Guyana Times Magazine - Sunday, December 16, 2018

December 16, 2018

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Sunday Times Magazine

DECEMBER 16, 2018

By Lakhram Bhagirat

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s a child, one of the things that scared me the most but I also looked forward to was the masqueraders visiting our home on Christmas Eve night, beating their makeshift drums and dancing for our entertainment and their cash incentive. What made these masqueraders scary was their attire as well as their masks or ‘facies’, as we called them.

As the years progressed, I got involved; at that time, dancing masquerade was something only the guys did. We would start making our masks weeks before December 24 and start scouring the garbage heaps for discarded bottles and old kerosene stoves to make drums. On the day of the masquerade, we would go through our sister’s or mother’s clothing basket to find the right dress, stuff our chests, and venture off.

Timing was essential since there were a number of groups vying to see who would make the most money so that we could buy toys or whatever we wanted. The first group was the one most likely to make the most money, since people were usually more generous to that group. Over the years, the wearing of masks has fallen by the wayside, but masquerade persists.

Looking back at the history of masquerade in Guyana, it is said to have been a part of the traditions of the African slaves who were brought here during the slave trade.

Slaves, who were forbidden to practise their traditions, were slightly less restricted during the Christmas season and were allowed to visit other plantations and revel with other slaves, with drumming and dancing in the streets also allowed at this time.

The dancing, drumming and elaborate

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costumes and effigies of the colonial masquerade bands reflected religious festival traditions of the Ibo and Yoruba tribes of West Africa during the time of the Harmattan (dry, dusty November–March winds blowing from the Sahara towards the west African coast) and harvest celebrations.

According to research, the Ibo and Yoruba believed that this was the time when their gods, dressed in costumes and masks, came to visit and perform dances.

While the slaves danced for entertainment, many of the spiritual traditions were retained in the masks and symbols that represented ancestors and gods, along with the acrobatics and costumes, which represented, or perhaps theatrically portrayed, stories of strength, agility, fertility, battle, evil and terror.

One of the few features that survived to contemporary times is the acrobatic agility displayed in the past by Koo Joo or Actor Boy. The stilt dancer performs these feats, as does the wild cow dancer. To a certain extent, the flouncers are expected to have similar skills.

The spectacle that was masquerade at Christmas declined over the years, particularly by the late 20th Century. Recent efforts to revive the dying art form and tradition have seen collaboration between civil society and Government to host a symposium that looked at improving knowledge of the history of the tradition and its development and future in Guyana.

The masqueraders are becoming fewer and fewer as the years progress since many of the youths do not want to take on the tradition; however, there are a few who are fighting to preserve the masquerade’s rich history in Guyana.

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By Lakhram Bhagirat

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n order for us to excel in something, we have to first have the passion to be in that field and second, have the drive to keep going even when the going gets tough, and that is exactly what Autimae Le-Black has been doing. Her creations speak of her commitment and dedication to putting the best foot forward and creating an everlasting impression on all those who come into contact with her.

Autimae is the owner and sole employ-

DECEMBER 16, 2018

ee at Delight Treats, which she operates out of her kitchen at Coghlan Dam, Pouderoyen on the West Bank of Demerara. Her speciality is something that is quite unconventional in the Guyanese context. She has successfully mastered the art of cookie making and decorating, and around this time, she is swamped with orders for the intricately designed cookies.

Her flourishing business is a sign that Guyanese are shifting away from the tradition of having a tin of Danish butter cookies in their homes for Christmas and are now moving towards locally made and meticulously designed cookies.

Looking back at the beginning, she tells me that baking has always been one of her passions, but not something that she thought she would have done on this scale.

She remembers as a youngster living with her grandmother, she would bake cakes whenever there was a birthday in the family and decorate them.

“My grandmother would buy the ingredients and I would bake and ice the cakes.

It was fun. I loved baking from small and I went to Carnegie (School of Home Economics) and did courses and so on, but I never follow it. I just went about life,” she said.

About two years ago while scrolling through Facebook, she came across Sonia Noel’s Women in Business Expo advertisement, which triggered the decision to start her own business.

“Being home and scrolling through Facebook, I came across the Women in Business Expo and I decided to start my business, because I could not get into last year expo, but I am here now and I am happy that I am able to showcase my products,” Le-Black told me during the second Expo.

When I asked her what led to cookies, she related that one day while going through Youtube, she came across several videos of how to make and decorate cookies. After viewing the videos, she decided to give it a shot and from

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there, there was no turning back.

“I made the cookies and they came out good and from then it was the start of something new. I enjoy every second of what I do and my cookie base is the standard sugar cookie, but the designs are far from standard. I take my time and do my work and I take pride in it,” she said.

