The Express Tribune Magazine - November 23

November 23-29 2014

SYRIA’S

FORGOTTEN WAR Abandoned by the world, Syrians are left with little choice but to look out for themselves

November 23-29 2014

Tech

Cover Story Syria’s forgotten war Syria is going through one of the most brutal wars in human history but does the world care?

Pocket Healthcare Mobile healthcare is all set to revolutionise the global healthcare industry

20

Feature

The bell that rings no more The Hindu Guides Infantry Temple in Mardan has been shut down since 1992

24

4

32 Regulars

6 People & Parties: Out and about with beautiful people 38 Reviews: Movies 42 Society: Volunteering can make you happy

Magazine Editor: Sarah Munir and Senior Subeditor: Dilaira Dubash Creative Team: Essa Malik, Jamal Khurshid, 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 Sabina Pasha

Hassan Shehryar Yaseen

Fia

PhoToS couRTESy TAKEII

Waqar Ali Khan

Winner of Veet Miss Super Model 2014 is announced in a grand finale in Karachi

Huma and Amir Adnan

6 November 23-29 2014

Javeria, Misbah, Beenish and Raqiba

Ali Pasha and Shamine

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Hassan Rizvi

Cybil Chaudry

Nobain Ali and Warda Saleem

Shahzeen, Arifa, Maham and Ayesha

Sanya Hassan

Alizeh

Vaneeza Ahmed

Masoomah Hassan

8 November 23-29 2014

Ali Azmat and Semi Pasha

Batool Mehdi, Zainab and Samar Mehdi

Anoushey Ashraf

PhoToS couRTESy TAKEII

Mathira Muhammad

PEOPLE & PARTIES

PhoToS couRTESy KohI MARRI

Adnan Siddique and Ayesha Omer

Gauhar Rasheed, Bilal Ashraf and Sana Bucha

Ambience Films and Shiny Toy Guns host a get-together to celebrate the launch of their headquarters in Karachi

Iman Ali

Saqib Malik, Frieha Altaf, Asad Ul Haq and Farah Haq

10 November 23-29 2014

Tara Mahmood

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Immu

PhoToS couRTESy KohI MARRI

Shazia Naz

Angeline Malik Deepak Perwani

kaiya

Zoe Viccaji and Ru

Nabeel Qureshi, Fizza Ali and Anum Ahmed

12 November 23-29 2014

Sarwat and Fahad

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Happy New Year premieres at cinestar, Lahore

Fariha Pervaiz and Fiza Ali

PhoToS couRTESy QyT EVEnTS

Nadia

Ahmad and Mehreen

Salman Shah and Aneela Shah

14 November 23-29 2014

Sahyr and Sana

Humera and Rameela

Jana Malik

PEOPLE & PARTIES Ayesha Sana and Nickie

Mr and Mrs Shams

PhoToS couRTESy QyT EVEnTS

Sana and Mehwish

Mr and Mrs Rasheed

Razia Omer

Aqeel, Obaid and Mandana

16 November 23-29 2014

Resham

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Haseeb Hashmi

Rana Mashood, Asgher Nadeem Syed and Adeel Hashmi

PhoToS couRTESy AMMAR AbduLLAh

The Little Art holds the opening ceremony for the sixth Lahore International children’s Film Festival

Shoaib Iqbal and Arif Baig

Haseeb Hashmi’s parents

Awais Shafiq, Sahar U Ahmad, Amjad Bhatti, Omar Ijaz Khan, Foha and Zeeshan Naveed

18 November 23-29 2014

TECH

POCKET

Healthcare

Mobile healthcare might be the next big thing in the global healthcare industry

By ZoHAiB AMjAd dEsiGn By EssA MALiK

20

November 23-29 2014

BY 2017 THE TOTAL GLOBAL MOBILE HEALTH MARKET WILL REACH:

$ TWENTY-SIX BILLION

The ability of mobile phones to monitor basic human patterns using digital input from its user has allowed it to transform every aspect of human life. Given the mobile phone’s computing capacity and wide usage, it has recently been adopted as a tool by the global healthcare industry. Mobile Healthcare (mHealth) — the use of a mobile device to provide healthcare — has the potential to change when, where and how healthcare is provided with the help of mobile applications and services that include remote patient monitoring, video conferencing, online consultations and wireless access to patient records and prescriptions. According to the European Commission, by 2017 an estimated 3.4 billion people around the world will own a smartphone and half of them will be using mHealth apps. Currently, nearly 100,000 such apps are available, with the top 20 free sports, fitness and health apps accounting for more than 230 million downloads worldwide.

