MONDAY 23 OCTOBER 2017

COMMUNITY | 6 BOLLYWOOD | 11

ILPG organises ‘One Nation, One Heart’ event

Amitabh wraps up ‘Kaun Banega

Crorepati 9’

The ‘fifth season’ applies to the way that plants collectively bow out in a carnival of decorative decline. Some, such as the prairie flower known as gayfeather, turn a shade of black that tulip breeders can only dream of; the plumes of feather grass shift from blond to something darker and richer.

‘5TH SEASON’ EXTENDS

BEYOND TREES

P | 4-5

CAMPUSMONDAY 23 OCTOBER 2017 03

ACS Doha signs MoU with QF Recreation ServicesACS Doha, one of the coun-

try’s leading international schools, has signed a Mem-

orandum of Understanding (MoU) with Qatar Foundation (QF) Recre-ation Services, which will see ACS make use of QF’s sports facilities.

The signing took place on Octo-ber 15, at QF’s Recreation Center in Education City, between Mohammed Al Saoud, Head of Rec-reation Services, Community Development, QF; Robert Cody, Principal, ACS Doha; and Christo-pher Quinn, Head of PE Department, ACS Doha.

Cody said: “We’re thrilled by

this partnership agreement with QF Recreation Services and are very pleased to be able to offer our stu-dents and the ACS community some of the highest levels of sports facil-ities in Qatar. As we move towards establishing our new state-of-the-art campus, and keeping in line with the human development goals of Qatar National Vision 2030, our MoU bridges the gap through this transitional phase. We look forward to many more mutually beneficial agreements with Qatar Foundation.”

Al Saoud added: “Part of our ethos at QF is to encourage

widespread participation in sports and physical activity, and inspire members of the community to

make positive, long-lasting health changes from a young age. We are absolutely delighted to enter into this partnership as the agreement will help facilitate this objective, and we are looking forward to wel-coming the wider ACS Doha community to Education City.”

The MoU between Qatar Foun-dation and ACS Doha forms part of a wider year-round campaign by QF to encourage Qatar’s popula-tion to live active, healthy lifestyles.

For more information, please visit: www.qf.org.qa

DPS-MIS runner-up at CBSE Handball Competition

DPS–Modern Indian School (DPS-MIS) clinched the runner-up position -under 19-boys category- at the CBSE Qatar Cluster Handball

Competition held on OCtober 3 & 4 at Shantiniketan Indian School.

COVER STORY MONDAY 23 OCTOBER 201704

In the ‘fifth season’,

an enchanting

display of decay

The Washington Post

I stumbled across a new phrase recently to describe what’s happening in the garden at the moment: The fifth season.

The term applies to the way that plants collectively bow out in a car-nival of decorative decline. Some, such as the prairie flower known as gayfeather, turn a shade of black that tulip breeders can only dream of; the plumes of feather grass shift from blond to something darker and richer. Some of these plants remain upright and stoic during this

transition, others lose their inhibi-tions by gyrating and leaning as they exchange their greenery for some-thing a little more gaudy. The willow blue star (Amsonia taber-naemontana) in particular wants to play the motley fool.

I hear you ask: Isn’t this leaf col-oration thing called, er, the fall? It is, of course, but we think of trees as providing the autumn show. Gar-deners who have become beguiled, as I have, by perennials and grasses have found October to be a moment unlike any other. The more peren-nials and grasses you use, the more interesting the tapestry becomes

below the tree canopy. With close observation, you experience a flow of color that is both autumnal in its yellows and tints of oranges and red, but with hues too that are unex-pected. You can find leaves, stems, seed heads and grass blades in such shades as purple, lavender-blue, soft magenta, silver gray and browns that range from orange-tan to a murky chocolate.

The fifth season also contains perennials that aren’t evidently throwing an exit party - they’re per-fectly green. I’m thinking of ferns, epimediums and leadwort, but there are plenty of other examples.

Rear-guard perennials are only now coming into sustained bloom, chief among them asters merrily attracting bees as if it were July. To the many varieties of aster, you could add dahlias, Japanese anem-ones or salvias. I have the aptly named Hosta tardiflora, which doesn’t think about flowering until November. Grasses form an essen-tial component of the fifth season. I am told it’s passe to speak of them as ornamental grasses. This is because so many grass varieties are available, appealing and as essen-tial to the late-season garden as grapes are to drinks.

COVER STORYMONDAY 23 OCTOBER 2017 05Many of the best originate in

North America and, as improved cul-tivars, work just as beautifully in Europe, where they are heartily embraced, as they are here. I con-tinue to be enchanted by the prairie dropseed. The species is slow to bulk up, but after three or four years it becomes a mounding clump of fine blades maybe two feet high and three across and topped with upright and arching stems of seed heads.

The taller switch grasses offer a more solid column of vertical blades and are crowned with a froth of tiny seed heads. The fine-tex-tured effect is accentuated when they are planted in a group. The blades have a reddish tinge now. Shenandoah is stout and applies lots of rouge. Cloud Nine is a much taller variety, flowering to eight feet and spending autumn in an aura of gold. I might worry about it flopping.