Autimae says that a single cookie takes

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about three days from start to finish and around this time, she is swamped with orders, hence the reason she advises cookies must be ordered about a week before the intended delivery date. When it comes to the Guyanese people’s response to her craft, Autimae noted that it has been overwhelming since the feedback has been positive and business is booming.

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Sunday Times Magazine

By Lakhram Bhagirat

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hhhh... The rich, wonderful meaty smell of pepperpot, redolent with the unique caramelised flavour of cassareep and hints of cinnamon and cloves simmered for hours on the stove. Remember trying to steal a little when mommy asked you to stir the pot? The smell and taste of Christmas in your mouth well worth the pain of a burnt tongue.

Around this time, pepperpot and black cake are two words we constantly hear and while we all know the origins of pepperpot, what we do not know is how we, as Guyanese, have come to associate the dish with our traditional Christmas celebration. But it is not Christmas without pepperpot and some fresh homemade bread.

Pepperpot is an Amerindian dish, and perhaps the most popular and widely enjoyed one. It is quite simple to make, but is packed with flavour and could be customised to suit one’s palate. The ingredients are few: essentially a mix of meats, good-quality cassa-

reep, a handful of herbs and spices, and of course, hot peppers.

One of my favourite Guyanese food bloggers, Jehan Powell, who is based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, says her Christmas is incomplete without some freshlymade plait bread and pepperpot. She writes: “Pepperpot is the national dish of Guyana, which was originally made by the Amerindians, who used cassareep to preserve meat without using refrigeration. That’s right; this stew can sit out of the fridge as long as you heat it daily.

Cassareep, which is the main component of pepperpot, is a dark syrup that is made from cassava. A variety of meats are stewed with the cassareep, hot pepper and spices, such as cinnamon and cloves, the result is a deep, dark, flavourful stew that goes well with bread.”

Throughout the Caribbean, there are different variations of this dish but none as unique as that of Guyana because most island nations would use caramelised sugar or other browning agents whereas we

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in Guyana cannot make pepperpot without cassareep.

Since the cassareep is the star of the dish, it is integral that you get the finest quality when preparing this. I mean there are a lot of varieties available out there, but most include caramelised sugar as their browning agent. It is the only reason they could be sold for as little as $140 per bottle. Caramelised sugar is not what we need for the best pepperpot. It is advisable that you procure your cassareep from an Amerindian community, since that is the only way of knowing for a fact that it is the real deal. Since pepperpot is a means of preserving meat, it is ideal that you prepare your pepperpot at least 24 hours before consumption so the flavours could develop, making your dish an experience.

The traditional way of serving pepperpot would be with cassava bread, but, as indicated earlier, it works fine with bread. So, this Christmas, if it is not part of your tradition, I advise that you try to make pepperpot and share it with the family.

So to help the process along, I am sharing one of my favourite recipes for pepperpot, so you too can enjoy. This recipe belongs to Jehan and while everyone has their own, I find that this one works best for me.

Ingredients • 2 lb chicken, cut into

pieces • 2 lb stew beef, cut into 2-inch pieces • 1 lb cow heel (feet) • 1/2 lb salted beef, cut into 2-inch pieces • 1 cup genuine cassava cassareep • a few wiri wiri peppers • 4 cloves garlic • 1 small onion • 1 bunch thyme • 1 teaspoon of salt, or salt to taste • 3 tbsp sugar • Lime juice or vinegar • 4 cloves • 2 pieces orange peel • 1 stick cinnamon Instructions

1. Trim excess fat off meat and soak in vinegar for about 15 to 30 minutes.

Puree garlic, onion, and thyme. Marinate fresh meat with marinade and 1/3 cup of cassareep.

2. Meanwhile, in a pressure cooker, place salted beef and pressure for 10 minutes.

Discard the water and set meat aside.

3. Wash the cow heel thoroughly by soaking in vinegar for about half an hour. Rinse.

Place in pressure cooker and pressure for 20 minutes or until tender. Discard water. *If the cow heel isn't soft after 20 minutes, continue to pressure in five-minute in-

tervals, checking for tenderness.

4. In a stock pot, cook beef and chicken in marinade until all liquid evaporates. Add the cow heel, salted beef, sugar and remaining cassareep with the stick of cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and enough water to cover. If the stew is brown, add more cassareep to attain a deep, dark colour.

5. Cook slowly until tender. Add pepper and salt to taste. This meal tastes better the next day, so it is best when made a day ahead. To serve this meal, warm and serve with bread or cassava bread.

By Lakhram Bhagirat

“M

y interest in cake started after I got married and I realised how expensive my wedding cake was. It was a great cake, but it was very expensive and since then I said to myself that I will learn to do cakes and will do everybody’s wedding cake for free. I started to do it, but the cake decorators started to complain and I had to attach a fee to it,” Paula Blount revealed.

