Pepperpot 21 11 2015

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Hush, Beautiful One

By Maureen Rampertab “HUSH, my child, it’s time to sleep.”

She seemed to hear her mother’s voice, its soft comfort filled with love and warmth, but she was cold.

“Where am I?” The damp smell of dirt seemed strange.

“Mom?” she called, her dazed mind searching for her.

“Rest in peace, my beautiful one,” her mother cried, her voice cracking with emotion.

“No,” she screamed, weakly, struggling to find her way out of the haze of darkness, as her mother’s voice faded away.

The darkness prevailed, seeming to entrap her then suddenly a light shun, illuminating a path. Her eyes flew open and she sat up, stung by a blast of cold air, that awakened her senses. But no one was waiting for her, she was alone in a place that was not home.

The veil of darkness and creepy silence sent a chill through her body, the sign of something bad; and in

desperation, she now called for her husband, “Dev, please help me! I think I’m lost.”

There was no answer.

She called for him, again, “Dev, where are you?”

Still no answer.

A cry of fear formed in her throat, not seeing anyone, nor hearing their voices.

“Mom…Dev…” she called, her voice trembling.

“They can’t hear you,” a little voice said behind her.

She turned around, startled, and saw a little girl, in a white frilly dress, holding a bunch of flowers in her hand.

“Why? Where am I?” “You are not of their world anymore,” she said softly and placed the flowers on the ground.

“Your final resting place, Priya.”

Priya looked down and gasped, shocked to the extreme.

She was looking at a grave with her name carved

maureen.rampertab@gmail.com

One woman’s story of love, hate and death by poison

on a headstone.

“I died?” she asked incredulously, “I died!”

The little girl said nothing, a sympathetic look on her face and turning, she walked, a short distance away to a smaller grave, bordered by a short picket white fence and blooming flowers. Priya looked at her, icy cold fingers gripping her senses, as realization like shock waves hit her that she was in a cemetery and the little girl was a departed soul, like she was now.

She sat down, her head buried in her hands, trying to get her confused thoughts together.

“How did this happen?”

She had not been ill, she had not been in an accident, nor she had no serious problems with anyone.

“How, then, did I die, dear Lord?”

From beyond the dark clouds above, there was no answer and the silence in the cemetery deepened as the night grew older.

The last thing she could remember was coming home from the mandir, making a cup of tea, that she had drunk after taking a bath and lying down ► Continued on page III

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015 ► From page II to sleep.

“Those were the final moments of my life,” she recalled, “There’s nothing else which means I never woke up.”

Priya opened her eyes, her thoughts deeply troubled and she saw the little girl, sitting beside her.

“He wasn’t sad.” The child said.

“Who?” “Your husband.”

“What are you saying?” Priya asked, now tensed.

“I was looking at him when they brought your body for burial. He wasn’t sad and his mother had a hidden, little smile on her face.”

Priya stood up and walked around restlessly, feeling as though a freak thunder storm had hit her, then she sat down, hugging her stomach as though she was in pain. There was no doubt now, something bad had happened to her from someone who had put a devious plan into play, someone who wanted her dead.

“When did love turn to such hate?” she questioned, bitterly.

A dignified and virtuous young woman, she had been, from a Hindu family, close to her religion and culture. She had graduated top of her class

from a business school and met her husband just six months after starting to work. Their courtship had lasted a year before they got married with the blessings of both families.

A beautiful couple they had been, with wonderful plans for the future, but two years after tension started to creep in when she could not get pregnant.

Tests proved nothing was wrong with her and the doctors assured her it may take some time. But her mother in law, whom she had developed a good relationship with, was growing impatient to see her son’s offspring.

A traditional Hindu home, like her in laws, hardly blames the husband for any wrong; and even though the fault is not always the wife’s, she was blamed for it. Priya had tried over the time to take the insults and caustic remarks from her husband’s family in good stride, given her kind nature, and she prayed daily for something positive to take away the problems and tension. But it got worse when Dev, instigated by his mother, began behaving in an aggressive manner towards her, that many days left her in tears. She had wanted to leave, to end the marriage, but her parents, staunch Hindus, had disagreed with her decision, telling her a good wife does not leave her husband and her

home.

“You’re a Latchmi, a Seeta.” Her father had told her.

Those words now seemed to mock at her, for her body was lying lifeless in the cold earth.

“I obeyed you, father,” she said in deep agony, “And this is my reward. What great advice do you have for me now?”

She had never been comfortable with the rules and laws of traditional homes where the woman has to suffer.

“This is so unfair,” she expressed bitterly, “For we give our hearts and soul to home and family. We love and honour our husbands and yet a kind word or a smile to say ‘Thank you’ is asking too much.”

Life for her got no better when her husband’s late hours became more regular, and the different scents of perfume on his clothes told her what words wouldn’t, that he was seeing other women.

It had felt like a knife wound in her heart and when her in-laws too voiced their disapproval of a divorce, because it would be a stain on the family’s name, she had felt trapped and helpless. But she never gave up her faith, praying for something to free her.

“I never thought it would have been death.”

She cried, the pain, suffering and insults of the past

year igniting dark anger within her.

The earth seemed to shudder at her agonized screams and the dogs in the village across the trench howled, aware of a haunted soul’s presence and her pain. As her anger subsided and she sat there crying, quietly, the little girl touched her hand in comfort.

“I used to cry every night too.”

Priya raised her head, after a short moment and looked at the child, seeing for the first time her pain, and sighing deeply to calm her anguished mind, she asked her, “How long have you been here?”

“Three years.”

“What happened?”

The child looked at her hands, not answering, then she looked up, tears in her eyes, “A bad uncle took me away from our home when my mother was at work and he hurt me real bad. I never saw my mother, little brother and sister again, because I got lost

III in a dark place, until the angels came.”

The child’s tragic story was like another stab to Priya’s heart, blood continuing to trickle, flowing with the ebbing streams.

A young innocent life mercilessly interrupted.

Will it ever end?

She hugged the child and asked, puzzled, “Why are you still here?”

“I did not go with the angles because I cannot leave my mother, she’s too sad.”

“No, Anne,” Priya said to her, “You have to, for you’ll be God’s little angel in Heaven.”

Anne shook her head, biting her lip to stop from crying.

“She’s at a mental hospital, she needs me, I go to see her every night to help her get better.”

Priya watched the child leave, as she thought of her own grieving mother and father, her husband who was not sad, and a killer who had left no prints.

“I will find you though,” she vowed, “and not until then would I leave, for my life was a blessing.”

The little girl came back an hour before midnight and Priya said to her, “I need to find my way home.”

Anne stretched out her little hand and said, “Come with me.”

They walked down the cemetery path, two unseen beings, woman and child of another world.

Tonight, a restless soul sought answers for a deadly intrusion on her life.

As they neared the roadway, their spiritual forms materialized into the living and an approaching car stopped. The driver was on his way home after a hard day’s work but he could not leave a woman and child so late on the road.

“Where to?” he asked.

Priya gave instructions to her husband’s home.

(To be continued)

Sunday

IV

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Nostalgia While the Presidents meet While the President of Guyana was meeting with the Surinamese President Johannes Kraag (February 9, 1991), National Security Adviser to the President of Guyana David Granger (now President) and Deputy Commander of the Suriname Armed Forces Iran Graanoogst also took time to exchange views on matters of mutual interest.

King Moshoeshoe autographs a “Malali” Lesotho’s King Moshoeshoe visited Guyana from October 5-8, 1987. In this Winston Oudkerk photo he is seen autographing a “Malali” (a G$20 note) on the back of a Guymine worker while President Desmond Hoyte looks on. At the end of the visit, Guyana and Lesotho reiterated their commitment to a 1984 scientific and cultural cooperation agreement.

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Justin Bieber storms UK charts to equal John Lennon's 1981 feat (REUTERS) Justin Bieber stormed the British singles charts on Friday with three singles from his new album in the top five, a feat no other artist has managed since John Lennon, posthumously, in 1981.

The Canadian singer's singles "Sorry", "Love yourself" and "What do you mean" took first, third and fifth place. "Sorry" pushed Adele's "Hello" from the top spot it had occupied for three weeks.

Lennon's "Imagine" was top, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" was third and "(Just Like) Starting Over" fifth in January 1981, the month after he was shot dead in New York.

Bieber's songs all come from his album "Purpose" which sold 90,000 copies this week. Every track from it charted inside the top 100 singles.

But it was narrowly beaten to top position in the album chart by four-piece boy band One Direction's

"Made in the AM" which is now the fastest-selling album of 2015.

