The Express Tribune Magazine - November 2

November 2-8 2014

NOT for sale Humanity sinks to a new low as human trafficking continues to flourish in Pakistan

November 2-8 2014

Profile

Cover Story NOT For Sale Human trafficking continues to be a menace for Pakistan

The Write Start In conversation with rising author Sunjeev Sahota

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Feature

Smart Travels It is possible to travel the world in a limited budget

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34 Regulars

6 People & Parties: Out and about with beautiful people

40 Reviews: Movies and Books 46 Society: Watching adult videos can harm your productivity

Magazine Editor: Sarah Munir, Senior Subeditor: Dilaira Dubash and Subeditor: Simoneel Chawla Creative Team: Essa Malik, Jamal Khurshid, Munira Abbas, Mohsin Alam, Omer Asim, Sanober Ahmed & Talha Ahmed Khan Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk Twitter: @ETribuneMag & Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ETribuneMag Printed: uniprint@unigraph.com

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Kashif , Mehar Gillani and Arun Cybil and Nooray meen Nazim

Nazim Sheikh and Yas

Rabya , Ibrahim and Muneeb Nawaz

Hina Salman Nadia Ali and Rachel Gill Natasha Hussain

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PHOTOS COURTESY BILAL MUKHTAR EVENTS AND PR

House of Ittehad launches its flagship store in DHA, Lahore

Faria

Farzeen Malik and Aleem

Aliha Chaudhry Xille Huma, Sonia and Kanwal Ilyas Faisal and Faiza

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Rabia, Saad and NOVEMBER 2-8 2014

Kamran Sheikh

Ayaz and Uzma

PHOTOS COURTESY BILAL MUKHTAR EVENTS AND PR

PEOPLE & PARTIES

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Chatterbox cafĂŠ opens at Bukhari Commercial, Karachi

PHOTOS COURTESY JUMP ACTIVATIONS

Biya and Irsa

Atiq and Arooj

Naila Naqvi Saadia and Nazihe

Zoe Viccaji and Adnan

Farah Afridi

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Fuzzy Faruque and Natasha Faruque

Faiza and Imran

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Hasan and Sana

Fatima Niazi

Shaheen and Turan

Tehmina Ali Maha and Sayeda

Mrs Asad, Zaid, Zoya and Zeenat

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Mr and Mrs Bajwa with Maheen

PHOTOS COURTESY JUMP ACTIVATIONS

Farhat Kapadia

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Farah Asrar and Fiza

Fashion brand The House of Aphrodite launches its inaugural outlet in Lahore

Ammar and Anam

Juggun and Sumbal

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Amber Liaqat

Fatima and Anaum

PHOTOS COURTESY PINHOLE STUDIO

Mehak and Maham

ProFile

The Write Start Rising young author Sunjeev Sahota reflects on his creative journey

By Saadia Qamar Photo By Simon revill deSiGn By SanoBer ahmed

The last thing on Sunjeev Sahota’s mind when he picked up his first novel — Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children — at the age of 18 was that he would end up writing one of his own someday, let alone landing the 2013 award for Granta’s Best Young British Novelist. Although he grew up in a household that encouraged reading, including magazines and newspapers, Sunjeev never got his hands on a novel until much later. But once he discovered the enchanting world of fiction, the young writer found himself making up for ‘lost’ time by consuming three books in a week while pursuing a Master’s degree in Mathematics at the Imperial College in London. In January 2011, he published his first novel, Ours are the Streets, which chronicles the journey of a British Pakistani who becomes a suicide bomber. author of award-winning novel, Ours are the Streets, Sunjeev Sahota.

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During a recent visit to Karachi to attend a workshop on translation, organised by the British Council — where his much-anticipated second novel The Year of the Runways was being translated from English to Urdu — the 33-year-old Londoner addressed the hugely contentious subject of terrorism in his debut novel and what inspired him to write in the first place. “I really don’t know what made me pick up this (Midnight’s Children) one book.

Either it was the fact that it was set in India, or [that] it was published in the year I was born,” says Sunjeev, recalling how he came across the book while waiting at Heathrow Airport to catch his flight to India. “All I remember is [that] as I went to visit my family farm in Jalandhar, India, I just kept on reading.”