The Lindener says cake is now her life and it has been catapulted into something bigger than she could have imagined. Looking back at the beginning, she said that she completed her cake decorating course in July of 2000 and immediately went to work by providing free cake decorating services to persons, since that was the intention. But it soon turned into a business after she was forced to affix a charge for her services.

Paula, now 41 years old, owns and operates Healthy Bites Cakes located in Central Amelia’s Ward in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice). She said that the bakery became a reality during the last six years after she decided to delve deeper into the world of cakes.

“I bake and offer cake decorating training. We bake and decorate cakes and sell them at affordable costs, and I always say that I can sell you a cake and I can teach you how to make a cake. For the last two years, I have been travelling countrywide and teaching the women how to do a cake.

I taught about 85 per cent of the ladies that you see selling cakes now. I don’t teach them just to decorate, I teach them to start their businesses, because they need that skill to be more self-sufficient,” she said.

She notes that her cakes are unique because she puts her

all into them and around the festive season, even more goes into making her cakes. She uses the finest quality ingredients to offer the best tasting cakes. Her black cakes are to die for. They are super moist and soaked in just the right

amount of alcohol. She said that she did not venture into the world of cookies and pastries because they were readily available, but quality cakes were sometimes very hard to find.

Apart from the regular custom cakes, Paula, during Christmas time, offers her customers the choice of taking home either a delectable black cake, a scrumptious fruit cake or an irresistible sponge. Her cakes are a labour of love and in true Guyanese style, she serves them without any decoration. However, if her customers request decorations, then their wish would be fulfilled.

When I asked her what makes her cakes different from others, she responded: “My cakes are a part of me. They are not only flavourful, but I do not sell a customer a cake, because they want a cake; I talk to them and find out their likes and then I create a masterpiece for them. It is how I work and I guess it is what makes my cakes and myself truly different.”

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Sunday Times Magazine

Preserving our literary heritage

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f course, Christmas (the celebration of Christmas) today with all its technological time-saving innovations in communication, transportation, in the kitchen, laundry room etc. will be different from Christmas of yesteryear.

Literature was there to record the times and here are a few examples of how some of our writers described those Christmases at various times and in various places.

S. E. Wills our first notable versifiers was the first ‘to specialise in depicting local life’. In his poem, ‘Christmas in the Tropics’, written in 1907, this was how he described Christmas. This poem sets the tone of the article comparing Christmas in the Tropics to Christmas in the Temperate Zone.

What jostling hosts of memories the name of Christmas starts, Remembrances that rush from out our minds right to our hearts, With sweet anticipations of the cheer the season brings,…

O, Queen of the Seasons, happy childhood is thy other name; Thy spirit dwells, in the sunny lands and milder climes the same, Within heart of youth; also in those advanced in years…

In these realms within the bounds of Cancer and of Capricorn, We have caught the ruling spirit of the day the Christ was born....

We may not have Yule log or the hanging mistletoe, But then we have the sunshine and the hearts that with it go…

And in these warmer regions of this fair old world of ours We can brave the thorns at Christmas times and boldly pluck the flowers, We can smooth down petty diff’rences and give the rein to peace, We can but bid our wrongs be silent and our jealousies to cease, …

Thank God for all the Christmases within reach of time.’

Beryl Gilroy was born in 1924, in Springlands, Berbice, and here are some of her thoughts on the season.

It was a busy time for all the Christian families in our village. Some of the religious sects never celebrated Xmas but by the time the day came, it was impossible to set them apart…. All children were consciously co-operative,

running minor and major errands without complaint. Politeness was carried almost to the point of mockery…. Paddy plants were planted in bowls indoors and tended with love so that they could, by their growth, greet the infant saviour…. We seemed to accept that people would drink too much of the rum so freely given, and eat too much of the food through which love and happiness were made flesh.

Rooplall Monar was born in November 1945, growing up in Plantation Lusignan, East Coast of Demerara, until he was seven when he moved to Annadale. Most of his writing was done in Ramsingh Street, the name of one of his many memorable collections of short fiction.

Every time Christmas season approaching me does always remember one particular Friday gone back when me one small boy… Me tell you, is every manjack singing hymns and Chrismus carols while Headmaster Williams swaying he cane on the stage with he eyes close as though he conducting one music choir…. Well, every time ahwe done sing one carol, them Missie up in the verandah clapping… then them two manager missie start throw down handful sweetie and cent and jill while they giggling as though we is dog or carrion crow who gat fo fight fo the cent and jill and sweetie. And you should see the scrambling and fall-down and bruise-up while fancy-fancy sweetie

and cent and jill dropping down like rain and them manager missie giggling and ahwe school picknie scrambling as though cent and jill is ahwe life.

