Life360 Exploration issue

LIFE 360째 Discover. Explore. Inspire

YOU JUMP I JUMP COUPLES EXPLORING THE RUSH OF BUNGEE JUMPING

SEX LITERATURE FROM ANCIENT GREECE TO 50 SHADES OF GREY

KICKING THE BUTT

ST. FAGANS

YOUNG SMOKERS DIVULGE THE THOUGHT BEHIND THE HABIT

RECONSTRUCTING HISTORY

INDIAN MANGROVES

UNEARTH THE LEGEND

THE EXPLORATION ISSUE

Senior Editors : Timothy Holmes and Jane Bentley

Team Message We reach the final issue of Life 360° with bittersweet emotions. It has been a massive roller coaster ride, the butterflies in the stomach while printing final pages, the heightened heart rates and blood pressures at deadline time, the screams of frustration when InDesign crashed.

None of that managed to beat the thrill of producing a magazine from scratch and the exhilaration of watching final pages pinned up on the board.

The third issue of Life 360° is all about exploration, not just the travelling kinds though. We have tried to transcend the stereotypes of exploration and sought newer, less ventured pastures. A small window into the world of erotic literature has been opened, culture revisited, human habits broken down and hormones decoded!

Team 360° has had a complete ball in producing this magazine right from the first discussion of possible features and scouring for pictures. to crazy design ideas that totally worked.We hope that all of that is reflected in our pages and that our readers are taken on an exploration path of their own.

Here is what exploration means to our team members….

Read all of this and much more on http://jomec.co.uk/life360-2014/ Image Courtesy for Front cover: bungy.co.nz; flickr.com Back cover: nasa.gov

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Chen Li

Anugraha Hadke

“Look for new possibilities in and around me, so that I can grow to my best.”

“Discovering something new about the world and myself ”

Cassie Jiang

Chetna Kapoor

“Discover more oppurtunities from nature, life and inner self ”

“Learning from my mistakes and to try every new thing”

Denise Puca

Ekta Rathi

“Understanding your true self and knowing the creative world around”

“Unearthing the beautiful world around me. Being surprised by the small things in life.”

Xiozhen Guo

Chenjie Shang

“Give new things to the readers and explore the competitive nature around”

“To treasure the pretty little things you miss in life.”

Pooja Mahesh

Rumela Basu

“Exploring a new culture/land through books and travel; get to know the unknown”

“Delving into a world unseen and being fascinated”

Sainan Xia

Guyue Weng

“Discover new world everyday and loving the challenges of mastering every new thing”

“Refind the world, refind yourself.

Exploring happiness around”

Xiao Xian

Tiantian Li

“Finding unknown things about the simple life I lead”

“Keeping the curiosity sacred.

Something to do, something to love and something to hope for”

Contents 20

7 Questions It’s never too late to change your career

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News Quadrant

360° Places 4

The latest quirky news you were not expecting. Science & technology, UK issues and much more.

Geeko

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The tech-addicted section. Check out all the latest gadgets and apps for travellers.

Life 360°

Fifty Shades of Sexuality

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Travel around the world with Life 360° team.

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Welsh artist Joanna Howells discusses how she changed her life, from science to pottery.

Full Circle

Reviews 23 The latest top books, movies and 16 brands recommended by Life Behind the scenes of St. Fagans, 360°. the beloved Welsh historic museum.

A living history

360° View

Rings of smoke

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Understanding the psyche of five smokers. Why did they start? Will they ever be able to quit?

I want you, I want you not 21 Where does the interest for erotic What women really want when literature comes from? And how is they are ovulating.

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it developing?

Falling in love with you 8

Expressing your love to your beloved has now become more exciting. Are you willing to Bungee Jump for love?

Roots above the ground 10 Explore the world’s largest Mangrove forest in India and its fascinating legends.

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16 3

Quadrant World’s first plant-powered radio: Moss Fm

Caption

Fabienne Fedlder is a Swiss designer; she got a crazy idea to use plant to replace battery to supply power to radio last year. However, the crazy idea comes to be true now.

Felder cooperate with Cambridge University scientists Dr. Paolo Bombelli and Ross Dennis. Finally Moss Radio comes, even Moss FM doesn’t have fashion curve and figure, but the plant-powered makes it interesting and special.

Link&Go 2.0: New concept car from the future

The amount of carpooling increase in the big cities indicate people start to realised, there is alternative way to reduce air pollution. Besides, share the car with others also lower cost.

Link&Go2.0 is born for this modern life, automatic drive, electric drive, cloud service, social network...People can easily contact strangers to share the car, all the things Link&Go 2.0 is doing shows it is trying to meet expectation of future cars market. The surmising thing in the car is, it included a big screen in the car, convenience for watching movies and video conference.

Candy Crush Saga developer to make history when it floats on stock market

King Digital Entertainment, the London games studio behind the mobile hit Candy Crush Saga, is to make history as the most valuable British internet company to join the stock markets after pricing its initial public offering at $7.6bn (£4.6bn).

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40 grass fires in one Welsh fire service area in one day - all but one started deliberately Since March 1, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service crews have attended 180 grass fires and 283 deliberately set fires.

One Welsh fire service was called to 40 grass fires on Sunday - and all but one of them was started on purpose. Crews from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service have attended 180 grass fires and 283 deliberately set fires since March 1.On Sunday, more than 29 hectares of land were damaged by the fires. One fire, near Nantymoel at the head of the Ogmore Valley, damaged seven hectares, as did another deliberately set fire at Cwmparc, near Treorchy.

London to test new ‘smart’ pedestrian crossing

The introduction of Pedestrian Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique, or ‘Pedestrian SCOOT’, is the first of its kind in the world. The system uses video camera technology to automatically detect how many pedestrians are waiting at crossings. It means that traffic signal timings can be adjusted automatically so that pedestrians can cross the road for a longer period of time when a large number of people are waiting.

Tiny crocodile species unearthed near Portsmouth

Two fossilised fragments of a skull, unearthed by two individuals in Isle of Wight have pointed to the discovery of a new ancient species of crocodiles which were about two feet long. The species has been named Koumpiodontosuchus aprosdokiti (meaning unexpected buttontoothed crocodile) and the skull pieces are now on display at the Dinosaur Isle museum near Sandown.

Geeko

AN EAR FOR ADVENTURE

It looks like your everyday outdoor lamp but the SpeakerCraft OG Three Outdoor Satellite Speakers are the perfect sound system for all those camping trips and picnics. Equipped with an aluminium spike, it can be driven directly into the soil and enables you to direct the sound of the music toward the desired direction.

With a 3-inch full range aluminium cone driver and an easily paintable body that can be customised to suit any environment- this makes for one mean sound package!