Source: Greatcall

THE RISING POPULARITY OF mHEALTH APPS: TOP mHEALTH DOWNLOADSs (BY CATEGORY)

Weight Loss

50 million 26.5 million

Exercise Women’s Health Sleep & Medication Pregnancy Tools & Medication Other

10.5 million 8 million 7.5 million 6 million 18 million Source: Greatcall

“From a cost-effective perspective on providing care, the vision of m-Health is one of greater efficiencies.

[It has the power] to improve patient outcomes,” says Dr thomas Brennan, a prominent researcher in the field. By accessing information in a timely manner, patients can better cope with their condition and diseases. they have greater control over their own health and well-being, he explains. correspondingly, with the help of mHealth, health practitioners can access multiple sources of health data, including detailed information about the subject’s physical activity, location and travel destinations, in order to make early diagnosis and prescribe medication.

“Mobile technologies are being used to encourage preventative behaviours, create patient pathways to care and enhance the quality of services. Many of these tools are open source and freely available,” states a research paper published in the october 2014 issue of European Journal of Cancer Care which explains the use of mHealth to support cancer care. the report reveals a wide array of mHealth functions which include storing patient records, delivering notifications via text messages or voicemail for missed or upcoming appointments and reminding patients when and which drug to take (particularly beneficial for tuberculosis patients who are highly vulnerable to drug-resistant tuberculosis). Such methods of notifying patients are also less time-consuming, cost-effective and relatively stress-free. Improved data collection can even enable long-term planning, which includes regulating the

supply of drugs and other medical equipment. according to the report, for mHealth to be effective in cancer care, well-funded and concerted efforts by engineers, designers, clinicians and public health managers and researchers will be required.

By relegating part of the care to mobile devices, including health service delivery, mHealth has unburdened healthcare systems. In developing countries such as Pakistan where an abysmal $9.3 is spent per person on healthcare annually — as opposed to the World Health organization recommended $60 per person — many rural patients are unable to access even basic medical services. By establishing a link between rural patients and medical professionals, mHealth can, therefore, bring healthcare within the reach of millions.

Despite the many benefits of mHealth, certain concerns have surfaced regarding the issue of privacy, confidentiality and protection of data gathered by health apps. cost is another barrier to the adoption of mHealth. like every new technology, it is also trying to attract new sources of revenue by introducing paid apps and services which a large number of patients are unwilling to purchase.

Despite the drawbacks, mHealth shows great potential of addressing rising global challenges. according to the 2014 research report compiled by Pricewaterhousecoopers, in the near future mHealth will be so well-integrated into the traditional healthcare system that using it will eventually become second-nature for patients and medical fraternity.

Zohaib Amjad is a scientist with a major in Biology.

The potential impact of mHealth • In Pakistan, 75,000 mothers and children can be saved annually with the help of maternal information services provided via text messages.

• In Russia, SMS treatment compliance could help cure 50,000 tuberculosis cases.

• In Hungary, treating patients remotely could annually save 40,000 patients from spending the night at a hospital.

• In Sweden, remote monitoring for elderly (so they can stay at home) could save $3 billion each year.

Source:SocIo-econoMIc IMPactS oF MHealtH 2013 rePort By telenor November 23-29 2014

21

COVER STORY

SYRIA’S

FoRgotten wAR

Syrians continue to fight for survival while the world turns a blind eye to their suffering

BY KiRan naziSh PhOTOS BY FuRKan TemiR DeSiGn BY OmeR aSim

eight-year-old hividar Khalil shows off her golden earrings and plastic bangles. “This,” she says touching her earrings, “is my mothers. and this,” she says showing off her bangles excitedly, “are my sisters.”

