Guyanatime 13 may 2018

LOOK INSIDE !

Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana guyanatimesgy.com

Issue No. 3562

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Sunday, May 13, 2018

PRICE

SOCU’s 27 cases

All transactions were approved

by Cabinet – Brassington Page 3

…as former NICIL exec recalls arrest, questioning by SOCU Mahaicony inaccessible dams

Rice farmers forced to hire pontoons to move rice

$120 vat included

WHAT'S INSIDE: 2015 Elections Petition case

PPP concerned P10 over “prolonged” delays

Piracy

P15

Ramjattan blames fishermen …refuses to buy transponders

Page 13

East Ruimveldt man fined for slapping P8 mother

More than 800 delegates renewed their commitment to the People's Progressive Party/Civic at the Party’s Region One District Conference held in Port Kaituma, on Saturday, where General Secretary and Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo delivered the keynote address

PPP hosts Region 1 congress

Happy Mother's Day A Berbice mom champions Page 9 work and motherhood

…as her dismissed sugar worker husband struggles to find a job

Systems in P13 place to protect prisoners from sexual assault – Prisons Director

4 homeless after 2nd P14 Enterprise fire

Bourda vendors feeling effects of inclement weather P11 …say sales reduced significantly

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SUnDAY, may 13, 2018 | guyanatimesGY.com

A father misses his eldest child’s achievement A midst the headlines splashed across the daily newspapers to herald charges against long time National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) head

to his trial in Guyana.

“My son graduated from university yesterday (Friday). And I couldn’t be there because I had to come to Guyana. And SOCU (Special Organised Crime Unit) wanted to question us.

And then with the sta“My son graduated tion bail, we have to report back on Monday. I from the university couldn’t reasonably go to yesterday (Friday). the graduation.”

And I couldn’t be there Brassington recalled that his son attended because I had to come Queen’s College and atto Guyana.” tained a good grade in his Scholastic Aptitude Winston Brassington, an im- Test (SAT). He would go on portant element overlooked to attend Troy University was the human side of pros- in Alabama, USA, where he graduated Cum Laude with a ecution.

That human side involves Bachelor’s Degree in Physics Brassington being separated and Mathematics on Friday. from his family and the life “He went to Troy University he built in the United States on a scholarship. He went to after leaving the agency he QC. He did very well in his spent over two decades serv- SATs and secured a scholaring. In an interview with this ship. He’s 21. He’s my first publication, Brassington re- child. I’m really upset that I counted being forced to miss missed that,” Brassington rehis eldest son, Alexander’s lated.

Brassington, along with graduation from college due

Brassington’s son, Alexander Brassington, displays his degree after graduating Cum Laude with distinction

former Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, were arraigned on charges of allegedly selling several plots of land on the East Coast of Demerara to several entities.

The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) brought the charges against the two former Government officials early last month. What followed after was a rush by the pair to voluntarily return to Guyana.

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BRIDGE OPENINGS

SOCU’s 27 cases

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Sunday, May 13 – a night retraction at 03:00h and a day retraction from 14:30h-16:00h and Monday, May 14 – a night retraction at 03:30h and a day retraction from 14:30h-16:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Sunday, May 13 – 15:15h-16:45h and Monday, May 14 – 15:45h-17:15h.

All transactions were approved

by Cabinet – Brassington …as former NICIL exec recalls arrest, questioning by SOCU

FERRY SCHEDULE

Parika and Supenaam departure times - 05:00h, 11:00h and 16:00h daily

WEATHER TODAY Thundery rain showers can be expected throughout the day and into the evening. Temperatures will range between 22 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: East North-easterly to North-easterly between 1.78 metres and 5.81 metres.

High Tide: 02:55h and 15:19h reaching maximum heights of 2.63 metres and 2.64 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 08:53h and 21:09h reaching minimum heights of 0.55 metre and 0.56 metre respectively.

Also documented is the value of the real estate and what was actually paid to NICIL for them. In most of these cases there is little to no difference

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Trenton Lake, who stated that investigations are still ongoing.

“What is amazing is that even though I resigned early 2016, in May of 2018 they’re still investigating. When we were in court and (Attorney Anil) Nandlall asked to see the evidence, they said they’re still investigating. So, the fact that they’re charging me while the matter is still being investigated almost three years after the audit.”

The two men were arraigned on charges of allegedly selling several plots of land on the East Coast of Demerara to National Hardware Guyana Ltd for over $598 million. In addition, the charge includes selling land to Scady Business Corporation at a cost of $150 million, and to Multi-cinemas Guyana Inc at a cost of $185 million.

The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) brought the charges against the two former Government officials early last month. Singh and Brassington are due to return to court on June 5.

Both men appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann

n the wake of his sit down with investigators, former Executive Director of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Winston Brassington, in an interview with Guyana Times after leaving Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) on Wednesday, is stressing the transparency of what he did in his former post.

Brassington; along with former Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, were arraigned on charges of misconduct in public office on Tuesday. After court, Brassington related he was subsequently told to go to SOCU the next day.

According to Brassington, he was informed that the investigators would have questions for him. He recounted that upon his arrival at SOCU’s Camp Street headquarters, he was placed under arrest.

“I was told to go to SOCU the next day, they have questions for me. When I arrived the first thing they told me

was that I was under arrest for alleged misconduct in public office. We then went over 20 transactions that spanned all the way from the 1990s, where every single case the valuation was higher than the selling price.”

“Every single one of these transactions was approved by either the Privatisation Board, or the NICIL Board, or both.

Additionally, every single one of them was approved by the

Cabinet. In many of these cases, these properties were sold by public tender.”

Adamant that all these transactions were above board, the former Executive Director also expressed amazement that the investigation has still not concluded, but he was charged.

Indeed, while in court, the defence team’s attempts to have the charges read summarily rather than indictable were rebuffed by Special Prosecutor

McLennan who granted them $2 million bail on each of the three joint charges, despite the defence attorney had sought a reduction for these amounts to $1 million for all three charges for each person.

Following the court proceedings, both men were escorted by Police in handcuffs and placed in the prisoner’s dock where they waited for a few minutes before being reTURN TO PAGE 5 leased.

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SunDAY, may 13, 2018

Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544 223-7230,223-7231,231-0544, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707 Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, marketing@guyanatimesgy.com

Editorial

Three years on: Waiting to exhale

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n the 1995 movie “Waiting to exhale”, four women are waiting to “breathe easy” after they find a “good man” to share the “good life”. Guyanese have been “waiting to exhale” since 2015, when the PNC-led APNU/AFC government took office and promised them the “good life”.

After three years, it is certainly time to decide, since the AFC made the task easier by offering their conclusions, which we can then evaluate from a citizen’s perspective.

However, being an “interested party”, maybe they should have announced that fact in the interest of full disclosure.

The quotes below are from the AFC’s statement.

“A better, prosperous and glorious Guyana lies in wait for us.” It has become obvious by now that this is a fundamental fallacy from which the coalition suffers.

There is nothing “lying in wait” for Guyana, but what the Government will facilitate to develop with the funds from our taxes that have been entrusted to it. The statement is redolent of the perennial promise of the “potential” inherent in our natural resources. We have been consistently asking this Government to outline its strategy for development, and a plan for its implementation, without any success. The creation of a “green economy” is merely an aspiration, made rather hollow by the Government’s obdurate refusal to commission the Amaila Falls Hydro-Electric Project, or another comparable means of generating electricity that literally drives a modern economy. In the meantime, blackouts have once again become endemic.

After 2015, there is now “a true government of national unity under the Presidency of His Excellency David Granger and Prime Ministership of the Honourable Moses Nagamootoo.” This is the single most debilitating statement that destroys whatever hope of real change citizens might have retained after 2015. How can a coalition that wrested the Government from the PPP with a mere 4545 votes – amounting to 1.11% and a 1 seat difference -- constitute a “true government of national unity”? In fact, the AFC’s statement confirms the PPP’s suspicions of the cynicism behind the Government giving Moses Nagamootoo the authority to conduct negotiations with the PPP to create a more “inclusive” Government.

How can Nagamootoo negotiate for that which his party affirms is already in place? Any effort to bring in the PPP would be tantamount to gilding the lily.

“The epidemic of piracy in Guyana’s waters has been eliminated.” While the statement might have been crafted before the latest and worst piracy attack in the history of Guyana - with 16 fishermen massacred – it is indicative of the AFC’s and the coalition’s overall position on crime. Citizens’ fears on crime was one of the major issues in the campaign, and the AFC and APNU leveraged their leadership, made top-heavy by members of the Disciplined Forces, to assure citizens they would address those concerns. Unfortunately, they have depended more on manipulating statistics than actually reducing crime to convince citizens of their security bona fides.

“The lot of our long-maligned indigenous peoples has improved ten-fold.” Being so precise with its declaration of the factor by which the lives of Indigenous Peoples have improved, it would appear the AFC has conducted a comprehensive study on the condition of Indigenous Peoples. The AFC should share it with UNICEF, because when that organisation launched such a study last year, in collaboration with the APNU/AFC’s Ministry of Indigenous Affairs, it could not find any data after 2006 which was analysed in 2015. UNICEF’s final report towards the end of the year stated that the Indigenous population continued to exhibit the highest level of poverty in Guyana. This confirmed Guyana’s Situation Analysis of Children (SitAn) 2016, which found that the health, education and socioeconomic indicators for the Indigenous population were among the worst in Guyana.

The movie “Waiting to exhale” begins with one of the women burning the clothes of her “significant other”, who had cheated on her. Guyanese will have the opportunity to express themselves to the APNU/AFC coalition in 2020.

A couple was wed on Saturday at the Fort Wellington Hospital as nurses at that medical facility were observing International Nurses Day. Annicka Samantha Sankar and Kivesi Akeem Franklyn said, ‘I do’ to each other in the presence of several nurses and a few family members. The couple did not expect that their child would be born on the same day as their wedding. As such, after Annicka went into labour, the wedding was moved to the hospital. Pastor David Shultz performed the ceremony in the maternity ward eight hours after Sankar gave birth to her second child

M&CC should own up to their mistakes Dear Editor, Is it not yet time for the policymakers and administrators at the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown (M&CC) to own up to their mistakes, and to take responsibility for the beleaguered state of our capital city rather than attempting to chastise and penalize everyone else?

Quite recently, a major revenue scam was uncovered, whereby it was discovered that a large number of vendors were issued fake receipts by revenue staff for vending fees and rents paid. One would have thought that the Police would have been called in; that a comprehensive audit of the market revenue system would have been undertaken; and that the Councillors and citizens would have been formally notified.

Of course none of this was done, because the M&CC do

not conform to the norms of good governance, transparency and accountability. So everything was quietly swept under the carpet, and ironically, it was the vendors from Alexander Street who were harassed instead.

Then we had the bizarre discovery of a farmer who was accused of rearing and slaughtering pigs inside of Le Repentir Cemetery, at the southern section, for more than 15 years now. The slaughtered pigs were then sold at the Bourda Market.

Are pigs no longer slaughtered at the City’s abattoir? Now, certainly, the public health risk cannot be overemphasized, and the urgent need to remove this farmer cannot be overstated.

Instead, however, one elder Councillor opined that the Council had to consider the livelihood of the farmer, whilst a leading municipal

official said she had compassion on farmers because she does not want to take bread out of the mouths of people.

Unbelievable!

Clearly, these Councillors believe that it is more important to keep bread in the mouths of the farmer and her children than to prevent the citizenry from being exposed to all of the bacteria and pathogens that can be transmitted from the graveyard to buyers at the Bourda Market via the pigs (pork).

But do you think the farmer has since been removed?

Of course not! Instead, she now has more than half a dozen sows and scores of piglets wallowing in, and drinking, the cemetery’s groundwater.

Simply preposterous!

Another example of the twisted thinking of City Hall is their predisposition to not pay over NIS deductions to the National Insurance

Scheme, and pay-as-you-earn taxes to the Guyana Revenue Authority, which are taken out of the employees’ salaries, and other deductions, such as credit union dues etc; and then, when questioned about it, turn around and say, ‘So what? It is not the Council alone that owes these entities’, as if to say that it is okay to break the law if others are doing same.

But who really is being penalized? Not the Council, but rather the poor employees, who cannot enjoy medical benefits or acquire loans from their Credit Union etc.

The Georgetown Municipality is very much out of control. It is very bloated, and is infested with fraud and deceit and corruption and abuse of power.

Sincerely Anu Bihari

Assault on our fundamental rights Dear Editor, With each passing day, APNU/AFC’s arrogance and contempt for the people of this country become more apparent. The latest assault on our dignity and fundamental rights by these neo-colonial political elites is their Cybercrime Bill and its obnoxious “law of sedition” clause.

The law of sedition clause states that “a person can commit an offence of sedition if the person, whether in or out of Guyana, intentionally publishes, transmits or circulates by use of a computer system, a statement or words, either spoken or written, a text, video, image, sign, visible representation, or other thing that – brings or attempts to

bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in Guyana”. The penalty for persons charged under this law ranges from 4 months to a life sentence.

This is nothing short of a fascist piece of legislation.

It is a clear attempt by the Granger Administration to effectively shut down all criticism of the regime and its policies. It begs the question: What exactly do they have in store for this country that would require them to have such a draconian piece of legislation in place to control us when we oppose them?

Granger had, from day one, demonstrated a tenden-

cy towards zero tolerance for criticism and opposition.

However, it has intensified during APNU/AFC’s time in office. Recently, we witnessed the shocking dismissal of columnists Lincoln Lewis and David Hinds from the Chronicle, and now this “law of sedition” clause takes us to a whole new level by equating any expression of ideas, including by email or even a conversation, with exciting or attempting to excite ‘disaffection towards the Government’ for the purpose of sedition.

According to this piece of legislation, this letter could be seen as sedition.

It is interesting that the representatives of the ABC countries, who never miss

an opportunity to bleat on about their love for freedom of speech -- despite the fact that in reality they oppose it at every turn in both their respective countries and internationally -- are silent on this bill.

Beware of what our Government and their Imperial Masters have in store for Guyana. The signs are ominous. This legislation represents a very worrying and repressive trend. History has taught us that fascism is something that creeps up on you, until one day you wake up and it is too late.

Sincerely, Gerald A Perreira

news

All transactions were...

Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who was part of the defence team, described the act of handcuffing Singh and Brassington as dehumanising and one that sought to humiliate these two former senior Government officials who served the country with distinction.

On Wednesday, however, the duo went into SOCU in the company of their lawyers. Speaking with media

afterwards, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall told the press, which waited patiently outside SOCU, that the two were questioned about 27 allegations of misconduct in public office, even on matters dating back to 1994.

These transactions involved Guyana Stockfeeds; Marilyn Oudho; Clairan’s; Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry; Duke

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Lodge; Pritipaul Singh Investments; Hand-inHand; National Hardware; Twin’s Manufacturing; Old GPC; Anthony Pires; Property Holdings Inc; I Ali; Hicks, Linden; Sanata at Industrial Site; Mohabir, Linden and SOL (Guyana).

It is understood that Brassington will have to return to SOCU on Monday.

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Foundation Most beautiful English word is

Ashley Anthony

A

ccording to a survey by the British Council among English speakers, about forty thousand people agree, the most beautiful English word is “mother”. Today is Mother’s Day; the day where we honour the influential women in our lives.

The idea of honouring mothers is certainly not a new one. Since the time of the Greeks, women were celebrated with the festival of Rhea, the mother of the gods. The Romans too, had a mother of all gods, Magna Mater, and every March, people would bring gifts to her temple to appease her.

The modern idea of Mother’s Day, however, (flowers, family time and gifts), more closely resembles that of “Mothering Sunday” which originated in Europe in the 16th Century. Mothering Sunday was observed on the fourth Sunday of Lent.

Affluent people returned to their “mother” church bearing presents (often flowers), as offerings to their mothers. For the poorer, the day served as an opportunity to meet. Many servants lived far away from their families and on Mothering Sunday, were given time to go home.

Often, it was one of the only days a year that the entire family could spend time to-

gether. As time passed, this day largely faded into oblivion, with the traditions being absorbed into today’s secular celebration of Mother’s Day. However, not many of us may know that the worldwide celebration of Mother’s Day that we have today is in large part, a tip of the hat to one woman in particular, Mrs Ann Jarvis. Jarvis lived in West Virginia in the 1850s and was responsible for organising several “Mother’s Day work clubs”, and through these clubs, she worked to combat the poor sanitation that contributed to the high child mortality rate. They nursed the sick and provided medicine to the poor, and proper treatment to those with infectious diseases. During the Civil war, Mrs Jarvis rallied four of her clubs to pledge to treat injured men from both sides of the war. After the war, she attempted to reunite families whose familiar bonds had been threatened by polarised views during the war. In keeping with this goal, she organised a “Mother’s Friendship Day”, explaining that if friends and family were to be r e -

connected, it would be accomplished most easily by appealing to the love and respect everyone had for their mother. The event was well planned and executed, and reportedly ended with numerous in tearful embrace of each other. Following this success, several other “Mother’s Friendship Days” were held.

After Mrs Jarvis passed, her daughter Anna remembered something her mother had always said, “I hope that someone, sometime, will found a

Memorial Mother’s Day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it.” It was then that Ann decided a day must be established in her mother’s memory, promising “The time and place is here and the someone is your daughter, and by the grace of God, you shall have that Mother’s Day.” After writing tirelessly to Ministers, business people and politicians, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made it official: Mother's Day would be a national holiday held each year on the second Sunday in May. Although Anna had been successful, she was distraught with how commercialised Mother’s day evolved to become. She remained steadfast that the day was about sentiment and not profit, and once admitted she regretted starting the holiday because of what it became.

In some way, I agree with Anna. Showing love and appreciation shouldn’t have to come at a cost. Most times it’s not about the amount of money something cost, but rather the amount of thought given to something. Maybe we should keep this in mind for out latest celebration.

T

he Mystical Connector Oh mother dear, You are the mystical Medium, The mystical connector Between man and God, For you, mother, Maa, Perpetuate, His power of creation, Only you can magnify His Creative genius, His creative forces!

His creative juices!

All embedded in your holy soul, …your holy womb…the chamber of love, From your bowels come forth life, Oh! Great mother, Great Majesty.