Price: £90 (approx)

GO PROFESSIONAL KICKING IT with the newest UP A NOTCH action cam

The GoPro HERO 3+ is the last product in the field of action cams - cameras that you can use while doing sports or activities that involve continuous and fast movements. The third edition of the GoPro series shows clear improvements with respect to the previous ones.

The new action cam has a good Wi-Fi option, which allows the user to see the live recording from an Iphone, a tablet or an Android smartphone thanks to an app (GoPro app). The live streaming has a great quality, though it has a distance limit (50 metres), which is still too short.

Backlight exposure This is the major innovation of this edition. Several tests proved that the quality of video and pictures does not reduce when exposed to backlight. Several shots taken with and without backlight gave the same results, proving that the GoPro team has actually solved one of the major issues of the previous editions, making it one of the best products in the field of action cams.

Price: £ 359.99

Ever had a problem fitting shoes into your backpack? Well, not anymore!

Developed by 3D-printing company Recreus and designed by Ignacio Garcia, the Sneakerbot II trainers are made with the most elastic filaments in the market. So now you can just roll up your sneakers and stuff them into that tiny space with your comfortable night shirts. What’s more is the design file is free to download - and if you’ve got a 3D printer set up at home you can get the filament from Recreus and create your own pair.

Price: Not yet announced

APP YOUR TRAVELS Four applications that help you plan your vacation better Hipmunk

Founded in 2010, the application allows you to efficiently plan your travel.

Its complete travel options allows you to choose from commercial and chartered flights, trains as well as accommodations.

Smart Layover

Have a long layover between your flights? Use this app to maximise your waiting time!

Find a hotel, take a sightseeing tour, enjoy activities in over 140 different cities.

Also, take advantage of discounts on food, beverages and other retail deals at airport terminals and cities worldwide.

Free on iPhones and Androids.

Sit or Squat App

This app allows you find an essential commodity- restrooms!

Its interactive nature allows you to rate and share your experience and also add new restrooms’ locations.

Free on Androids.

Free on iPhone, Androids and Blackberry.

Tipulator

When at restaurants, this application helps you to calculate the tips, easily split

the bill among friends and colleagues and choose from various rounding option.

Free on iPhones and iTouches.

Travel Safe Pro

This Android app packs all emergency numbers and locations in one. By having the information about international embassies and emergency service numbers (ambulance, fire and police) on your device, you can avail them if and when required without an internet connection. TravelSafe Lite is free but it is restricted to only showing the emergency service numbers. For a small fee, £0.89, you can get the Pro version that supports international embassy numbers and a quick dial home widget as well.

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Fifty Shades of Sexuality The interest for erotic literature goes beyond any time limit, as it first appeared thousands of years ago. Starting from the passions of the ancients until the adventures of Fifty Shades of Grey, we will explore a whole world of desires

By Denise Puca

Photocredits: Rumela Basu

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Life 360°

S

ighing while desperately lost into the world of Christian Grey, millions of women around the world have been openly reading and talking about sexuality. We are now so accustomed to seeing people of every age, sex and culture reading Fifty Shades of Grey and its sequels that very few women are feeling “judged” for their literary interest.

The work of E. L. James has been a revelation, as there is no doubt what the main topic of the book is – ‘Sex.’ And accepting the idea of people, most of all women, openly reading and dreaming about sex everywhere is a revelation.

But what has been described as a ‘new’ trend in literature is actually very old and not original at all. One would be shocked at the idea of people reading and writing so explicitly a hundred years ago.

And that is understandable. But would you be surprised to know that the passionate adventures of Anastasia and Christian can be traced back to almost 1700 years ago?

Lost in time Dr. Laurence Totelin, expert in history of sexuality, says that: “The ancients are less inhibited than we are. Throughout antiquity there is erotic literature. In the Middle Age it is more difficult to know about it, but then the Renaissance is full of it, as well as the 17th century.

It’s really at the end of the 18th century and during the 19th century that things started to change. I think the 19th century just liked to legislate about everything, including sexuality.”

The evidence that this topic is all but new is given by the earliest letters preserved in Greek literature. They trace back to the II century and they can be ascribed to the field of eroticism “in a more pornographic sense, as they deal with voyeurism and sexuality between females”, claims Dr. Totelin.

Erotic literature was not a scandal, as even Roman emperors used to read it or to have sexual paintings. There were though some taboos: “oral sex was more taboo, it’s one of the things that makes me say that some works are more pornography than erotic.”

Homosexuality was also accepted to a certain extent. It was accepted in institutionalized way, in a sort of learning initiation, where younger men would pair with older men.

But experts in the field do not agree completely on the fact that what happened in those contexts was actual sex. As for female homosexuality, it seems that it was accepted as long as women did not start to look like men.

They had to keep their feminine aspect.

Dr. Totelin says that: “Female homosexuality is less documented, but we know about Sappho having female partners. It might have happened in a teaching context, with younger girls looking at her as the master”, but again there is no complete agreement among experts due to the lack of evidence.

New markets The interest for erotica is thus not new, nor for authors or for readers.

But as for all kinds of literature, it is always necessary to add an original touch, to catch up on the way culture and people change.

The British market for erotic novels was opened up in 1993, by the Black Lace imprint, a line belonging to the UK publisher Virgin Books. It was a fundamental starting point, as it “established that women wanted to read books in what, until then, had been considered a genre for men only,” recalls Elisabeth Coldwell, editor-in-chief at the Welsh erotic publisher Xcite Books.

Xcite Books was set up in 2007 and developed very quickly, expanding its audience in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. It managed to win important awards, being named “Book Brand of the Year” in the UK since 2010 to 2013 at the Erotic Trade Only (ETO) awards.

What made them so popular in such a short time is both the quality of their books and their variety. With more than 25 sub-genres, Xcite Books has learnt that one of the basic rules for success in literature is providing always new angles to their stories.

Coldwell believes that as the market has been flooded with works dealing with shy virgins and dominant billionaires, following Fifty Shades’ story, the new challenge is trying to develop stories about confident and feisty heroines which might appeal the readers.

It might be hard, as the best-selling category is still the BDSM one, which includes stories about submissive women and dominant men. In fact, Coldwell acknowledges that: “we probably receive more books from authors in this category than any other. Also our gay and lesbian ranges have always sold very well.”

Strangely enough, “many of the authors writing male/male fiction, and many of the people reading it, are actually straight women.”

What makes people want to read about sexuality? The need for passion, the desire of escaping from the boring reality, or just the curiosity for something new?

Whatever the answer may be, history has proved that this genre will never end.

