Sunday Magazine - October 21, 2018

October 21, 2018

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2 Sunday Times Magazine

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Feature

“T

wo packs sausage fuh $500.”

“Come get yuh bora, fresh garden bora.”

“I got nice tops fuh yuh

wife, bai; come buy two.”

These are some of the words one would hear on passing through what was once the busiest

place on the West Bank of Demerara on Friday.

That place was the Wales Market, but now the oncebusy area is a ghost town

A section of the almost abandoned market

with very few vendors on a Friday.

“Right now, what I can tell you, this market is a dead place. Almost everybody stop coming to sell, since the estate close

down, because it was mostly the estate workers who used to buy and now them people nah got money, so they got to economise and business too bad to still sell deh,” former vendor Hemraj Mangru said. But how did the once-busy market become a virtual ghost town?

The answer presents itself right before you: the closure, in 2016, of the Wales Estate, the largest employer on the West Bank of Demerara. It has been almost two years since the closure, and former workers are still trying to find employment, while the economy of the village and those further afield are still grappling with the economic shock.

Businesses are continuing to see a decline in sales, since most of the people are economising – cutting back on spending not because they want to, but because they are forced to. Many of the workers who lost their jobs at the estate are high school dropouts or those who never went to school thus making the task of finding employment ten times harder.

When the Administration decided to close the estate, it did not come up with an alternative plan to cushion the effect of the massive shock to the economy. Apart from offering some of the workers employment at the Uitvlugt Estate, West Coast Demerara, there was no contingency plan and the workers were virtually given no options as to how to go about getting jobs.

Most of them attempted to join the fisheries sector, applying to vari-

ous fish/seafood processing plants, but very few were successful. Those who know to read and write a bit were given employment with various security services, but those employed by Sentinel Security Service had to protest for their salaries, since they were forced to go unpaid for months.

“When you do get your pay, then it short and them does bring some ‘Jim cock bring ram goat’ story and tell you how hours short and all kind of thing, but we can’t say nothing because we need the money. We punishing, budday; this life nah easy at all,” one of the former estate workers, now a security officer, said.

Not underplaying the struggles of the retrenched workers, but back to the issue of the dying institution that is the Wales Market. The vendors said that after the closure of the estate, they attempted to continue vending there, but it was not the same and over time they were forced to pack up shop and look for alternative markets, since the income of most residents has all but vanished.

Now on a Friday, the streets are virtually clear and there is no shouting of bargains to entice customers. There is no competition because there are no estate workers with their week’s earnings to spend. The vendors are suffering, the former workers are suffering, the community of Wales is suffering, and, by extension, the entire West Bank of Demerara is suffering.

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine

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Feature

By Lakhram Bhagirat

O

ne of the most painful decisions for parents is the dreaded one of parting with their children, but more often than we realise circumstances force parents to part with their children for various reasons, and Nakeshia Best is still coming to terms with that decision she was forced to make.

The single mother from Skeldon, Berbice in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) took the fateful decision to send two of her three children to live with their maternal grandmother after she could no longer afford to provide financially for them. You see, Best was one of the thousands of workers who were unsympathetically handed redundancy letters when Government decided to shut up shop at the Skeldon Estate at the beginning of this year.

“The last day I worked was December 29 (2017) and since then I looking for work. I was a part of the fertiliser gang for over five years and that money I used to use to take care of the children and after I stop working I just can’t afford it anymore. It just hard,” Best tells me.

All adults, particularly those with a family, set out certain goals and have dreams that they work towards and Best had those same dreams, but all she could do now is try to survive and not get kicked out of the apartment she rents. She said that during her short tenure as a part of Guyana’s largest workforce, she initiated the process of acquiring her own land but then tragedy

Nakeshia Best and her youngest child

struck.

“I had a big dream and a lot of dreams of getting my own land and building my own house and afterwards estate close down and everything just washed away.”

Now she barely works for $2000 per week as a domestic help. Best related that she would launder clothes for a family every Wednesday and Saturday and that is all the income she has been getting ever since the beginning of the year.

To provide more insight into the reasons that forced her to part ways with her two eldest children who are only eight and 14 years old, Best tells me that her rent is $10,000 per month and she earns about $8000 per month. Apart from meeting her monthly rent, she would have to buy food and ensure that the children attend school as well as meet the demands of her threeyear-old.

“Life changed completely and because some days the children them going to school and some days they can’t and till eventually the two big one I had to send them by my mother in Georgetown and get a transfer and so for them because it is really hard for me up this side,” the 29-year-old tells me.