Notching up over 93,000 sales, this is the group's fourth UK No. 1 having previously scored the top place in 2012 with "Take Me Home," in 2013 with "Midnight Memories" and in 2014 with "Four".

The third most popular album was Elvis Presley's "If I Can Dream," produced nearly 40 years after his death.

This collection of Elvis classics featuring orchestral reworkings by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra had been number one for two weeks running.

Jeff Lynne's ELO was fourth with new entry "Alone In The Universe". The group's other album "All Over The World – The Very Best Of" re-entered at number 28.

Fifth place was taken by Little Mix’s "Get Weird", slipping down from last week's second place.

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Another shortlist, so what?

by Petamber Persaud

W

ell, for one thing, the 2014 Guyana Prize for Literature shortlist has added another set of imaginative writings to our literature. This is not to say that books are not being added all the time to our literature by means of other platforms and avenues. If the truth be told, books are being churned out frequently, all year round – there is no special season for the production of books although, some seasons give reason to book production. The creative juices and energies pour out whether the muses are present or not, whether the climate is conducive or not; that pent up story will out, sometime. Yes, there are some writers who write to win prizes, especially if they know the field. Writing for literary prizes is not a bad idea, if what is produced is assessed as good literature. Self publishing is another effort which is not such a bad gambit if it pays off.

Since the first awarding of The Prize in 1987, there were over 110 entries on shortlists, works authored by more than sixty writers.

If each entry on the shortlists has the potential to be a winner, then The Prize is responsible for bringing to the fore over 100 outstanding books/manuscripts.

Additionally, The Prize is responsible for refocusing attention on the established writers and opening a world of opportunities for emerging writers, bringing them to public attention and a new readership. So the Guyanese bibliography has been extended and the who’s who of men and women of letters enhanced.

Fourthly, whether you subscribe or not to The Prize for varied reasons (and many

are the reasons for seeing the machination of The Prize unfavourably), it evokes some interest. It must, if you are a writer or if you work in literature.

Another thing about a shortlist is that each work on the shortlist has the potential to be a winner and that, for at least the author of the work, is exciting, raising hope, fulfilling a wish.

Sixthly, another thing you can read in a shortlist is how many times a particular writer has being shortlisted for The Prize without winning.

Well, that’s another story.

And persons interested in the Prize, Guyanese Literature, and literature generally, can make a game of choosing a winner. All adding something to the atmosphere in the run-up to the declaration of the winners.

Have fun with the shortlist tabulated below, in alphabetical order, for each category, as released the Management Committee of the Guyana Prize for Literature.

Best First Book of Fiction: a. Rueben Latchmansingh, ‘A Dip at the Sangam’ (Westbow Press) …A work of historical fiction about the abduction of the protagonist, Raja, from his Indian home and wife, his transportation to the cane fields of Guyana, his experiences and success in Guyana and his eventual return to India. b. Keisha McCammon, ‘Dancehall Lyrics : Top of the Charts’ … A fast-moving contemporary work of fiction centered around a much-acclaimed Dancehall singer, Aaron Mills (known as A.M.). The fiction casts interesting light on the Dancehall music scene in Guyana. c. Subraj Singh, ‘Rebelle and Other Stories’…A first collection of wonderfully written short stories, rich with the flavour, culture and folklore of coastal Guyana.

Best First Book of Poetry: a. Cedric Castello, ‘Rasta Lyrics’ (Caribbean Press) …A first collection by a Rastafarian teacher/singer/songwriter: these rich and very readable poems range over the author's many interests and activities and celebrate Rastafarianism and its founder, Haile Selassie I. b. Stanley Niamatali, ‘The Hinterlands’ (Caribbean Press)… A wonderful debut collection of poems centered around the author's haunting memories of life on a sawmill in the Berbice river. The poet, now living in the US, straddles two cultures and his poems depict and question the values of both Best Book of Fiction: a. David Dabydeen, Johnson's Dictionary (Peepal Tree) … This novel depicts and juxtaposes, in Dabydeen's richly textured and sensuous prose, the two worlds of 18th century London and British Guyana (Demerara). It also contains several echoes of previous Dabydeen literary and scholarly works that depict the 18th century: William Hogarth, William Turner, Samuel Johnson...Adam Smith...The novel transforms past and present into the sensuous, imaginative world(s) of the author and is a tour de force of Imperial will, art, literature and human sensuality--a compelling read. b. Jan Lowe Shinebourne, ‘The Last Ship’ (Peepal Tree)…A historically and culturally important novel about three generations of a Chinese family in Guyana.

The physical conditions, the family myths and the invented traditions are powerfully evoked in a simple and direct language. c. OonyaKempadoo, ► Continued on page VII

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015 ► From page VI ‘All Decent Animals’ (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)… …Kempadoo's fast-moving third novel is about a variety of characters and interests woven into the complex fabric of Trinidadian life and culture--prominently including Carnival.

The language is rich and sensuous and will remind readers of their pleasure in the earlier Kempadoo novels, Buxton Spice and Tide Running.

Best Book of Poetry: a. Cyril Dabydeen, ‘God's Spider’ (Peepal Tree)…A collection of carefully-wrought and polished poems that celebrate the many places and cultures that have shaped the poet's consciousness--including his native Guyana, Canada (where he now lives) and India. These physical/ mental/cultural landscapes

breathe extraordinary life and feeling into the poems. b. Maggie Harris,’60 Years of Loving’ (Cane Arrow Press) ...This is Harris's sixth collection of poetry and it evokes her 60 years of life in Guyana and the UK. These 74 richly textured, mature and celebratory poems sparkle and impress with a language that resonates with original imagery and insight. c. Sasenarine Persaud, ‘Love in the Time of Technology’ (Tsar Publications) … A fine collection of brief, succinct poems. The imagery is emotionally charged and reverberates with cultural memories: the references to the language, traditions and cultures of India are particularly poignant and interesting.

Best Book of Drama: a. Harold Bascom, Desperate for Relevance… An interesting drama script in which most of the char-

acters are dead Caribbean writers. Funny in parts, it is also in parts a sad and poignant commentary on the plight of our writers and societies...The writing makes the reader long to see it powerfully enacted on the local stage. b. Milton Bruce, New York New York of Pieces of Dreams…A carefully contrived and interesting play about the lives, the dreams and the disappointments of Guyanese immigrants in New York The Guyana Prize for Literature established in 1987 by the then President of Guyana, Hugh Desmond Hoyte who when making the original announcement on February 23, 1987, said, ‘the flowering of the intellect, the appreciation of man’s creative imagination are important’. He further stated that ‘There is a long tradition of outstanding writers in Guyana’s history.

We should seek to nurture

and extend that tradition.

More than that, however, the encouragement of good writing has valuable spin-offs in society. It encourages clear thinking and clear expression is vital if success in solving

VII problems is to be achieved… we must give stature and status to our makers of words as we do to our makers of things’.

Good luck to all the writers on the shortlist.

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

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

IX

ARIES - The week begins with a focus on Scorpio and perhaps a desire to resolve an issue by doing some detective work. Neptune pushes ahead midweek, which could help illuminate your path ahead, particularly where a dream of yours is concerned. The focus then shifts as both Mercury and the Sun dance into Sagittarius, bringing thoughts of travel or encouraging you to expand your horizons in other ways. Relationships flourish, too, with the chance that one may become more serious by the weekend.

TAURUS- You have the option to clear the decks and resolve an issue concerning a relationship or romantic association. However, if you're going to sort things out, you might need to get rid of excess baggage that has been holding back for some time in the course of a key partnership. The focus shifts to shared finances and resources, encouraging you to take stock of your present situation and act accordingly. Business matters could show promise so long as you take any pitfalls into account.

GEMINI - As Saturn moves to aspect Neptune next week, it's important to keep your boundaries firm, particularly when handling business or professional matters. If you don't, someone may steal your thunder and undermine your efforts. However, the focus on relationships intensifies this week as Mercury and the Sun hike into Sagittarius, adding a lighter note to the coming weeks. Though certain associations could seem to test your patience, the ability to spice your interactions with a dose of good humour can make a difference.

CANCER - Should you or another dare to share your feelings, a romance could blossom early this week. Even so, you might wonder whether you should have waited a little longer. Saturn has been in your health sector for some time now, and this week it's joined by Mercury and the Sun. It could push you to examine wellness and lifestyle issues in greater depth. Although there might be a tendency to indulge, Saturn's sterner note can help keep you on track when temptation strikes.