The book, ‘Nostalgias: Golden Memories of Guyana 1940 – 1980’ by Godfrey Chin opens with a reflective feature on Christmas via ‘Christmas 1944: In memory of my father’ and ends with an entertaining feature on Christmas via ‘The true Guyanese Christmas spirit’. In between those two pieces are numerous references to Christmas, both major and minor.

In ‘Christmas 1944’, you could find every and anything on the season at that time like Christmas Raffle, Christmas Box hand, Puzzlin Box, with which to make your Christmas shopping a pleasure or pain. Depending on how you prioritise, you may be able to enjoy ‘Swift ham in tar paper, a five-pound tin of Macintosh Quality Street chocolates, Marie custard cream biscuits and an Edam Dutchman head cheese’. For breakfast, you may be able to get ‘slices of ham, pickled onions, ketchup and bread plus Red Rose tea, cocoa, or bush tea…boiled duck, funsee soup with foo-chuck, ice cream with KOO canned grapes, imported from South Africa but later banned after apartheid’.

During this season, no one is left out. There are chores for mothers like ‘sewing curtains; boiling, honey-baking and cloving the ham; churning salt butter to bake sponge cake; setting sorrel, ginger beer, jamoon or rice wine’, preparing garlic pork and pepperpot.

Also making artificial flowers from crepe paper. Everyone is involved in Christmas cleaning which included re-polishing furniture with a ‘magical concoction of mentholated spirit and French wood polish’ and polishing floor or covering it with linoleum.

Decorating the Christmas tree was the big event of the season.

Chin wrote ‘[o]n the fourth Sunday before Christmas, the annual ritual …would begin.’ And for many decades, everything concerning the Christmas was

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homemade.

The other big event of the season was Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Eve Night – last minute shopping, window shopping after stores were closed cracking peanuts and licking ice cream cones, and midnight mass.

In this feature, ‘Christmas 1944’, you would find toys for tots and the game children played.

The toys were ‘inexpensive’ like ‘jig saw puzzles, colouring books, and spring-wound toy train made of tin, Sherman and

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Petamber Persaud

Panzer tanks’, wood guns, slingshots, boats, submarines, all accompanied by ‘flutes from papaw stems; comb and silver paper; empty bottle and spoon; calabash shac-shac; and biscuits cans for bass drums’.

And for sure, our writers will record for posterity the Christmases postsugar and first oil. What will they say and how will they say it, stay tune.

Responses to this author telephone (592) 2260065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com

Days before Christmas; armed with a dust-pan, I scrubbed up my house, all spic and all span!

Down on my knees, how I washed and I scoured, I polished and waxed, I buffed and I cleared!

My kitchen shone bright, stove-top was gleaming, My kettle was singing, hot tea was steaming!

My living room sparkled, with fairy lights, Christmas tree lit up, the darkest of nights; Buntings and streamers, heralds of good cheer, added to the bright, festive atmosphere!

Yet something felt wrong, I have to confess, My heart was not clean, it was quite a mess...

The dark grime of anger, was dimming my vision, clouding my will, and my every decision; There were cobwebs of fear, clogging my soul, and bitterness stained, my heart like charcoal.

Back down on my knees, to clean and to clear, With Rosary, I scrubbed out all anger and fear.

I knew then I must, clean my way of living, for Christmas is love, and must be FORgiving...

By Roann Mendriq

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DECEMBER 16, 2018

he struggles of the Christmas party roll around each year, along with the regret and embarrassment of rocking up to the office worrying about what you did in a drunken state the night before. But before all of this, you need to decide what you’re going to wear to the actual event. If you work in a casual dressed office then you won’t be used to wearing a suit every day, so why not go for it and wear one at the Christmas party. This is a great time to show off and experiment with a smart, professional outfit that you don’t usually get to wear.

You don’t have to go full on tux (unless that’s required obviously) but you can go for something that’s still smart.

Here are some great looks that will make you wow your coworkers.

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• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Ingredients 1 lb ground beef ¾ tsp salt ½ tsp black pepper 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp onion powder 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp chopped parsley 1 egg beaten 1 cup Sweet ‘n Spicy Barbecue Sauce 12 brioche buns (dinner roll works as well) 12 slices provolone cheese 2 tbsp butter, melted

Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. To make the meatballs, in a bowl mix ground beef, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, bread crumbs, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, chopped parsley and egg. Mix with a fork to combine.

3. Scoop the meat using ¼ cup measuring cup and then form into meatballs by rolling in between your palms.

4. Place on a baking pan and place into preheated oven. Bake for 25 minutes.

5. Remove from oven then place in a

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dd some flair to your living room this christmas with these easy to make pillows and the best part is that they will cost a fraction of what you will pay if you were to buy them. They are elegant and classy and will have your guests all jealous.

sauce pan over medium low heat. Cover meatball with BBQ sauce and then cover the pot and allow to simmer for about 8-10 minutes.