Living with her uncle and aunt in a refugee camp in Suruc — Turkey’s bordering town with Syria — she plays mostly without toys, unlike other kids who play with the things donated to them by the nGOs visiting their refugee camps. instead, hividar is waiting for her mother and sister to return from the battle in Kobani, so she doesn’t have to share everything with her cousins and can have her own paraphernalia. Just like old times, back home in Syria. For hividar and nearly 700,000 other Syrian children, women and men — alone or with families — who have taken shelter in Turkey, life has changed forever.

COVER STORY An estimated 2.3 million to 2.8 million Syrian refugees have fled their country since late 2011. They were seeking escape from President Bashar al Assad’s brutal regime that forced its citizens to live in abject conditions and tortured and bombed those who didn’t support his rule. Nearly 125,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands tortured in the Syrian civil war till date. What started as a battle between forces favouring and opposing Assad soon acquired sectar-

“

sister are fighting in Kobani along with other Kurdish men and women to get rid of the enemy. “They are fighting Daish, who killed my dad,” she says proudly. Her mother and sister died in Kobani late October when the battle against ISIS picked up momentum and the Kurds were fighting alone. “She is not always this cheerful and often gets anxious,” says her uncle Hamed Khalil. Hividar often weeps when she misses her family and insists on being taken to

ther used to say Daish will kills us,” she elaborates, adding that they also took many students from schools and beat them up. “They hate infidels and cut off their heads. They look scary.”

Stories like that of Hividar’s are pretty common among these refugees. Those who manage to escape are survivors of great debacles and carry with them unimaginable tales of human suffering. Almost everyone knows someone who has been killed in either the ongoing civil war

We couldn’t go to school because father used to say Daish will kills us. They hate infidels and cut off their heads Eight-year-old Syrian refugee Hividar Khalil

ian tones and drew in neighbouring countries and global powers. In 2014, this chaos was capitalised on by the Islamic State or ISIS (known as Daish in the region) — the extremist group that branched out of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Once the group made inroads into Syria and seized towns and villages, there was an increase in the influx of Syrian refugees into neighbouring countries, especially Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. It is said to be one of the world’s largest forced migrations since World War II, which is rapidly transforming the Middle East but the world seems to have turned its back to the crisis.

her mother. “We can’t tell her now.

We haven’t decided when she [will be] ready.” The eight-year-old knows chilling facts about ISIS based on what she saw in Aleppo. “They always carry weapons on the street,” she says adding that they couldn’t leave their homes without their permission.

“We couldn’t go to school because fa-

or at the hands of ISIS. Scores of children, including infants, are living as orphans, waiting for their parents without knowing if they are dead or alive. People who had lives, homes, businesses and an education are now distraught and helpless. This was the case with Hividar’s elder sister Shillan, a medical student in Aleppo

not just her story Originally from Aleppo, a Syrian city now contested by ISIS, Hividar is the only child left in her family, but she doesn’t know that yet. All she remembers is that her father was killed by the militant group early this year 26 near her home and her mother and November 23-29 2014

The widow of a YPG fighter who was killed in the battle for Kobani.

ACCORDING TO THE UN REFUGEE AGENCY, THREE mILLION SYRIANS ARE NOw REFUGEES DUE TO THE CONFLICT IN THEIR HOmELAND. THIS mAP SHOwS wHICH COUNTRIES THEY HAVE FLED TO:

125,000

TURKEY

832,508 KOBANI

people have lost their lives and tens of thousands tortured in the Syrian civil war till date.

LEBANON

1,175,504

SYRIA

IRAQ

215,369

JORDAN

NORTH AFRICA

The massive exodus of Syrian refugees which took place when ISIS made inroads into Syria is said to be one of the largest forced migrations since World War II and is rapidly transforming the Middle East

23,367

EGYPT

139,090

613,252

SOurcE: uN DISPATcH

who gave up her education when ISIS took over their town. After their father was killed, Shillah, who aspired to become a doctor, became a fighter instead and joined the battle against the militant group with her mother.