LEO - Mars and Venus in Libra are perfect for charming the socks off of a business associate or love interest. Indeed, you might be willing to bend over backward in order to prove your suitability for a job, project, or romantic relationship. However, if such acrobatics begin to hurt, it might be because you aren't being completely true to yourself. Find the right balance and you'll be fine. Your pleasure zone lights up from Friday, encouraging you to indulge in creative, romantic or competitive pastimes.

VIRGO - If you're planning to increase your income, cutting back on small but inessential luxuries could be the key to increasing your stash of cash.

However, with Venus and Mars sauntering through your personal financial sector, the desire to shop could be stronger than ever. Set yourself a limit.

It might help you feel more in control. From Friday, Mercury and the Sun in your home zone could see you getting ahead with DIY projects that have been on the back burner.

LIBRA - You could be busy arranging deals, contracts, or even a first date, as well as resolving situations in which you've been taken for granted. Mars in your sign encourages you to take action regarding circumstances that aren't fair. It's time to let others know that you're a force to be reckoned with. On Friday the focus shifts to your zone of communication, so you could be busy with writing projects or a backlog of administrative tasks. Study or research could boost your credentials.

SCORPIO - A decision made early in the week could set your mind at rest, as could a conversation you've been putting off for some time. Tuesday's alignment suggests that you'll benefit from taking rather than avoiding action. Neptune's forward motion midweek could see a new romance becoming more defined, particularly if it's been somewhat sporadic until now. Soon you could become an item! Finances come into view from Friday, when it's time to take stock and make plans.

SAGITTARIUS - As Saturn in your sign gets closer to squaring off with Neptune, any feelings of insecurity may come down to changes occurring within you. Shifts in your spiritual awareness can be reflected in changes in or around your home and family situation. You may find that meditation or other spiritual activities steady inner turmoil and help you feel more confident about the future. Once Mercury and the Sun dance into your sign, start on any projects that are long overdue.

CAPRICORN - Priorities could shift and change early in the week, particularly if a dream or goal no longer holds your interest. However, switching to something that you're truly passionate about could act as a catalyst, encouraging you to start now. Once Mercury and the Sun dance into your spiritual sector, you'll enter that time of year when rest and relaxation are mandatory. You need this opportunity to clear out the clutter of thoughts and emotions that no longer serve you.

AQUARIUS - As the Sun and Mercury move through the last degrees of Scorpio, your feelings about one aspect of your job or career may leap to your attention. If something needs to be done, this is the time to take action.

Neptune pushes forward in your personal financial sector midweek, so if you've suffered delays in this area, things should slowly get better. The heightened focus on your friendship zone from Friday encourages you to move in new circles and be more socially adventurous.

PISCES - Saturn, now in your career sector, puts your attention on the here and now, encouraging you to meet deadlines, define goals, and take action regarding your career plan. As Neptune pushes ahead in your sign from midweek you may find that you begin to get clarity on what you hope to accomplish, helping you to bring your dreams to life. Watch out for the green-eyed monster on Friday, as jealousy could upset a longstanding friendship unless you take steps to sort things out.

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All Alone

M

y husband and I have been married five years, but we dated 12 years prior to getting married.

We both have two kids, mine grown and gone, but he still has a daughter, almost 21. She is a lovely girl who desperately needs help.

Her parents refuse to see it though it's plain as day.

His daughter is sweet

and kind and causes no problems. She doesn't do well in school and has always been in learning disabled classes.

In all the years I've known her, I could see her struggle and give up at everything.

Her father just treats her calmly and quietly and says, "Try harder next time." That amazes me. I couldn't figure out why she never had tutors or one-on-one help. Many

times my husband tried, but if his daughter complained she was tired, he would simply kiss her goodnight and let it be.

Her mother is an educator herself and works at a college. Long story short, her mother is a bit of a mess, especially with finances and decisions. She lost her home through poor money management and she can't seem

to get her life in order.

Since she was six, this girl has lived with her mom during the week and spent every other weekend with her dad. That's why we waited to marry. She managed to graduate high school, but honestly I don't know how. The school used their "discretion" to promote her.

It's so sad. I tried for years to encourage my husband to get her help, but each time he says he and her mom will handle it. The poor girl has no friends, doesn't drive and has never been on a date.

It seems her mom and dad are too caught up in their own careers to get a grip on this and time is slip-

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

ping away. This girl cannot tell time on a regular clock, has no grasp on using money and can't tell you how many quarters are in a dollar. No, I am not making this up.

She now lives full-time with her mom. Can you believe that? I mean how about trying to get her a job or academic help at her college?

My husband keeps saying, "Well, she needs more time to mature." I say, "Are you kidding me? She has issues. If her mother were

to become ill, or God forbid, pass away, she would have to come live with us."

I've tried to convince him she needs professional help, but he says she's his child and he knows best.

Zoe

Z

oe, 40 years ago a man walked into a London clinic and said he couldn't see anything to the left of his nose.

This man, after a recent brain operation to relieve headaches, had lost half his vision even though his eyes were normal.

Stranger still, he could reach for and touch things in his blind spot, though he couldn't see them, and often accurately report what was there. This condition of splintered consciousness is now called blindsight.

Your husband and his ex suffer from a different kind of blindsight. They see their daughter's problems but act as if they can't. It's as if they think admitting her problems labels them.

The only one who can act is you, and the first thing you must do is establish a baseline for your husband's daughter. Only then can you speak to what is going on. Contact someone competent to judge the basis of her problems and arrange a meeting, perhaps informal, just the three of you for lunch.

Later, as you learn more, make friends with people in an organization focused on her particular needs. This girl is nearly 21. She may be interested in getting help. Perhaps neither parent will care as long as it doesn't involve them and isn't known by their peers.

Wayne & Tamara Send letters to: DirectAnswers@WayneAndTamara.com

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

XI

Natural Cures - Bakja Health Movement marks 25 years

H

By Telesha Ramnarine

AVING realised the value of working with natural medicine and the problems that individuals end up with psychologically when they are ill, Dr. Iamai Aowmathi decided to establish the Bakja Health Movement.

Dr. Aowmathi, who completed his studies in Germany and the United States, views this facility as the means by which he can assist the less fortunate. He is opposed to those physicians who seek to capitalise on people’s illnesses.

Ever since its establishment some 25 years ago, the center has been located at Lot 32-33 Dr Miller Street, Triumph Village, East Coast Demerara.

“I considered that in a place like Guyana, where medicine is so expensive, and where we have access to the natural cures, it would be a good idea to help the less fortunate, those who cannot pay huge sums of money to

be looked after,” Dr. Aowmathi told the Chronicle in an interview recently.

Bakja offers the following services: dementia and private retirement and assisted living care; residential and physically disabled care; nursing and end of life care; respite, convalescent and Parkinson’s disease care; personal care; nursing care; short-term respite care; and intermediate care.

“We offer care of the elderly; general services of health, in terms of physical illnesses; we do psycho-therapy, psycho analysis, massages, steam treatments, and meditation,” the Bakja founder further informed.

The facility also features a gym, steam room, prayer room, patient room, general examination room, dressing room, and a small pharmacy. The upper flat of the building houses the Guyana Association for Alternative Medicine Institute (GAAMI), an institute born out of Guyana Association for Alternative Medicine (GAAM) of which Dr. Aowmathi is also founder.

Dr. Iamai Aowmathi

Bakja is open to people from any part of Guyana.

Apart from a $2000 consultation fee, there is a cost attached to treatment. However, Dr. Aowmathi explained: “We work along with the patient. Many patients come to us who have been ill for years and they have spent money. They have no more money and we can’t send them away. So we do a lot of charitable work here. I feel that more should be done to help those who are less fortunate in this country, especially among the elderly.

The elderly are really suffering. I think generally more should be done.”

FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION For there to be success in Guyana’s health sector, Dr. Aowmathi said conventional medicine ought to be used in conjunction with alternative medicine. “We can’t clap with one hand. Our conventional colleagues should cease to be discriminating and understand that a lot of the products they use derive their properties from herbs. Around 5 to 8 percent of the medicinal properties that are used by conventional doctors derive all their active ingredients from plants,” he observed.

Furthermore, Dr. Aowmathi noted how patients are compensated through insurance based on which doctor they go to, something he flatly condemned. “How fair is it for you to be sick for ten years and the NIS (National Insurance Scheme) has been paying for you and then you decide to try alternative medicine and you feel better, and the NIS doesn’t want to pay for you? The NIS should be open to pay whichever doctor has been capable of relieving you of your suffering,” he expressed.