Plants display flowers not for our pleasure but to draw pollina-tors in a partnership that in October produces the spoils of this effort: The seed heads. The clusters of pods and capsules can seem desiccated and colorless, especially when pre-sented in a ring of withered petals or calyxes.

But even this wizened state has a life of its own, and not just because the seed heads are alive with the germ of the next genera-tion. The black lollipops of the

coneflower, so effective at punctu-ating the veil of grasses, are at least as important in early autumn as they are in early summer, when they begin their flowering. The pur-ple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is most often planted, but the horticultural cognoscenti seem to really like Echinacea pallida - Hula Dancer is a favored variety. This coneflower has paler and more narrow petals that hang down noticeably. The effect is of a shuttlecock.

The false indigo, or baptisia, is a shrublike perennial that blooms in late spring but has extraordinary

purple-black leaves as it ends the year. It might look morose, but when I saw it paired with a pink aster and a yellow cup plant recently, it stopped me in my tracks.

Other perennials are unpredict-ably beautiful, like the way the filigree leaves of cranesbills turn a rich red, but only some of them, as others remain green.

Where you live may amplify the effect. Astilbes struggle in hot, humid climates and are a peren-nial for partial shade and evenly moist soils in the mid-Atlantic. But in England, where I saw a drift ear-lier this month, they play in the sun

and enter the fifth season full of mature beauty - the flower plumes had aged to cinnamon wands, and the exquisitely divided foliage was turning a coral pink.

But it is not just one element that makes this time of year so enriching - it’s the confluence of them all that produces a spectacle greater than the sum of its parts. The period feels different, too. Through the growing season, plants naturally ebb and flow. Now the perennial gardener must deal with the sense of an ending. It’s sad, yes, but the beauty is intensified by its air of completion.

COMMUNITY MONDAY 23 OCTOBER 201706

The International Ladies Pot-luck Group’s event this month was ‘ONE NATION, ONE

HEART’ hosted by its Filipino members.

The International Ladies Pot-luck Group (ILPG) is a multicultural group where ladies from different cultures meet up and share their countries ‘culture, traditions etc. with each other.

Ruth Sabry, the Chief Organiser of the event, with the other Filipino ladies practiced tirelessly to put up this show in a very short time. This brought out their hidden talents.

The programme commenced with the singing of the Philippine National Anthem and cutting of the cake by the organising committee. The Emcee Alita ben Othman began introducing the programme to the guests. The performers brought a colourful glimpse of the Philippine culture through lively presentations of dances which embodied the rich culture of the Philippines.

The event was successfully coordinated by Chief Organiser, Ruth Serene Sabry.

“With the cooperation of the Philippine Embassy, Alliance of Fil-ipino Artists in Qatar, and ILPG Filipino members, there

was a tremendous showcase of the culture of the Filipino people,” Sabry said.

Dances were choreographed by Lovielyn Fjallstrom and Rosemie Schaab. Emceed by Alita Ben Othman.

The highlight of the event was the performance of the bamboo dance by Rosemie Schaab and her son, Luke Perry, Tinikling. mimick-ing the movements of a bird in the Philippines.

Sponsors of the event were Music House, Michael Daly,Lailani Farman, Jenefer Malinao,Jeanette Ocampo, Marizel Kovacs,Paul Michael Schaab, Pierre Giovanni Belmote and Mr Na .

The ethnic T’boli costumes were provided by Mr. Alex Alamares of the Banyuhay Group. This event would not have been possible with-out the support of the said sponsors.

The President Shriani Burley especially thanked the regular sponsors of ILPG who contribute generously to their lucky draw to make the event exciting. Namely, Salam Store, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Rotana City Hotel, Torch Hotel, Oryx Rotana Hotel, Sawasdee Spa and Sawasdee Thai Restaurant.

ILPG organises ‘One Nation, One Heart’ event

Friendly Cricket match was organised by OIA (One India Association), affiliated to ICC

under the aegis of Indian Embassy (Qatar) at Wakra ground on Octo-ber 20, between UP and Kerala teams.

The toss was won by UP and they elected to bat first. In the allotted 15 overs UP managed to score 126 runs, thus giving the tar-get of 127 runs to Kerala.

UP team defeated Kerala by the margin of 21 runs.

Highlights of the match included wonderful all-round per-formances by Deepak, Siju Alukka, Sulaiman SM, Mohd Ajmal, Zakir, Yusha Siddiqi, Vaquas Siddiqui and

Kashif Habeeb.Musharraf Ghani Khan, Cap-

tain of UP; and Jeevan Tomson, Captain of Kerala, presented high-est level of energies in managing

their respective teams at the ground.

Tahir featured in extraordinary reflexes behind the wickets wherein Nagendra hold a

spectacular catch at the boundary of the bowling of Kashif.