She said that employment opportunities were scarce in her area and even further afield thus making earning any money harder. Best has applied for a number of jobs, since her unfortunate and abrupt termination, but has received no response as yet.

“Since June I applied for a Special Constabulary Officer position and until now them didn’t even call and say yes that we have the job or no we don’t. That is how the whole Berbice is and we can’t do nothing about it at all. We just have to go with the flow and see where life takes us, but all I can say is that things hard. It really hard here and we need to get a break because we suffering here and nobody coming up with no plan to help,” she says.

Best would have received all of her severance pay from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), but it was so meagre that she utilised it all paying bills, rent; shopping for groceries and sending her children to school. Now she has zero savings and as the breadwinner of her family, she is struggling to keep the roof over her head and that of her three-year-old.

She says now all she can do is be strong and persevere because she believes that bad phases do not last for long and she is strong enough to weather this storm and come out with minimal damage.

“I may feel broken now, but I will find a way to put the pieces back together. I will get back to a state where I can take care of my children again and we all can be under one roof. I miss them a lot and because of the money situation I can’t even see them when I like, but very soon, very soon,” she said optimistically.

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Feature

he was planting and rearing what he eats in order to make up for his lack of income. Farook utilises the small space at the back of his home for a kitchen garden, and to rear some broiler chickens and goats.

“I do do some agriculture at the back because you got to eat. I does plant lil’ baigan and so and we does pick from there and cook. It does help

save some money.”

He said because of his lack of income, he would delve into his savings which include the half of his severance package that he received from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

“If you go about this community, everybody will tell you the same thing and that is business slow back.

Deonauth Bisnauth

T

he old saying “put some aside for the rainy days” comes to mind when one thinks of the plight of retrenched sugar workers, since most of them are suffering because their “rainy days” cookie jar is empty. Among those are 54-year-old Mohamed Farook and 47-yearold Deonauth Bisnauth of Enmore, East Coast Demerara.

Farook was employed at the Enmore Estate for 37 years as a cane transporter.

His daily job entailed transporting cane from the fields to the factory in order for them to be processed. He, like many of his colleagues, vividly remembers being handed his redundancy letter. He said that he was close to retiring and then

Mohamed Farook

came the bad news, so now all the benefits he would have worked for over the past 37 years disappeared with a single letter.

Since he was handed his letter, Farook has been trying to gain employment since he has a 12-year-old daughter who recently started secondary school.

“I have to close my eyes from many things, because there is no income from anywhere. Seeking employment is hard because I send out application to everywhere and when you go for interview, them does tell you that age is the problem. I have to work, but I can’t get no work and it is hard for us here, because Enmore is dead and nothing nah happen here,” he said.

He said that for now

Mohamed Farook and his daughter

This entire community and Enterprise was dependent on the estate and because of that things nah happen here. Even construction wuk hard to find, because money is not circulating,” Farook says.

For now Farook goes about his days tending to his

goats and kitchen garden as well as checking the community and further afield for employment. He still has hope of being gainfully employed so that he can retire with enough savings to cover his expenses and that of his wife.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Enmore is Bisnauth, who is still struggling to make ends meet as he seeks to take care of his wife and two children. He was employed at the estate since he was 15 years old. He had accumulated 30 years of service prior to being handed his redundancy letter.

“Me was part of the first set of people that them pay off. When them give me the letter, me get stupidy because me nah know what fuh do. But then them say that we gon get wuk and so, but on to now me ah wait fuh a proper wuk to get money,” he said.

Bisnauth said that since his service was terminated, he has been doing odd jobs around the community for people since he cannot find steady employment because of his inability to read and write.

“I can’t read or write and when you go fuh security wuk, them ah tell you that you got to know fuh read and write and me nah get wuk.

Me does ketch me hand with the NDC [Neighbourhood Democratic Council] for four days cleaning the trench, but that is that. The money does can’t pay because me got to take care of the whole house and pay all the bills and so. Things rough bad, bai; what me go tell you?”

Bisnauth said plaintively.

He said that the severance payout he received was used to build a house for his family and now he has to work towards maintaining that house.

“All this years I work GuySuCo, and me just had couple years more before me retired and them man gone and do this. And we nah get wuk nowhere, bai, and everything ah raise. Next couple months me nah know what we go do in this place,” the dejected man said.

