respond to
that involved stealing just this parti- hypothetical situations. Social media
cular brand. It wasn’t surprising then mavens may have had a good laugh,
that when he was finally arrested, the but Kumar told huffingtonpost.in that
Delhi Police recovered six Honda City this was a form of “political protest
cars (and one scooter). He never sold against the entire intolerance fiasco”.
the cars he stole, just the scooters so Regardless, zombies shouldn’t be
he could buy petrol for the joyrides. taken lightly. As a helpful Twitter user
Now there’s a real brand ambassador. pointed out, even the US Centers
Submitted by: Rajeev Kondapalli, For Disease Control and Prevention
Secunderabad. Source: The Hindu, ndtv.com have a plan in place … just in case.
Source: huffingtonpost.in
an aveRage day in the life of an

IIT-Bombay hosteller is made up of lifestyle diseases and leopards
much more than assignments and aren’t words often used in the same
exam stress. There are also monkeys. sentence. Unless one’s talking about
The campus is a simian stomping the big cats of Sanjay Gandhi
ground. They enter hostel rooms, National Park, Mumbai. Forest
throw around trash, snatch food, officials realized that the 15 leopards
destroy furniture and tear up clothes. were suffering from lifestyle diseases
Students even found monkeys including weight gain and stress.
sleeping in their beds. They have So they changed their diet, supple-
now been advised to carry a small menting meat with medicinal plants
stick. It’s a jungle out there! and grass. The cats were given
Submitted by: Ruchi lodha, New Delhi. wooden medicinal balls to play
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com with, and artificial waterholes for
destressing. The leopards have since
What plans are in place for achieved their ideal weight range
protecting the public in the event of and are the healthiest they have been
an invasion by aliens, zombies or in a while. Submitted by: lesteR santos,
extra-dimensional beings? What Vasai (West), Maharashtra. Source: Mid-Day
means does the government have at —coMpiled By chitRa suBRaManyaM

its disposal to defeat them? Can we
do it without Will Smith? These are Reader’s digest will pay for contributions
to this column. post your suggestions
only some of the very important with the source to the editorial address,
questions Mumbai-based Ajay Kumar or email: editor.india@rd.com.
reader’S digeSt | november 2016 | 37

Points to Ponder
You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
as young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
and is buried in the mud.
bob dylan, in ‘masters of War ’, from
the album the freewheelin’ bob Dylan
my love is conditional. I cannot

deviate from my first love—Manipur
and her people. I will go away for
love only if the people abandon me, thIs [tattoo I have] says, “I am cer-
or absolutely ignore me. tain of nothing,” and that’s how I feel.
I’m pretty sure that cheese and sau-
iRom ShaRmila, sage are good. Other than that, it’s a
civil rights activist world of confusion and uncertainty.
the most extraordinary lives are of- anthony bouRdain,

ten the ones lived most quietly, most television host and chef, in Men’s Journal
remarkably, by one’s neighbours and

loved ones, if we just pay attention. If If you have children, you cannot
you just listen, everyone has a song. feed them forever with flags for
breakfast and cartridges for
IllustratI on by KEsHaV KaP Il
laRa dotSon-Renta, lunch. You need something more

s c h o l a r a n d t ra n s l a t o r, on onbeing.org substantial. Unless you educate your
children and spend less money on
Wherever I may Go, my darshan conflicts, unless you develop your
is always through my camera. I science, technology and industry,
meet my god through my camera. you don’t have a future.
RaGhu Rai, Shimon peReS,

p h o t o g ra p h e r f o r m e r Is ra e l i p r e s i d e n t
38 | noVEmbEr 2016 | reader’s digest

We must not allow the debate an obsessIon with speed is also
about what it means to be an Indian, the fear of being left behind
about how to construct a better India oneself—which drives the
be held hostage to the jingoists and compulsion to buy the new car, the
the bigots, or to those who would faster laptop, the inflated stock. For
rather have their TRPs rise than bring fear of becoming dinosaurs, we are
peace and justice to the land. turned into sheep.
RamchandRa Guha, GaRRet keizeR,

a u t h o r, on india’s “surgical strikes” in w r i t e r, in Harper’s Magazine
The Indian Express
I thInk the human race has no In the black communIty, it’s

future if it doesn’t go to space. We the force they deploy, and not any
need to inspire the next generation higher American ideal, that gives
to become engaged in space and in police their power. This is obviously
science in general, to ask questions: dangerous for those who are
What will we find when we go to policed … For if the law represents
space? Is there alien life, or are we nothing but the greatest force, then
alone? What will a sunset on Mars it really is indistinguishable from
look like? any other street gang.
ta-nehiSi coateS,
Stephen hawkinG,
t h e o r e t i c a l p hy s i c i s t , in How to Make a Spaceship: w r i t e r, in The Atlantic
A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth

of Private Spaceflight no. ‘no’ is not only a word. It’s a
sentence in itself. It doesn’t need
I have seen enough in my life any further explanation or
and I know that fame is temporary. interpretation. No simply means no.
Maybe this would be my biggest My client said ‘no’, your honour.
achievement where a book These boys must realize that.
written by me, about my life has Whether it is spoken by an
become a film, which has been acquaintance, a friend, a girlfriend,
released in my lifetime and I have a sex worker or even a wife. No
watched it. But that does not means ‘no’. And when someone
change me as a person. says no, you stop.
m. chandRakumaR
a u t h o r, whose book Lock Up was made Lawyer, played by amitabh bachchan,
into the film Visaranai, india’s official in the film Pink. this is a translation of his lines
entry to Oscars 2017 from the final courtroom scene
reader’s digest | noVEmbEr 2016 | 39

finish this sentence
“Sounds that conjure up

my childhood the best ...”
... the full-throated
call of the ice-cream vendor,
which takes me back to my childhood
and the lazy summer afternoons.
nutan Gore, Mumb ai
... friends ringing

their cycle bells
in front of my home
on weekends.
e. suresh Kumar, Madurai
... the theme song of

... the title track of Akashvani
Malgudi Days on all india radio.
reita mir, North Lakhimpur, Assam
on doordarshan.
noorie hussain, Guwahati
... creaking of my late ... sound of a train

grandfather’s passing by a railway platform.
rocking chair. shweta KaPadia,

Silvassa , D adra and Nagar Haveli
suma nair, Mumb ai
i Ndi api cture
... the tinkling of my

mother’s glass bangles
when she rhythmically patted my
back to put me to bed.
mrinalinee Patro, Bhub aneshwar

ART of living
p hotograp hs by claire benoi st
I’m a Slob and You

Should Be One Too!
By andy s im m o ns

i ’ m a s lo b a n d Yo u s h o u l d b e o n e to o !
i never make my Bed so i can ... and generally looks better than
Thwart Dust Mites freshly washed hair.” Alli Webb,
Did you know that your bed is proba- hairstylist and founder of Drybar,
bly home to 1.5 million hungry dust told WebMD, “I have always said,
mites feeding off your dead skin cells ‘It’s fine to go a few days without
and swimming in the moisture left shampooing.’ ” (It’s true; she’s always
over on your sweat-soaked sheets? saying it. She’s the dullest conversa-
Or that, if inhaled, the allergens they tionalist.) When it comes to washing
produce (which is actually their poop … my hair, I’m Team Edward!
mm-mmm!) can cause asthma and
allergies? Sleep tight! Thankfully, it’s i won’t clean my desk so i can ...
easy to stop the little buggers: Don’t Spark Creativity
make your bed. Sheets and blankets There’s an excellent Albert Einstein
tucked in with their hospital corners, quote about desks: “desks = mc2”?
just so, lock in the moisture that mites No, that’s not right. The quote’s some-
need to survive. As with Dracula, ex- where on my desk but I can’t find it
posure to sunlight kills them. Stephen amid all this clutter. I probably should
prop styli st: jojo li for hello arti sts. ok vase set courtesy targ et.com
Pretlove, PhD, of Kingston Universi- dump it all into the trash but a sloppy
ty’s School of Architecture, told the desk has its virtues. A University of
BBC, “Leaving a bed unmade during Minnesota study split participants
the day can remove moisture from the into two rooms (one tidy, the other
sheets and mattress, so the mites will messy) and asked each group to come
dehydrate and eventually die.” up with different uses for ping-pong
balls. The ideas from the messy room
i skip shampooing so i can ... “were rated as more interesting and
Rock a Better Do creative when evaluated by impartial
Twilight actor Robert Pattinson has judges” according to the study, pub-
a lot of hair, which, in my book, lished in Psychological Science. While
makes him an expert. So I took notes orderly environments “encouraged
when he said, “I don’t really see the playing it safe” concludes Kathleen
point in washing your hair ... It’s like, Vohs, one of the study’s authors,
I don’t clean my apartment, ’cause “disorderly environments seem to in-
I don’t care. I have my apartment for spire breaking free of tradition, which
sleeping and I have my hair for just, can produce fresh insights. Being in a
you know, hanging out on my head.” messy room led to something that
Turns out he has a point. Washing firms, industries and societies want
your hair every day “strips it of its more of: creativity.” Oh, here’s that
essential oils” according to Huffington- Einstein quote. I was sitting on it: “If
post.com. “Day-old hair styles better a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered

reader’s digest
mind, of what, then, is an empty desk are maybe a year old and have yet to
a sign?” I think I’ll keep this quote see a washing machine. I know that
under my butt where I can find it. sounds totally disgusting.” Not to me!
Like Bergh, I never wash my jeans.
i’m a lazy Bum so i can ... Hot water and detergent make denim
Boost My Mood fade and quicken its demise. “Raw
We all know the value of exercise: denim is best given a good six
You get big muscles so you can pop months before washing,” advises
the lids off pickle jars without run- British jeans manufacturer Hiut
ning them under hot water. But when Denim. “The longer you can leave
it comes to mental health, doing it, the better your jeans will look.”
nothing has a lot going for it. “It’s Slate.com was slightly grossed out
long been recognized, by everyone by this practice, so it asked Rachel
from the Buddha to John Keats, that McQueen, a professor of human
‘doing’ can be a kind of compulsion, ecology at the University of Alberta in
an addiction we only fail to acknowl- Canada, how sanitary this was. While
edge as such because society praises bacteria, sweat and skin cells get
us for it,” wrote Oliver Burkeman transferred to clothes via the body,
in The Guardian. “Indeed, learning “skin microorganisms are generally
how to do nothing might be the most not hazardous to ourselves” she told
vital skill for thriving in our frenetic, the site. Of course, Eau de Unwashed
overwhelmed, always-connected Jeans is not a fragrance Chanel will
culture.” I’m a willing student! Espe- be marketing anytime soon. Bergh
cially because relaxation confers so recommends spot cleaning jeans with
many health benefits. The Mayo a sponge or a toothbrush and a bit of
Clinic says relaxation techniques can detergent, then air-drying.
lower blood pressure, reduce muscle
tension, improve concentration and
mood and increase blood flow to
major muscles, like the ones I use to
lower myself onto the couch.
my Jeans go
unwashed so i can ...
Make Them Last Longer
Addressing a Fortune magazine
conference on the environment,
Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh pointed
to his pants and said, “These jeans

HealtH
remedies that really work, plus

when to turn to drugs or surgery
Natural Ways to Fix

Your Knees
By Ric H aR d la l i B eRte
From preven tio n
Smart exercise ginger extract supplement improved

Definitely don’t stop working out. the knee pain of arthritis patients.
Staying active builds muscles that
support the knee joint. Two things to Glucosamine/Chondroitin
avoid if you have pain: running and Some knees respond; some don’t.
doing full leg extensions with a That’s why the benefit looks statisti-
resistance machine. Better bets: cally non-existent, on average, in
walking, bicycling and ‘closed studies. Try it for two to three months:
kinetic chain’ exercises, in which That’s when it will help if it’s going to.
the foot stays planted (as on an
elliptical trainer). Ice it
Frozen peas pair nicely with swelling
Healing foods and pain. Whether you injure your
They go straight to your knees. knee or suffer an arthritis flare-up,
Drinking skimmed or fat-free milk ice moulded around the joint for
helped women put the brakes on 20 minutes every hour helps bring
knee osteoarthritis in one study. down inflammation.
Other research indicates that people
who eat fruit containing vitamin C Weight loss
show fewer signs of heading towards Every kilogram you lose feels like two
osteoarthritis than those who don’t. fewer kilograms to the knee. Exercise
In another study, a daily 510 mg and a healthy diet can each help you

lose, but dropping pounds by com-
bining the two is the gold standard
for relieving pain and restoring func-
tion, according to one recent study.
NSAIDs
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen are
better than acetaminophen. If your
stomach can take it, pop the drug for
10 to 14 days. “That’s more effective
than stopping and starting,” says
Dr Elizabeth Matzkin of the American
Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
Injections
Corticosteroids can ease knee pain by
reducing inflammation when injected
directly into the joint. They work well,
but temporarily. Repeated injections Platelet-rich plasma
may deteriorate cartilage, so doctors Blood gets removed, treated and
usually limit shots to three or four then injected into the joint with
times a year. concentrated proteins called growth
factors. Platelet-rich plasma has
Knee replacement been used by athletes for sprains;
If less-invasive options fail, consider now there’s early evidence that it
surgery. A surgeon resurfaces the helps with knee pain. If it holds up
ends of the femur and tibia (upper in more studies, the method might
and lower leg bones) where they meet go mainstream in a few years.
and replaces damaged cartilage with
sources: Michael J stuart, Md, professor of orthopedic
metal and plastic implants. It’s the surgery at the Mayo Clinic in rochester, Minnesota, Usa;
most drastic option but it could save allen d sawitzke, Md, associate professor at the University
of Utah Hospital & Clinics, Usa; elizabeth Matzkin, Md, of
your stair-climbing career. the american academy of Orthopedic surgeons.
6,000
In DIA PICTUre
the number of steps per day that lowers the risk of mobility
issues in people who have or are at risk of knee osteoarthritis.
Prevention (aUgUst 2014), COpyrigHt © 2014 by rOdale inC., Prevention.com.

news from the
World of Medicine
Exercise eases the wipes, or antibac-
learning curve terial products
A new Dutch used in hospi-
experiment shows tals. The FDA
that working out says that wash-
a few hours after ing your hands
learning something with plain soap and
new maximizes the running water is your
brain boost. Subjects best bet against
who hopped onto a sickness and germs.
stationary bike four hours
after a learning session Avoid this
retained more infor- diabetes scam
mation than those who The US FDA has
biked right away and issued warning letters
those who didn’t exercise at to 15 companies for selling
all. Physical activity helps the body unapproved products claiming to
produce catecholamines, natural treat or cure diabetes. Watch for
compounds that may improve fraudulent medicines on websites
memory consolidation if released and so on, particularly those sporting
at the right time. claims such as ‘Replaces your
diabetes medicine’ or ‘Natural
Washed out diabetes cure’. These illegally
The US Food and Drug Administration marketed remedies may cause some
photo gra ph by the vo orhes
recently banned 19 ingredients—like patients to neglect legitimate ways

triclosan and triclocarban—in anti- of controlling diabetes, leading
bacterial soaps and hand washes. The to complications.
FDA says that these ingredients have
not been found to be more effective Nearly half of heart
than plain soap and water, and may attacks are silent
even cause bacterial resistance and Heart attacks don’t always present
hormonal effects. The ruling doesn’t with symptoms. An article in the
apply to hand sanitizers and hand American Heart Association’s

journal, Circulation, concluded disease. Signs that your food’s transit
that around 45 per cent of them go time could be sluggish include
unnoticed initially. The damage is infrequent bowel movements and
discovered only later, when patients abdominal pain. Eating a fibre-rich
undergo an MRI or an electro- diet, drinking lots of water and
cardiogram during a check-up or exercising are ways of speeding it up.
after showing general signs of poor
heart health. ‘Silent’ attacks triple Families of depression
the risk of eventually dying from patients need support too
heart disease, so once they’re A Norwegian survey suggests that
detected, they should be treated close relatives of severely depressed
aggressively with blood pressure patients may succumb to depression
control and lifestyle changes. themselves. This may be because
they’re struggling with powerlessness
The limits of caffeine and the fear that their loved ones
When 48 subjects limited their sleep may die by suicide. People suffering
to five hours a night for five nights, from depression are often reluctant
a safe amount of caffeine (200 mg, to let relatives get involved, but when
roughly equivalent to two cups of they are involved, everyone benefits.
brewed coffee, five colas or one
energy drink) improved alertness on Caution to daily pill takers
the first two days. However, it made People with conditions requiring a
no difference compared with a regular pill routine sometimes
placebo on the remaining three. experience adverse effects when they
Rather than relying on caffeine to first try using a pill organizer, found a
compensate for lost shut-eye, study from the University of East
repaying your sleep debt is the best Anglia in England. The probable
way to restore health and function. cause: If they had been forgetting to
take their pills before using the
New culprit behind organizer, they may not have been
tummy trouble getting expected health results, so
A slower passage of food through their doctors increased the amount
the large intestine seems to increase prescribed. Once they consume their
the amount of harmful metabolites meds properly, they may end up with
produced along the way, according too much medicine in their systems,
to research from the Technical leading to incidents such as falls or
University of Denmark. This may low blood sugar.
raise the risk of problems such as BY samantha rideout,
colorectal cancer and chronic renal With inputs from garima gupta

Tech
decoding dating apps for

those who want to explore
companionship online
Game, Set,
Match
by c hiT r a s u b r a m a n yam
“These Things don’T work. with people looking for clichés.

You know that, right?” my newly While vigilance is key, these apps
single friend said, sounding a tad have enough filters to weed out un-
grumpy. I ignored him and focused savoury elements. Since then, there
on the dating app on my phone, have been a few hits amid a barrage
swiping left once, twice, three times, of misses, many great conversations
in the hope of spotting a decent and a lot of laughs. “There are paral-
profile. “I tried for a bit, but not one lels with real life,” says marriage and
match,” he added. I rolled my eyes family therapist Dr Maitri Chand.
and continued. You never know who “With the convenience and the in-
is behind the next swipe. He could stant gratification superimposed.”
be THE one. If matrimonial websites changed
What am I doing on a dating app? the world of matchmaking in the
I succumbed to persuasive friends past decade or more, dating apps
who wanted me to “explore and get have taken things up a notch. There
out there”. So, I did the easiest thing is something for everyone: the lonely
possible. I downloaded an online hearts, determined singletons, serial
in di api cture
dating app and got going. I was sur- daters, even marriage-seekers. Taru
prised by how much I liked the expe- Kapoor, head of Tinder India, feels
rience; they felt so different from that our society is “undergoing an
drab matrimonial websites crowded interesting transition with the new

generation craving and commanding networking site, such as Facebook
more control over their choices and or LinkedIn. They also have filters
decisions”. The connection, then, and authentication processes (even
happens through similar sets of in- identity proofs in some cases), in
terests, education, profession or per- an attempt to filter out fake or dodgy
haps even a love for Kafka, says profiles. There is also an active
Sumesh Menon, co-founder and ‘report abuse’ system in place.
CEO, Woo. And that is the intrinsic The app taps into your social circle;
part of the experience. so, often your ‘matches’
These apps transcend could be friends of
age as well as recogniz- friends. However, make
ing the needs of those Matrimonial sure you go through
in their 40s or 50s, who sites altered the the detailed safety
are single or divorced guidelines outlined
and ready to go out into matchmaking in the app before
the world. “Our pace of world. Dating connecting.
life is only getting faster.
Isolation sets in as we
apps took things The Devil’s in the
Details: There’s nothing
get older—that’s where up a notch. more frustrating than
these apps come in,” a two-word description
says Chand. or empty bios. Those
So what is the best way to start are either a red flag or a sign of
out, make sense of them and then disinterest. Menon advises you to
use them effectively? Here’s a “invest time in building your profile.
quick primer. The more you build, the more
be honest With the Why: Each genuine and serious your intent.”
app positions itself differently with In fact, a recent Tinder survey
unique features and tools that you revealed that men without a bio
will come across while browsing on are 98 per cent less likely to get a
the app store. Identify your needs ‘swipe right’ (read: like).
and pick accordingly. “Many people you Don’t have to be Photogenic:
do not have the time or space to It is more about creating an
nurture a relationship. This helps impression with your personality—
them experience companionship choose pictures that portray the
and connection, and may even fulfil depth and dimension of who you are.
their need for belonging, however Solo shots that are alive and
short-lived it may be,” says Chand. colourful will help you stand out
The safety Factor: Most apps from the crowd. Ditch those group
expect you to log in using a social shots, please!

g a M e , s e t, M a t C h
make the First move: Go beyond

DaTinG aPPs maDe easy
the prosaic ‘hi’. Comment on the n Login using social networking
image, engage with your match’s sites like Facebook or Linkedin.
interests and share your opinion. n Use tags to describe your
Don’t be afraid to show that you interests that will connect you
have a sense of humour! to similar people.
Keep the conversation Going: The n swipe left to move to the next
app is just the medium. You still need profile. swipe right to ‘like’.
to work on reaching out. Do make an n it’s a match only if both sides
effort to get a better understanding of swipe right.
the person you are talking to. Don’t n You can start chatting once
rush or jump to conclusions. If they both sides are ‘matched’. Perfect
don’t respond right away, give them for avoiding uncomfortable
a little time. conversations.
you can always Jump ship: The n each app has its own special
user is always in control; connect only touch to help connect better.
when you are ready. Don’t give out tinder has ‘superlike’. trulyMadly
your phone number until you have has an in-app paid feature called
‘spark’ that lets you message
built in a measure of trust. You don’t
someone directly or speak to
need to connect in the real world a relationship consultant. Woo
immediately. If your match asks for lets you ask questions—you can
an address, wait. First meetings are connect or chat with the person
best done in public spaces. whose answer you like the best.
The red Flags: Remember that this Coffee Meets Bagel has the men
is still the virtual world. You may making the first move!
be getting along like a house on fire,
but temper the enthusiasm. Even place. “This is not the platform to fall
if you are sharing your deepest, hard and fast,” she says.
darkest secrets, this is still analogue Also, always observe the conversa-
communication that relies on writing tions with your match. Did they tell
skills. “This is pseudo-intimacy,” says you they are in their 20s or 30s, but
Chand, “where there is a lot of they sound more a teenager? Do they
intensity and sharing that happens deflect questions about their personal
within a short span of time. But this is life? Are they comfortable sharing in-
not significant intimacy, which comes formation with you? These are impor-
with you experiencing vulnerability tant questions to ask when moving to
when you are sharing. And that only the next level. But the most important
happens in real life.” So enjoy the thing to remember, she says, is to
thrill, but keep a bit of reality check in always trust your instincts.