Oh! Great Possessor of Divinity Oh Great and Magnificent Mother; Oh Great Woman Your body creates by fiat in love As it gives profound pleasure Fulfilled by automation, a decree Of God For the soul of man, The soul of the earth For the spirits of the universe …their existence…their essence The spirit, the soul of God enters Your womb The female chamber of life’s Creation …by divine order…and it quakes, Then the child energises; it is Empowered!

It is created!

It breathes!

It bleeds The heart beats Life perpetuates Creation progresses The child is born Mankind survives The world proceeds The universe succeeds Time continues, the clicking Clock continues to tick, tick, tick By the majesty of your hand!... …the greatness of your womb It’s God writing on the wall of Life And the mystical bond Between mother and child, Perpetuates, She! The mystical medium Between earth and heaven, Man and God Mother: the holy she, the holy Seer The appealer to God That mystical medium The mystical connection, for When she speaks, God listens!

This is the power of creation The mystical connection mother Dear Religions teach: go to her, then Come to me, for paradise lies at The feet of thy mother While the world celebrates Mother’s Day once yearly, for me Everyday is Mother’s Day. (Roshan Khan Snr)

news

Mechanic arraigned with robbery under arms

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hane Morgan, 32, of Lot 43 East La Penitence, Georgetown, was on Friday granted bail in the sum of $200,000 by Magistrate Sunil Scarce on a robbery under arms charge when he appeared at the Providence Magistrate’s Court.

Man charged for robbing woman of ATV

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hane Bourne of Lot 23 Saffon Street, Charlestown, was on Friday released on bail

by Magistrate Leron Daly when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to a simple larceny charge.

It was alleged that on May 6 and May 7, 2018, at Georgetown, and while in the company of others, he stole one Yamaha AllTerrain Vehicle (ATV) valued $2.5 million property of Michelle McKenzie. He pleaded not guilty to the charge.

According to the facts presented, on the days in question, the man was asked by the owner of the ATV to assist her in starting the vehicle and after it started, he rode away. Bail was granted in the sum of $100,000.

The matter was adjourned until June 1 for a report and completion of the file.

The accused denied the charge which stated that on April, 26, 2018 while being armed with a gun, he robbed Nazeema Chand of Lot 255 BB Eccles, East Bank Demerara. In addition, he also used personal violence while committing the act.

The mechanic denied

the allegations that were made out against him.

The matter was adjourned for May 28 for statements. The matter was transferred to the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts where he is likely to answer several other charges of similar nature.

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CANU rank testifies in ‘cocaine in engine oil bottle’ trial

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awle Mohan, an agent of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), on Thursday testified before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan against Mark Gomes, the son of Andre “Zipper” Gomes, and Mohammed Kadir, also called ‘Puddock,’ another accused in a narcotics trafficking charge.

The two men have been charged after they were caught with a quantity of cocaine hidden in an engine oil bottle.

Gomes and two other men were arrested as agents of the Customs AntiNarcotics Unit (CANU) intercepted the vehicles in which they were travelling during a drop-off along Sheriff Street.

Officer Mohan told the court that on March 29, 2018, he received from his

superior officer information and instructions to swoop down on the men.

“Officer Roberts, another officer and I entered the CANU vehicle and proceeded to Sheriff Street, where I carried out a search of two vehicles, PMM5807 driven by Gomes and PNN7906 driven by Kadir, both cars white in colour”.

According to Mohan, at 19:15h on the day in question, CANU ranks had positioned their vehicle in a southerly direction on Sherriff Street when they noticed motor car PMM 5807 parked in front of a bar in front of John Smith and Tinning Cup Streets in Campbellville.

“From the position I was in, I could have seen Mark Gomes, who is known to me, sitting in the said car with the vehicle glass (wound)

down,” Mohan testified.

After 27 minutes of surveillance, Mohan recalled, he saw a white motor car, PNN 7906, approaching, and it suddenly stopped and parked in front of Gomes’s car, after which Kadir excited with a yellow bottle in his hand.

Mohan noted that Kadir proceeded to the front seat of Gomes’s car and handed him the said bottle. “It was at the time I told officer Roberts (that) I had my target in sight,” he testified.

Mohan then proceeded to the parked vehicle and identified himself as a CANU officer, then he instructed Gomes and Kadir to exit.

“As I conducted the search, I found a 4-litre 2050 Shell engine oil bottle in the front passenger seat. As I picked it up, I felt that it was weighty, then I noticed

that the bottom of the bottle was partially cut open. I looked inside and I saw two bricklike objects wrapped in a clear plastic,” Mohan testified.

Photographs of the scene were taken, and the men were subsequently arrested and taken to CANU headquarters for questioning. The suspected cocaine was examined, tested and weighed. It amounted to 2.25 kilograms.

In January this year, Andre “Zipper” Gomes was arrested and remanded to prison after he was busted with a large quantity of cocaine.

‘Zipper’s’ reputed wife was, in 2017, sentenced to four years in jail after she had pleaded guilty to stashing a large quantity of cocaine in a cooking gas cylinder.

East Ruimveldt man Construction worker gets bail fined for slapping mother for attempting to A chop neighbour

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ifty-six-year-old construction worker Raymond (only name given) appeared on Friday before Wales Magistrate Rochelle Liverpool to answer a charge of threatening his neighbour Jermaine Boyer by brandishing a cutlass at him on April 30 at Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara.

The prosecutor told the court that Raymond armed himself with a cutlass and attempted to chop Boyer last

month.

Raymond, who was never placed before the court, at first entered a guilty plea for making use of threatening language, but he denied the allegation that he had armed himself with a cutlass.

As such, the magistrate entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf and placed him on $10,000 bail. He will make his next court appearance on July 5, 2018.

man was on Friday slapped with an unlawfully assault charge when he appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Magistrate Leron Daly.

Kerron Cummings of Lot 10 East Ruimveldt, Georgetown, pleaded guilty to the charge which stated that on May 9, 2018 while at the East Ruimveldt home, he slapped his mother, Maxine Baird to her face.

The prosecutor told the court that on the day in question, Baird was carrying clothes into the house when the defendant blocked the door with his hand.

The young man was subsequently asked to remove

his hands but instead he became annoyed and dealt Baird a slap to her face.

The matter was reported and an investigation was carried out.

However the man’s mother asked that the court be lenient with her son while citing that he is a “good boy” and needs counselling.

“If he was in his right sense he would have never did what he did, I don’t want him to go to jail, I want him to get counselling,” the woman explained to the court.

Magistrate Daly instructed that the man be mentally evaluated by a psychiatrist.

He was fined $10,000 or an alternative of two weeks’ imprisonment.

National Unity…

Q

…with the coalition Government?

uick now: can you, dear reader, reel off the names of the SIX parties in the governing coalition?? PNC…AFC…WPA…GAP…Did you get that far?? But you still have two to go!! Well, there’s the JFAP, Sharma’s party; then there’s that outfit that Keith Scott heads, the National Front Alliance (NFA). It got 417 votes in 2001, and became part of PNCR in 2006.

You don’t know who Scott is? Well, he’s a MINISTER within the Ministry of Social Protection, which is within the Ministry of the Presidency!! Talk about Babushka dolls within Babushka dolls!! No wonder Lincoln Lewis is teed off at how they rank labour!!

Anyhow, in his peroration at the Cultural Centre on “Social Cohesion Day”, PM Nagamootoo offered a whole new socio-political perspective on Guyana. It bears quoting at length, since he assured the audience – which included the Secretary General of the Commonwealth – that Guyana’s political problems were a thing of the past!! After all, Nagamootoo is a man with “over 50 years in politics, who sat at the feet of Cheddi Jagan – and called him “Pa”. And if he’s to be believed, was Cheddi’s designated successor!!

Declaimed Nagamootoo: “In this land of six races, for the first time ever, we voted into office a Government comprising six parties. So Guyana is not only multiethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious; she is also multi-party, with a rainbow coalition that has the image with various ethnic and cultural strands of our society.”

So what Nagamootoo’s claiming is the six parties in the coalition represent the SIX peoples of Guyana! At long last, we have reached the nirvana that Jagan and Burnham had both sought, but never found after 1953!!

Now, your Eyewitness can guess the races PNC, WPA, GAP, JFAP and AFC represent; but who exactly is the NFA’s constituency?? Which colours in the “rainbow coalition” does Scott shimmer for? The Portuguese? The Chinese?

Or both?? But if Nagamootoo’s representational theory is correct, Keith Scott should be given a much higher profile, at least higher than Nagamootoo’s, since he represents only ONE of the six races, and a tiny fraction at that!!

Nagamootoo then further boasted that political dominance by one single party was ended in 2015 when the APNU and AFC took office!! Now, dear reader, let’s unbundle this remarkable assertion. In the present coalition Government, if Nagamootoo is not to be snickered at, the PNC is only ONE AMONG EQUALS!! The AFC doesn’t allow the PNC to get away with throwing its (considerable) weight around!!

The WPA’s complaint that this just ain’t so doesn’t count. Evidently that’s just an intra-family squabble in Nagamootoo’s eyes!! “Man and wife” story!!

Happy days are here again!!

…and the LGE

But even with Nagamootoo’s protestations to the contrary, things don’t look as rosy as he makes out.

Has he forgotten his threat when he didn’t get to Chair Cabinet meetings as per the Cummingsburg Accord? His name might’ve been Moses and he might’ve received the Covenant of the Accord behind a Burning Bush from David Granger at the Georgetown Club – but he’d forgotten to insist that it be carved in stone!!

Even if, being the mensch he is, he’s forgiven and forgotten his emasculation – left with just a column in the Chronic and allowed to cut ribbons – it’s clear his party’s a tad more practical. After all, we‘ve moved “from status to contract”, and the terms of a contract are sacrosanct and all that!! So, over at the OP (call it what you may!) AFC’s Patterson is haggling with PNC’s Harmon over the spoils at the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE).

According to a Dicky bird, the AFC’s demanding 60% of the LGE’s spoils – as opposed to the 40% at the General Elections.

That’ll test Nagamootoo’s theory of coalitional equality!!

…and roundabouts

Fifty years after Independence, Guyana’s getting its first roundabout!! And like the trepidation of pedestrians to step on the first escalators five years ago, motorists are getting “belly wuk”!!

Such progress!!

Readers are invited to send their comments by email to eye@guyanatimesgy.com

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SunDAY, may 13, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

A Berbice mom champions work and motherhood

…as her dismissed sugar worker husband struggles to find a job

By Andrew Carmichael

S

ome women are considered great only when they excel in sports or academia, some achieve greatness by winning a beauty pageant; but a Berbice housewife and mother of four, who is none of the above, can justifiably be called a champion.

When one sees this 29-year-old sweeper-cleaner at a primary school in East Canje, one may think little of her, more so when one finds out that she has a husband who is not working, and she has to care for him and four children.

By any reasonable measure, Devonie Singh stands out as a great wife and mother. In December 2017, she took the decision to become the breadwinner for the family after her husband, Ramesh Hardyal, was given a termination letter from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) when it closed its Rose Hall, East Canje operations, making his job redundant.

“A woman is not supposed to have to provide for her children when she has a husband, the husband is supposed to provide for them,” Devonie believes. However, in her case, the converse obtains. “My husband was working all the time, so it is not unfair that I am working now,” she declared.

Singh takes care of four children, three of whom are at primary school. And despite holding down a demanding job, she still finds time to assist them with their school

work.

“A wife must be a wife for her husband, and if she has kids, she has to take care of them. It is her duty to look after them and to clean and to wash,” Devonie told this publication.

Five months ago, she sat with Hardyal as he despondently held his severance letter in his hand, and decided that she was going to take charge.

“That is when I decided that I have to get up and get going. It is four children, the youngest is just two years old,” she told the Guyana Times.

Devonie said it was a bit difficult finding a job, but she persevered despite the odds, knowing that there were hundreds of other persons in the community similarly hunting

Devonie Singh

jobs.

Convincing her employer that she was the right

person for the job in a community where the few jobs available were given to persons previously known by the employer was one of her first challenges. Devonie’s job dictates that she be at work for 07:30h, so she has to leave her Gangaram, East Canje home well in advance, and not return home until after 16:00h.

Because her husband is out of a job, this determined woman gets out of bed at 04:00h to prepare meals and then get the children ready for school. That for many is already tiring, but not for Devonie; she still has a day’s work ahead.

She does not earn as much money as Ramesh did when he was employed, and is also challenged to spend wisely the little money she earns.

“I have had to cut down on some things, like grocery and some of the things that the kids like, and plenty other things. They like to eat certain things, but I can’t provide that, so I just give them a straight meal. I want my kids to go to school, so I try to provide what they need for school. I use whatever little I have,” Devonie disclosed.

She is advising women whose husbands might not be earning enough for the family to go and get a job.

The family still has loans to pay. However, when Ramesh received the first half of his severance, he paid great attention to that, and is eagerly awaiting the second half to pay off his loans.

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SunDAY, may 13, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

2015 Elections petition case

PPP concerned over “prolonged” delays

T

he People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) on Saturday said it was concerned over the continued and prolonged delays that have stalled the hearing of the Elections Petition case filed in the High Court, challenging aspects of the results declared following the May 11, 2015 General and Regional Elections.

The Party’s legal representative and former Attorney General Anil Nandlall confirmed that much progress has not been made in determining several matters related to the petition, which is before the High Court.

He recalled that after the PPP filed its case in the High Court, the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Keith Lowenfield moved to the court to block the hearing of the petition.

After the High Court heard and determined Lowenfield’s summons, it was dismissed but soon after the GECOM CEO appealed the decision of the High Court.

Nandlall said the matter took about one year or more to be heard by the Full Court and that same court is taking approximately more than six months to deliver its judgement.

The PPP member added that he is very concerned because election petitions by law, and by their very nature, are expected to be heard and determined speedily.

“In fact, the law expressly provides that once the hearing begins, it should continue on a day-to-day basis by the Judge assigned to hear it… the rationale is obvious. A nation must not be in doubt about who its representatives are in the National Assembly nor who should form the Government.

Delays in the hearing and determination of election petitions therefore can easily lead to chaos, civil unrest and a complete breakdown of democracy in a society,” he reiterated.

Nandlall said it was against that backdrop that it is deeply regretful that after three years, the election petition filed challenging the 2015 General and Regional Elections is yet to get off the ground.

“It is even more unfortunate that the party that is frustrating the hearing of the elections petition is the CEO whose role in an election is

an impartial one and whose responsibility it is to ensure that there is fairness and compliance with the laws in relation to elections. This official, therefore, ought to be accommodating and encouraging in any process which seeks to examine the legality and propriety of elections because it is in the interest of the integrity of this officer to ensure that the integrity of the electoral process is vindicated and validated,” he remarked.

He said on the contrary, this officer attempted to strike the petition out in order to prevent legal scrutiny of the elections and then when his application is dismissed, appeals the decision further stalling the process.

“The Judiciary is not without blame in taking so long to dispose of the legal challenge and to ensure that the petition is heard with the speed contemplated by the letter and spirit of the law,” he ex-

plained.

He reminded Guyana Times of a situation in Trinidad in 2016 where an election petition was filed – after the PPP’s 2015 petition in Guyana – and that petition had already been determined in the High Court and in the Appeals Court.

He declined to say whether he felt the petition was deliberately being stalled by the GECOM CEO and others within the Executive branch who may have some sort of influence over the process.

It was expected since November 2017 that a speedy ruling would have been handed after the CEO’s appeal was heard by the Full Court presided over by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George and Justice Franklin Holder, who reviewed written submissions.

At that time, the Chief Justice announced that the court needed no clarification after reviewing the submissions laid over by the parties – Attorney Judy StuartAdonis for Attorney General Basil Williams SC; Attorney Roysdale Forde for Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield; and Attorney Rajendra Jaigobin for Opposition parliamentarian Ganga Persaud.

The petition filed on behalf of the PPP/C seeks to challenge the validity of the outcome of the 2015 General and Regional Elections. (Michael Younge)

To the victors…

S

atiricus was a bit worried. He wasn’t getting clear signals from his leaders in the KFC on the party’s position in dealing with the big enchilada in the coalition – the Pee an’ See. Here it was that Nagga Man and Rum Jhaat were singing “Solidarity Forever”, but Trot Man was threatening to have the KFC fly solo in the local elections. As he swayed in his hammock reading the newspaper, Satiricus fell into a not-so-blissful slumber. And had this dream.

“A wha’ raas yuh mek trouble fa, Trottie?” whined Nagga Man. “Yuh na know w’en yuh haan in tigah mout’ yuh gat fuh rub ‘e head?”

“That’s the problem I have with you, Nagga Man,” said Trot Man sharply. “Half the time I don’t know what the arse you talking, with all yor parables.”

“What he mean, Trottie, is you will p*ss aff de Pee an’ See?” explained Rum Jhaat in his town voice.

“They might tell you to haul yuh ass!”

“ME p*ss off Pee an’ See?!” exclaimed Trot Man, swirling his rum in his glass like his idol Burnt Ham. “I AM Pee an’ See!!”

“See, Rum Jhaat?!!” shrieked Nagga Man. “Same t’ing me tell yuh. Yuh cyaan trus’ dem red people.

Dem a cut all-two side like raza-blade!”

“What’s he babbling about?” Trot Man asked Rum Jhaat.

“He says you are playing both sides – the Pee an’ See and KFC,” explained Rum Jhaat in his town voice.

“You mean I had to spell it out for you?” asked Trotman of Nagga Man, as he sipped his rum daintily.

“What you think ‘Nassau’ is?”

“Me t’ink you and Grain Ja bin pan vacation,” said Nagga Man weakly, as he eyed Trot Man’s rum.

“Wha’ da?”

“Explain ‘Nassau’ to him,” said Rum Jhaat before Trot Man could ask him anything.

“Na! Me na kay ‘bout da,” interjected Nagga Man. “Wha’ da Trot Man a drink?”

“Give him some rum to drink,” said Rum Jhaat to Trotman. “And you might as well give me some too.”

“Haul yuh ass!” said Trot Man. “Go pat Grain Ja head!”

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SunDAY, may 13, 2018 | guyanatimesGY.com

Bourda vendors feeling effects of inclement weather …say sales reduced significantly

S

Belittling Indian achievement

By Ryhaan Shah

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recent letter to the press written by Nowrang Persaud confirmed what an attendee at the Highbury Arrival Day commemoration noted, regarding President David Granger’s speech: that it reduced Indian Guyanese contributions to national development to that of mere manual and unskilled labour. Granger, whose remarks are posted on the DPI website, stated: “Their [Indian Guyanese] industry and their thrift enabled them to improve their livelihood. They contributed to the diversification of the rural economy by venturing into cattle rearing; cash crop farming, coconut cultivation, paddy growing, rice milling and fishing.”