Upon returning from India, Sunjeev continued to read, particularly fond of the works of Russian writers such as Dostoevsky, Chekov and Tolstoy and a few Irish writers, but it wasn’t until the 2005 London bombings that he actually gave writing a serious thought. “I thought about the perpetrators and many things crossed my mind, particularly the fact that I too was the child of an immigrant [couple],” he says. Sunjeev’s debut novel is, therefore, based on a young British-Pakistani’s struggle for identity.

Set between Sheffield, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the book explores the cultural transition immigrants go through.

The book’s protagonist Imtiaz mirrors Sunjeev’s own desire to feel a sense of belonging. But unlike the author, Imtiaz’s deep religiosity channels those feelings to destructive ends. “The character’s [devoutness] altogether felt like an interesting psychology to penetrate into,” says Sunjeev, but denies that terrorism and identity issues have become synonymous with South Asian writers. “South Asians are [also] writing about economies and the [growing] gaps between the rich and poor,” he adds.

In The Year of the Runways, he builds on the sense of belonging that was depicted

by Imtiaz in his first novel. “It is all about illegal immigrants and living away from home and how that features in their lives,” he says. Adding to the possibility of exploring other themes, such as romance, in his future writings, he says, “It’s already there in the pages (of my first novel), between a man and a woman and between parents and children. Somewhere between the lines you will sense it.”

South asians are [also] writing about economies and the [growing] gaps between the rich and poor Novelist Sunjeev Sahota The modest writer describes the overwhelming response to his first novel as “thoughtful and generous” and admits that he was surprised, albeit pleasantly, when he received an award for it.“It’s really a confidence boost and it certainly made me feel good about my writing,” says Sunjeev, adding that the award opened new avenues for writing. According to Salman Rushdie, who was on the panel of judges, Sunjeev’s talent was visible on every page and he looks forward to reading more from the blossoming writer.

As his trip to Karachi drew towards an end, Sunjeev described the city as one that was “balanced precariously between confidence and a certain thoughtful isolation.” And one can’t help but wonder how the multi-layered cosmopolitan would fare if it were to feature as a muse for one of his future writings. T

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Saadia Qamar is a reporter for The Express Tribune.

November 2-8 2014

COVER STORY

NOT for sale

Humanity sinks to a new low as human trafficking continues to flourish in Pakistan

BY SABA KARIM PHOTOS BY ARIF SOOMRO DESIGN BY ESSA MALIK

Fourteen-year-old Kanwal Shah, a Pashtun girl living in the northwest region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), was walking home from school one day when she was hit on the head by a couple of unknown men. When she woke up next, she found herself at a brothel in the remote southeastern town of Khanpur. “I didn’t know what had happened to me or where I was,” shares Kanwal. “When the drugs wore off, they told me I was to be a prostitute.” When Kanwal refused to comply, the brothel owner Ajmal Hussain resorted to torture, sexual abuse and use of drugs to get his way. According to Kanwal she was held hostage for six years, during which the girls at the brothel were forced to sleep naked so that they would be ‘dishonored’ and, thus, forced to stay there. Two of the girls, Jahanara Bibi and Qudsia Mir, were killed, when they adamantly refused to sleep with customers.

Kanwal, however, was one of the lucky ones and got an opportunity to escape, with the help of Ahsanullah Rahim, a worker at the brothel. The two got married soon after, which complicated the situation further as Ajmal claimed that she was already married to him. Initially, Pakistani authorities charged Kanwal with adultery and were keen on having her returned to the brothel. The courts, however, eventually issued a restraining order against the brothel owner and Kanwal was sent to Darul Aman, a shelter for women in Lahore.

Kanwal’s tragedy mirrors the plight of thousands of young girls and women in Pakistan who fall victim to human trafficking every year. According to the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC), human trafficking is often quoted as the third most lucrative source of organised crime revenue in the world after arms and drugs trade. According to the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, the exploitation of all trafficked forced labour results in an estimated annual global profit of $31.6 billion. Southeast Asia and South Asia house the greatest number of internationally trafficked people — an estimated 2.5 million and 1.5 million, respectively. According to the 2012 ‘Global Report on Trafficking in Persons’, released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, victims of 136 different nationalities were detected in 118 countries worldwide between 2007 and 2010.

