that moment - gulf times

That momentCOVERSTORY

‘Oprah Pick’ woman Sally Lou Loveman’s new book teaches

the power of storytelling and finding your audience. P4-5

Wednesday, March 4, 2020Rajab 9, 1441 AH

Doha today 160 - 240

BOLLYWOOD HOLLYWOOD

I’ve become a Katrina fan after

Sooryavanshi: Akshay.

4

Netfl ix to launch major LA

Comedy festival this spring.

Page 15

Wednesday, March 4, 20202 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY ROUND & ABOUT

Community EditorKamran Rehmat

e-mail: [email protected]: 44466405

Fax: 44350474

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

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

USEFUL NUMBERS

Quote Unquote

PRAYER TIMEFajr 4.37amShorooq (sunrise) 5.55amZuhr (noon) 11.47amAsr (afternoon) 3.08pmMaghreb (sunset) 5.39pmIsha (night) 7.09pm

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure,

the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue

is the equal sharing of misery.” – Winston Churchill

Draupathi CAST: Karunas, Nishanth, Richard RishiDIRECTION: Mohan G.SYNOPSIS: Prabhakar, a martial arts master gets falsely

accused in killing his wife Draupathi and her sister. He comes out on bail after six months only to take revenge from his wife’s murderers.

THEATRE: Royal Plaza

Aiyai: Wrathful SoulCAST: Tahlia Jade Holt, Ozzie Devrish, Richard HuggettDIRECTION: Ilanthirayan Alan ArumugamSYNOPSIS: A neighbourhood is plagued by mysterious

tragedies when a young man becomes the conduit for an unknown spirit ‘Aiyai’ which lures victims to their chilling fates.

THEATRE: Landmark

For movie timings and further details please scan

the QR code above with your mobile phone camera or visit qatarcinemas.com

3Wednesday, March 4, 2020 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYROUND & ABOUT

MIA Park Bazaar 2020WHERE: MIA ParkWHEN: Ongoing till April 25TIME: 2pm — 8pmMIA Park Bazaar is a modern version of

the Old Souq tradition with vibrant mix of around 120 stalls. You can browse and buy handicrafts, accessories, paintings, clothing, food, jewellery, photography and art.

Beach Holi Festival at SealineWHERE: Sealine BeachWHEN: March 13TIME: 2pm onwardsGet ready to escape the day full of fun and

euphoria with vibrant colours, foot-stomping Bollywood music, delicious food and more!! And all this done On the beach and under sunny skies.Come brace yourselves for one of the most amazing Holi in Qatar.

Metro Street FoodWHERE: DECC Metro StationWHEN: OngoingTIME: 12:30pm

Street Food is the ideal venue for a leisure experience for the whole family off ering over 20 dine-in options and 18-hole World Mini-Golf setup.

Hobby ClassesWHERE: Mamangam Performing Art

CentreWHEN:Wednesday – MondayMamangam is an art and performance

centre started with a vision of spreading our knowledge, interests and experience in various disciplines in arts across different countries for children and adults.

We offer regular classes in disciplines like traditional classical dance, art and craft, Bollywood and hip-hop styles, Carnatic music, robotics, percussion instruments, keyboard, yoga, zumba and martial arts like Karate, Shaolin Kung Fu and Kalari. For those who wish to register e-mail at [email protected] or call on 33897609/44723680

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

atelierqatar.com or call on 33003839.

HEC Paris International Executive MBA Information Session

WHERE: 15th Floor, Tornado Tower, West Bay

WHEN: TodayTIME: 5:30pm — 7pmLearn more about this world-class

executive programme. Discover the international diversity of participants, blended learning and international mobility options. Find out how it will help you transform yourself and your career.

Public Speaking Classes for AdultsWHERE: Sharq Capital, C-Ring RoadWHEN:Ongoing till July 1TIME: 6:30pm – 9pmGet trained by experts to be a good speaker.

Smedley Toastmasters is conducting a six-month speech-craft programme that teaches new members to speak confi dently and develop leadership skills. For more

information, 66053485, 33232490 or visit www.SmedleyToastmasters.org

Whiskers & Purrs WHERE: Tennis Courts, The Pearl-QatarWHEN: March 7Time: 1pm – 6pmA fun-fi lled event for the family which

will promote responsible pet ownership. The objective is to raise community awareness about animal welfare and highlight the plight of pets that have been abandoned by families.

Qatar National Robotics ChallengeWHERE: Qatar National LibraryWHEN: March 31TIME: 8am — 4pmThe Qatar National Robotics Challenge is an advanced robotics competition in which

students of Grade VIII-XI design, build, programme and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge. The programme is designed to encourage interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

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


COMMUNITY COVER STORY

Warm-up that helped find ‘my purpose’

The stories are there (in the book) to rekindle the idea of your story, and then help you with how to present it and tell it to someone who really needs to hear it

— Sally Lou Loveman, author and host‘ ’

Sally Lou Loveman, who worked as an audience producer for

The Oprah Winfrey Show for years, writes about the experience in

her new book Speak: Love Your Story. Your Audience is Waiting


COMMUNITYCOVER STORY

By Christen A Johnson

Sally Lou Loveman was just 25 years old and working her dream job at The Oprah Winfrey Show when someone handed her a microphone to “warm up the audience.” She

didn’t know what that meant, she said, but she spoke from the heart.

Loveman laughs at having no recollection of what she said, but she does have a clear memory of how that moment made her feel.

“I was like, ‘Oh, I found my voice, I’ve found my purpose,” remembers Loveman, now 58. “I found my purpose in that moment and I just wanted to be in the studio connecting with people.”

Loveman, who worked as an audience producer for The Oprah Winfrey Show for years, writes about this experience in her new book Speak: Love Your Story. Your Audience is Waiting. She shares tales from her life of how she found her voice, and helps readers to do the same. She believes you don’t have to be in a prominent role, like a CEO or celebrity, to have an audience.

“The stories are there (in the book) to rekindle the idea of your story, and then help you with how to present it and tell it to someone who really needs to hear it,” explained Loveman, “and you have no idea who those people are.”

Each chapter of the book has a lesson for the reader to explore, and by the end of the book, readers have a start to their own story, explained Loveman, who modeled the book after her “very participatory” Oprah Show warm-up.

“I used the audience to make for a better warm-up, so I’m using the reader to make for a better book,” she said. “That’s really what this book is about: using your story and connecting.”