Zakir showed astonishing efforts on the field with his remarkable catching efforts, Yusha was brilliant with his batting efforts as he stole the show by hit-ting 2 towering sixes, on the other hand Tanveer of UP remained not out with his patient knock of 12.

Ziauddin Ahmad, Sports sec-retary applauded the players for their performances and the Cer-tificates of appreciation were handed by Shaji Francis, conveyor of Kerala, to Kashif Habeeb, Man of the Match; Deepak, Best Bats-man; and Kashif Habeeb, Best Bowler.

One India Association holds cricket tournament

TRAVELMONDAY 23 OCTOBER 2017 07

The Wahington Post

“He’s made cruises and European trips special,” says Smith, a manufac-

turer’s representative from Dallas. “His itineraries and attention to detail have made every trip flaw-less. He’s even managed to successfully intervene when acts of God have waylaid my plans.”

Yet you might not know by looking at Clark Mitchell, who works for Dallas-based Strong Travel, whether he’s the real deal. Yes, his agency is cited as a source for its travel expertise by main-stream news outlets. It also prominently lists its membership in Virtuoso, an exclusive travel agency consortium.

But until now, there’s been no instantly recognised certification that says an agent is legit. That may be about to change.

At its annual convention in San Diego this summer, the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), a trade organization, introduced a new certification called the Veri-fied Travel Advisor (VTA) programme. Agents must success-fully complete courses in ethics, law, marketing, sales and negotiation, among others, to display the ASTA VTA check mark logo on their sites or business cards.

“The Verified Travel Advisor program is our standard for edu-cational excellence,” says Zane Kerby, ASTA’s president. “Earning the VTA certification is another way to increase trust - to show the con-sumer that you’ve demonstrated your ability and willingness to put your customer first.”

In a world of confusing - and often meaningless - agent certifi-cations, will VTA stand apart? It’s too soon to know, because the pro-gram is brand new. The key will be enforcement, industry observers say. Most of the current certifica-tions are pay-for-play. In other words, an agency can purchase all the badges and memberships it needs. To become the travel equiv-alent of a “Good Housekeeping” seal of approval, ASTA will need to hold

agents accountable to a high stand-ard, which would mean removing the check mark from a bad agent, if necessary.

In the meantime, there are plenty of other signs that your agent is on the up-and-up.

- A Travel Institute certification: This is the rough equivalent of hav-ing a degree in travel. The institute’s most common designation, CTA, or Certified Travel Associate, requires at least 12 months of experience and builds sales and planning skills, such as creating travel itineraries, handling customer service requests, building destination knowledge and understanding business ethics. Another Travel Institute designa-tion, Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) focuses on management skills such as conflict management, nego-tiation and behaviour training. Keeping your certification means completing annual continuing edu-cation classes, but there’s no formal, consumer-facing process for iden-tifying and expelling agents who fail to meet institute standards. In other words, a CTA or CTC designation means agents are trained, but not necessarily competent.

- An International Air Transport Association number: The IATA, a trade group, accredits travel agents by issuing them a numerical code. The code gives agents access to the

group’s billing settlement services and also acts as a kind of seal of approval for consumers. But all you have to do to get an IATA number is qualify and pay. The organisation doesn’t attempt to verify any of your agency skills. Instead, an IATA number is just a sign that you’re a serious agent.

- A consortium or franchise membership: Belonging to a major travel industry consortium, an organization of agencies that have joined to increase their buying power, can also be a sign that your agent means business. For example, Virtuoso bills itself as an “invitation only” consortium with “established criteria for sales minimums.” Also, being part of a franchise such as Travel Leaders can be an indication that your agent is for real. These large travel companies have a val-uable brand to protect, so they have a vested interest in making sure their employees and members provide quality service.

Is there a way to know for sure? No, at least not yet. Consider an agent’s membership in ASTA. The logo may mean the agent is serious enough to spend $330 a year on membership and that he or she has agreed to abide by the organiza-tion’s code of ethics. But there’s a vast gray area between extraordi-nary customer service and unethical

practices. The ASTA logo doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve found a highly skilled agent, which is one reason the organization has devel-oped the new program.

The real seal of approval is yours. “The best credential you can have is a referral from a friend,” says Elaine Carey, a travel agent affiliated with Travel Experts, which is based in Whispering Pines, N.C. Indeed, a little due diligence can take you a long way. And once you’ve found someone you like, your word-of-mouth referral is worth more than any certification, seal or endorsement.

That’s what Ann Wolfer discov-ered when she decided to use a travel agent at a large international travel company for her vacation to Cozumel, Mexico.

The agent looked good on paper and had all the right credentials, but when it came time to book, the adviser simply ran a search online for available hotels in Mexico.

Talking to the agent “changed nothing,” says Wolfer, who works for the military in Aberdeen, Md. Looking back, she wishes that she had found an expert on Mexico, per-haps someone recommended by one of her friends.