6. Slice bun in half and place the bottom half side by side in a greased 13 x 9 baking dish.

7. Place one meatball on each bun, then cover with cheese then top with the tops of the bun.

8. Brush the tops of the buns with melted butter and 1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce mixed together.

9. Place into preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes.

10. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before cutting in between the buns to serve.

eggs and granulated sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth.

Add lemon juice and zest and stir to combine. Mix flour in until smooth, I used the mixer for about 30 seconds. Pour filling over shortbread crust and bake for 20 minutes or until set. Remove from oven and cool before cutting. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

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Here is what you will need to make them: • 1/2 yard of quilting cotton (I used red or grey…but I am going to make mustard and green colored ones as well.)

• 1/2 yard of felt (I used cream or red…

2. Using template cut out 8 large petals and 8 small petals from your felt.

• Shortbread crust • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter • 1/4 cup confectioners sugar • 1 cup all purpose flour • 1/8 tsp salt

Lemon Filling pan and set aside.

2. Shortbread crust: • 1 cup granulated sugar With a mixer, beat butter • 2 large eggs • 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice and confectioners sugar until fluffy. Add flour and salt and • 1 tbsp lemon zest beat until mixture comes • 2 tbsp all purpose flour together. Press into greased pan and bake for 20 minutes Instructions or until lightly browned.

Remove from oven and set 1. Preheat oven to 350 aside to cool. degrees. Grease and 8×8 inch 3. Lemon filling: Place

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white was a little too see through for my taste…but it would totally work to.)

Matching Thread (for both your fabric and felt) 7 Jingle Bells (gold or silver) 16″ Pillow Form Glue Stick OR Basting Spray Hand Needle Sewing Machine, Scissors, Rotary Cutter, etc.

Lets get started!

3. Place the 8 large petals in the center of your 16.5″ square of fabric (as shown in the picture below) and then glue stick them into place.

4. Next use your sewing machine to stitch each petal to the fabric. Start about 2.5″ down from the top of each petal. From there run your stitch directly down the center of each petal clear down to the bottom of each petal.

5.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 for small petals

1 cup butter softened 1 3/4 cup sugar 12 oz sour cream 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 eggs 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 2 tsp baking powder 4 1/2 cup flour

Instructions 1. Add butter and sugar to mixer and mix until fluffy. Add sour cream, vanilla and eggs to mixture and mix until combined. In a bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix well. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. After 1 hour, working in batches, roll cookie on floured surface about 1/4 inch thin. Cut with cookie cutters.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Cool before frosting.

6. Now that our front is done we need to create the back of the pillow. Take one of your rectangles.

Turn one of the 16.5″ sides back towards the wrong side a generous quarter inch and sew. Fold it back one more quarter inch towards the wrong side and top stitch. Place your newly made back pillow flaps right sides together on top of your pillow front and pin into place. Using a quarter to a half inch seam allowance sew around the entire circumference of your pillow.

7. out.

Turn your pillow right side

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102 Andean capital ACROSS 103 Commonplace 1 Temptation for Ulysses

104 Festive nights 6 Shady nook

105 Yin complement 11 Chore

106 Bee product 15 Fixed potatoes

107 Dues payer, in short 20 Insists

108 Amo, --, amat 21 -- cotta

109 Squints at 22 Wing it (hyph.)

111 Starfleet journals 24 Pierre's school

112 Tree trunks 25 Whole extent 114 Halfway 26 Philippine mahogany

117 Adherent 27 Town in Maine

118 Director -- Campion 28 A sister of Goneril

119 Thigh muscle 29 Glossy paint

124 Patrick or Ryan 31 One drop, roughly

126 Fishtail 33 Wild goat

128 Rebuff 34 Consumers

130 Red Cloud's tribe 35 Descending a cliff

131 Weight unit 37 Louts

132 "The King" 39 Deli units

134 Column type 41 -- Dawn Chong

136 Refuge 42 Big pipes

137 Whodunit start 43 Katarina of the ice

138 Pop singer -- Marie 44 More pristine

139 Shorthand pro 46 Europe-Asia range

140 Tire feature 50 Ryan or Tilly

141 Macho types (hyph.)

51 Diligence

142 Uptight 52 Lisbon lady

143 Equivocate 53 Fuel cartel

144 Pert 57 Interstellar clouds 59 Noggin DOWN 60 -- -- against time 1 Hoopster 61 Hatha - 2 The Donald's ex 62 Yolks' companions

3 Diagram anew 63 Part of Q and A

4 Crunching noise 64 Mutt 5 Honor 65 Word of disgust

6 Maj. ocean 66 Goes horseback

7 Juicing a lime 67 Nora of "SNL"

8 Boston pucksters 68 Unduly severe

9 Monkey's cousin 69 Synthetic fabric

10 Rajah's consort 72 "We -- not amused"

11 "-- Te Ching"