For Loveman, the journey of connecting people began as a teenager when she went to The Mike Douglas Show in Philadelphia, her hometown, with her mother. As she sat in the studio audience, she spotted a girl on set with a clipboard, Loveman said.

“I didn’t know what she did, but I was like, it’s 1976, she’s a woman; she’s wearing a headset, so she’s automatically cool; she’s carrying a clipboard, so she’s offi cial; and she’s really busy,” remembered Loveman.

In that moment, Loveman knew what she wanted to do. “The environment just sucked me in — it pleased every one of my senses,”

she said.In 1987, Loveman started at The Oprah

Winfrey Show as an audience coordinator and she “loved being in the studio.” Later, she became a producer for the show and “hated it,” so she left in 1992 and freelanced for 10 years, had three kids, and only worked on shows when the show needed her, she said.

“I didn’t want that seat,” Loveman said about the producing role, “I wanted to stay with the audience.”

She went back full time in 2003 when the audience producer and supervisor role opened.

Warming up the audience was still a part of her job duties.

“I connected the audience to each other,”

said Loveman. “You couldn’t just take anyone to Oprah, you had to take the person who stood by you in life, which we called at the time your ‘Top Oprah Pick.’ This wasn’t just come and see the show and leave and I’ll never see you again, if you wanted the relationship to happen, it happened — and it happened with each other.”

By 2014, The Oprah Winfrey Show wasn’t in production anymore, and Loveman’s audience team was being used for only a few shows being fi lmed for OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, said Loveman, “and then there was nothing left to do.”

Loveman was given an opportunity to work for the marketing team, but knew she wanted to continue her message of connection.

“It wasn’t even a choice, I chose me,” Loveman said. “I told Oprah, ‘I can only work for two people: you or me. Right now, I’m going to work for me.”

Loveman offi cially started her own business, Love Speaks, after her departure. She regularly emcees or keynotes events, and is committed to staying in her purpose of connecting audiences.

“I had a front row seat to the stories that were told on The Oprah Winfrey Show and they literally were life-changing,” said Loveman. “They connected viewers to others and they helped people heal. And that’s what stories do. And so for me, my book is about using my story to help connect the reader with their own.” — Chicago Tribune/TNS

CLAIM TO FAME: Sally Lou Loveman with Oprah Winfrey.

Sally Lou Oaks Loveman, former

audience producer for The Oprah

Winfrey Show, lives her purpose by

connecting with audiences. When she

was age 14, she tuned into her passion

for television when she was an audience

member at The Mike Douglas Show. She

spotted a girl on the set with a clipboard,

and while she had no idea what this girl

did, she knew she would do it one day

too.

After her thirty-five-year career in

television and having entertained over

half a million people from the The

Oprah Winfrey Show stage, Loveman

shares her do what you love message

through her business lovespeaks.

In her new book Speak: Love Your

Story, Your Audience is Waiting, Sally

Lou takes on a new audience — an

audience of readers. Just like her pre-

show audience warm-up at The Oprah

Winfrey Show, Speak is participatory.

Readers are invited to join in on the

lessons shared in each chapter, and

by the end of the book, readers have a

start to their own story.

Blending the genres of memoir and

self-improvement, Speak shares Sally

Lou’s story while off ering tips to help

readers become better speakers and

storytellers. Filled with humour and

truth Speak encourages readers to

speak, speak up, speak their story,

speak their truth, and live a life where

love always speaks. It doesn’t matter

if you are a CEO, a celebrity, a super

model, a spin instructor, a student, or

a stay-at-home mom or dad, speaking

well in front of others is not only a

career asset, it’s also a life asset. Speak

helps readers step up their speaking

game and their human game by using

their voice. The book teaches the

power of storytelling and finding your

audience.

“The unexpected lesson I learned as a

young girl was to not let labels define

me. I let them inspire me. If someone

tells you that you can’t do something

or be something, prove to yourself

that you can. Miss Baker wasn’t sent to

scare me. She was sent to inspire me.

Mrs. Thompson wasn’t sent to label

me. She was sent to launch me. This

scared little girl grew up to be a speaker

who spreads her message without

fear, which means anyone can do what

they dream of. So welcome whoever

your Miss Baker or Mrs. Thompson is

in your life, and let them light a fire in

you to help you grow or go after your

dream. It’s never about proving yourself

to whoever your Miss Baker or Mrs.

Thompson is. It’s about proving yourself

to you.”

Sally Lou Oaks Loveman: Who is she?

Excerpt from the book


COMMUNITY

Nepali community organisations hold musical eventsGulmi Welfare Society (GWS) recently organised a musical programme at Al Doshari Zoo and Park. The event featured a live performance by Bom Bahadur Karki, veteran Nepali folk singer. The event aimed to raise funds to support education of underprivileged children in Nepal. The event kicked off with a welcome note by Kumar Abiral, which was followed by speeches by various community leaders, including Buddha Pandey, Adviser of GWS, along with T B Karki, Amina Khan, Ramji Khatri, Thakur Kumar Pariyar, Ishwor Kafle, K B Hamal and Padam Giri.Bom Bahadur Karki performed his various hits. Speaking on the occasion, he said, “Folk music is the kind of genre which is derived from the culture itself. Singing a song means reflecting its culture. There are so many folk songs which reflect the culture itself So culture

is foundation for this kind of genre.” He added, “Folk song is like a literature, and literature always reflects the socio-politico consciousness of the society.” Other artistes, including Dipak Pariyar, Sarita Karki, Laxmi Giri and Ishwor Bhandari also performed at the event.Likewise, Province 1 Co-ordination Council — Qatar also organised a musical programme ‘Winter Outdoor Festival’. The event featured performances of various Nepali artistes, including Sunita Katuwal and Shristi Himhag. Jhapa Welfare Society (JWS) also organised a musical event featuring a live performance by Balram Rajbanshi, Nepali artiste. Balram enthralled the audience with six songs. Speaking on the occasion, he said, “If I get such encouragement from the audience, I can sing as much as twenty times.” – Text and photos by Usha Wagle Gautam

High school students explore a career in medicine at WCM-QStudents from high schools across Qatar have explored the possibility of a career in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar (WCM-Q).Thirty-five high school students across Qatar, including 26 girls and nine boys recently took part in Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar’s (WCM-Q) Qatar Medical Explorer Programme (QMEP), a programme specifically designed to manage participants’ expectations about life as a medical student and a career in medicine.Through lectures, laboratory experiments and workshops, the students were able to formulate a clearer idea of whether medicine is the right career for them, and what they can expect if they are accepted onto WCM-Q’s six-year medical programme. Noof Mubarak al-Khalifa, a student from Qatar Academy and one of the attendees of the programme, said, “We participated in this course with the goal to learn more about medicine and college life and I think we have achieved those goals. It has been a fantastic, fun week full of learning and fun activities to do. We have benefited so much from the program and gained lots of information about medicine and college life. However, we are still continuing our journey as medical explorers.”She added, “I would like to thank WCM-Q for providing us with such a beneficial program that will help us choose what we want to do in medicine.”