For now he continues to ride his bicycle around the village looking for odd jobs to supplement the $2300 he earns daily by cleaning the trenches in the area.

Part of Farook’s garden

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 5

Feature

By Lakhram Bhagirat

I

f you met Royston Garnett a few years ago and told him that he would have been unemployed for 10- plus months and struggling to make ends meet, he would have certainly given you a few taps on your head to check to see if everything was in place, but today all he can do is worry about where the next dollar will come from, since he practically is as broke as a church mouse.

I know a lot of you will say that ‘we all go through financial hardships, but it is just a phase and work harder, search harder and make the sacrifices and watch the fruits of your labour develop’.

But that is not the case for Garnett, since he has been pushing himself harder, he has been making the sacrifices and he tries to diversify but is limited by his circumstances. He is limited by the fact that he is both mother and father to his three children, two of whom are in secondary school. He is limited by the fact that he lives in a county that has a virtually dead economy caused by the retrenchment of its largest workforce.

Garnett was employed at the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Skeldon Estate for the past 20 years in the shovel gang.

Royston Garnett

But like thousands of persons, he was handed the dreaded redundancy letter in December of 2017 and according to the 44-year-old, his entire world shattered.

He remembers collecting his letter and the hot tears that started to roll down his cheeks making their way to his toes. His entire body was numb. He didn’t cry for himself, rather he cried for the hardships his children would have to face. Yes, he was pessimistic from the beginning, because he knew that there was only so much he could do for a number of reasons.

Garnett now spends his days going around in search of employment, only to be told that there are not any jobs available for him owing to a number of factors, particularly his age as well as the fact that “business bad”.

“Life is hard right now, because I am not working

at the present moment. You barely getting a two-day mason work and that is what you have to cope with. Businesses also crying out, because the sawmills them telling you that they laying off workers because business bad, so the market people them crying out. If people nah get money, they can’t buy. Skeldon is a ghost town. Work ain’t doing and everybody just crying out, wondering to know when estate starting, when estate starting back,” he said.

He added that they were told to standby because once the Skeldon Estate became operational once again, they would be rehired, but they were yet to get word as to when exactly that would be.

Garnett says that he has his 13-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter who are both in secondary school, adding that the expenses associated with their education

are sometimes beyond his reach. However, he makes the sacrifices to ensure that every assignment is completed on time, every text book is purchased and every exam paid for.

“I have to make the sacrifices because education is important. My daughter because she is in Form Four, she always have an assignment and sometimes the money don’t come to get it done but I does have to make the sacrifice because is she education. The boy is only in Form Two and he does get one, one assignment, but not so much like the girl,” he explained.

Just last week, his daughter needed an Integrated Science textbook which was valued around $1500 and he was heartbroken that he could not have afforded to purchase it immediately for her. However, he scraped and found the money to get her the book.

During the course of his time working with GuySuCo, Garnett acquired a plot of land in the Number 76 Village Housing Scheme and took a loan to construct a house for himself and his children to live in. He said while he was still paying, the dreaded thought of repossession loomed over his head every time he failed to make his weekly payments.

Thus far, Garnett has

received half of his severance payout to the tune of $372,000 and he would have utilised a portion to pay six months of his mortgage and the other portion went to managing his household

problem. I ain’t getting work and that is problem,” he said.

“It rough because I ain’t working and when I used to work and it cut out, I used to make much because I still get something to use and right

Royston’s two youngest children

and sending his children to school.

“People might think you get a big sum of money but to me that is still underpaid but we accept and bless because it better than nothing. Mine is finished, because I got a loan at the bank and I paid some down…I don’t have nothing in bank and I owe them for last week and this week and that is S10, 000. I got to try (pay that) before it build up more because that is

now I ain’t getting nothing and that make it more hard. I got to find that money to pay the bank and that building up and when I build up, them gon send and call me because they reminded me of it already and I don’t want that,” Garnett added.

Now he spends his days running around trying to find a stable job so that he could provide for his family and give them the life they deserve.

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Feature

F

ollowing the closure of four sugar factories last year, and the displacing of almost 5000 workers, the workers have been fighting for their jobs and severance packages. Last year, 1851 workers were sacked from the Skeldon Sugar Estate, 1181 from the Rose Hall Estate, 1480 from the East Demerara Sugar Estate and 251 from the Wales Sugar Estate. Just Friday we saw former Wales Estate workers protesting the National Assembly calling for their severance packages and the government also owes a number of other works the remaining 50 percent of their severance.

guyanatimesgy.com

OCTOBER 21 , 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 7

Literary Corner

by

Petamber Persaud

Preserving our literary heritage

(Extract of an interview with Scott Ting-AKee, Georgetown, Guyana, August 2018.