Trafficking victims are used for domestic service, bonded labour, prostitution, as camel jockeys and as beggars by begging mafias. In some cases, they are also smuggled off to conflictridden areas such as K-P, where they are used for militancy. This was the case with seven-year-old Affan, who was kidnapped by his madrassah teacher in Gujranwala and transported to a village in K-P. Here, he was shown his first weapon and also

COVER STORY given extensive training on suicide missions. “I was scared that one day I would be killed in a suicide attack and my family would never even know what happened to me,” says Affan. “I always prayed for a miracle.” Even though he was rescued by one of his uncles 25 days later, the family had to relocate in order to avoid being found or killed at the hands of extremists. Affan was fortunate enough to live to tell his story but there are many others who spend their entire lives in the hope of being rescued and to return to their loved ones someday. “When I escaped, I was very thankful but felt guilty over leaving behind so many of my peers who hadn’t been rescued like me,” he says.

The ugly numbers Pakistan has been identified as one of the key sources of women trafficking globally. According to the‘Global Slavery Index’ report compiled by the Australia-based campaign Walk-Free, Pakistan has the third highest population of enslaved individuals in the world. A recent report released by the US State Department highlights that Pakistan may join the Tier 2 Watchlist for Human Trafficking, as it has not undertaken satisfactory measures to combat the issue. If that happens, the country may face suspension of financial aid amongst losing other privileges. Currently, Pakistan is also facing challenges in implementing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), a critical antitrafficking law which requires coordination with foreign governments to prevent trafficking and protect victims.

According to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s Red Book, the number of ‘most-wanted’ human trafficking networks from Pakistan was 141 last year, 132 in 2012 and 95 in 2011. The majority of these human traffickers belonged to Gujrat and Gujranwala, while the rest were from Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. This network of 141 human traffickers encompasses over 7,890 individuals, who illegally transported 8,234 Pakistanis through various routes to the Middle East, European and African countries last year. The FIA has also intercepted over 61,200 people at the Pakistan-Iran and Pakistan-Afghanistan borders since 2009. The most common routes used by traffickers include Gulistan, Chaman, Rabat, Nushki, Chagai, Mand Ballu, Panjgur, Taftan and Turbat.

When humans are bought and sold The wide prevalence of human trafficking in Pakistan can be attributed to a number of factors, with poverty being the key cause. Since nearly 23% of the country’s

Chaman Gulistan Taftan

Nushki

Chagai

Panjgur Turbat

Shows the most common routes used by traffickers in Pakistan

55%-60% of all trafficking victims detected globally are women. Women and girls together account for about 75% of the land victims.

SOURCE: GLOBAL REPORT ON TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 2012 RELEASED BY THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME

population lives below the poverty line, it automatically makes them keen to accept any employment opportunity and hence, become easy targets for traffickers. This has been witnessed in a vast majority of cases for both labour and sex trafficking, where the victim is lured with false promises of employment and better economic prospects. Social inequalities and gender-based injustice (particularly towards women and children), early marriages and domestic violence also lead to economic dependency and vulnerability. In many situations, women attempt to escape such situations by seeking employment opportunities, but end up subjecting themselves to even worse consequences.

The situation is aggravated further due to the country’s porous borders and huge lapses in the law and order system. Advancements in technology have also made it easier for traffickers to communicate and coordinate across borders and carry out their operations in a more systematic manner.

Scarred for life The physical and psychological torture of trafficking victims results in serious medical and emotional trauma.

For example, malnutrition and starvation can lead to serious weight loss, as in Affan’s case, who lost 4kgs in 25 days. Other common injuries include broken bones, concussions and burns. Victims of labour trafficking often experience visual and hearing problems due to working in hazardous agriculture or construction environments. In some cases, proximity to chemicals can also lead to respiratory and skin-related disorders.

Women, in particular, suffer from reproductive health issues due to sexual assault and may even end up with sexually transmitted diseases.

Psychological scars of these experiences, however, are perhaps more long-lasting than the physical suffering.