In Kobani, men and women fight ISIS side by side and often — although not always — their bodies are buried in the battlefield.

Fighting for Kobani The Kurds — an ethnic group also considered to be the largest stateless nation in the world — comprises of nearly 30 million people spread throughout northern Iraq and Syria, western Iran and eastern Turkey. Their struggle for Kurdistan — a land only for the Kurds which combines Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey’s Kurdish dominant areas — has been a long one and some areas declared independence. For example, the Iraqi Kurds gained autonomy in Iraq — which is now called the Iraqi Kurdistan — as an aftermath of the 1991 gulf war. But Kurds in other parts have still been striving for their own

independent land in the region.

In Syria, the 2.5 million Kurds gained de facto autonomy in three cantons just south of the Turkish border. One of these cantons, centred on the town of Kobani, became the target of ISIS assault, which has worried Kurds from all four regions. Losing Kobani to ISIS would disengage Kurds from the two other cantons in Syria and also disconnect them from Turkey. Hence, for the Kurds, Kobani is an existential battle.

Many Syrian refugees, including those not from Kobani, have been supporting the Kurds in the fight against ISIS in the town which began in late September this year. They believe it is their collective purpose to regain the town from the militant group responsible for the murder of their families and destruction of their homes in Syria. In the absence of sufficient weapons and logistics, people’s massive support has assisted the Kurds in keeping the ISIS at bay so far, who are otherwise used to seizing towns much faster. Most of the fighters trying to 27 November 23-29 2014

COVER STORY save Kobani are the People’s Defence units (YPG) and its political wing, the Democratic union Party (PYD). The Iraqi-Kurdish group called the Peshmerga also joined early this month, as the alliance to fight ISIS in Kobani expanded. Initially, the town was singlehandedly defended by the local Syrian Kurds, residents of Kobani and the YPG. The American airstrikes began only when YPG suffered from huge losses and a massive influx of Kurdish refugees spilled over into Turkey with horrifying stories that captivated the world’s attention. By that time, the battle had gone on for several weeks and caused enormous humanitarian crises.

The town has been almost entirely destroyed. Most buildings, offices, schools, homes and vehicles have been reduced to rubble. The streets stink of dead bodies of ISIS fighters and charred material. Medical and food supplies are running out for fighters and many injured have succumbed to wounds and died due to lack of medical facilities. Doctors operate from makeshift medical facili-

ties, mostly inside the same buildings where the shootings are carried out.

The politics of war For ISIS, fighting the Kurds has been rather disappointing. When they first entered the town, flags were erected all over and information about their success and expansion was released through their website and social media. The Kurdish fighters inside — Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi — however, have put up a good fight against the militants so far. But unlike other parts of Iraq and Syria, where ISIS abandoned the towns and battles that were challenging to win, the battle for Kobani still rages on.

According to analysts, this war is not just about territorial gain for ISIS but also about Pr. The usual largess displayed by ISIS on social media and massive circulation of videos of beheading of foreign journalists and aid workers indicates the group’s obsession with portraying itself as robust and undefeatable. Losing Kobani could destroy that image. The media attention to the Kobani battle

While a large number of Syrians have fled their homeland due to the conflict, many are still trapped inside as neighbouring countries are becoming increasingly stringent regarding refugees while international nGOs and the un are grappling to offer 28 alternatives.

November 23-29 2014

The mass murders, public beheadings, and a long list of other abuses

by ISIS have not pushed the international community enough to take immediate action against ISIS has added further pressure. Many former ISIS fighters who fled to Turkey after leaving ISIS say that Kobani has become increasingly valuable to the group due to all the media coverage it is getting. “They will be humiliated in front of the world if they lose the battle to the Kurds, who have fewer weapons than they (ISIS) have,” says one of the former fighters on conditions of anonymity.

