The Express Tribune hi five - October 19

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Your Proofness: Sarah Munir Master Storyteller: Nudrat Kamal Creativity Analysts: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Samra Aamir, Talha Ahmed Khan, Munira Abbas, Omer Asim and Umar Waqas

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 19, 2014

Hi light

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Pittu Garam is a South Asian game which can be traced back to the time when the Mahabharata was written, which is a Sanskrit epic tale of ancient India. It is a game which combines speed, good aim and teamwork.

Seven small stones and a tennis ball Divide the players in two teams. Stack the small pieces of stones on top of each other to form a small tower, which is called the pittu. Each team gets three tries to collapse the pittu by aiming the tennis ball at it. As soon as a member hits the pittu, the rest of the team members yell ‘Pittu!’

The team members now have to put the stack back together. The opposing team has to stop them from completing the pittu by hitting them with the tennis ball. A player is considered to be out of the game if the ball touches them.

If the team is successful in rebuilding the pittu before all its members get hit, the team wins. If not, the other team wins.

What would you like to see in Hi Five? Send an email to hifive@tribune.com.pk and let us know!

Kho Kho is a popular traditional tag games in our part of the world. This game involves two teams chasing and touching opponents, and requires players to be really smart by coming up with clever tactical strategies to outwit the opponents. Kho Kho originated in Maharashtra, India. Previously, it used to be played on chariots and was known as Rathera.

Chalk (if playing on concrete field) or stick (if playing in dirt field) Divide the players evenly into two teams. There are two innings in the game. In the first inning, all members of one team (except one) stand in a row with a little distance between them. Draw a circle around each member of the row, using the chalk or stick. Connect all circles by drawing a line between them. Each member has to face the opposite direction (if the first person in the row is facing left, the next person will face right).

This team has to catch the other team. They are not allowed to cross the lines connecting the circles while the other team can free move back and forth across the lines. The chasers have to catch them by looping around the whole row. They can also pass the turn to another team member standing in the row by pushing them from behind and yelling ‘Kho!’ When the first team is done chasing, the other team takes its place.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 19, 2014

Hi light

Everyone is familiar with the simple game of tag, known as Pakram Pakrai here. Oonch Neech is sort of a variation of Pakram Pakrai, only more exciting. Oonch Neech used to be a traveller’s game in ancient India. The game served as a way to rejuvenate the travellers when the journey became too boring.

Different variations of Chupan Chupai exist in many cultures across the world.

Known as hide-and-seek in most English-speaking countries, Chupan Chupai is a classic game for children passed down from one generation to the other.

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Pehel Dooj is another game which exists in one form or another is many different places in the world. Known as hopscotch, kith kith (in India) and laylay (in Iran), this game is simple but entertaining. It is also different from most other games because it can be played alone or with others

A stone, and chalk (if playing on concrete field) or stick (if playing in dirt field).

An area with lots of hiding places A playing area which has different objects or places to step on or climb (such as furniture, footpath and stairs).

Eliminate all players using pugam pugai.

The last one standing has to do the chasing.

The chaser can choose either Oonch (upper level) or Neech (lower level) as his territory. He or she has to stick to his territory and cannot go beyond it. The other players are free to move between the two territories but if they linger long in the chaser’s territory, they can be captured. The player who is left standing at the end is the winner.

Through pugam pugai, all players are eliminated one by one and the last one remaining is the chaser. The chaser has to close his or her eyes and count to a hundred while the rest of the players find good places to hide. If you want to make the game more exciting, the players can shift between many hiding places in order to make it harder for the chaser to find them. Whoever is found the last, wins.

First, lay out the court or course on the ground with the chalk or stick. Designs vary, but the course is usually made up of a series of single squares interspersed with blocks of two squares. The course ends with a rectangle which is the ‘home’ or ‘base.’ Each player has to toss the stone into one of the squares.

The player then has to hop through the course, skipping the square with the marker in it. Single squares must be hopped on one foot, while the two squares can be hopped on with both feet. After hopping into the ‘base’ or ‘home’, the player must then turn around and return through the course, retrieving the stone on the way back.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 19, 2014

Reading corner

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What do Italians eat on Halloween?

Fettucine Afraid-o.

What is a witch’s favorite subject in school?

Spelling.

What happened to the cannibal who was late to dinner?

They gave him the cold shoulder.

Frankenstein and Dracula had a fight. Who won?

Frankenstein, because Dracula sucks.

What does a vampire never order at a restaurant?

A stake sandwich.

Who are some of the werewolves’ cousins?

The what-wolves and the when-wolves.

Kids with Superpowers If you could have any superpower, which would you choose? Would you choose invisibility or the ability to fly? Would you move things with your eyes or have the ability to read minds? The next best thing to having superpowers yourself is to read books and watch movies and television shows about kids with superpowers. Here are some suggestions.