In the long run, no check mark i s l i k e l y t o r e p l a c e word-of-mouth.

How to tell if you have a qualified travel agent

FOOD MONDAY 23 OCTOBER 201708Marie Elizabeth Oliver The Washington Post

It was always there. Woven into the fabric of almost every cooking memory, every

kitchen, of my Louisiana child-hood. There, along with the cast-iron pot, aluminum Magnal-ites and Chime-O-Matic rice cooker. Its mischievous plastic teeth underbiting the worn-out spiral binding, tattered yellow tabs frayed and curled, stamped with grease stains and reinforced with rubber bands. Four hundred fifty pages of green-inked recipes by the women whose footsteps paced the linoleum floors of the kitch-ens before us.

“Talk About Good!” was origi-nally published in the summer of 1967 by the Junior League of Lafayette, Louisiana, as a commu-nity fundraiser. Fifty years, 30 editions and about 800,000 cop-i e s l a t e r , t h e b o o k ’ s yellow-and-white-striped cover occupies kitchen shelves across the region known as Acadiana - and far beyond its borders.

These old-fashioned biscuits get their name because they bake in melted butter, creating a golden brown bottom crust.

Ingredients5 tablespoons (1/3 cup)

unsalted butter2 1/4 cups sifted flour, plus

more for the work surface1 tablespoon sugar1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon

baking powder1 1/2 teaspoons salt1 cup whole milk32 sticks

StepsPreheat the oven to 400

degrees.Place the butter in 9-by-13-

inch baking dish; let it melt in the oven, then remove from the oven.

Meanwhile, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl, then add the milk. Stir slowly with a fork until the dough just clings together.

Generously flour a work sur-face. Transfer the dough there, and dust lightly with flour on both sides. Gently knead about 10 times, then roll out to an 8-by-12-inch rectangle that’s about 1/2 inch

thick.Cut the dough in half length-

wise, then cut crosswise into 16 equal strips.

Working with one strip at a time, use both hands to pick it up and dip it into the melted butter in the pan, coating both sides. Arrange all the strips close together in the pan as you go. Bake (middle rack) for 20 to 22 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve hot.

Variations: Add 1/2 cup

grated sharp American cheese to the dry ingredients. Add half a clove’s worth of finely minced garlic to the butter before it melts in the oven. Sprinkle sweet paprika, celery seed or garlic salt over the butter dips before baking. Add 1/2 cup minced chives or parsley to flour mixture.

Nutrition: Per piece: 50 calo-ries, 1 g protein, 7 g carbohydrates, 2 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 5 mg cho-lesterol, 115 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 0 g sugar.

Butter dips

FOODMONDAY 23 OCTOBER 2017 09

Marie Elizabeth Oliver The Washington Post

This side dish shows up on a lot of Thanksgiving tables. Use the freshest corn you

can find.Adapted from a recipe by

Mrs P J Blanchet Jr in “Talk About Good!” by the Junior League of Lafayette, Louisiana. (Favorite Recipes Press, 1969 edition).

8 servings (about 8 cups)

Ingredients8 ears corn, shucked

1/2 cup rendered meat fat1/2 medium white onion,

chopped1/4 cup red bell pepper,

chopped1/2 cup peeled, chopped

tomato (see Note)1 teaspoon sugarSaltFreshly ground black

pepper

StepsUse a sharp chef’s knife to cut

off the corn kernels inside a large mixing bowl, then use the blunt side of the blade to scrape each cleaned cob, letting their milky

liquid drip into the bowl as well. (Reserve the cobs for making broth, if desired.)

Heat the meat in a large skil-let or saute pan over medium heat. Once it’s sizzling, pour into heat-proof measuring cup.

Add the corn and its liquid, the onion, bell pepper, tomato and sugar to the skillet. Season gen-erously with salt and pepper, stirring to incorporate. Pour the hot meat fat over the corn mix-ture; reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Taste and add more salt and/or pepper, as needed.

Serve warm.

Note: To peel the tomatoes, use a knife to score a wide, shal-low “X” on the bottom of each one. Place in a pot of boiling water for about a minute, or just until you see the peels starting to pull back at the cuts. Transfer to a colander. When cool enough to handle, peel and discard the skins.

Nutrition: Per serving: 230 calories, 4 g protein, 22 g carbo-hydrates, 16 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 60 mg sodium, 3 g dietary fiber, 8 g sugar.

Maque choux

HEALTH MONDAY 23 OCTOBER 201710

Reuters

It could take a little time for orthotic shoe inserts to help relieve plantar heel pain, but

the prefabricated versions sold in drugstores may work just as well as more expensive custom alternatives, a recent study suggests.

Plantar heel pain is one of the most common foot ailments, affecting about 4 percent of the population and an even higher proportion of elderly people and athletes, researchers note in the British Journal of Sports Medi-cine. Many doctors recommend shoe inserts to ease this pain by supporting the arches and tak-ing pressure off the heel, but research to date has been incon-clusive about the effectiveness of this approach.