It is not that there is no integrity in the work being done

by Indian Guyanese who continue to fish, farm, and undertake honest manual labour, but there is surely no honesty or integrity in presenting this as the whole of Indian Guyanese achievement in 180 years.

Granger’s use of the preferred terms of “paddy growing” and “rice milling” allowed him to diminish the enormous input of Indian Guyanese agri-business entrepreneurs, like Kayman Sankar and Nand Persaud, who nurtured and developed the rice industry which continues to be a main export product and revenue earner.

Other than agri-businesses, Indian Guyanese entrepreneurship gave rise to the major manufacturers and businesses whose names emblazon our commercial sector, names such as Gafoor, Kissoon, Toolsie Persaud, Muneshwer, and Beharry. Several commercial banks, insurance companies, accounting and legal firms are funded and managed by Indian Guyanese professionals and business people. The major shareholder, for instance, in GBTI is the Beharry family, and those for Demerara Bank include Dr Yesu Persaud and Komal Samaroo.

These businesses create employment for thousands and the entrepreneurs who established them can hardly be dismissed as manual labourers in a “rural economy” when they contribute in great part to Guyana’s economic development. Historical records for Plantation Highbury actually attest to the frugality of even the first batch of Indian labourers who, within two years of their arrival, managed to save thousands of dollars from their meagre wages. Magistrate Charles Strutt remarked: “These people are money-getting and many of them money-saving people ….”

The creation and management of wealth in order to improve one’s standing and circumstances are intrinsic and prideful Indian characteristics and as Indian Guyanese became educated, they also entered the professions. Here, too, they excelled. The list of Indian Guyanese professional luminaries is long but suffice it to say that they are among the country’s top educators, legal minds, accountants, doctors, artists and writers, sportsmen and women, builders, developers, and scientists.

Despite Granger’s best efforts to dismiss us as mere country folk without the sophistication required to conduct big business or engage in the professions, these achievements cannot be denied.

There was also a lot of hyping of the State’s social cohesion programme and its veritable success. Guyana is an “oasis of harmony” according to Granger, and he gave the programme a specific Indian Guyanese context when he said: “My brothers and sisters, Indian society like any other society in any part of the world has differences, but social cohesion can overcome those differences ….”

This was, at best, artful dissembling. There are no differences within the local Indian society that have erupted into any conflict requiring a social cohesive solution. In fact, because they face a common problem, the Indian Guyanese community has been very cohesive and united. Since the 1960s, People’s National Congress (PNC) bullyism and violence have been the most egregious threat to their peace, livelihood and to their very lives, and Granger’s belittling of Indian Guyanese achievements could have been part of the PNC’s ongoing attempt to rewrite Guyana’s history with the Indian contribution much lessened or completely erased.

Persaud in his letter sought to give Granger the benefit of the doubt and suggested that he might not have written the speech himself. In that case, Granger, who likes to describe himself as a historian, could have simply put aside the speech and made much more informed remarks from his own fount of knowledge about Indian Guyanese and our history.

Whatever situation it was – prepared speech or not – the remarks at such an important national commemorative event fell short of the occasion.

But then it was Granger, as head of his Government, who was also in charge of that recent shoddy unveiling of the Cheddi Jagan commemorative stamps which not only conveyed total contempt for Jagan but for every Indian Guyanese for whom Jagan is this nation’s hero.

There should never be any doubt that Granger knows exactly what he is doing.

everal vendors who ply their trades along Robb Street, Georgetown, at Bourda Market have raised concerns about the effects of the recent inclement weather conditions on their businesses.

Guyana Times visited some of the vendors on Saturday, who explained their plights and the issues that are being faced as a result of the heavy rainfall.

One of the main problems the vendors experienced was the significant reduction in sales of their produce throughout the day.

This was as a result of patrons refusing to venture through the constant morning showers to obtain their goods.

“We come out early this morning [to] sell but you hardly see anybody cause no nobody wants to come out in this rain.”

Consequently, it was revealed that many of their produce remained unsold even in the late afternoon hours. Perishable goods, such as fruits and vegetables would be damaged if they are not sold since they cannot be kept for the next day. This they revealed would cause significant losses in their businesses. Those who had families to care for were even more concerned about this situation.

“This is something that you can’t keep so I don’t know what [is] going to happen. We didn’t even make half of what we would make at the end of the day.”

A vendor, who markets his goods along Robb Street, told this publication that the weather conditions will significantly affect their livelihoods if the number of customers remain scanty in

A large number of vendors but little buyers

the coming days.

Apart from the loss in sales, there are other major problems that have been affecting the vendors. It was reported on Friday that approximately 30 merchants were arrested by City Constabulary officers after they were told that they were plying their trades beyond the time frame of three hours.

Guyana Times understands that the vendors were given permission from the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to ply their trades along Robb Street, Bourda for three hours per day, with the cut off point for them being 15:00h.

They recalled that

Government had urged them to plant more and to invest in farming. However, according to the vendors, the advice is of no use if they’re being hindered constantly from selling their goods.

Meanwhile, at the Bourda Police Outpost, a large group of vendors were seen seated on the bench inside. When this publication enquired as to which officer could provide information as to why the merchants had been arrested, this news entity was snubbed.

Vendors, who were arrested by the officers revealed that there were many attempts to hinder them from plying their trades at that location. They said it

is a routine act for the City Constabulary to harass them for petty issues that are blown out of proportion.

When Guyana Times contacted Town Clerk Royston King regarding the issue, the City Hall official said he had not received an official report on the matter.

However, he said in prior instances, the M&CC had been experiencing some problems with the wholesale vendors who were attempting to extend their activities beyond the three-hour limit. As such, he posited that action had to be taken to bring about some order.

(Rupadai Seenaraine)

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SunDAY, may 13, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

Raising debt ceiling pushes Guyana to bankruptcy – PPP …as Govt uses 1 seat majority to pass motion

A

t Friday’s sitting of the National Assembly, Government used its one seat majority to pass a motion that extends the ceiling for the State to guarantee debts, to up $50 billion, for any project upon which the Government wishes to embark upon.

The parliamentary People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Opposition has described the move as a “surreptitiously” one, since the “most dangerous” motion was presented last that evening.

According to the Opposition, the passage of the bill paves the way for Guyana to once again be on the road towards “financial and economic bankruptcy.”

In a statement on Saturday, the Opposition reminded that back in 2014, while the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) was in Opposition, it had rejected a motion to raise the debt ceiling to the required level with respect to the Amaila Falls Hydro Project and as such, the project was killed.

“We must emphasise that in relation to the Amaila Falls Hydro Project, the PPP Government was not guaranteeing a debt but was guaranteeing contingent liability; that is, the Government would have only become liable if GPL refused to buy

the power or pay for the power bought under a Power Purchase Agreement,” the Party stated.

It went on to point out, however, that Finance

Minister Winston Jordan on Friday informed the House that the debt ceiling is being raised to guarantee a $30 billion liability which is being incurred to fund the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

“We have already been told that this funding is being collateralised by the assets of GuySuCo, now held by NICIL (National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited). If this is so, it begs the question of why the need for a Government guarantee.

The assets which will be collateralised are valued far in excess of 30 billion dollars,” the Opposition questioned.

The PPP further noted that the Finance Minister boasted of securing very concessionary interest rates

from Republic Bank Limited.

However, the Party said the Minister failed to disclose that loans that are fully collateralised and further secured by a Government guarantee, attract far lower interest rates than those he boasted about.

This, the Opposition noted, is so because the risk is de minimis.

“The question that must be asked of Republic Bank is; would it be prepared to extend the same terms and facilities to another borrower with similarly strong collateral? Or, is there some quid pro quo arrangement in place between this bank and the Government. What is certain, however, is that by this motion, the foundation has been laid for large-scale borrowing without parliamentary scrutiny,” the missive further detailed.

It continued by saying that as was done under the Forbes Burnham/Desmond Hoyte regimes, the nation will only learn of the bankruptcy when it is too late.

The parliamentary Opposition went on to say that the debt accumulated from 2015 to 2018 plus the 30 billion from Republic Bank, coupled with the US$900 million which will be borrowed from the Islamic Development Bank, doubles the total debt which the PPP had left after 24 years in Government.

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SunDAY, may 13, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

Mahaicony inaccessible dams

Rice farmers forced to hire pontoons to move rice

D 180th Arrival Centenary: Indian connections I

I

t is, of course, widely known today that Indian immigration continued until the SS Ganges docked on 18th April 1917. It disgorged 437 persons: 268 men, 130 women, 22 boys and 17 girls, who went to plantations in all three counties.

Since one-third of them was picked up from Madras and the remainder from North India, it was quite a representative bunch.

Twenty-five came to my village of Uitvlugt, and, like the others, brought with them direct knowledge of life in India.

The constant influx of new immigrants during the 79 years of Indentureship thus had the unintended consequence of keeping the connection with Indian culture alive – especially in the plantation setting. But there were also more direct interventions during the 20th century, even before Ravi Dev the end of immigration. In 1905, Bhai Parmanand, a Punjabi from the reformist Arya Samaj movement, visited in South Africa Gandhi, who had been sending dispatches to Gopal Krishna Gokhale in India about the travails of the Indian community – including the merchants and Indentureds. Parmanand then came to Guyana, where he spent a year.

Gokhale had moved a resolution in the Legislative Council, on 25 February 1910, for the prohibition on indenture recruitment.

Two organisations, the Arya Samaj and the Marwari community of Calcutta, actively took up the campaign against indenture.

By 1905, the Arya Samaj had already established a mission in South Africa. Bhai Parmamand planted the seeds of the Arya Samaj here before moving to the US, where he became part of the Ghadar (Revolutionary) Party that pushed for the violent overthrow of the British in India. He was later tried, along with many Gaddharists in India, and sentenced to jail.

The journalist Chandra Paul Persaud, popularly known as Paul O’Hara, once told me that the Ghaddar newspaper was smuggled into then British Guiana, and must have influenced the budding Arya Samajists. O’Hara’s elder brother was Pandit Sama Persaud of the Arya Samaj, who was a Senator in the 1953 PPP government.

More organised work took off in 1929 under the tutelage of a Vedic missionary – Mehta Jaimini – who also visited Trinidad. This work was carried to its zenith under the sustained efforts of another youthful and vigorous missionary, Professor Bhaskaranand, MA, LLB, between 1936 and 1945. Bhaskaranand commuted between Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname, and by the time he left (he was to return periodically in the fifties), the Arya Samaj was firmly established in each of those countries.

Most importantly, the reformist movement precipitated a sustained debate in the wider Hindu society about the fundamentals of its religious and social practices, and engendered tremendous changes in those practices. They pushed the notions that priests/pandits could be from any caste; murtis/images were not to be worshipped; and that women should be educated and could become priests.

V.S. Naipaul has famously written about the agitation in the Hindu community in Trinidad during the thirties – when, among others, his father adopted the tenets of the Samaj.

In retrospect, the Samaj’s greatest contribution was to precipitate that great debate. Today there would scarce be a Hindu in the Caribbean that would deny the Samaj’s central claims. The first generation of Samajists (including my father) was famously argumentative – some would say “dogmatic” -groomed as they were by Bhaskaranand, who had been trained (as was Swami Dayanand) in the ancient Indian Nayya mode of argumentation that enjoined “cavilling”.

The social and political awareness fostered by the Arya Samaj movement ensured that its members were in the forefront of the modern political struggle in Guyana, which was initiated in the late forties. The strongest early Arya groups were located on the East Coast of Demerara, and it is from this district that Dr. Cheddi Jagan was to secure some of his staunchest second tier of leadership – none of them “socialist”.

As mentioned, Pandit Sama Persaud from Buxton was made a PPP Senator in 1953 for his contributions and his leadership.

Dr. Jagan also acknowledged the contributions of the youthful Balram Singh Rai towards his election to Parliament in 1947. Rai, of course, was to famously become Minister of Education and the first Minister of Home Affairs in the PPP governments of 19571964. There were numerous other Samajists in the PPP, such as Pt Ramlall who was imprisoned at Sibley Hall in the ‘60s, and Pt Budhram Mahadeo who headed the RPA between 1964 and 1992.

espite proposed increased charges by the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary/ Agriculture Development Authority (MMA/ADA) for services offered to farmers in Region Five (MahaicaBerbice), rice farmers are being forced to find alternative ways to transport their paddy from the rice field.

This is as a result of the deplorable access dam in the area; such severe conditions that farmers have been forced to transport their paddy by river using pontoons. The rice farmers who spoke with Guyana Times said this new transportation method has attracted additional expenses and many of the farmers will not be able to recover their production cost.

Over 300 acres of paddy is still to be harvested in the Mahaicony Creek area.

Meanwhile, the MMA has increased land rental, as well as drainage and irrigation charges in the area which farmers said will only put additional financial burdens on them.

According to one farmer, should he pay those imposed charges, he will be forced to abandon his lands because of the many financial constraints being faced. Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal met with the affected farmers on Thursday.

According to Ramphal, there is urgent need to have the continuation of the access dam upgraded to an all-weather road, up to the community of Pine Ground. This, he said, was proposed in the 2018 Budget proposals; however, it was not approved.

A pontoon transporting paddy out of the Mahaicony Creek area

He indicated that this must be a priority in the 2019 budget.

Ramphal added the Government needs to subsidise these farmers by providing fuel, fertiliser and seed paddy, as was previously done by the past Administration. He noted that the MMA also must withdraw the unconscionable increase of land rental and drainage and irrigation charges since farmers across the region would have suffered losses to their crop because of little or no maintenance works done to access dams and drainage and irrigation canals.

Meanwhile, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority has provided assistance with one excavator to load the paddy onto the pontoon. However, farmers have to pay the off-loading, transportation and other charges.

A total of about 600 acres of paddy is

still to be harvested in the Mahaicony/ Mahaica area, with a further 2000 acres in the MMA Scheme still in the fields.

Farmers there are being forced to use animal-drawn carts to get their paddy out of the fields because tractors cannot get through the dams.

Ramphal added that had the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Councillors and Regional Executive Officer Ovid Morrison been attending Regional Democratic Council (RDC) meetings, those issues could have been addressed and some of the dams would have been fixed in time for harvesting. He says he will be taking the farmers’ issues up with Agriculture Minister Noel Holder and urged the region’s Councillors to put the interest of the citizens first and stop beating the desk at the RDC meetings.

(Andrew Carmichael)

Systems in place to protect prisoners from sexual assault – Prison Director

Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels

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midst reports coming out of persons being sexually assaulted in prisons, Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels has said such actions are not condoned and provisions are in place to protect persons from sexual assault in prison.

Samuels made it clear at a recent public discussion on sexual misconduct in the workplace that, “we do have mechanisms in place to allow persons who may be exposed to any form of harassment to make those complaints outside of persons associated with the (Guyana) Prison Service.”

He explained that there are designated social workers attached to the various penal institutions which allow prisoners to interact with those social workers on a oneon-one basis. “We also have a number of Boards established with prominent members of society who visit those prisons and they also interact with those prisoners one-on-one or by groups and many of those Boards are empowered to report directly to the Minister, any findings, based on their visit to the prison.”

While describing prison as a “caring environment”, the Prisons Director noted that he is aware that on many occasions if someone is sent to prison, especially for sexually abusing a child, they are vul-

nerable to being sexually and possibly physically abused by inmates, so to avoid these mishaps provisions are made.

Despite cramped prisons, Samuels said, “…from the onset, we put systems in place to provide segregation to ensure that they are not exposed to any unwanted risk, because yes, the environment is one in which they can be sexually assaulted and they can also be physically assaulted because a

number of people in prison they think about the children on the road and many of them are also against some of the acts.”

Cognisant of the fact that the Guyana Prison Service is responsible for the safe custody of all prisoners, he noted, “Those considerations are taken to ensure outside of what they are sent to prison for, they are not exposed to any additional mishaps”.

The Prisons Director allud-

ed to the fact that he is aware of two reported cases of persons being sexually assaulted in prison over the last 10 years and highlighted that there is a 99.9 per cent probability that that would have been a same sex situation since the laws provide for females to supervise female prisoners and men to supervise men. He further informed that one of those cases is presently before the High Court.

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sunDAY, may 13, 2018| guyanatimesgy.com

4 homeless after 2nd Enterprise fire Empowering staff

A

family of four is now homeless after a mysterious fire destroyed their home at Church Street, Enterprise, East Coast Demerara early Friday night.

Those homeless have been identified only as “Kadda” and his niece “Priya”, along with her two young children.

According to information reaching this newspaper, the fire started in the upper flat of the two-storey wooden building at approximately 18:00h, and within minutes the entire building was destroyed, leaving just rubble.

Relatives told Guyana Times that when the fire started they were experiencing a power outage, and no one was at the house. They also reported that, since the

The completely destroyed house

fire, none of the residents have been home, leaving them baffled.

“Around 6:00-6:15 (pm) time, me deh in the verandah and me see like if somebody got one phone and flash the light in, but it nah look like phone and it look like the fire start catching up. Me see the flame just above the win-

dow and me had me car inside here and me done know is fire, and me bring it outside here,” a neighbour who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

“Then me start panic and me nah know if to call anybody or anything; and by that time people start seeing (and) them start saying, ‘Fire!’ and then them run come here.

“That house engulf so fast them couldn’t start do anything, a bucket brigade or anything; and them boy start focusing over here, because the fire done start, and them start soaking the wall,” the neighbour added.

Another told this publication that three men were in the area enquiring about a taxi driver called “Pumpkin”.

The resident added that there seems to be something mysterious about the incident, since the same three men were in the area earlier Friday enquiring about the same person.

On Friday, at about 12:30hrs, the three men torched another home in the village as they were looking for “Pumpkin.” turn to

through training!

A

s a key Government agency serving the valuable public, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continually seeks to motivate and empower staff to be efficient and effective. The EPA, as much as possible, seizes every opportunity to enhance development of its staff through relevant training.

Staff development is viewed as a critical component needed to equip staff to respond to the demanding and evolving work portfolio of the Agency. It also helps staff members learn about responsibilities; develop required skills and competencies necessary to accomplish institutional and divisional goals and purposes; and grow personally and professionally, to prepare themselves for advancement in the institution or beyond.

page 18

A number of training opportunities were granted to staff of the EPA during the first quarter of the year. Officers from various programme areas were privileged to attend training on various t o p i c s , and made representation for the Agency, both locally and internationally.