Victims of trafficking experience feelings of helplessness, guilt, self-blame, shame, humiliation, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. In some cases, victims also

27% of all trafficking victims globally are children.

Of every three child victims, two are girls and one is a boy.

SOURCE: GLOBAL REPORT ON TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 2012 RELEASED BY THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME

COVER STORY

The journey from victim to survivor is perhaps the most critical.

Hence, restoring dignity, security and respect for victims through a structured support system, including shelters, rehabilitation units and counselling, are the need of the hour Associate professor and chairperson for the department of humanities and social sciences at LUMS Dr Ali Khan

Victims to survivors: A long way home

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human traffickers from Pakistan were on the ‘most-wanted’ list in 2013. The number has increased from 132 in 2012 and 95 in 2011.

SOURCE:FIA

resort to substance abuse to curb their depression which exacerbates the problem. “I would forget the humiliation, the disgrace and the torture I had suffered after I would take the drug,” says 17-year-ol Aasiya, who was kidnapped from her neighbourhood by a Sahiwal-based trafficking group. She was then tortured and gang-raped and tossed into a room with four other girls. It was during this time that Aasiya turned to drugs in order to numb her senses.

“But when the effect of the drug wore off after a few hours, I would once again realise that my life was over before it had even begun,” she says.

At times, trafficking victims also experience the ‘flat effect’, a sense of numbness and detachment and a disassociation from the physical and emotional trauma.

In rare cases, they may also suffer from ‘trauma bonding’ and begin to identify with the trafficker, despite being subjected to repeated abuse. This can potentially be the 30 most dangerous outcome.

NOVEMBER 2-8 2014

While Pakistan has taken certain interventionist measures over time to curb human trafficking, a lot more needs to be done. According to Dr Ali Khan, associate professor and chairperson for the department of humanities and social sciences at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), the aspects that require immediate attention are awareness and prevention of trafficking along with rehabilitation of those who have returned home. “The journey from victim to survivor is perhaps the most critical,” says Khan. “Hence restoring dignity, security and respect for victims through a structured support system including shelters, rehabilitation units and counselling are the need of the hour.”

The government currently runs approximately 44 shelters for rehabilitating women including various Darul Amans. Organisations such as the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid, Ansar Burney Trust, Sahil, Rozan, Aurat Foundation, Shirkat Gah and Madadgar have also been working actively to combat the practice and help out those who have gone through the ordeal. International organisations such as the USAID, The Canadian International Development Agency, The Department for International Development, United Nations Development Program and The European Commission have also played an important role by launching several advocacy and capacity-building programmes in the country. “The United States works through international organisations and directly with the government of Pakistan to improve law enforcement’s capacity to prevent, detect and prosecute human trafficking,” shares an official at the US Consulate in Karachi. He elaborates that this year’s report on human trafficking shows that the government of Pakistan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of the practise but is making significant efforts to do so.

“Whilst efforts are underway in Pakistan, they are currently occurring in silos,” says Khan. He emphasises

the need for formulating and implementing synergised policies in order to maximise collective impact. Protecting victims’ rights, pursuing traffickers through gathering data wherever they may operate and restoring the freedom of survivors should be a priority, he adds. Professor Farkhanda Aurangzeb, director coordination at the Aurat Foundation, also emphasises the need to improve methods of detecting victims,change the mindset of law enforcement agencies and convict the perpetrators of this heinous crime with exemplary punishment.

Finally, in order to make any meaningful long-lasting difference to the current state of affairs, those unaffected by the issue need to be as motivated to change things as the direct stakeholders since silence around injustice, cruelty and abuse of power is as criminal as the offence itself. *Names have been changed to protect privacy of individuals.

Saba Karim has read anthropology from the University of Oxford.

She tweets@SabaKarim

Pakistan has the third highest population of enslaved individuals in the world.

SOURCE: GLOBAL SLAVERY INDEX

FEATURE

Smart Travels

A few smart decisions can help you travel the world without burning a hole in your pocket

By MATEEn AsAd dEsign By OMER AsiM

Once upon a time, the world outside was an unfamiliar daunting place. seeing it for yourself required money and courage and very few had what it takes to venture to unknown lands. But those who did, came back with stories and that is how the rest of us experienced exotic cultures and faraway locations.