GAAM and GAAMI

Some of the herbs used at the clinic

Dr. Aowmathi, believes that all of the operations surrounding alternative medicine in the country ought to be regularized.

“We know that alternative medicine needs to be regulated.

And I can understand that the Ministry of Health would not want to work with or give recognition to people who practice this medicine who are not qualified or who are not certified.

I can understand that. There are people who practice this medicine who cannot read and write and they are able to administer this medicine to people who have been treated by professional, educated doctors. So what do we do with these people?

Not that he wishes to infringe on the livelihood of the herbs’ vendors outside Bourda Market and other selling places, Dr. Aowmathi clarified, but he is of the view that these individuals ought to become certified and fall under an umbrella that makes them accountable for what they prescribe to customers.

“We are saying that the practitioners of this medicine should be affiliated to GAAM and let GAAM be the regulatory body. GAAM will then regulate in terms of who GAAM feels or have tested and tried to know that they are capable of administering this medicine.

“The same thing goes for the vendors. I would not want to interfere with the livelihood of these vendors but the conditions under which they operate and these herbs are sold needs to be regularised and the vendors need to be certified. And if you attend a six-month course as a vendor at GAAMI, you will learn how to package your herbs, how to preserve your herbs, how to sell your herbs, how to display your herbs. You go to a person and you see the GAAM certificate and you know that this person is trained.”

For years now, Dr. Aowmathi has been lobbying the government to make GAM the regulatory body for alternative medicine in Guyana.

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

EMOJI IS OXFORD DICTIONARIES WORD OF 2015

T

he word of the year for 2015 has been unveiled and, in an arguably depressing state of affairs, it isn't even a word.

This year, an emoji has been selected. "Face with tears of joy"-the laughing and crying emoji -- has been selected as Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year. Despite it not even being a word, or in the dictionary.

The judges picked the joyful image due to the "sharp increase in popularity of emoji" around the world last year. "Emoji are becoming an increasingly rich form of communication, one that transcends linguistic borders.

The word of the year is partly selected based on real-time language analysis and the increased emoji use around the world meant picking one was the obvious choice, the company said.

According to the dictionary boffins -- last year it picked 'vape' as the word of 2014, 2013 was 'selfie'-the decision on the specific emoji was made based on stats from mobile keyboard creator. The company said the 'face with tears of joy' emoji was the most used emoji around the world.

GOOGLE AND ASUS CHROMEBITA Desktop on an HDMI Stick

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he US$85 Chromebit is a 75 gram (or 2.6 ounces) stick that you can plug into any HDMI port — whether that’s a regular computer screen or that large TV in your living room. It comes with 16GB of on-board and 2GB of RAM. In many ways, it’s a larger, bulkier version of the old Chromecast stick. Just like that device, it comes with a dedicated charger, but unlike the Chromecast, it also features a USB port. While most people will likely want to use a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to connect to the Chromebit, the USB port allows you to plug in wired peripherals as well (and with a USB hub, you could even plug in multiple devices).

Because it’s a full Chrome OS machine, you can pretty much run any web app on it. It’ll let you play movies and TV shows from Google Play, Netflix or Hulu, just like any other Chrome OS device, for example.

You could probably use the Chromebit as a somewhat cumbersome media centre in your living room if you wanted to, but it’s really at home in a school, enterprise, or maybe call centre. As long as the work only involves web apps (or maybe a remote connection to a more fully-featured machine), the Chromebit is up for the job and can turn any screen into a usable desktop.

GMAIL WILL SOON WARN USERS WHEN EMAILS ARRIVE OVER UNENCRYPTED CONNECTIONS

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oon, you may see a warning in Gmail that tells you that an email has arrived over an unencrypted connection.

Gmail already defaults to using HTTPS for the connections between your browser and its servers, but for the longest time, the standard practice for sending email between providers was to leave them unencrypted. If somebody managed to intercept those messages, it was pretty trivial to snoop on them.

Over the last few years, Google and other email providers started to change this and today, 57 percent of messages that users on other email providers send to Gmail are encrypted (and 81 percent of outgoing messages from Gmail are, too). Gmail-to-Gmail traffic is always encrypted.

Why does all of this matter? Unencrypted email makes for a great target. The good news is that email security is getting better. A joint research project found that 94 percent of inbound messages to Gmail can now be authenticated, which makes life harder for phishers.

ANONYMOUS HACKERS DECLARE WAR ON ISLAMIC STATE

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rench hackers from Anonymous say they have taken thousands of Islamic State-supporting Twitter accounts offline, after declaring "war" on the group following the Paris attacks.

In a video posted on YouTube, a representative wearing a hood and the activist group's distinctive Guy Fawkes mask said the violence that left 129 people dead "can't go unpunished".

The statement said: "That's why Anonymous activists from all over the world will hunt you down.

Yes, you, the vermin who kill innocent victims, we will hunt you down like we did to those who carried out the attacks on Charlie Hebdo.

"We are going to launch the biggest ever operation against you - expect very many cyber-attacks.

"War is declared. Prepare yourselves. Know this, the French people are stronger than you and will come out of this atrocity even stronger."

Anonymous first emerged in 2003 and has become known for a series of well-executed public attacks on corporations, religious and governmental bodies.

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

The Exceptional Mr. George Barclay

George Barclay

- Guyana’s oldest journalist

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By Hubert Williams

rom the very beginning, George Barclay was an exceptional journalist, despite being among such reputed high-flyers as Leo Small, Rickey Singh, Julian Mendes, Kester Alves, Albert Alstrom, George Baird, Godfrey Wray, Herman Singh, Wordsworth Mac Andrew, Hubert Williams, John Agard, Joan Cambridge, Claudette Earle, Patricia De Freitas, Sibille Hart, and

others.

George’s particular exceptionalism was matched by just one other member of staff in the editorial department of the then Guyana Graphic Ltd. on Lama Avenue, Bel Air Park, Georgetown, which published daily and Sunday newspapers.

Of all the many outstanding operatives who strove with skill and courage to produce what I still rate as Guyana’s best ever newspaper (certainly the most courageous and financially successful), only George Barclay and Eleazar Watson (later promoted News Editor) had learnt the skill of Pitman’s and Gregg’s textbook shorthand.

Many of the others had developed, out of necessity, into efficient ‘longhand’ note-takers, but yet lacked the competence to match the speed and accuracy of really good shorthand writers.

There were occasions when particularly crucial statements were being made, they, through ‘longhand’, captured the substance in accurate summary, but not the full text as would have been the case had they mastered shorthand. Sometimes, though rare (I know I did it too), the draft of a written report from longhand notes was sent or taken, to the official, politician, or whoever was the source, to ascertain total accuracy before publication.

I would not be surprised (judging from what I sometimes read of some reporters’ output in the pages of the Chronicle), if the ‘reportorial institution’ we call George Barclay is still the only member of the Editorial Department who can write accurate shorthand… (and George is close to four score years).

Further, based on my assessment of what is written in the Chronicle, and how, it seems that the Editorial Department’s decision-makers have determined that only George Barclay can be depended upon to accurately reproduce the critical and essential quotes from presentations and pronouncements, by both Bar and Bench, as well as the decisions in major High and Appeal Courts matters (especially if the old ban persists against electronic recorders in court).

In defence of pride, today’s young brigade of reporters might well contend that in their general reporting there is no problem as they have technology in their support – tape-recorders and exceptionally functional cell phones for audio and visual recordings.

However, I have seen some youngsters suffer considerable time-waste in seeking to two-finger type audio material into text… many, many of them don’t know a thing about touch-typing (though I must admit that I have seen even young children who have become virtual magicians in the manner they manoeuvre their two thumbs) It would not surprise me if George Barclay is way behind the technology savvy of the younger brigade, but give him a pencil and paper, send him on an assignment, and he will shorthand his way to a comprehensive and accurate report which accords with the demanding deadlines of today’s Press.

When nearly 60 years ago, the dapper, bespectacled, curly-haired (dougla/dougala) George Barclay arrived on the scene, his earliest impact on the Graphic’s editorial environment was that he spoke differently from everybody else there. He had what was considered a peculiar accent; and it was either Julian Mendes or Herman Singh who remarked wryly that “he come from away”.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, apart from the Guianese rush to beat Britain’s ban on free entry for its colonials, overseas travel by locals was a rarity. Only the moneyed class traveled, as did the children of well-to-do families who were going off to foreign universities.

Therefore, to most locals, even Caribbean islands like Grenada (where George Barclay had lived up to about age 15), would have been considered as being “far away”.