On the top: Winners of Erotic Trade Only Awards (ETO) from 2010 to 2013. Copyright Xcite Books.

On the bottom: Group of Aphrodite, Pan and Eros. The Greek goddess of beauty and love defends herself from the sexual attempts of Pan (on the left). The little god Eros, the son of Aphrodite tries to repulse Pan. Location: National Archaeological Museum, Αthens. Photocredits Therese C., Flickr. http://bit.ly/1ozDKIJ

Image courtesy of maxxxmat © flickr .com

” g n i l l Fa

“ in love with you

“You jump, I jump“ is no longer Jack’s exclusive oath of love now, Bungee provides couples with adventure together!

By Xiao zhen Guo

I

t was a usual Saturday morning in Bristol. Sunshine brightens everyone’s face. In the square waterside, people were wandering with their dogs, and a beautiful lady was sitting on the stair and reading a book quietly. Everything looked calm and peaceful. However, after 30 minutes at 9 o’clock, the quiet square became crowded and noisy, and everyone’s attention was attracted by an exciting activity—bungee jumping.

When thinking of this extreme sport, words like exciting, fear and challenge may be mentioned. However, to Hollie Barne, the only word she can describe bungee jumping is romantic. Why? Her boyfriend Sean Miller gave the answer,

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“Actually this is the birthday gift for my girlfriend, and we jump for our fantastic love.” He looked at her affectionately when saying that. The girl laughed loudly and happily, “This is a fantastic birthday gift for me, you know, it can free us from the stressful life, and give us a different feeling of love. We were hugging each other when jumping. I was scared but still jump cause I know he is with me.” The young couple chose a powerful and special way to show their love. It is unbelievable that such a strong and powerful extreme sport could express the soft and romantic love vividly. Isn’t it a new explanation of “You jump, I jump”?

Unlike Sean Miller and Hollie Barne, a cool guy named Jonathan Nichols jumped alone but also for love. When doing the interview, his fiancé stood beside him with charming smile. When asked why he wants to do the bungee jumping, the beautiful girl said proudly, “He jumps for me. It is a gift for our love and maybe for our wedding.”

Again, bungee jumping becomes a gift for love, especially a chance for Nichols to express his bravery and strong love to his fiancé, the woman who will accompany with him in the life-long time.

Some lovely moments about this couple were recorded. When Nichols wore the equipment and went to the jumping gate, his girlfriend gazed at him nervously and held her hands tight .When he was jumping down in the sky with waving hands, she looks still nervous but exciting. After Nichols finished his bungee jumping, a big smile appeared on the girl’s face. She ran quickly to him and gave a warm bear-hug to her brave man. It was an exciting and unforgettable moment for Nichols and his fiancé. This time, bungee jumping became a platform for the guy to express his confidence, manliness and bravery to his love. Do you want to marry me? If yes, jump for me.

In my mind, shouting love in bungee jumping seems a romantic activity only can be done by the young couples because as time passes, marriage tends to become calm and dull. Housework makes women tired and lack motivation.

Stressful work always pushes men into tired conditions. Love becomes an infrequently word in their family life.

However, among all the participants, a family attracts my attention. A couple with a lovely boy were filling the health form when I noticed them. Kate Van Blek B and Jakobus Van Blek chose bungee jumping, the ‘young generation’ sport,

Life 360°

Up: Hollie and Sean, before and after jumping.

Down: Jonathan Nichols jumped for his fiancé.

as a way to inject some new and exciting blood to their marriage. “We love these exciting sports, last year, we did the sky diving and this year we want to try the bungee jumping. It is really exciting for me, also for my husband.” Kate said.

“Extreme sports give us energy to get rid of the work stress and bad feelings. I feel that I go back to my twenties when I do that”, her husband added. Go back to the young time and the enthusiastic love, bungee jumping helps the couple keep their love fresh and exciting. When they were jumping down from 160ft bungee gate and holding each other in the arms, the first-date feeling comes back to them in the moment.

Love is abstract, but it can be expressed softly by a kiss, a hug, murmurs between couples, and even a glance. However, it can also be described vividly and thoroughly in a powerful and special way. Do you love me? Don’t answer it.

Just jump and ‘fall’ in love with me.

“He jumps for me.

It is a gift for our love and maybe for our wedding.”

Home of bungee jumping

KAWARAU BRIDGE

The fantastic bungee jumping centre is located in Queenstown, New Zealand. It is said that if you don’t go to the Kawarau Bungee centre, then you will never know how great and thrilling the bungee jumping is. Kawarau Bridge bungee is famous for its 43m jumping from the historic Kawarau Bridge.

Ticket Price: From GBP £95.16

The world’s highest

MACAU TOWER

The world’s highest Macau Tower bungee jumping is located in the beautiful Macau, China. It offers you a free fall at a speed of up to 200km/h free a 233m-high platform and offers you a chance to get really enjoy the great experience.

Ticket Price: HKD2600 Bungee Jump 10% off (Original HKD2888)

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Roots above the ground

Visit one of the world’s largest mangrove forests for the legend of Bon Bibi, congenial people and exotic plants and to witness a belief present in all things alive

By Ekta Rathi

E

ven as you step foot on the wet grey soil of Sunderbans, you feel a strong presence of an aura.

Be it in the humming of a song under the women’s breath as they go about winnowing rice or in the abundant buzzing of bees. It is a positive energy that you feel and the local children are rather welcoming with their giggling faces and waving arms. You can almost hear the prayers of the fishermen as they cast the nets from their tiny fishing boats that are their abodes for weeks as they sail from distributary to distributary to catch fish.

The people of Sunderbans unanimously believe in the omnipresence of Bon Bibi. Bob Bibi, they say is the protector of the mangroves and all the lives that dwell in it, from plants to people to parasites. ‘Bon’ in the local language means forest and ‘Bibi’ means the lady.

Pintoo Halder, a fisherman, adjusts a red flower on Bibi’s idol that has shifted due to the wind, says, “I offer these to her everyday as they are her favorite.

I endeavor to please her as she always protects me.”

Sunderbans are one of the world’s largest mangrove forests.

It is an UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997 and frequently visited by many botanists globally as it has a wide range of flora and fauna. The government of West Bengal has recently started taking initiatives to make the marshes spread across 4264 square kilometres in India alone, to be more viable attraction for tourists across the world. The Government is encouraging private investors to build many hotels and resorts across the forests to attract vacationists and

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boost the local economy to sustain the forest better and save it for growing degradation.

The Sunderban deltas are formed by three rivers, namely the Ganga, the Bhramhaputra and the Meghna, all flowing into the Bay of Bengal. The rivers often change their courses and overflow to cause floods. Many local residents have to shift their houses and rebuild them as an aftereffect. The people often do not have the means to do so as they come from humble economic backgrounds and their means to money are mostly based on agricultural activities and fishing.