The training programmes which the A g e n c y participated in during the first quarter of the year targeted both technical and administrative staff.

In the technical category, two (2) representatives from the Agency attended the 2018 Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulation Conference in Sydney, Australia for one week. This conference brought together more than 250 environmental law enforcers and regulators from around the world. With the Agency taking a more proactive approach to boosting its enforcement and compliance capabilities, the opportunity was taken to gain valuable knowledge and experience about modern methods used to ensure compliance with environmental regulations.

Similarly, in the international arena, a representative from the Agency was able to benefit from a five-day Fellowship in Trieste, Italy, Europe, focusing on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Locally, officers attended an incident command training in Guyana facilitated by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC). This training sought to equip attendees with the ability to better respond to emergencies such as oil spills, fires, and other chemical and biological incidents.

A number of other staff were able to benefit over this period in areas relating to radiation, waste management, and land resource management.

Administratively, a number of staff benefited from Module 1 of the ‘Principles of secretarial practices and personnel practices and policy’, facilitated by the Department of the Public Service. This training is continuous, and other staff will be able to benefit from other modules developed by the Department, to better serve the public.

Undoubtedly, staff development is vital for the future of the EPA. An effective staff development policy is linked to the EPA having a robust improvement plan to include all staff – both technical and administrative. Most certainly, the profile of staff development has been raised in recent years; so next time you meet one of the highly skilled and trained staff of the EPA, remember that the Agency places high emphasis on developing its staff complement to better serve you, the public, while at the same time protecting and safeguarding our environment.

You can share your ideas and questions by sending letters to: “Our Earth, Our Environment”, C/O ECEA Programme, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, GEORGETOWN, or email us at: eit.epaguyana@ gmail.com or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

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SunDAY, may 13, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

Piracy

Ramjattan blames fishermen …refuses to buy transponders

Who really should bear the cost of an oil spill, should such an event occur in Guyana?

T

he concerns of an oil spill, and moreso the cost, was first raised by several prominent commentators in the press not too long ago, and that primarily inspired this special series in this regard. The main contention of some observers, as far as an oil spill is concerned, is that it was not catered for in the oil contract between the Government of Guyana (GoG) and ExxonMobil. As such, several commentators have questioned who will bear the cost should such an event occur. In fact, it was noted in one of the previous articles that, evidently, oil companies are generally unwilling to compensate the financial costs of any oil spills. After some bit of probing from the media (as it would appear), the Honourable Minister of Natural Resources subsequently informed the public that the Government will set aside a portion of the oil revenues to respond to an oil spill (Newsroom, March 28, 2018).

While the minister did not quantify what proportion of the oil revenue Government intends to put aside for this, the section that follows examines this model to determine whether this would be feasible and/or sensible in the interest of Guyana.

Based on information in the oil contract, one can simulate a simple mathematical model of the potential net revenues Guyana is poised to earn, as is demonstrated in the illustrations above.

There are, however, a number of assumptions that were necessary Potential Gross Annual Oil Revenues: Computation using average oil price at US$50 per barrel and number of production days of 28 days per month Table 1:

to factor in the computation, given that some of the cost elements that would affect Guyana’s net earnings are unclear. These are: (1) it is embedded in the contract that Guyana agreed to pay the corporation tax of the exploration company from Guyana’s share of profit oil, as is illustrated in table 2; (2) the second assumption is: according to the contract, Exxon reserves the right to deduct from total production of oil whatever amount is needed for their operations, which means that, of 100,000 barrels produced per day, Guyana will not benefit from royalty for the total production, neither would the full production be sold. To this end, it is unclear how much barrels Exxon will need to deduct for their operations; (3) the third assumption is that, according to the contract, Guyana will have to bear the transportation cost to ship its share of profit oil onshore, another cost component that is uncertain.

Therefore, based on the foregoing, one can reasonable ascertain that Guyana will safely net about $30 - $60 billion annually in oil revenues, and should there be a large scale oil spill -- which could exceed about US$4 billion (GYD$826B) in damages and costs to the economy, this would be equivalent to 12 years of total net revenues.

Clearly Guyana could not afford it, and it is thus not financially sensible on the part of Guyana. The oil exploration companies need to take full financial responsibility for an oil spill, not Guyana! *The Author is the holder of a MSc. Degree in Business Management, with concentration in Global Finance, Financial Markets, Institutions & Banking from a UK university of international standing.

(For comments, questions and responses on articles featured in this column, readers can reach the author at jbinsights@outlook.com).

I

n light of the recent deadly pirate attack that left four fishermen dead, five injured and 11 still missing, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan said the fishermen are reluctant to install modern tracking and emergency equipment on their boats despite calls for the industry to be modernised. made the Ramjattan statement at a press conference on Friday at his party’s headquarters to discuss their achievements and shortcomings on the third anniversary of being in Government.

He noted that he visited the fisherfolk at Rosignol, and Numbers 43 and 66 Villages, Corentyne, where he explained the need for them to install transponders and radio sets on their boats to enable tracking and proper response in the event of an attack.

“They don’t want to buy the transponders. I told them also, there is the need for radio sets so if they are under attack they can beep in and the nearest Police Station the alarm will go off. They don’t want to buy that. I now feel what we will probably have to do is get some monies for this that we can loan to them so that they can pay back in instalments. That is a new method,” Ramjattan said.

Ramjattan reported that the fishermen are refusing to purchase the equipment, which costs approximately $100,000. He then proposed that Government pay for the equipment and then the fishermen would repay the Government through a preagreed payment plan.

“We have to modernise our fleet but with the old and ancient attitudes of some of these fishermen, we are not going to get there unless Government stumps up I suppose. But to get a transponder set that could by virtue of the techniques and technology we have now, we could immediately know which boat was where but they (fishermen) do not want that. It comes up about $100,000 only and if it is for your safety and security, you do not want to spend that well then I am at a loss and I would not be in a position to help except by giving the loan, buying it for them and then taking payments in (instalments),” the Minister explained.

The Minister said he is baffled as to why the fisherfolk would put their lives in danger when they can afford to modernise their fleets.

“Have you ever seen the houses of some of these fishermen? Have you ever noticed how many cars they have and vans they have and the drinking?... They have the monies and if you can’t spend $100,000 to affix some mechanism on your boats so that it could secure you, well then come on,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Minister of State Joseph Harmon at his post-Cabinet press briefing on Friday told media operatives that Government will be heightening its counter-piracy activities on local waters which include aerial sur-

“Have you ever seen the houses of some of these fishermen? Have you ever noticed how many cars they have and vans they have and the drinking? – Ramjattan veillance. He underscored the need to pay greater attention to the security of fisherfolk out in the ocean, while adding that Government will be equipping the Coast Guard with as much resources that are available.

On April 27, 2018, four boats were attacked by a group of men who brutalised the occupants then threw them overboard. Two days later, another boat was attacked and the captain was killed. The crew is still missing. Those identified as missing include Ramesh Sanchara, Ganesh Persaud, Vickey Persaud, Glenroy Jones, Bharat Heralall, Ralph Anthony, and Tiaknauth Mohabir. The bodies that were recovered are yet to be positively identified while five persons have survived the attack.

On Thursday, another body washed ashore at the Number 63 Beach and has been identified as Gavin Outar.

So far, Guyanese Police have charged the alleged

mastermind, 38-year-old Nakool Manohar of Number 43 Village, Corentyne. He appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Friday and was accused of committing an armed robbery on fishing vessel Sir Narine; the property of Danishwar Reddy, called “Smallie” between April 1 and 30, 2015 while being in the company of others.

During the robbery, Manohar and his accomplices relieved several fishermen of a 240 horsepower outboard engine valued $1.8 million. In addition, Manohar was also accused of stealing fishing vessel Captain Vikash estimated at $2.3 million, the property of Vikash Balkissoon.

Meanwhile, relatives of the missing fishermen are complaining about the treatment meted out to them by authorities, Surinamese since they are not allowed to view the recovered bodies of the men. Additionally, both Opposition Leader Bharrat

Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan

Jagdeo and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan led separate teams to the Dutch-speaking country where they met with the aggrieved families and Surinamese authorities to discuss the way forward with possible areas for collaboration.

Motion in Parliament On Thursday, the Surinamese Government came under attack by its Opposition for the way it handled the attack on Guyanese fishermen in their jurisdiction. It resulted in the passage a motion in Parliament to provide assistance, among other thing, to the aggrieved parties.

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SunDAY, may 13, 2018 | guyanatimesGY.com

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SunDAY, may 13, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

As crackdown continues

$53.5M to be spent Driver fined for tinted glass on rehabilitation of community A centre grounds s the Guyana Police Force continues its crackdown of cars with heavily tinted glass, another driver was fined for the offence.

Winston Goodluck appeared at the Wales Magistrate’s Court last Thursday and was fined $5000 for prohibition of tinted glass. He accepted the Police prosecution’s case which stated that on April 27, 2018 at Wales, he drove motor vehicle PSS 4072 with glass tinted beyond the legally prescribed Visible Light Transmission percentage (VLT%).

Magistrate Rochelle Liverpool informed Goodluck that he will spend one week in prison if he does not pay the fine. Many car drivers have been frequently engaging in the practice of using darker tint over the years, with many justifying their reasons, highlighting that various levels of Police ranks would drive with tinted glass.

However, owing to security concerns, the Force has been clamping down on such vehicles. At various intervals last year, Police ranks were not excluded from the crackdown as many of their privately owned vehicles were stripped of tint.

In December 2017, Traffic Chief Dion Moore related that 23 vehicles used for patrol purposes were stripped which was added to the 65 vehicles privately owned which were stripped in August of that year.

At the time, the Traffic

Chief had stated that the Police must set an example to the public. “If we are to address the issue of the general public, then we must first look at ourselves; and that is exactly what we are doing. The public must not see us doing the same wrong things that we are punishing them for,” he noted.

Acting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine had also warned officers that unless they have been granted special exemption for tint on their private vehicles, they would

be equally subjected to penalties.

“There is a law for tint.

The law is not for some. The only law I know is when the chief licensing authority grants an exemption, and in a few other cases,” he had noted In was in 2016 that Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan said Government would have moved to review the policy regarding tint on motor vehicles as one of the components of the national crime-fighting strategy.

It was announced then that tint meters would be used to determine the density of the tint on vehicle windows.

As it currently stands, only certain vehicles are permitted to have tint without the expressed permission of the Public Security Minister. These include diplomatic vehicles and those belonging to senior Government and high-ranking military officials.

A

n estimated $53.5 million is expected to be spent soon on the rehabilitation of six community centre grounds that are in deplorable states.

The figure was declared during a tender session at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) on Tuesday.

The centre grounds to be rehabilitated include Blairmont, Region Five (MahaicaBerbice) to the tune of $12.9 million; Rose Hall, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) at $8 million; Albion, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) at $7.7 million; Enmore, Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) at $14.4 million; Wales, Region Three (Essequibo IslandsWest Demerara) at $4.9 million; and Uitvlugt, Region Three (Essequibo IslandsWest Demerara) to the tune of $5.6 million.

These community centre grounds provide not only a recreational space for residents within the area, but also serve to generate income to be used for developmental projects in the various communities.

Important to note is that at least one ground served as a shelter for flood-affected residents in Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara.

Although the community ground was utilised for this troubling period by residents, other community centre grounds are affected by flooding, hence the need for rehabilitative works.

Last year December, the Rose Hall Community Centre Ground underwent an upgrade by the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sport Club that use the facility. There has been no notable works done to the other facilities.

18 news

sunday, may 13, 2018 | guyanatimesGY.com

Demerara Bank hosts public health fair sionals from several organisations in Guyana.

Some of the services that were offered at the fair included cholesterol testing, blood pressure testing, diabetes testing, optical examinations and dental checkups.

Additionally, there was collaboration with the National Blood Transfusion Service (Blood Bank) where persons were given the opportunity to donate blood.

One of the blood donors supporting the blood bank

D

emerara Bank Limited on Saturday opened its doors to the public as the company engaged in its inaugural health fair, which was organised to promote health and safety in the workplace

under the theme ‘Banking on your Health’.

The event, which began early on Saturday morning, saw dozens of people waiting in lines to be tended to by healthcare and fitness profes-

While focusing on fitness as another component of health and wellbeing, trainers from the Evolution Fitness Gym were present to brief persons on ways they can improve not only the physical aspects of healthy living but also mental health and dieting, which can intensify the level of productivity being displayed in the workplace.

Christina Correia of Demerara Bank Ltd explained

that this initiative was organised by the company to spread awareness on various diseases, as well as engage people in discussions to lead healthier lifestyles.

“The aim of the health fair is to promote healthy lifestyles among our employees, their families and our customers.”

She noted that while it is the company’s first venture into organising a public health fair, it is an initiative that they

are seeking to make an annual event.

Several persons who took advantage of the services being offered related that the health fair will result in persons being healthier as they will be given guidelines on how to care for themselves.

Furthermore, many expressed that such events should be organised by other companies to engage the public.

4 homeless after 2nd...

It is believed that “Pumpkin” is connected to the recent deadly pirate attack on Surinamese waters, and the fire was a way of getting back at him.

When asked, a neighbour related that a taxi driv-

er by the name of “Pumpkin” would frequent the house, but this neighbour could not say whether anyone was in the yard when the fire started.

The owner of the first house torched, 30-year-old Vickram Sookraj, recently returned from sea. His sister, Rajputtie Sookraj, who was at home at the time the house was set alight, said two men had exited a silver coloured car, entered the yard, and asked the whereabouts of one “Pumpkin”.

Rajputtie Sookraj told Guyana Times she was at home with a minor child when the men approached her and asked for the individual for

whom they were looking. She responded by telling the men that no one by that name lives at that house.

She said the two men ascended the stairs leading to the upper flat of the house and one of them entered. Shortly after, they exited the premises, telling her, “I did just want to make certain that he wasn’t here.” They both re-entered the vehicle and drove away from the scene.

She noted that she had then seen smoke emanating from the building, and she quickly exited the house with the child, and the Fire Service was summoned.

The Fire Service valiantly

from page 14

battled the blaze, but by the time the fire was contained, the house was already destroyed.

“The thing happened so fast. I wouldn’t be able to point them out, but I know that I never saw them before,” the angry woman related.

The seaman estimates his losses to be in the millions.

He notes that both he and his sister had a lot of furniture in the house. Sookraj is calling on the authorities to quickly bring the perpetrators to justice, as he and his family are now left homeless.

The Police and Fire Service are still conducting investigations.

sunDAY, may 13, 2018

19

Kohli and de Villiers combine to knock Daredevils out of contention R

oyal Challengers Bangalore faced some tough moments against a Delhi Daredevils team that had five players under the age of 24 in a mustwin game, but were guided to a comfortable win by their experienced stalwarts Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. It was Royal Challengers' sixth consecutive win at the Feroz Shah Kotla and it knocked Daredevils - who needed three wins from three to reach the par-tally of 12 points - out of contention for the playoffs.

Kohli and de Villiers combined to make 142 of the 182 runs Royal Challengers needed to win after a whirlwind 46 not out from 17-year-old debutant Abhishek Sharma had dragged the home team back into the game after Rishabh Pant's relatively early dismissal for 61. Daredevils even managed to follow this with two early Royal Challengers wickets in the Powerplay, but were powerless after that as the chase was completed with an over to spare.

have managed to dominate when bowling in the Powerplay. When they last met, Yuzvendra Chahal weaved webs around Jason Roy before sneaking one through and dismissing him for 5 off 16. Daredevils had made the then-lowest Powerplay score of the season, of 28 for 2.

There was no doubt Chahal would be handed the new ball if Daredevils went with Roy over Colin Munro.

They did. And Chahal bowled the first over.

In the bargain, Royal Challengers inadvertently exploited a weakness in Roy's partner too. Prithvi Shaw had been dismissed by a spinner every time he had faced one this season. That pattern continued and it became five dismissals against spin in seven innings for the 18-year-old. Roy was done by a googly in Chahal's next over and Royal Challengers had a reasonable Powerplay again. Daredevils were 44 for 2.

A bowling strategy works for Royal Challengers

Another bowling failure follows

Daredevils are the one team Royal Challengers

But, like last time, Royal Challengers were denied further momentum by the

pair of Shreyas Iyer and Pant. More so the latter, in this case. Pant was characteristically unaesthetic against pace early on, but a slew of short offerings set him up nicely to break the shackles in the eighth over, when Mohammed Siraj's pace accentuated the width he was also giving: the result was two sixes off consecutive deliveries.

Pant's next six came three overs later off Moeen Ali, who had an otherwise productive time against the left-handed batsman. The six was a hurried slog sweep and it was a similar shot off the last ball of Moeen's spell that accounted for the IPL's top-scorer this season, completed with a tumble at wide long-on by de Villiers.

Iyer seemed to be playing a deliberately watchful innings to make up for a thin middle order. And if Pant's dismissal in the 13th over had wiped runs off of Daredevils' final score, Iyer's scratchy partnership with Vijay Shankar and tame end at the start of the 16th over - for 32 off 35 - amplified those effects.

Except, the relative mys-

tery around the left-handed 17-year old who came in at No. 6 caught Royal Challengers off guard.

Abhishek was fed a length ball outside off first up from Siraj and he launched it over mid-off with no fuss. Siraj then dropped the teenager at third man in the next over. It got him four runs too, before 12 off the next two.

A belligerent Abhishek was then offered the chance to play more of his favourite shot - the punch on the up through some more generous length bowling. He lifted Daredevils, whose No. 7 was likely to be Harshal Patel, to a more than challenging total.

The knockout punch

Royal Challengers promoted Moeen to open alongside Parthiv Patel, but they were both dismissed inside the first three overs. Parthiv fell to Nepal legspinner another 17-year-old debutant on the night - Sandeep Lamichhane, who bowled a sufficiently slow pace on a pitch that offered turn.

But Daredevils found no control at the other end.

Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers share a lighter moment

In the very next over after Parthiv fell, Junior Dala was given a hammering by Kohli, who took a liking to the fast bowler's skid and angle into him by first whipping a six wide of long-on, and then going against the angle next ball to punch him wide of mid-off. It was a sign of the complete dominance to come.