Ting-AKee won the prize for the ‘Best Graduating Student in Literature’ from the University of Guyana, and the first prize in The Guyana Annual open poetry competition. ‘Red Hibiscus’ is his first novel.)

Synopsis Of Red Hibiscus

Chu hua, Zhaohui and Ren share a grand destiny as the greatest diviners of all time. They are blessed or cursed with clairvoyance and decide to try to change the future. Their very existence and abilities are beyond what the Heavens should allow. The clairvoyant trio records their shared visions and dreams in the form of poetry hoping that it may be passed down as a warning to future generations.

Yoaguai and gods attack Chu hua, Zhaohui and Ren to silence them and to prevent them from changing the future they see for China and the world.

The emperor feels threatened and is not sure if he should exploit their mystic powers or kill them out of fear of them.

Outcasts who rose to legendary destinies now have to work together to save China from a future they do not quite understand while fighting for their own lives.

PP One of your interests is interdisciplinary study of literature and comparative literature of the East and West; let’s talk about the literature of the East and the West.

ST The literature of the West is heavily influenced by Colonialist ideas, Eurocentric ideas while the literature of the East celebrates their religion, their culture, their view of the world and their gods.

At UG, I did a paper where I compared the Gothic elements in one of Mark McWatt’s stories to the Gothic tenets of Japanese literature where they were similar and also different and that was the paper that opened my eyes as to how radically different the literature of the East and the West is, not only in terms of the culture it examines but in terms of how the stories are told, and what perspective they are told from. For example in the Western Gothic tradition, if a character is feeling depressed, wanting to commit suicide, it is perceived as something bad because from a Christian perspective that is something bad but with the Japanese Gothic tradition especially with some samurais, those

feelings of depression are seen as something good, it is also seen as a person entering a new state of enlightenment – so committing suicide is seen as something positive rather than negative which is something I found very shocking when I did the research revealing that I know a lot about Greek and Roman mythology but not a lot about myths of the East – China, Japan, Korea – propelling me to do more research and then it got more and more interesting.

PP You talk about differences, what about similarities between it East and the West in literature?

ST One similarity you would find in both is binary opposites are the key – much of this whole idea

of good and evil, right and wrong…

PP Yang and yin …

ST Yes – Yang and Yin. But in the Eastern literature it is more common to find an ambiguity or a vague ending whereby good doesn’t win or the evil, but there is some sort of compromise where they coexist…

PP Between and betwixt ….

ST Yes but with the Western, it is black or white for the most part …

PP Kind of finite …

ST Yes but what I find with post colonial Caribbean writers – the modernist, the visionary writers like Wilson Harris and those writers who grew up in the tradition of Wilson Harris would explore in in-

between spaces more now but that exploration of the in-between is something that Japanese and Chinese have explored for centuries.

PP Scott, your first book, a novel, a novel with a twist, a novel with a difference – how would like for us to view this book, through Western eyes or Eastern eyes?

ST I would like to think I wrote it with enough ambiguity at certain points so the reader can take it whichever way it goes.

Pauline Melville when she visited UG in 2013, she mentioned when it comes to books, the writer does fifty percent of the work but it doesn’t really become a book and the reader does the other fifty percent of the work because they see the value of it. I agree with that so I wouldn’t lead the reader to look at it through Eastern or Western eyes. Let them shock me – even show me things that I didn’t know I put in there. However, I intended for it to be a post-colonial work although it is set in ancient China; at its very core, underneath it all, it goes back to the Caribbean and the Caribbean experience. And in my attempt to celebrate, explore and reconnect with Chinese heritage and Chinese tradition, it also points out, on the other hand, what the Chinese descendants in the Caribbean might have lost through colonialism.

PP [Reading from the book] ‘Who can find native gods/In a strange land?..

Are we destined to be slaves? And our gods/What can they do in a strange land?’- is this the connection between east and west?

ST Right.

PP In the author’s note, you stated this Red Hibiscus is ‘a literary experimentation with myth

Notice to Readers

creation and flash forward.

I wrote this book in defiance of long dead Kipling who wrote that East and West would never meet’. Talk to us about Red Hibiscus.