As technology, however, brought the world to our doorstep, the stories were no longer enough. A vast majority, including myself, wanted to see and experience these places on our own. Increased access and awareness - that enabled the average Joe to take the dream vacation, or several ones, without spending an arm and a leg — made me realise that the right planning and research could help one save enough money on everything from lodging to airfare to food. Here is a list of travel tips that allowed me to travel to 14 countries and 45 cities and can help you do the same.

Lodging

Accommodation one of the biggest expenses during travelling can be eliminated with the help of websites such as www.couchsurfing.org and www.globalfreeloaders. com. Couchsurfing, for example is a forum for travellers to connect to people in over 100,000 cities who are willing to host them free of cost. The tenants have personal profiles with pictures, which allows you to choose people on the basis of personality traits and living preferences. The site is primarily designed to encourage people from different cultures to interact with each other and foster international friendships and can even be used to just meet new people or hang out at the most happening places in the city. Globalfreeloaders allows you to do the same but the site is run on a smaller scale and on a voluntary basis. It also has testimonials by people who have used the service in the past, which can help you decide the most feasible option.

For certain destinations, however, such as Russia or ex-Soviet states such as Uzbekistan, you will need registered accommodation in the form of a hotel or youth hostels, with the latter being the cheaper option.

Transport When it comes to moving around, public transport, such as buses, trains, metros and taxis is the best way to go. Often, you can pay a little extra for your regular bus fare and extend your single journey to a return journey or get a ‘day trip’ ticket that allows you to make as many bus trips as you want within the next 24 hours. Weekly tickets are also available. Depending on the city you are in, taxis are not a bad option either.

However, compare prices between different public transport options before buying tickets as the differences can be significant in some cases. For example, in Turkey, a taxi from Istanbul airport to Taksim Square costs 40 liras (approximately Rs1,900) whereas, a bus costs 10 liras (approximately Rs500).

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Air Fare Take advantage of airlines’ loyalty programmes, which allow you to earn flyer’s miles every time you fly with the same airline once you register and become a member. In fact, you can earn additional miles if you shop from partners affiliated with the airline and when family members fly. If you are using a credit card that is affiliated with the airline, that can help you avail your free miles as well. Some of the options available in the market are Pakistan International Airline’s Awards Plus programme and Emirates’ Skywards, to name a few.

Hitchhiking

Food Apart from cooking yourself, the best way to satiate your hunger is with street food, which is not only economical but also gives you an authentic taste of the country’s culinary pattern. Street food is relatively cheap almost everywhere but in some developed countries such as the Netherlands — where a donor kebab costs 3.50 EUR (approximately Rs450), while a whole chicken costs only 2.5 EUR (approximately Rs330) — you might end up saving more if you decide to fix yourself a meal at home.

Hitchhiking can be dangerous but it is commonly used worldwide to travel across cites and country sides. Hitchwiki, an online community and hitchhiking guide, suggests the following tips for a safe and productive hitchhiking experience: • Wear walking shoes.

• Place yourself in a visible location where a car can stop easily without blocking traffic.

• Stick your thumb up — the universal hitchhiking sign.

• Proceed to the gas station to ask for a ride.

• Dress neatly as you have to look the part of a young backpacker who is tired but friendly and harmless.

• Approach people you feel can relate to you, such as young people or kind older people, families, couples or women.

• Always make sure the driver appears decent and no smoke rolls out of the windows or any other sign of inebriation or drugs are present.

• You never need to feel pressured to get into someone’s car just because they have stopped for you.

• Ask politely about the direction they are headed in.

• Put your backpack or luggage at the back and sit in the front with your hands on your lap so that they are comfortable knowing you do not have a weapon.

• Don’t lose hope if people don’t stop.

Mateen Asad is a business student in the Netherlands who loves travelling.

He tweets at @mmasad91 and blogs at teen-ta.com November 2-8 2014

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FILM FILM FIL

The pits of horror A good horror film should ideally give you goose bumps all over and terrorise you so effectively that you jump out of your seat on cue. Unfortunately, director John Erick Dowdle’s As Above, So Below fails to instigate that kind of pleasurable fear. Rather than scaring you, the 93 minutes will bore you and eventually end up annoying and infuriating you with its overly loud attempts at scaring viewers with one laughably poor sequence after another.