Watching from the sidelines Meanwhile, Turkey’s enormous army has been vehemently criticised for standing idle on the border, watching Kobani being destroyed at the hands of a militant group. But for Turkey, the bigger concern has been defeating its archenemy, Assad. From meetings in think tanks in Washington and diplomatic enclaves in Ankara to Kurdish parliamentarians protesting near the Syrian border, Turkey’s president Erdogan has been accused of making a secret deal with ISIS in exchange for the release of 47 of its diplomats taken hostage by the group in Mosul, Iraq, in June.

Turkey is considered to be soft on ISIS and tough on the Kurds and recent events align with such accusations. Despite Turkey opening its border for hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, giving them home

on its land and providing aid for those living in the camps, the country has not allowed its border to be used to help the fighters in Kobani. This intensified the battle causing massive bloodshed and crises which could have been avoided if Turkey had helped.

It is believed that Turkey feared that if it helped Kobani from falling into ISIS hands, it would indirectly strengthen the Kurds — primarily the YPG, which is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, a banned Turkish Kurdish group engaged in a civil war with Turkey for 30 years. In a controversial statement, President Erdogan also called the banned Turkish Kurdish groups PKK, “more terrorist than ISIS.” Turkey’s reluctance to help in Kobani also delayed uS action to help the Kurds. But losing Kobani is as symbolic for the uS as it is for ISIS. As Kobani started succumbing to ISIS in mid-October, the uS jumped in to help with aid and airstrikes since they could not afford to watch the militant group triumph in yet another town. It was a policy shift when the uS finally sent aid, food and supplies to Kurdish fighters in Kobani and the Turkish government allowed Peshmerga to cross over from its border into Kobani to assist YPG battling ISIS. The Kurds fighting inside say that these developments have been tremendously helpful.

nowhere to run The fate of Kobani will soon be decided, but the witnesses of the battle have already learnt a lot from the regional and international fight against ISIS. The mass murders, public beheadings, recruiting and training child armies and a long list of other abuses by the group, however, have not pushed the international community enough to take immediate action against this

militant force.

Meanwhile, problems persist for those living with these atrocities on a daily basis. Hividar’s mother or sister will not return. She might have to grow up without an education

neighbouring countries are becoming increasingly stringent regarding refugees while international NGOs and the uN are grappling to offer alternatives. The Norwegian refugee council (Nrc) and the International

many Syrian refugees, including those not from Kobani, have been supporting the Kurds in the fight against iSiS in the town which began in late September this year.

According to analysts, this war is not just about territorial gain for ISIS but also about PR. Losing Kobani could destroy their image of being robust and undefeatable that could teach her the actual history of Syria. She might not be able to follow her dreams, or even discover them, in the despondency of refugee life. Worst of all, she might never be able to go back to her country, just like many other Syrians. recently, many civilians who wanted to flee Syria have been trapped inside, as

rescue committee (Irc) recently published a worrying joint report, saying the worlds “doors are closing” for Syrian refugees.

Kiran Nazish is an independent journalist. She has covered human rights, conflict and militancy from different countries mostly in South Asia and recently the Turkish border with Syria and Iraq.

She tweets @KiranNazish November 23-29 2014

29

FEATURE

The bell that rings no more

The Guides infantry Temple, shut down in 1992, has still not been reopened.

The Hindus in Mardan are praying for the restoration of the Guides Infantry Temple TExT And phoTos By hAmid hUssAin dEsiGn By sAnoBER AhmEd

32 November 23-29 2014

Inside Mardan’s Hindu Guides Infantry Temple, more commonly known as the Chawni (cantonment) Temple, there is little that sets it apart from an unkempt quarter.

Furnished with a charpoy and a rundown table, the only thing that gives the temple away are two framed pictures of deities draped in a royal red fabric. The pre-Partition temple, which was built in the first decade of the 20th century and once frequented by a community of over 600 Hindus, now stands in complete silence.

The pre-partition Guides infantry temple is one of the oldest hindu temples in the region. one of the framed pictures of a hindu diety at the Guides infantry Temple in mardan.