49 Medieval strings 73 Sheik's attire

12 Floating

51 Normandy city 74 Gunslingers' choice

13 Neatnik opposites

52 Smelting waste 75 In -- (as found)

14 Cattle, old-style

54 Really come down 76 Architectural feature 15 Read

55 Frozen-waffle brand 79 Jason dumped her

16 Makes top honors

56 Songwriter Sammy -80 1960s fad (2 wds.)

17 Moore or Ebert

58 French article 84 Missouri neighbor

18 A moon of Jupiter 59 Spiky hair style 85 Travel documents

19 No rocket scientist

60 Major artery 86 Cow barn

23 Brown-bag alternative (2 wds.)

63 Cut it out 87 Folk-song mule

30 Pack animals

64 Fence pickets 88 Worm seekers

32 Watered silk

67 Elcar of "MacGyver" 91 Ancient conifer

36 More than fibs

68 Surfer slang 92 Town east of Wichita 38 Raided the fridge 69 Plunge 93 Kind of jacket

40 Hillside, to Angus

70 See -- -- glance 95 Stein filler

43 Long-distance line

71 -- -de-sac 96 Bake eggs

44 Hunt illegally

73 Chops down 97 Bern's river

45 Singer -- Orbison

74 Senor Chavez 98 Chuck of action flicks 46 Open a gift

75 -- Lee cakes 99 Loan figure

47 End a layoff

77 Square root of IX 101 Acid in proteins

48 Stayed

78 Dude, Jamaica-style

KATHLEEN SAXE

WORD GAME TODAY'S WORD -- WREATHE (WREATHE: REETHE: To twist or entwine into a ring or circlet.)

Average mark 29 words Time limit 40 minutes Can you find 40 or more words in WREATHE? ware wart water wear weather were wether what wheat whee where whereat

whet wrath wreath rate reheat earth eater ether ewer arete tare tear

thaw thee there three threw tree hare hart hate hater hear heart

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.

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79 80 81 82 83 85 86 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 96 97 98 100 101 102 103

Prefix for "wave"

Singer -- Lovett

Hindu retreat

Yacht basin

Positive signs

Striving to win

Cold north wind

Unusual Norse royal name

-- noire

Does pull-ups

Poet's foot -- compos mentis

Valkyries' mom Glitterati (2 wds.)

Does target practice

-- uno

Clairvoyance

Pro votes Opera house boxes Canasta play

106 Opposing 107 Whine-making?

110 Famous Ford 111 Stevedore's job 112 Forgot the roast 113 Tourist attractions 114 Borrow 115 Toughen up 116 Overalls material 118 Fast-talked 119 Give, as a price 120 Nurse -- Barton 121 Where icicles hang 122 Supplications 123 Like a beach 125 Crowning point 127 Expressionist Paul -129 Disdainful sniff 133 Right to decide 135 Runner Sebastian -See Solution on Pg 14

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G

oogle launched a new feature for Android phones through its Play Store app marketplace that will let anyone donate to a number of US nonprofits, with 100 percent of the donation going to the chosen organization. Google is waiving its traditional 30 percent fee for apps and in-app purchases as part of the program, which the company is calling Giving Season on Play. Some of the nonprofits include the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders USA, Girls Who Code, and UNICEF. The full list of charities can be found here.

This is a notable change in policy for Google, which has avoided letting app developers process donations to nonprofits in the past, for reasons likely related to the thorny regulatory and tax issues on collecting its 30 percent fee from charitable gifts.

DECEMBER 16, 2018

(Most donations are taxdeductible in the US, yet having to account for 30 percent of a donation through the Play Store complicates that process.)

“In celebration of the holiday giving season, we’re making an update to the Google Play Store that lets you make charitable donations to inspiring nonprofits,” writes Maxim Mai, Google Play’s business developer manager. “It’s quick, easy and 100 percent of your contributions go directly to the organizations you choose.” Google isn’t restricting the feature to US Play Store users; Mai says the donation feature will be coming to users in Canada, Mexico, Germany, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Taiwan, and Indonesia “over the coming days.”

Apple has in recent years also begun using its App Store as a way to process mobile donations to nonprofits, especially during natural disasters. It’s typically done this for the Red Cross, and it most recently accepted donations via the front page of the App Store for flooding in Kerala, India, back in August. Apple also did the same through iTunes and the App Store earlier this year for the California wildfires and for Hurricane Harvey in 2017. In 2016, the company opened Apple Pay to nonprofits, after previously barring apps from collecting in-app donations with the payment system and typically requiring users to do so through Safari or SMS. (The Verge)

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pple is apparently working on its own, in-house developed modem to allow it to better compete with Qualcomm, according to several new Apple job listings that task engineers to design and develop a layer 1 cellular PHY chip — implying that the company is working on actual, physical networking hardware. Two of the job posts are explicitly to hire a pair of cellular modem systems architects, one in Santa Clara and one in San Diego, home of Qualcomm. That’s alongside several other job postings Apple has listed in San Diego for RF design engineers.