Perhaps the only frightening thing about this film is that its unintelligent plot was written by not one but two screenwriters. The film revolves around an alchemy scholar named Scarlett Marlow (Perdita Weeks), whose characterisation is incidentally similar to that of video game hero Lara Croft. Just like Croft, Scarlett speaks with an English accent, is versed in many languages, knows martial arts, hails from a prominent background, and is obsessed with hunting artefacts — or raiding tombs if you will.

While tracking a mystery that her father was obsessed with, Scarlett follows a lead on a powerful Philosopher’s Stone, which

As Above, So Below ends up making a mockery of itself with its trite plot and predictable scare tactics

BY NOMAN ANSARI

takes her from a cave in Iran to a museum in Paris. Here, with the very reluctant assistance of romantic interest George (Ben Feldman), she translates a headstone in an attempt to discover where the magical stone is hidden. This riddle on the headstone indicates that her treasure is located in the Catacombs beneath the French capital. The Catacombs, of course, are an underground network of caves where countless bodies were put to rest ages ago.

Filming Scarlett’s adventures is cameraman Benji (Edwin Hodge). As Above, So Below is produced in the style of a ‘found footage’ horror film where the entire film is captured through shaky camera footage, supposedly recovered at a later date. With Benji and George at her side, Scarlett begins looking for guides who can help her with the illegal task of venturing into the Catacombs. At a nightclub, our heroes meet Papillon (François Civil) and his team, who know the caves quite well. Strangely, while Papillon and his friends ask all sorts of questions regarding

why Scarlett wants to risk jail time by taking on such an endeavour, not one of them is bothered by the fact that Benji, a complete stranger, is recording their conversation, including the terms of their agreement for the unlawful adventure. In fact, as is often the case with such ‘found footage’ horror films, the numerous characters in the film are perfectly happy to be recorded without wondering why there is a camera in their face.

Perhaps it is poetic that as our heroes sink deeper beneath Paris, the film drowns into mediocrity too. It tries everything from overused horror tactics, such as a phone ringing in the middle of nowhere and the sudden appearance of a piano, to ghostly children and evil cloaked beings. By this point, the actors almost seem desperate in their attempts at selling the plot but sadly the film gives them very little to work with.

Rating: Noman Ansari is freelance writer and regular contributor to The Express Tribune magazine and newspaper. He tweets @Pugnate

More suggestions for horror fans

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The Blair Witch Project

Three student film-makers disappear while hiking in the Black Hills and the incident is attributed to a local legend, the Blair Witch. A year later, footage of their time in the woods is uncovered and the pieces of the puzzle start to come together.

NOVEMBER 2-8 2014

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Paranormal Activity

A couple set up video cameras in their house to figure out what supernatural presence is haunting them and why it won’t leave them alone. Psychics and demonologists are called in to try and rescue them from the strange sounds and flickering lights among other bizarre occurrences.

3

The Cabin in the Woods

Five teenagers spend the weekend at a secluded cabin in the woods, when they discover bizarre artefacts in the cellar. Unable to reign in their curiosity, they accidentally awaken a family of zombie executioners who won’t let the kids leave now.

Will they be able to escape from the woods?

FILM

In thin air Gone Girl does visual justice to Gillian Flynn’s best-selling novel

BY SCHAYAN RIAZ

David Fincher’s Gone Girl, an adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s ridiculously addictive novel, is neither an improvement nor an embarrassment, but a decent visual companion to the wildly popular page-turner. If you have read the best-seller, you won’t be disappointed by Fincher’s take on it but it won’t necessarily enrich your reading experience either.

For those who haven’t read the book, Nick and Amy are a match made neither in heaven nor hell, but on Earth, which is a combination of the two places. The couple can be both angelic and demonic (to each other) and it’s a recipe ripe for disaster. But when Amy mysteriously disappears on the day of their fifth anniversary, it comes as a shock to Nick. As far as he is concerned, his marriage might not have been perfect, but there wasn’t any cause for concern either. Or so, we are led to believe.