Unlike other surrounding buildings, the temple has no supply of water and gas. Things started looking down in 1992 after the attack on Babri mosque in India, says the temple’s 35-year-old pundit, Nirish Kumar. Many Hindu temples in the country were shut down as a result and others have been illegally occupied, including a temple in Hoti area which now houses its caretakers. The case of the Hindu Guides Infantry Temple is similar. The policemen deployed to protect the structure — for reasons still unknown — have turned it into their personal quarters. “The Hindu community just wants the temple to be restored to its former glory,” says Kumar.

His plea is echoed by a local Muslim resident, Bakht Muhammad, who adds that his Hindu friends and acquaintances haven’t celebrated a religious festival at the temple since 1992. While until a few years back, the community could celebrate their festivals out in the open, they are now restricted to celebrating indoors. Although the government has allotted funds for a Hindu graveyard and a temple in Babu mohalla, Mardan, along with a local pre-Partition church and British-made Guides Memorial Mardan, little heed is being paid to one of their oldest temples, he says.

In the absence of Mardan Arts Council, a semiautonomous institution, the work of preservation and maintenance of such structures is considerably slow. The Non-Muslim Evacuee Trust responsible for the upkeep of temples and gurdwaras has failed miserably, says Haroon Sarbadyal, president of All

The policeman assigned with the task of protecting the temple have turned it into their living quarters.

33 November 23-29 2014

FEATURE

Although the government has allotted funds for a Hindu graveyard and a temple in Babu mohalla, Mardan, along with a local pre-Partition church and Britishmade Guides Memorial Mardan, little heed is being paid to one of their oldest temples The Guides infantry Temple was built in the first decade of the 20th century.

34 November 23-29 2014

Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement. “It should have been reopened much earlier, but the people responsible don’t really care,” he says, adding that perhaps the restoration of places of worship should be left to the individual communities themselves.

But the decision to reopen the temple lies solely in the hands of the provincial government, says head of the District Evacuee Trust Mardan, Liaqat Khan. Only once the department gets an approval from the government, will the temple be renovated, he says. Head of the Mardan Foundation and archeologist, Usman Mardanvi has suggested that the community should forward a formal request to the provincial Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony to take up the matter on an urgent basis. He too will push the matter from his end, Mardanvi assures, adding that since there is no faith-based conflict between Muslims and Hindus in the area, reopening the temple should not be such a difficult decision.

While no visible efforts have yet been made to begin renovation, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) minister for minorities, Sardar Suran Singh, assures that a budget of Rs2 million has

already been set aside for the project. Over time, the provincial government has taken several steps to ensure the welfare of minorities in the region and the problem of occupancy will also be resolved, he adds.

In stark contrast to what is seen and heard on the news, the Hindus in Mardan appear to be living in harmony. “The community has never been harassed,” says Kumar, adding that even Christians and Sikhs in the region have not reported any acts of violence. This is probably because the area is protected by the Punjab regiment, a police headquarters and other official buildings, he says. According to Sarbadyal, who says his closest friends are all Muslims, many want K-P to be the first province to promulgate a Hindu marriages act which will allow couples from the Hindu community to register their marriage at Union Council level and introduce a Hindu inheritance act. But while these two proposals might take time to materialise, the Guides Infantry Temple needs immediate attention.

Hamid Hussain is an Islamabad-based journalist.

He tweets @Hamidlawangeen

20,000 leagues over the sea

FILM

The perfect movie may be a myth but Interstellar comes dangerously close

By VIVIan J XaVIeR

There is a myth that there is a movie so near perfect that it makes you oscillate between the edge of your seat and the cusp of an epiphany. It moves you and leaves you in awe of the magic it creates. Interstellar is that movie. Christopher Nolan has orbited the stratosphere of filmmakers like Tarkovsky and Kubrick and the ultimate magician, Méliès. To label Interstellar as science fiction would be misdirected. It is ultimately a love letter by a father to his daughter. The single most definitive message of the movie is about love transcending time and space, two relative concepts that challenge the breadth and scope of human knowledge and experience. It is an audacious movie that is more personal than any other that Nolan has written or directed before. What started as mind-bending narratives on earth with Memento and the exploration of the deepest recesses of the mind in Inception has culminated in a narrative that explores the existential and moralistic identity borne though an emotion that is not quantifiable and yet holds the promise of more things than we can dream of.