Along with learning about life at WCM-Q, the students also gained skills like critical thinking that they can use in other areas of their lives, whether they choose to pursue medicine as a career or not. Students from 10 schools that took part in programme, included Michael E DeBakey High School, Omar Bin Khattab Secondary School for Boys, Al Jazeera Academy, Academic Bridge Program, Qatar Academy, Doha British School, Park House English School, Gulf English School, Al Khor International School and Al Arqam Academy for Girls.Noha Saleh, Director of Outreach and Educational Development at WCM-Q, said that QMEP, alongside the college’s other outreach programmes, is a valuable tool for students looking to their future careers.Saleh added, “With so many choices available it is vitally important that teenagers understand the subject options that are open to them, what colleges will expect of them, and whether they will be happy and successful in the careers they eventually choose. This cohort of QMEP participants has impressed everyone with their intellectual curiosity and their positive attitudes to learning and their future ambitions, and I hope that many of them will consider a career in medicine and apply to join WCM-Q.”


COMMUNITY

Annual Indian Community Cricket Fiesta held at West End Park Cricket stadium

The Annual Indian Community Cricket Fiesta was recently held at West End Park Cricket stadium. Prior to starting the match P Kumaran, Ambassador of India, released the flyer and declared to start the match. The ambassador led the team Embassy XI and won the toss. He decided to bat first against Community XI Team, led by A R Sanaullah, veteran Indian cricketer. Embassy XI had scored only 38 runs for 4 wickets in the first 6 overs. However, the team managed to reach 99 in the mandatory 15 overs. Community XI began slowly but crossed the target with 6 balls to spare. The ambassador was adjudged as the best bowler. Adnan and Zohaib, of Community XI, bagged the title of

best batsman and best all-rounder, respectively. The ambassador was the chief guest and A R Sanaullah, M D Gulf Lights, the guest of honour. Speaking on the occasion, the ambassador thanked Indian Sports Centre for organising the event and congratulated all the players. Shivani Mishra and Narendra Singh, were the umpires and commentary was done by Habibun Nabi and Jashmeer. Kedar did the scoring. The felicitation ceremony was attended by notable personalities, including Manzoor, GS at Qatar Cricket Association; Hassan Raza, Technical Manager at QCA; Shakeel, Ground Manager at QCA; P N Babu Rajan, President of ICBF; and Sharaf P Hameed, President of ISC. Sharaf P Hameed welcomed the gathering and Abduraiman, Vice President of ISC, proposed a vote of thanks.

GISK marks second Annual DayGreenwood International School and Kindergarten (GISK) recently marked its second Annual Day ‘Beauty of Earth 2019-20’ at Qatar National Conventional Centre. The event was divided into two session. The second session was for the students of Grade I-VI. Hemanth Kumar Diwedi, First Secretary at the Embassy of India, along with Dr Nasar bin Mansoor al-Dosari, Chairman of GISK, were the chief guests on the occasion. The guests of honour, included A P Manikantan, President of Indian Cultural

Centre, and Dr Sabu K C, Area Manager of Gulf Times. The first session was for the students of Kindergarten Session. The guests of honour in the first session, included Vinod V Nair, Vice President of ICC; Dr Nishana, MDS at Aster Medical Centre; and Gopi, Vice President of GISK.The students with 100% attendance and academic proficiency were felicitated on the occasion. Raj Kalesh, a magician from Kerala, India, also performed at the event.

Compass International School celebrates Sports WeekCompass International School recently held Sports Week at its four campuses Gharaff a, Madinat Khalifa, Rayyan and Themaid in support of Qatar National Sport Day and the Qatar National Vision 2030.The students took part in various sporting activities, including athletics, obstacle courses, football, handball and tug-o-war. At Themaid Campus the students enjoyed Sports Week in some of the finest school sports facilities including an outdoor football pitch and huge multi-purpose sports hall.

Paul Holyome, Executive Principal at Compass International School, said, “At Compass International School we are committed to encouraging our students to lead a healthy lifestyle and supporting the State of Qatar in National Sport Day. Our Sports Week activities certainly demonstrate that commitment. Our philosophy is ‘Be Ambitious’ and every student displayed that philosophy throughout Sports Week as they faced new challenges, tried their best and enthusiastically supported their peers.”


COMMUNITY BOOK REVIEW

At the University of Florida in 1953, it’s not a standard duty for an English professor to have to deal with

a dead body. But as Sterling Watson’s compelling new novel The Committee opens, that’s just what Tom Stall fi nds himself doing. After he hears a strange sound from his offi ce in Anderson Hall, he runs out and discovers the broken body

of one of his colleagues on the sidewalk, surrounded by a small crowd of stunned students.

Jack Leaf, it seems, had jumped from a third-story window shortly after receiving a visit from two men. That leaves Stall with many questions, chief among them why. What dire news could make a man kill himself, particularly a man who earned three Purple Hearts in World War II?

That night, deep into dinner with his wife, Maureen, Stall thinks he has an answer. Maureen lets slip that Leaf’s wife had revealed that he was not a white man. “Jack Leaf was a Red Indian,” Stall thinks, “and he was passing. Passing was serious business in the South, and Gainesville, Florida, was defi nitely the South. ... To the bigoted mind, Negroes and Indians were one and the same, and they were bad.”

But when Stall is called in for a talk with the university’s president, James Connor, he starts to get a diff erent sense of why. The charismatic Connor thanks him for handling the situation, then asks if he’s heard of “the Committee.”