In de Villiers' company, Kohli played out Lamichhane and the pair put on a 118-run stand that featured at least a boundary every over. Kohli fell with Royal Challengers 46 runs away, and it was de Villiers' cue to start hopping about

the crease laterally to open up new gaps - including his favoured one over short fine leg.

De Villiers hit six sixes on the night, one more than his five during his unbeaten 90 against Daredevils that had sealed a win with two overs to spare last time round. And while the same force wasn't on display on Saturday, the intent to see them through to the end was. He did it with a clean lofted drive off Trent Boult.

Royal Challengers are now mathermatically capable of hitting 14 points and making a late entry into the playoffs.

(ESPNCricinfo)

20

guyanatimesGY.com

sunDAY, may 13, 2018

Rain forces GCB to abandon Women’s T20 Inter-County tournament

T

Head Coach Andre Percival and the dominant Berbice Team pose with their winning trophy

orrential rains have inevitably forced abandonment of the Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB’s) 2018 Senior Female Inter-County T20 Tournament without a game being played.

The three respective matches which were originally set for Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Everest Ground were subsequently abandoned

following an inspection of the ground.

The decision was made on Saturday, May 12, on the day of the second-round match between Berbice and Essequibo.

After their inspection, match officials deemed conditions unsuitable for play for the remainder of the tournament. Berbice, as a result, have unanimously swept both Inter-County series, having retained their 50-Over

title by beating Demerara, and their T20 title by virtue of the abandonment.

The inclement weather had affected a number of GCB games in recent weeks, but it has taken a significant toll on venues across the city over the last week. Meanwhile, the GCB have confirmed that selectors will now shortlist 24 ladies for encampment, following the cancellation of the T20 series.

Unity Cup Softball…

Success Enforcers make dream start S uccess Enforcers have destroyed Good Hope by a massive 118 runs in the Male Open category of the Unity Cup Softball Tournament organized by the Guyana Softball League.

Enforcers batted first and rattled up a huge 1745 in 10 overs, then restricted Good Hope to a paltry 82 in 8 overs, as the bowlers enjoyed a good day on their home ground in front of a small crowd.

In the other match, played before the ground became waterlogged, Success Warriors showed off their all-round ability by hammering Hope Warriors by 113 runs in another good day for the Success boys.

Warriors batted first and sent a strong message to the others -- 165-7 in their 10 overs. In reply, Hope Warriors were dismissed for 52 in 9.3 overs, their batsmen struggling to come to grips with the Warriors’ bowlers.

Meanwhile, the others areas were unable to make a start, as the rains made the grounds unplayable. The reps are waiting for some ease in order to have a start.

Should weather permit, matches would continue today at Success, with

Enterprise versus Success Under-15 from 09:00h, followed by Durban Quarry against Strikers from 11:30h; and then Enterprise Youth would come against Better Hope XI before Accomplishment Youths battle Farm XI. The quarter-finals of the tournament will have special prizes for teams making it that far. The registration will continue in each area, as the tournament hopes to have participation from each area.

Prizes being offered are as follows: Male Open champion - $50,000 and one of the Unity Cups as well as championship rings; Female Open champion - $25,000 and one Unity Cup; Masters champion $20,000 and one Unity Cup; MVP- trophies and one package which includes electronic accessories. A special prize is also on the cards for the representative who garners the most teams.

Other promotional items would also be given on the spot to sporting fans. The various grounds to be used are: Success, Better Hope, Mahaica, Leonora Primary, Uitvlugt, Parika, Scott Field, and Port Mourant.

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D

espite onset of severe rainy weather, the Lusignan Golf Club course is ready to host the 2018 Miss World Guyana pageant’s Sports and Fitness competition.

The event, which lasts from 14:00h to 16:00h, will see the 10 finalist being tasked with showing off their graceful physical prowess and mental attitude in regard to sports.

The Mother’s Day extravaganza will be a special occasion for the LGC, as such an event

has never previously been held there. LGC president, Aleem Hussain, told Guyana Times Sport on Saturday that, thanks to tremendous upgrades, both indoor and outdoor competitions can be staged at the venue even if there is a rainstorm.

He said that with the overall venue being in the best shape of its life, Sunday’s gala will run off smoothly. The contestants, who last month met with Minister of Social Cohesion/Sport,

Bartica FA to host Independence Cup Championships

T

he Bartica Football Association, in partnership with the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), will host an Independence Cup Championship from May 13 – 26 at the Bartica Secondary School Ground.

The two-week tournament follows a meeting hosted by the GFF president, Wayne Forde, on Saturday, May 5, in the community, and will be coordinated by a fiveman team consisting of Sherwin DaSilva, Elwes Jones, Curtis Joseph, Kenneth Edwards and Alden Marslowe.

The meeting also resulted in the establishment of a “Resuscitation Working Group” comprising nine persons.

I n a n

invited comment, Marslowe said the tournament is geared to “accelerate the revival of the sport in Bartica, and is also a prelude to the work of the new Executive Committee, since the tournament will conclude on (May) 26th, when elections are scheduled, and the new executive body will be elected to carry on the initiative.”

The championships will feature senior footballers from eight clubs:– Beacons, Rising Stars, Mil Ballers, Lazio, Potaro Strikers, River’s View, Wolves United and Byderabo Strikers, and will be played in two round-robin groups, with two teams from each group advancing to the semifinals after the first round.

After the GFF president, Forde, officially declares the tournament open at 13:30 hrs, a double-header would see Beacons FC take on Mil Ballers FC in the curtain raiser at 14:00hrs, then Rising Stars FC battle Lazio FC from 16:00hrs.

Dr George Norton, will be tasked with showing their knowledge regarding the importance of pursuing healthy lifestyles through the use of sports and exercise.

The Miss World Guyana finalists in this year’s pageant are: Ambika Ramraj, Andrea Marslowe, Breeanka West, Dianna Persaud, Donnette Linton, Joylyn Conway, Lalita Baliram, Lateifha Goodluck, Nichola Munroe, and Tracy Smith.

22

guyanatimesgy.com

sunDAY, may 13, 2018

GFF honours outstanding members

G

GFF President Wayne Forde flanked by the awardees

uyana’s football fraternity was celebrated in fine style on Friday evening as the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) hosted their Awards ceremony, honouring the contributions that players, coaches, referees, private entities and the media have made to the improvement of the sport. The Federation, now in its 116th year, has a total of 2,160 registered

players in its Regional Member Associations (RMA).

Delivering the feature address, President of the GFF, Wayne Forde, highlighted the strides that the Federation has made to improve the level of football and pave the way for Guyana’s participation in the 2016 FIFA World Cup. The Federation is also in talks with Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to imple-

ment secondary and primary school leagues and give a boost to the fast rising popularity of football in the hinterland regions.

“My administration’s priorities during the past two and a half years have been deliberately focused on stabilizing the football fraternity, unifying the football family, rebuilding the image of the sport, and establishing a clear vision for the game,”

Forde stated.

Foremost, the Federation took the time out to honour its sponsors and partners, who have contributed significantly to the GFF’s work. Corporate giants such as Camex Restaurants/ Church’s Chicken, Banks DIH, ANSA McAL, Digicel, Bank of Nova Scotia, Pele Alumni Corporation, Knight Rider Bus Service, Henry Chase Academy and NAMILCO were among those recognized.

The highly anticipated Presidential Merit Award was given to Gordon Braithwaite, who has been playing since the 1960s, for his lifelong contribution to the sport.

Jamal Shabazz has been hailed as the most successful National Team Coach.

The other awardees included: GFF Association of the year- The East Bank football association GFF Most Improved Association- Rupununi association GFF Print media Journalist of the Year- Rawle Toney GFF Non-Print Journalist of the Year- Travis Hopkinson GFF Online Journalist of the Year- Avinash Ramzan GFF Photographer of the Year- Orlando Charles GFF Senior Club of the year- Guyana Defence Force FC GFF Junior Club of the year- Fruta Conquerors GFF Fair Play Award- Buxton United FC GFF Female Assistant Referee of the Year- Marineika Welcome GFF Male Assistant Referee of the Year- Kevin Stephens GFF Female Referee of the Year- Maurees Skeete GFF Male Assistant Referee of the Year- Gladwyn Johnson GFF Female Coach of the Year- Akilah Castello GFF Male Coach of the Year- Male Coach Bilaal Nantambu GFF Female Junior Footballer of the Year- Jalade Trim GFF Male Junior Footballer of the Year- Orville Daniels GFF Female Footballer of the Year- Tiandi Smith GFF Male Footballer of the Year- Sherwyn Ceasar

guyanatimesgy.com

sunDAY, may 13, 2018

“World Archery Clinic immensely important,” says Hing

23

– AG targeting schools

T

he Director General of Archery Guyana, Nicholas Hing, has said the recently concluded World Archery Coaching Clinic has fulfilled a crucial role in the progression of the sport locally.

Hing on Saturday told Guyana Times Sport he was happy with the outcome of things after AG wrapped up the 8-day-long Level 1 course, facilitated by world renowned instructor Phillip Graves of the USA. “The course was immensely important. This was, as you know, not just a course in archery, but a seminar for coach certification. This meant that every participant, all 19 of us, had to learn (or re-learn) the fundamentals of properly practising and being able to teach archery,” Hing explained.

Greaves, a Level 4, NTS,

CT Coach with a long portfolio to boot, ensured that participants, who arrived from Regions 1, 4, 7, 8 and 9, were properly certified following the conclusion of the clinic, held at the National racquet Centre on Woolford Avenue.

Speaking on the significance of having this particular coach on board the session, Hing said: “Mr Phil Graves of World Archery Americas is a Level 4 NTS Coach and National Judge. He developed the Coach Certification and Assessment programme which was accepted and made mandatory by WAA. “He also assisted in the development of the Caribbean Championships, which help to prepare intermediate level archers for international competition, and to gain valuable competition experience. He has definitely given the sport a

push in the right direction,” Hing pointed out.

The interactive course saw a number of topics being discussed and reviewed, but Hing has identified specific areas which he thinks were most beneficial to the participants.

He continued, “All that we learned during the 8 days is now going to be dispensed throughout Guyana by those of us from the 5 regions that participated”.

“The most important, I think, was learning the shot process, and being able to teach it to beginners, and the Safety rules. The shot process is a set of positions and movements (that begin) from the time an archer stands on the shooting line to the time he or she releases the arrow. The safety rules must be adhered to at all times, during practice and at competitions”.

Powerlifters to test their strength at today’s Intermediate/Masters championships

T

he test of raw physical power will occur at the St Stanislaus College auditorium today when many of the country’s t o p

Seventy-year-old Noel Cummings, also an active body

powerlifters go on show in the Intermediate/Masters championships.

A total of 33 persons have already signed on to test their physical mettle. Three of those persons are already over the age of 65 – an age at which ordinary mortals retire.

Today’s big attraction is set to be 74-year-old Nairanjan Singh, Guyana’s oldest competing, gold medal-winning, and r ec or d-hold ing powerlifter.

builde r , will be in action as well; as would be the 66-year-old Frank Tucker.

In 2017, Martin Webster of Buddy’s Gym, “Big” John Edwards of Space Gym, and Farouk Abdool of the Hardcore Gym -- all masters athletes -- rewrote the record books. Sunday’s events start with ‘Flight A’ at 09:00h; then ‘flight B’ from 13:00h. The participating athletes are required to be at the venue for weigh-in at 07:00h.

Concluding his interview with this publication, Hing added that a new direction has now been forged, and he expects the sport to have a clearer path to expansion.

“We have held discussions with the Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr George Norton, and the Director of Sport, Christopher Jones. Mr Jones has indicated that he is engaging the Chief Education Officer of the Education Ministry to include archery in the P.E. programmes in schools, and have archery as one of the events at school sports, eventually leading into Regional and National Schools’ Competitions”.

“The ‘archery in schools programme’ is also part of

Archery Guyana Director General Nicholas Hing Archery Guyana’s National Development Programme too, so this lends to what the NSC and Education Ministry are doing.

Eventually, we hope to have university scholarships for our youth archers, who will

be representing the country in the near future. Our regional coaches are also laying the groundwork in their respective communities to begin their school programmes,” Hing explained.

(Clifton Ross)

SUNDAY, MAY 13, 2018

Sports is no longer our game, it’s our business

guyanatimesgy.com

Pg 23

Powerlifters to test their strength at today’s Intermediate/ Masters Some gusty action is anticipated today at the St Stanislaus College auditorium

Pg 23

“World Archery Clinic immensely important,” says Hing – AG targeting schools

Archery Guyana Director General Nicholas Hing (second from right sitting) along with instructor Phillip Graves (centre sitting) and other participants after the end of the clinic

GUYANA TIMES - www.guyanatimesgy.com, email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, NEWS HOTLINE: 231-8063 EDITORIAL: 223-7230, 223-7231, 231-0544, 225-7761 SPORT: sport@guyanatimesgy.com SALES AND MARKETING: 231-8064 - lezas@guyanatimesgy.com - PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GUYANA TIMES INC.

May 13, 2018

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2 Sunday Times Magazine

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MAY 13, 2018

Feature

M

other’s Day is a holiday honoring motherhood that is observed in different forms throughout the world, and Mother’s Day 2018 occurs on Sunday, May 13. The American incarnation of Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official U.S. holiday in 1914. Jarvis would later

dren would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mother’s Day in the 1930s and 1940s.

Did You Know?

More phone calls are made

“If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.” Stevie Wonder denounce the holiday’s commercialisation and spent the latter part of her life trying to remove it from the calendar. While dates and celebrations vary, Mother’s Day traditionally involves presenting moms with flowers, cards and other gifts.

History of mother’s day

Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian f e s t i v a l

on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year. These holiday chats with Mom often cause phone traffic to spike by as much as 37 percent.

Ann Reeves Jarvis and Julia Ward Howe

The origins of Mother’s Day as celebrated in the United States date back to the 19th century. In the years before the Civil War, Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia helped start “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” to teach local women how to properly care for their children.

These clubs later became a unifying force in a region of the country still

Howe campaigned for a “Mother’s Peace Day” to be celebrated every June 2.

Other early Mother’s Day pioneers include Juliet Calhoun Blakely, a temperance activist who inspired a local Mother’s Day in Albion, Michigan, in the 1870s.

The duo of Mary Towles Sasseen and Frank Hering, meanwhile, both worked to organize a Mothers’ Day in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some have even called Hering “the father of Mothers’ Day.”

Anna Jarvis

The official Mother’s Day holiday arose in the 1900s as a result of the efforts of Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis.

Following her mother’s 1905 death, Anna Jarvis conceived of Mother’s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. Anna’s mom really adored carnations, so when Anna created Mother’s Day she made red and white carnations the official Mother’s Day flower!

People would wear a red carnation to celebrate a living mom, and a white one to honor a deceased mother.

After gaining finan-

Ann (left) and her daughter Anna Jarvis

known as “Mothering Sunday.”

Once a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, this celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church”—the main church in the vicinity of their home—for a special service.

Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and chil-

divided over the Civil War. In 1868 Jarvis organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation.

Another precursor to Mother’s Day came from the abolitionist and suffragette Julia Ward Howe.

In 1870 Howe wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” a call to action that asked mothers to unite in promoting world peace. In 1873

cial backing from a Philadelphia department store owner named John Wanamaker, in May 1908 she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia.

That same day also saw thousands of people attend a Mother’s Day event at one of Wanamaker’s retail stores in Philadelphia.

Following the success of her first Mother’s Day, Jarvis—who

Ann Jarvis with her daughter as a baby

remained unmarried and childless her whole life—resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar. Arguing that American holidays were biased toward male achievements, she started a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians urging the adoption of a special day honoring motherhood.

By 1912 many states, towns and churches had adopted Mother’s Day as an annual holiday, and Jarvis had established the Mother’s Day International Association to help promote her cause. Her persistence paid off in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Anna Jarvis had originally conceived of Mother’s Day as a day of personal celebration between mothers and families. Her version of the day involved wearing a white carnation as a badge and visiting one’s mother or attending church services. But once Mother’s Day became a national holiday, it was not long before florists, card companies and other merchants capitalized on its popularity.

While Jarvis had initially worked with the floral industry to help raise Mother’s Day’s profile, by 1920 she had become disgusted with how the holiday had been commercialized. She outwardly denounced the transformation and urged people to stop buying Mother’s Day flowers, cards and candies. Jarvis eventually resorted to an open campaign against Mother’s Day profiteers, speaking out against confectioners, florists and even charities. She also launched countless lawsuits against groups that had used the

name “Mother’s Day,” eventually spending most of her personal wealth in legal fees. By the time of her death in 1948 Jarvis had disowned the holiday altogether, and even actively lobbied the government to see it removed from the American calendar.

Mother’s Day around The World

While versions of Mother’s Day are celebrated worldwide, traditions vary depending on the country. In Thailand, for example, Mother’s Day is always celebrated in August on the birthday of the current queen, Sirikit.

Another alternate observance of Mother’s Day can be found in Ethiopia, where families gather each fall to sing songs and eat a large feast as part of Antrosht, a multi-day celebration honoring motherhood.

In North America, Mother’s Day continues to be celebrated by presenting mothers and other women with gifts and flowers, and it has become one of the biggest holidays for consumer spending.

Families also celebrate by giving mothers a day off from activities like cooking or other household chores. At times, Mother’s Day has also been a date for launching political or feminist causes.

In 1968 Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., used Mother’s Day to host a march in support of underprivileged women and children. In the 1970s women’s groups also used the holiday as a time to highlight the need for equal rights and access to childcare.(Cover photo: First Lady, Mrs. Sandra Granger meets some of the contestants of the Mother and Daughter Pageant 2018, in the Baridi Benab at State House.)

guyanatimesgy.com

MAY 13, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine

3

...Steadfast

“M

y grandson would’ve been five years old this December because he was four when he got the accident.

Presently, we miss him very much and because of that we won’t be celebrating Mother’s Day this year.” These were the sad words of Ms. Bibi Nazmoon, grandmother of Ramkaran Mohan, who was tragically killed in a car accident, last year, when he was just four years old.

The little boy’s life was snuffed out on the faithful morning of March 15, 2017 just a short distance away from his Lot 1088 Tushcen New Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) home.

On a day like any other, Ramkaran was reportedly playing joyfully with his brother and teenage uncle; the three were on their way to a shop obliquely opposite their home to purchase a ball when tragedy struck. A woman, who

The four-yearold victim’s classmates joined the call for justice after his tragic passing . (Samuel Maughn photo)

according to witnesses, was known to be a reckless driver, was on that day speeding-as per normal.