For the current study, researchers analysed data from 19 previously published studies with a total of 1,660 participants. They found moderate-quality evidence that orthotic shoe inserts worked better than sham inserts at reducing pain after people had worn them for a bit

- from about 7 to 12 weeks of use.For this same time frame,

customised orthotics appeared a bit better at easing pain than prefabricated versions, but the difference was too small to rule out the possibility that it was due to chance, the study also found.

“Our finding that foot orthoses can effectively reduce pain suggests that they are a valid treatment option for plantar heel pain,” said lead study author Glen Whittaker, a podiatry researcher at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia.

“Furthermore, because we found that contoured prefabri-cated foot orthoses are as effective for plantar heel pain as customized foot orthoses, pre-fabricated foot orthoses should be used initially rather than cus-tomised foot orthoses because they cost less and are immedi-ately available,” Whittaker said by email.

The most common cause of heel pain is what’s known as plantar fasciitis, which occurs when the ligament connecting the heel bone to the toes gets

strained, weakened, swollen and irritated or inflamed.

Shoe inserts may reduce plantar heel pain by redistrib-uting pressure away from the bottom of the heel to the arch, and may also prevent the arch from dropping, which could reduce tension in the plantar fascia, Whittaker said.

Foot orthotics didn’t appear to help ease pain or improve function after up to 6 weeks of use, or beyond 12 weeks of use, the study also found.

This suggests that patients who want to try orthotics might want to initially use them in con-junction with medication to ease pain and inflammation, Whit-taker said. Other treatment options include getting corticos-teroid injections or using tape or a brace on the foot to relieve pressure on the heel.

One limitation of the study is that it didn’t include data focused specifically on sports-related pain, so it’s unclear if the results would apply to athletes, the authors note.

It’s also possible that some people could get little or no

benefit from using the shoe inserts, the authors also conclude.

“The main take-home mes-sage for patients is that the evidence for relief of plantar heel pain by orthotic treatment is weak,” said Peter Cavanagh, a researcher in orthopedics and sports medicine at the Univer-sity of Washington in Seattle who wasn’t involved in the study.

“Thus, their level of expecta-tion for a cure of plantar heel pain by using orthotics should be moderate,” Cavanagh said by email.

While it may make sense for patients to try over-the-coun-ter prefabricated shoe inserts before spending more on cus-tom versions, it’s also possible that seeing a health care pro-vider first might help people get a device that’s better suited to the shape of their foot, Cavan-agh added.

“Patients often try many dif-ferent therapies sequentially or simultaneously,” Cavanagh said.

“Orthotics can reasonably be considered to be one of them.”

Shoe inserts may help ease plantar heel pain

BOLLYWOODMONDAY 23 OCTOBER 2017 11

‘Mersal’ row: Producers Guild hails CBFCIANS

The Producers Guild of India has lauded the censor board for allowing the

makers of Tamil movie “Mersal” -- in news for comments critical of GST and Digital India -- to express themselves with freedom.

The movie has released, and the makers faced stringent oppo-sition from the Tamil Nadu unit of BJP, which demanded removal

of specific dialogues.Siddharth Roy Kapur, Presi-

dent of the Producers Guild of India, said in a statement: “We applaud the CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) for stand-ing by the freedom of expression of the filmmakers of ‘Mersal’, and for permitting them to air con-trarian opinions on current issues voiced by certain characters in their film.”

“It is at such times, when we uphold the rights of our artistes

to voice diverse opinions through their work, that we showcase the best of who we are as a country. We would now expect the rele-vant authorities to ensure that any coercion on the filmmakers from any quarters whatsoever to make changes to their film, is dealt with firmly, and to ensure that a film which has been duly certified is allowed to be screened without any disruption,” Kapur added.

“Mersal” features Vijay.

IANS

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has fin-ished shooting for reality game show “Kaun Banega Crorepati 9” and has thanked its team

and audience for making it “another historic event in the history of the show”.

“KBC draws to an end,” Amitabh posted on his blog early yesterday.

“Thank you all for making this another historic event in the history of the show. Seventeen years ago, it cre-ated history and you have made it happen again. That is no small task. The show is No. 1 in its rankings and has brought the channel Sony to No. 1 position,” he added.

The actor, 75, had made his small screen foray in the year 2000 with “Kaun Banega Crorepati”, a gen-eral knowledge-based game show based on the “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” format. It gave his dwin-dling career a new lease of life. The success story continues.

“This most complicated game show would never be the same if it were not for the dedicated and most constructive team of almost 450 personnel, working tirelessly round the clock in the varied and various departments of the show.

“To them, my salutations. They make the appear-ance, the cheer, the suspense, the quizzing... all look so unimaginably great, gracious and generous, that even this very weak attempt at an alliteration pales before it.

“Thank you dear KBC team for your patience and your efficiency, your detailing and the intelligent out-puts in its programming. The co-ordination and the execution of all that is required and at times not required...,” he added.