Stall hasn’t, so Connor explains. “The Florida Legislative Investigative Committee is Charley Johns’s brainchild, though I doubt he has one. A brain, I mean. I don’t know what Dan McCarty was thinking when he let Charley get this thing up and running. The Committee has police powers, subpoena powers, a team of lawyers and investigators, and they’re all hell-bent to root out Communists, homosexuals, and other undesirables in our schools.”

Connor has been working against the committee, he tells Stall, but now McCarty, the Florida governor, has died suddenly – and Johns, as Senate president, is his successor. That means the committee’s power will be unchecked.

Stall and Connor and Leaf are Watson’s fi ctional creations, but Charley Johns and his committee are not. From 1956 to 1965, in the depths of the Red Scare, the Johns Committee hounded more than 100 professors and administrators in Florida universities into resignation or dismissal, pursued civil rights advocates and ruined countless lives.

Watson, who retired after 20 years as director of the creative writing programme at Eckerd

College and co-founded its Writers in Paradise conference, came to the University of Florida as a graduate student in 1969 and heard many stories about the committee’s insidious eff ects. In this sharply crafted novel, his seventh, he re-creates the era with rich detail and a creeping sense of dread.

Connor wants Stall to continue dealing with the aftermath of Leaf’s death, and he has both a lure for Stall – the promise that he’ll be the next chairman of the English department – and some startling news. Someone has delivered photos to Connor that make clear Leaf was not well, in that time and place worse than anything.

In addition to the increasingly aggressive tactics of the committee, Stall confronts pushback from the other direction, from new professor Dr Sophie Green, the fi rst woman ever hired for the graduate faculty, and one of Leaf’s graduate students, Martin Levy, who share left-wing politics and more.

Stall is an honourable man, and he’s more forward-thinking than many of the people around him. But as the stain of the committee’s inquiries creeps out in every direction, knowing who to trust becomes almost impossible, and his own secrets surface, including some he didn’t know he had.

The Committee is the kind of story that makes you hope it can’t happen here – but reminds you that it already has.

– Tampa Bay Times/TNS

A flashback to Florida’s pastIn 1953, it’s not a standard duty for an English professor to have to deal with a dead body,

explains Sterling Watson in a compelling new novel The Committee. By Colette Bancroft

CHILLING: The Committee is the kind of story that makes you hope it can’t happen – but reminds you that it already has.

AUTHOR: Watson, who retired after 20 years as director of the creative writing programme at Eckerd College and co-founded its Writers in Paradise conference, came to the University of Florida as a graduate student in 1969.


COMMUNITYINTERIOR DESIGN

I am very conscious of how much colour aff ects my mood,” says artist and designer Anna Jacobs, sitting on her pink velvet sofa in a zebra-print

T-shirt and shocking pink trousers. “I need it around me, it really improves my wellbeing.” Glancing around her three-bedroom rental fl at in Crystal Palace, south London, which she shares with her son Zach, 13, daughter Coco, 10, and Zuchon dog, Duff y, it’s abundantly clear Jacobs is no fan of neutrals, preferring to surround herself with a zinging spectrum of vivacious hues – with an emphasis on aquatic shades for their “healing, calming properties”.

She discovered the fl at in autumn 2018 and, meeting the landlord prior to signing the lease, decided to be upfront about her decorating plans. “It turned out he was already a fan of my work and loved all the colour,” says Jacobs. And she knows he approves of the majority of what she subsequently did to the interior, because he revisited last year, during the inaugural Crystal Palace Artists’ Open House, an annual

event running over two consecutive weekends, which Jacobs established for the area.

Nevertheless, the green of the kitchen walls ‘Little Greene’s Sage & Onions’ paired with fresh turquoise on the window frame (Dulux Trade’s Marine Splash) looked so outré when he later spotted it on her Instagram feed, that it prompted a visit from the property agent. “It just meant I had to sign an addendum to my contract saying I will return anything to neutral that my landlord doesn’t like when I leave,” she explains. He may want to reconsider this when the time comes. The fl at has proved so popular on social media that a queue of wannabe tenants is already forming. “I’ve had people messaging me to ask if they can move in after me because they love it so much!” she says.

Decorating a rental property this thoroughly is rare. Most of us can’t be bothered to invest so much time and eff ort, preferring instead to inject our own personality by hanging pictures on ubiquitous magnolia walls. Jacobs is not, however, most people. A bit of a

creative dynamo, she switched from a career in the city in her 40s and, despite being a single mum with two children, successfully launched her own design business in 2015 specialising in home textiles, lighting, art and wallpaper. Furniture store Heal’s snapped up her colourful cushions and table lamps, featuring bird and leaf motifs, within her fi rst year of business and then gave her a pop-up concession at their Tottenham Court Road store in London, which ran for nine months in 2018.

Not all of Jacobs’s application of colour theory went according to plan. She decided to paint her hallway pink to create a warm and welcoming entrance space, but her son Zach walked in and shouted: “You’re joking! I refuse to live in a house with a pink hall!” then stormed upstairs and slammed his door. She compromised by keeping just the woodwork pink – Floris by Mylands – which bounces off the now white walls.

Zach reaped his revenge by requesting a green and purple palette in his bedroom. “I’m not a big fan

of purple, it’s really hard to use,” says Jacobs. She off ered him a pre-selected limited choice of 12 shades, from which he could choose three or four. “It turned out beautifully and is now almost my favourite room in the house,” she says.

The rest of the interior was completed very much on a shoestring budget. Most furniture is borrowed, inherited from friends, or from eBay, skips and fl ea markets and then upcycled with a lick of paint or self-adhesive wallpaper. Even the sofabed in the lounge was discovered, abandoned, by her children, who dragged it up the hill and sat on it outside the front door, pleading to keep it.

“It’s a horrid old 1980s grey chenille sofa, but it was free and huge. So, I bought some pink velvet Ikea curtains and threw them over it. When they get dirty I just shove them in the washing machine.” Pragmatic, resourceful and inspiring, Jacobs has an infectious positivity that is surely proof we all need to bring a bit of colour into our lives.

– The Guardian

Making a splash: a rental that’s awash with colour

For designer Anna Jacobs, colour is an essential mood enhancer – and buoyant

aquatics proved the perfect backdrop for her family, writes Isabelle Lane

TAKING FLIGHT: Artist Anna Jacobs’s own painting on the wall is set off perfectly by her bold colour scheme.

ARTIST’S HOME: Anna Jacobs in her front room. Most of the furniture is borrowed, inherited from friends, or from eBay, skips and flea markets.