ST Red Hibiscus is heavily steeped in history and mythology so I look at the major gods, the popular ones like Chang'e, the moon goddess, Hou Yi, the great archer, Gong Gong, the water god – they are all in there but in retelling their stories, from my perspective, and the thing is my perspective of these gods is actually influenced by a book I read over and over as a child called Old Tales Retold by Lu Hsun and in that book he took ten of the more popular Chinese myths and folklore and wrote them as short stories so my conception of how a god acted and lived is heavily influenced by his creation of them rather than the established myths….

Now with the myth creation, Chu hua, Zhaohui and Murasaki Ren, the three clairvoyants who are the protagonists of the tale – they of themselves become mythical characters, heroes or villains, depending how you look at them – in addition to them, there is Lady Xiao Li, the flower goddess, she does not exist in the actual myth, I created her…

PP Wow – some experiment this!

Scott, so whose truth are we reading?

ST That’s an excellent question. The best answer I can give: we are reading the truth of the hybrid; it is not completely Western, it is not completely Eastern because at the end of the book, the goddess admits that she knows everything that is going to happen but she can’t do anything about it. Why? Because everything, colonialism included, has to go according to a divine order.

So I am not celebrating colonialism, in this book, at the same time, I am not completely bashing it – it had to happen and as the result of it happening cultural hybrids, racial hybrids exist.

At the same time, the beauty of the diverse Caribbean region would not have been created.

PP Another connection to the West, the West Indies…any other?

ST The title of the book, Red Hibiscus – the red hibiscus is the connection, a flower that grows in China and also in the Caribbean.

In Caribbean literature that is a flower that is used constantly even as far back as Wide Sargasso Sea as a symbol of the Caribbean, of Caribbean-ness…

PP What’s next for Scott Ting-A-Kee?..........

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@ yahoo.com

It is the first day of the year again, this time in the quiet absence of Portlandia, we have our own quiet way of entering the spaces between the seconds of life, where time fades.

The fire makes a noise, inside here where ice and snow make the earth frozen, press us to guess what weather will do now as weather becomes a matter of climate with no divination.

I listen to your napping, air going inside to fill you with warmth from the fireplace, air going out to let your soul teach the world what it is to make the journey to the heart.

So this first poem the day a golden retriever wallowed in the sunrise over frozen snow, then sat up to grin the silly grin of its kind, as if to say, the light is there if you only wait.

We wait together for the first man to enter this house we are leaving for another house, as you say it is me, I am the man to bless the heart, its mystery of fire and the light.

Afaa Michael Weaver, 1951

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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OCTOBER 21, 2018

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 11

Home & Cooking

If you’re tired of walking into your dated bathroom and dream of a change, we’ve got bathroom decorating ideas for you that are inexpensive and simple to do.

• breast • • • • •

Ingredients

1 boneless, skinless chicken Chicken broth to cover 1 bay leaf ½ an onion 1 cup orange juice Juice of 1 lime

Instructions

1. Place chicken breast in a pot with enough chicken stock to cover, bay leaf and half an onion and boil.

2. Cook until the chicken is easy to shred, about 35 minutes. Remove from heat and strain. Shred chicken and then set aside.

3. Combine orange juice, lime juice,

• • • • • • • •

1 tsp salt 1 black pepper 6 cloves garlic, crushed 1 tsp oregano ½ tsp cumin 1 tsp olive oil 1 onion sliced 1 bell pepper sliced (optional)

Paint

Paint your walls with the perfect shade you selected. It’s no longer necessary to choose gloss in a bathroom to combat moisture, ask the paint shop to add an additive to matte paint to keep it from mildewing. Don’t just paint the walls — purchase an eggshell or semi-gloss paint and paint the cabinets, too.

salt, black pepper, garlic, oregano, cumin and olive oil.

4. Place a large frying pan over high heat. Add shredded chicken and mojo sauce and cook until the sauce has evaporated. Add sliced onions and bell pepper and fry until chicken is crispy about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and serve warm. (Jehann Can Cook)

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar • 3 eggs • 1-14oz can sweetened condensed milk • 1-12oz can evaporated milk • 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a heavy bottom pot over medium low heat, melt the sugar until it becomes a golden brown color. Do not stir, this will cause the sugar crystallize, instead move the pot in a circular motion.

Once the sugar has completely liquefied pour into a 9 inch baking dish.

3. In a large bowl beat eggs.

Mix in condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla. Slowly pour the mixture through a strainer and into the prepared pan with the caramel.