FooD
What a food’s hue can—and can’t—reveal about its nutrition
Crack the Colour Code

By Kelsey Kloss AND GARIMA GUPTA
n oRANGe Vs. ReD CARRoTs apples, which might be because

Rainbow carrots are a feast for the of the colour.
eyes but one colour isn’t necessarily
healthier than the others. All are rich n GReeN Vs. ReD Bell PePPeRs
in different antioxidants. Orange Red peppers are usually aged green
carrots have high levels of beta-caro- peppers. Chlorophyll masks red
tene, important for healthy vision. pigment in green peppers until the
Red carrots contain lycopene, linked vegetable matures. Green peppers
to lower risk of certain cancers. For are typically cheaper and have fewer
maximum benefits, eat a variety. nutrients because of their shorter
growing time.
n BRowN Vs. whITe eGGs
An egg’s colour says less about nutri- n GReeN Vs. PURPle CABBAGe
tion and more about … the chicken’s One cup of the purple variety
earlobe. Chickens with white delivers a whopping 33 per cent
earlobes lay white eggs; those with of our daily RDA for vitamin A
red earlobes lay brown ones. compared to green cabbage’s three
per cent. Green cabbage scores with
n ReD Vs. GReeN APPles vitamin K, providing 57 per cent of
Both red and green apples have the your daily requirement as compared
same amount of fibre and vitamin C. to purple’s 28 per cent. But the
The green variety—like Granny purple also contains higher amounts
indiap icture
Smith—tends to be slightly lower of vitamin C and iron.

in carbohydrates and calories. The Sources: Eric Decker, head of the Department of Food
Science at the University of Massachusetts, USA; Annals of
reds tend to have at least twice the Agricultural Sciences; time.com; thekitchn.com; medicalnew-
stoday.com; rodalesorganiclife.com; goaskalice.columbia.
amount of beta-carotene than green edu; nutritionletter.tufts.edu; healthyeating.sfgate.com
rEADEr’S DigESt | november 2016 | 51

all in
A Day’s Work
Peter Steiner/the n ew Yorker collec tion/© condé n aSt

“You’re right. It does send a powerful message.”
Half of all employers know the position, candidate replied,

within the first five minutes of an “My wife wants me to get a job.”
interview if a candidate is a good fit n Candidate had a pet bird in
for a position. It’s a wonder these her shirt.

people made it past the first five n Candidate started feeling interview-
seconds. er’s chest to find a heartbeat so they

n Candidate sang her responses could “connect heart to heart”.
to questions. Source: careerbuilder.com
n Candidate put lotion on her feet
during the interview. a NerVoUs patieNt arrived at our

n When asked why he wanted dental office for root canal surgery.
52 | november 2016 | reader’S digeSt

He was brought into the examination
room and then left alone for a few
minutes. When the dentist returned, Go to tHe HeaD of
he found the patient standing next to tHe class
a tray of surgical equipment. “What
are you doing?” the dentist asked. teachers ask a lot of questions.
The patient replied, “Removing the Here are some of the answers
they’ve gotten in return.
ones I don’t like.” Source: gcfl.net
Q: Who was Joan of arc?

a frieND and colleague was terribly a: She was noah’s wife.
JeNNifer eVaNs pfoHl
overworked. He constantly requested
the management for assistants but Q: Which state is a peninsula?
nothing came of it. One day, he was a: Peninsulvania. roberta eDGar
asked to anchor an official function
with the CEO and senior manage- Q: What percentage of the
ment in attendance. He started by european population died follow-
inviting his senior colleagues, one by ing the outbreak of the plague?
one, to the stage to present bouquets a: One hundred per cent,
eventually. Kim mccollUm
to the dignitaries. Finally, all his
senior colleagues had had their turn,
but there was still one dignitary credit card has been charged $5.99
waiting to be honoured. for the first 10 words and $1.99 for
Seizing the moment, he said, each additional word in your
“Because of shortage of manpower, I message. Source: mistupid.com
am now going to present a bouquet

to Mr Z.” sUbrata ray, Hyderabad if i HaD to Describe my 16 years
of corporate work with one phrase, it
GoiNG oN VacatioN? Leave one of would be “pretending to add value”.
these real, automatic email replies: Dilbert cartoonist scott aDams,
from This Is the Part Where You Pretend to Add Value
n I will be unable to delete all the
emails you send me until I return
from vacation. Please be patient, and tHe closest a person ever comes
your email will be deleted in the to perfection is when he fills out a
order it was received. job application form.
n Sorry to have missed you, but I’m Businessperson staNley raNDall
at the doctor’s having my brain and
heart removed so I can be promoted reader’s Digest will pay for your funny
anecdote or photo in any of our jokes
to our management team. sections. post it to the editorial address,
n Thank you for your email. Your or email: editor.india@rd.com
reader’S digeSt | november 2016 | 53

Family
start on a new note. Help your children

nurture their inner goodness
Positive Parenting
by Dr SH E l Ja SE N
What do We typically do wholesome seeds—of love, happi-

when we find our children doing ness, compassion and forgiveness.
something we don’t approve of? We According to him, what will blossom
become reactive parents. We criticize, depends on the seeds we nurture.
complain, compare (How dare you do
this? Your sister never put us through Try a new approach
this), we’re sarcastic (You must be so A parenting and educational
proud of yourself) and catastrophize approach that’s gaining a large
(You will never be able to get through following internationally, called the
college admissions). Often, we pepper Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA)
our reactions with lectures and nag- by Howard Glasser, is very much in
ging sessions. When none of it keeping with this Zen approach.
works—and predictably so—we end I have been using it with my own
up screaming and dole out a punish- children and the kids I work with,
ment. And our children react with an and it has worked wonders. The three
equal measure of negativity, through main aspects of this approach are:
rebellion, anger, resentment and a n Refuse to energize negativity.
‘can’t-be-bothered’ attitude. n Relentlessly energize their positives.
Not only do these reactive strate- n Reset: Do not react negatively and
gies fail, I think they can be quite stay calm when the child does some-
damaging for our children’s growth. thing wrong.
Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Let me explain how this works:
Hanh put it beautifully when he Parents following this approach
described how each child has both commit to not saying or doing any-
negative seeds—of anger, despair, thing that may fuel negativity in the
hatred, fear and violence—and child (refer to the reactive measures

mentioned earlier). And any time the
parent feels that she/he is becoming
reactive, she/he resets, moves away,
refusing to energize the child nega-
tively. But the parent has to make
sure she/he does this without any
anger or resentment.
While on a mission to cut the nega-
tive, the parent looks for every oppor-
tunity to energize the positive in the
child. This is done through persis- NurturED HEart
tently appreciating the goodness in approacH
the child in the smallest of ways: You
were really generous about sharing the NHa focuses on creating
your pizza with your sister; I appreci- healthy relationships. it lays bare
ate the hard work you have put in the workings of a relationship—
your project; It takes courage to stand what makes it work, what makes it
up to a bully. If you observe, the go awry—and helps develop aware-
appreciation is not about saying ness and understanding to improve
“excellent”, “amazing” or “good”, the ways we interact with others
which is really an empty praise and and ourselves. it shines a spotlight
does not speak much to the child. on greatness rather than problems.
Qualifying a praise, on the other it inspires challenging children to
hand, gives the child direction and focus their intensity and energy in
she/he begins to understand what ways that will help them lead
qualities, values and strengths are passionate and purposeful lives.
appreciated. These are also necessary
ingredients for life skills and success.
regular strength-based recognition;
Positive pay-offs he realizes that there is no point
This approach is not merely about choosing negativity, as there are no
noticing when the child is being good, pay-offs in it. So start building your
it is about recognizing the child’s child’s inner wealth—there is nothing
worth at every step. It’s about aligning to lose but loads of negativity.
his energy in believing that he has
the author is a delhi-based child and
In dI apI cture
great qualities, which are being iden-

adolescent psychologist, family therapist,
tified and validated by the parents at co-founder of children First and author
every step. The basic belief is that of All You Need is Love: The Art of
when the kid is energized through Mindful Parenting.
adapted FrOM prevention india. © 2013 LiViNg Media iNdia LiMited.

Abhimanyu,
Our Son
it is this smile that has kept us going all these years
By m a d h u s u da n s r i n i va s
This is a small sTory, a look-in It is this smile that has kept us going
through a tiny window at our life. all these years.
It’s about our son Abhimanyu, his It kept us going in the face of
autism and us. But we have to tell you extreme distress, on his part, when he
that it isn’t the full story, there’s a lot would cry for hours together, or have
more to it. a tantrum, while we tried desperately
Abhimanyu is 23, about five feet to understand what was going on
eleven inches tall. He lives with us, with him—the crying was so intense
his parents, both journalists, in New sometimes that the only way to soothe
Delhi. He is taller than both of us, him was to pull him into the car and
towering over us like a ‘gentle giant’, drive for hours around the city.
as one of his teachers calls him.
I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I and iT kepT me going in the face
say everyone loves him. He is, and of crippling embarrassment when
has always been, a cheery, happy I would take him out and he would
fellow, with a grin plastered across ‘behave oddly’: How many children of
his face. He smiles thus, whatever 10 or 11 do you see flapping their arms
the circumstances—it could be an and screeching and rocking? How
inability to understand what’s going many young adults do you see with a
vIKra m sharm a
on around him, an inability to speak wet patch on their crotch?

full sentences, or extreme sensory We knew that this wetting was
distress, which makes him clap or not due to not being ‘toilet-trained’.
screech loudly in public. We knew, by then, that his seizures,

Abhimanyu with his
father, at their favourite
“ghoda park”.
Photo/IllustratI oN credIt

abhimanyu, our son
which began when he loud, because he does

was around 11, could be have limited speech
the cause: They could be Our children for his wants; at other
overt or subliminal, under haven’t times, a sharp clap
the surface, and we would demanded is a communicating
have to be on our guard all strategy). There
the time. But how do you
anything of us, are two ‘didis’ who
explain to people who do it’s we who end l i v e w i t h u s ; o u r
not know about autism, or up demanding a n e i g h b o u r s , w h o
have met him for the first lot of them. make it a point always
time, that he could wet the to gre et him ; our
sofa or their bed without numerous friends and
warning? On the whole, family, all of whom I
though, people have been try to keep informed
very understanding, and about Abhi’s everyday
we count our blessings. life. We have a great
The wetting still happens. support system,
The bewilderment we see and I would like to
on his face is a constant t h i n k t h a t I h av e
feature: So many times been instrumental in
we think he’s trying to tell creating it, speaking
us something but doesn’t to as many people
have the tools to. We end as I can, making
up surmising, sometimes bridges online and
right, sometimes wrong. I off : Journalism and
have to be especially alert autism, for me, have
because I take him out with gone hand in hand.
me as often as I can; I have Most often we get
always believed that my son needs to by. We get busy with work and friends.
be out and about, in public transport, And Abhi spends his time at ‘school’
in movie halls, even if he spills popcorn (the Ashish Centre for young people
and is not really interested in what’s with autism, where he is learning
going on on the screen. basic life skills from loving, caring
people, therapists and teachers who
in our journey wiTh him, we have are madly fond of him).
vIKram s ha rma
been accompanied by so many people He wins everyone over with his

who also know him well enough to gigantic smile. It makes us forget.
figure out what he may want (there But then comes that occasional
are times he will say a few words out seizure which stops us in our tracks,

r e a d e r s d i g e s T. c o . i n
which gets us started on the long, Justin Bieber or One Direction at age
weary checklist all over again: Is his 13. He hasn’t demanded to be taken to
medication at the right level, does it a concert in the Philippines by a band
need to be re-jigged, do we need to of the moment or a raging sex symbol.
switch doctors? It makes me wake up But he’s young, too, showing us
with a start even before the daily alarm flashes of his growing will. And he has
goes off at four in the morning, in my his range of music to go to, his fallback
bedroom just above Abhimanyu’s in options ranging from A. R. Rahman to
our split-level home, my first thought the Gundecha brothers to the latest
being: Have I the energy to go down Bollywood ditty. Music is his life, as it
and check if he’s okay? is ours. It was always so, now it is so
That reluctance could be because more than ever ...
the day gone by was a tough one, and So what am I trying to tell you? What
because I’m always sleep deprived. Or am I trying to say, writing these words
because we’ve had a rare late evening, to share with you what lies beyond
snatching a few hours away from our the six degrees of separation in the
darling child. On such nights, I could lives of people like us, Abhimanyu’s
come back wondering whether my parents, and many other parents like
boy is asleep. Or whether he’s had a us who have been given a diagnosis of
seizure that we haven’t managed to differentness?
catch, which sometimes leads to loss of I’m saying: Most of our children
bladder control, then and afterwards. haven’t demanded anything of us,
ever. It’s we who end up demanding a
and yeT The life we lead, hell of a lot of them in our endeavour
bringing up our child, a young to meet society’s norms. To make the
man who hasn’t spoken a clear full differently abled as non-different and
sentence to us in all the years since as indistinguishable as we can. To gain
he was born, and then diagnosed ‘acceptance’—in the family, the home,
with autism at nearly three—our the housing society, the mohalla, the
precarious life together—is also street, the main road, the mall, the
supremely happy. I would not trade it multiplex, the metro line, the market,
for any other even if he is not and will the world at large.
never be like other children; in some I’m saying: We live, a kind of
ways, he will always be a child. life, like all the other lives that are
Growing up, he’s said ‘Rajma dey do’, lived. And this world is as much
he’s said ‘Swimming jaana’, he’s said a Abhimanyu’s as anybody else’s. That’s
myriad other things, mumbled in his as much of a window as we could
unintelligible-to-the-world-but-clear- open right now. The entire house tour
to-us monotone. He didn’t listen to some other day.
excerpted from A book of light, published by speaking tiger, delhi 2016.

Shocking Notes
so sue me
a new York lawyer she can’t speak or understand

was hit with what he Spanish, she argued, should
termed a “baseless” not preclude her from a
lawsuit. Fine, he said, plum job teaching
before citing English Spanish.
common law, which he source: Miami New Times
claims was never

outlawed, to demand usIng bedsheets
a trial by combat. While and floss, two cell
the plaintiff’s lawyers did mates rappelled
not find his wanting to 17 stories down
duke it out “amusing”, the side of a Chicago
the lawyer said his wea- prison and escaped.
pon of choice would be a medieval They were caught within days.
war hammer. source: New York Post But one of the prisoners was so
traumatized by the events, he sued
a lawYer from Bihar grabbed the government. The convict said
headlines when he filed a case prison officials should have noticed
against Lord Rama. He alleged that they were preparing to break out
Rama had exiled his wife Sita and put a stop to it before they did
“without any proper justification”. something like rappel 17 stories
While hearing the case, Sitamarhi down the side of a federal prison
district court’s chief judicial using bedsheets and floss. The court
magistrate asked him who should be tossed out the lawsuit.
punished for such an ancient source: Associated Press
IllustratI on by nI ck dauph In
incident. The court then dismissed

the case as “not maintainable” while a parIsIan man’s job is so dull,
saying that the issue was “beyond he’s suing his employer for more than
logic and facts”. source: ABP Live $405,000. After his responsibilities
were slashed, the employee says, his
a florIda schoolteacher filed job’s extreme level of tedium actually
a workplace discrimination lawsuit triggered a seizure while he was
against her employers for denying driving. source: atlasobscura.com
her a sought-after job. The fact that —Inputs from mamta sharma
60 | november 2016 | reAder’s digest

140
Defeat
Diabetes
Now!
it is estimated that over 100 million indians will suffer from
diabetes by 2030. alarming as it may sound, experts
emphasize that simple lifestyle measures can prevent
diabetes. Here’s the lowdown
by Kath aKo li Das gup ta

A
SMALL BOIL On hIS fOreArM 12 yeArS AgO
transformed L. Srinivasa Gopal’s life. The Chennai-
based IT professional was advised a minor surgery, and
pre-surgery tests revealed that he had high blood sugar. He
was 37, overweight, had poor eating habits and a stressful job
involving night shifts. Even with diabetic parents at home,
he didn’t think he was at risk.
He is not alone. According to latest estimates, a staggering
69 million Indians have diabetes and another 80 million
prediabetes. What’s more, awareness about the condition is
dismal. According to the recent ICMR India Diabetes Study,
about 58 per cent of the urban respondents were aware of the
condition and about 56 per cent of the general population
knew it was preventable.
Why is diabetes diabetes risk (see box on p 64). Experts

becoming an epidemic? say that healthy choices can outsmart
Indians are genetically more suscep- our genes, and armed with information
tible. We have the ‘thrifty gene’— and taking charge of our health can
primed to store energy as abdominal help protect us from the imminent
fat. It helped cope with food shortage diabetes tsunami.
in the distant past, but now when food
is plentiful, it increases diabetes risk. What is diabetes?
But experts agree that genes alone Insulin is a hormone that regulates
cannot explain why the numbers our blood sugar levels. Diabetes is a
have shot up dramatically in the past chronic condition in which the body
All im Ages: i ndiA p icture
40 years. They hold our lifestyle— cannot make or use insulin properly.
the tendency to remain sedentary Over time, uncontrolled diabetes can
and overeat, along with stress, which turn lethal by causing serious dam-
throws our hormones out of whack— age to blood vessels (cardiovascular
and environment responsible. disease, stroke, retinopathy), nerves
It is the interplay of genes, lifestyle (neuropathy or numbness) and
and environment that determine our organs (kidney disease).