PRIMARY COLOURS: Green walls and matching radiators in the dining room.


COMMUNITY INFOGRAPHIC

Science Matters

Just as they detect bombs, drugs and pests such as bedbugs and fire ants, dogs have been taught to use their superb sense of smell to detect a destructive disease of citrus trees.

Source: Tim Gottwald of US Agriculture Department; Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (US)Graphic: Helen Lee McComas, Tribune News Service

Dogs can detect scents significantly better than most lab tests, without laborious sample collection or laboratory processing

A dog can sense an odor floating on the air in 1 part per trillion – the equivalent of 1 tablespoon of liquid in two Olympic swimming pools

2-3 mm (1/10 inch) long

Dogs learn to sniff out citrus-killer

Nose out-sniffs lab instruments

Huanglongbin disease (citrus greening disease)

Interfereswith citrus tree growth, causes fruit with green ends

Trained dogs and their class rankings

Well-trained dogs can detect the bacteria over 95% of the time in commercial groves and over 92% of the time in citrus trees growing at homes

A handler and two dogs, with dogs each working 30 minutes, then resting for 30, can sweep 10 acres (4 ha) of orchard, or about 1,500 trees, in 1 to 2 hours

The bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus is carried by a small insect, the Asian citrus psyllid (left)

Maci, a trained dog, runs through an orange grove in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas sniffing for infected trees

On smelling even an infected leaf or twig, Maci “alerts” by sitting or lying

© 2020 TNS

USDAUSDA

Akim Bello Boby Foreszt Maci Mira Szaboles Tina Vera Zsemir1 2 3

50 meters

1 Tbsp.


COMMUNITYLIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE

ARIESMarch 21 — April 19

CANCERJune 21 — July 22

LIBRASeptember 23 — October 22

CAPRICORNDecember 22 — January 19

TAURUSApril 20 — May 20

LEOJuly 23 — August 22

SCORPIOOctober 23 — November 21

AQUARIUSJanuary 20 — February 18

GEMINIMay 21 — June 20

VIRGOAugust 23 — September 22

SAGITTARIUSNovember 22 — December 21

PISCESFebruary 19 — March 20

Your health has been glowing over the past few weeks, Aries, but

today you’re likely to feel a little under the weather. This is probably

due to nothing more exotic than stress. You’ve been working hard

and concentrating on little else, so your body is now rebelling. You

need some rest. Take time off and relax a little, and don’t feel guilty

about it. Even the President needs alone time occasionally.

Today you might hear a rather distressing rumour about one or

more people you know or perhaps about your working situation.

Don’t be surprised if more than one person phones or e-mails to

fill you in on this. However, Cancer, this information might not be

dependable. It could be based on innuendo or even outright lies. Try

to track down the facts before you make yourself crazy over it.

Attempts to master a new computer programme or other form

of high-tech equipment could seem to be going nowhere, Libra.

You might tend to doubt your ability and thus feel very frustrated.

However, keep at it. You aren’t beyond all help! Nothing more than

a little focus, concentration, and dogged persistence is required. It

might also pay to ask someone’s help who knows more about it.

Today you might experience a slight (and very temporary) dark night

of the soul, Capricorn. You could take a long look at your life and, even

though you’re doing well, still feel that you aren’t yet where you want to

be. Spiritually, you might doubt the traditional views you’ve questioned

and still wonder about new concepts you’ve adopted. Try to distract

yourself through reading or perhaps a movie.

You might have planned an exciting evening with friends, but you

have to postpone it due to forces beyond your control. This could

prove both disappointing and frustrating, Taurus, but there won’t be

much you can do about it. Just reschedule and plan something else

for tonight. Distracting yourself might be the best way to go. See a

movie or play on your own.

Personal or professional projects you’ve been working on might be

moving a bit more slowly than you’re comfortable with today, Leo. You

may wonder if this is because you aren’t doing something right. This

probably isn’t the case. It’s no doubt just a normal lag in the energy,

which should pick up again tomorrow. Keep at it, get done what you

have to, and don’t make yourself crazy over it. Go with the flow.

The rapid level of growth that you’ve probably been experiencing could

suddenly prove too much for you today, Scorpio. You might need to

take a little breather to grasp what’s happening in your life. New friends,

new knowledge, and new opportunities have appeared in profusion,

but you could still be feeling a bit down, wondering if you can handle it

all. Don’t fight these feelings; work through them instead.

A group with which you’re aff iliated could be excited about a course of

action that you might not feel is wise now, Aquarius. You might inform

them of your reservations, but they’re probably too charged up to listen.

You could begin to have doubts about goals of your own that may be

taking a long time to manifest. Hang in there. Sometimes things take

longer than you’d like, but success is still in the wind.

Upsetting events in the neighbourhood might have family members in

a funk. This could be something major like construction crews tearing

up the streets, or something as minor as a bout of bad weather. No

matter, Gemini, it’s going to make your lives a bit more diff icult for

a while, but you’ll have to bear with it. In the meantime, try to cheer

everyone up by throwing an impromptu party. This always works!

Today you might feel stifled by your current situation. Perhaps you’re

thinking of changing jobs or professions, or maybe you’re considering

moving to a more exotic place. These all might be good ideas, Virgo, but

today isn’t the day to make any definite decisions or even consider your

options. You aren’t in an objective frame of mind. Wait a few days and

then think about this some more. You might change your mind.

The energy that has propelled you forward for the past several

weeks might seem to lag a bit today, causing you momentary panic

that your progress won’t continue. As a result, you could be feeling

a bit blue. Don’t fall into this trap, Sagittarius. The pace has been so

fast that it had to slow down sometime. It will pick up again, and

you’ll have had time to catch your breath. Hang in there!

Plans for getting together with friends might have to be postponed

because of professional responsibilities that need attention. This could

prove upsetting, Pisces, especially since you have to disappoint others,

but these things happen. Don’t let it get to you. This will have no lasting

eff ect on any of your relationships. Work hard, get it done, and schedule

time for some fun a bit later.

Newborns’ brain hardwired to see faces, places: Study

As young as six days old baby’s brain appears hardwired for the specialised tasks of seeing faces and

seeing places, show brain scans of newborns which explains why within hours of birth, a baby’s gaze is drawn to faces.