4. Place in 13×9 baking dish and place into oven (it is easier to pour the water while the pan is on the oven rack, this prevents spilling). Pour warm water into the large baking dish until the water is about half way up the sides of the pan with the custard. Place into a preheated oven and bake for 1 hour.

5. Carefully remove from the water and allow to cool for at least 4 hours before serving.

6. To serve, invert custard onto a plate. (Jehann Can Cook)

Lighting Fixture Replacement

There’s a great variety of affordable lighting fixtures available. Replace outdated lighting fixtures with new ones from your home improvement store. Electrical projects are best left to professionals, but with some guidance, switching out lighting fixtures shouldn’t be difficult for a DIY-er. Be original when upgrading lighting. Bathroom lighting trends include hanging pendants and light bars that diffuse light in a room.

Select LED lighting fixtures since they’re the most energy efficient and don’t heat your bathroom up.

Bathroom Works of Art

There’s no need to stare at unadorned walls in your bathroom.

Treated canvas prints are water resistant and affordable. Go for oversized proportions for the best visual impact. For a unique look, have a local printer blow up a favorite photo into customized wall art. Nowadays, custom printers can create canvas prints and even laminate them for water resistance.

When thinking of bathroom decorating ideas for art, think beyond a canvas print. A wall gallery of favorite objects like starfish or baskets can be another way to decorate your bathroom walls.

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Puzzles

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ACROSS Gave a fig Gets one's feet wet Mil. officers Lose it (2 wds.)

Arch with a point Shake off Fall behind Candle or legion Does dock work Hull's bottom Fishing net Windy City airport Premiered Actress -- Close BPOE members Escort Curbed Calligraphy fluids Mining hazard B'way posting of yore Helped, with "over" QB awards Waited awhile Pool lengths Actor -- Beatty Equal Name meaning "truth" Ten-percenters Talismans Basted Green shade Put on the block Tune Oil drilling platforms College credits New Zealand parrot Cherbourg shes Bites Nest builders Flotsam and -Carbondale sch.

Mooches "Beowulf" et al.

Monkey havens Pine "anchors" Meted out Blossomed, as corn Vintners' casks Where Asia begins Poison "Xanadu" rockers Mean and nasty Purse closers Ocean fish Radius companions Me, to Maurice Spats Goose liver delicacy Middle of MGM's motto Sets a price Aerie hatchling

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Chops down Position in a poll Deli breads Apply gold leaf Egg portion Checkers piece Gen. Robert -- -Stadium levels Camel's-eye view?

Viennese dessert Ginza money Taoism (abbr.)

Use force Insulation purchase Poplar Turkey's neighbor Knitter's needs "Sure!" (2 wds.)

Add a lane Old water wheel -- voce Tooth filling Boom-box issue Grain for grinding Jacket choice Racing shell Prized viol.

"Hey there!" (hyph.)

God of thunder The ones here Hue, but not cry Slack-jawed Carnival attractions Big occasion Karakum, for one Place to surf Straightened Blunted Sidled past In full view Ave. crossers Euclid and Pericles Lobster orders Kitchen appliance Pheasant kin Expresses pleasure Calcutta nannies Kitchen gadget January, in Jalisco 1950s musical (2 wds.)

Small and delicate Phileas Fogg player Bad day for Caesar Radio's PBS Marvin Lee -Alleys Flexible bands AMA members Least convincing Aviator -- Earhart Stop the car (hyph.)

KATHLEEN SAXE

WORD GAME TODAY'S WORD -- WHIMSICAL DEVIANT: DEE-vee-ent: Differing from the accepted standards.)

Average mark 29 words Time limit 40 minutes Can you find 38 or more words in DEVIANT?

date dative davit dean dent detain diet dine dint

diva divan dive edit vain vane vein vend vent

vied vine vita idea invade adit aide ante anti

avid naive native nave neat tend tide tied tine

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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Nutritious legume Lily maid of Astolat Two tablets, say Famished

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40-cup brewer

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Mach 1 exceeder Curved molding Nectar, finally

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guyanatimesgy.com

october 21 , 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 13

14 Sunday Times Magazine

OCTOBER 21, 2018

guyanatimesgy.com

Bollywood/Hollywood

T

here has been immense buzz surrounding his coming wedding with actress Deepika Padukone, but Bollywood star Ranveer Singh says his focus in life right now is acting and films.