The Information, which spotted the first job posting, cites sources that go a step further, claiming that Apple is not only potentially working to develop its own modem, but is in fact specifically targeting it for use in future iPhones, with the company looking to leave longtime partner Intel behind in favor of its own, in-house solution.

According to The Information’s report, the new modem would still be years away, with even Apple’s purported 5G iPhone slated for 2020 using Intel’s in-development 5G modem instead. It makes sense logically, too — if Apple is only just starting to hire now, it’ll take at least a few years before it’ll actually be ready to ship hardware. But the move would have big ramifications for the mobile space, particularly for Qualcomm and Intel, two of the biggest mo-

dem suppliers in the world.

Historically, Apple has used a mix of Qualcomm and Intel modems in its devices, but the two companies have been on the outs since the beginning of 2017, when Apple sued Qualcomm over anti-competitive prices, accusing the modem supplier of overcharging it. That set off the current ongoing fight between Apple and Qualcomm, which has seen the iPhone maker abandon Qualcomm’s chips in favor of only using Intel modems for the iPhone XS and XR, and Qualcomm’s own attempt to try to ban Apple’s iPhones from being sold in the US and China.

The problem for Apple, though, is that it can choose to use Intel’s modems, but when it comes down to hard numbers, Intel simply hasn’t been keeping up performance-wise compared to Qualcomm’s modems. A recent analysis of Ookla speed tests found that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 offered dramatically better speeds than devices with Intel modems. It wasn’t a small gap either — the results (admittedly, collected from Ookla by Qualcomm) saw 40 percent faster download speeds and 20 percent faster uploads for Qualcomm modems compared to Intel ones. And among the more tech savvy, intentionally buying the Qualcomm variant of the iPhone over the Intel modem version (back in earlier hardware generations when the choice was still there) was seen as the way to go.

Apple has long been developing its own mobile processors for its iPhone and iPad devices with its A-series chips — branching out into a custom-built modem, where it can further control the specific hardware for its devices, could offer similar success to the performance Apple has already achieved with its computational silicon. It’d also mirror similar moves from competitors like Samsung and Huawei, who also use their own in-house modem and processor stacks for a cohesive hardware experience, albeit in phones that are only available in the US through imports, for now. (The Verge)

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…Suhana will have to train for 3-4 years before debut

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hah Rukh Khan has provided an update about his children’s acting ambitions. “Neither Aryan nor Suhana have been groomed to be actors,” he said in a recent interview. Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, the actor, who will next be seen in Zero, said that his daughter wants to become an actor, but “she will go to an educational institute for three-four years to train in acting” after finishing school.

Suhana recently performed on stage with her friends, and filmed a short movie.

Pictures from both the play and the short were shared online. Shah Rukh said that Aryan wants to become a director, and he’s training for it in the US. “Gauri and I never told our kids that they have to grow up to be actors. People around would say handsome hai, tall hai, body achcha hai, but if looks were a criterion, I’d never have been an actor,” Shah Rukh continued.

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alayalam actor Priya Prakash Varrier, who shot to fame following her 'wink song' Manikya Malaraya Poovi... from the film Oru Addar Love has become the most searched personality of the year, Google India said on

The star said that he would offer his children all the advice he could, with his 30 years’ worth of experience in the industry, but said that an actor should not be concerned about wearing nice clothes or driving nice cars. “If you want that then get into banking. It’s safer,” Shah Rukh said. This job is “about how happily, longingly, desperately and crazily you want to act.”

Shah Rukh’s Zero is his most expensive film, with a reported budget of Rs 200 crore.

Extensive visual effects were required to create his character, a dwarf named Bauaa Singh. In the film, directed by Aanand L Rai, Bauaa gets caught in a love triangle with Katrina Kaif’s film star and Anushka Sharma’s scientist characters.

Zero is scheduled for a December 21 release. It will be followed by Ranveer Singh’s Simmba the week after that. (Hindustan Times)

Wednesday.

She was followed by Priyanka Chopra's spouse Nick Jonas in the list of most searched personalities. Priyanka herself was the fourth most searched personality on Google. The second and fifth

Crossword Solution

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DECEMBER 16, 2018

positions went to dance performer Sapna Choudhary and actor Sonam Kapoor's husband Anand Ahuja respectively.