The fi ndings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), provide the earliest peek yet into the visual cortex of newborns, using harmless functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

“We’ve shown that a baby’s brain is more adult-like than many people might assume,” said Frederik Kamps, who led the study as a PhD candidate at Emory University in the US.

“Much of the scaff olding for the human visual cortex is already in place, along with the patterns of brain activity, although the patterns are not as strong compared to those

of adults,” said Kamps who has since graduated from Emory and is now a post-doctoral fellow at MIT.

Understanding how an infant’s brain is typically organised may help answer questions when something goes awry, said Daniel Dilks, Associate Professor of Psychology, and senior author of the study.

“For example, if the face network in a newborn’s visual cortex was not well-connected, that might be a biomarker for disorders associated with an aversion to eye contact. By diagnosing the problem earlier, we could intervene earlier and take advantage of the incredible malleability of the infant brain,” Dilks said.

For decades, scientists have known that the adult visual cortex contains two regions that work in concert to process faces and another two regions that work together to process places.

More recent work shows that the

visual cortex of young children is diff erentiated into these face and place networks.

And in a 2017 paper, Dilks and colleagues found that this neural diff erentiation is in place in babies as young as four months.

For the current paper, the average age of the newborn participants was 27 days.

“We needed to get closer to the date of birth in order to better understand if we are born with this diff erentiation in our brains or if it’s moulded by experience,” Dilks said.

Thirty infants, ranging in age from six days to 57 days, participated in the experiments while sleeping.

To serve as controls, 24 adults were scanned in a resting state – awake but not stimulated by anything in particular.

The scanner captured intrinsic fl uctuations of the brain for both the infants and adults.

The results showed the two

regions of the visual cortex associated with face processing fi red in sync in the infants, as did the two networks associated with places.

The infant patterns were similar to those of the adult participants, although not quite as strong.

“That fi nding suggests that

there is room for these networks to keep getting fi ne-tuned as infants mature into adulthood,” Kamps said.

“We can see that the face networks and the place networks of the brain are hooked up and talking to each other within days of birth,” Dilks said. – IANS


COMMUNITY CARTOONS/PUZZLES

Adam

Pooch Cafe

Garfield

Bound And Gagged

Codeword

Wordsearch

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

Puzz

les

cour

tesy

: Puz

zlec

hoic

e.co

m

Sudoku

Sudoku is a puzzle based

on a 9x9 grid. The grid is

also divided into nine (3x3)

boxes. You are given a

selection of values and to

complete the puzzle, you

must fill the grid so that

every column, every anone

is repeated.

BASSHAYESREEVESBROWNISLEYTEXCHERRYJACKSON

WELLSDE VAUGHNKNIGHTWHITEFLACKMAYFIELDWILSON

FRANKLINNELSONWINTERSGAYEWITHERSGREENREDDING


COMMUNITYPUZZLES

Colouring

Answers

Wordsearch Codeword

Across1 Hide stones near people (10)7 Prophetic leader agrees to alter forecast (7)8 Weak father has to suffer (5)10 Two officers, one gun (4)11 No crop is damaged by this insect (8)13 A car, if taken to the continent? (6)15 A capital cigar (6)17 Sticky sweet? (8)18 Graduates get hard thump (4)21 Country, say (5)22 The real material? (7)23 Fruit in trees can change (10)

Super Cryptic Clues

Solution

Down1 She will shortly show a hard exterior (5)2 A country I controlled (4)3 The tongue of a World War One field marshal (6)4 Diabolical elfin ran off (8)5 It may be a strain for a Russian empress (7)6 For seeing sights? (10)9 Perhaps I learn about money in a northern county (10)12 In a manner of speaking I’d see a mishap (8)14 Charter again set free? (7)16 A tree found in part of London (6)19 Cricket prize left after fire? (5)20 Principal sea (4)


COMMUNITY BOLLYWOOD

I’ve become a Katrina fan after Sooryavanshi: AkshayB

ollywood superstar Akshay Kumar is back sharing big screen space with Katrina Kaif in Rohit Shetty’s upcoming

cop action feature Sooryavanshi, for the fi rst time since their 2010 dud Tees Maar Khan. Akshay insists he has become a big fan of Katrina after working together in their new fi lm.

“There is one scene in which Katrina has performed so beautifully that after the shot I have become a big fan of her and her acting talent. Earlier, I was admirer of her beauty but after this fi lm, I have become admirer of her acting. She has done a brilliant job in this fi lm. When she started off , she didn’t know a single word of Hindi but today she is working with big stars of this industry,” said Akshay, at the trailer launch of Sooryavanshi also attended by Katrina, along with Ajay Devgan and Ranveer Singh, who have very special cameos in the fi lm as Bajirao Singham of the Singham fi lms and Sangram Bhalerao of Simmba respectively. Director Rohit Shetty and co-producer Karan Johar were also present at the do on Monday in Mumbai.

Akshay Kumar plays the title role of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Veer Sooryavanshi, who heads the Anti-Terrorism Squad in the fi lm. “I have worked in almost 135 fi lms but this is the fi rst time, I am seeing

such a huge crowd at the trailer launch of my fi lm. I think Rohit (Shetty) saab has made a good and huge fi lm. I hope that everyone will like this fi lm. Ajay (Devgn) is an old friend. We both started our career together. Both of us were competing for his fi rst fi lm Phool Aur Kaante. I was the fi rst choice it but then he (Ajay Devgn) replaced me. We have done many fi lms together,” he said.

Akshay has played a police offi cer in several fi lms. How does it feel to play a new cop avatar in his latest? “It feels nice. It’s not just about the police uniform, but whenever I wear any uniform – be it of an Army offi cer, a Navy offi cer or Air Force offi ce – it feels very nice. There is dignity attached to every uniform. I feel very fortunate that we (actors) get the opportunity to do various kinds of roles in our career, so I feel very proud about it,” he replied.

There is a line in the trailer that Akshay’s utters, which goes: “This work will be done by the one and only kameena Sangram Bhalerao”. The reference is to Ranveer Singh’s protagonist in Rohit Shetty’s earlier cop action fl ick Simmba, which went onto become a blockbuster upon release in December 2018, and which cast Ranveer as a cop who will go to any wicked extent to ensure justice.

When a reporter asked Ranveer if he is the real ‘kameena’ (wicked person) of Bollywood, Akshay answered on Ranveer’s behalf: “It is a dialogue in the fi lm and it

is not about the fi lm fraternity. It is not correct on your part to ask a question like this so, I would request you not to ask these questions.”