Barclay, in younger years

George Barclay quickly became part of a vibrant team of bold, brash and courageous young men and women whose personalities were reflected in the high quality of their product: *Leo Small, whose remarkable handwriting must have been a joy to his class teachers, was a specialist on the “Ancient County” and (interestingly to today’s young journalists) mailed his written reports to the Graphic through the post office. He later moved to Georgetown to cover the Supreme Court in fascinating and highly legible longhand notes; while Edgar Moonsammy covered the magistrates courts. *Rickey Singh, a devout Christian, specialized on politics, tangled with the government, was ‘banished’ to England to cover petty cases in a provincial court, returned unannounced to Guyana before moving to Trinidad & Tobago, and then Barbados – both places as editor of “Caribbean Contact” newspaper, published by the Caribbean Conference of Churches. *Cecil “Bruiser“ Thomas, Julian Mendes, McDonald Dash and Godfrey Wray were outstanding on Sports, with an enthusiastic young Joseph “Reds” Perreira free-lancing on the sidelines; Albert Alstrom on health matters; George Baird on the police and crime; Herman Singh, general news and monitoring Suriname affairs; Wordsworth Mac Andrew on the arts; Hubert Williams on sub-editing/rewriting/page design; Dash, Wray and McAndrew relocated to the United States, where Wray produced the enthralling Guyana/USA drama “Beyond Revenge” and followed in 2010 with a second novel “Phantom Terror; and I to Barbados as Chief Editor of the Caribbean News Agency and later Information Officer, Caribbean Development Bank. *John and Marilyn Agard, the arts, afterwards emigrating to England. Half a century afterwards (in 2012) John was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for poetry; *Joan Cambridge, Women’s Page Editor, later to reside in North America and Europe and attract attention as an author, also marrying celebrated American academic, author and Black Power advocate Julian Mayfield; she has returned to Guyana and is exulting in the lush beauty of the Interior. *Patricia DeFreitas, general reporting, emigrated to the UK and married a grandson of the then Governor of the Bank of England; ► Contiuned on page XV

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

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The Exceptional Mr. George Barclay ► From

page XIV *Sibille Hart, assistant to the Women’s Page Editor, married celebrated US marine biologist Dr. Peter Pritchard, expert on Nature’s abundance in the Galapagos Islands off the bottom end of Argentina; they are now a widely known and distinguished couple in business and the arts in southeastern USA; * Claudette Earle, general reporting, specializing in news and women’s affairs and afterwards to become Woman’s Page Editor (later “Chronicle” editor); * Sandra Baptiste, energetic political and general affairs reporter, left to study in the United Kingdom, resided and worked in Barbados and Canada, then returned to Go-Invest Guyana; *Marilyn Ng-A-Qui, general news, later migrating to New York City; *Frank August (Campbell), general news, afterwards being very politically active, editing the “New Nation” newspaper, advancing onto diplomatic postings overseas, then becoming a Cabinet minister. *Harold Jettoo. crime, the magistrates’ courts and general news; * Cecil Josiah, politics and general news… eventually migrating to the United States. * Grace Jordan (Guyanese) and Mary Hales (English), and several others like them who came on brief attachments, and went – also master photographer and raconteur Donald Periana, brother Stanley, and assistants Ajit Sadhu, Winston Oudkerk. All were roving reporters with cameras.

Joseph “Reds” Perreira developed into a globally recognized cricket commentator and sports organizer and later, on my recommendation, was appointed OECS Sports Coordinator, afterwards publishing a highly acclaimed autobiography “Living My Dream”.

Yes… I’ve kept in touch with some and in step with how most have done; even visiting the foreign homes of a few, Some have passed on.

They were all colleagues striving towards deadlines and seeking to ensure high standards in ‘tomorrow’s paper’, yet always each was silently, but respectfully, competing with the other and forever intending improved personal performances.

That was the environment of camaraderie and challenge (in premises built for the “Argosy”, bought by the “Graphic”, and now occupied by the “Chronicle”) in which George Barclay’s journalism was nurtured, and he chose to specialize, first on the Magistrates Court and then the Supreme Court, where his endurance and the quality of his work have distinguished him from competitors.

He has developed into a trusted conduit between the legal system and the public; and, I daresay, has earned the respect of about three generations of lawyers, magistrates and judges… as well, I am sure, that of his colleagues.

In time it became known in the Graphic Editorial Department that George Barclay, the Grenadian, was in fact Guyanese. He was born at the Public Hospital Georgetown (PHG), but when he was 9 months old, his mother took him to live in the “Spice Island”.

The family resided in St. Paul’s Parish, about three miles from the capital St. George’s.

His early education was at the St. Paul’s Anglican - deemed in those days a “model school” - and afterwards he moved to the St. George’s Methodist School.

George Barclay was 15 when the family relocated to Guyana. His father Alexander Barclay enrolled him in the “commercial” section of Central High School, Smyth Street, Georgetown, where, under the tutelage of the renowned “Cowie” Luck, he strengthened academic skills, and excelled in shorthand, which he had begun in Grenada.

“My studies in Pitman’s Short-hand enabled me to secure a job as a cub reporter at the Guiana Graphic, under the editorship of Mr. Alfred.

H. Thorne”.

During George’s sojourn, he worked under several editors and general managers, local and overseas, including John L. Garbutt, Roy Saville, Percy Roberts and Sandy Neill, all English, prior to and during the Burnham regime, as well as the first Guyanese general manager D. A. “Bob” Grandsoult, who was tragically killed in an East Demerara road crash, and successor Ricardo Smith, who later relocated to Ottawa to give distinguished service to the government of Canada and is now retired in Tobago.

George speaks further about his career: “In those days my colleagues and I benefitted from seminars (local and overseas) on journalism which gave us the knowledge to write stories/ reports of increasingly higher quality and standards.

“Apart from this, I had the good fortune under the editorship of Mr. Courtney Gibson to attend the University of Guyana to do a two-year diploma course in Public Communications (1980/1981).

“Those of us who had the opportunity to achieve that precious diploma, including Godfrey Wray, Raschid Osman, Lloyd Conway and Nills Campbell, are loud in our praise for what it has enabled us to achieve.

“I also had the privilege to benefit from teachings in Capitalism and Socialism at the Cuffy Ideological Institute.

I was the lone journalist from the “Graphic” sent to the Cuffy Institute for two years. Ranji Chandisingh was then Principal; and for our graduation ceremony, we had the privilege of the keynote address

by President Burnham.

“During my employment at the “Graphic”, my then editor, Mr. Harry Harewood, chose me to visit Iraq as the company’s representative to President Sadam Hussein’s Bath Socialist Party celebrations. Six hundred journalists from all over the world were in attendance … at the invitation of President Hussein.

“There were two other Guyanese representatives at those celebrations: Mr. Pat Dyal and Mr. Henry Josiah.

“On my way back to Guyana, I was ordered by the Graphic to join President Burnham’s delegation in London to attend the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana; which I enjoyed on television and contributed to the coverage for Guyanese readers.

“When the Government took over the “Chronicle”, I became a member of the staff of that newspaper, until my retirement at the age of 60. Since then I have been a free lancer of the “Chronicle”, contributing mostly to Supreme Court cases and cases of the Court of Appeal.

I have also been covering “old cases” featured on Sundays”.

George Barclay was twice married and is father of 8. He recalls: “The first marriage to Teresa Brouet

from St. Lucia yielded two children – Roland, who is the Government of Guyana Chief Electrical Inspector, and Pinky, who resides in the USA. “The second, and enduring, marriage - to Mary Cadogan of Essequibo took place at the Brickdam

Cathedral, Georgetown. We have six children – George, Lennox, Jerry, Dawn, Cheryl and Petal. George Jr. is a mechanical engineer in the USA and has three children with wife Alison.”

As George Barclay advances towards the milestone of four score years

and continues his significant contribution to high quality journalism and greater public knowledge of the legal system in Guyana, I salute him and say, were it mine to award, the Guyana Medal of Service would be yours George.

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Good dental treatment is designed to last

By Dr Bertrand R. Stuart Dr. BERTRAND R. STUART, DDS.

It is unfortunate. but I see a good deal of dental work done and it almost seems that

they are designed to fail within a few years.

When we are doing dentistry, we are not dealing with disposable razor blades. What do I mean by that? Well, Gillette and Schick figured out long ago that they could give you the razor blade handle for free because they were going to charge you for the disposable razor blades. Once you have the handle, you will be paying for blades for a very long time.

Dentistry done well should not be like that. We design our care so it can last.