Despite all the wreckage that the rivers cause, Pintoo is still defensive of them.

He says, “It is our lifeline. The rivers give us many rich produce like varieties of fishes and prawns, which we sell and earn our livelihoods off.” Pintoo also emphasises that they avoid exploiting the resources that the rivers provide. He says that almost all people stop fishing during monsoons as the fish spawn and reproduce at that time. He says that Bon Bibi disapproves of causing harm to other forest beings including all animals and plants.

Legendary effect According to legend, three brothers used to come to the forest to harvest honey. They gained economic success and wanted to build a huge mansion amongst the forests. They decided to burn a part of the forest to do so. As one of them was about to set fire to the forest, a tiger appeared and mauled the brother to death. The rest fled and came back with many other people with the intent to kill the tiger. Bon Bibi appeared then and she was infuriated. The people got frightened of her wrath and prayed to her to calm down and explain their sins to them. She forbade them to exploit the forest and the rivers thereafter. She granted them that the forests and the rivers would always provide them with sustenance and that they would never starve. She warned them though that if they overexploited the forest then a lot of misfortune awaited them.

The people thanked her, sang of her virtue and promised to protect the forest.

Mr Sudeepto Halder owns three hotels across the mangroves.

He employs local people and is interested in the prosperity of the place. Some people were happy as

Life 360°

they saw it as an opportunity to work while others were just scared of Bon Bibi’s wrath of destroying the forests further. Mr Halder says, “I pray to her that I do well and that my business prospers so that I can help create more employment for the villagers.” All his hotel staff are taught and trained by him.

He wishes to return as much as he can to the commonage.

Miss Meghna Rathi is a city dweller and is not particularly fond of animals of any kind though frequently visits the marshes. She says, “There is something about this place that despite the crocodiles and tigers, draws me to visit again and again.” She says she loves looking at the roots of the plants. It is a unique feature of the flora of the forest.

The roots are above the ground, as the soil has high saline properties and the plants do not receive ample oxygen. The Sundari plants are what give the forest its name, ‘Sundar’ meaning beautiful.

Miss Rathi says, “I come here with my friends and we spend money buying local produce. I am sure if more people start visiting, they too will spend.” She says that the government should look at re-investing all the revenue that the forests generate, that way the local people, the hoteliers and the law- makers all shall thrive. As the world celebrates International World Forest day on the 21 March 2014, it seems promising that if throughout the world, local people, world associations, businessmen and government bodies can work collectively to salvage and save forests and make them accessible to tourists.

As far as the people of Sunderbans are concerned, even as you get scared that you might slip and fall on the unctuous grounds, they assure you that “Bibi dekche toh” meaning Bibi watches over you.

“

She (Bon bibi) forbade them to exploit the forest and the rivers and granted them that they would always provide them with sustenance and that they would never starve.

”

Image courtesy: isharethese.blogspot.com flickr .com

Mangroves around the world

•Africa: Nigeria has the largest mangrove concentration in Africa.

Due to oil spills and leakage fishing activities have been reduced to a minimal. The manatees species are an endangered plant which are found here.

•South America: Brazil accounts for 15% of the world’s mangrove forest population. Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela too have mangroves.

The red, black and white mangrove flora are commonly found in this region.

•South East Asia: Regions of Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam have abundance presence of mangrove forests. People rely heavily on crabs and fish to earn their livelihoods.

•Australia: Mangrove forests with various species of plants especially that of rhizophoraceae can be found in New Zealand and the island of New Guinea.

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Places 360° It’s a big world and somewhere lost in its expanses are tucked away places less travelled. Places that can be fascinating worlds of their own.

Digging into their pesonal travel diaries, the team of Life 360° bring to you their experiences, their discoveries of roads less travelled. From a remote town in Nepal and an artistic village of India to the shining lights of Bangkok and lochs of Scotland, all the way to the mountains of Canada and medinas on the cobbled streets of Morocco.

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360°View Chefchaouen, Morocco As I tore myself away from the laidback joints on the square to explore one of the best little medinas in Morocco. I climbed up cobbled streets to discover tiny blue-washed lanes, massive studded doors and all the trappings of medina life. Emerging at the top of Ras el-Maa to watch the sunrise over the medina from a café. Best of all, this medina is small enough that you won’t get lost.

—Winnie

Shantiniketan, India About 180kms from the metropolis of Kolkata in India, Shantiniketan is the land of red earth that nurtures music, art, dance and was home to the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Handcrafted jewellery in terracotta, silver and dokra; artisans showing off their miraculous imagination translated into paintings, sculptures and pottery- it all comes together in the midst of fragrant winter air. The lilting notes of the local folk musicBaul, just add that extra bit of magic.

—Rumela

Pahalgam, India Surrounded by soaring, fir-covered mountains with bare, snow-capped peaks rising behind them, Pahalgam is not a mere hill-station. It is a recreation resort. It’s like going into the lap of nature to do many things - one of the best places in Jammu and Kashmir, India.Starting with the Amarnath Yatra - The holy pilgrimage to the Shiva Lingam, this place also offers lots of treks: Aru Valley, Kohli Glacier, Tarsar Lake, Chandiwari and Leh. Jeep safaris to Leh and Ladakh are accessible too. Pony ride to Kashmir Valley and Baisaran are also fun to have a picnic.

Pahalgam was once a humble shepherd’s village with breathtaking views and with the Lidder River running through it makes it even more picturesque. The river is one of the favorite spots for trout fishing in the country.

—Chetna

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Oslo, Norway Having experienced the cold and loneliness of the polar night in north Norway, I was so absolved in the gorgeous view of Oslo that I nearly dedicated my life to it. When I stood by the Nobel Peace Centre, in front of me was the open sea as blue as the sky. The sun shined on my body like a warm embrace, and the wind blew mildly like a soft whisper. On my left was the ancient Akershus Castle and many old wooden boats mooring by the harbour, which brought me back to the mysterious life of the ancient Vikings.

Wonder what’s the point of my life? I kept taking photos with my eyes totally fixed on the camera. Suddenly someone rushed over, held my shoulder and rudely pushed me forward. I was amazed when I looked back and saw a cable car approaching where I stood just three seconds ago and was still trying an emergency braking. Now you know how amazing Oslo is. It may not be worth your life but it is absolutely worth your visit!

—Cassie

Mountain Titlis, Switzerland Mountain Titlis, a part of the Alps, is famous for its beautiful landscape.