d e f e at d i a b e t e s n o w !
Srinivasa was lucky: He treated

his early diagnosis as a wake-up call
aRe you at RisK?
and has been vigilant ever since.
Along with medication, he followed Risk Factors family history,
the lifestyle advice of the team at abdominal obesity, excess weight,
Dr V. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy
Centre. Recognizing that night shifts eating habits (calorie-rich food,
adversely affected his health, he opted high in simple carbs and fat, and
for a day shift. “I was able to change my low in protein) and a history of
eating habits, got time to exercise and gestational diabetes put you at
ensured better quality of sleep,” he says. risk. You can assess it with the
With a healthy diet and exercise, simple indian diabetes risk score
he shed seven kilos in a few months. (idrs) at cadiresearch.org.
With quarterly blood sugar and HbA1c symptoms see a doctor if you
tests and an annual health check-up, notice excessive thirst, frequent
his latest reports are normal. At urination (especially at night),
79.5 kg, he is the lightest he has been in fatigue, and sores or cuts that
a long, long time. But the biggest pay- won’t heal. He will suggest blood
off has been his understanding of the tests for a diagnosis.
condition and how to beat it. tests n the fasting Plasma
Understanding diabetes has also glucose (fPg) range—done after
fasting for eight hours—for non-
helped Delhi-based Ekta Paneri
diabetics is less than 100 mg/dL.
Gupta who was diagnosed three
for prediabetes it is between
years ago at age 30. While research-
100–125 mg/dL and for diabetics
ing online, she realized that her
above 126 mg/dL. n the oral
untreated Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
glucose tolerance test (ogtt)
(PCOS) was a possible culprit. “I was
determines how your body
diagnosed with PCOS about 10–12
processes glucose: below 140
years ago but the gynae didn’t make
mg/dL is considered normal; 140–
a big deal of it. Also, I let my weight
199 mg/dL indicates prediabetes,
spiral out of control,” Ekta recalls. and more than 200 mg/dL is a
Gupta’s doctor suggested a three- signal of diabetes. n the Hba1c
pronged approach—medication, diet test indicates blood glucose
and exercise. She swapped three big levels over a period of time. a
meals for five smaller ones, gave up result below or equal to 5.6 per
sugar, started cooking with minimal oil, cent is ‘normal’. Prediabetics may
switched to wholegrains, and ditched show the range as 5.7–6.4, while
processed foods and saturated fats. diabetics show 6.5 or above.
She also took up running and yoga. In

R e a D e R s D i g e s t. c o . i n
the past three years, she has dropped experts believe weight loss may be
20 kilos and her medicine dosage. “I was the main factor responsible for better
militant about the lifestyle changes to diabetes control and cure.
start with, but I have learnt that a steady
approach works in the long term.” Catch it early
Of course, the best place to inter-
vene is in the detectable process that
Can diabetes be reversed p re c e d e s a d i a g n o s i s —p re d i a -
or cured? betes. This is a condition where blood
Recent studies show that weight- glucose level is high, but not high
loss (bariatric) surgery can induce enough to be in the diabetic zone.
remission in diabetes patients. A Studies indicate that without
2013 study by Medanta–the Medicity, inter vention, most people with
Gurgaon revealed that more than prediabetes will get full-blown
90 per cent of obese patients were able diabetes within 10 years. However,
experts believe weight loss

may be the mAin fActor
responsible for better
diAbetes control and cure
in the long term
to go off their diabetes medication with changes in lifestyle, includ-

following a surgery, even prior to ing modest weight loss (as little as
significant weight loss. 5–7 per cent of current weight),
Researchers from Newcastle, UK people with prediabetes can prevent
employed this principle and success- or delay the development of the con-
fully used severe calorie restriction dition by 54 per cent three years later.
(600–700 calories over eight weeks)
to reverse diabetes. Twelve out of
the 30 patients remained diabetes- Your ‘beat diabetes’ plan
free six months later, despite resum- eat Wisely
ing a normal diet. Though it remains Portion control, eating high-
unclear how long the ‘cure’ will last, fibre foods, wholegrains, adequate
doctors are hopeful. In the long term, protein, swapping bad fats with

Managing Diabetes With DRugs

Metformin is the backbone of diabetes treatment.
sulphonylureas is equally popular. However, the past decade
has seen the development of many new diabetes drugs. no
doubt expensive, these drugs not only ensure weight loss,
they also prevent weight gain and stop hypoglycaemia
(sudden dip in blood sugar levels). they are also known to
cause fewer gastrointestinal side effects. diabetes being
a chronic condition, over time you need to combine drugs
to manage blood sugar better. Here’s the latest in diabetes
medication:
Incretin-based therapies: these novel drugs activate the

incretin hormonal system in our gut, stimulating insulin
production and inhibiting glucagon (anti-insulin) production
from the pancreas in response to food in the stomach.
they come in two forms:
GLP 1 Injectibles: these include twice-a-day injections
(exenatide) and once-a-day liraglutide. the weekly injectible
dulaglutide was introduced this year.
Oral DPP-4 inhibitors: this class of drugs is designated as
gliptins (sitagliptin, vildagliptin). they have often been added
to metformin.
SGLT-2 inhibitors: these oral tablets push out glucose

through urine. these include canagliflozin, dapagliflozin
and empagliflozin.
Insulin: People with type 1 diabetes and some with type 2

diabetes need to take insulin via an injection or pump. animal-
based insulin has given way to human (pure insulin) and
analogues (designer insulin). Pure insulin is available in fast-,
medium- and slow-acting forms. designer insulin is rapid-
acting (lispro, aspart, glulisine), ultrashort (buccal spray)
and long-acting (glargine, detemir, degludec).

R e a D e R s D i g e s t. c o . i n
good ones, choosing small and ease stRess

frequent meals and ditching refined Stress causes your blood sugar
foods are the principles that stave off levels to skyrocket, giving you the
rise in blood sugar levels. Along with energy to fight or flee. But with chronic
calorie reduction, slow absorption of stress, extra sugar is released conti-
foods should be your goal. nuously without being used up by the
body. Moreover, the stress hormone
Move MoRe cortisol triggers cravings for high-fat,
Exercise helps torch calories, slash high-sugar comfort foods. A study
weight, lower your blood sugar from Duke University, USA found
levels and improve insulin sensitivity. that stress management techniques
The minimum recommendation is can help you control blood sugar
30 minutes a day, five days a week, levels. Try relaxation techniques
though experts recommend more. like deep breathing, meditation
According to a recent study, and mindfulness.
fewer thAn six hours of

sleep a night is associated
with a three-fold increAse
14
in likelihood of elevated
0
blood sugAr levels
prolonged sitting can double the sleep betteR

risk of diabetes—even in those Sleep helps to stabilize blood sugar.
who exercise regularly—due to Fewer than six hours a night is
enzyme changes in our muscles. associated with a three-fold increased
So, get off your chair every hour— likelihood of elevated blood sugar
for two minutes, walk, stretch or levels (prediabetes), says a study
do a few lunges. While aerobic published in Annals of Epidemiology.
exercise is excellent, strength training Inadequate sleep also contributes
twice a week will build muscle which to weight gain: The Nurses’ Health
will help burn more glucose. You Study tracked 68,183 women for up
don’t need to hit the gym—simple to 16 years and found that those who
exercises such as squats, lunges and got five hours of sleep or less, weighed
push-ups are effective. about 1.14 kg more and were 15 per

cent more likely to become obese. MeasuRe up

Poor sleep is also associated with An expanding waistline is a strong
hunger hormones that make you eat pre dictor of insu lin resista nce
more. Get the recommended seven to and Type 2 diabetes. Abdominal
eight hours every night. fat (or visceral fat) is highly metabolic.
It breaks down quickly, travels around
Don’t sMoKe the body, parking itself on various
According to a study involving men, tissues including those of the
published in Diabetes Care, smok- pancreas—the insulin production
ing cigarettes was associated with a house of the body.
significant increase in diabetes risk, To cut risk, women should aim
even after adjustment for age, body for a waistline below 80 cm (31
mass index (BMI) and other potential inches) and men 90 cm (35 inches).
confounders such as physical activity. BMI—a rough calculation of body
If you smoke, seek help to quit now. fat, bas ed on your w eight and
smoking is associated
with a significAnt increAse
in diAbetes risk, even after
adjusting for age, bmi and
physical activity
DRinK spaRingly height—is a fairly good indicator

It’s wise to be cautious—especially of diabetes risk too. The normal range
if you are trying to lose weight. is 18–23 kg/m2.
Recent NHS, UK guidelines recom-
mend restricting consumption to get testeD
14 units per week, spreading it out Beginning in your 30s, an annual
over three or more days. (A bottle of blood sugar test is an absolute must. If
red wine = 10 units; a pint of regular you are overweight or have a family
beer = 3 units.) history of diabetes, start earlier.
expert Panel (in alphabetical order): Dr ambrish Mithal, chairman & head, endocrinology
and diabetes division, Medanta–the Medicity, gurgaon; Dr anoop Misra, chairman, fortis CdoC Hospital for
diabetes and allied sciences, new delhi; Dr binayak sinha, consultant, endocrinology, aMri Hospitals,
Kolkata; Dharini Krishnan, consultant dietician, Chennai; Dr shashank Joshi, endocrinologist, Lilavati Hospital
and research Centre, Mumbai; Dr v. Mohan, chairman, dr Mohan’s diabetes specialities Centre, Chennai.

Laugh Lines
bedtime stories
Do you ever wake

up, kiss the person Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.
beside you and just phyllis diller, c o m e d i a n
be thankful to be
alive? I did. Not
really appreciated on
flights, apparently.
You know you’re in love when
@pollyChromAtik
you can’t fall asleep because
reality is finally better than
your dreams.
dr seuss, a u t h o r
Some people talk in their

sleep. Lecturers talk while
other people sleep.
Albert CAmus, a u t h o r
wundervi suals /getty im ages
I never knew how long

it took a human to fall
asleep until I had kids.
When people tell me, “You’re going to In case you’re wonder-
regret that in the morning,” I sleep till ing, it’s 2 hours, 3 cups
noon because I am a problem-solver. of water & 18 books.
Anonymous @outsmArtedmommy

kindness of strangers
in the deluge, surrounded by a raging

river, and when all hope was lost, help
came from unexpected quarters
THE BRIDGE OF
LIFE By n i r m a l a r a n g a swa m y
it Had rained through the night. were cut off from the rest of the world.
It was as if someone had viciously E v e r y y e a r, t h e n o r t h - e a s t
ripped open the skies to start the monsoon lashes Chennai from
deluge. Daylight broke but the pouring October to December. Its severity
rain showed no signs of letting up. It is unpredictable, and with poor
was the first day of December 2015. infrastr ucture, power cuts and
illustration by a nirban ghosh
Memories of a flooded Chennai on traffic jams, normal life comes to a

another December day, 10 years standstill. Chembarambakkam, a
ago, came rushing back to me. But mammoth rain-fed reservoir about
somehow, this time, ever ything 29 kilometres away, supplies water
seemed worse. The power lines were to the city. When the lake fills up, the
down, plunging us into darkness, the sluice gates are opened and the surplus
landlines went dead and even mobile water is let out into the Adyar River
phones had stopped working. My that originates here. But it isn’t as
husband and I, both senior citizens, smooth as it sounds.

an art i st ’s re ndi t i on o f th e e ven t s
reader’s digest
|
november 2016
|
71
the bridge of life
In December 2005, too, the city was up and down a few times. We hoped
flooded. There was an announcement the water would recede, just like it had
on 3 December that water would be all those years ago.
released from Chembarambakkam We followed the weather forecast,
Lake. We did not know what to make which predicted heavy rainfall. Our
of it, as we were new to the area. Our domestic help, who lived on the
neighbour had advised us to park our banks of the Adyar River, gave us
car elsewhere. Thank goodness we regular updates about the water level.
did, because the water rose steadily. The river had been peaceful for five
By the next morning, it threatened to to six days, flowing within its limits,
enter the house. Some helpful young she had told us.
boys carried me on a chair to safety, But when the rains came, the
while my husband walked through authorities opened the floodgates
chest-deep water to join me. It had simultaneously, which submerged
been quite an experience, but being thousands of homes. Reservoirs
married to an engineer from the across the city were also opened at
Indian Air Force and living in remote around the same time.
locations, I was used to the vagaries Ours was an ordinary double-storey
of nature. When we returned the next house in a cul-de-sac in Defence
morning, there was no trace of water; Officers Colony. There was an empty
only the slush remained. plot to our left, with eight-feet-deep
Ten years later, on 2 December, pits [for a new construction] that
w e t o o k a d e e p b re at h a s w e were filled with water. The house next
found ourselves surrounded by to it was submerged. It must have
muddy water. been abandoned the previous day.
The house adjacent to it had a family
my HUsBand and i had spent a staying on the first floor, just like us.
sleepless night with our hearts in our They had a running kitchen on that
mouths, as water entered our house floor, but nothing else besides that.
the night before. We had very little No one knew how much more
time to decide what we needed to water was likely to come our way.
save and what we had to leave behind. The rescue boats did not show
Depending on how heavy or precious up. Perhaps they did not dare. As
they were—we would have had to helicopters flew overhead, we waved
carry our belongings up a winding our hands, shouting for help. But
flight of 21 steps. We moved our idols they flew past : They appeared to
of worship to the first floor, as they survey rather than rescue. We were
had been an important part of our life. hopelessly marooned.
But our age only allowed us to climb Meanwhile, it poured non-stop.

r e a d e r s d i g e s t. c o . i n
We had retreated inside, tHe

to the first floor. But The river was water continued
water continued raging. We saw to rise. The waves
to enter the house carcasses floating had started lashing
through the night against the parapet
o f 1 D e c e m b e r. by and heard on the terrace
The entire ground deafening sounds. ab ove the p orch.
floor, which stood The water did not If the water entered
on a four feet high there, we would
plinth with a ceiling stop rising. be doomed.
of nearly 12 feet, We were on the
was submerged. open terrace at
On 2 December, we the back. The sky
realized there was was overcast and it
no food. All we had was turning dark.
were a couple of Some construction
small bananas and workers, 12 young
two biscuits for each men (boys to us),
of us. Also, we only from the building
had two litres of site were monitoring
drinking water left. the water level, and
From the staircase landing, we saw noticed us pacing in and out. That
precious photo frames, treasured was around 5 p.m.
wall hangings and random plastic One of them called out, “Auntie,
containers floating around. Our gas uncle, you can’t stay there for long—
cylinders banged against the steps. the water level is rising. No boat is
Th e g u s h i ng f l o o d wat e r ha d coming this way. Come over and stay
surrounded our house from all with us. Do not be alone at night.”
sides. We could hear the river raging. They spoke Bengali, though a couple
Every once in a while, there was of them could speak Hindi.
a deafening noise. Could it be the “You are almost 20 feet across the
compound wall breaking? street. How will I manage? The river is
Then there was the unbearable running right below us,” I shouted back.
sight of carcasses floating by. We saw “Don’t worry,” one of them said.
a buffalo, two calves, a dog and other “We can build a bridge for you and
strange shapes from a distance. Were uncle to cross over.”
they dead or could they be alive? We “Oh, no, she can’t. Walk across an
were now surrounded by more than improvised log bridge over 20 feet of
20 feet of water. water! She has pain in her joints, what

the bridge of life
if she trips and falls?” My husband level. Then came the second tier of
simply ruled out the suggestion. the bridge, made of planks fastened to
Of course, it would be a watery the second floor of the house under
grave. But the thought of staying back construction. They put it together
in our house and sinking along with standing on the ballies.
it was just as chilling. I had to decide One of them, Mansoor, walked
fast. All we had was a tiny flashlight across to help me. He seemed quite
(with no spare batteries). If the water confident of the plan and that gave me
reached the first floor, we would have hope. I finally started believing that I
to move to the open terrace one floor could make it. I had to jump to get on
above and be exposed to the elements. to the logs, steady myself, balance and
The choice was between pneumonia walk, leap and sit on the plank, then
and drowning. get up on to the second tier and walk,
So I decided to risk it. I was holding on to Mansoor’s hand. And
70 plus and no gymnast trained I did it. He had an iron grip, which
to walk on balance beams. What’s pulled me through. My husband
more, I was prone to tripping and followed, after seeing me safe at the
falling on even ground. I wasn’t so other end. He was escorted too.
worried about my husband, as he We reached the second floor of the
had gone through rigorous training unfinished house, safe and sound. I
in the armed forces. But, balancing was trembling with the sudden rush of
my weight on uneven logs and planks adrenaline. The boys took us to their
was quite unimaginable. sleeping quarters. All the while it kept
We had to move fast. Once it pouring. “Stop it,” I wanted to yell out
was dark, even the boys wouldn’t to the skies.
be able to save us. They were good A huge tarpaulin was spread
swimmers, but below us was the out on the floor and I was given
roiling force and fury of a river surging the spot nearest to the window to
towards the ocean. sleep. It was cold. The boys cooked
The boys worked swiftly, putting rice on their makeshift chulha and
together a two-tier makeshift offered us some. But we were not
bridge in minutes. Since the under- hungry; the anxiety had proved to be
construction house had scaffolding too much. We were surrounded by
all around it, there were spare ballies 12 young men. We did not know them,
or wooden logs they could use. The but we felt secure. They went to so
first tier was built with four ballies tied much trouble to save our lives. And
with rain-soaked coir ropes. After the then made sure we got some sleep.
first 10–12 feet was a vertical stump, They reminded me of my two sons
which marked the end of the first who were in the US.

tHe wat e r had done for us. We

started receding One of the boys would be beholden to
the next day, held my hand in an them for life.
the morning of iron grip and For the first time
3 December. Our in two days we
young friend helped me across had spotted our
escorted me back the makeshift neighbours, who lived
to our house so I bridge, as the river behind our house, on
could use the wash- their terrace. They
ro o m . I w a l k e d roiled below us. had decided to walk
back the same way, through the water
gingerly holding on to get to the metro
to Mansoor’s hand. station. With the boys
But this time, I gone, we would be
was not so scared. all alone, surrounded
Water sw irled by water. We had to
around the house get to them, but how?
in circles. The A raging river and
ground floor was 30 feet separated us.
submerged. The We c r o s s e d t h e
compound wall at rickety bridge one last
the back had fallen. The water was time. We used an under-construction
forcing its way in from all directions. sit-out and a shaky ladder to get closer
By noon we were very hungry. The to our neighbours. The water level
boys offered us a bowl of hot rice. We was lower here. While we wondered
had very little drinking water left— how to wade through waist-deep
half a bottle to be exact. water (with me in a sari) to the metro
Around 2 p.m. news came in that station, my neighbour spotted her
more water was likely to be released brother-in-law in an Army rescue
from the reservoir. This would be the boat. I almost wept with relief.
death of us. Our new friends had been The boat would never have made
called back to their villages, as their it to our house at the end of the
construction was delayed indefinitely. road, where there was 10 feet deep
Their supervisor had asked them water. We were glad that we were at
to take the first train back home. our neighbour’s house, which was
They left with their bags at 3.30 p.m. under just three feet of water. The
We gave them some money for travel boat struggled to negotiate turns, and
and other expenses. Any amount finally dropped us to a spot where we
would be too little for what they could walk and search for a way out.

the bridge of life
We weren’t left all alone, though. I talk about the suitcase filled
There was a young couple that was with my silk saris the better. It was
transporting stranded people to the kept on top of the seven-foot almirah
main road in their SUV . It was still and was soaking wet.
drizzling, but we were lucky. They We told each other, “Remember, we
lived close to my sister-in-law’s house wanted to downsize and de-clutter.
and dropped us there. Perhaps we An unseen hand is doing that for us.”
were destined to survive. We were forced to learn detachment.
The maid returned after 15 days.
we retUrned Home after 10–11 The bridge was used a few more
days. We never saw our car again. times to retrieve our documents
A relative arranged for it to be as our main door was blocked by
t ow e d t o a w o rk s h o p a n d t h e furniture. We learnt that a couple in
insurance company auctioned it our colony drowned in their house as
after two months. The fridge was they did not have a staircase. We were
lying on its side, the door wide traumatized and exhausted. I did not
open with nothing but slush inside. want to go back to the house we built
Our cur ios, collected over the with so much love.
years, were buried or lost. As were But we were grateful that we had
our photo albums that included lived to tell the tale. We were lucky,
faded but precious sepia images of unlike so many others. Amid all
great grandparents. The bundle of the destruction and loss, we
loving letters from our children and experienced hope and the kindness
deceased parents that had been left of strangers, many of whom risked
in drawers were now pulp. The less their lives to save ours.
HealtHy cHoices
Please stop arguing with me about my choice to be vegan.

it takes a lot of energy and i get winded easily.
@tHewoodenslU rpy
Just walked up a flight of stairs, and my fitbit

emailed me to report itself stolen.
@tHecatwHisprer
My favourite thing to do at the gym is leave.