Interstellar is set in a dystopian future where food is scarce and lives expendable.

Cooper, a former NASA test pilot-turnedfarmer, lives with his father-in-law, son and precocious daughter, Murphy. She believes

there is a poltergeist in her room and this ultimately leads Cooper to a secret NASA facility led by Professor Brand played by Sir Michael Caine. Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper to heartbreaking perfection as the father fighting for the survival of his family by venturing into space and exploring the black hole in search of a planet habitable by the last remaining population on earth. He sets off the aptly named Endurance with biologist Amelia (Anne Hathaway), physicist Romilly (David Gyasi), geographer Doyle (Wes Bentley) and two artificially intelligent robots, TARS and CASE. Cooper’s decision to join Endurance breaks Murphy’s heart, and they part on bad terms. The monologue delivered by McConaughey to Murphy could easily be Nolan himself and the honesty behind it makes it even more gut wrenching. The rest of the movie is a metaphorical struggle between what parents need to do to ensure the future of their children as opposed to what they want to do in the present. The film can get sentimental at times, but never trite. The Nolan brothers have perfected the art of making things come full circle, much like the black hole itself.

Jessica Chastain and Casey Affleck star as the adult Murphy and her brother, Tom on Earth. They have grown up to be the mirror

halves of their father, with Tom working on what is left of the crops and Murphy working to solve Professor Brand’s equation at NASA. The genius of the narrative and the director himself will be evidenced at the two-hour mark of the official runtime, so you have to wait patiently, much like if you were watching Tarkovsky’s Solaris or Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Hoyt Van Hoytema has photographed this movie with the masterful stroke of an artist. He gives the movie heart with visuals that allow you to immerse yourself into the narrative without calling attention to them. Hans Zimmer’s score pulsates with an aching heart and adds an emotional depth to the film.

This movie is not without its faults. It is sentimental and most Nolan fans will find that unrecognisable since the director is often accused of being cold and aloof. That’s why Interstellar is near-perfect and not perfect. And like the movie, this review will loop back onto itself. The perfect movie is a myth. Some come close, some stray far. It is relative in the end. If it were perfect, Nolan would pack up because he wouldn’t have anything else to say. Someone try telling Christopher Nolan that. Or don’t. Good things always happen when he does things his way.

Rating: Vivian J Xavier is a cinematographer.

He tweets@vivianjxavier

FILM

A crime that doesn’t pay

no ransom for kidnapping in Life of Crime

By SaMeen aMeR

The influence of O Henry’s classic The Ransom of Red Chief — the story of a kidnapping gone amusingly wrong — can be perceived in a number of works that have come after it.

Joining this considerable list is the new dark comedy Life of Crime, a film that attributes its existence more directly to Elmore Leonard’s 1978 novel The Switch.

Life of Crime is a drama with a compelling premise but waning intensity. In the film, writer-director Daniel Schechter takes us to ’70s Detroit, where two conmen hatch a getrich-quick scheme but are flummoxed when its execution and aftermath don’t go exactly as planned.

Louis (John Hawkes) and Ordell (Yasiin Bey, previously known as Mos Def) are smalltime crooks who, along with their neo-Nazi accomplice Richard (Mark Boone Jr.), are hoping for a big pay day. Their target is Mickey Dawson (Jennifer Aniston), the wife of a corrupt property magnate, Frank (Tim Robbins). But when they kidnap Mickey, the abduction is witnessed by her would-be paramour (Will Forte). When they ask her husband for a million dollar ransom, their plan hits an even bigger snag as they realise Frank has no intention of making the payoff. Unknown to them, he is actually in the process of filing for a divorce and 40 is happily shacked up with his young mistress November 23-29 2014

Melanie (Isla Fisher).

Propelling this series of twists and turns is a winning cast who make a valiant effort to bring their characters to life. Aniston is charming, Hawkes and Bey are reliably impressive with their on-screen chemistry as inept partners in crime and Fisher is amusingly jovial as the conniving Melanie. On the whole, the cast do the best they can with the weak material in hand.