I like to use a concept that has helped structures through-out history last for a long time. The roads, buildings and aqueducts

made over a hundred years ago that are still standing were built with the concept of over-engineering. These ancient engineers knew that they had to build structures that could withstand weather, man and time. They had to build structures that were over-engineered, so that the stresses of use would not weaken the materials and cause the structures to fall. It was too costly to have it fail before its time.

Today, most modern bridges and buildings meant to last are built with these concepts in mind. Take, for example, the Berbice Bridge. â–ş Contiuned onpage XVII

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Good dental treatment ... ► From page XXIV Clearly, the smart engineers built it so it can withstand five times normal weights and stresses it most likely will face from pounding of trucks and cars crossing it. This is the insurance that it will last.

All materials wear out with time. The combined weights of the vehicles, forces of wind and rain, normal wear and tear, even gravity weaken structures over time. When a structure is built to withstand five or ten times the normal load bearing capacity, the stresses of use are minimal. In the case of a bridge, it can last for hundreds of years. We dentists, who can be considered to be oral engineers, are trained to do the same.

We over-engineer your dental work so that it can last many years, even decades. We create the capacity for it to withstand the biomechanical stresses of everyday chewing, smiling and living. This is why some of us think in terms of thirty years of service or more.

The problem of engineering for “just the right amount” is what happens when the work is stressed beyond normal. Will it fail? Are you willing to risk it? Would you buy an insurance policy that was good for only half the time? What if you got unlucky and the day you needed it, you were not insured?

We do not want to count on luck. Everyone wants to be sure.

Don’t you? However, over-engineering does take more time, effort and energy and does cost a bit more. The result is long lasting dental work that looks good, feels good, lasts, and gives you piece of mind. The value of that is immense to you.

I am sure you would agree.

There is a lot of dental work done for expedient reasons and will be lucky to last for five years. It is typically under-engineered. The sad truth is that unless you are a smart dental consumer who knows what to ask for, you could be fooled into thinking you are getting something you are not. So, do not fall into the trap of “Scotch Tape dentistry.” It binds parts together and maybe does not look too bad, but it is a classic example of under-engineering care that if destined to fail, often at the worst possible time.

So how should you know when your dental work is under-engineered? Well, your assessment should be evidence based. Has your dentist been practising for many years?

If not, he or she may not be too experienced. What about your dentist’s demeanour? Is he or she willing to patiently answer your questions about your treatment procedures?

If not, maybe he or she is “bluffing.” Is your dentist over-emphasising his or her fee rather than explaining the details of your problems. If the answer is “Yes”, then your dentist is more of a business person rather that a sympathetic dental professional. Finally, you should let your dentist adopt comprehensive treatment. In that way he or she cannot blame another dentist for doing a bad job.

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

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The other side of

Jonestown?

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By Godfrey Wray onestown! Jonestown! Jonestown!

Home of the infamous People’s Temple commune where in 1978 (November 18) almost a thousand people died in the world’s largest mass murder-suicide.

Thirty-seven years had brought many changes, some distinct, some subtle. But the intrinsic beauty of the site remained a constant.

Put in place by nature, the valley was a perfect setting for the abandoned tree-shrouded camp. And with the early engineering techniques employed by Rev. Jim Jones’ acolytes, the area had been sculptured into a combination of oasis and fortress.

In normal circumstances, the closeness and denseness of the forest would have engendered a claustrophobic feeling, but instead, the crowding greenery brought with it a therapeutic effect.

The reporter felt a chill as he stood on a shaded promontory overlooking acres and acres of an amalgam of prime meadow and forest. The scene mesmerized him. Tall grass and shrub dominated the series of small, medium and large huts, their green roofs barely discernible. Those structures had been strategically constructed to form a circle, possibly as a form of defence against any outside attack.

Behind them the forest was primeval and thick with hundreds of huge greenheart trees casting a gigantic shadow.

Most of them over one hundred feet tall, the trees stood like colossal sentinels keeping guard over the pristine acreage. As the wind swept along and other hardy trees bent and swayed in submission, the mighty greenheart stood unwaveringly at attention, fulfilling its reputation as one of the toughest woods in the world.

But it was the oval center, almost two feet below the base of the houses and ringed with colorful wildflowers that drew his attention. Atop the lush green carpet of grass was a motley collection of animals, co-existing in a peaceful menagerie.

As he watched, two deer -- a buck and a doe -- darted across the meadow, cavorting and pirouetting before embracing in a soul dance that was obviously the prelude to the universal ritual of mating; two monkeys tossed a coconut back and forth, prompting unimpressed grunts from a wild hog,

while a hare (or what looked like one) and a tortoise (turtle) seemed poised to re-enact the fable of their ancestors.

Dark brown water in a stream meandered lazily, flowing from a quadrant of the meadow that merged with the forest in the southeast. Every way he looked he saw nature at its verdant best. In this clime, all-year-round rain fell and cleansed.

Equally shared sunshine shone and enriched. Together they combined to produce the perfect manure and everything grew in profusion. And because of the altitude, a constant, gentle breeze kept the ill-famed Jonestown cool and invigorating in the bosom of Guyana’s North West District.

He looked around once more before turning to leave. He saw a sea of green with spots of contrasting colors, the languor of the wild animals, the serenity – all of it providing a palette to paint a utopian image.

But he couldn’t help feeling a little sad for the ignominy that had been superimposed on the area.

He eventually moved off thinking that the beasts below, interacting so peacefully, seemed to know of the history and were working overtime to change it.

He knew just the bare facts about Jonestown.

The religious cult was founded in 1955 by Indianapolis preacher James Warren Jones. In 1965, the group of zealots moved to California; but after negative publicity from an I.R.S. investigation, the radical church relocated to the isolated community in Guyana’s jungle.

Relatives of cult members soon began hearing whispers of brainwashing and concentration camp-like conditions and they sought the U.S. Government’s help.

In November 1978, United States Congressman, Leo J. Ryan (California) and four members of his party were shot and killed at a small airstrip at Port Kaituma after a brief visit to Jonestown.

The charismatic Jones had then instructed his followers to commit mass suicide by drinking Kool-Aid laced with cyanide. Out of the estimated 1,100 persons at the commune, 913 persons died, almost all Americans.

The local army had then gone in for the mop-up operation.

What the newsman could not understand was how one insane religious fanatic with left-wing political ideals could

Godfrey Wray

Keeping the condiments cool

► Contiuned on page XXX The house that Jones built

The famous bedroom

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Calvin Ming - ready for the world stage

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By Stephan Sookram

uyanese Stanley Ming has successfully started along a path that will put Guyana on the world map with regard to motor racing.

Hi son, Calvin, made history when he competed on November 1 at the Inaugural NACAM (Norteamérica,Centroamérica, Caribe y Norte de Sudamérica) Championships in Mexico.

But it’s safe to say that it’s Stanley Ming who has been the driving force behind his son’s accomplishment.

So, let’s throw it in reverse here and backpedal a bit, to the young days of Calvin - the days before driving school and college; before testing in the United States or even before becoming the local National Shifter Kart Champion, to when he just started.

From the age of six, Stanley Ming realized that his son had talents...natural racing talents, something you can’t buy, borrow or breed, but rather a champion

has to be gifted like the Lewis Hamiltons and the Valentino Rossis of this world.

“I spent a lot of time with him just trying to see what he is capable of,” the senior Ming told Chronicle Sport, adding that “we would sometimes use the streets in front of my house and I’d set up obstacles for him to drive around and plot courses.”

After a while, he outgrew that and I had to find new challenges. I had to set up some cones in the National Park (Tarmac) and set out a course for him to drive and he kept getting better until we had to take him to the race track (South Dakota).”

“He joined as a junior and after just one year there, he was beating all of the senior guys, including me, and that’s when I knew he was going to need a bigger challenge,” continued the former motor cycle competitor.

Calvin, during a sit down with us, said, “I started my racing career between the ages of six and seven at the kart level and it just grew from there. I became a national kart champion here” Studies abroad forced

A focused Calvin Ming gets a feel of his Mygale F4 Machine.

In the pit lane during the inaugural NACAM F4 race, the

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Calvin Ming stands atop the podium after taking top honours in the Shifter Kart Division

e precursor to the Mexican Grand Prix

him off the local scene but that did not dampen his love for the sport as the track continued to call his name.

An overseas friend of the Senior Ming, who had a Shifter Kart and a facility heard of Calvin’s talent and offered him a test run in a Kart and after a couple of laps, Calvin was able to match the course record, opening the door for the return of a Champion.

He moved on from there to compete in several carting challenges around America, taking podium spots wherever he went and racking up a name for himself.