@lisagoodwin1

As Kids See It
“I hate aeroplane food!”
I tolD my kIDs to get rid of toys school. As we stepped out of the

they don’t play with, so if you hear shop, it started raining heavily. Jeuel
a commotion, it’s them desperately and Samantha couldn’t wait to put
playing with every toy they own. on their raincoats, but Elvis refused.
@maughammom We explained that he would get wet.
At that, he turned around and said,
my thRee-yeaR-olD daughter “Are you mad? My raincoat will get
Violetta was watching her grand- wet.” Colleen tRaynoR, Mumbai
mother get ready one morning.
After Grandma used some product ReCently heaRD this quote from
to style her hair, Violetta asked, my six-year-old: “It’s almost a little
“What’s that for?” bit mostly completely done.” I’m not
“To give it some body,” her grand- sure if that makes him an optimist
mother replied. Violetta paused or a politician. @howtoBeaDaD
to process this information, then
asked, “Why would you want some- I thInk fog Is just clouds that
body in your hair?” have fallen down.
Vries
CaRI mathews Dylan, a g e 6

de
I took my then three-year-old son Reader’s Digest will pay for your funny
Conan

Elvis with his older siblings Jeuel sections. Post it to the editorial address,
and Samantha to buy rainwear for or email: editor.india@rd.com

Cover science now says we can power new brain-cell
Get On Board
story
Revol
illustrations by quickhoney
connections, avoid alzheimer’s and never lose sharpness
the Brain Health
ution reader’s digest | november 2016 | 79

g e t o n b o a r d t h e b r a i n h e a lt h r e v o l u t i o n
new research reveals that every life

experience changes your brain. here’s
what landmark studies say about staying
sharp—and, dare we say, wise—for life.
By dav id e ag l e m a n arriving with everything hardwired,
E
from The B ra in : Th e STo ry o f yo u a human brain is shaped by life
experience. It’s ‘livewired’.
very human being Our brain’s flexibility derives not
enters the world with a from the growth of new cells but from
remarkably unfinished how those cells are connected. A
brain. D olphins are baby’s neurons form two million new
born swimming; giraffes connections every second as they take
learn to stand within hours. But we in information. By age two, a child has
humans? We’re helpless for years. over 100 trillion synapses—double the
However, this seeming limitation number an adult has.
actually signals our greatest This peak represents far more
advantage. Baby animals develop connections than the brain will need.
quickly because their brains wire The incredible blooming is then
up according to a pre-programmed supplanted by neural ‘pruning’. As
routine. But that preparedness trades you mature through the teen years
off with flexibility. Imagine if some and into your 20s, 50 per cent of your
hapless rhinoceros found itself on the synapses will be pared back.
illustration by joe mckendry (eagleman)

Arctic tundra or on top of a mountain Which synapses stay and which
in the Himalayas or in the middle go? When a synapse successfully par-
of urban Tokyo. It would have no ticipates in a circuit, it is strengthened;
capacity to adapt—or thrive. synapses that aren’t used are weakened
In contrast, humans have thrived and eventually eliminated. Just as with
in all these environments. Instead of paths in a forest, you lose the connec-
tions that you don’t use.
david eagleman By age 25, our brains appear to be
is a neuroscientist fully developed. But even in adulthood,
at Baylor College of the brain can form new connections.
Medicine, Texas, USA London’s cab drivers show just how
and a new York Times
bestselling author.
impressive this can be. They undergo
intensive training to pass the ‘Knowl-

r e a d e r s d i g e s t. C o . i n
edge of London’, a memorization test The team expected to find a clear-

of London’s extensive roadways: 320 cut link between cognitive decline
routes, 25,000 individual streets and and the three most common causes
20,000 landmarks. A group of neu- of dementia: Alzheimer’s, stroke and
roscientists from University College Parkinson’s. Instead, here’s what they
London scanned the brains of several found: Some people were dying with
cab drivers. Each driver’s posterior a full-blown Alzheimer’s pathology—
hippocampus—an area vital for mem- brain tissue ravaged by the disease—
ory, in particular spatial memory—had without having cognitive loss. What
grown physically larger than the hippo- was going on?
campi of the control group. The longer The team went back to its data for
a cabbie had been doing the job, the clues. Dr Bennett found that cognitive
bigger the change. exercise (keeping the brain active
Similarly, ever ything Your through doing crosswords,
you’ve experienced Amazing reading, driving, learning
thus far has altered Brain new skills and having
the physical structure the brain generates re s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ) wa s
of your brain. Your the equivalent of about protective. So were social
family of origin, your 10 to 15 watts of energy, activity, social networks
enough to power and physical activity.
culture, your friends,
an led bulb.
your work, every movie The par ticipants w ith
source: northwestern.edu
you’ve watched, every diseased neural tissue but
conversation you’ve had— no cognitive symptoms had
these have all left their footprints in built up what is known as cognitive
your nervous system. As you age, too, reserve. As areas degenerated, other
your brain’s flexibility, and what you well-exercised areas took over those
choose to expose it to, matters deeply. functions. The study demonstrates
This was revealed by the Religious that it’s possible to protect our brains
Orders Study, a research project and slow the ageing process.
following more than 1,100 clergy We’re at an unprecedented moment
members across the United States. in history, one in which brain science
Since 1994, this group has undergone and technology are co-evolving. We can
regular psychological and medical now hack our own hardware and, as a
tests. So far, David Bennett, MD, and result, our brains don’t need to remain
his team at Rush University in Chicago as we’ve inherited them. We’re now just
have collected and examined tissue discovering the tools to shape our own
from over 350 brains. destiny. Who we become is up to us.
excerpt from The Brain: The STory of you by david eagleman. copyright © 2015 by david eagleman.
used with permission from penguin random house india.

Genius Brain Habits

By K i mBerly H iss Kosik. According to a 2014 University
of Wisconsin study, older adults who
A rich new area routinely worked on puzzles and
of science is played board games had higher brain
analyzing which volume in the area responsible for
healthy habits cognitive functions, including memory,
best keep your than those who didn’t.
mind and memory
blithely unaffected even Stay Young with Saa,
when a brain scan would reveal the Taa, Naa and Maa
inflammation, free radical damage and Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD, president
weakened synapse connections that and medical director of the Alzheimer’s
often cause ‘senior’ moments in the 40s Research and Prevention Foundation,
and beyond. Kenneth S Kosik, MD, co- USA, has spent many years studying
director of the Neuroscience Research the meditative tradition called Kirtan
Institute at the University of California, Kriya and has found that daily
USA, has studied which habits most 12-minute sessions of the practice
powerfully boost our cognitive can improve blood flow to the brain
function. Here, he shares the most and possibly even increase levels of
up-to-date research from innovative telomerase, an enzyme that slows cell
labs plus the best tips from his book ageing. The practice is simple: While
Outsmarting Alzheimer’s (Reader’s breathing deeply, chant saa, taa, naa,
Digest, `1,367; outsmartingalzheimers. maa (which broadly mean ‘my divine
com, available online). self ’) while moving your thumb to
touch your index, middle, ring and
Play Games with Your little fingers with each new sound.
Frontal Lobe Like any meditation, it may help to
Whether you’re deliberating a chess lift anxiety and fatigue.
move or bluffing at cards, you’re also
giving the frontal lobe, the area of Protect Your Mind from
your brain that handles executive Your Heart
function, a workout. “The frontal lobe is Scientists surveyed volunteers on
particularly vulnerable to degeneration seven familiar heart-health factors and
and the effects of ageing,” says tested their cognitive performance at

two points over eight years. The results might offer protection. Women ages 65
found that the more heart-healthy to 75 who already had lesions were
habits people had, the less cognitive divided into three groups: once-a-
decline they exhibited. A stronger week strength trainers, twice-a-week
cardiovascular system means a stronger strength trainers and those who did
pipeline of nutrients to the brain, says other exercise. The results: Women
lead author Hannah Gardener, ScD, who strength-trained twice a week
an epidemiologist in the Department showed significantly less progression of
of Neurology at the University of Miami, white matter lesions than the other two
USA . The seven heart- groups. Key moves you can try at home
health ideals to strive (using small, filled-up water bottles
for may be familiar (if for weight): biceps curls, triceps
they seem overwhelming, extensions, calf raises, mini squats,
Gardener points out that mini lunges and lunge walks; aim
“each one helps”): for 45 minutes a session.
n Not smoking (or quitting)
n Healthy body mass Make Moves Directly
index (under 25) Against Alzheimer’s
n Physically active ( for at Exercise benefits the brain by
least 150 minutes a week) improving vascular health—
n Healthy total cholesterol but newly published research
(under 200 mg/dL) suggests it also combats the
n Healthy blood pressure chronic neuroinflammation
(under 120/80 mmHg) observed in Alzheimer’s disease,
n Healthy blood sugar depression and other brain ailments.
(under 100 mg/dL) In such neurological conditions, the
n Balanced diet (rich in fruits, inflammation that normally clears
veggies and whole grains; low in tissue damage doesn’t shut off and
sodium and sweets) starts to interfere with communication
between neurons. Exercise has
Lift the Quality of Your proven anti-inflammatory effects
White Matter against diseases like diabetes and
As the brain ages, its white matter rheumatoid arthritis, so that could be
often develops small lesions because why it protects brain health as well,
of disrupted blood flow, leading to says assistant professor Jonathan
impaired cognitive function and Little, PhD, in a review article in
mobility. Researchers at the University Brain Research Bulletin. “Any type of
of British Columbia, Canada, wanted moderate-intensity exercise, such as
to determine whether strength training walking, cycling and swimming, can

have anti-inflammatory effects,” says one of Jon Lovitz’s Saturday Night Live
Little. Aim for about 30 minutes a day. [popular American live sketch comedy
show] characters, Master Thespian: In
Get Brain Circuits one study, those who went to acting
Singing classes twice a week for four weeks
Listening to or playing music can boosted their ability to remember
activate the motor cortex (touching a words, numbers and short stories.
piano key or guitar string), the auditory A f o l l ow - u p s t u d y f o u n d t h e y
cortex (hearing the notes you make) improved word fluency by 12 per cent
and the emotional centre, or limbic and word recall by 19 per cent.
system (feeling moved by a beautiful
passage). “Circuits and networks are Draw Out Your Neural
stimulated by these activities, which Connections
help keep the brain healthy,” says When you draw, paint or sculpt, you
Kosik. Older adults who had at least 10 have to make spatial calculations and
years of musical experience did better focus attention on details, Kosik says.
on cognitive tests, according to a 2011 Engaging in these activities helps
Emory University study. protect the elderly from mild cognitive
impairment, according to a 2015 Mayo
Be a Drama Queen Clinic study. Also, 60- and 70-year-old
Learning lines for a production or an art-class participants boosted scores
acting class engages the hippocampus, on psychological resilience tests; MRI
the temporal cortex and the frontal images showed their synapses had
lobe, says Kosik. So follow the lead of formed new connections.
A Genius Eating Plan

By a leX m lyne K University Medical Center in Chicago
f r om Be ST developed the MIND diet over a two-
hea lT h
year period. They took elements of
two proven heart-healthy regimens—
Scientific efforts the Mediterranean diet and the
to develop a new blood-pressure-slashing DASH diet
eating plan to substantially (aka Dietary Approaches to Stop
reduce Alzheimer’s risk may be Hypertension). Then they consulted
w o rk i n g . R e s e a rc h e r s a t Ru s h the latest human and animal nutrition

studies and tailored a combo designed

to boost brain health. Finally, they
tested the plan on 960 volunteers
over four-and-a-half years. The MIND
( Mediterranean– DASH Intervention
for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet
reduced Alzheimer’s risk by 53 per
cent among those who followed it
strictly and by 35 per cent for those
who followed it moderately well,
according to research in Alzheimer’s
& Dementia : The Journal of the and the director of nutrition and
Alzheimer’s Association. nutritional epidemiology at Rush.
These benefits come down to two “The top nutrients are vitamin E;
general principles: Limit foods that B vitamins; omega-3s; some of the
are high in saturated fats and calories carotenoids, lutein in particular; and
but have low nutritional value, and flavonoids,” she explains. Here are the
eat more foods that offer nutrients 10 foods to eat and five foods to limit
that help your brain, says Martha every week, which make up the core
Clare Morris, the plan’s chief creator of the MIND diet.
Do Eat … and as your primary this if you’re avoiding

n six or more servings cooking oil. alcohol).
of leafy-green vegeta- n more than three
bles every week. (that’s servings of whole grains Do Limit …
almost a salad a day.) every day. n butter or ghee to one
n at least one serving n fish that hasn’t been teaspoon every day.
of another vegetable fried for at least one n cheese to less than
every day. meal every week. one serving every week.
n more than two n beans for more than n red meat to fewer
servings of berries three meals every week than four meals
every week. (that is, eat beans every week.
n more than five roughly every other day).
n fried foods and fast
servings of nuts every n poultry for more than food to less than one
week. (try them as a two meals every week. serving every week.
daily snack.)
n a glass of wine every n sweets and pastries to
n extra-virgin olive day (though morris says fewer than five servings
oil instead of butter there’s no need to drink every week.

g e t o n b o a r d t h e b r a i n h e a lt h r e v o l u t i o n !
Genius Medical
Advance Stories
By K i m Be rly H iss a park with a girlfriend decades earlier.
Over the next month, the patient’s
The most prominent memory improved tremendously
brain researchers as Lozano continued deep brain
in the country are stimulation ( DBS ) via electrodes
on a quest not to controlled by a remote pacemaker.
merely cure the The odd side effect prompted Lozano
scourges that steal to ask a game-changing question: What
our minds—they seek if this chance observation could lead to
to understand the very fibres of our a new therapy for Alzheimer’s?
humanity, housed in the grey matter Lozano is now conducting a phase-
behind the once (but no longer) two trial in 42 adults who have a mild
impenetrable fortresses of our skulls. form of the disease. In Alzheimer’s,
Their investigations read like mini- abnormal protein deposits are thought
medical detective tales, replete with to disable certain circuits, creating
out-of-the-box ideas, questions that ‘blackout’ areas that have stopped
lead to more questions—and the burning glucose—the fuel of the brain.
serendipitous happenstance through The theory: Stimulating the fornix, a
which great discoveries are made. key area for memory, will re-establish
power to shut-down circuits. So far,
The Holy Grail of Lozano’s work indicates it’s possible
Alzheimer’s Research to get these blackout spots to use
Andres L ozano, MD, PhD, can glucose again, suggesting the areas
pinpoint the moment that he stumbled could resume function. “We want to
upon a therapy to potentially reverse find out if we can put the brakes on
Alzheimer’s disease. In 2003, when the progression of the illness and stop
Lozano, the chair of the division of it in its tracks,” Lozano says. “It might
neurosurgery at the University of mean hanging on to a parent longer
Toronto, placed electrodes in the brain or not needing to send a loved one
of an obese patient with the hope of to a nursing home.” He compares the
controlling his appetite, the patient exploration to going on a spaceship to
experienced a vivid memory of a trip to a faraway galaxy. “These experiments

are the first time a human being with thrombectomy, that number soars
these disorders has had these areas of to above 60 per cent if treatment is
the brain stimulated. We’re getting to started within six hours, says Khalessi.
the very core of what the brain does.” “Patients go from literally dying to
going home to their families—it’s
A Miracle Treatment about as miraculous a thing as you
for Stroke can encounter in medicine.”
Few medical conditions strike faster
and with more finality than the brain From Paralyzed to
death caused by stroke. But a new Playing Guitar Hero
procedure has had such success that When Ian Burkhart broke his neck
hospitals around the US are changing diving into a wave in 2010, he had
their protocols. no idea that about four years later,
Normally, large-vessel strokes— he would make history as the first
big clots in big arteries that quadriplegic in the US to regain
jeopardize blood flow
Your control of his limbs using
Amazing
to huge brain terri- Brain his own thoughts. At the
tories—are deadly. time, the devastated
your brain comprises
Existing blood-thin- about 2 per cent of your 19-year-old knew only
n i n g m e d i c at i o n s weight but uses 20 per cent that an experimental
aren’t effective at of the body’s blood, oxygen study at nearby Ohio
dissolving large clots. and glucose. State University Wexner
But this treatment from the book Transcend by ray Medical School offered
Kurtzweil and terry grossman,
vacuum recently was md (rodale, inc.) hope. Burkhart’s spinal injury
flooded with five major had severed the communication
clinical trials demonstrating the pathway between the motor cortex in
effectiveness of mechanical thrombec- his brain and the muscles in his limbs,
tomy, in which a catheter is threaded but this study proposed a detour.
through an artery in the groin and up Doctors had Burkhart think about
to the blockage in the brain, where a moving his hand while researchers took
stent pulls the clot from the vessel. MRI scans to light up key brain areas.
“This is the penicillin era in stroke Based on those coordinates, in April
treatment,” says Alexander A Khalessi, 2014, Ali Rezai, MD, director of Ohio
MD, vice chairman of clinical affairs State’s Center for Neuromodulation,
in the department of neurosurgery placed a microchip smaller than a pea
at UC San Diego Health, USA . The in the motor cortex, which controls
chance of a full recovery from a large- the hand. The chip was connected
vessel stroke goes down each minute via a computer to an electrode-
it’s left untreated; with mechanical studded sleeve on Burkhart’s arm that

stimulated his muscles. His thoughts 1970s as an anaesthetic and has since
now had a new bypass to his hand. been hijacked as a hallucinogenic ‘club
Two months later, Rezai was drug’. Recently, researchers noticed it
standing behind his patient in a lab can lift depression quickly, possibly by
crowded with cameras, physicians, fixing damaged neurocircuits. “If you
engineers and family, all eyes on Burk- think of neurons as trees, depression
hart’s right hand. When it moved for looks like branches in winter—thin and
the first time, Burkhart made history. unhealthy. After treatment with keta-
“It was a surreal moment,” Rezai mine, the branches look like spring—
remembers. “The whole team was flowering and plump,” says Ionescu,
amazed but then we said, ‘OK, based on her observations of
the work is just beginning. Your animal studies.
He’s got to be able to pick Amazing The grand research
up a cup of coffee.’” Brain plan: Scan the brains
In the years since, it’s possible to get half of depressed patients
subject and software of your brain surgically before and after
have been learning removed without affecting ketamine triggers relief.
your memory or
from each other. “The “If we can see the brain
personality.
machine is continuously source: Scientific american
changing, we may be able
improving its algorithms to understand the actual
and Ian is able to think neurobiology of depression
about things with more fluidity,” says and discover new antidepressants,”
Rezai. “It’s phenomenal seeing the Ionescu says. “I would say it’s one
brain and computer coming together.” of the most hopeful times we’ve
Burkhart is now able to swipe a credit had in decades.”
card and play Guitar Hero.
Creating Calm with
Finding the Cause of— Healthy Belly Bugs
and Cure for—Depression When Stephen Collins, MBBS, received
Dawn Ionescu, MD, a psychiatrist at his first clue that the gut bacteria found
Massachusetts General Hospital, in naturally in our intestines might both
the US, will never forget the first time heighten and relieve anxiety, he
she saw the drug ketamine in action. dismissed it. Lab techs reported that
“Within hours, a severely depressed the mice on antibiotics were acting
patient was talking to other people in strangely, and Collins, the director
the day room, eating dinner and look- of the Farncombe Family Digestive
ing brighter,” says Ionescu. “I decided: Health Research Institute at McMaster
I want to know how this is working.” University in Ontario, Canada, thought
Ketamine was FDA-approved in the nearby construction must be upsetting

the animals. It was only after a repeat stymied by our inability to uncover
experiment produced the same the condition’s source. Researchers
anxious behaviours—and animals already knew that genes and the
on probiotics seemed calmer— immune system are involved in the
that Collins realized he might have disorder but could not say how. Now
uncovered a centerpiece of all-too- a groundbreaking study seems to have
common mood disorders. solved the mystery.
Since then, Collins’s investigations Researchers at Boston’s Broad
have continually found that altering Institute, USA , analyzed one of the
rodents’ gut microbiota can change largest repositories of schizophrenia
mood and behaviour. For example, DNA samples and found that a
mice raised ‘germ-free’ showed mutation in the C4 gene is strongly
abnormally hyperactive behaviours correlated with the disease. This
that calmed down after they were mutation causes the production of too
colonized with bacteria from healthy much C4A protein, which regulates
mice; and if the gut bacteria of the pruning of synapses by a process
normal mice were perturbed through that is also shared by the immune
prolonged antibiotic use, the mice system in fighting pathogens and
became anxious. eliminating waste.
Collins cautions that it’s too early This finding links a gene with
to eschew antibiotics or give yourself a long-observed disease-causing
a fecal transplant, as demonstrated on process. “That was like bingo—you
YouTube. But research on humans has found the genetic key that explains all
bolstered the connection and Collins these historic observations in people
is now studying whether bacteria can with schizophrenia,” says Jeffrey
soothe depression in patients with Lieberman, MD, professor and chair
irritable bowel syndrome. of the Department of Psychiatry at
Columbia University, USA.
A New Era of Treatment What is the likely next frontier:
for Schizophrenia development of new treatment
Our efforts to develop better medi- strategies that seek to modulate
cations for schizophrenia have been the C4 gene.
eXtra CHeese
i want a coffee so dark and rich, it’s directed by tim burton.