It has the highest hanging bridge in Europe. It attracts thousands of tourists every year . It was a hard and tiring walking up the snow covered mountain, but it felt glorious when I was standing at the top viewing the glamorous mountain range of the Alps . Snow covered all year round, it is a paradise for skiers. Imagine skiing at a height of 3000 meters, isn’t it the most exciting experience in life?

—Xiaoxian

Kodaikanal, India The coolness of its weather comes in as a relief to that of the warm, humid weather that other places have. Kodaikanal is referred to as the “Princess of Hill Stations”. Located in Tamil Nadu, 120 km northwest of Madurai in the Palni Hills, its lush greenery is ubiquitous around the town. The whole town is centred on a lake, and its hillsides have patches of the Shola Forest, which is unique to the Western Ghats. The Kurinji shrub’s flower, lilac blue in colour, blossoms only every 12 years is to bloom in 2018.

—Pooja

Scotland, UK The first time I went to Scotland, I noticed the contrast in architecture compared to that of Wales. When I saw the Scotland monument on the Square at night under the dark sky as background, I was totally scared. I couldn’t even look at it through the window in my hotel room which faced the monument.

In the morning though, as the sun woke me up, I just forgot that “horrible” monument and opened my window to a great morning view. Surprisingly, the monument turned out to be very beautiful and elegant as well as mysterious at daytime. It had a classic appearance with yellow and black, I could see its old soul and the history it survived. Conversely, the park around it was quite fresh and lively. The squirrels were chasing each other and looking for food in the bushes.

Sitting on the bench, smelling the grass, looking at the monument standing against the sky, on the other side, Prince street was full of travellers and shoppers. How could this place of ever be forgotten?

—Sainan

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360° View Québec, Canada Situated in the protected area of the Parc de la Chute Montmorency, these falls are not as famous as the Niagara Falls, but are definitely worth a visit. The 83-metres-high falls are a stunning view in winter, as they get easily frozen. The park also has a cable car connecting its top and lowest part, which adds a thrilling feeling to your trip, as you will see a gigantic empty space behind your feet! It is an experience which you will not forget anytime soon.

—Denise

Rudraprayag, India Even as my aunt joked with me and we laughed about how ultimately all beaches are sand and sea and all mountains are rocks, Rudraprayag was no ordinary mountain. At 4000 metres above sea level, this mountain is a part of the Himalayas.

Rudraprayag has a distinct smell which if described would be nothing short of innocent purity. If lucidity had a fragrance it would smell of Rudraprayag. It was more than blissful for my sight, but it was hedonistic to breathe in.

—Ekta

Pokhara, Nepal Tucked away in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal is a small town called Pokhara.

The spectacular backdrop of snowy mountains, pristine air, serene lakes and lush greenery make it a beautiful Himalayan getaway. On a clear day, when you pull away the curtains, you are greeted with the mighty Himalayan Annapurna range.

The snow-capped range surrounds this valley town in a manner that is mildly imposing but largely breath-taking. Phewa lake, the largest of the three in Pokhara attracts a crowd of tourists. Boat rides and a visit to the island temple of Barahi in the middle of the lake are the main attractions. Hire bicycles to get around town and truly get to appreciate the beauty of this valley.

—Anu

Bangkok, Thailand After graduating from university, I treated myself to a trip to Thailand and tried Thai food. One restaurant I remember is the Blue Elephant at 233 South Sathorn Road Bangkok. It's one of the best, as it offers a palette of tradition and novelties. Once we entered, an usher guided us to change our clothes into classic Thai fashion.

Later the continous serving of dishes, soups, cocktails and desserts made my mouth busier than ever. Booking a table in advance is recommended!

—Lorelai

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Image courtesy of St Fagans

A living history The process of St Fagans museum involves keeping the historic buildings as close to the original as possible

By Yolanda Li

“

People won’t know if you ask them about Welsh life museum, but they will probably know if you ask them St Fagans”, said Glyn Williams, a staff at St Fagans Museum. Named after the village nearby, Welsh life museum, is known as St Fagans.

When you walk into St Fagans National Museum, it is more like a natural park than a museum.

Aiming to preserve the lifestyles of Wales, more than 40 original buildings are collected and rebuilt here in the open-air space.

However, it’s not easy to take these buildings filled with history.

“Hands,” says Gerallt Nash, the senior curator at St Fagans, “we mainly use hands to take the buildings apart, and sort of crowbars.” “Not big machines”, he adds, “you can not knock it down.

Everything will be mixed together and you can not find anything.”

Work of dismantling starts from the top of a building. “First is the chimney, then goes the roof, and then the timbers under the roof”,

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says Janet Wilding, head of the historic building unit in St Fagans Museum.

“For stone buildings”, says Janet, “we number the stones around the doorway and windows to make them go back to exactly where they were”. For timber buildings and brick building, there is not as much difficulty as for stone buildings.

“As they are old and original, stones tend to be very fragile and brittle”, Gerallt acknowledges, “so every time we move it, a little bit crumbles”. He takes Maestir School as an example, “after we moved it here and moved it to the site, it lost 30 percent of original materials”.

“We find that we always have to buy a bit more stone for the builders to choose right stone for the right place. We ordered an extra of 6 tons for the school to fill what we’ve lost”, says Janet.

For the buildings like Nant

Life 360°

St Fagans National History Museum Cardiff FREE ENTRY OPENING HOURS: 10am – 5pm daily (open Bank Holiday Mondays) Children under 11 must be accompanied by an adult at all times CF5 6XB Phone: (029) 2057 3500

Wallter cottage, which is built by clay, stone, dust and straw, the process becomes very difficult.

This cottage has been made just like the original one by using new materials. The materials are sourced from the local area where the cottage came form.

Still, craftsmen use the traditional construction method to build this cottage. Even for the stones they lost in the moving process, St Fagans sources the same materials from local areas – sometimes from another house that people may have donated, or they have to buy new ones.

“To me, material that you use from the local area sort of determines the character of the building,” says Janet, “I think it is really important.

It is part of the history.”

St Fagans has their own team of craftsmen, which includes twelve people to complete the whole process. It saves a good part of the budget, but they are kept to be trained because the traditional method is very rare now and can not be trained in college.

Safety issues

ABOVE Ray Smith checking the newly-built roof timbers © St Fagans TOP LEFT Numbering the stones © St Fagans LEFT Ray Smith carving part of the screen © St Fagans RIGHT Completed interior © R Rosewell

The most difficult part is the house and safety.

The historic buildings do not always comply with modern standards. “We have to rebuild it as it was, but we have to protect the public,” says Janet.

“Buildings are here primarily for museum exhibitions, it is not the problem for those houses.