Stanley, after learning of the FIA’s plan to bridge the gap between Shifter Kart racing and its more tedious and technical Formula Car sisters, decided to purchase a Mygale designed Ford EcoBoost powered machine for his son to begin testing.

“Wow, that first drive was amazing! It felt like a video game somewhat, but it was a live Video game! I couldn’t believe that I was doing it, driving an open wheel car and it’s just a feeling that is unmatched to me.

It was a rush.”

He also attended the Skip Barber Racing School Programme where he emerged the top student out of his 21 classmates.

In July of this year, the junior Ming did some testing in a F4 car belonging to Team Pelfrey, a top team in the United States and after evaluation, had been invited to drive for the team.

The Mings proudly display Calvin’s shifter kart

XXI He had some valuable lessons in F1600 series, another open wheel, single seater, open cockpit set up similar to the F4 series in which he would be participating.

The F1600 class featured the same basic design and driving style of the F4 cars, and as such, Ming quickly picked up a podium finish during the second of the three race day, valuable points that aided his team to constructors’ glory.

All the while, testing continued at the Gingerman Raceway in Michigan, Putnam Park Road Course in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the New Jersey Motorsports Park where he completed over 500 laps and covered a distance of approximately 800 miles during the six days of intense testing in the U.S., all in preparation for the launch of the F4 Championship in this part of the world, a precursor to the Mexican Formula 1 Grand Prix set for Mexico City’s revamped Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Calvin qualified a decent 7th on the grid after some late issues on qualifying day, but that did not dampen his spirit but worked as a motivation which fired him to do better come race day.

Making a bit of a ‘bobble’ (as he describes it) at the start of the race cost him a quick two spots after just the first lap, but the Guyanese was intent on flying the Golden Arrowhead high.

Reverting to his game plan and putting his shoulder

to the wheel, he moved up to fourth spot, much like his racing number before the safety car was called onto the track in the dying minutes after another competitor spun.

He used his reflexes to dart to third quickly on the restart of the race, but was overtaken on the last lap , owing to the fact that he did not block because his team radio had incurred problems and he could not hear that it was the last lap.

Nonetheless, the Guyanese took the optimistic approach, saying, “The race was pretty intense and I was able to learn a lot more being the first time I’m in a winged open-seated car race. I will definitely keep up the momentum and keep pushing for more and hopefully next race be on the podium.”

However, one of his most important things is social life.

He explained that he loves to spend time with his family and friends because the racing life can be so stressful, that the fun going, easy life of any young 17-year-old makes for the perfect balancing factor.

When he’s not on track testing or racing, or not nose deep in an engineering bookyes, he is currently pursuing studies in that field- he says he just loves to hit the movies or hang out with his friends. ” I don’t feel any more different than the average teenager,” he said, with a wide effervescent smile.

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Fun on the hills

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he people of Mabaruma Settlement recently pulled off a sporting activity at the community’s sports ground. Without much sport gear, as these photos by Delano Williams show, the people make use of what they have. The important thing, they told us, was that they had fun.

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

English

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

XXVII

Are pets in the bedroom a problem for sleep?

(Reuters Health) - There are many potential health benefits to pet ownership, but a good night’s sleep may not necessarily be one of them, a small study suggests.

Among pet owners surveyed at a sleep clinic, more than half said their non-human friends slept in their bedroom.

One in five pet owners described their animals as disruptive, but two in five perceived the pets as unobtrusive or even beneficial to sleep, the survey found.

Even though pets have the potential to jostle their humans or make noise that keeps people awake, the question of whether pets might contribute to sleeping problems isn’t one doctors regularly ask patients, said lead study author Dr. Lois Krahn, a specialist in sleep medicine and psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona.

“Since commonly people with pets dismiss placing their pet outside of their bedroom at night, the question of whether having the pet on the floor, on the bed or curled up next to them becomes important in realizing the goal of helping them to sleep as well as possible with their pet,” Krahn said

by email.

Sounds, movements, crowding, temperature, odors and allergens are all aspects of the home environment that can interfere with sleep, Krahn and colleagues note in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

To see how pets might influence sleep, the researchers surveyed 150 people treated at the Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, asking about pets and other environmental factors.

Almost half the participants, 74 people, had pets, and 31 pet owners had multiple animals in their homes.

One married 35-year-old man had a cat, four Chihuahuas and a basset hound, for example. A married 43-year-old woman had two dogs and five cats.

Fifteen people reported pet-related sleep disturbances in the bedroom. Problematic animal behaviors included wandering, snoring, voiding needs, whimpering and seizures.

But 31 people described the animals as beneficial in the bedroom, whether they provided comfort and companionship or served as bed warmers.

People sleeping alone, whether they were single or had a partner who wasn’t always there at night, more often spoke of pets as beneficial evening companions.

Beyond its small size, the study’s limitations include the lack of data on whether patients being treated for sleep disorders experienced different challenges with a pet in the bedroom than people without sleep disorders.

Even so, the findings suggest that it’s worthwhile for doctors to discuss pets when patients bring up sleep difficulties, the authors conclude.

Breed size, bedroom size and bed size could all contribute to how people and pets interact at night and how well people sleep, said Navy Captain Dr. Mark Stephens of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.

“A retriever or a mastiff would occupy significant space and be physically prone to interrupt sleep,” Stephens, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “A yorkie, not so much.”

Beyond sleep concerns, it’s possible pets – especially dogs – can offer health benefits by encouraging people to get more exercise, noted Bruno Chomel, a veterinary medicine researcher at the University of California, Davis who wasn’t involved in the study. The downsides, other than sleep disruption, might include the potential for pets to transmit diseases to their owners, Chomel said by email.

The study’s findings shouldn’t cause doctors to warn

insomniacs against owning cats or dogs, cautioned Allen McConnell, a psychology researcher at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, who wasn’t involved in the study.

“People’s perception that pets cause disruptive sleep is not great evidence that they do cause sleep disruption,” McConnell said by email. “Self-reported beliefs about pets being the cause of people’s sleep difficulties is pretty limited without a more comprehensive, experimental study design.”

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Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

"It was the rule, it was fashionable too,” said Fatma Tarnouni, 106. “To be beautiful, you had to be tattooed, so I did it."

Fatma Badredine, 94, was tattooed aged 13 years old by a nomadic woman from the Sahara region. "I had to endure excruciating pain just to look pretty,” Badredine said. "I wanted to have the tattoo removed but my doctor advised against it, my age doesn’t allow it.”

Algeria’s tattoos of beauty Among the Chaouia people of the Aures mountains in Algeria, a woman’s beauty used to be judged by her tattoos. The women are now old, their wrinkles and fading tattoos telling of a lifetime of experience, but they talk as if they’re still 20 inside. The photos are from Reuters.

Mazouza Bouglada, 86, was tattooed aged 7 by a nomadic man from the Sahara region. She was advised by her mother to get tattooed. The more she got tattooed the more she showed off.

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

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The other side of

Jonestown? ► From page XIX be responsible for such a massive undemocratic push to death.

Benson, his guide and Guyanese connection, had told him if he were to write a book about Jonestown, the caption would

be: A Mind Control Experiment Gone Crazy.”

He had asked for an explanation. What he got still resonates with him.

“After being so close to the death scene, analyzing various scenarios and later reading media and book accounts of some interesting government denials, I’ve come to my own conclusions.

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015 “A clandestine U.S. agency had certain target populations in mind for an experiment, programmed for both individual and mass control. Blacks, women, prisoners, the elderly, the young, and inmates of psychiatric wards were selected as ‘potentially violent.’

“According to a highly respected American media operative, there were plans in California at the time for a Center for the Study and Reduction of Violence, expanding on the horrific work of three experts in implantation, psychosurgery, and tranquilizers. The guinea pigs were to be drawn from the ranks of those target populations, and taken to an isolated military missile base in California. However, during that same period, Jim Jones began moving his Temple members to Jonestown and so that population was selected for the experiments.

“All of the population received daily medical exams and wore medical identification bracelets. The meticulous daily notes and drug records kept by the camp doctor, disappeared, but evidence did not. One man was asked to guard a metal case containing thousands of files and told to shoot anyone who tried to take them from him since they contained "highly sensitive" information. He later turned the files over to agents who denied that such records existed when questioned by a congressional investigation.”

The reporter butted in. “Do you mean to tell me the CIA got away with that?”

“Yes. Reporters doggedly followed up every angle but they were stymied all the time even as they provided evidence showing that a combination of drugs, drug mixtures, electroshock and torture were being used as methods for control.