Slowly the plot unravels — the police find Amy’s diary, incriminating Nick. The husband becomes the prime suspect, a media witch-hunt gets going and even Nick’s closest allies turn sour towards him.

Where the hell is Amy? The film stays very true to the novel in terms of the structure.

The first half is a mix of the initial investigation, cut to dreamlike flashback scenes out of Amy’s diary. The

second half is predictably darker, crazier and depending at how you look at it, funnier. For what is Gone Girl really but a very dark comedy about marriage and that uncomfortable but inevitable notion of never getting to fully know the person one has agreed to spend a whole lifetime with. And the entire subplot of how our parents unknowingly cause lasting damages is very prevalent throughout — Amy’s psychiatrist parents ‘use’ her daughter’s life as a template for their once-successful book series Amazing Amy, which explains a lot about Amy’s mental state.

More than Fincher’s assured direction, or

Rating: Schayan Riaz is a Germany-based writer. He tweets @schayanriaz

Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.

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Vertigo

If you are in the mood for more thrillers, watch 2 Basic Instinct 3 Zodiac

A police detective experiences an incident on the job that causes him to develop acrophobia and vertigo. Now retired, he is asked by a freind to privately investigate his wife whose strange behaviour leaves him obsessed with uncovering the truth.

NOVEMBER 2-8 2014

Trent Reznor’s eerie, unsettling score, this is a film about great actors. This might be Ben Affleck’s best work yet, finely treading the line between the creepy guy grinning at his wife’s disappearance and the vulnerable guy caught in a bad situation. And what to say of Rosamund Pike? Her acting, evoking memories of Hitchcock’s heroines, can easily be termed as the year’s breakthrough performance. But there are other relatively unknown actresses who shine as well, such as Kim Dickens or Carrie Coon. Tyler Perry and Neil Patrick Harris are perfectly cast in their respective roles too; so, the assumption that this is meant to be a funny film might not be too far off.

As aforementioned, Gone Girl, the film is not in any way above the book. It is a mood piece, if anything, to be watched as a visualisation of the book, not as a standalone project. It adds nothing to the story, but it’s not in any way an irritating attempt of bringing the characters from the page to the screen either.

It’s a bit unnecessary, but worth your time once you can get past that.

Police detective Nick Curran is investigating the brutal murder of a wealthy rock star who was stabbed to death in his apartment. In the process, he finds himself involved with the prime suspect of the murder and becomes deeply entangled in the clever games she plays.

An unknown man attacks a couple, leaving one of them dead. Now the police are desperately hunting for a serial killer known as Zodiac. He taunts them with threatening letters, coded messages and sends them blood-stained clothes. Will he be caught before he takes his next victim?

BOOK

A rendezvous with (in)sanity Shandana Minhas keeps readers hooked with a refreshing plot and witty language

BY RIFFAT RASHID

Contrary to what many might think, Survival Tips for Lunatics is not a self-help book. Written by Shandana Minhas, who also wrote Tunnel Vision, the book is primarily aimed at younger audiences, but its mix of adventure and witty banter make it an entertaining read for all ages.

Set in Balochistan, the book narrates a tale of two boys, Timmy and Changez Khan, who are left alone on a camping trip by their parents. To make matters worse, an earthquake ends up closing the entrance to the valley where they have wandered off by themselves. What follows is a rib-tickling journey of survival in which the brothers must overcome plenty of obstacles, including fascinating creatures, by working alongside each other.

It is, however, Shandana’s writing style more than the plot that makes for a gripping read. Spanning over 180 pages, complete

44 Author Shandana Minhas.

with illustrations, the story has been told from the point of view of Changez, who believes his brother is a complete dunderhead, sparing a few strokes of intelligence. The dialogue between the two is thoughtfully written, but it is the interaction between the animals, who have a unique voice and personality of their own, and the boys that forbids the reader from bookmarking it for a later read. Some of the interesting characters include a straightforward and no-nonsense sparrow (referred to as a baby golden eagle by Timmy), who states his job is to get the brothers to safety, a Yoda-like bear, who is admittedly one of the best written characters in the book, and a fuming dragon, whose dialogues have been aptly penned in capitals. As you start to wish the dragon would disappear, for instance, you are introduced to strange-looking owls with their own set of eccentricities. Also giving the boys company and a run for their lives are Velociraptor dinosaurs, Baluchitheriums (the largest land mammal) and a Chiltan Markhor (a wild goat).