However, like the Workmen’s Institute, the upstairs is still used for dances, for meetings, so you need to make sure the concrete is strong enough to support the floor when you may have 200 people upstairs,” adds Gerallt.

Wheelchairs and baby carriages are not allowed to go inside the building for the safety of both the houses and visitors. “We don’t have facilities for the disabled, but if you change the buildings too much, you change the character,” continues Janet.

More than buildings

As for the craftsmen, like blacksmiths, saddlers and clog

makers, some of them already have the necessary skills, whereas the others are trained here. All of their skills are original traditional ones in St Fagans. The blacksmith is a quite interesting one. He learnt the skill from his father and he likes it very much. He makes spares for the reconstruction work and repairs them all by traditional skills. He shows its work to the public, but people coming back can see the object on the building.

Open from 1948, St Fagans Museum is still expanding its type of buildings and other services. Several houses are under construction and workshop for people to learn traditional skills are on their plan. “In an age that buildings everywhere tend to be the same, it is good to see buildings from different time and Welsh areas,” says Janet.

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RINGS OF SMOKE The psyche behind the habit A Harvard study says that kicking the butt relieves stress way more than lighting up. What do young smokers and those who quit smoking have to say.

By Rumela Basu

Image courtesy: Tanya Ileto Diaz, Lakshmi Subramanium, Rumela Basu, Mrigank Sharma, Anubhav Deb.

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360° thing”. The taste, the smoke and the feel of the cigarette is what gives in to the experience and alternatives will never match up to the original.

His view on the study: “If you quit, you will feel ever more stressed because it will be a battle with yourself to not get back to the habit. I don’t see the whole idea about freedom from an imprisoning habit because I don’t think the habit is a prison. It’s all about will.”

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need any alternatives. I have come close to taking it up again but I haven’t as yet.”

Her view on the study: “It is probably true. Once I quit, I was so glad that I was able to take a decision like that. There were times when I was really stressed and craved a cigarette, but quitting smoking was a huge relief and I have been dealing with stress in a much healthier way.”

The cool thing, the habit you love Pedro Rodrigues, 23 Journalist Cardiff, Wales All his teenage years and up till three years ago, he was completely antismoking but a romantic relationship and initiation into punk music along with living in Portugal, where “you can smoke everywhere”, meant that Pedro was smoking the strong cigarettes.

At music concerts, everyone around had a drink in hand and lit up a smoke and for him that just triggered the need to do the same. “Smoking is a social phenomenon. I started socially but it wasn’t peer pressure because most of my friends didn’t smoke. It started off that way and then it became a pleasure.

I don’t see it as an addiction.”

When questioned if at any point in three years, the smoking has been related to stress, the answer is in the affirmative. As a journalist for one of Portugal’s leading newspapers, the stress levels increased and so did the number of cigarettes smoked in a day.

“I smoked way more then than at any other point in my life. Every five minutes or after finishing a piece of work I’d go out and grab a smoke. At that time, I felt like I needed it and it helped clear my head. I’d return fresh.”

The thought of quitting and the health complications have not bothered him.

Not yet, at least. He likes smoking too much and he believes that age is still on his side. Maybe in ten years time the thought of quitting might occur unless, he has a child. Then he will quit.

The idea of taking professional help or using alternatives for smoking, attract mildly profane language from him.

“To quit, you have to want to quit. It’s all personal will. If I decide I don’t want to do something then that’s all it takes. I have tried e-cigarettes but I don’t think those help at all.”

Smoking he believes, is a “mechanical

Tried, tested and quit (for good) Lakshmi Subramanium, 21 Physiotherapy student Manipal, India.

“I started smoking when I was 16. A lot of my friends were smoking and I was really intrigued to try it. It’s been three years since I have quit though.”

Her reasons to take up smoking were the usual for most teenagers- curiosity and company. However, Lake (as she refers to herself sometimes), agrees that during the time she did have the habit it became related to stress often and whenever she was worried our wired up, she would go for a smoke.

“It was like taking a break every once in a while. More than the nicotine high, it was this time away from all the problems that was appealing. And, momentarily he stress was gone.”

The start was as a very casual smoker and it was one smoke every once in a while but eventually she started getting dependant and had cravings to smoke every now and then. The idea of being dependant on anything was not a favourable one to her at all so she decided to quit “and just did.”

“I didn’t really try any alternate methods when I gave up but I had to cope with it. I started over-eating and also was an insomniac for a really long time. But apart from that I didn’t

The promise that never lasts Sourjyo Banerjee, 28 Business Development Manager London, United Kindom Smoking started as a social habit for him. It began with the occasional smoke with friends at parties, then turned into weekends and finally a regular affair.

However, “there was always stress related element to it”. At work colleagues would often go out for a smoke and he joined them but eventually stress became the trigger for excessive smoking.

Excessive workload, emotional stress meant that he was smoking about 40 cigarettes a day at some point and with varying levels of tension the number of smokes went up or reduced.

He knows that the idea of smoking relieving stress is just that- an idea.

Even though it is all in the mind that still doesn’t change the fact that that one smoke in the moments of utmost tension gave a moment’s peace.

He has tried alternatives to smokingnicotine patches, gum and e-cigarettes and for all of them the conclusion was the same- “None of them work”.

Sourjyo reckons the reason is again psychological. “Nothing compares to a real cigarette. An e-cigarette doesn’t feel like a cigarette. It’s very heavy to hold, the flavours don’t really work and somehow the e-cigarette hurt my throat even more”.

Eventually health reasons like smoker’s cough and high cholesterol

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360°

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prompted him to give up smoking.

He decides to quit every New Year.

But as is with most resolutions, he has usually gone back to smoking. “The longest I have stayed without smoking is probably a month and half”.

The reason to back to smoking has been the same as the ones that made him start in the first place. But it’s more social triggers like parties and the company of smokers that have weakened the resolve each time. He does see himself quitting for good in future sometime, just doesn’t know when. Either way, he never has and says he never will need any professional help.

“To quit smoking you just have to go cold turkey one day. Nothing else helps or matters”.

His view on the study: “I don’t really know what to say about this. Maybe it is true. I know for a fact that when I quit I felt healthier, I could taste food better so maybe the study does make some sense.

She never really needed any help to make that decision, it was always just will. Even when she decided to quit a second time.

“My smoking has been erratic.

Whenever I have made up my mind to quit, I have been able to, within a day. The longest I have gone without smoking has been 2 years.”

But emotional stress led to lighting up and then health concerns made her give it up again. It has been a recurring bad habit, a visiting evil, which for now is temporarily out of her life.

Her views on the study: “I am not too sure about this and don’t agree with it.

Quitting a bad habit is all about telling your mind you need to do something and then make it work accordingly.”