He admits shooting for the show is a draining expe-rience, but says there’s “something that invites you each morning as you get up to ready yourself for the gruel in the day of the contest”.

“The young of the country need to be applauded. For they have given the show immense vision and sup-port. As they ‘play along’, it has created a different kind of connect with the audience. That is remarkable. May your love continue and may your efforts never fade.”

Amitabh wraps up ‘Kaun

Banega Crorepati 9’

Film celebrities

show support to

cancer patients

IANS

Film celebrities like Rajneesh Duggall, Zayed Khan and

Saqib Saleem stepped out for a friendly cricket match to create awareness and raise funds for cancer patients.

They played as part of the Ink Cricket Blast 2017 on Saturday.

The cause is close to Rajneesh’s heart as some-one in his family is suffering from cancer.

“This is a great initiative and I am always up for a social issue. This is some-thing which is very close to my heart. Someone in my life has been suffering from it and cancer is something I’ve always personally asso-ciated with and I feel whatever I can do from my side, I must do,” he said.

“Fukrey” fame actor Varun didn’t participate in the game, but he was there to show support.

“There is always a con-nection with a social cause. If you combine sports with a social cause, there is nothing better than that! Cricket is something eve-ryone plays since childhood in India. It is the biggest sport in India and to mix it with a social cause is thew best thing,” he said.

Saqib said “it’s a great cause and cricket is religion in India”.

The actor is currently finishing a film with Taapsee Pannu.

It’s tentatively called “Makhna”, which will come out early next year.

ENTERTAINMENT MONDAY 23 OCTOBER 201712

Reuters

A new exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter book’s

publication is offering ‘muggles’ with an interest in magic the chance to view rare memorabilia, com-bined with historic artifacts referenced in the popular series.

“Harry Potter: A History of Magic,” held in the British Library in London, features Potter memo-rabilia including author J K Rowling’s first annotated sketch of Hogwarts school, as well as her handwritten list of its teachers and subjects.

As well as the items associated with Rowling and the book series, the exhibition also features historic artifacts from the library’s collec-tion, including alchemists’ scrolls

from the 1500s and Chinese oracle bones from the 12th century.

“Our exhibition explores the his-tory, mythology and folklore behind the Harry Potter stories,” Julian Harrison, the exhibition’s lead cura-tor, said.

“We investigate broomsticks and cauldrons and unicorns and drag-ons. We’ve organised the exhibition around some of the subjects that students would study at Hogwarts

School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, from potions to charms to astron-omy and divination.”

The seven Harry Potter books have been translated into 68 lan-guages and have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide, Rowling’s publishers say.

The final book in the series was published in 2007, but the series spawned a series of hit films, a US theme park and a hit stage play that

have kept the franchise in the pub-lic eye.

Rowling herself appears to have enjoyed the blend of her fictional world with the library’s collection.

“Encountering objects for real that have in some shape or form figured in my books has been quite wonderful,” she said in a statement.

The exhibition runs from Octo-ber 20 until February 28 2018.

Rowling herself appears to have enjoyed the blend of her fictional world with the library’s collection.

Ben Affleck finds Batman tough but sophisticatedIANS

Actor Ben Affleck (pictured)thinks Batman, a role he has essayed in four films till now,

is a tough but sophisticated charac-ter. Affleck, 45, will reprise his role as the billionaire industrialist and his vigilante in the upcoming “Justice League” movie.

He and his co-star Gal Gadot, who plays Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, like the way their charac-ters’ differences make them work well together, reports femalefirst.co.uk. “I think both of them are very

alpha-type. Both of them deal with their past and both of them will do everything to make a better world and fight crime and fight evil. So we share a lot in common,” Gadot said recently.

“It’s like yin and yang. They work well together. He has everything she does not, she has everything that he doesn’t and they work for the same cause... She’s warmer and more lov-ing and open and he’s more sophisticated,” she added.

Affleck believes that Batman is “tough, but sophisticated. He’s an ass-hole. It’s total typecast”.

The actor says the upcoming ensemble project will see a return to a “classic” Batman tale, rather than the raging caped crusader of “Bat-man V Superman: Dawn of Justice”.

“This is a very different dynamic for Bruce Wayne from the first movie, where he was full of anger and resentment and a kind of irrational rage towards Superman. Here, he really is in the mode of your more classic Batman story, where he’s more heroic, trying to save and pro-tect people, trying to build this unit. That was a totally different thing,” said Affleck.

Harry Potter exhibition blends wizardry with history

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGYMONDAY 23 OCTOBER 2017 13

WhatsApp features group voice calls in latest updateIANS

Giving its over one billion users more power to connect, WhatsApp has confirmed

group voice calls in its latest beta version of Android.

According to WaBetaInfo, a popular website that tests new WhatsApp features early, the 2.17.70 beta WhatsApp update has con-firmed group calls.

“The 2.17.70 iOS update has very hidden references to group calls! Before it was an internal news, now it’s all confirmed.