Zoom Former superhero Zoom is brought out of retirement and is assigned the task of turning a ragtag group of kids into the next generation of superheroes. These kids have incredible powers but they don’t know how to use them. Among them are Dylan, a 17-year-old boy who can turn invisible, Summer, a 16-year-old girl with telekinetic powers, Tucker, a 12-year-old boy with the power to enlarge any part of his body and Cindy, a 6-year-old girl with super strength. Watch Zoom and find out whether these kids can truly become superheroes.

The Powerpuff Girls What’s better than one superhero girl?

Three superhero girls who team up and use their superpowers together.

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup are three sisters who are created

by Professor Utonium in an attempt to create the perfect little girls. However, while he is creating them, he accidentally spills a special chemical in the mixture, giving the girls superpowers that include flight, super strength, super speed, near invulnerability, and X-ray vision. The Powerpuff Girls team up and defend their town against monsters and villains. Watch The Powerpuff Girls animated television series and enjoy the girls’ superhero adventures.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Percy Jackson is a troubled 12-yearold boy who gets kicked out of every school he goes to. And that’s the least of his problems. Lately, he’s been encountering characters who seem to have come straight out of Percy’s Greek mythology textbook.

Soon, Percy discovers that he has special powers — he can control water in all forms, and water gives him super-strength. Can Percy use his newfound powers to destroy powerful Greek villains? Read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan (start with The Lightning Thief) to find out.

Sky High Young Will Stronghold is the son of two of the biggest superheroes in the world, but he isn’t sure whether he has any superpowers of his own. This is worrying, because Will is about to start school at Sky High, the superhero high school where children learn to hone their superpowers.

But with no apparent superpowers of his own, Will seems destined to become a mere sidekick.

Watch Sky High and join Will as he discovers his true strength and realises that it takes loyalty and teamwork to truly become a hero.

Matilda Matilda is a child genius. By the time she is five years old, she has read all the books in the library’s children section and has moved on to grownup books.

She can also do complicated maths sums in her head within seconds. And best of all, she has telekinesis, which means she can move things just by thinking about it. Read Matilda by Roald Dahl and join Matilda’s hilarious adventures as she uses her powers to teach bullies a lesson and to save her school from the horrible headmistress.

Do you have a favourite book or movie you would like us to review? Write to us at hifive@tribune.com.pk and tell us all about it.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 19, 2014

Get your weekly dose of the unusual and funny news from across the globe!

Blind passion Gymnastics is a sport that requires strength, acrobatic ability and discipline, which is a challenge for anyone. So imagine practicing on a balance beam or the uneven bars when you are 11 years old and legally blind (someone whose eyesight is too weak to be corrected by glasses).

Sixth-grader Adrianna Kenebrew of The Woodlands, Texas, does it every time she gets on the mat. Adrianna was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma (an eye condition that limits sight) at five months old. Her mother, Asha Kenebrew, said that her daughter has had 13 or 14 surgeries because of her condition. If going through that wasn’t impressive enough, Adrianna trains for her gymnastics with no special assistance, aside from simple audio cues. This stands in marked contrast to most of the rest of her day-to-day life, where she uses a number of different machines and follows certain routines to accommodate her disability. “I just think of it as my vision for what I’m trying to accomplish,” Adrianna said. “I want to be the first visually impaired gymnast to win gold at the Olympics.” MIC.COM

World wide weird

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Swimming tiger

Kuzya, a 23-month-old Siberian tiger, was apparently hungry for adventure when he ran away from his home in Russia and swam across the icy cold Amur River towards China. The president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, had personally seen to it that Kuzya, who initially lived in captivity, was released into the wild. His other siblings, who had also been released, stayed in the vicinity, but Kuzya was too adventurous and restless to do the same. Wildlife officials in China are looking for Kuzya and are worried that he could end up in the hands of poachers who would sell him to the highest bidder.

“We will make joint efforts with the Russian side for the protection of wild Siberian tigers which travel back and forth between China and Russia,” Hong Lei, a Chinese ministry spokesman, said in a statement. NYTIMES.COM

Spanish-speaking parrot Vampire skeletons Two skeletons have been discovered at the site of the ancient Thracian temple in Bulgaria, which have an iron rod through their chest where their hearts should be. The graves were found by archaeologist Nikolai Ovcharov. He says that in the Middle Ages the practice of pinning an iron bar through the chest was believed to stop the dead from becoming vampires. These are the sixth and seventh ‘vampire’ graves discovered in the country in the past two years. Ovcharov told The Telegraph: “We have no doubts that once again we’re seeing an anti-vampire ritual being carried out.Often they were applied to people who had died in unusual circumstances.” BUZZFEED.COM

Nigel, an African gray parrot, disappeared from his home in Britain four years ago.