Sooryavanshi is directed by Rohit Shetty and written by Sajid-

Farhad. It is the fourth instalment of Shetty’s cop universe after two Singham fi lms and Simmba. The cast also features Gulshan Grover, Abhimanyu Singh, Niharica Raizada, Jackie Shroff , Sikandar Kher, Nikitin Dheer and Vivan

Bhatena. Sooryavanshi is scheduled to release in India on March 24.

Presented by Reliance Entertainment, the fi lm is produced by Shetty, Karan Johar, Aruna Bhatia, Hiroo Yash Johar and Apoorva Mehta. – IANS

Ashwiny celebrates selfl ess spirit of women with Ghar Ki Murgi

Director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari says her short fi lm Ghar Ki Murgi, which stars Sakshi Tanwar, celebrates the selfl ess spirit of women who dedicate their life to look for their family.

The fi lm is written by Ashwiny’s husband and acclaimed fi lmmaker Nitesh Tiwari.

“Ghar Ki Murgi (‘Taken for Granted’) is an emotional narrative close to my heart. Dressed in an artistic backdrop of Old Delhi. This story is about an Indian woman who is wrapped in the societal truth and colour of sentiments. I wanted to organically tell a story that creates empathy with the characters and catalyse an inner change in every individual,” Ashwiny said.

“The fi lm celebrates the selfl ess spirit of a woman who gives her whole life tendering and caring for every family member without thinking much about her own self. I wish all families watch this story and say a thank you to the woman in the lives,” she added.

Also starring Anurag Arora, Ghar Ki Murgi is a slice of life, emotional journey of a wife, mother and daughter in law, fi nding her true self in a world of ‘family

and responsibility’. She gives it all for her family till one day she decides to take an ingenious decision for herself and creates upheaval around.

Ghar Ki Murgi goes live on SonyLIV on March 7. The fi lm will also air on SET post The Kapil Sharma Show on Sunday. – IANS

Don’t fall in love with a married man: Neena

Veteran actress Neena Gupta has warned her fans not to fall in love with married men. She says she has done it in life and suff ered.

In a video shot at Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand, Neena is seen giving a piece of advice to her fans.

She begins by talking about how extra marital aff airs start. “He tells you he doesn’t like his wife and they are not getting along for a long time. You fall in love with him, he is a married guy. Then you say ‘why don’t you separate’. But he says ‘no, no there are kids’.”

She says they then start meeting secretly and go on holidays. That turns to spending nights together and ultimately “you want to marry him”.

Then, the woman wants the man to divorce his wife, but he says, “it’s not so easy, there is property, there are bank accounts etc”.

The woman gets frustrated and thinks of leaving him. Then comes Neena’s advice: “Do not get involved in all this, do not fall in love with a married man. I have done this before, I have suff ered. That is why I am telling my friends: try not to do it.”

Neena was in a relationship with West Indian cricketer Vivian Richards in the eighties. They share a daughter, Masaba Gupta. Later, Neena went on to marry Vivek Mehra. – IANS

CO-STARS: Akshay Kumar, right, is back sharing the big screen space with Katrina Kaif in the upcoming cop action feature.

VETERAN: Neena Gupta has warned her fans not to fall in love with married men.

CANDID: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari says Ghar Ki Murgi is an emotional narrative close to her heart.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 15GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYHOLLYWOOD

By Michael Ordoña

Netfl ix is known for going big or going home – whether that means its original programming slate,

awards campaigns or subscriber base. Now, the streamer is applying the principle to an old-school format: the comedy festival.

On Monday, the company announced Netfl ix Is a Joke Fest, with more than 100 performances from some of comedy’s biggest names across 20-plus Los Angeles venues and culminating in a hall-of-fame tribute to four late legends: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Joan Rivers and Robin Williams.

Participants in the festival, which is set to run from April 27 to May 3 and is produced in partnership with Live Nation, are a who’s who of contemporary comedy – with an emphasis on the ever-growing stable of performers with a Netfl ix series or special. The lineup includes Dave Chappelle, David Letterman, Amy Schumer, Ali Wong, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, Jamie Foxx, Sarah Silverman, Kevin Hart, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Ken Jeong, and Martin Lawrence.

“It’s our honour to transform L.A. for one week into the funniest place on earth,” Ted Sarandos, Netfl ix chief content offi cer, said in a statement. “This festival is a unique celebration of the art of comedy, and the role it plays in refl ecting our lives and defi ning culture. It’s a chance for comedy lovers to come together and see their favourite artistes as well as discover new ones, and for us to be able to share the electricity and excitement of the festival in Los Angeles with Netfl ix members

around the world.”Netfl ix Is a Joke Fest, named

for the streamer’s comedy brand, won’t be the biggest of all comedy festivals – that title likely belongs to Montreal’s Just for Laughs, which runs for two weeks and boasts more than 2 million attendees each year.

But the L.A. event has already attracted more than 130 artistes, with additional names to come, and Netfl ix projects attendance to be around 80,000. Individual tickets will range from about $15 to about $500 per event, according to organisers. (There will be no festival-wide passes.) For those who can’t make it in person, 11 of the live shows will be available to stream on Netfl ix at a later date.

Among the schedule’s highlights, Chappelle (and friends) will appear in “an evening of music and comedy” at the Hollywood Bowl. Letterman will host an event at the Fonda Theatre, mixing stand-up performances with live interviews. The cast of Schitt’s Creek will lead a “live, interactive” farewell tour that takes fans inside the making of the Emmy-nominated comedy. Foxx, Schumer, Lawrence, and Fonda and Tomlin will all host comedy nights at the Palladium. Other festival headliners include Bill Burr, Pete Davidson, Chelsea Handler, Jenny Slate, Whitney Cummings, Marlon Wayans, Iliza Shlesinger and Michelle Wolf.

A number of themed events during the festival bring together comedians to highlight national or regional talents – such as showcases of Indian and Latin American performers – or queer comedians – as with Stand Out at the Greek Theatre, featuring Sandra Bernhard, Alan Carr, Margaret Cho, Hannah Gadsby, Rosie O’Donnell, Wanda Sykes and others.

Festival venues also include the Wiltern, the Orpheum, the Largo

and the Laugh Factory, among others.