“There are a lot of hidden refer-ences about group voice calls, but there is only one reference about group video calls. So group video calls are partially confirmed at the moment,” WaBetaInfo tweeted yesterday.

It was earlier reported that the Facebook-owned messaging app was working on a group voice calls and could release the feature next year.

Facebook already has a similar feature on Messenger.

“WhatsApp 2.17.70 sends a

request to the server to ask if the user you are calling is in another group call!” WaBetaInfo tweeted.

“Note that these references we found are very strong (but they aren’t visible for you at present) and they have allowed us to understand what WhatsApp is going to add in the application, as we did for What-sApp for iPad,” it added.

The newest beta version of WhatsApp for Android has several updates, including a smaller app size and a feature that would notify your friends when you change your number.

According to technology

website Teknepolis, one major update is that when you change your phone number in WhatsApp, your contacts would receive noti-fication of the update.

The feature would work every time you change your phone number.

WhatsApp has also announced advanced features for improved group management, including a tool that will prevent the group creator to be deleted from the group by other administrators.

The administrators on What-sApp groups will also be able to choose if other participants can

modify the subject of the group, its icon and its description.

Reports said recently that WhatsApp’s much anticipated

“unsend” feature will be soon rolled out to all users.

According to WABetaInfo, the messaging app is finally testing the

“Delete for Everyone” feature.“The server finally works and it

successfully recalls the message. It will be remotely enabled later and seen that WhatsApp ‘enabled’ their servers for the Delete for Everyone feature, it may really be enabled soon,” WABetaInfo said in a tweet.

With this feature, the users will be able to recall or unsend texts, images, videos, GIFs, documents, quoted messages and even status replies within a five-minute window.

WhatsApp will also facilitate instant money transfer via the Uni-fied Payments Interface (UPI) transaction system soon.

With over 1.2 billion monthly active users, WhatsApp is available in more than 50 different languages around the world and in 10 Indian languages.

First joint France-China satellite to study oceansAFP

France and China’s space agencies unveiled their first joint satellite in Beijing on Fri-day, which will be used to improve

forecasting of ocean storms and cyclones.The satellite, named CFOSAT (China-

France Oceanography Satellite), is due to be launched next year by China and will prima-rily be used to study wind and ocean wave patterns.

“In practical terms, it will be used to improve forecasts of strong storms, cyclones or waves for all coastal activities”, Daniele Hauser, a French scientist working on the project, said.

Understanding the interaction between the oceans and the atmosphere will also help to model and tackle climate change, scientists said.

The satellite will include two radars: a French system designed to measure direction and wavelength of ocean waves, and a

Chinese version focusing on wind strength and direction.

The satellite is the first to be jointly con-structed by France and China.

The project was originally envisaged as a joint programme for the French and European space agencies.

But an increasingly close working relation-ship between France and China on space technology over the past ten years prompted the switch to the unprecedented collaboration on CFOSAT, said Hauser, who acknowledged there was also a “political component”.

Wang Lili, China’s project manager on the satellite, said: “We partnered with France because we were certain of the support of both states, but also because of France’s expertise in wave analysis.”

The satellite will be placed into Earth’s orbit in the second half of 2018 by a rocket from China’s “Long March” programme. The project is scheduled to last three years.

BABY BLUES

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

When the network of satellites designed to control the global climate

start to attack Earth, it’s a race against the clock to uncover the real

threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything and everyone.

Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

VILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

MONDAY 23 OCTOBER 2017CINEMA PLUS14NOVO — Pearl

Mother (2D/Drama) 10:30am, 1:00, 3:30, 6:00, 8:30 & 11:00pm Geostorm (2D/Thriller) 10:00am, 12:20, 12:30, 2:40, 3:15, 5:00, 6:00, 7:20, 8:45, 9:40, 11:30pm & 12:00midnightMonster Family (Animation) 3D 10:00am, 2:00pm 2D 12:00noon, 4:00, 6:00 & 8:00pm One Last Heist (2D/Crime) 10:00pm & 12:00midnightRenegades (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnightThe Foreigner (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7:00, 9:15 & 11:30pmThe Son Of Bigfoot (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:00noon & 2:00pmBlade Runner 2049 (2D) 4:00, 7:15 & 10:30pmSecret Superstar (2D/Action) 11:00am, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 & 11:00pmGolmaal Again (2D/Hindi) 10:30am, 1:45, 5:00, 8:15 & 11:30pm Geostorm(3D IMAX/Thriller)10:15am, 12:30, 2:45, 5:00, 7:15, 9:30&11:45pm

MALLMonster Family (2D/Animation) 2:00, 3:45 & 5:30pmRaja: The Great (Telugu) 2:00pmMersal (2D/Tamil) 2:30, 5:15 & 11:00pmSecret Superstar (2D/Hindi) 4:45 & 8:15pm Geostorm (2D/Action) 7:15 & 9:15pm Mother (2D/Drama) 11:45pmThe Hatton Garden Job (One Last Heist) (2D/Action) 7:15pmGolmaal Again (2D/Hindi) 9:00 & 11:15pm