Ditching the smoke, keeping the nicotineNicotine patches- these stick on patches release nicotine into the body through the skin

The recurring evil Kamna Malik, 26 Feature Writer Mumbai, India “Lighting up a Davidoff and watching rings of smoke disappear into the air was just the “me time” that I needed. Maybe it didn’t make my stress go away but it gave me those minutes to myself, a temporary release.” Like many others, Kamna began smoking due to emotional stress and like most others the temporary “me-time” soon turned into a habit that stuck. The five minutes it took for the cigarette to burn out was time spent in solitude and away from troubles.

She started smoking at 21 and the habit stuck for some time till the fear of health issues made a home in her head and she quit.

“It was a sheer bad habit and I don’t propagate it despite my habit.”

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Nicotine chewing gums- If you cant smoke it, chew it or blow a bubble.

Cinnamon toothpicksThis is another one to keep your mouth working so that you dont’ have an urge to light up.

E-cigarettes- Some love it, some hate it but it has been so far the most scoring alternative for the regualr cigarette

Some company for a time of leisure Anubhav Deb, 22 Engineering student Manipal, India Smoking for him started as something he wanted to try out after seeing his dad do it.

“Not that I blame him in any way for the habit. I use to see him smoke and since it was Dad, the man I looked up to it, it seemed like it was a cool thing to do.”

Anubhav took it up at first to try it out and not because of stress but there were times when stress did trigger the smoking. He does not believe that smoking helps relieve stress at all so much as to waving it off as a myth.

“I think that (the notion that smoking relieves stress) is something akin to an urban legend. A lot of people believe it but it’s usually all in the head and not at all true.”

While his mother kept warning him about the health concerns that might arise due to the habit, Anubhav, who calls himself a leisure-smoker does not worry about those and that has never been a reaon for him to think of quitting the habit.

“One has to die eventually anyway so it doesn’t really matter. The only reason I might quit someday is probably the day I find out that my wife is pregnant.

I don’t think I want to pass on this habit to my kids.”

He has quit a few times but has eventually gone back to smoking not because of stress but because of social reasons. Brother’s promotion, old friends meeting up- it calls for a smoke.

His view on the study: “Wow! I didnt know this. It seems interesting but for me it’s just a fact. Most people I know have not manged to quit for good so I can’t comment on how it is but since I am not someone who smokes due to stress, for me it’s just a study.”

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I want you, I want you not Studies on women’s sexual attraction helps explain why women can fall for a man they know won’t be a good long-term partner, researchers say.

By Chetna Kapoor

T

he age-old question, “What do women want” may be rooted in biology, according to a recent study carried out by the University of California, Los Angeles. While most women have no idea when they are ovulating, the study shows that women in the most fertile part of their cycle prefer the stereotypically sexy man.

UCLA researchers have analysed dozens of published and unpublished studies in order to analyse women’s sexual preferences.

Their findings suggest that during certain times of a month, women will show signs of preferences in their sexual partners. Ovulating women have a tendency to favour certain scents, as well as features such as muscular body structure and dominant behaviour. Such monthly shifts in mate preference have been suggested to bring evolutionary benefits in terms of reproductive success.

“New evidence is now emerging that taking oral contraceptives might significantly alter both female and male mate choice by removing the mid-cycle change in preferences,” said Dr. Madhu Mangal, Gynaecologist.

These preferences are believed to date back to women’s ancestry, where the need to pass on strong genetics was a priority, along with finding a genetically high-quality male. Martie Haselton, professor of psychology and communication studies at UCLA, tells the university Newsroom: “Women experience intricately patterned preference shifts even though they might not serve any function in the present.”

One specific area of research investigated the appeal of certain scents to women during the ovulation period.

Women were asked to smell t-shirts worn by men of different facial symmetries; the results showed women favoured the scents of symmetrical men when most fertile, possibly indicating a strong preference of genetic quality in terms of proportion.

In her own research, Haselton’s “dual mating hypothesis” suggests women can shift between two types of mates. One type having strong genetic features, and the other type having

“father-like” qualities such as kindness, resourcefulness and reliability. Saachi Marwah, 24, student, says, “This attraction to men with more masculine characteristics doesn’t last all month, just during the height of fertility. On fertile days of the cycle I prefer the Leonardo Di Caprio type of guys, the sexy ones.

Whereas on less fertile days of the cycle I prefer a partner who will be there for me and is caring, someone more stable.”

Dr. Mangal adds, “As compared with normally cycling women, pill users show no or weaker preferences for facial or vocal masculinity. For instance, the preferred face shape is more masculine during the high conception-probability phase of the menstrual cycle in nonpill users, but pill users do not show preferences of the same kind.

“Ancestral women would have benefitted from selecting partners with characteristics such as kindness that indicate they’d be good co-parents, such as being kind, as well as characteristics indicating that they possessed high genetic quality,” says Haselton.

Haselton, who is based in UCLA’s College of Letters and Science, is one of a handful of pioneers in research on behavioural changes during ovulation.

One of her studies showed that women

who are partnered to men they view as less sexy are more likely to experience attraction to other men at ovulation than women who rate their male partners as very sexy.

“A woman may want a steady longterm relationship, but meets someone when she is ovulating and is drawn in by the charismatic dominant tendencies that may not be a good long-term person,” says Catherine George, a 34 year old housewife. She says it will be interesting to know where certain urges come from. “While men are driven by biological motivations, the same is true for women,” she says. “We are driven by motives that have a biological foundation but people can choose whether or not to follow them.”

Dr. Tejal Shah, Psychologist, says “If women notice suddenly that they’re attracted to the guy in the next cubicle at work, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t have a great long-term partner. They’re just experiencing a fleeting echo from the past.”

Hasleton believes that these studies into mating preferences can ultimately benefit all women. By understanding these shifts in desire, women can make sense of new attractions that appear to come out of nowhere.

Image courtesy- ugly underwear club. Flickr.com

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7Q

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR CAREER

Your life as an artist underwent several changes. I know you were studying Medicine in Cambridge, and then you suddenly changed your mind. What happened?

I discovered pottery when I was seventeen. My family were all engineers, specialised in math or physics.

My father was a research engineer in electronics. I always wanted to be a scientist. I discovered pottery when I was doing my A level. And it was too late. Well, it just started as a hobby really, so I had already applied to university. I took a year off before going to Cambridge and I worked in a science lab and I absolutely hated it! That shook me, because I realised a lot of work in science is boring, as it is in the detail.

I love reading about science, I love big ideas.. But you also have to be very interested in minute things, I did not really like the practical work.

I was a bit shaken about was being a scientist was actually for. So when I was in Cambridge I changed to Medicine.