The unsuspecting lad, who was standing in the corner of the road with his uncle, who was holding him and h i s

brother's hands waiting for the woman to pass, was hooked by the speeding vehicle, motorcar PVV5084, which reportedly swerved into the corner of the road. The child was then run over and dragged by the vehicle. After the horrific incident, the teenage uncle then ran behind the woman to signal her to stop. It was only then that she saw the little boy and realised what had happened.

The injured child was then quickly picked up and rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Ramkaran’s parents had no clue as to the tragedy which had befallen their family; it was only after the child was already on his way to the hospital, that were they informed.

Distraught and in disbelief, the family quickly rushed to the Leonora Cottage Hospital however, they were unaware that it was already too late.

The boy had died. The young lad was buried a week later fol-

lowing a heart rendering funeral service.

For the family, no amount of time will heal their wounds or fill the void left, as Ramkaran’s absence is felt every day. It is particularly difficult on holidays, and mother’s day is no exception.

The young lad’s grandmother explained just how difficult the last few months have been, she said, “Actually, we don’t celebrate no occasion anymore.

Since we lost that child, we’re not celebrating any occasion.

The family is in state of mourning because we’re not getting justice.

He was a joyous child and the light of this house because he was a very loving, caring and joyful child to us. Since that child gone

from us, we don’t know what life is because the house is dull.”

The time has also done nothing to assuage the fam-

ily’s anger and desire for justice on behalf of little Mohan.

According to Ms. Nazmoon, the wound in their hearts, especially his mother , only widens as they continue to wait for justice .

She explained, “Presently, nothing is coming out of the case. We’re just back and forth trying to understand what is happening. We have tried many ways of getting justice. I went to the police and they said that the case is before the court and that they have to wait on the judge to fix a date. They said they have to get a 12 member jury to try the case in court. We cannot wait anymore for the case to be finished.”

While the time passes, the love that the family has for little Ramkarran Mohan continues to endure.

4

Sunday Times Magazine

MAY 13, 2018

guyanatimesgy.com

‌Unconditional

The proud mother with all of her children

By Utamu Belle

W

hile the past few years have been especially challenging for 33- yearold Linden mother of 7, Ronella Jervis, she stunningly manages to beat the odds, overcoming daily challenges associated with caring for three of her children who are visually impaired. Jervis, who lives with her husband and children at Blueberry Hill, Wismar, Linden first found out that her eldest son, now 16 had the disease Congenital toxoplasmosis, while he was just around 13 years old.

She would later find out the heartbreaking news, that another one of her sons, now aged 14 and her daughter, now 6 years -old also contracted the disease. "After getting my third son, I found out about the disease", Jervis related. Congenital toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by a protozoan parasite, toxoplasma gondii, which is transmitted from mother to fetus causing visual, hearing, motor, cognitive and other difficulties with the child. As Jervis would relate, it started off with a "jerking" movement of the eyes, then impaired vision. "We already knew they had an eye problem, but we said probably glasses would rectify it. We thought they just had jumpy eyes, until the eldest one get blind in the left eye completely", she explained.

When the now 16-year-old complained to his teacher of not being able to see properly in his left eye, it prompted a hospital visit, followed by the diagnosis. She later learned that she had a strain of the disease which was transmitted to her children. "The doctor said it's likely the first, second and fourth children would be affected by the disease", Jervis said. However, according to Jervis her daughter's vision has not been as badly affected as her sons'. One has gone completely blind while the other is partially impaired, a situation, which she was told cannot be rectified. "The doctor said it is active like when you're around cats or if your meat ain't cook properly or if you been in the

interior. I does still find it hard to understand where I got this disease from. And my second boy, he loves animals, so it's hard for him", she said.

Achievements and challenges

Despite this, the boys are high achievers, as Jervis is a firm believer that education is a must for her children, the youngest being 6 months old. Both, her 16 and 14 year old sons were awarded places at the leading high school in Linden, the MacKenzie High school, after sitting the National Grade 6 Assessment Examinations. She said

Grade 10 (Form 4) since, as she explained he was not receiving the special attention he required in school. "He's not attending MacKenzie High right now because it's pure hopes. With all the SBA's (School Based Assessments) and there we're much teachers at the Blind Unit at the time. The teachers weren't regular and he wasn't getting all the notes and so on", she indicated. On the other hand, Jervis said things are different for her other son who receives tremendous help from his school friends. Despite his condition, she said

Jervis with 3 of her children ( the eldest son at right)

too that her second son, who attended the Blind Society Unit based at the Wismar Hill Primary in Linden, received necessary assistance with writing his entry exams. Life at high school has been difficult for both boys. "When it comes to education, the Blind Society Unit, they really help out.

The teachers are amazing. When they wrote the exams the Ministry sent a reader and a writer because their vision was very weak.

But the secondary system, it is really really hard", Jervis said.

It became so hard that her 16-yearold son recently dropped out of school in

he manages to walk to and from school. "He does walk with faith. I does say whatever he do, he do it by faith. His vision is very poor. So it's really hard", the mother said.

She explained that there are issues catching the boat from Wismar to MacKenzie, as he has difficulty boarding the boat, he would have to sit at the boat's bough. "Some people would tell him to get up because they don't understand his condition". "People would tell him to look where he's going,� the concerned mother added.

No Support

She is now contemplating sending her older son back to school with the help of the Welfare Department. "I would send him back, even if it's not at MacKenzie High because I want him to finish his secondary education. They now have a Special Needs Welfare so if they attach a teacher to him I have no problem, because they don't have any teacher placed at the Secondary school that could help them", Jervis said, as she outlined that sending her son to the Blind Society in Georgetown will be too costly.

"We ask long for a bus that could bring them and carry them because they get bullied a lot. People would beat them up a lot when they were small. And to say who did it, they can't say. People does take advantage of them a lot because of their condition", Jervis lamented.

She also pointed to the stigma attached to the situation as she noted that people would smirk at her for having blind children. Despite this, she noted that she is proud of their achievements. Jervis is telling her story to spread awareness, with the hopes that other families in similar situations would be able to receive the necessary support. She said she has made several appeals via the media but has not received much help, noting that she hopes more could be done for persons living with disabilities. Jervis said it has been challenging to acquire public assistance after being told by an official that she was not eligible.

"That is why I make a claim whereby I can get public assistance. Because they're condition is just like a disability. People does got to do things for them", she noted. "My children are growing and I does assist them in any way. I'm asking on the part of the Government, to assist at least when it comes to education. I'm asking for the Government to look out for children with disabilities, whether they attend a normal school or the disability school, whereby they could get a normal education just like everybody else", a teary-eyed Jervis said. Both of the affected boys dream of becoming musicians and even recorded a viral musical video which they prepared in the spirit of this year’s Linden Town Week event.

guyanatimesgy.com

MAY 13, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 5

...Enduring

G

od could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers...today as we celebrate Mother's Day we reflect on the many struggles our mothers endure during their lifetime for the welfare of their families.

Born to Jaso and Totaram Soorjie on the 7th of October 1942 in the humble village of Columbia on the Essequibo Coast was a

darling baby daughter. She was the fourth child and was so sweet that her Ajee (father’s mother) called her Rose and that was the name given to her. Rosy Soorgie had to leave school when she was only twelve yearsold to join her parents in the rice fields to help maintain the family which quickly grew to sixteen persons, including her parents.

At age 17, on the 19th of March 1960, she was married in a matched wedding to Manoo Bissessar of plantation Hampton Court. By her second Sunday she was back in the rice fields with her husband and in laws, but this time it was not easy for her because her in laws were cultivating over one hundred acres of rice land. She woke up at about three o’clock every morning to cook over sixty roti for breakfast and made lunch to take to the back dam for

the very big family of close to thirty; in those days everyone lived together and some had to sleep on the floor with mattresses made out of dried rice straw.

The men ploughed the land with bulls while the others, including the women and children in the family, helped to clear the land of weeds, planted the rice, dug drains, cut the ripe grains with grass knives,

and helped to take the straw to the thatched house where the men used the bulls to separate the grains from the straw. The paddy was then taken to the rice mill for sale.

Mrs Soorgie also remembers staying in the “back dams” sometimes for over three months to take care of the family plantation and while there, she would help to milk the cows and sell the milk. Life wasn't easy, she recalled, but that was the culture then and although it was very hard, she now views the experience as “good in a way to keep the body fit”. It also fostered a sense of closeness with the relatives sharing the same home. After living with her in laws for twelve years, the couple bought a property at lot 72 Hampton Court from her husband’s grandmoth-

er for three hundred dollars; this is the same home where Rosy now lives with her son, Gopie and daughter-in- law Baby.

After the death of her husband on the 17th of August 1992, the woman related that she continued to “work hard” to give her four sons and daughter the best of everything she could afford.

She remembers well, when the Sankars bought the Hampton Court Estate from the Mc Dooms and transformed the village into a modernised one, with a modern Rice Factory, Air strip, modern machinery for rice cultivation, a modernised drainage system and all weather farm roads, thereby creating jobs for hundreds . Eventually the entire rice industry was transformed; farmers had moved from cultivating from twenty bags to fifty bags per acre. “Thanks to the Sankars who eventually take us out of the mud,” she stated.

“To be a mother is a god given role and my only wish this mother’s day is that all mothers lived by example, for you is your child's first teacher and role model.

Always remember what you put in, that will come out,” Rosy reminded. She also used the opportunity to remind all parents to be good examples for their children, so that every day will be

mother's day.

New Arrivals: Loading for Venezuela; Rice Harvest; and Plantation life (Photo

courtesy General-Secretary of RPA, late Mr. Pariag Sukhai)

6 Sunday Times Magazine

guyanatimesgy.com

MAY 13, 2018

...Inspiring

W

hile a mother’s love is invaluable, there are many fathers the world over who have had to assume the role of both parents. As a single parent to three teenage boys, Richard Moshette’s story of raising his children can be a true inspiration to many.

The 43 - yearold, Region 2 resident has been the sole bread winner and care giver for his family ever since his wife of 13 years, left their home.

During an interview with the Sunday Times Magazine, Richard disclosed that he puts his responsibility to his children above all else. This he pointed out revolves around the role of mother and father.

Caregiver “Well I got to try with it. I never give up and as long as I live, is me will look after them to the last,” the father explained as he gave some insight to what his days are like.

While there are many other fathers who also struggle with multiple roles, Richard’s case is quite unique; not only is he a single parent but the hardworking care giver is also an amputee.

A few years ago, he made the difficult decision to amputate his right leg, due to diabetes. This “difficult decision” was made to ensure he would live to care

for

Crafting his toys

Kevin lovingly hugs his father

h i s three s o n s .

According to the man, his troubles escalated from there as shortly after, his wife left.

“She left me with the three boys. She left them but I never gave up. How could a mother do that to she own children? Richard questioned.

Even with his physical challenges, the father of three does not have the luxury of dwelling on his circumstances; rather, he works tirelessly to ensure his boys can improve their chances in life.

He proudly explained that, although he has difficulty getting around with

just o n e leg, he ensures his children are taken care of , most importantly, he ensures that they get the necessary education.

“The boys are now 18, 16 and 14- years old now; the big one is out of school and he working and would help out. The other two still in school .I doing what I can for them now, it is up to them when they grow big…” he continued.

Provider Toy making is now his primary source of income, and according to the father, it requires a lot of patience and determina-

Richard displays his handcrafted toys

tion. He said “From the time I open my eyes in the morning I make sure I get food on, then I wash and after I sit and make the toys. I sit there until about three in the afternoon. It take patience too. Then I have to get dinner. It lil’ hard but when the boys get bigger it will get better.” He jokingly explained that he wished the nights were longer, so that he could get a little more sleep.

“From the time I wake in the morning, I think about making an extra dollar for my children. Sometimes I sell one toy and that would be enough for the day. I will never give up as a father,” Richard added.

Before his amputation, Richard worked as carpenter; however, he had to search for another source of income after losing his leg.

That was when he remem-

bered making toy tractors during his childhood. He then visited a nearby sawmill and requested “scrap” wood, which he crafted into a fun toy tractor.

Subsequently, he made a toy Hymac, a truck and an entire house. According to the toymaker, his craft is supported by the villagers, who continue to give him encouragement.

He said, “The families in Essequibo support the business. The main challenge is getting the toys to Georgetown.” The toy maker also has high praises for his mother, Rosie Moshette, for giving him faith and support.

Richard recently participated in the Essequibo Expo and proudly explained that he did manage to sell a few pieces.

Counselor Despite the demands on his time and the great

amount of energy it takes to complete the daily routine, the doting father still finds the time to sit and talk to his sons; advising them and showing them the value of hard work and sacrifice.

“I sit and talk to them.

They know the value of hard work and I also tell them about my life . Like before my leg was cut off, I have lots of friends coming by, after there was no one.

They don’t follow friends and so,” he stated.

With no knowledge of what the future holds, the father of three affirmed that he will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that his boys are taken care of. “Me nah rest,” he declared. He also expressed the hope that when his sons are older , they will live by his example.

guyanatimesgy.com

MAY 13, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 7

Literary Corner

By John Edwards Jenkins First published in 1871 reprinted

by The Caribbean Press, 2010 by

Petamber Persaud

I

magine your feelings come payday after toiling ten hours a day for six days in the open and told that you have no money to collect. Imagine sometimes never being told the reason/s.

And when what you are told sounds ridiculous.

Imagine being given a ‘task’ which is constantly changing parameters resulting in you being accused dereliction of duty or desertion with a loss of wages.

Imagine being dismissed from hospital far from being healthy and forced to work in special work camps for convalescents. Here if you pause to catch your breath, you are charged for idleness and dereliction of duty. You are subsequently fined, or imprisoned. Imagine your chagrin being dragged from hospital to prison.

Imagine you are pregnant, nearing time of confinement, and you are sent to prison for slacking on the job.

Imagine your woman forced into a practice of polyandry because of the scarcity of women on the plantation leading to crimes of passion including wife murders.

Imagine you are bounded by laws which are interpreted by magistrates who are afraid of the lawmakers and thus interpreted in favour of the plantocracy.

Imagine a life of daily harassment, poor hygiene, insanitary conditions, inadequate medical facilities, arbitrary incarceration, and scanty accommodation.

That was the prevailing condition of the coolies (Indian and Chinese indentures) especially of the late 19th century. The advent of the coolie to British Guiana was a replacement of the labour force, a labour force of enslaved Africans recently gaining emancipation and abandoning the estate. The condition of the coolie was labelled very early as a new form of slavery. ‘The Bristol Mercury’ of 1838, denouncing the system, described it as ‘a renewal of the slavetrade in the first instance, and a perpetuation of slavery in the second’.

Those are some of the wrongs administered on the Coolie as tabulated in a 134-point, twenty-eightprinted-page letter of Mr. Des Voeux to Earl Granville, dated 25 December, 1869, complaining about the wrongs of the Coolie in Guyana while Des Voeux was the stipendiary magistrate in the colony.

Des Voeux was that magis-

vestigate the condition of Indian (and Chinese) immigrants in British Guiana.

However, all that came out of that enquiry, amounting to 954 paragraphs, was a call ‘for limited and partial reform, leaving intact the essential structure of the system’.

This outcome was unsatisfactory especially to

trate who was hounded form district to district in the colony of British Guiana by the plantocracy because of his balanced interpretation of the laws, a stand that was critical and unfavourable to the plantocracy. Des Voeux eventually had to leave, more precise, forced out of, the colony for a new posting in St. Lucia from where he penned his letter of complaints and recommendations.

Des Voeux was not the only one to complain. There were other individuals and organisations cognisant of the plight of the immigrants.

Even the newspapers of the day got hold and published the transgressions.

Eventually in 1870, a Royal Commission of Enquiry was set up to in-

the Aborigines Protection Society and the Anti-Slavery Society which contracted John Edwards Jenkins, ‘a radical barrister particularly sensitive to imperial issues’ to review the findings of the Commission.

The Coolie, His Rights and Wrongs is the result of that review by Jenkins which is described in the introduction of the book as ‘a meticulous work in which he denounced the corruption of officers and magistrates involved in the immigration system and offered a forthright account of what he had witnessed in British Guiana.

Biased laws, arbitrary incarceration, unfair wages, scarcity of women, inadequate accommodation and daily aggravations, made the immigrants’ life miserable and

jeopardised the well-being of the colony’. David Dabydeen describes ‘The Coolie’ as ‘a work of monumental detail, its 446 pages the most comprehensive account of the indentureship system in the nineteenth century’. All of that couples with an appendix running into more than sixty pages, Jenkins defends, ‘I may add that long as is the Appendix, it will be found to repay a careful perusal’.

Of course, there were voices of opposition to his findings but this only serve to encourage Jenkins in his work as a social reformer. So incest and concern about the situation that he went universal with his findings. He specially edited an American edition ‘in the light of the international interests surrounding his subject…that the ‘coolie’ question extended beyond the British dimension’.

Unwilling to let the subject rest, Jenkins in 1877, fictionalised his findings into a novel, Lutchmee and Dilloo which set a number of landmarks chief among those landmarks was the fact that for the first time in English literature ‘coolies’ were made a subject for fiction. Jenkins, in the preface, admitted ‘the field is a new one for fiction, but human nature still bears out the wisdom of the poet who declared that it does not change with clime’.

But as commendable as were his efforts, Jenkins admits in the end that it was all ‘in the general interest of colonial well-being and good governance’.

John Edward Jenkins was born in 1838 in Bangalore, India, the same year that the first batch of Indians was shipped from India to the British Guiana as indentured labourers.

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@ yahoo.com What’s happening: Check out Guyana Book Foundation, 66 New Garden & Anaira Streets, ‘Matching Fund Project’ between May 2 and July 20, 2018, for all levels of books at concessionary price. For further information, please call 227-4942.

Notice to Readers

A Mother's Love

She is like the sea waves coming and going, She is my eternal wind always blowing.

In times of trouble she is always there, She gave me love because she cares.

You hide me like an eagle under your wings, You nursed me as a babe; you are my everything.

A mother's love is very hard to find, Wherever I go you are planted on my mind.

You are like a hidden diamond in my heart, Your immortal love for me will never depart.

You scold me to be the great man I am today, You are my guardian angel when I kneel to pray.