LANDMARKRaja: The Great (Telugu) 2:15pmMonster Family (2D/Animation) 2:15, 4:00 & 5:45pmSecret Superstar (2D/Hindi) 2:15 & 6:45pm The Hatton Garden Job (One Last Heist) (2D/Action) 5:00pmMersal (2D/Tamil) 5:00, 6:45 & 10:45pmGeostorm (2D/Action) 7:30, 9:30 & 11:30pmGolmaal Again (2D/Hindi) 8:00pm Mother (2D/Drama) 9:30 & 11:30pm

ROYAL PLAZA

ROXY

Mersal(2D/Tamil) 2:15, 8:30 & 11:00pm Monster Family(2D/Animation) 2:30, 4:30 & 6:30pmGolmaal Again (2D/Hindi) 2:00 & 11:30pm Secret Superstar (2D/Hindi) 4:45pm The Hatton Garden Job (One Last Heist) (2D/Action) 5:15pmGeostorm (2D/Action) 7:00, 9:00 & 11:30pm Mother (2D/Drama) 7:30 & 9:30pm

Monster Family(2D/Animation) 12:00noon, 2:20, 4:40 & 7:00pm Golmaal Again (2D/Hindi) 12:00noon, 3:10, 6:20, 9:30pm & 12:40amGeostorm (Thriller) 12:00noon, 2:20, 4:40, 7:00. 9:20 & 11:40pm Mersal (2D/Tamil) 12:00noon, 3:20, 6:40, 9:20 10:00pm & 12:40am

ASIAN TOWNMersal (2D/Tamil) 6:00, 6:30, 7:30, 9:45, 10:45pm Secret Superstar 6:00pm Golmaal Again (Hindi) 8:45pm Parava (2D/Malayalam) 9:00pm

AL KHORMersal (2D/Tamil) 10:30am, 1:30, 4:45, 8:00 & 11:15pm Secret Superstar (2D/Hindi) 11:00am, 2:00, 8:00 & 11:00pm; Raja The Great (2D/Telugu) 6:00pm Golmaal Again (2D/Hindi) 5:00pm Geostorm 10:30am, 1:00, 3:30, 8:45 & 11:15pm

GEOSTORM

CROSSWORD CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

ALL IN THE MIND

08:00 News08:30 101 East 09:00 Scent From

Heaven 10:00 News10:30 Inside Story11:00 News11:30 UpFront12:30 Witness13:00 NEWSHOUR14:00 News14:30 Inside Story15:00 Killing The

Count16:00 NEWSHOUR17:00 News17:30 Talk to Al Jazeera18:00 newsgrid19:30 Counting the Cost20:30 Inside Story21:00 NEWSHOUR22:00 News22:30 The Stream23:00 Death By Design

13:10 Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug & Cat Noir

15:40 Stuck In The Middle

16:05 Liv And Maddie

18:20 Bizaardvark 21:00 K.C.

Undercover 21:25 Miraculous

Tales Of Ladybug & Cat Noir

21:50 Sunny Bunnies

22:20 Alex & Co. 22:45 Lolirock 23:05 Disney Mickey

Mouse 23:10 Sabrina

Secrets Of A Teenage Witch

13:00 Dogs 101: New Tricks

13:45 Rugged Justice

14:40 Wildest Islands

17:25 Monsters Inside Me

18:20 Catching Monsters

19:15 Rugged Justice

20:10 Escape To Chimp Eden

22:00 Mountain Monsters

22:55 Wildest Islands

23:50 Lone Star Law

00:45 Treehouse Masters

01:40 Rugged Justice

13:10 Alaska: The Last Frontier

16:10 Street Customs

17:00 How Do They Do It?

18:20 Garage Gold

18:50 Treasure Quest: Snake Island

20:35 How Do They Do It?

21:00 Gold Rush21:50 Gold Rush

(Season 8 Specials)

22:40 Deadliest Catch

23:30 Fast N’ Loud

00:20 Street Customs

01:05 Gold Rush

King Features Syndicate, Inc.

BRAIN TEASERSMONDAY 23 OCTOBER 2017 15

Yesterday’s answer

Conceptis Sudoku: Conceptis Sudoku

is a number-placing puzzle based on a

9×9 grid. The object is to place the

numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so

that each row, each column and each

3×3 box contains the same number

only once.

BAWL, BEAM, BLUBBER, BRAY,

CACHINNATE, CHORTLE,

CRY, GIGGLE, GRIN, GUFFAW,

HOWL, LAUGH, ROAR,

SCREAM, SCREECH, SHRIEK,

SIMPER, SMILE, SMIRK,

SNICKER, SNIFFLE, SNIVEL,

SNORT, SNUFFLE, SOB,

TITTER, WAIL, WEEP, WHIMPER,

YAWL.