Fortunately, there are pottery societies at the University, so for three years I kept working on potteries while studying Medicine. And I never regretted that really at all.

Nor even at the beginning of your career? At some point of your career you had to choose between these two lives…

Looking back on it...I had always loved drawing paintings, making things, but I did not think “I want to be an artist”, but I did not see myself exhibiting paintings.

But when I discovered the whole thing of making objects for use, and I started pottery, by the time I was far advanced in science... It did not occur to me at that time to do it for a job, or that it was even

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Image Courtesy: Denise Puca

Joanna Howells is a Welsh potter, whose talent has been internationally acknowledged.

But her career started in Medicine and in chemistry laboratories. We will explore how she faced this radical life change.

By Denise Puca

an option. Also, all my life, as a woman, I was always good at science and math. And I very much enjoyed being different, being a scientist, while all my girl friends wanted to do “girly” things.

I just realised it was something I was not cut out for.

was talking to Henry Roschild. He got himself invited to see Henry Roschild’s private collection of ceramics, and he said I know someone who would love to come too, so he brought me.

I took some of my work, and he told me to go and see some of his colleagues.

Do you recall any specific moment when you realised it was something you were not cut out for?

Once I found the head of the lab washing out the instruments and measuring what was left in the water, to understand how often you have to wash it to get it really clean. And that was when I thought “this isn’t really for me!”

I was really horrified, that was a key moment for me.

Is there any key person in your career?

Michael Cutton. He told me “You got the touch”. And that was really amazing.

“All my life, as a woman, I was always good at science and math. And I enjoyed being a scientist, while all my girl friends wanted to do ‘girly’ things. But I realised it was something I was not cut out for.”

Another important moment for you was in Cattle’s Yard, am I right?

That was an inspiring house. A friend of mine, Colin, whom I had met through pottery, was visiting Cattle’s Yard, and was speaking to this gentleman, at this exhibition, and it turned out he

What are you working on now?

The project is on the plant life over a year, the four seasons, in Merthyr Mawr Warren. It is a Site of Special Interest on Wales. It is not a huge area, but it is a varied area and has a very varied habitat.

Could you give us more details?

There are various intermediate stages that progress near the sea. Merthyr Mawr Warren has got an enormous range of plants, about 450 species. It is one of the most rich habitats in Wales.

I got a grant to do this project. I turn the plants I find into fossils, which I then add to small white cubes.

These cubes are still growing as a collection. The Botanic Garden are bar-coding the DNA of the plants in UK. So the cubes will be put in a sort of sequence by the scientists, so you will see how plants are genetically related.

I started this project in the end of 2012., and my idea was to follow a year of plant life.

But it is really a big thing, so I had to take up another couple of seasons.

Book: Pur

But when, when you believe that the only way to grow is to remain subdued, quiet and have a strict scheduled regimen of ‘prayer, eat, study, prayer’, you can sense that something is amiss. Kambili and her brother, Chukwuka Achike (called Jajathrough the book) are brought up in a strict Roman Catholic house. Narrated by

Kambili, the novel begins with an act of defiance (what most teenagers at 17 would normally do, no matter what your background is) and it travels back in time uncovering the root to Jaja’s act.

Family life under Eugene Achike, a towering, godlike presence in the life of his beloved daughter and a fervent Catholic is seen to be difficult and would perhaps reflect the coup that breaks out during the course of the novel. The ways of God and t h e wa y s o f g o ve r n m e n t are increasingly hard to tell apart. Kambili then becomes exposed to the different sides of her father: a father, who fights against the corrupt government in the peripherals of the home and a father, who at home, in the name of religion purports violence for going against what they believe in. This leads to both the children to be quiet at their age (15 and 17, at the start of the novel).

Full Circle Reviews

It is only when they are allowed to visit and spend time their aunt, Ifeoma, a university teacher at Nssuka, that she becomes aware that there may be another way – to live and also practice religion.

During her stay, she heals and begins to mature and open up. Ifeoma is outspoken and sane and is passed on to her children, Amaka, Obiora and Chima, and contrasts with her life at home. And, here at Ifeoma’s home, she begins to explore herself at length and also experience love.

Adiche is able to weave in a beautiful coming of age story amidst a violent background. It explores the variations of normality within a dysfunctional family and how they overcome it. The purple hibiscus that blooms in Ifeoma's garden alive, delicate and precious - becomes the symbol of everything a merciless father and violent regime would trample.

Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Pages: 307 Publisher : Algonquin Books Published: October 2003 Image courtesy Ruben Garcia photographerjr, Flickr

Movie: Gravity Gravity is a 2013 British-American 3D science fiction thriller and space drama film. It was directed, cowritten, co-produced and co-edited

by Alfonso Cuarón, and stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts involved in the mid-orbit destruction of a space shuttle and their attempt to return to Earth.

Filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron deserves a standing ovation for his film is a visual masterpiece. Every frame is painstakingly made. Tense, unnerving and arresting, every scene of the psychological thriller gives you gooseflesh. The spectacular special effects make you feel like you are a part of the film. Every time Bullock takes a long, deep breath, you can feel yourself doing the same. That's the impact of Gravity. It's an experience. A game-changer of sorts, the film is bound to revolutionise special

effects in movies.

Having said that, Alfonso Cuaron does not let technology overpower the story, which is an emotional journey of its lead character. That sense of detail for things

goes beyond technology and this is what we liked the most about the film.

George Clooney manages to charm you once again, but it's Sandra Bullock who puts on the performance of her career.

The haunting eeriness of dark space has been impeccably portrayed.

The background score is equally fear-inducing and manages to maintain the tension created. The film stays unpredictable till the end.

Simon Thompson of Huffington Post has an interesting observation to make. He says: "Gravity is a classic in every sense of the word and is destined to rightfully earn the label of being one of the greatest films of a generation and will be on Best Film of All Time lists for years to come."

Brand: Snidel A Japanese brand which already has swept Japan. With a lovely, girlie design aim, it appeals to tons of girls and women who want to dress like girls. The clothes, bags, shoes there are with particular focus on quality and ready to wear.

Personally, this is one of my favourite brands. I still can remember how I tried every effort to buy these clothes from Japan. As it became widely popular

among youngsters in China, it finally opened the first store. My friends and I were so excited that we could actually try then buy it. We just love it!

This season, the next coming Spring/ Summer Collection is so sweet and colourful just like candy bars. It’s sunshine time now. Sweeping your heavy outfits, let’s try something soft, fashion with bright colours.

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“

In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.

-Ansel Adams

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Scan to explore more on space travel on our website: jomec.co.uk/life360-2014/