“Right now, I am focussed on the work that I am doing in films. I am doing back-to-back films. I’ve been very blessed to have some really amazing projects at hand and I tremen-

dously value these opportunities,” Ranveer told IANS in an email interview.

“I want to do my bit to contribute towards the filmmaking process and to try and make the best films possible. So, my focus in life right now is acting and films,” added the actor, who has been named as the brand ambassador of a nutritional supplement.

Ranveer walked into Bollywood in 2010 as a raw

Delhi boy with Band Baaja Baaraat. Since then he has essayed varied roles to perfection. There are projects like Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, Lootera, Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela, Gunday, Dil Dhadakne Do, Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat in his film portfolio. At the moment, he is working on Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, Rohit Shetty’s Simmba and Kabir Khan’s 83. Ranveer says finding a place in Bollywood was a tough task.

“Trying to get a break in a very insulated mainstream Hindi film industry was a great and big challenge. Then to try and shoulder big films and largerthan-life characters in parts that have... myriad layered emotions to play... some requiring a level of maturity and evolution. Those are some significant challenges that I have faced,” he said, responding to a question on the challenges he faced while making a name for himself. (Hindustan Times)

I

n very happy news, Kensington Palace has officially confirmed that the Duchess of Sussex is pregnant and has all but cleared her diary to ensure she rests as much as possible. The news comes after it was revealed that Meghan gave her first major ‘sit-down’ interview since joining the royal family.

However, organisers for Prince Harry’s upcoming Invictus Games are most excited to welcome the couple who are expected at the event.

According to reports ‘the palace was talking in riddles without stating the obvious' before the royal tour to Australia and New Zealand before 'she was given the three-month all clear.’

On August 20, it was an-

nounced that David Beckham had signed up as an ambassador to the Invictus Games and will be present throughout the event. It’s now understood the former sportsman is a lastminute back-up to cover for Harry, whose presence may be significantly scaled back due to the pending arrival of the new royal baby.

Crossword Solution

“ABC and Invictus have been informed Harry may not be at the closing ceremony due to personal reasons, so they need to be prepared for this. It’s left them shellshocked as he always opens and closes the Games,” adds the insider.

Despite shying away from public appearances, Meghan has had a busy summer. She has given a lengthy interview to the team behind a new documentary series Queen Of The World, about the role of Queen Elizabeth.

She and Harry adopted a new puppy, thought to be a labrador, and the former Suits star spent much of the UK summer visiting friends, and no doubt sharing her baby news and gathering advice on her impending motherhood.

After she and Harry visited Amal and George Clooney – who are tipped to be the couple’s first choice as godparents – in Lake Como, Meghan took a solo trip to Toronto where she caught up with best friend Jessica Mulroney, then travelled on to Los Angeles to see her mother, Doria Ragland.

B

ollywood superstar Salman Khan, who became a part of a celebration for 20 years of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, says the film’s director Karan Johar is the “busiest man” in the Hindi film industry today.

The actor has urged the filmmaker to work with him again.

Salman was addressing the media through video conferencing at the grand celebration here on Tuesday. Karan had approached many established actors to play the part of Aman Mehta in his directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but eventually Salman gave the nod to play the part.

Talking about how he got agreed to do Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Salman said, “Karan Johar met my sister Alvira and he told her that ‘It’s my first film and I have signed Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan. There is a small but important role for which I am looking for a star but I am not finding any star to play that part’.

“So my sister Alvira told me that ‘He is a really good guy. It’s his first film and you should help him in his first film’. After that, Karan Johar met me at party that time, I told him that I will do it for my sister, Yash (Johar) uncle, Hiroo (Johar) aunty, Karan Johar and Shah Rukh, and that’s how I became a part of the film.”

Salman said he had even liked the script of the romantic drama, which was about love and friendship. “I was pretty impressed with

I

t is never easy for celebs to open up about their personal lives. Just sometimes, comes a person, who can make them do so. One such person is Neha Dhupia. The popular host, whose interview-based podcast series is now in its third season, spoke to Kajol who had some interesting details to share.

One of most revealing details about her life that she spoke about was her marriage to Ajay Devgn. She explained how nobody wanted the two to marry, not even her father.

Speaking about it, she said: “Nobody wanted us to get married besides his family and my family. My family also was iffy. My dad didn’t talk to me for a week when I told him I wanted to get married. It was because I wanted to get married. He was just like why do you want to get married, you’re so young and your career is doing so well and I was like but I want to get married. Ajay and I were very different people, so lots of people

Karan’s writing. Karan was very clear in his head at that time and he made really good film.