Before he went missing, he was the pet of Darren Chick and spoke fluently with a British accent. Now, Nigel has reunited with his original owner but in a twist no one saw coming, he now speaks only Spanish. Little is known about Nigel’s whereabouts for the past four years, but Chick says the bird’s British accent is gone, and it now chatters in Spanish.

“He’s doing perfect,” Chick told a local newspaper. “It’s really weird.

I knew it was him from the minute I saw him.” Nigel and Chick were reunited through the efforts of a Southern California veterinarian Teresa Micco, who has facilitated five parrot reunions. Micco is also looking for her missing parrot, Benjamin. TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 19, 2014

6 Did you know?

Where did the selfie come from?

Last year the Oxford English Dictionary added the word ‘selfie’ to their lexicon. It defines the selfie as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.” Because the selfie has become more and more popular in recent years, due to a greater number of people owning smartphones with cameras in them, it is generally assumed that the concept of the selfie is a modern, 21st century idea. But the truth is that selfies, which are basically self-portraits, have been around since photography became an affordable hobby for millions in the mid 19th century. Before the camera was invented, artists created self-portraits through painting and sketching. When the camera was invented, photography provided an entirely new medium of self-expression. In 1839, a chemist Robert Cornelius took what is widely regarded as one of the oldest examples of photographic portraits, and it happens to be a selfie. Before the camera, you had to be really rich if you had to get a portrait of yourself made, but now common people can also enjoy the pleasure. Teenagers were taking their selfies as early as 1914, such as the teenage Russian princess Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova. It is easy to make fun of the selfie trend as something shallow and frivolous, and judge people for it. But the truth is that the need to examine yourself by taking your own picture is a human desire that has always been there. What’s different is that now it’s much easier and cheaper to actually take a selfie. Plus, just as we study old self-portraits as historical documents, it is likely that future generations will study our selfies to find out about the times which we live in.

How to say ‘play’ in different languages

Fun facts about chocolate The smell of chocolate increases theta brain waves, which triggers relaxation.

Afrikaans

:

Speel

Azerbaijani

:

Oynamaq

Basque

:

Jolastu

Bosnian

:

Igrati

Catalan

:

Jugar

The inventor of the chocolate chip cookie sold the idea to the Nestle Toll House company in return for a lifetime supply of chocolate.

Czech

:

Hrát

M&M’s were created in 1941 as a means for soldiers to enjoy chocolate without it melting.

Danish

:

Spille

The world’s largest chocolate bar weighed 5,792 kg.

French

:

Jouer

German

:

Spielen

White chocolate isn’t technically chocolate, as it contains no cocoa.

It takes approximately 400 cacao beans to make one pound of chocolate.

Eating dark chocolate every day reduces the risk of heart disease by one third.

Italian

:

Giocare

About 40% of almonds produced in the world are made for chocolate products.

Latin

:

Ludus

A single chocolate chip can give you enough energy to walk 150 feet.

Persian

:

Bazi

Spanish

:

Jugar

The word chocolate comes from ‘Xocolatl’, the Aztec word that means ‘bitter water’.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 19, 2014

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Artwork

Notable Entries for the Liberty Books Cards Competition

Rehma Khurram Winner

Diya Qaim

Aatika Farheen

Ayesha Fawad Winner

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 19, 2014

What to do: 1. Cut different types of paper into ghost shapes (or anything else you want to make jump).

2. Blow up your balloon, and rub it on a jumper or your hair. Hold the balloon above one type of paper ghosts and watch them jump up.

What is happening: The ghosts are jumping because of a phenomenon known as static electricity. All object are made of atoms. Inside atoms are protons, electrons and neutrons. Protons have a positive charge, electrons negative and neutrons have a neutral charge. Opposite charges attract each other and similar charges repel.

Usually, charges in an object are equal and balanced. Static electricity occurs when the charges become imbalanced. When you rub the balloon on your hair or on a sweater, you add electrons to the surface of the balloon. The balloon is more negatively charged than the paper ghosts so when the balloon hovers over the ghosts, they are attracted to the balloon and so lift up and dance around.

SCIENCE-SPARKS.COM

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You will need: Powdered jelly 1 packet Fruit juice powder 1 packet Sugar 3/4 cup Boiling water 2 cups Cold water 2 cups Ice cream moulds

You will need: • A balloon • Paper, cut into ghost shapes.

• Woolly sweater or hair

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1. In a pitcher, combine the jelly powder, juice powder sugar, and boiling water.

Stir until dissolved.

2. Mix in the cold water and pour into your moulds. Freeze for 4-6 hours or until solid.

3. Your frozen jelly popsicle is now ready.

ONESWEETAPPETITE.COM

Remember kids, always get permission from your parents before you start.

It’s always a good idea to have a helper nearby.