I see the moon smiling in your sacred eyes, Your pristine beauty is God's everlasting prize.

I hear your words coming like the wind in rains, The rains washed out my heart full of pains.

I heard your silent footsteps on the sea shore sand, And the lovely song you sang for me to understand.

You catch me like an eagle when I fall!

You are always there when I call.

A mother's love can overflow the vast ocean, She is God's master piece of love and devotion.

She is like the magnificent moon beam at night, Her pristine beauty outshone the stars silver lights.

Her inward beauty is like an immortal lamp on my way, That showed me the light when I kneel to Thee and pray.

A flock of egrets singing on the magnificent sea shore, I think it's my mom singing through heaven's door.

When all wealth and fame fail to comfort our hearts A mother's true love to us will never depart.

With these noble words I say a blessed Mother's Day, To all the World's Moms because you are special today.

by Rev.Gideon Cecil

If you have a poem and/or short story you would like to publish on our Literary Corner page, please email to timessundaymag@gmail.com. Kindly include your correct name and a contact number in your email. If you have any questions, please call 223-7230 or 223-7231.

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Travel and Tourism

T

he beautiful and fragrant Victoria Amazonia is the world’s largest water lily at over 18 inches across. A majestic yet delicate blossom Victoria will slowly unfold her paper thing petals at dusk before your eyes. The intoxicating fragrance once released attracts golden scarab beetles to the lilies warm core. For the beetles, it is a good opportunity to find a mate and a good meal all in exchange for supporting pollination.

“We weaved our way through the narrow tributaries, spotting black caiman along the way, until we arrived at Buffalo Pond. Here we would witness an amazing display of nature! As the sun began to set, a field of giant Victoria Regis water lilies began to bloom! I had seen this on the Science and National Geographic Channels but to witness it in real life was incredible! A beetle pollinates the plant which eventually changes color and sex after three nights of repeating the process of blooming and closing.

Definitely a highlight of this stay at Karanambu!”

-www.adventure-life.com Buffalo Pond, near Karanambo Ranch on the Rupununi River, is covered almost entirely with hundreds of Victoria amazonica lilies. The air at the pond is filled with the light, sweet fragrance of the lilies. Accessible through a tiny stream, this small, shallow oxbow pond can also be quite busy when several species of heron (Capped, Striated, Boat-billed, Black-crowned Night-) and egrets (Snowy, Great, Cocoi) visit. Wood Storks, Black-collared and Great Black Hawks lurk in the trees at the water's edge while a few Giant River Otters can also be seen popping their heads up beside distant lily pads.

Buffalo Pond offers adventures and an idyllic opportunity for birding and fishing enthusiasts to experience nature one-on-one. A spectacular view of the beautiful spread of Victoria Amazonica, the world’s largest water lily and Guyana’s national flower, is the highlight of a trip to Buffalo Pond.

Buffalo Pond is a seasonally flooded pond and nesting ground for water birds and Arapaima near Karamanbu

Breathtaking sunset at the pond (Photo by iamfisheye on Flickr)

Herons-at-Buffalo-Pond-near-Karanambo-ranch A-crane-flies-above-the-pond

Victoria amazonica at Buffalo Pond

Wading through hundreds of Victoria amazonica in the pond (Photo by Andrea and Salvador de Caires)

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Sunday Times Magazine

9

Feature

T

he foods women eat could be tied to their risk of infertility, a new study from Australia finds.

Researchers found that eating fast food regularly was linked to a twofold increase in the risk of infertility in women of childbearing age. What's more, not eating enough fruit was tied to a 50 percent increase in infertility risk, and eating fruit several times a day appeared to reduce the amount of time it took to conceive.

The study found only an association between diet and infertility; more research is needed to prove that certain foods have a direct impact on infertility risk. Dr. Raj Mathur, secretary of the

British Fertility Society, who was not involved in the study, said the new study is useful "for clinicians and women who are looking to start trying to conceive."

"It is in keeping with other pieces of research, which show that your overall dietary pattern may influence fertility," Mathur told Live Science.

"The message from these studies seems to be that processed foods are bad, and fresh fruit and vegetables are good, for fertility."

The research, published May 3 in the journal Human Reproduction, included nearly 5,600 women, ages 18 to 43, from Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and Ireland, all of whom were in the early stages of their first pregnancy. Midwives looking after these women were instructed to interview them about their diet in the month before they conceived and to record how long it took the women to

get pregnant once they started trying.

Couples are considered infertile when they are unable to conceive within a year of trying, according to the study. So, although all the women involved in

Roberts, a senior research fellow at Robinson Research Institute at the University of Adelaide in Australia. (That jump, from 8 percent to 12 percent, represents a 50 percent increase in the risk of

that these healthy foods didn't appear to have an effect, Roberts said.

The study adjusted for factors such as age, maternal smoking, alcohol consumption and body mass index, to make sure the data reflected only the effects of diet on infertility and time needed to conceive, Roberts noted.

Although the study

the study were pregnant, 8 percent of them fell into the infertile category, as it took them longer than a year to get pregnant.

infertility, Roberts added.)

"There was also an increase from 8 to 16 percent in the risk of infertility in women who ate four or more servings of fast food each week," Roberts told Live Science.

Food intake was also tied to the amount of time it took women to become pregnant. Women who ate fruit three or more times a day, for example, became pregnant half a month sooner than women who ate fruit only a few times in a month. Similarly, women who consumed fast food such as burgers, pizza, fried chicken and chips four or more times a week became pregnant, on aver-

"The major finding is that the risk of infertility — that is, taking longer than 12 months to conceive — went from 8 percent for all the women in the cohort to 12 percent ‌ in women with the lowest fruit intake," said lead study author Claire

age, a month after women who never ate fast food.

Intake of other foods, including green leafy vegetables and fish, weren't linked to risk of infertility or the amount of time it took women to get pregnant. However, the researchers were surprised

didn't look at why these foods were linked to a woman's odds of getting pregnant, Roberts said earlier research indicated that fatty acids from a woman's bloodstream may affect the quality of her eggs.

"The things that you eat could get into your

eggs, and that can affect whether your eggs could be fertilized or not," she said.

"Fast-food diets are also high in fat, sugar and salt, which can alter metabolism." (Metabolic health is another factor that's known to impact fertility and contribute to developing pregnancy complications, she added.) (BBC

Health, cbsnews.com)

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Feature

To the quiet but powerful moms - James Whistler, “Whistler’s Mother,” 1871

Anna Matilda McNeill Whistler, who lived with her son, in London, from 1864 to 1875, sits in profile with an air of infinite patience, gazing steadily at, apparently, noth-

ing, the high vantage point, tight cropping of the forms and bold outline were all unconventional artistic devices. Cassatt was able to avoid an over-sentimental portrayal of this intimate scene by using the aforementioned techniques, diving us a glimpse into the bath without dripping with sweet sentimentality. Cassatt was also influenced to use this Japanese wood block technique by the works of Edgar Degas, who created many similar works.

To the mothers who’ve loved us since we were helpless babies- Adolphe Bouguereau, “Maternal Admiration,” 1869 Lucian Freud, “The Painter’s Mother,” 1983

To the mothers who lovingly worry about their children- Lucian Freud, “The Painter’s Mother,” 1983

Dorothea Lange, “Migrant Mother With Three Children,” 1936

“Whistler’s Mother,” 1871

ing. The work is on loan to the Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown, from the Musée d’Orsay, in Paris. In 1891, it became the first American art work ever bought by the French state, and it remains the most important American work residing outside the United States. Whistler’s mother, was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1804, and was a literate and well-travelled woman. In 1831 she married Major Whistler and until his death from cholera in 1849 they enjoyed an affluent lifestyle in Russia with their children. After her husband’s death, Anna wore black for the rest of her life.

To the mothers who’ve literally washed our feet- Mary Cassatt, “The Bath,” 1893

The Child's Bath (or The Bath) is an 1893 oil painting by American artist Mary Cassatt. The subject matter and the overhead perspective were inspired by Japanese woodblocks. It shows dignity in motherhood. At the time she created this paint-

To the mothers who love us no matter whatAlice Neel, “Mother and Child,” 1926

Alice Neel disliked being called a portraitist, but rather labeled herself as a "collector of souls." She believed that each person has an identity, an essential core of personality, and it was this that she sought to reveal in her paintings. She often cap-

Adolphe Bouguereau, “Maternal Admiration,” 1869

“Sister's love” by Guyanese , Godlyn Lyte

Sister’s Love showcases the artist’s concept of “older sisters being second moms as some of them will go above and beyond to nurture and protect us just as a mother would”, which she believes is something that goes unnoticed.

“They too deserve appreciation on this day. When I think of mothers, not only do I think of those who gave birth, but I also think of the sister, aunt, cousin, or random stranger who took it upon themselves to take responsibility of a child and give them unconditional love and protection,” she declared.

In his realistic genre paintings, Adolphe Bouguereau used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female human body.During his life he enjoyed significant popularity in France and the United States, was given numerous official honors, and received top prices for his work. As the quintessential salon painter of his generation, he was reviled by the Impressionist avant-garde. Bouguereau’s works were eagerly bought by American millionaires who considered him the most important French artist of that time.

To the Mothers who provide for us - Dorothea Lange, “Migrant Mother With Three Children,” 1936

Mary Cassatt, “The Bath,” 1893

Dorothea Lange’s photograph of Migrant Mother with Three Children, Nipomo, California is a haunting image, epitomising an era of hardship that has truly stood the test of time. In early 1936, Lange approached a camp near the tiny town of Nipomo, California, where 2,500 impoverished people had traveled to pick peas, which did not grow due to a freeze. Lange described how she met the “Migrant Mother”: “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet…

There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.” While the actual facts of their meeting are in dispute, the aesthetics and depth of the image are undeniable.

The Painter’s Mother is one of a series of eighteen portraits of the artist’s mother, Lucie Freud, that he made in his studio in Thorngate Road in Maida Vale, London, between 1972 and 1984. The series includes ten paintings, five drawings and three etchings, and Lucie sat more than one thousand times for the portraits over the course of a decade, with the sittings lasting between four and eight hours and each portrait taking several months to complete. Freud began to produce the portraits of his mother shortly after the death of his father, Ernst Freud (1892–1970). After Ernst’s death Lucie suffered from depression, from which she never recovered.

(Excerpts from Huffingtonpost.com, artsy.com, sothebys.com)

Alice Neel, “Mother and Child,” 1926

tured aspects of relationships of which her subjects were not aware, and combined in her work her stringent analysis of their interactions with a broad acceptance of the depth of human emotions. She painted her subjects as distinct individuals, in the poses that were natural to them; poses that, in Neel's words, "involve ... all their character and social standing ... what the world has done to them, and their retaliation." The arms of the parents often encircle their children in Neel's paintings. The early Mother and Child, Havana, 1926, uses this pose to depict a simple, secure relationship.

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Sunday Times Magazine 11

Home & Cooking

I

f you need to feed a crowd on Mother's Day, whip up dozens of these cinnamon rolls and serve them fresh from the oven.

Ingredients

For the filling: 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus more as needed For the dough: 1/4 cup ground cinnamon, for sprinkling 1 quart whole milk 2 cups granulated sugar, plus more as needed 1 cup vegetable oil For the maple icing: 1 cup granulated sugar 2 pounds confectioners' sugar 2 packages (4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast 9 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 1/2 cup whole milk 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder melted 1 scant teaspoon baking soda 1/4 cup strongly brewed coffee 1 tablespoon salt Dash of salt 1 tablespoon e flavoring or extract

Directions

For the dough, heat the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat; do not boil. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.

Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit on the milk for 1 minute.

Add 8 cups of the flour. Stir until just combined, cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside in a relatively warm place for 1 hour.

Remove the towel and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt and the remaining 1 cup flour. Stir thoroughly to combine. Use the dough right away or place in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for up to 3 days, punching down the dough if it rises to the top of the bowl.

Remove half of the dough. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a large rectangle, about 30 by 10 inches, with a long side facing you.

To make the filling, pour 1 cup of the melted butter over the surface of the dough. Use your fingers to spread the butter evenly. Generously sprinkle half of the ground cinnamon and 1 cup of the sugar over the butter. Don't be afraid to drizzle on more butter or more sugar!

Ingredients 8 egg whites, at room temperature 1/2 cup whipping cream 1 lemon, zested

Beginning at the end farthest from you, roll the rectangle tightly toward you. Use both hands and work slowly, being careful to keep the roll tight.

Don't worry if the filling oozes as you work; that just means the rolls will be divine. When you reach the end, pinch the seam together.

Transfer to a cutting board and, with a sharp knife, make 1 1/2-inch slices. One log will produce 20 to 25 rolls. Pour a couple of tablespoons of melted butter into several pie pans or baking dishes and swirl to coat. Place the rolls in the pans cut-side up, being careful not to overcrowd.

Repeat the rolling-sugar-butter process with the other half of the dough and more pans. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cover each pan with a kitchen towel and let rise on the countertop for at least 20 minutes before baking. Remove the towels and bake for 13 to 17 minutes, until golden brown. Don't allow the rolls to become overly brown.

While the rolls are baking, make the icing: In a large bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, milk, butter, coffee and salt. Splash in the maple flavoring. Whisk until very smooth. Taste and add more sugar, butter or other ingredients as needed until the icing reaches the desired consistency. The icing should be thick but still pourable.

While the rolls are still warm, generously drizzle icing over the top. Be sure to get it all around the edges and over the top. As they sit, the rolls will absorb some of the icing's moisture and flavor. They only get better with time...not that they last for more than a few seconds!

1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 packed cups (2 ounces) of Spinach (Calaloo) 1 clove garlic, minced

Directions

Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites until fluffy, about 30 seconds. Add the cream, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. In a 10-inch, ovenproof, nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the spinach and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the spinach has wilted, about 1 minute.

Pour the egg mixture into the pan and stir to combine the ingredients. Cook, without stirring for 4 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until set, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Slide the frittata onto a platter. Using a serrated knife, cut the frittata into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

(foodnetwork.com)

Fresh Flower Banner

Glue blooming roses, peonies, and other full florals to a cardboard banner to surprise Mom on her special day.

While Mom deserves the best each and every day, Mother's Day gives both grown and little kids an excuse to really celebrate the Lady of Honor. The following projects can help personalise the special day. Even if you have run out of time, these last minute ideas ideas can be executed in the shortest possible time.

Lattice Backdrop

Knit carnations through a lovely white lattice (available at most home supply stores) to reveal a special Mother's Day message. This project provides a stunning backdrop for family photo opps during your celebration!

12 Sunday Times Magazine

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Puzzles

ACROSS 108 Coliseum 1 Twinge

110 Rainbow goddess

5 Nobody's fool

111 Turns state's evidence

10 Almanac tidbit

113 "Can it!"

14 Intense, as colors

116 Easel display

19 Accept, as a check

117 Pate de foie - 20 Osmond or Curie

118 Fly blocker (2 wds.)

21 Improvise (hyph.)

123 Found out 23 Loose-limbed

125 Kind of tradition

24 Wide-eyed orphan

127 Imitated Bossy

25 Cousin's dad

129 "Oh, my!" (2 wds.)

26 She took the veil 130 Tedium 27 Overfly

131 Man with a van

28 Pharaoh's amulet

133 Of Carthage

30 Throat clearers

135 Do the trick

32 Kind of mitt

136 Desktop pictures

33 Persian of today

137 Shorthand pro

34 Got through

138 Purplish flower

36 Jacques' girl

139 Four-footed pal

38 Sloppy - 140 Bandmate of Mick

40 Meadow grazer

141 Role for Liz

41 Planted seed

142 Rodeo gear

42 Be an accomplice

143 Canonized mlles.

43 "Driving Miss Daisy" Oscar winner

45 Hannibal's route DOWN

49 No, to a lassie

1 Puerto Rican port

50 Country addrs.

2 Kofi of the U.N. 51 Hoarfrost

3 Bete - 52 Rumple 4 Standouts

56 Mistaken belief

5 Dallas sch.

58 Hoofed animal

6 Dugong cousin 59 Conclusion

7 Leaned backward 60 Too 8 Annoyed 61 Impostors

9 Be full of

62 Billowing garment

10 "When We Was --" 63 Antiquated 11 Deft

64 Utmost degree

12 Novelist -- Cussler 65 Vine-covered

13 Driftwood bringer

66 Like so 14 Fluctuated

68 67 Bounders

15 Disney CEO Bob - 69

68 Texas town (2 wds.)

16 British cleric

70 71 Two-timer

17 Massey of "Love Happy"

72

72 Corn bin

18 Levi Strauss stock

73

73 Honey holders

19 Padlock adjunct

74

74 Digestive juice

22 -- Disraeli

76 75 Compelling

29 Wild horses

77

78 Seductive women

31 Cavalry sword

78

79 Chamomile et al. (2 wds.)

35 On vacation

79

83 Prez's stand-in

37 Month, in Madrid

80

84 Change form 39 Singles

81

85 Linoleum square

42 To -- -- (exactly) 82

86 XX - VI

43 Fork prongs

84

87 Our sort

44 Vocalist -- Sumac

85

90 Growing mediums 45 Uphold

87

91 Orkin target

46 Cocoon dwellers

88

92 Laissez- - 47 Braids

94 Mil. branch 48 Pivot

95 Donahue or Jackson

50 Gym iterations 96 Protrudes

51 Grabs a cab

97 Nutritious legume

53 Humerus neighbor

98 Publisher McNally

54 Mach 1 breakers

100 Lieutenant under Kirk

55 London district 101 Hookah

57 Explain further 102 Pleased 58 Finger-paint

103 Cliff dwelling, now 59 Bungles 104 Markdown 62 Elegant

105 Poets' eyes 63 Pizzazz

106 Vacuum part 66 Stumble

107 Slight advantage

67 Plays boisterously

KATHLEEN SAXE

WORD GAME TODAY'S WORD -- ADROITLY (ADROITLY: uh-DROYT-lee: With dexterity and skill.)

Average mark 47 words Time limit 60 minutes Can you find more

adit adroit airy alit alto arid arty aroid daily

dairy dart dial diary dilatory dirt dirty doily dolt

dory dray drily radio raid rail ratio rialto riot

words in ADROITLY? road roil roily royal oily oral idly idol idolatry

iota tail tailor tardily tardy taro tidal tidy tiro

toad toady today toil told trail

RULES OF THE GAME: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of "s," such as "bats" or "dies," are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a "d" or an "s" may not be used. For example, if "bake" is used, "baked" or "bakes" are not allowed, but "bake" and "baking" are admissible. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

Gael republic Attorney's deg.