On the cinema front, the Bollywood blockbusters overshadowed Hollywood in the search lists, with Robot 2.0 taking the top spot, followed

by Baaghi 2 and Race 3. The three Hollywood entries in the list happened to be based on Marvel properties: Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther and Deadpool 2.

The songs that ruled the roost included Neha Kakkar's Dilbar Dilbar, Arijit Singh's Tera Fitoor and Atif Aslam's Dekhte Dekhte from Bollywood.

Interestingly, the lone English entrant was the ever popular Latin hit song Despacito, which also happened to make it to the 'Year in Search' list last year.

Celebrity weddings made big waves this year as fans scoured the web in search of the latest buzz on their favourite celeb marriages.

The three weddings that figured prominently included Priyanka Chopra/Nick Jonas, Deepika Padukone/Ranveer Singh and Sonam Kapoor/ Anand Ahuja.(Hindustan Times)

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lia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor are two of the biggest stars in Bollywood today. Their relationship is obviously the talk of the town. While the world speculates endlessly about what the duo will do next, what their respective parents think about them is worth knowing. In the past, we have read Rishi Kapoor speaking frankly about it. His comment ‘Neetu likes her, I like her, Ranbir likes her. Get it?’ more than summed up what the Kapoors thought of the couple.

Now, Mahesh Bhatt, Alia’s father, has spoken at length about them. In a long interview to The Telegraph, he acknowledged candidly that the two were in a relationship. “Well, of course they’re in love. You don’t need to be a genius to get that!” he was quoted as saying. When asked if he had any advice to give to his daughter, his answer was a frank denial. He said he had never taken any advice, as a youngster, and believed every human being had the right and required intelligence to chart his or her journey by himself/herself.

He even added that whether they would go in for marriage too would be their call.

He added that the very institution of marriage needed to be questioned in the second decade of 21st century.

Mahesh also spoke about Sanju where Ranbir played the titular role. “I loved Ranbir (Kapoor) but that’s not the Sanjay Dutt that I know. Ranbir brought his own emotional chord to it but I don’t think Rajkumar (Hirani) was claiming to the world that he’s making an exact replica. People who are very close to Sanjay cannot connect with that portrayal in the movie. But India seems to have loved it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ranbir and Alia have never hidden their feelings for each other even

if they initially didn’t acknowledge it upfront. It was only after Ranbir spoke about his relationship in an interview to GQ magazine earlier this year that it has come to the foreground.

However, Alia has never spoken in too great a detail. Her Instagram posts, however, are the best demonstration of her state of mind. Her visit to New York City and her many pictures with the Kapoors show their collective comfort levels.

Ranbir and Alia also make public appearances together, like they did when they posed at Sonam Kapoor’s wedding reception together.

(Hindustan Times)

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DECEMBER 16, 2018

Archie

ARIES

Personal matters can be (March 21- taken care of. An adjustment April 19) to your finances will ensure that you get the tax break you deserve. An unexpected gift will take you by surprise.

You'll learn a lot if you TAURUS (April 20- spend time with someone who May 20) has insight into your family history. The information you receive will help you find a way to please a loved one.

Look for a chance to do GEMINI something nice for a loved (MAY 28- one. A kind gesture will lead June 20) to a positive change in your relationship, which in turn will lead to an interesting opportunity.

CANCER

A problem will arise if someone you are counting on (June 21falls behind or doesn't do his July 22) or her fair share. Don't initiate a change unless you know you can finish what you start.

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Dilbert

VIRGO Do your best to get along at (Aug. 23- home. When dealing with joint Sept. 22) money decisions, have costefficient alternatives ready to temper someone's lavish plans.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23)

Peanuts

Getting together with people you haven't seen in a while will be eye-opening and will give you some ideas that will help you make personal improvements.

You'll be caught in the middle of an impossible situation. Don't compromise any relationship. Try to stay neutral and keep the peace.

Focus on learning and selfimprovement.

You'll have a good idea SCORPIO that will turn into a welcome (Oct. 24surprise for a loved one. A Nov. 22) short trip, shopping extravaganza or romantic evening will make your day.

Host an event or decorate SAGITTARIUS your place for upcoming fes(Nov. 23tivities.

Changes you make Dec. 21) and time spent with loved ones will bring you the greatest joy of all.

Calvin and Hobbes

Be careful with whom you CAPRICORN share family history. Have pa(Dec. 22- tience with loved ones, and Jan. 19) listen to complaints carefully.

The attention you offer others will result in you getting the respect and love you deserve.

An idea will lead to an AQUARIUS opportunity. Use your skills (Jan. 20- to turn something you enFeb. 19) joy doing into a moneymaking endeavor. Share your plans with someone who has something to contribute.

Don't let someone else's PISCES (Feb. 20- behavior turn into your probMar. 20) lem. Know when to walk away from an unsavory situation. Put your priorities in order and your needs first.