Unlike other adventure stories, that mostly omit the lurking sense of danger from the narrative, Survival Tips for Lunatics retains the reader’s curiosity at every step along the way, having kept young readers in mind. Teeming with animals, it is slightly reminiscent of Life of Pi and takes readers on a light-hearted ride across the less-talked about province of Pakistan.

The book is available at Liberty Books for Rs565.

Everyday tales from Pakistan Tunnel Vision Another Shandana Minhas book, this one follows the story of a young woman, named Ayesha, who goes into a coma after a road accident. Her story is, therefore, revealed in a “stream of consciousness”.

Written in a humorous way, the book narrates the protagonist’s interaction with Karachi, giving the city a character of its own.

Moth Smoke Mohsin Hamid’s book narrates the tale of a banker whose life starts to spiral downwards after he is laid off from his job and, in response, resorts to substance abuse. Set in Lahore, it highlights the class differences in Pakistani society.

A God In Every Stone Written by Kamila Shamsie, the book is set in Peshawar and narrates the story of Vivian Rose Spencer, a British archaeologist who arrives in the city to unearth its past with the help of a local, Najeeb Gul, who also shares the same goal.

Riffat Rashid is a freelance journalist.

She tweets @RiffyR

PENNED SOCIETY

THE PRICE OF Watching adult videos can lower your mental productivity

BY ZOHAIB AMJAD DESIGN BY MOHSIN ALAM

History shows that even though pornography has been around for a long time, it has been frowned upon in most cultures. Over 40 years ago, pamphlets were distributed among teenagers by the church of Latter-day Saints to raise awareness about its harmful physical after-effects and the consequent guilt and emotional stress. Science has now corroborated this with facts that prove that adult videos can have harmful effects on the people who watch them.

Pornography and cocaine have been shown to exert markedly similar changes in the brain, termed as the ‘addiction effect’. In a 2013 study conducted at the University of Cambridge, Dr Valerie Voon chose subjects who watched pornography and conducted a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan on them. The results showed excessive lighting up of the ventral striatum, also known as the reward centre in the brain, which is identical to scans obtained from drug addicts. This explains the ‘high’ associated with the act, after which one may feel guilty and in order to end the mellow phase, may watch the videos again, setting off an endless cycle.

A 2006 Dutch study in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking also revealed that pornography ranked highest on the compulsive internet use scale alongside

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online gaming and could hence be categorised as an addiction. Scientifically, as a result of the weak association between certain neural circuits in the brain, certain characteristics can be observed in addicted individuals. These include a numbed pleasure response — which means that other activities may not be as interesting as watching pornography — erectile dysfunction and a reduced sense of mutually reciprocating intimacy. Moreover, it can also result in loss of focus and erosion of will power. Even those who claim to watch pornography in limited doses are not spared the harmful effects. According to a 2014 German study published in JAMA Psychiatry, watching even moderate amounts of pornography can cause the brain’s grey area to shrink.

However, giving up pornography can allow one to revert back to their ‘normal’ self. In Your Brain on Porn, authored

by Gary Wilson, a few interesting case studies are highlighted that further explain this phenomenon. One example includes a college dropout in his late 20s, who was prescribed to Xanax and countless other antidepressants after being diagnosed with memory impairment, depression and severe social anxiety, but none of the medication helped improve his condition. After giving up pornography, however, due to certain life-changing events, he confirms, “My anxiety is non-existent. My memory and focus are sharper than they’ve ever been.”

With increased awareness, several global movements on porn consumption are gaining momentum. The NoFap movement, which was founded two years ago with the objective of monitoring productivity levels in individuals who refrain from watching pornography for a week, is a popular example. Today, the movement has attracted more than 80,000 members, many of whom have consciously decided to abstain from pornography entirely after observing a lack of self-esteem and no career ambition.

Zohaib Amjad is a scientist with a major in Biology.

1 NOVEMBER 2-8 2014

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