Despite the great setting and feel created by director Daniel Schechter, the project would have benefited by opting for a co-writer. For the most part, Life of Crime just plods along, albeit smoothly, but fails to create a lasting impression. Even the twist thrown at the end is amusing only if one hasn’t already figured it out halfway through the proceedings.

Everything about the movie seems a little too familiar. It mostly comes off as Ruthless People meets Jackie Brown by way of American Hustle, but with subdued wit and spark. The viewer is never invested in Mickey’s fate (or anyone else’s for that matter) to really care about how things fold out eventually. Although the cast adds more depth to the characters, the material lacks the inspiration that could have made this production truly noteworthy. Ultimately, Life of Crime is watchable, but not nearly as gripping or memorable as it could have been.

1

When a robbery goes awry Ruthless People, 1986

A couple has their business idea stolen by a man who then makes a fortune off it. They then plan to kidnap the man’s wife to extort money from him, unaware that he was planning to kill her himself.

2

The Ref, 1994

A cat burglar in the middle of robbing a family home accidentally sets off the alarm. He tries to make an escape but he soon learns that his partner abandoned him and is forced to take a family hostage on Christmas Eve.

3

The Ransom of Red Chief, 1998

Two small time crooks kidnap a banker’s bratty and hyperactive kid for ransom, but their get-rich-quick scheme backfires. The boy takes a liking to his captors and enjoys being detained which results in the crooks trying to pay the banker to take his son back.

Rating: Sameen Amer is a Lahore-based freelance writer and critic. She tweets @Sameen

SOCIETY

Volunteering and happiness go hand in hand

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT DESIgN BY mOHSIN alam

Humans have an inherent need for belonging and acceptance. Volunteering or contributing to the wellbeing of others satisfies this need empathetically as well as making one genuinely happy, scientists say.

Be it among young adults or senior citizens, the benefits of volunteering are consistent among all age groups. Over the recent past, a growing body of research indicates that there is a positive correlation between volunteerism and happiness. A large-scale national study in Singapore in 2013 on volunteers and their well-being reported that two-

The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve Philosopher and Physician Dr albert Schweitzer pHOTO CREdiT: WiKEpEdiA ORG

thirds of people who volunteered were satisfied with life as compared to non-volunteers, less than half of whom said they were happy.

The essay ‘Simple Changes, Big Rewards’ published in the 2011 Harvard Health Publications explores how people can boost happiness by incorporating simple changes into their lives.

Compared to the people who did not volunteer, the study established that those who volunteered monthly experienced a 7% hike in happiness which rose to 12% for those who volunteered every two to four weeks and 16% for weekly volunteers. Conclusively, the research established that the 42 more people volunteer, the happier they are. Similarly, a November 23-29 2014

Overall Pakistan ranks

53

rd

in the 2013 World Giving Index. It also ranks 82nd among countries volunteering full time and 40th among those donating money.

SOURCE: 2013 WORld GivinG indEx REpORT

2008 research by published in the Social Science & Medicine Journal suggests that those who volunteer — excluding monetary or blood donations — have decreased rates of depression and mortality. Altruistic behaviour also acts as a buffer against stress. Studies have found that 61% of people who volunteer at least five times a year say volunteer work helps them feel less stressed.

While research has established clear ties between altruistic behaviour and longevity, further research is required to confirm the potential health implications. in a news release by the University of Exeter Medical School, dr Suzanne Richards stated, “it is still unclear whether biological and cultural factors and social resources, that are often associated with better health, and survival are also associated with a willingness to volunteer in the first place.

The challenge now is to encourage people from more diverse backgrounds to take up volunteering, and then to measure whether improvements arise for them.” Research, however, warns that too much volunteering can also prove harmful.

The moment it becomes more of a burden than a blessing, it is time to scale back. T

Become a volunteer • Volunteer Karachi (www.volunteerkarachi. com) is an online project that connects people who can help to those who need it.

• Green Volunteers Pakistan (http://greenvolun teerspk.org/about-us) covers different aspects of social work. The organisation mobilises volunteers for emergency relief services in different cities.