@PrimaWesome

90 | noveMbeR 2016 | REAdER’S dIgEST
PHOTO
Of lASTINg
INTEREST
Photograph by
Ralph Morse
Chosen by
Michio Kaku,
t h e o r e t i c a l p hy s i c i s t
On 18 April 1955, just

hours after Albert
Einstein’s death, a Life
magazine photographer
captured the Nobel
Ralph M oRse/TiMe & lif e p i cTuRes/GeTTy iM aGes
laureate’s office in
Princeton, New Jersey,
USA. “This is the photo
that changed my life,”
says Michio Kaku, author
of Einstein’s Cosmos.
“As a child of eight, I was
fascinated that on his
desk were the unfinished
notes of his ‘theory of
everything’. I decided
then and there that I
would try to finish it. This,
to me, was greater than
any adventure story.”
REAdER’S dIgEST | noveMbeR 2016 | 91

The 20 Most Insightful Things We’ve Read
WHO THEY
92 | november 2016 | ReADeR’s DIgesT
By tim B ou qu et
illustrati ons by Jason sei ler
About Donald Trump & Hillary Clinton in 2016
REALLY ARE ReADeR’s DIgesT | november 2016 | 93

HunTIng THe CoCAIne CRooks
The 2016 election has been history-making in many ways,
including in the tremendous volume written about the two
main candidates. Here are our editors’ selections of the
Donald Trump …
nuclear weapons. At a reception
… has uncommon discipline.. in New York City around 1990, he
on CNN.Com, michael ran into the US START negotiator,
d’antonio, JouRnalist and Ambassador Richard Burt. According
authoR of The TruTh AbouT to Burt, Trump expressed
Trump, said: It’s ironic to talk about envy of Burt’s position and
Donald as disciplined when we proceeded to offer advice on
think about the wild statements he how best to cut a “terrific”
makes … but there actually is a disci- deal with the Soviets. Trump
previous spread source photos: trump: michele asselin/Getty imaGes.

pline behind it. This is a person told Burt to arrive late to the next
who is single-minded negotiating session, walk into
in his pursuit of what the room where his fuming
he wants. You get in counterpart sits waiting im-
Donald Trump’s way and patiently, remain standing
you’re going to get run and looking down at him,
over … For all of his wild stick his finger into his
talk, there’s a point to it all. chest, and say “F—— you!”
… can feel issues deeply.. ... is a man of few (written). clinton: christopher lane/Getty imaGes
on poliTiCo.Com, BRuce BlaiR,

words..
nucleaR secuRity expeRt, in The New Yorker, Jane mayeR
wRote: [Trump] says his nuclear wRote: [Tony] Schwartz [who was
concerns stem partly from his MIT the co-author of Trump: The Art of
professor uncle’s tutoring on the the Deal] believes that Trump’s short
subject, but in any case his interest attention span has left him with
is deep-seated. Trump once even “a stunning level of superficial
expressed a wish during the Reagan knowledge and plain ignorance”. He
years to lead the negotiations with said, “That’s why he so prefers
the Soviets to reduce strategic TV as his first news source—

R e a d e R s d i g e s t. c o . i n
most revealing observations from writers across the
spectrum. Read this to better understand the choice—
and the next American president, whoever it may be
Hillary Clinton …
[former defence secretary
… is a working dog.. Robert] Gates and the gener-
in New York, ReBecca tRaisteR als, she gave political ballast to
wRote: Clinton self-identifies as a their proposals and provided a
worker more than as a speech-maker. bullish counterpoint to Biden’s skepti-
When I told her during one of cism … For all their bluster about
our conversations that the bombing the Islamic State into obli-
comedian Samantha Bee vion, neither Donald J. Trump nor
had described her to me Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has
as “a working dog; you’ve demonstrated anywhere near
got to give Hillary a job,” the appetite for military engage-
her eyes lit up. “When I ment abroad that Clinton has.
got to the Senate, I
said I was not a show
horse!” she reminded me. It ... is her own worst enemy..
seems the thing Clinton is proudest on CNN.Com, clinton's BiogRa-
of in the world. pheR caRl BeRnstein said: You
can talk about her enemies and the
damage they have done to her, but
… is a lover of generals.. there are so many of these self-
in The New York Times mAgA- inflicted wounds that come
ziNe, maRk landleR wRote: The from an unwillingness to be
Afghan troop debate ... is typically truthful at various important
framed as a test of wills between the times. The vast right-wing conspiracy
Pentagon’s wily military commanders did not tell her to put a server in her
and an inexperienced young president, basement … This goes to her, not just to
with Joe Biden playing the role of enemies. And it may be the question
devil’s advocate for Obama. While that that ultimately will be the answer to
portrait is accurate, it neglects the role whether she will be the president of the
of Clinton. By siding with United States. Because she is up not
ReADeR’s DIgesT | november 2016 | 95

W H o T H e y R e A l ly A R e
information comes in believe that Trump’s ugly,

easily digestible thuggish populism has no
sound bites.” He added, chance of ever making it
“I seriously doubt that to the White House seem,
Trump has ever read a to me, to be missing this
book straight through in dynamic. Neo-fascist move-
his adult life.” During the ments do not advance gradu-
18 months that he observed ally by persuasion; they first
Trump ... [Schwartz] never saw a transform the terms of the debate,
book on Trump’s desk, or elsewhere create a new movement based on un-
in his office, or in his apartment. trammelled emotion, take over existing
institutions and then ruthlessly exploit
events ... I have no doubt that
... will have a presidency that. Trump is sincere in his desire
resembles his candidacy.. to “cut the head off” ISIS, what-
in The wAshiNgToN posT, ever that can possibly mean. But the
e. J. dionne JR wRote: interests of ISIS and the Trump cam-
Efficient [campaign] operations lead paign are now perfectly aligned.
to at least the hope of reasonable
efficiency in the White House. The
chaos of the Trump circus should
... makes a strategy out of not.
genuinely trouble non-ideological
sticking to the facts..
sorts of voters. The notion on huffiNgToNposT.Com,
of a White House run in a thomas m. wells, attoRney,
way anything like Trump’s wRote: While I was working for
stewardship of his campaign Donald, various press reports had
is petrifying. The Trump opera- Trump and his then-wife Ivana
tion looks more like a medieval court living in a personal apartment in the
than anything resembling a demo- Trump Tower of eight, 16, and even 20
cratic political effort. Trump’s family or 30 rooms. Genuinely curious, I once
is dominant, big donors seem to call asked him how many rooms the apart-
the tune and Trump cannot settle on ment actually had. I will never forget
whom he wants working for him. his response to me: “However many
they will print.” Donald Trump
was then, as he is now, larger
... has inadvertent benefits. than life, particularly in his
for ISIS.. own eyes, and at the same time
in New York, andRew frighteningly small, with very little
sullivan wRote: Those who moral grounding.

just against Donald Trump or Bernie aides told me that the campaign’s plan
Sanders. She is up against herself. to fight opiate addiction, the first and
most comprehensive offered by any of
the major candidates, was the direct
… is ready when we are.. result of Clinton hearing about the is-
in The wAshiNgToN posT, sue on her tour. “Her way of deal-
caRlos lozada wRote: The final ing with the stories she hears
clause [in one of Clinton’s books, is not just to repeat the story
which comes from a favourite Meth- but to do something about the
odist lesson]—“as long as you ever story,” says John Podesta, the chair
can”—is telling. It embodies the Clin- of Clinton’s campaign.
ton of her memoirs: familiar, endur-
ing, scarred, but eager and available,
if we’d only choose her. Even her Se-
... has a history of not.
cret Service code name, “Evergreen”,
connecting with the public..
is apt, the perfect label for a candi- in New York, Jason zengeRle
date whose principal qualifi- wRote: She is an introvert by
cation for the presidency is temperament, surely traumatized by
her eternal readiness for it. the invective thrown at her during
her time as First Lady, consequently
terrified of spontaneity, and insuffi-
... is a master listener.. ciently skilled at pretending otherwise.
on Vox.Com, ezRa klein wRote: Still, genuine cautiousness can also be
The first few times I heard someone off-putting, and by the time of Clinton’s
praise Clinton’s listening, I dis- last presidential run, her opacity
counted it ... After hearing it and rigidity had morphed into
11, 12, 15 times, I began to what looked like haughty
take it seriously … [When entitlement. She seemed
she was a senator,] in her either unwilling or
travels [she] stuffed notes unable to campaign
from her conversations and in a way that allowed
her reading into suitcases, voters to feel they got
and every few months she dumped to know her personally.
the stray paper on the floor of her Sen-
ate office and picked through it with
her staff … These notes, [former staffer
... will not.make left-wing.
Laurie] Rubiner recalls, really did lead
women proud..
to legislation ... Her process works the in The NATioN, liza featheR-
same way today. Multiple Clinton stone wRote: A Clinton presidency

W H o T H e y R e A l ly A R e
human beings evolved

... is a believer in his gut. to be consummate actors
instinct over data.. whose survival and ability
in The New York Times mAgA- to reproduce depend on the
ziNe, maRk leiBovich wRote: His quality of our performances ... More
orbit is largely free of handlers and is than even Ronald Reagan,
very much his own production, down Trump seems supremely cog-
to his tweets—which he types or nizant of the fact that he is al-
dictates himself. I asked Trump if his ways acting. He moves through life
campaign conducted focus groups ... like a man who knows he is always be-
‘‘I do focus groups,’’ he said, ing observed. If all human beings are,
pressing both thumbs against by their very nature, social actors, then
his forehead, ‘‘right here.’’ Donald Trump seems to be more so—
superhuman, in this one primal sense.
... uses anger to his benefit..
in The wAshiNgToN Times,
... can already declare
monica cRowley wRote:
a.victory..
Mr Trump embraces voters’ anger in a on TowNhAll.Com, Jack
way that mirrors and validates it rather keRwick wRote: I’m not backing
than spurns or fears it ... Mr Trump’s Trump because of what he promises
decision to walk away from Fox News’s to do in the future. I’m backing him
Iowa debate because of his anger over because of what he’s done already.
how the network has treated him is a Trump has been a one-man wrecking
case in point. The message he’s crew, shattering the sacred cows of
conveying: I won’t allow my- both the Democrat and Republican
self to be disrespected, and wings of the establishment ...
I won’t let America be dis- Whether he wins or loses in
respected. He is also demonstrating November, Trump has
that anger is necessary (though not already won, for he’s succeeded
sufficient) to win elections and to get in emboldening scores of Americans
the country back on track. Mr Trump who would have otherwise remained
has turned fury into not just an appro- disengaged, Americans who will not
priate political emotion, but an asset. go quietly away or back to voting for
Bushes, Kasichs and Romneys. He
has made it acceptable, indeed,
... is a brilliant role-player.. necessary, to talk aloud about issues
in The ATlANTiC, dan p. mcadams that had long been neglected by
wRote: As brainy social animals, partisans of both parties.

would be symbolically uplifting, even

as it slammed the door on the possibi-
... is a dealmaker..
lity of genuinely improving the lives of in foreigN poliCY, James tRauB
most of the world’s women ... “We’re wRote: [Jeffrey] Bader [Obama’s
not Denmark,” she said [in a campaign chief national security aide for Asia]
appearance] ... With this bit of frank- had supported Obama during the
ness, Clinton helpfully explained campaign, and he subscribed to the
why no socialist—indeed, no non- collective view of the Obama camp
millionaire—should support her. She that Clinton was petty and vindictive.
is smart enough to know that He was startled to find ... that she
women in the United States was considerate and warm. He
endure far more poverty, also realized that she thought
unemployment and food about diplomacy largely in
insecurity than women in transactional terms.
Denmark—yet she shame- “She’s an immensely
lessly made clear that she was pragmatic person,”
happy to keep it that way. Bader says. “She’s
a dealmaker.
Her attitude is:
... has very mixed feelings. How can we get
.about the.life she’s chosen.. this done?”
in The New York Times mAgA-
ziNe, maRk leiBovich wRote:
She reminisced about her early days
... is an optimist..
in Arkansas, back when she drove her in esquire, tom Junod wRote:
own car and took Chelsea to ballet She is the only candidate with a
class. She betrayed an almost chance of winning the presidency—
wistful longing for that time, from either party—who speaks of
contrasting her energy and preserving what we have rather than
freedom then with the ex- tearing it down and starting over.
haustions of her public life She is the only one who
today—‘‘the level of relentless scru- rejects the language of
tiny that now stalks not just people in radicalism in her speeches.
politics but people in all kinds of pub- She is, indeed, the only instinctive
lic arenas,’’ in her phrase. ‘‘It gives you moderate, left-leaning though she
a sense of being kind of dehuman- may be. The candidate who has a
ized, I guess.’’ The starkness of this chance to become the first woman
language jumped out at me—“stalks” president turns out to be the last
and, especially, “dehumanized”. optimist at the apocalypse.

Laughter
the best medicine
To me, waTching fooTball is filet mignon with his thumb firmly

like watching a bunch of steaks who pressed against it.
came to life and are trying violently “What are you doing pawing my
I llustratI on by Gemma Correll
to put themselves back together fillet?!” yells the customer.

into a cow. @Tricialockwood “What?” says the waiter. “You want
it to fall on the floor again?”
and The award for best neckwear S u b m i t t e d b y m. c., v i a e m a i l
goes to … Well, would you look at
that, it’s a tie. whaT if dogs called a dog 911?
@cornonThegoblin Case #1:
Dog 911: What’s your emergency?
a waiTer hands the customer his Dog: MY HUMAN WENT TO WORK.

Dog 911: So? she hadn’t experienced in quite
Dog: WHAT IF THIS TIME HE a while. Then it slid down her side,
DOESN’T COME BACK? stopping at her knee, which was
Dog 911: OMG. as far as her husband could reach.
Dog: OMG. Then he moved closer and did the
same on her other side before
Case #2: abruptly stopping and moving away.
Dog 911: What’s your emergency? Delighted by this unexpected
Dog: MY BALL IS UNDER THE COUCH. attention, Lauren whispered,
Dog 911: You try barking at it? “Honey, that was wonderful. Why
Dog: IT DIDN’T WORK. did you stop?”
Dog 911: OMG. He answered, “I found the remote.”
Dog: OMG. @reverend_scoTT william novak, from Die Laughing (touchstone)
lauren was lying in bed one reader’s digest will pay for your funny
night when she felt her husband’s sections. Post it to the editorial address,
hand caressing her neck in a way or email: editor.india@rd.com
obiTuaries for Teenage girls if They acTually

died when They said They were dying
HuanG, JamIe, age 14, died suddenly PHIllIPs, ema arlene, age 15,
upon seeing a tiny Labrador retriever passed away when she saw taylor
puppy walk successfully through a set swift exiting the neighbourhood gym.
of revolving doors. she died three times before realizing
that the woman was not in fact taylor
tHomas, morGan, age 15, tasted swift, whereupon she died once more.
the perfect mango mousse cake just
before succumbing to death. brenner, lIanna, age 15, lived a
healthy life until she made the fatal
Hruby, sIerra, age 13, heard that decision to watch a video of a puppy
emma said dan told rebecca that splashing in a puddle. she clung to
maggie was hosting a party that henri religion until the very end, crying out
would also attend, but it was actually to god via the Youtube comment
rebecca who told dan that molly was section, typing “Omg Omg” in the
throwing a get-together and emma interest of time, but it was too late. she
was wrong, but it was so confusing was dying, dying, Omg, and then
that she just gave up and died. proclaimed dead.
karen chee, on mcsweeneys.net

drama in real life
a backpacking trip turns disastrous, and a boy

must make a heart-rending decision: should he leave
his severely injured father to look for help?
a
mountain
of By ken m iller
trouble
the frank ChurCh—river of no return Wilderness
is the broadest sprawl of untamed landscape in the contiguous
United states, covering 2.4 million acres of central idaho. among the
area’s most spectacular attractions is the Bighorn Crags, a jagged
phalanx of 10,000-foot peaks set amid glittering alpine lakes. Near
one of those pools, just after dawn on a cloudless summer day,
13-year-old Charlie Finlayson crouches inside his tent, getting ready
for a long hike. He stows a water bottle and some snacks in his day
pack, along with a sleeping bag, in case he has to bivouac.

david finlayson
snapped this photo
of his son, Charlie, in
the Bighorn Crags
shortly before they
attempted their
most complex climb. reader’s digest | november 2016 | 103
a m o U N ta i N o F t r o U B l e
He leaves another water bottle for By the time they set out for the
his father, David; fills the cooking pot Bighorn Crags in August 2015, Charlie
to the brim with water from the creek; was ready to take on complex climbs.
and also sets out a week’s supply They crammed their packs with enough
of energy bars. Then he takes a GPS supplies to last two weeks. After driving
reading of the campsite. six hours from Boise, they hiked for two
He turns to David, who lies pale days to reach Ship Island Lake, about
and gaunt in a bloodstained bedroll, 1.5 kilometres long, a jewel shadowed
his forehead marked with a purple by a gallery of pinnacles. In their first
gash, his jaw clenched in pain, his week, they did two long climbs.
leg bandaged. “I’d better get moving,” Their next ascent began on a
Charlie tells him. Monday morning. Around noon,
“Good luck, kiddo,” David says David was inching his way across a
quietly. “Just take it slow and steady.” granite spire 800 feet above the valley
Outside the tent, Charlie pauses floor, searching for a line of cracks that
and mumbles a prayer. “I’m not would lead them to the top. Charlie
coming back without a helicopter,” he stood on a ledge about 11 metres to
calls over his shoulder as he sets off. the right, lashed to a tree for safety as
he fed rope to his dad. Reaching up,
▲▲▲
David dislodged a small stone, which
at 52, david finlayson tumbled off into the void. In the next
had already explored moment, he heard a sharp crack from
m a n y o f t h e Wo r l d ’ s above as something larger broke
Wild spaCes, bagging major loose. He barely had time to scream
summits in Alaska, Europe and before everything went black.
South America. David, a respected When Charlie saw his father sailing
defence attorney, had split up with through the air alongside the massive
Charlie’s mum shortly after Charlie boulder that had struck him, he yanked ALL P HoToS: CoUrTeSY DAvID FI nLAYSon
was born. The boy lived with his on the rope. An instant later, an auto-
mother in a suburb of Boise, Idaho, matic braking device arrested the fall.
but spent most summers with his “Dad!” he called. “Are you OK?”
father. Although Charlie was as calm There was no answer.
and contemplative as his dad was
C
voluble and restless—David called ▼▼▼
him “the Zen master” and “Good- harlie’s destination is the trail-
Time Charlie”—both were passionate head, about 19 kilometres
about nature. When Charlie reached away, where a couple of vol-
seventh grade, David introduced him unteers live in a cabin equipped with a
to rock climbing. two-way radio, which he hopes they’ll

r e a d e r s d i g e s T. C o . i n
▲▲▲
david hung 40 feet beloW

h i s s o n , e aC h h i d d e n
from the other’s vieW. A
minute passed before he managed to
call out, “Charlie, are you there?”
“I’m here! Are you hurt?”
Beneath David’s dented helmet, his
head was throbbing from a concussion.
His left arm and foot were shattered,
the shinbone protruded through the
skin and blood was dripping on to the
rocks below. A vertebra in his upper
back was fractured. The pain came
“Charlie and i are alike,” says david. from so many places that it nearly
“We both love to be out there away knocked him out again.
from everybody.” “I think I’ve broken some bones,”
he shouted.
use to call for help for his dad. The “What do I do? What do I do?”
path rises gently at first, but he knows Charlie sounded frantic.
it will grow steeper, reaching 9,400 feet “Can you lower me about 20 feet?
before plunging into a valley and climb- There’s a ledge there.”
ing again. It will branch off into poorly Charlie let the rope play out slowly.
marked side trails, which can lead a When David reached the ledge,
traveller astray. Grizzlies and moun- he yelled for his son to lower his
tain lions frequent the surrounding climbing pack, which held a first-aid
woods; as he walks, Charlie blows his kit. But Charlie was still anchored
emergency whistle to ward them off. to a large pine tree, and the pack
After more than a kilometre, the kept getting stuck in the branches.
route meets a trail to another lake. After readjusting the anchor, Charlie
Following David’s instructions, Charlie managed to land the pack perfectly.
takes the detour, hollering to anyone With his right hand, David slathered
who might be camped there. After a few his leg wound with antibiotic cream,
hundred metres, however, he stops to covered it with gauze compresses and
calculate the odds: It’s a weekday, when began wrapping it in athletic tape. He
visitors are sparse. If he continues and felt detached from his own body, as if
encounters no one, he’ll have thrown it belonged to someone else, but he
away an hour. He mutters a cuss word didn’t want Charlie to have to see the
and hurries back to the main trail. jutting bone. Once it was covered up,

he called for the boy to rappel down

and join him, shouting instructions
all the way. When Charlie arrived,
the two of them added more tape
and tightened it as best they could.
“Tell me it’s going to be OK,” Charlie
pleaded, struggling to control his fear.
“It’s going to be OK,” David told
him, trying to believe it. “But we need
to get off this mountain.” He proposed
a plan: Charlie would lower David half
a rope length at a time, then lower
himself to the same level, set a new
anchor, and begin again.
Although the pulley system enabled
the 41-kilo child to bear the weight
of a 86-kilo man, the process proved
agonizing for both of them. David was
dizzy and nauseated, and whenever his
left side touched the cliff face, the pain
was almost unendurable. With each Images flit through his mind: Dad
pitch, he had to hammer a piton [a peg writhing in agony; Dad’s eyes rolling
or spike driven into a rock to support back in his head. He focuses instead on
climbing] one-handed into the rock, the rhythm of his footsteps. Around the
and Charlie had to untangle about five-kilometre mark, he thinks he hears
45 metres of rope and thread it through voices. He gives a blast on the whistle
the anchor. As the hours passed, David and shouts, “Hello! Can you help me?”
fought to remain conscious. “If I pass Someone yells back, “Sure!”
out,” he said, “don’t stick around. Hike Sprinting up the switchbacks, the
back up the trail as fast as you can.” boy encounters two tall, stubble-faced
“ You won’t pass out,” Charlie men on their way down—Jon Craig
assured his father, and himself. “We’re and his 19-year-old son, Jonathan.
going to make it.” Choking back tears, Charlie describes
his father’s plight to the pair. He shows
C
▼▼▼ them the campsite marker on his GPS.
harlie’s hike grows more The Craigs debate whether to turn
strenuous as the trail climbs around and accompany Charlie or
towards the pass. As his heart forge on to find his father. “Please go to
rate rises, so does his anxiety level. him,” Charlie says, insistent but calm.