The desired results ranged from temporary and permanent amnesia, uninhibited confessions, and creation of second personalities, to programmed assassins and preconditioned suicidal urges. One goal was the ability to control mass populations, especially for cheap labor.”

The journalist interjected to make a point. “The North Koreans were the first to experiment with mass mind control. They perfected it with kids on a cultural level, calling it Mass Games. One magnified whistle sound had thousands in a stadium responding unerringly to the command it signified.

I saw it myself.”

Benson continued, “One doctor actually told Congress that he hoped for a future where technology would control workers in the field and troops at war with electronic remote signals.

He found it hard to understand why people would complain about electrodes implanted in their brains to make them ‘both happy and productive.’

“The People's Temple members were little more than experimental ‘rats,’ being drugged and monitored by daily medical exams and meticulous records of their health and behavioral changes. Once the terrible experiment was discovered there was nothing else to do but exterminate them and crush any links to the perceived CIA programme.

“At Jonestown, our troops discovered a large cache of drugs. One report said it was enough to drug the entire population of Georgetown for more than a year. One footlocker was said to contain hundreds of doses of thorazine, a dangerous tranquilizer. Other drugs used in the testing were found in abundance, including sodium pentathol (a truth serum), chloral hydrate (a hypnotic), demerol, thalium (confuses thinking), and many others.

“The actual description of life at Jonestown by some survivors was that of a tightly run concentration camp, complete with medical and psychiatric experimentation. The stress and isolation of victims were typical of sophisticated brainwashing techniques. There is another level below ground and I suspect that a torture chamber existed. Torture is almost always conducted deep underground.”

An ominous rumble in the sky broke the spell reminiscence had cast on the intrepid journalist. A storm was on its way.

Soon black and grey clouds came scuttling across a tortured sky like an advancing armada of alien craft. Lightning zigzagged menacingly while thunder signalled its disapproval with a frightening clap.

Powerful forces were at work and even the dangerous beasts below hastened to seek cover until nature had loosened its transient hold. Birds -- those unable to find shelter -- raced under the clouds, some flying gracefully, others erratically; all conscious of the miasma beneath their wings.

Jonestown is no more. But the ghosts still remain.

Chronicle Pepperpot November 22, 2015

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Star-crossed romance charms movie audiences in Kerala (Reuters) An Indian film about a pair of real-life star-crossed lovers has hit a raw nerve amid concerns over rising religious intolerance in the country.

Set in the 1960s and 70s, “Ennu Ninte Moideen” (Yours Truly, Moideen) is aMalayalam-language film based on a tragic love story now part of folklore in northern Kerala.

Moideen, a Muslim, fell in love with Kanchanamala, the daughter of an aristocratic Hindu landlord in Mukkam village. Their families opposed the match because of their religions. Kanchanamala was held captive in her house for two decades, and Moideen’s father stabbed him in a fit of anger. Although he survived, the lovers were kept apart for several years.

In 1982, Moideen died trying to save the passengers of a boat that capsized in a nearby river. Kanchanamala attempted suicide, but survived and considers herself Moideen’s “unmarried widow”. Today in her 70s, she takes care of the B P Moideen Seva Mandir, a charity organization in Mukkam.

“It was religion that kept us apart and the misplaced belief that girls have to uphold the dignity of their families,” Kanchanamala said in a recent interview with the Indian Express daily. “Had I married Moideen, it

would have been hard for my five sisters to find a match.”

The box-office success of “Ennu Ninte Moideen”, which opened in cinemas on Sept. 19, has helped take Moideen and Kanchanamala’s story to a wider audience among the estimated 38 million native speakers of Malayalam. Die-hard fans make the trip to Mukkam in Kozhikodedistrict to meet the real-life Kanchanamala.

R S Vimal, the film’s director, said he sought to uphold the secular values cherished by society in Kerala, a progressive state with a high rate of literacy.

“The main focus is on the plight of these two individuals, irrespective of their religious affiliations,” he said.

“Ennu Ninte Moideen” has won critical and popular acclaim in recent months and its message of religious tolerance and harmony is expected to charm newer audiences with a Tamil-language remake slated to be filmed in 2016.

Lakshmi Ranjit, an academic and writer, said that Moideen and Kanchanamala’s romance was set in a time when “liberal thoughts still had a space in Kerala.”

“Many villagers and even some members of their families supported the lovers,” said Ranjit. “In the context of the present India, this film has

some relevance but the issue remains on the margins of the narrative structure.”

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Streaming or not, Adele's '25' expected to be monster hit (REUTERS) Adele's album "25" was released worldwide on Friday, and even though it will not be on streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer, industry analysts are expecting it to be the hit of the year.

Following in the footsteps of Taylor Swift, who withheld her album "1989" from Spotify because she did not want it streamed for free, Adele's follow-up to her 2011 hit album "21," which sold 30 million copies worldwide and won six Grammys, is available for download or as a CD, but not for streaming.

Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer, three of the main streamers, said on Thursday they would not carry it, though they hoped that would change.

"My own personal view is that record is so massive it wouldn't make any difference" if it were available for streaming or not, industry analyst Keith Jopling told Reuters.

In a message on her Twitter feed on Friday, Adele did not mention the decision not to stream the album but said she hoped fans would enjoy the music.

"This feels such a long time coming...I am so overwhelmed and grateful to be able to even put another record out," the singer said.

"The last month has been a whirlwind. It's literally taken my breath away. I hope you enjoy the record as much as I enjoyed making it for you," she added.

"Hello," the first single from the album, released at the end of October, has logged more than 400 million plays on YouTube and topped the U.S. charts for the past three weeks.

Trade publication Billboard, citing unidentified sources, said Columbia Records will ship 3.6 million physical copies of the new album in the United States, which could be the largest number of new release CDs shipped in the past decade.

Adele, who took a career break to have her first child, says in a BBC television interview to be aired on Friday that the success of "21" was daunting, but she was determined to make a comeback.

"I just got really worried that I was never going to make anything that anyone liked again," she says, according to quotes from the interview posted on the BBC website.

"I started to wonder if '21,' being so successful, was enough for everyone," she says. "But I realised it wasn't enough for me. So, sorry, I'm here to make your ears bleed again."

Early indications are she need not have worried. In addition to "Hello" topping the U.S. charts, advance sales of "25" have made it the best-selling album on Amazon.com's British and U.S. sites, according to the retailer.

"I think the odds are in favor of '25' being a huge success because there's so much anticipation," British-based music industry consultant Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Research said.

Critical reaction from music journalists who had access to advance copies suggest fans won't be disappointed but perhaps "25" will not be the seminal experience "21" was for listeners.

Alexis Petridis, writing in the Guardian, said the album's success was a foregone conclusion, but its content was patchy. "'Hello' is a pretty bulletproof bit of songwriting, and 'All I Ask' sounds appealingly like the showstopping ballad from a hugely successful Broadway musical. Often, though, it slinks unremarkably into the middle of the road," he said.

Pay attention 007: In India, you can kill but don't kiss (REUTERS) If the Indian censors have their way, James Bond can make liberal use of his licence to kill. But he'll have to cut back on the kissing - by exactly half.

The latest installment of the 007 franchise, "Spectre", will be released on Friday with heavy cuts after censors deemed the romantic encounters between Daniel Craig, and co-stars Monica Belluci and Lea Seydoux, inappropriate for the viewing public.

"The committee which was to certify the film thought some of the kissing scenes were too long," said a source familiar with the application to the censors, who asked Sony

Pictures cut the kissing scenes by 50 percent.

"The studio either had the choice to accept the cuts or apply for an A certificate, which significantly cuts down reach and exhibition."

The Censor Board is controlled

by India's nationalist government Actors Lea Seydoux, Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci (L-R) pose for photographers on the and has turned a disapproving eye on red carpet at the French premiere of the new James Bond 007 film ''Spectre'' in Paris, France. films with steamy sex scenes.

Its ruling has been panned by critics on social but franchises like James Bond and the Avengers It is currently headed by Pahmedia, who accuse it of serving the government's can beat Bollywood's own productions at the box laj Nihalani, a Bollywood producconservative moral agenda, stifling freedom of office. er who made a campaign video for expression. Nihalani could not be reached for "50 Shades of Grey", the film based on E.L. Prime Minister Narendra Modi comment.

James's erotic novel, was never released in India last year, and released another Under Indian law, films with an A - or adult even after the studio cut every sex scene. The promotional video for him last - certificate can't be shown on TV. India still ac- board rejected it on the basis that the language week. counts for a fraction of Hollywood's revenues, used in the film was inappropriate.