During the closing event at the Theatre at Ace Hotel, “The Hall: Honoring the Greats of Stand-Up,” Chappelle, Crystal, Goldberg, Hart, Rock, Seinfeld, Silverman and Sykes will fete Carlin, Pryor, Rivers and Williams. In addition to the event being recorded as a Netfl ix special, an exhibit of the same name will have a physical home in a newly designed wing of the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, N.Y. Inductees were determined by a nominating committee composed of agents, managers, producers, TV executives and comedy club owners.

“Netfl ix has become the dominant player in the comedy space, which made them the ideal broadcast partner for this long overdue acknowledgement of the art of stand-up comedy,” The Hall director Marty Callner and fellow executive producers Randall Gladstein and David Steinberg said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “The relationship with Netfl ix and the calibre of our four beloved inductees have made it possible for us to bring together, for the fi rst time, every leading voice in stand-up to honour those that paved the way.”

The festival’s offi cial charity partner is nonprofi t organisation Comedy Gives Back, which provides mental health, medical and fi nancial crisis support to comedians in need.

Presale tickets are available starting Tuesday via a unique code to be published on artiste, venue, Ticketmaster, Live Nation and Netfl ix Is a Joke social media accounts. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday. The full lineup and ticketing information are posted at the festival website. – Los Angeles Times/TNS

Netflix to launch major LA comedy festival this spring

Perry hires doctor for second autopsy on nephew

Atlanta media mogul Tyler Perry announced he has hired a doctor to perform a second autopsy on his nephew, Gavin Porter, who was found dead in his jail cell last Tuesday night.

“Three days ago, I got the horrible news that he allegedly committed suicide in prison. I say allegedly because, unfortunately, our criminal justice system and prisons have been notorious for cover ups and/or getting it wrong.

“With that in mind I have hired Dr Michael Baden to do a second autopsy, and we are

expecting the results soon,” Perry wrote in an Instagram post.

Porter was found dead in a cell at Union Parish Detention Center at Farmerville in Louisiana. The 26-year-old reportedly hanged himself.

He had been placed in the cell last Saturday night after being in a fight with several inmates, Union Parish Sheriff Dusty Gates told the News-Star. The sheriff said no foul play is suspected.

“I want to be clear that we are not a family of conspiracy theorists,” Perry wrote in his post, “and we want to believe that there was no foul play, just as the sheriff has stated publicly.”

Porter was arrested in October 2016 in the shooting death of his father, Gary Wayne Porter, after the two allegedly got into a fight, according to WAFB. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Porter is the son of Perry’s sister Melva Porter.

Perry wrote he had hoped Gavin Porter would serve his time and then “come work for me. Where he would join all the other former inmates that work for me and turn his life around, just as they have. But that day will never come.”

Perry said he and his family will have no further comment on the situation at this time. – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

GRIEVED: Tyler Perry attends the Netflix premiere for his A Fall From Grace at Metrograph in New York City.

COMEDIAN: Ali Wong attends the Premiere of Disney and Pixar’s Onward in Hollywood, California.


COMMUNITY

By Mudassir Raja

“It is all about your mindset, how you are educated and how courageous you are. I love the freedom that

entrepreneurship offers. I love interacting with people and negotiating with them.”

This is a firm belief of Serban Spirea, Romanian expatriate and young entrepreneur, who has founded his own real estate brokerage company in Qatar with the name of FGREALTY. With big dreams for his company, he has been working very hard in making inroads into the Qatari real estate market.

The 30-year-old entrepreneur recently spoke to Community about his professional journey in Qatar and what he aims to achieve. “I came to Qatar when I was only 19. My mother came to Qatar when I was 14 and has been working here for 16 years now. I was a basketball player in Romania. When I came here, I played for Al Sadd Sports Club. I studied business marketing first in Romania and then in the UK.”

Serban founded his real estate company four and a half year ago. “I started working as a real estate agent when I came to Qatar. I love the freedom and the interaction with people. I love the fact that you can manage your own property portfolio and you can expose it the way you want. I also love the feeling that the real estate brokerage activity gives and how much it develops in terms of negotiations and sales.

“I also wanted to leverage myself after I started my company. I wanted to educate young people in a way that I give them a chance to be productive for themselves and their families. I hired my team consisting of young people not more than 22 or 23. I taught them and trained them. Most of them are mature now. They are now a solid team and that allows me to move around.

The managing director of FGREALTY further said: “Quite early in my career I saw an opportunity to have a real estate brokerage company. I still see it going up in future. My desire is to see it as the largest real estate company in luxury sector worldwide. We have a complete online real estate marketing platform of the company. This platform can be franchised slowly and gradually.

“I have ended up doing mainly luxury property business. I saw a slump in the luxury sector as

Entrepreneurship is a mindset: young realtor

“I see a big opportunity in the property sector here. With 2022 fast approaching, we have started feeling a big wave coming in the real estate business. There is definitely going to be a positive impact on the market”

— Serban Spirea, Romanian

entrepreneur

Serban with his team.

an opportunity. I got involved with the landlords and the clients using our sale force. We deal in properties in Msheireb, The Pearl, Lusail and Al Dafna.”

When asked what he has to offer for expatriates as a realtor, Serban said: “It really depends on them. We sign corporate agreements with major companies. We also educate the customers about what they need and what is available in the market. We receive lots of inquiries.”

The realtor sees his company’s role as a bumper between landlords and the clients. “We are always intermediating supply and demand by creating a healthy competition. Our aim is to always have better deals for clients.

“I see a big opportunity in the property sector here. With 2022 fast approaching, we have started feeling a big wave coming in the real estate business. There are huge projects going on. There is definitely going to be a positive impact on the market. Many new projects are coming that we filter for our clients.”

Serban calls himself blessed to be in Qatar when there is lots of development. “I am blessed to have my work here. I always believe that FGREALTY is a produce of Qatar. All the reputation we have earned and the clients we have gathered is

all because of the country we are based in. The company is going to be the first Qatar-based real estate business to have franchises in different countries. The company has also managed to expand in the Eastern European market and

opened its first franchise office in Bucharest, Romania.”

For Serban to be an entrepreneur is to have a certain kind of mindset. “It does not matter wherever you are, if you have the mindset of guiding

and helping others and group people together, you can be an entrepreneur successfully.

“To be in Qatar, it has been little challenging. However, I like it to be here. I see my opportunity in Qatar.”

that moment - gulf times

Documents