and light Gore-Tex jacket, David was

shaking with cold and exhaustion.
“That’s enough for today,” he said.
“You’ll have to go get our sleeping
bags so we don’t freeze to death.”
Their gear was in their tent, more
than a kilometre down a steep slope
covered with scree and boulders.
Charlie took off running. He grabbed
the sleeping bags and stuffed a
backpack with warm clothes and
energy bars. Realizing they would need
water, too, he used his filter pump to
“i had two fears,”
fill several bottles from the lake. By the
says Charlie time he found his way back through
about his hike to the boulder field, night had fallen.
get help. “Being David saw a pinpoint of light—his
alone and facing son’s headlamp—floating towards
my fears alone.”
him through the blackness. “Good-
Time Charlie!” he exclaimed through
“There are three groups camping chattering teeth. After helping David
by Airplane Lake in the next valley,” into long pants and a down parka,
Jon tells Charlie, circling the location Charlie zipped him into a sleeping bag.
on his map. “They can help you get He propped the injured leg on a rock
where you need to be.” The two men to slow the bleeding. He made sure
disappear down the trail. his father ate some dinner. Then he
After cresting the pass, Charlie takes crawled into his own bag.
the side route towards the lake. His Worried that David would die if he fell
heart sinks as he realizes that none of asleep, Charlie kept the conversation
the groups are there anymore. g o i ng ; t h e y t a l ke d ab ou t p a s t
travels, the constellations overhead,
▲▲▲
the accident. Eventually Charlie
i t Wa s n e a r ly d u s k allowed himself to catnap, checking on
When the exCruCiating his father each time he awoke.
rappelling and belaying David, however, was in too much
finally delivered David and pain to drift off. He tried to distract
Charlie to the base of the cliff, and the himself by counting breaths. But
temperature had dropped to about breathing hurt, so he counted stars.
five degrees centigrade. In his shorts There was a chance he’d survive,

he thought. There was also a good

chance he wouldn’t. And then what
would happen to the kid?
He kept counting.
o
▼▼▼
n the trail, Charlie hears more

voices off in the distance. He
blows his whistle and calls
out, and the voices answer. Following
his ears, Charlie gropes his way
through the pines to a different pond, david and Charlie, in the hospital just
less than a kilometre away. There, he days after the accident, have plans to
stumbles upon a married couple, their go rock climbing together again.
three kids and a family friend, Mike
Burt. Hearing the urgency in Charlie’s course inch by inch, leaving a trail of
voice, Mike, a former Marine, offers red. When he couldn’t manoeuvre
to run the demanding 15 kilometres between the rocks, he hauled himself
to the volunteers’ cabin, where he over them, crawling up one side and
hopes to call in medical aid for David. sliding down the other. Sometimes
Charlie follows him to make sure help he lost control, landing on one of
is indeed coming. his shattered limbs and blacking out
briefly from the pain. He woke each
▲▲▲
time with Charlie’s tense face looming
When the sun rose on over him. “I’m fine,” David would say,
their Camp, Charlie Was attempting to smile. The boy ran
relieved to see that his ahead periodically, scouting for the
father was awake and alert. But least torturous path, then trotted back
the 1.5-kilometre-wide cordon of to offer guidance. “Just another foot,”
boulders, many as big as cars, was he coaxed. “Just a few inches.”
a far less welcome sight. The pair They reached their campsite
huddled in their sleeping bags for around 4 p.m. David plunged his leg
an hour or two, until the chill lifted. into the lake to clean it, and Charlie—
“Let’s go, Dad,” Charlie said. “This unfazed by the gore—covered it with
could take some time.” a new dressing.
After wrapping more tape around Towards evening, Charlie cooked
the blood-soaked bandage on David’s dinner on the propane stove. He wolfed
leg, they started down the slope. David down his portions of pepper steak and
dragged himself through the obstacle chicken teriyaki, but his father was too

nauseated to eat more than a few bites. stabilize his spine with a brace. Over
“Charlie,” David said, “you’re going the coming months, he will undergo
to have to go look for help in the several major surgeries and will
morning.” eventually be able to climb again. But
Picturing himself separated from on this night, through the morphine
his father by vast tracts of wilderness, glow, he tries to remember his rescue.
Charlie burst into tears. “What if I He recalls the Craigs arriving at his
never see you again?” he wailed. campsite. When they told him they’d
“I’m sorry, kiddo,” David said. “We just spoken with Charlie, he forgot
don’t have a choice.” his pain; he wanted to get up and
That night, Charlie slept with his dance. A young ranger named Rachel
arms around his dad. David stared (dispatched after Mike Burt reached
out through the tent’s mesh window, the volunteers’ cabin) showed up
counting stars. soon afterwards. She kept David
Just after dawn, Charlie lifted his company until he was strapped into
pack on to his back and headed off a harness and lifted by a cable into a
on the trail towards the volunteers’ hovering helicopter.
cabin 19 kilometres away, hell-bent The next day, Charlie arrives at
on bringing back a helicopter that David’s bedside. Through the tangle
would carry his father to safety. of ropes that are IV drips, father and
son hug. Good-Time Charlie, the Zen
s
▼▼▼ master, had kept his promise. He
ometime that evening, David brought back a helicopter.
Finlayson awakes in traction. “Charlie’s as strong as anyone
He is at Saint Alphonsus I know,” says his father. “People
Hospital in Boise, where doctors say, ‘You must be so proud of him.’
immobilize his arm and leg and They have no idea.”
Cry BaBy
Writer aaron gillies’ wife cries a lot—so he began noting down the reasons:
“She found out swans can be gay and thought it was really nice.”
“she was hungover and saw a picture of a piglet.”
“I waited until it was dark and pretended to be The babadook.”
“the fluffy bunny escaped from an arctic fox in a documentary.”

source: huffingtonpost.co.uk

Room
at the Table
It troubled Ebba Åkerman
that her immigrant students
felt so isolated, so she did
something about it
By C hlo ë B rya n - B r own
110 | november 2016 | rEadEr’s dIgEst

Afghans Rohid and
Murtaza at ease in the
kitchen with Ebba.
P hotos by e m ma m attson
rEadEr’s dIgEst | november 2016 | 111

r o o m at t h E ta b l E
a cool breeze is coming off the baltic sea as I cross the

walkways that connect stockholm’s old town to the trendy district
of sodermalm. It is a late saturday afternoon in march, and I’m on
my way to a dinner party. but this is no ordinary supper with friends.
my host for the evening is social entrepreneur Ebba Åkerman. and
all the guests will be strangers.
Any chill I feel from the night air another 30 locations around Europe.
evaporates the minute Ebba comes It all started over two years ago,
to her door. It’s the first time we when she began teaching Swedish
have met in person, but the apple- to immigrants, a service offered
cheeked 31-year-old greets me like an free of charge as part of a two-year
old friend, with compliments and a government introduction programme
friendly handshake. for refugees and family members.
I am the first of her five guests to More than a quarter of a million
arrive. She invites me to add my shoes people, including many from the war-
to the pile already heaped under a torn Middle East and Horn of Africa,
cluttered hall table, then I follow her have been granted residence permits
into the kitchen where she is washing in Sweden in the last five years. Many
a hotchpotch of unmatched crockery. migrants in Stockholm live on large
Pots of herbs jostle for space on estates of apartment blocks in the
cluttered surfaces. outer suburbs.
I’m here to learn about Ebba’s Through talking to her students, she
initiative to bring immigrants and soon discovered that few had ever
native Swedes together around visited a native Swedish person’s home.
the dinner table. In over two years, “One told me that living in the suburb
she has helped arrange more than of Norsborg was not very different
1,400 dinners in Stockholm. She from being in Afghanistan,” she says.
calls her initiative the ‘Department It troubled her that Sweden was
of Invitations’. “The name was a bit more segregated than she thought,
of fun,” she says, “playing on the but she didn’t know how she could
importance of democratic institutions help. “Then one day,” she explains,
in Sweden.” But it has caught the “I was on a train listening to a podcast
imagination of the media and led to about the theory of six degrees
a degree of fame for Ebba, its self- of separation and began to wonder
appointed ‘Minister of Dinners’. whether I might be the person
Since then there are ambassadors in who could connect immigrants with
44 locations around Sweden and native Swedes.”

“First, I asked my classes if they Swede who arrived in the country as a

would like to have dinner with a child. He was one of the first people to
Swede,” she says. “They were a bit offer to host a dinner for immigrants.
perplexed, but when I explained it Sitting himself down beside me
would be a free opportunity to mix at Ebba’s kitchen table, he tells me
with Swedish people and practise the that the initiative is close to his heart
language, around half said they would because of his own family’s experience
be interested.” as immigrants and the woman he
She asked their preference for calls his Swedish grandmother. Karin
hosting or attending a dinner, phone was the first Swede to invite his family
numbers, availability and any dietary
requirements. She recruited some
Swedish friends and began matching
people based on their preferred dates,
“through her, we
distance from each other’s homes and were exposed to the
the age of their children if they had the country’s old
them. songs and national
The first dinner in early 2014 was dress. this meant
hosted by a family from Cameroon. that i never felt like
It was attended by Jenny and Olof, an outsider.”
Swedish friends of Ebba’s. “I was quite
nervous,” says Ebba. “I was worried
they might not find the place or that
to dinner after they fled Iran in 1991,
they wouldn’t understand each other.”
he says. She tapped his mother on the
But the dinner went well and when shoulder during an exercise class and
Jenny posted some pictures of the said, “My husband worked in Tehran,
evening on Instagram, Ebba says it felt
I speak your language, why don’t you
amazing. “I thought, ‘Wow, it works’.”
bring your family for a meal?”
After a blog post that went viral and“Karin introduced us to Swedish
some media coverage, the idea started
culture,” he goes on, “inviting us
to take hold, and Ebba found herselffor Christmas and the Swedish
inundated with people who wanted to Midsummer celebration. Through her,
be a part of it. we were exposed to the country’s old
songs and national dress. This meant
Kami montgarde, a tall 26-year- that I never felt like an outsider.”
old student with heavy black-rimmed It doesn’t mean, however, that
glasses and a shock of black curls, he felt totally relaxed about hosting
arrives and is ushered in by Ebba. a family of immigrant Afghans for
Born in Iran, he is a naturalized dinner. “I worried they wouldn’t like

r o o m at t h E ta b l E
The mood is light at the table as Kami, a naturalized Swede who was born in Iran,
passes the salad to his new acquaintance, Murtaza.
my cooking,” he says. family went to the trouble of serving

Ebba, who has been quietly reindeer, prompting an involved
listening to Kami’s story, looks up discussion about whether it was halal
from the work surface where she (apparently it can be), she recalls,
is preparing pre-dinner nibbles while a Macedonian couple asked
and rolls her eyes. “Food shouldn’t their grandmother for a cooking
be a barrier,” she says, “but it is tutorial via Skype so they wouldn’t
sometimes the case.” One Swedish disappoint their Swedish guests.

Ebba’s, Ellen Leijonhufvud, a 31-year-

old digital planner, has arrived and two
more guests from Afghanistan call to
say they are nearly there after getting
a bit lost on the way. The kitchen is
getting crowded, and Ebba gently
ushers us into the living room to help
prepare the table. We shift a table to
the middle of the room, opening its
leaves to make it longer.
She puts a Billie Holiday record
on an old-fashioned turntable and
“food shouldn’t be
a barrier,” says ebba.
it should be about
getting together
around a table and
enjoying getting
to know people.”
returns to the kitchen. I follow to see

if she needs any help with the
food. She doesn’t: plates of mixed
vegetables, rice, noodles and
something delicious involving cashew
“Why not serve macaroni?” she nuts and mushrooms are all coming
says, handing us tiny cups of frothy together in her capable hands.
soup and crispbread canapés topped
with beetroot and goat’s cheese. “It nematullah rohid and Murtaza
should be about getting together Bigzada are the last guests to arrive.
around a table and enjoying getting The two friends, both single men in
to know people, who, 100 per cent their early 20s, met in Stockholm after
for sure, you wouldn’t have met if escaping Afghanistan. Rohid knows
you hadn’t had dinner.” Ebba from language classes and his
By now, another Swedish friend of deep brown eyes light up as they

t h E b E st o f b ot h wo r l ds
feared for my life and came to Europe

any way I could: by road, on foot and
even swimming.”
He made for Sweden after hearing
about its welcoming immigration
policies; his first impression was
indeed positive. “When I arrived in
Stockholm in 2013, I asked a woman
for directions. She smiled and offered
to buy me a burger. It was the first time
that anyone in Europe had smiled at
me like that.”
He spent his first seven months
in Sweden in an asylum camp with
no money or papers. Now he says,
“I’m really keen to mix more in
Swedish society.”
While Rohid has been talking,
Ebba has been bringing the food to
Kami says goodnight and thanks to
the table, occasionally interrupting
Ebba for a wonderful evening.
to explain each dish and to tell us to
greet each other warmly. She teases serve ourselves. Now, sitting down for
him about getting lost and he acts the first time, she encourages Murtaza
out a scene where he and Murtaza to tell us his story too.
peep through windows to see if they He explains that he left his home
have found Ebba’s flat. Murtaza tuts for a better life in Sweden. Now he
and shakes his head like the straight is studying business accounting and
man in a double act, a mixture hopes one day to start a business that
of admiration and disapproval written bridges Sweden and Afghanistan.
all over his broad face and in his Rohid’s infectious humour and
almond-shaped eyes. lively banter lighten the mood around
Ebba invites us to sit at the dining the dining table. Ebba pours wine for
table. I sit next to Murtaza and across those who want it and tea for those
the table from Rohid, as he prefers to who don’t. We toast each other with
be called, who explains that he spent a Swedish “skål!” and chat about
his late teens working as a translator for foreign dating etiquette, Stockholm
the US military. “That is why I had to nightlife and whether immigrants
leave Afghanistan,” he explains. “The should adopt local dress.
Taliban was targeting people like me. I Ebba disappears into the kitchen

and re-emerges with pudding. seems to be waning and there is an

“Meringue Swish,” she says, holding unspoken agreement among her guests
up a confection of meringue, vanilla that it is time to leave. She hugs us all
ice cream, whipped cream, banana and refuses my offer of help with the
and chocolate sauce, a typical Swedish washing up. “That can wait.” A little bit
recipe, she tells us. of her warmth stays with me as I button
No one turns it down and the up my coat against the evening chill.
conversation shifts to our favourite As I wander back through the
national foods. And then, inevitably, residential streets, I reflect on the
to what Rohid and Murtaza miss immigrants’ plight, and Rohid’s
about their homes. Rohid recalls some poignant comment: “Having dinner
harrowing episodes of the Afghan war with Swedish people helps me to feel
and says he is working on an anti- normal.” Dinner by dinner, Ebba’s
racism storytelling project with the Department of Invitations is helping
Fryshuset youth centre in Stockholm, many others to feel more at ease in
where he talks to young people about their adopted country.
his experiences.
ebba’s initiative is now spreading beyond
stockholm to other swedish cities, as well as
it is past 10 p.m. and Billie Holiday’s to switzerland, austria and germany. she has
created the umbrella name United invitations
voice is fading away to a hiss on the for those who want to facilitate dinners in their
record player. Ebba’s energy also communities.
hard to Believe …
■■ movie theatre popcorn in america costs more

per ounce than filet mignon.
■■ In a typical three-hour Nfl broadcast, the ball is in

play for roughly 11 minutes.
■■ america’s most popular sporting good is the frisbee. It outsells

baseballs, basketballs and footballs combined.
■■ salsa has surpassed ketchup as the top-selling

condiment in america.
■■ $77,000 in assets puts you in the world’s wealthiest 10 per cent.

sources: NPr, Wall Street Journal, businessinsider.com, inquisitr.com and BBC.com

Seeing a way of life other than yours can
be a big learning, and it can sometimes lead to
transformation within
How Travelling
Has Changed Me
By Kalyani P ras h e r

H o w t r av e l l i n g H a s c H a n g e d m e
Learning to Live
and Let Live
It was the first time I noticed him
properly. His eyes had a certain
radiance: they sparkled with mischief,
or the promise of a bright future, or,
perhaps, both. Before this, Yuddhishthir
had just been the friendly young chap
assigned by the hotel to accompany
me on excursions into the wildlife
park nearby. But then he caught my
attention by asking me to shut up.
“It’s just a garden spider, don’t
scream!” he said in a hushed tone,
befitting a jungle. I had indeed
screamed—I was in the front seat of a let the spider on to his own leg. He then
safari jeep and the spider was on my drove on, as if nothing had happened.
leg. I couldn’t get off the jeep in the The spider crawled a little bit and then
middle of the park and even if I could, just stopped there, clinging to his knee.
I wouldn’t have, as I was paralyzed I sat there staring at the spider for any
with fear by the scary little thing. sudden movement—if a tiger had
“It’s a white garden spider,” he walked by then, I would not have even
repeated, looking at the creature with looked at it.
more affection than I could muster for I was aghast that the man was
most humans. completely at ease with a creepy, white
“I don’t care what it is, make it go spider dangerously poised on his knee.
away!” I said, this time whispering I looked up at him but he seemed to
urgently. I was terrified, and he was have moved on from the incident,
interested in the classification and was back to focusing on the
of the species! I wanted him park. About 15 minutes later,
to pick the thing up and fling he pushed his knee forward to
all im ageS : i Ndia pic ture
it out of the jeep right at the dashboard and the spider

that moment. He did immediately clambered
something quite else. off his knee and on to the
He pushed his leg jeep. “The poor thing had
towards mine and been trying to get off me,”
held out the cloth of he said, when he saw me
his trousers to gently looking quizzically at

him. “I only noticed now that it was a Swiss summer, which often means
trying to reach the dashboard, so I non-stop rain and gloomy weather.
helped him along.” On this trip I learnt a few things: why
I wondered then about this man, people in the West crave the sun (after
who clearly had more depth than it seven days of constant rain), and that
first appeared; who thought about the there is another version of the famous
spider with such tenderness … Where Swiss dish, fondue. In this version,
and when did I lose my empathy you dip different meats into boiling
towards the unfamiliar? water, broth or even hot oil (instead
This was the beginning of a tentative of cheese) and then, once it’s cooked,
friendship—between me and creepy- you eat the pieces with a dipping
crawlies. I, who, before this, shouted, sauce. It’s a community dish; four
hated and felt positively icky when people share one large soup bowl.
faced with anything that had more There were people from Holland,
than four legs, learnt to calm down. China, UK, Greece, and, of course,
This little incident taught me that India and Switzerland. The meats
a) I was in their territory and I had were pierced on to the ends of long
to respect that, b) they don’t want to skewers and everyone dipped theirs
be near me anymore than I want to into the bowl and ate and chatted
go near them, and c) observing them
makes you feel less scared of them.
Now, when faced with a row of ants
on the staircase, my first instinct is
no longer to attack them with a can
of Hit. I just skip over them and we
both carry on. The ants were already
wise, but thanks to Yuddhishthir, I
learnt to live and let live with, at least
‘conventionally’, the not so beautiful
bits of nature.
Learning to Accept
Differences merrily. Horsemeat was one of the
In Switzerland, I learnt not to judge meats on offer—it’s quite common in
people for eating meats that I don’t. Switzerland. I like to be a little adven-
We were a group of international turous on my travels (there’s no point
journalists attending a travel seminar if you don’t add to your experiences
in the Jura Mountains. It was summer, when you return), so I tried a piece of

H o w t r av e l l i n g H a s c H a n g e d m e
it, but my Chinese colleague refused.