“It was a different kind of film and it had its signature style and after that, he established different kind of cinema. Today, he is one of the most successful director and producer that we have in the industry. He does hosting, writing and acting too, so, I think Karan Johar is the busiest man in the film fraternity.”

Salman also wished Karan and Shah Rukh for their future endeavours, saying, “I am very happy for Karan and I am happy to be part of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I wish this film remains an inspiration to all the young filmmakers. I wish the best of luck to Shah Rukh and Karan. I wish they keep on doing their best work.” In the end, Salman took a jibe at Karan saying, “Someday yaar... someday, work with me again.”

The celebration was attended by a slew of celebrities including Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Manish Malhotra, Neelam Kothari, Shweta Bachchan Nanda, Sanjay Kapoor, Maheep Kapoor, Shashank Khaitan, Jatin-Lalit, Twinkle Khanna, Ananya Pandey, Bhavna Pandey, Tara Sutaria, Shakun Batra, Ayan Mukerji, Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khatter, Sana Saeed, Hiroo Johar, Sidharth Malhotra, Badshah, Varun Dhawan, Farida Jalal and Archana Puran Singh.

had reservations as to what we would be like as a couple and we were not very social even then. Not a lot of people had met us together or knew what we were like together.”

Kajol went on to explain that if the two have survived this long (and they have been married for 19 years), it is because they “have worked through it together”. “We have survived because both of us have worked through it together and we have two kids.

It’s almost like we have become like one person who have these two children like their arms.”

She also revealed that both her children don’t like her movies. “According to them, I cry too much in my movies. I should do more films like Golmaal.”

Kajol and Ajay’s wedding is one of the most stable marriages of Bollywood. They married in 1999 and have two children, Nysa and Yug, together. Kajol recently appeared in her home production called Helicopter Eela, where she played a single mother to a college-going son. Being a mother to a teenaged daughter and young son, she said that she has tried her best to keep her children as normal as was possible. Speaking at NDTV’s special youth conclave, YUVA, some time back she had said that it is she who plays the bad cop at home while Ajay is the good cop. “I’m a Hitler mother... I’m a bad cop, Ajay’s a good cop... But the percentage of the good cop has dropped in him. He has realised that it is necessary to be a bad cop sometimes. That he can’t always look at the mother to say ‘no’. I’m 30 per cent bad cop, 70 per cent good cop.”

guyanatimesgy.com

OCTOBER 21, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 15

16 Sunday Times Magazine

guyanatimesgy.com

OCTOBER 21, 2018

Fun Times

Archie

ARIES (March 21April 19)

Keep your personal business a secret. Someone will be eager to pry into your affairs if you are too chatty or eager to share. Focus on self-improvement and personal growth.

If you look for change, TAURUS you'll find it. An important re(April 20- lationship will take a positive May 20) turn if you share plans that will bring you closer together.

Make a romantic gesture.

Help yourself before you GEMINI offer to help others. It's time (MAY 28to put yourself first and make June 20) changes and improvements that will boost your confidence and help you get ahead.

Getting together with people you find interesting will (June 21- spark ideas and encourage July 22) you to make positive changes to your life. Romance is highlighted.

CANCER

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Dilbert

Peanuts

Refuse to get all worked up over trivial matters. If someone is looking for an argument, walk away and find better things to do with your time.

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

Plan to have some fun.

You can be productive and still enjoy the company you keep and the challenges that come with taking on something new or unprecedented.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23)

A physical activity will help you put your mind at ease and your life in perspective. A realistic approach to what's possible will encourage you to make a positive personal change.

Take part in something SCORPIO different or hang out with (Oct. 24- someone who comes from a Nov. 22) different background. You'll discover that you can differ from someone and still enjoy spending time together.

SAGITTARIUS An emotional matter will (Nov. 23- surface if you or someone Dec. 21) close to you isn't completely honest. Don't lead someone on or make assumptions based on what is being told to you.

Calvin and Hobbes

Consider what you can do CAPRICORN to improve your home life. A (Dec. 22- change at work may be reJan. 19) quired if you are losing touch with a loved one because you are working long hours.

Let others do as they AQUARIUS please. Stay focused on (Jan. 20- what's important and how Feb. 19) to best handle your personal money or health matters.

Don't feel you must follow someone else.

PISCES You will come up with an (Feb. 20- interesting idea that could Mar. 20) bring in some extra income.

A lifestyle change will make room for a new endeavor.