Boxer, maybe Hudson Bay tribe Sagan and Jung Asteroid zone Baseball award Sushi morsel Monsieur's shout Give the raspberry Went out Being broadcast Willowy Watered silk Chapeau's place Good engine sound Hairy twin

89 Upscale hotel chain

90 Gridiron coach Don - 91 Baby seals 92 Swamp

93 Poker stake 95 Ghosts

96 Triangular sails 97 Recorded

99 Spiral molecule

100 Net surfer

101 Chandelier pendant

102 Bamboo stalk

105 Zoologists' mouths 106 Shuttlecocks

109 Appetizer tray item

110 A Mandrell sister 111 Perfumes

112 113 114 115 117 118 119 120 121 122 124 126 128 132 134

Creeps about Valentino role And so Vietnam's capital Chair's mallet March composer Ship's crane Hold the floor Skips past Bank on Least of the litter Campus org.

Fiery gem Aussie jumper -- -Magnon See Solution on Pg 13

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Sunday Times Magazine 13

Tech

I

t’s go time for that legal battle that refuses to die: Apple v. Samsung. The two smartphone giants will meet in a San Jose, California, court for a week starting Monday to determine how much Samsung owes for illegally using three Apple design patents and two utility patents. The lawsuit, initially filed in 2011, made it all the way to the Supreme Court in late 2016 before being sent back to the lower court. This will be the third district court trial for the case.

Samsung has already been found to infringe Apple’s patents. The argument centers on how much it owes Apple for copying some of its patented features, like the rectangular shape of the iPhone. Previously, Samsung paid $548 million, and $399 million of that is being reconsidered in this trial.

The South Korean company hopes to pay less by using a Supreme Court decision that changed how the parties may calculate the damages. Samsung will argue that the elements it infringed were just a minor part of the phone. Here’s an easier way to think about that point of view: If a company owns a patent on just a car’s cup holder, it shouldn’t be able to collect the profit from the entire car.

Some estimates say more than 250,000 patents go into a smartphone. The original penalty was based on the value of the entire Samsung phone.

Apple, meanwhile, will seek to show that because a Samsung device infringed part of the iPhone’s design,

Samsung should pay damages based on the value of its entire device. That’s because, Apple will argue, if one phone’s design is similar to an iPhone, Apple could lose the sale to the competing phone. Apple wants to collect all of Samsung’s profits on the long-defunct mobile devices that infringed.

Yeah, we know. It does seem like this has been going on forever.

The original Apple v. Samsung trial in 2012 captivated Silicon Valley and the tech industry because it exposed the inner workings of two notoriously secretive companies. It was just one of many cases around the world as the rivals

sparred both in the marketplace and in the courtroom.

In August 2012, a nine-person jury sided with Apple on a majority of its patent infringement claims against Samsung. At that time, the jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages, much less than the $2.75 billion sought by the Cupertino, California, electronics giant.

Samsung, which asked for $421 million in its countersuit, didn’t get anything.

District Court Judge Lucy Koh, in striking $450.5 million off the original judgment against Samsung, ordered a new trial to begin in November 2013 to recalculate some of the damages in the case. Samsung ultimately paid Apple $548 million in damages in December 2015.

The amount was based on the total profits Samsung made from its infringing devices. In this case, Samsung sold 10.7 million infringing devices, generating $3.5 billion in revenue.

Only $399 million of the $548 million paid to Apple -considered the “additional remedy” amount under Section 289 of the Patent Act of 1952 (35 U.S.C. 289) -- is being examined in the 2018 retrial. The additional $149 million in damages Samsung paid Apple isn’t at stake.

Now that the Supreme Court has said damages can be based on a portion of a product, not necessarily the entire infringing device, Samsung hopes the jury will award a smaller damages amount to Apple. (CNET)

Snapchat’s redesigned redesign starts rolling out

I

G

oogle unveiled Gmail’s new Smart Compose feature at its annual developer conference this week, and it’s now available to try out as an “experimental feature” on desktop. Smart Compose builds off the idea of Smart Reply, predicting what you’ll write next as you type in the body of an email.

To turn on Smart Compose, make sure you’re using the new Gmail, then click on the Settings tab in the top right corner. Within this panel, click the box next to “enable experimental access,” and then save your changes at the bottom. Once turned on, you should see a prompt the next time you begin a new email that tells you about Smart Compose and prompts you to press the tab key whenever you see a prediction you’d like to accept.

As you write, suggested text to complete sentences will appear in the background of your email in a lighter text. The actual experience of using Smart Compose in the few emails I tried was not very useful, and it often only prompted filling in a single word at the end of a sentence, like in instances of “if possible” or “is this okay.” It’s very likely that the more you use Smart Compose, the better it will get at recognizing how you write and understanding context, but I found it to be less intuitive than that Taco Tuesday demo that was shown onstage.

Smart Compose is currently only available in English, and Google gives fair warning that “Smart Compose is not designed to provide answers and may not always predict factually correct information.” (The Verge)

t’s currently rolling out to ‘the majority’ of iOS users. Snapchat says it is currently rolling out yet another redesign to its app to iOS users. Late last year, Snapchat launched an overhaul which earned the wrath of dedicated users who hated the new layout. That led to 1.2 million people signing a petition in hopes that Snapchat would revert the redesign to its original form. The company acknowledged that the “new Snapchat has felt uncomfortable for many,” and now the company is yielding to some of those requests for change.

Snap says the new layout puts Snaps and Chats in chronological order again, and moves Stories from your friends back to the right-hand side of the app. When you open the app, it launches the camera, so you can easily swipe left to access the right-hand screen where you’ll find your friends’ content. Like the previous redesign, your friends’ Stories will still remain separate from branded content. Snap has also added a separate Subscriptions feed so you can search more easily for Stories from popular creators and publishers.

We’ve previously reported that Snapchat’s redesign isn’t helping it make money — for the first quarter, the app grew its global users, but it made less money per user. Today’s update was first announced by Snap CEO Evan Spiegel in the company’s first quarter earnings call on May 1st.

At the time, Spiegel said the company was working on optimizing the redesign: “We learned that combining watching Stories and communicating with friends into the same place made it harder to optimize for both competing behaviors. We are currently rolling out an update to address this by sorting communication by recency and moving Stories from friends to the right side of the application, while maintaining the structural changes we have made around separating friends from creators and sorting friends’ Stories by relationships.”

Snap says the update is currently rolling out to “the majority” of users on iOS. There’s no word yet on when the update will be available on Android. (CNET)

I

nstagram has announced a new variation of its polling sticker for Stories: now there’s an emoji slider that lets you ask and answer questions with an animated emoji on a sliding scale.

The sliding scale allows users to ask people “how” instead of simply picking between two options, using an emoji of choices to add context to the question. For example, you could have a slider to ask how an artist’s new single is or how friends like their food. The emoji will animate as you drag it up or down the scale, and you can check in on how individual friends answered as well as see the overall average of all responses.

To add an emoji slider sticker in your Instagram story, choose one from the sticker tray (where you find other options like poll and location) after you take a photo or video. Then place it, write out a question, and choose the emoji you’d like to use. (Instagram says you can use “almost any emoji from your library.”) Instagram’s emoji slider should be available as part of the latest Instagram update for Android and iOS. (The Verge)

Crossword Solution

T

he Boring Company’s first tunnel being dug under Los Angeles is almost complete, Elon Musk said in a tweet Thursday. And pending regulatory approval, Grimes’s boyfriend plans to offer free subterranean rides to the public in a few months. Musk’s announcement was accompanied by a time-lapse video on Instagram showing a round-trip journey through the tunnel.

The two-mile test tunnel underneath SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthrone, California, is a proof-of-concept for an underground public transportation system which aims to transport passengers and vehicles beneath congested roadways on autonomous electric skates. The skates will theoretically transport between 8 to 16 passengers, or one passenger vehicle, along magnetic rails at speeds of up to 124 mph (200 km/h).

In August, Musk shared a photo of a Tesla Model S in the same Hawthorne tunnel. (Questions were recently raised as to whether the second tunnel proposed by Musk would be wide enough to accommodate the all-electric vehicle.) The Boring Company has four underground transportation projects in the works, including the Hawthorne test tunnel, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Chicago.

Musk has previously tweeted about his frustration with traffic congestion in Los Angeles, remarking in December 2016 that “Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging.” Musk has also stated his hopes to build a hyperloop between Los Angeles and San Francisco next year, which he said would feature pressurized pods in near-vacuum tunnels that travel faster than a jetliner. (The Verge)

14 Sunday Times Magazine

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Bollywood/Hollywood Deepika Padukone, Kangana Ranaut and Mallika Sherawat grace the red carpet at Cannes 2018

S C

Kangana Ranaut, Deepika Padukone and Mallika Sherawat walked the red carpet at Cannes 2018 on Thursday.

annes 2018: Kangana Ranaut, Deepika Padukone, Huma Qureshi and Mallika Sherawat made a stylish appearance on the red carpet of the 71st edition of the prestigious film festival last Thursday.

Like every year, this year too the Cannes Film Festival has Bollywood beauties spilling their charm on the red carpet. While Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor are yet to arrive at the French Riviera, Kangana Ranaut, Deepika Padukone, Huma Qureshi and Mallika Sherawat made a stylish appearance on the red carpet of the 71st edition of the prestigious film festival on Thursday. While Deepika and Mallika have walked the glamorous stretch earlier too, it was Kangana and Huma’s debut appearance on the red carpet.

Deepika, who has been teasing her fans from the last three days with her different looks, finally shared her red carpet look on

B

ollywood’s first female superstar Sridevi left for heavenly abode on February 24th and it is still hard for her fans to come to terms with this heartbreaking news. The late actress passed away after reportedly slipping inside her bathtub in her hotel room in Dubai, where she was present to attend Mohit Marwah’s wedding along with her family. While the investigations around her mysterious death were abruptly stopped, filmmaker Sunil Singh, has reportedly filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking an investigation into the death of the celebrated actor. The reports also revealed that the apex court had initially accepted the plea and the hearing will be on Friday. But, as per the latest update the SC has now apparently rejected the filmmaker's plea for the investigation.

her Instagram account. Sharing the photo, the Padmaavat actor wrote, “ready to rock and roll…#Cannes2018.” As soon as Deepika shared her photograph, her fans were all praise of her. This is Deepika’s second year at the film festival as the brand ambassador of fashion brand L’Oreal.

Another actor who was all excited to be on the red carpet of Cannes 2018 was Kangana Ranaut who looked every bit beautiful in her Zuhair Murad sheer gown.

Kangana is at the French Riveria as a part of Vive Le Cinema, an initiative by a liquor brand Grey Goose to celebrate cinematic excellence through the global platform. “It is overwhelming to witness the recognition and appreciation for Indian cinema at international platforms like Cannes,” Kangana said in a statement to IANS. On the work front, Kangana is busy with her upcoming period drama Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi. (TOI)

The filmmaker had also filed a PIL seeking probe into the ‘MOM’ actress’ demise at the Delhi High Court, but the court had rejected the same.

They cited that the authorities in India and Dubai have already looked into the matter and have resorted to a conclusion. Sunil further added that her death was a matter of national interest and the public and the fans and also the media needs to know as to what actually went down while she breathed her last breaths.

Sunil had earlier claimed that he too was in Dubai around the time of Sridevi’s death and had enquired about it from the hotel staff. Apparently, their claims and statements were different than what the initial reports and investigations had revealed.

(TOI)

A

eason 11 of The Big Bang Theory ended on a tender note with Sheldon and Amy's wedding. Titled "The Bow Tie Asymmetry," the episode contained enough touching moments to satiate fans until The Big Bang Theory returns in September. Was it a little short for a season finale? Sure, but more on that in a minute. The bottom line, though, was that it hit roughly all the right marks—which was no easy feat, seeing as how Sheldon and Amy's wedding has been a long time coming. Fan expectations were high.

So how did it all come together? How did the show-runners decide what to include in the 22 minutes—and what not to? Now that the episode's aired, executive producer Steve Holland got on the phone with Glamour to reveal the story behind the second most-important wedding in pop culture right now.

(Try guessing the first.)

Holland guesses that CBS would've given the OK for a 44-minute episode had he and the producers asked for it, but "our feeling is that those hour, super-sized sitcoms never quite feel right." The trouble showrunners ran into, however, was that they had enough content for a double episode.

"Once we were writing it, it was so big that I think our first draft was 65 pages. Usually they come in around 40 pages. So we had to go in and make hard choices [of what to keep and what not to]. But I think the episode is better for it and hopefully never bores you.”

Diehard fans are probably wondering why Sheldon's grandmother, MeeMaw (last played by June Squibb on Big Bang), wasn't

in attendance—especially since every other member of his family was. Says Holland: "We had a phone call from MeeMaw where she explains why she couldn’t be there, and that [scene] was hard to lose because I know we’re going to get called out on it. But we had it and there’s a reason for it, so we’ve got the audio of the phone [message] that will be posted online as well.” This message was actually recorded by Sheldon's OG MeeMaw, Annie Potts, who plays the character in Young Sheldon.

And What About Dr. Beverly Hofstadter?

In the penultimate episode in season 11, Leonard says to Georgie and Sheldon that his own mother considers Sheldon to be her greatest achievement. So, considering that Sheldon's mom was at Leonard and Penny's wedding, and Leonard's mom loves Sheldon, where was she? "Yeah, unfortunately that's the one scheduling piece that didn’t work out for us," Holland says of Christine Baranski, who plays Dr. Hofstadter. Bernadette and Penny weren't big fans of Amy's multi-tiered gown, which sort of looked like a Christmas tree, but Mayim Bialik "loved it," Holland says. "It was interesting because we talked about it a lot with our costume designer when we were [planning] that episode," he continued. "We needed a dress that Penny and Bernadette could not like, but we wanted to be careful that we didn’t get into cartoon silliness. So there was a lot of conversations. Our costume designed settled on the frame of that dress pretty early, and then it was sort of adding pieces [to it]. (Glamour)

Margot Robbie's Pitch for the Harley Quinn Movie

F

ollowing the—how do we put this lightly?— divisive reception to Suicide Squad two years ago, it looks like Margot Robbie is ready to put these DC Universe antiheroes back on track to greatness, one badass pitch at a time.

In what was otherwise a normal interview with Collider, Robbie let it slip how she's shaping the future of the spin-off Harley Quinn movie, which would follow the exploits of Quinn and her group of female accomplices. (In a superhero world plagued with testosterone, that sounds amazing, BTW.) “I pitched the idea of an

ctor Karam Rajpal will play the late freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in "Chandrashekhar". He is thrilled about it as it has been his dream role.

"When I was 10 years old, my elder brother used to follow Bhagat Singh a lot. He used to dress up and wear a turban like Bhagat Singh. I was really inspired by my brother and that gave me

R-rated girl gang film including Harley, because I was like, ‘Harley needs friends.’ Harley loves interacting with people, so don’t ever make her do a standalone film," Robbie said.

"She’s got to be with other people; it should be a girl gang. I wasn’t seeing enough girl gangs onscreen, especially in the action space. So that was always a big part of it.”

Robbie also spoke to the importance of having a woman, Cathy Yan, direct the film. She posited that hiring a male director just wouldn't be appropriate for what she wants to see accomplished.

a kick to play this iconic role," Karam, who hails from Punjab, said in a statement.

"I have been wanting to play this role and on the personal front, I was also inclined towards his life journey, struggle and contribution to justice and freedom. From a family where I come from, Bhagat Singh is no less than a God.

“And then of course having a female director to tell that story. And giving a female director the chance to do big budget stuff," Robbie continued. "They always get ‘Here’s the tiny little film…'

I was like, ‘I love action. I love action films. I’m a girl.

What, are we meant to only like a specific thing?’ So it was a hugely important to find a female director for this, if possible. But at the end of the day—male, female—the best director gets the job, and Cathy was the best director." ( Hollywood life)

"My father was almost in tears when I told him that I would be playing Bhagat Singh in Anirudh Pathak's 'Chandrashekhar'," added the "Naamkarann" actor.

The show saw Ayaan Zubair Rahmani play the young Chandrashekhar, who is now portrayed by Dev Joshi.

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MAY 13, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 15

16 Sunday Times Magazine

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MAY 13, 2018

Fun Times

Archie

ARIES (March 21April 19)

Personal improvements are featured. Updating your image and associating with people you want to collaborate with creatively or spend time with romantically will improve your attitude and your day.

Hiding out to avoid dealTAURUS ing with someone or some(April 20- thing will make matters May 20) worse. Address important issues and get on with your life before you end up missing out on something special.

Personal changes can be

GEMINI made if your motives are clear (MAY 28- and your research is valid.

June 20) Don’t jump into something without proper preparation.

Listen to an expert before you make a move.

Stop being everyone’s workhorse. If you want to do some(June 21- thing, make sure it’s for your July 22) own reasons, not for someone else’s benefit. Take the plunge and treat yourself to something special.

CANCER

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Dilbert

You’ll be unsure whether to make a change that could influence your reputation, status or income. Consider the pros and cons, and choose practicality over risk.

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

You need to get out more and experience what life has to offer. If you delve into something that interests you, you’ll encounter someone who will enrich your life.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23)

Partnerships will be faced with unexpected changes that need to be addressed before you can move forward.

Be open to suggestions, but don’t let anyone bully you.

SCORPIO Look for the unique and in(Oct. 24- triguing today. Try something Nov. 22) new and different, and mingle

Peanuts

with people who can offer insight into future trends.

SAGITTARIUS A change of heart will leave (Nov. 23- you in a quandary. Consider Dec. 21) your options, but don’t wait too long to express what you want to see happen. Your happiness is in your hands.

Calvin and Hobbes

Host a get-together.

CAPRICORN Spending time with family (Dec. 22- or someone you find mentalJan. 19) ly stimulating will spark your interest in a promising venture.

Taking short trips, getAQUARIUS ting together with interest(Jan. 20- ing people and sharing with Feb. 19) someone you love are all highlighted. Express your feelings and intentions, and make romantic plans.

PISCES Don’t let the actions (Feb. 20- of others get you down.

Mar. 20) Financial gains, gifts and unusual opportunities are heading your way. Get out and mingle with people who have something good to offer.