“You don’t eat horsemeat?” the Swiss
media guy asked. He looked surprised,
as he added: “It’s quite delicious.”
“I love horses,” the Chinese replied.
“I have a pet horse, I can’t eat one!”
“I don’t understand you Western
people,” the Chinese journalist said
as an afterthought. “You judge us for
eating dogs, because they are cute
pets, but you are eating my cute pet
without a problem.”
Everyone laughed, but a little
awkwardly, now that they were made
aware of their double standards. I was treks, tracking wildlife in the area,
stunned by the simplicity with which earning less than I spend on movies
the Chinese man underlined the truth. and dinners, and with no one but
This was 2006, and 10 years later, I can the local chaiwalla and fellow guides
still remember the scene exactly—I will for company. He was well educated,
never forget the lesson learnt. From spoke fluent English and had good
that day on, I have always tried to knowledge of the world around him,
understand the unfamiliar behaviour so I wondered why he lived like this.
of others and if I don’t, I still accept “What do we earn for?” he asked
it as different, rather than be quick to me, as we walked. “I am at peace here,
judge. With one sentence, my Chinese I am happy.”
friend had made me a better person. He celebrates his birthdays at the
chaiwalla’s. When his girlfriend calls,
Learning Not to he can hardly hear her because of
the bad connection,
Crave for More WhatsApp messages
I once met a young man from don’t get delivered
Jodhpur who, in the prime because he doesn’t get
of his youth, decided to data for days, he has
give up his corporate job no access to the latest
and become a nature movies and no shopping
guide at Kanha National mall for hundreds of
Park. He lived in the kilometres. Amazon
middle of a forested doesn’t deliver where he
area, taking people on lives. He is not even 30.

How many 30-year-olds am I likely more than that, it’s a hobby that has
to meet in the city who can live without helped me slow down, be a calmer
all these modern-day comforts? If I person and just take it easy once in
hadn’t ventured out of my city, I would a while. Walking among the greenery
have never asked myself the question: is soothing even if you spot nothing.
What do we earn for? That’s another thing I have learnt: A
In 2013, I quit my 10-year-old holiday is a break, a break from doing
comfortable, safe job with a big media things. So take a holiday to do nothing
company—I was miserable doing and just see how relaxing it can be.
the same thing for a decade—and It is true that travelling is the best
stepped out into the world of financial type of education you can get. In Italy,
insecurity. I would earn much less, I I fell in love with the language and am
knew that, and, in 2016, I can tell learning Italian now. Looking at other
you that I have earned much less people—how they live, eat, dress,
than before, but I have one security behave—can also make you introspect
that I didn’t have earlier: I am more
peaceful. I’m happier.
Learning to Do
Something New
I have fr iends who discovered
their love for dance, pottery, art,
photography and even God on their
travels. I picked up birding as an
interest while travelling across central
India. Earlier, I would wonder how
anyone can spend so many hours
squinting into the sky, wondering if it
was a bird or a leaf, but now I know
birding is not about the sighting.
It’s the walk, the silence, the and think about how you can live
sounds of nature, the excitement better, how you can spend your time
of possibly sighting a rare bird, it’s on earth more effectively. There are
the thrill of listening to the call of a other adventures, other learnings. Over
bird and trying to locate it … Today the years, during my travels, I have also
no one has to tell me the difference found love, once fleeting, once more
between the Malabar pied hornbill long-lasting—but that’s a story for
and the Oriental pied hornbill, but, another time.

Bonus read
From the docks in Rotterdam, the trail led

to the beaches of the Costa del Sol
Hunting
theCocaıne
Crooks
126 | november 2016 | ReadeR’S digeSt
By tim B ou qu et
Prosecutor Jirko
Patist at Rotterdam
docks, a key entry
point for cocaine
into Europe.
p hotographed by miquel gon zalez
ReadeR’S digeSt | november 2016 | 127

hunting the CoCaine CRookS
June 2015: málaga, costa Del sol, spain

As he strolled along the packed tourist beach enjoying the sunshine,
Anthony Dennis was suddenly aware that he was being stared at.
Nearby was a giant four-metre digital screen mounted on a flatbed
truck. As he walked closer he saw 16 faces on the screen under the
legend: “Some of the most wanted criminals in Spain. Help us find
them.” Then the picture on the screen switched to show just one of
the faces. It was his. “Wanted/Se Busca Anthony Michael Dennis.
Conspiracy to traffic cocaine.”
Just about five feet two inches tall most wanted fugitives. “We don’t give
and with no distinguishing features up looking for them. We bring them
beyond a small scar on the right of his back to face justice,” says David Allen,
forehead, 48-year-old Anthony Dennis head of the UK International Crime
would have been easy to lose in a Bureau at the NCA. “It doesn’t matter
crowd, but not now. Diving into one of how long it takes.”
the bars or restaurants nearby would Unmasked in Spain, and with a
not provide him with sanctuary either. European Arrest Warrant on him,
The picture and most wanted message Anthony Dennis went on the run again,
could be sent to anybody inside with a but when it came to places to hide, he
Bluetooth-enabled phone. had few options. In late July 2015, in a
The screen truck, which tours areas village north of London called London
popular with British holidaymakers, Colney, Sergeant Chris Dyer of the NCA
such as Benidorm, Málaga and Puerto was watching a detached house in a
Banús, is part of Operation Captura, gated community. The curtains had
run by the UK’s National Crime been drawn for days.
Agency ( NCA ) and crime-fighting Eventually, Dyer’s patient surveil-
charity Crimestoppers in conjunction lance was rewarded when a woman
with Spain’s Policía Nacional and arrived and went inside the house.
Guardia Civil. Captura was set up in He recognized her as Anthony
2006 to hunt down British fugitives Dennis’s wife. There was, however,
who traditionally go on the run to no sign of Dennis at the property.
what UK tabloid newspapers call the Finally, on the afternoon of 4 August,
‘Costa del Crime’. a stiflingly hot day, Dennis, his wife
By the time Anthony Dennis’s face and a child in a pushchair emerged
was flashed up on screen, Captura from the house.
had already snared 68 of 86 of Britain’s It was the moment Dyer had been

waiting for. He and a colleague got Anthony Dennis’s face is displayed on

out of his car and followed the trio a digital advertising van to curious
into a nearby park where he arrested onlookers on a Spanish beach.
Anthony Dennis for his part in a
global multi-million-Euro cocaine city’s historic old docks. In the near
trafficking conspiracy. distance, a thicket of tall spidery
It marked the end of a pan-European cranes in Rotterdam’s modern port
police investigation that had begun in work 24/7 loading and unloading
Rotterdam three years earlier. containers from the 30,000 seagoing
vessels and 11,000 inland vessels that
July 2012: District court visit every year.
BuilDing, rotterDam Stretching more than 40 kilometres
The modern red-brick building that and covering 30,888 acres of land
houses the office of Jirko Patist, and water, Rotterdam is Europe’s
national prosecutor at the Dutch largest port. It is also at the centre
solarpi x.com
Public Prosecution Service, is just of Europe’s cocaine trade. Dutch

along from Rotterdam’s iconic police estimate that between 25 and
Erasmus Bridge and overlooks the 50 per cent of cocaine consumed in
still waters of Rijnhaven, one of the western and central Europe is now

smuggled through Rotterdam’s docks, “Please send me a full report,” he

overtaking the Belgian port of Antwerp told the DNR. In the Netherlands, it
as the top entry point for the drug. is prosecutors such as Patist who lead
Patist, a youthful-looking 44-year- and manage police investigations. The
old lawyer, had spent six years police report arrived a few days later,
leading successful investigations into and Patist went before a judge where
major drug crime in the port. It was he argued for a wiretap and a covert
a warm summer’s day when the tall, CCTV camera. “There is no other way
curly-haired prosecutor took a call to gather the evidence I need,” he told
from the special unit of the Dienst the judge.
Nationale Recherche ( DNR ), the
Dutch National Crime Squad, which café De Ketel,
handles confidential informants (CIs). rotterDam
Not all CI leads that cross Patist’s desk Located on the corner of Damstraat
are sufficient in themselves for him to and Oranjeboomstraat in the Feije-
mount an investigation, but there was noord area of Rotterdam, close to
an authenticity and detail about this the Nieuwe Maas, the river that runs
one that piqued his interest. through the heart of the city, Café de
google streetview; n ational c rime agency
Café de Ketel, focus of the investigation.

Inset: Anthony Dennis (left) and Anthony
Wilson captured in surveillance footage.

Café de Ketel was not the kind of place

to pop into for a casual beer. The front
door was locked and entry to the
small bar was by invitation only.
Ketel was not the kind of place to pop and their associates were talking in
into for a casual beer. The front door code about drugs was confirmed when
was locked and entry to the small bar the Turkish police—not renowned for
was strictly by invitation. being cooperative with their western
The café was run by two brothers counterparts—revealed that Ugur
of Turkish origin, Ugur and Ufuk Çamdere had been sentenced to six
Çamdere. The confidential informant years in Turkey for narcotics offences
had alleged that they were importing and that they would like him to return
heroin from Turkey into the to serve his time.
Netherlands. Another frequent visitor to Café de
Footage from the covert camera Ketel was Erol Soytürk. He had no
that Patist had installed showed the evident legal source of income and
same people visiting Café de Ketel seemed to serve as a messenger and
at all hours of the day and night. fixer for the Çamdere brothers, who
Conversational traffic on the café’s spent most of their time in the café.
phones was incessant, conducted in a Not only did Soytürk organize the
mixture of Dutch, Turkish and English. transport of people, visiting many
DNR detectives told Patist that Café addresses around the city, he also
de Ketel was owned by a company appeared to be an investor. Patist
supplying scaffolding to ship repair brought in local police to tail him.
companies. It was just a front. “As the intelligence from the
As he read the transcripts from the cameras and wiretaps grew, the
wiretaps Patist smiled. The brothers picture became much more complex,
talked not about scaffolding, but but they only revealed a certain
about cargoes of “girls”, “Porsches” amount,” Patist explains.
and “wine” on calls to countries like Patist returned to the judge and
Colombia, Brazil and Panama. One asked for permission for a covert
conversation ended: “Opting for recording probe to be installed in
Rotterdam means opting for limitless one of the rooms in the café where
possibilities. Make it happen.” the business was being done. It was
Patist’s suspicion that the Çamderes known as “the smoking room”.

“From the probe we knew for sure formula for making MDMA, commonly
that the Çamdere brothers and a known as ecstasy.
growing number of suspects were Tony was accompanied at times by
involved not just in heroin, but also another, slightly older British man,
cocaine, synthetic drugs and cannabis who was also heavily involved in
farms. They were major brokers the shipment, which they frequently
who also seemed to have access to referred to as “Rolex Reina 7”.
heavy firearms.” By now Jirko Patist had a core
It was also clear that shipments of team of 20 DNR detectives, with up
drugs would come into Rotterdam to 100 officers from other local and
stashed inside legitimate containers. specialist units gathering evidence on
But with over 12 million containers half a dozen different consignments
coming into the port every year, involving Ugur and Ufuk Çamdere and
discovering which ones contained Dutch conspirators.
drugs was virtually impossible. Hundreds of hours of transcripts
from Café de Ketel were being pored
5 april 2013: tony arrives over by the Dutch prosecutors. An
in rotterDam increasing number of addresses in
On 5 April 2013, Erol Soytürk Rotterdam were under round-the-
welcomed his friend Tony to Café clock surveillance. But when it came
de Ketel. Tony, a British man in his to identifying the British conspirators,
30s, was a frequent visitor around this Jirko Patist decided that he needed to
time. He could be heard talking to get some help.
Ugur and Soytürk about an incoming
container ship. national crime agency,
“We have 60,” Ugur Çamdere said. lonDon
“Two bags, or three bags of 20?” Chris Dyer and fellow investigator
Tony asked. Mike Lakey, who work on major cases
Soytürk, who was in charge of for the NCA, recognized the British
shipments coming into and out of the men’s accents as being from Essex in
port, talked about trading in “Audi” the East of England. Viewing footage
and “Koning” which would be “ripped from Café de Ketel, they managed to
on” to a legitimate cargo container identify “Tony” as Anthony Wilson
at the port of embarkation and from the Essex town of Harlow.
“ripped off” again in Rotterdam by Aged 36, five feet nine inches tall,
corrupt dockers in the pay of the muscular, well-built with a skinhead
Çamdere brothers. haircut, Wilson had convictions for
Breaking off from the matter in petty crime.
hand, Soytürk offered to sell Tony the The other man was Anthony Dennis,

aged 47, and also from Essex. He had and Soytürk could be heard talking
a conviction for money laundering. frequently about “the box” and
Wilson lived in a modest four-bedroom “the bags”.
detached house worth about €380,000. “We reckoned that ‘box’ meant
“Nothing special,” says Dyer. container,” Dyer explains. Then they
Dennis had a much grander house heard Wilson say: “It’s INKU 6483504.”
“We knew the Çamdere brothers were

involved not just in heroin but also
cocaine, synthetic drugs and cannabis
farms. They were major brokers.”
worth €700,000, tucked discreetly It was a traceable container number.

down a quiet country lane. “There was The listed contents of the shipment
no doubt who had the more successful were chopped-up rubber tyres
criminal career,” Dyer adds. bound for a legitimate company in
Lakey and two colleagues set to Essen, Germany, that would turn
work transcribing hundreds of hours them into wheels for refuse bins and
of Café de Ketel tapes sent over by sports mats.
Jirko Patist’s office in Rotterdam. Concealed inside would be 67 kilos
“Our one’s got Rolex Reina 7” they of cocaine with a wholesale price of
heard Dennis telling Ugur Çamdere. €32,000 a kilo. At €2.14 million, the
“What does that mean beyond conspirators could not resist boasting
Rolex being a watch and reina being about the profits they would make.
Spanish for queen?” Dyer asked. The Çamderes, Wilson and Dennis
When Anthony Dennis was at had set up the shipment with a dealer
the café, he led the discussions. “He in Brazil. Patist called his Brazilian
had a lot of knowledge about law counterparts. They told him that
enforcement techniques,” says Dyer. container 6483504 had left the port of
At one point Dennis could be heard Pecem on a Panamanian flagged ship,
asking the Çamderes: “They couldn’t the MSC Canberra, on 15 March.
have got a recording device in here It arrived in the Panamanian port of
could they?” Cristóbal on 23 March, where it was
“We live upstairs,” they reassured offloaded and transferred to another
him. “It would not be possible.” ship, the CSAV Llanquihue, registered
Dennis, Wilson, the Çamderes in Liberia. It was now on its way to

Europe. But container 6483504 was as rail workers in yellow fluorescent

not bound for Rotterdam. The CSAV jackets, break open the container and
Llanquihue docked in Antwerp on remove the drugs.
29 April 2013. The truck and container left
“Taking it out is not as easy as Antwerp docks on time for the
expected,” Ugur Çamdere told 198-kilometre journey to Essen, its
Anthony Dennis the following day. driver completely unaware that he was
“Our boys cannot work beyond their carrying something far more sinister
shift to pull it out because that will than shredded rubber tyres.
cause suspicion.” Hijacking the truck was proving too
There was mounting panic inside complex. There was not enough time
Café de Ketel. It turned out that to set it up. Finally Soytürk said, “I’m
the Çamderes’ “boys” were still going to Essen to find it.” By 5 May
searching frantically for container he had phoned Café de Ketel to
6483504 and had not yet found it. It say he had “given up hope” of finding
The truck and container left Antwerp

docks—its driver unaware that he
was carrying something far more
sinister than shredded rubber tyres.
was due to leave by road for Essen on the container.

1 May. “Today is the last day, or else That was because Chris Dyer had
you’ll have to follow the truck,” Ufuk called in Essen Police on 3 May. When
Çamdere told Wilson. the container arrived at the recycling
The conspirators had got hold factory, they opened it and found
of the bill of lading [a receipt given holdalls containing 60 packets of
by the carrier to the shipper, with cocaine sealed with labels marked
details of the cargo], so they knew “Rolex Reina 7”.
the container’s destination and the “Not only had Wilson and Dennis
identity of the truck. The Çamderes, lost their drugs,” says Mike Lakey,
Dennis and Wilson discussed “they and the Çamderes owed their
intercepting it with roadblocks as South American supplier €892,000.”
it crossed rail tracks near the Essen The men were in deep trouble, a fact
industrial estate, which would be its underlined when one of the Çamderes’
final destination. They would pose partners, who was retrieving drugs

Anthony Dennis (left) and Anthony Wilson (centre) both received long prison sentences
for their part in the operation. Right: packets of the cocaine labelled Rolex Reina 7.
from containers in Rotterdam, was was keeping his distance as a result.

gunned down and killed over a missing Wilson obviously had no idea that
shipment from another transaction as every word he spoke was being
he made his way to Café de Ketel. recorded and transcribed by the NCA
back in the UK.
the net Begins Jirko Patist’s team, meanwhile,
to tighten was working its way through 1,000
They had both lost a consignment hours of covert surveillance. Three
and were now being threatened with hundred hours went to Dyer and
violent reprisal and kidnapping by Lakey, which they boiled down to
their supplier. 150, which could form the guts of a
But that did not stop Dennis and case for the UK’s Crown Prosecution
especially Anthony Wilson continuing Service to take action against Wilson
to visit Café de Ketel. Between April and Dennis.
nati onal cri me agency
and August 2013, Dyer and Lakey “Without the intelligence from our
established that Wilson visited the café Dutch colleagues, it would have been
at least 30 times to talk to the very difficult to prosecute them in the
Çamdere brothers about setting up UK,” Dyer says.
new shipments. Patist did not want any arrests
Relations were not as convivial yet. He still had a way to go on his
as they had been before. Dennis parallel investigations into six other

drug shipments run by the Çamdere guns and 146 Eric Kropstraat would
brothers. Towards the end of October be known thereafter as “The James
2013, Chris Dyer got word from Patist. Bond House”.
It was time to bring the conspiracy Jirko Patist was delighted with
to an end. the day’s haul. He had seven men
in custody—four Turks and three
29 octoBer 2013: Dutch—along with handguns, assault
the police move in rifles, hundreds of mobile phones,
On 29 October Dutch police raided a cocaine press, money-counting
Café de Ketel and a dozen addresses machines and €500,000 in cash.
in Rotterdam, many of them visited Simultaneously, in England the
by Soytürk. They battered their way NCA was raiding Dennis and Wilson’s
through front doors or sawed through houses before they could destroy
them with chainsaws. any evidence.
In a safe house at 146 Eric Chris Dyer and Mike Lakey
In one of the coat pockets, was a remote

control device. When the police
pressed it, a wall slid aside to reveal
an arsenal of heavy weaponry.
Kropstraat they found one of the interviewed Anthony Wilson at

suspects, Alpaj Bülbülkaja. He said Harlow police station. He denied
he was just a cleaner. He claimed a knowing the Çamderes.
blue coat hanging on a stand in the Dyer showed him a photograph
hall belonged to somebody called of Café de Ketel. “I don’t remember
“Bilal”. It was not a name that had going there.” He could not explain
ever featured in the Café de Ketel why he had so many mobile phones.
intelligence. What’s more, Patist’s Why did he visit Rotterdam so
team had footage of Bülbülkaja often? “I support Feyenoord,” he
wearing the coat by the café. said calmly. His visits did not tally
In one of the pockets was a remote with the Rotterdam football team’s
control device. When the police home matches.
pressed it a wall slid aside to reveal In subsequent interviews, they
an arsenal of heavy weaponry. asked Wilson about INKU 6483504.
Alpaj Bülbülkaja was a cleaner of “I don’t know what you’re talking

about.” Dyer played him the tape of to tackle the drug gangs that use the
Wilson discussing the shipment and ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp to
quoting the number. flood Europe with drugs.
“And what about Rolex Reina 7?” When asked how he got a probe
“No comment.” into the Smoking Room of the Café de
When the NCA raided Anthony Ketel, Jirko Patist smiles: “I am not at
Dennis’s house, he was not at liberty to say! But what I can tell you is
home. His wife told them: “I haven’t that I wish we had an Operation
seen him in over a year.” Captura to round up all the Dutch
“We discovered that he either criminals that have fled to Spain.”
owned or had owned a property
in Spain, which is why we put him On 18 November 2015 at the Old
on Operation Captura,” Chris Dyer Bailey, the Central Criminal Court,
explains. When Dyer arrested him in London, Anthony Dennis was
nine months later Dennis was jailed for 13 years and four months,
indignant: “Having my face down and Anthony Wilson for 12 years.
there on the beach was way over the Standing side by side in the dock, the
top,” he complained. two accomplices did not acknowledge
Handcuffing him, Chris Dyer each other or exchange a word. There
replied, “It got you back here, had been too many spoken in the Café
didn’t it?” de Ketel, which has now shut down.
Dennis was the last piece of the In March 2016, at the District Court
Café de Ketel jigsaw. The investigation in Rotterdam, Ugur Çamdere was
had been a textbook example of pan- sentenced to eight years, his brother
European police cooperation and a Ufuk to six. Erol Soytürk received four
determined Dutch prosecutor out years and Alpaj Bülbülkaja 28 months.
*€1 was `74.6 at the time of going to press.
music to my sneers
ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for adele’s music.
@goLdengateBLond
‘hotel California’ is basically a negative Yelp review with

a two-minute guitar solo.
@roBFee
Luckily, when Cat Stevens was dropped by his record company,

he landed on his feet.
@mooseaLLain

Who KNEW
13 Things
Your
Dreams
Reveal
About You
BY M IcH e l l e c r o u c H
1 How creative you are: Creative

people are more likely to dream
about unusual settings (rather than
3 That you’ve got a heart
problem: People who have
frequent nightmares may be signifi
home or work) and about obstacles cantly more likely to suffer from
in the natural world, such as a log or an irregular heartbeat or chest
a rock they can’t get around. pain compared with those who
2
don’t have them, found a study of
I llustratI oN by s erge bloch
Your political views: Self older adults. That may be because

described conservatives are heart problems can make it more
more likely to have mundane, realis difficult to breathe at night.
4
tic dreams, while liberals have more
bizarre dreams. Does that mean If you’re avoiding something:
liberals are more openminded? Or Do you dream about being
that they’re caught up in their own pursued by a stranger, a monster
fantasies? Take your pick. or a giant tidal wave? This could

indicate that you’re afraid to deal
with something in your waking life.
Ask yourself what issue, person or
9 Whether you’ll give up smoking
for good: One study found that
the more you dream about smoking—
emotion you’re not confronting. and experience the guilt associated
5
with falling off the wagon (even a
How fast you’ll bounce back phantom wagon)—the more likely
from your divorce: Divorced you may be to quit.
10
people who have longer, more
dramatic dreams about their old Your risk of Parkinson’s: Up
relationships are more likely to to 90 per cent of people who
adjust better to being single. Dreams act out violent dreams—by punch
may help divorced folks (and the rest ing, kicking or yelling while asleep—
of us) work through trauma. may eventually develop Parkinson’s
6
disease. The behaviour may indicate
How you pursue the big REM sleep behaviour disorder, an
answers: Adults who attend early sign of the disease.
11
places of worship frequently may
recall fewer dreams than those Whether you’re depressed:
who don’t. If you’re not relying on Depressed people start dream
religion to answer big life questions, ing much sooner than others, as early
then your dreams may become a as 45 minutes after falling asleep,
resource for insight. rather than the usual 90 minutes.
7 That you’re a workaholic:

Type A personalities tend to
report more disturbing dreams than
12 Death may be near: The
closer a person is to passing,
the more likely they are to dream
laidback folks. Harddriving types about loved ones who have passed on.
13
put more pressure on themselves,
and that stress can appear in dreams. What medications you’re
8
taking: Many drugs are known
If you’ll ace a test: College to cause bad dreams, including anti
students spent an hour learning depressants, antibiotics, statins and
how to navigate a complex maze. some antihistamines.
When tested later, the only students sources: Kelly Bulkeley, Phd, a psychologist specializing in
whose performance improved were dream research; Michael Howell, Md, a neurologist at the
University of Minnesota; stephanie silberman, Phd, a
those who had dreamt about the board‑certified sleep specialist in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
Usa; rosalind Cartwright, Phd, author of The Twenty-Four
maze during a nap. Dreaming may Hour Mind: The Role of Sleep and Dreaming in Our Emotional
Lives; Veronica tonay, Phd, author of The Creative Dreamer:
consolidate memories, which boosts Using Your Dreams to Unlock Your Creativity; Michael
schredl, Phd, of the Central institute of Mental Health’s sleep
learning and problemsolving skills. laboratory in Mannheim, germany.

Humour in Uniform
“I'm commander of data security."
A sAlute to the funniest militARy movie quotes

PriVate BenjaMin (1980) that our forefathers were kicked out
Judy Benjamin: I can’t sleep in a of every decent country in the world.
room with 20 strangers. And I mean,
look at this place. The Army couldn’t Good MorninG, VietnaM (1987)
IllustratI on by JIm bertram
afford drapes? I’ll be up at the crack sgt. maj. Dickerson: (Pointing to his
of dawn here! rank insignia) What does three up
and three down mean to you, airman?
StriPeS (1981) Adrian Cronauer: End of an inning?
John Winger: We’re all very
Reader’s Digest will pay for your funny
different. We’re not Watusi. We’re anecdote or photo in any of our jokes
not Spartans. We’re Americans. You sections. Post it to the editorial address,
know what that means? That means or email: editor.india@rd.com

That’s Outrageous!
Child Marriage
Childhood is a are marrying before

time for unbridled the age of 15, the
joy. A child should be number has increased
able to run wild like for those between ages
the wind, find wonder 15 and 18. “... part of
in easy, ordinary the problem is the fact
things and learn and that girls are seen as
grow, every day. And an economic burden
we should provide and marriage transfers
them a safe environ- the responsibility to
ment and access to basic rights—good her husband,” she adds.
health, education and nutrition. Protecting child rights is an arduous
We need to protect their childhoods task, but it is tougher when caregivers
and not shrink their lives into strange, are implicit in disregarding their
cruel shapes. India is falling spec- welfare. Pushing an unwitting child
tacularly short on this count. into marriage is a violation of their
According to a 2014 UNICEF report, body and mind. This continues
India has the second highest number in spite of the stringent Prohibition
of child marriages in the world. of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
The 2011 census data indicates that The consequences are grim. “Girls
almost one in every three married aged 15–19 are more likely to die in
women was married off while she was childbirth. When a mother is under
still under 18. Also, 125 million boys 20, her baby is 50 per cent more likely
got married before the legal age of 21. to die within the first few weeks of life,”
There is a greater impact on girls and warns Jha. “Governments need to
with harsher consequences. tackle the causes head on. This means
The 2011 census indicated that making sure girls have access to
Uttar Pradesh has the most married education and healthcare, challenging
children (2.8 million) in the age group traditions and tackling poverty and
10–19, followed by Bihar and insecurity. This is ... important when
in di api cture
Rajasthan (1.6 million each). Shipra trying to change social norms and
Jha, senior advisor, Girls Not Brides: raise awareness about the importance
The Global Partnership to End Child of preventing child marriage.”
Marriage, says that while fewer girls —Naorem aNuja

Sudoku
By I a n R I e n s c h e
8 4 5 6 1 3
1 4
1 3 4
1 5 6
9 5 2 8
8 7 5
3 2 8
8 3
7 2 8 1 3 6
To solve This puzzle … soluTion
You have to put a number from 6 3 1 9 4 5 8 2 7
1 to 9 in each square so that:

7 9 2 3 1 8 4 6 5
sudokup uzzler.com
5 4 8 6 2 7 3 9 1
n every horizontal row and vertical
1 5 9 2 7 3 6 8 4
column contains all nine numerals

8 2 3 1 6 4 7 5 9
4 6 7 8 5 9 2 1 3
(1–9) without repeating any of them; 9 8 4 5 3 6 1 7 2
n each of the 3 × 3 boxes has all nine
2 7 5 4 8 1 9 3 6
numerals, none repeated.

3 1 6 7 9 2 5 4 8

it pays to enrich your
Word Power
This month, we feature words from a crossword puzzle tournament, an
annual contest directed by Will Shortz, crossword editor for The New York
Times. Competitors encountered these words over eight challenging
rounds. If you feel puzzled, peek at the next page for answers.
By E m ily Cox & H Enry r at Hvo n
1. bugbear ('buhg-bair) n.— 9. anathema (uh-'na-thuh-muh)

A: petty crime. B: character flaw. n.—A: main topic or theme.
C: cause of dread. B: total opposite. C: someone or
something intensely disliked.
2. sopor ('soh-puhr) n.—
A: salty taste. B: deep sleep. 10. acolyte ('a-kuh-liyt) n.—
C: second-year cadet. A: follower. B: spiritual healer.
3. parlance ('par-lunts) n.—
C: circle of stones.
A: manner of speaking. 11. vituperate (viy-'too-puh-
B: secret meeting. C: equality. rayt) v.—A: give new life to.
4. prate ('prayt) v.—A: chatter. B: hiss like a snake.
B: criticize. C: make a grand show. C: use harsh language.
5. bireme ('biy-reem) n.— 12. lasciviously (luh-'sih-vee-

A: ancient ship propelled by oars. uhs-lee) adv.—A: with lust.
B: marshy tract. C: case of illogic. B: in a careless way. C: snidely.
6. tiki ('tee-kee) n.—A: kitschy 13. tittle ('tih-tuhl) n.—

cocktail shaker. B: wooden or A: dot in writing. B: small
stone image of a Polynesian god. songbird. C: mob snitch.
C: curry sauce. 14. auspices ('ahs-pih-sez) n.—
7. weir ('wair) n.—A: ghost. A: flavourings. B: terms of
B: mirror image. C: dam in a forgiveness. C: patronage.
stream or river. 15. arboreal (ar-'bor-ee-uhl)
8. ovine ('oh-viyn) adj.—A: of eggs. adj.—A: from the north. B: about
B: of sheep. C: of grapes. winds. C: concerning trees.

word power
answers
1. bugbear—[C] cause of dread. 9. anathema—[C] someone or
Rain is the biggest bugbear for the something intensely disliked. I
organizers of our town’s annual don’t mind snakes, but lizards
autumn festival. are anathema.
2. sopor—[B] deep sleep. Kumbha- 10. acolyte—[A] follower. We
karna wasn’t just napping—he was couldn’t even hear the speaker over
in a sopor. the chants of his fervent acolytes.
3. parlance—[A] manner of speaking. 11. vituperate—[C] use harsh
Jamal’s keynote speech was ‘mic-drop’ language. You will get further by
good, to use the current parlance. being polite than by vituperating
at full volume.
4. prate—[A] chatter. Do you have
anything useful to tell me, or are you 12. lasciviously—[A] with lust.
just prating into the air? Ali dipped his finger into the bowl
of frosting and then licked it
5. bireme—[A] ancient ship
lasciviously.
propelled by oars. Don’t the
centipede’s legs remind you of 13. tittle—[A] dot in writing. Rumi
the oars on a Roman bireme? meticulously dots each i with a
perfect tittle.
6. tiki—[B] wooden or stone image
of a Polynesian god. I travelled 14. auspices—[C] patronage.
to Maui and Under the auspices
returned with a of her mother,
lei, a ukulele and FEEling Cross? little Damini has
a wooden tiki. Fans of crosswords may opened a lemonade
humorously call themselves stand.
7. weir—[C] dam cruciverbalists. this term for
in a stream or river. puzzle aficionados is 15. arboreal—[C]
The river’s weir stitched together from the concerning trees.
helps to prevent Latin crux (for ‘cross’) and The birds in my
flooding. verbum (for ‘word’). of backyard prefer their
course, a tormented solver
arboreal nests to my
8. ovine—[B] of might point out that crux is
also at the root of excrucia- adorable birdhouses.
sheep. The ovine
residents of our ting (‘painful’) and related to
crucible (‘severe test’)—and voCaBulary ratings
farm always bleat switch to word searches. 9 & below: novice
loudly when 10–12: maven
they’re sheared. 13–15: virtuoso

Entertainment
our best picks of the Month
Movie
of the
Month Books
We have crime and espionage on
our minds this month. There is
Paul Coelho’s The Spy, based on
one of history’s most mysterious
women—Mata Hari. It explores
her journey through fictional
letters, from being penniless in
Paris to becoming one of the most
celebrated women, in a matter of
months. Penguin Random House
Films
There is magic in the air this November.
India also brings Ruskin Bond’s
Death Under the Deodars, eight
delightful mystery stories set in
The month kicks off with Marvel’s final the hills; perfect for the onset of
offering for this year, Doctor Strange, the winter. Then there is Jerry Pinto’s
tale of a neurosurgeon with a destroyed gripping thriller Murder in Mahim
career who sets out on a journey of (Speaking Tiger). To complement
booK Cover CoUrTeSY: Pen GUI n rAnDom H oUSe
healing, only to find magical superpowers. the upcoming movie, Fantastic

With Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead, Beasts and Where to Find Them,
the film also features Tilda Swinton, HarperCollins is releasing three
Rachel McAdams and Mads Mikkelsen. books, The Art
Then there is the much-anticipated of the Film,
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Inside the
J. K. Rowling makes her screenwriting Magic and The
debut, a prequel to the Harry Potter Case of Beasts,
series. The film stars Oscar winner with never-
Eddie Redmayne as the wizard Newt before-seen
Scamander. On the Bollywood front, it artwork
seems like the month of sequels with Rock and behind-
On 2, Force 2 and Kahaani 2 all looking to the-scenes
make a big splash at the box office. information.

e n t e r ta i n M e n t
TeCH
keep an eye out for the ps4 pro,
sony’s updated, high-powered
version of its playstation console. its
features include updated
specifications and performance,
which allows the ps4 pro to support
gaming in 4k and hdr. the prospect
of an enhanced gaming experience
while navigating richly detailed
worlds has every gamer drooling.
the console will be available
internationally on 10 november, Television
though an indian release date is yet to It’s time for Netflix users to re-
be announced. Meanwhile, the joice. The Crown, an all-new
premium smartphone universe has a British–American drama, will
new entrant with google’s pixel and be making its presence felt this
pixel XL. Made in partnership with month. The biographical story
htc to replace the nexus line, google chronicles the journey of
claims the pixel phones offer the best Queen Elizabeth II, from a
camera experience out of any phone newly-wed to running the
on the market. the phones will ship world’s most famous monar-
with the newest version of chy. It stars Claire Foy as the
android—7.1 nougat—and will be first queen and former Doctor Who
in line for future updates. star Matt Smith as Prince
Philip. Gilmore Girls fans will
be ecstatic to know that the
show is being rebooted after
nearly a decade. Gilmore Girls:
A Year in the Life will see
almost the entire cast from the
original series reprise their
iconic roles. Also around the
corner is the third season of
the critically acclaimed show
The Affair.
—compiled by Kabir Saxena

Studio
Dominus Aeris FAcies 7

by thukral & tagra, Oil On canvaS, 72 × 72 incheS, 2012
im age courtesy: thukra l & tagra
artists Jiten thukral and sumir tagra, based out of the National Capital region,
work collaboratively on a variety of media including painting, sculpture, installation,
film and design. Blurring the lines between fine art and popular culture, product
placement and exhibition design, artistic inspiration and media hype, they comment
on the culture of consumerism. their art also questions the nature of indian identity.
Fascinated by their sometimes-awkward construction, ‘dominus aeris Facies 7’ is a
reflection of the duo’s focus on houses. the houses have names and are a part of the
community. When viewed as portraits, one can peel off the characteristics, age and
emotions. architecture, an important part of culture, reflects the time and practices
it is based in and can arguably be seen as sculptures. —SuchiSmita ukil

Quotable Quotes
The most difficult
thing is the decision Succe SS Shou ld
to act. The rest is b e worn
merely tenacity. like a T-Sh irT,
noT a Tuxe do.
from top: pHILIp pE BoSSE/ABC; BoBBY BANK/W I rEIm AGE; VCG W I LSoN/CorBIS (AL L from G E ttY Im AG E S),
a m e lia e a r h a r t,
aviation pioneer P r i ya n k a C h o P r a , a c t r e s s
If we don’t know how to Nothing is scarier than

be alone, we’ll only the people who try to
know how to be lonely.
Sherry turkle, profe ss or
find easy answers to
of s cien c e, te chn olo g y complicated questions.
and s o cie t y marjane SatraPi, g ra p h i c n o v e l i s t
A rUNDHAtI roY’S Im AGE CoUrt ESY: C HA NDr A DEEp KUm Ar, I NDIA toDAY
One good thing about music—
when it hits, you feel no pain.
B o B m a r le y, m u s i c i a n
The older I get, the greater

Being funny is power I seem to have to
being awake to help the world; I am like a
the absurdity of snowball—the further I am
normalcy. rolled, the more I gain.
S u Sa n B . a nth o n y,
B o B m a n ko f f, c a r t o o n e d i t o r
w o m e n’s r i g h t s a c t i v i s t
I kind of resent the idea that the

whole world has to be interested
in the American elections.
a r u n d h ati roy, a u t h o r
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56 AbhimAnyu, our son

70 the briDge of Life

92 who they reALLy Are

Ken miller bonus read

reader’s digest | november 2016 | 5

voices & views

P. | 27 words of lasting interest

top leFt: i ndia piC ture; leF t: i llustration by nis ha nt C hoKsi

20 see the World differently Finish this sentence

6 | november 2016 | reader’s digest ➸

138 13 things your Dreams

41 i’m a slob and you

Family ConCept image: getty images

8 | november 2016 | reader’s digest

Editor Sanghamitra Chakraborty Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie

TRUSTED MEDIA BRANDS, INC. (fORMERly RDA INC.)

President and Chief Executive Officer Bonnie Kintzer

10 | November 2016 | READER’S DIGEST

Let’s cheer to that! Send an email to

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Time’. It’s inspiring to see people go eliminated if the highest peace

BEHAVE YouRSElF ARE WE SAVAgES?

18 | november 2016 | reader’s digest

For digital subscriptions, go to:

20 | November 2016 | reader’s digest

Turn the page

reader’s digest | November 2016 | 21

reader’s digest | November 2016 | 23

I llustratIon by n Ishant ChoksI ; jones IllustratI on by joe m Ckend ry

naMe: Ernest Hemingway

wHat Has been going well?

24 | november 2016 | reader’s digest

reader’s digest | november 2016 | 25

Manager’s coMMents: be “more likely to get 500K clicks”.

idioMs for tHe indecisive

■■ out of sight, out of mind ...

but absence makes the heart grow fonder.

■■ the pen is mightier than the sword ...

■■ What you see is what you get ...

but don’t judge a book by its cover.

■■ birds of a feather flock together ...

■■ Many hands make light work ...

but too many cooks spoil the broth.

26 | november 2016 | reader’s digest

A lesson in consideration, from a child to the

Do You Hear Us?

Hello, I’m Severn SuzukI SpeakIng for

had such an impact

did You have to worrY of these world how I feel. In my country we

28 | november 2016 | reAder’s digest

attending these conferences—who

reAder’s digest | november 2016 | 29

That’s not fair.

IllustratIon by raju; conc ept by rajesh m ahadevan

30 | november 2016 | reader’s digest

n Bridget Jones’s Laundry

n When Harry Sniffed Sally

one day, I overheard my wife fuss- do not drInK

reader’s digest | november 2016 | 31

A librAry building on one University Press and Taylor & Francis