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Mars mission in Oman’s desert We donned a new look sometime back; now we have a new name too. We are now ‘T’, a weekly that’s changing and evolving; and we hope you will continue to be with us in this journey. Months back a group of astronauts from Austrian Space Forum had landed in Oman on a terrestrial mission. They wanted to simulate Mars on Earth and found the vast expanse of Oman’s desert suitable for their mission. And so a series of experiments were carried out recently by the team. Called AMADEE-18, the mission had several scientists from across the world and our correspondent had a firsthand experience of this mock Mars mission on Oman’s desert. Our cover feature this week delves deeper to know how it feels to be a step closer to the Red Planet. And on a completely different note we address an age-old debate when it comes to parenting. The debate on who has it harder, stay at home moms or working moms, has been there for long. Without indulging into any mommy wars, our new columnist highlights on certain pertinent points that would help mothers abandon their working mom guilt. For those who are looking for a short weekend getaway that does not involve long hours of driving, here’s something to look forward to. Spend a weekend at Sundus Rotana and relax and rejuvenate at their indulgent accommodations and warm hospitality. Stay with us and expect more... — Swati Dasgupta
Founder: Essa bin Mohamed Al Zedjali Chairman: Mohamed Issa Al Zadjali CEO: Ahmed Essa Al Zedjali Editor: Charles Lavery Features Editor: Swati Dasgupta Research Editor: Ashish Dubash Associate Editors: Salem Afifi, Shruthi Nair Copy Editor: Gautam Bhargav Viswanathan Online Editor: Christopher Isaac
Graphics Editor: Antonio Farach Design Editor: Sahir K.M. Lead Designer: Geri B. Sonny Designer: Gregory Fernandez Photography: MMG Photographers
Chief Sales Officer: Richard Pakenham Production Manager: Shafi Shaik
On The Cover: Design by Geri B. Sonny
For general inquiries or comments: swati@timesofoman.com
Muscat Media Group AN ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED COMPANY Post Box: 770, Postal Code: 112, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman EDITORIAL 24726600/24726666 Ext 214 swati@timesofoman.com ADVERTISEMENT 24726600/24726666 Ext 432 ajayraj@timesofoman.com
CIRCULATION 24726600/24726666 Ext 135/136 circulation@timesofoman.com
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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 9 FEBRUARY 15, 2018
WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK
19 MONDAY 8pm Meet an Athlete If you’re a mountain climbing enthusiast, you wouldn’t want to miss out on meeting Irish endurance athlete, Jason Black, who climbed one of the World’s Seven Summits twice in under 24 hours and set a World Record. UFC Gym, Al Mawaleh +968 8000 8888
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THURSDAY
SATURDAY
9.00pm Be Anti Valentine Here’s a party for all those who are without a Valentine. Bring your friends and listen to the upbeat tunes of DJ Miss Eden alongside a special performance with live electro violinists. B.A.B Lounge Shangri-la Barr Al Jissah +968 9825 3255
9.30am Calligraphy Workshop Learn the art of dip-pen lettering for anyone who is above the age of 14 years. Register in advance to book slots on info@ komalandcolor.com Kargeen Restaurant +968 9222 2727
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FRIDAY
SUNDAY
5.00pm Romeo Blanco Live One of Tomorrowland’s most favourite DJs Romeo Blanco is in town and ready to get the party started along with a lineup of some of Oman’s coolest DJs. Park Inn Rooftop +968 9709 8681
10.00pm Be App Savvy Take the beginner’s course to learn basic computer and internet skills using standard applications. Vantage International +968 9343 5226
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21 WEDNESDAY
20 TUESDAY 6pm Let’s Talk Love Celebrate love month at Azaiba Gardens Hall where a night of fun, games, and talks about relationships awaits. Registration starts at 6pm. Azaiba Garden Hall, Azaiba comm.enmuscat@gmail.com
5.15pm Learn Chalk Painting Bring out your inner artist to learn and play with chalk paint. The workshops will give dyeing and waxing techniques for a variety of fabrics including cotton, linen, and leather. Sununu Muscat, 18th November Street (Nearby Mars Hypermarket) +968 9018 5174
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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 9 FEBRUARY 15, 2018
ONE SMALL STEP IN OMAN...
VOLUME 11 ISSUE 9 FEBRUARY 15, 2018
ONE GIANT LEAP FOR SCIENCE STORY AND PHOTOS GAUTAM VISWANATHAN
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“W
hy do you have so much dust on your shirt?” asked one of my friends, who had picked me up from Salalah, mere minutes after I had said goodbye to the soldiers on the Royal Oman Army bus that had dropped me off outside Sultan Qaboos Mosque in the Dhofari capital. “Lay off of him, he has just come from Mars,” said the other. “I doubt he has even had time to enjoy a decent night’s sleep or a good shower. Have have you eaten anything?,” he asked. Food — it seemed such a mundane choice, and after a couple of gruelling, exhausting, but highly educational days spent on ‘Mars’, I was glad to dwell on simpler things back on Earth. I had returned to Salalah from the base camp of the Austrian Space Forum (the OeWF or Oesterreichiches Weltraum Forum to use their German title), whose scientists had come to Oman as part of AMADEE-18, their Mars simulation mission in Oman, a good 250km from Oman’s southern bastion.
“We did a lot of scientific and geophysical studies, all the way from planetary analysis down to a microscopic study of the soil, as had many other researchers, and we had found that Marmul in Oman had a soil composition very similar to that on Mars,” Dr Gernot Gromer, AMADEE-18s Field Commander, had previously told me. “On Earth, there is no location where we can perfectly replicate Mars, so we have to go to wherever we find specific conditions that are like Mars. “There are only so many things that you can do in a lab, so if you want to do field testing of a vehicle for example, we can only do that in a desert which is like the one we will find on Mars, because it is important that this vehicle continues to function the same way, even after five or six hours without any damage,” he said. “If we want a desert climate, we will come to Oman, if we want to run tests in sub-zero conditions, we would normally go to a place like Antarctica. “I know it might sound funny to some, but we are actually hoping we fail on this mission,” explained Gromer, as I grew a tad incredulous. “If we make a mistake here,
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we will know what needs to be done to fix it and we can then avoid it or handle it properly in future. Preparing for the missions we will be taking in the future is possibly the most important part of any plan, and without such meticulous preparation, we are only going to be setting ourselves up for failure.” As I sipped on a refreshing drink and contentedly sat on my chair, letting out an exhausted sigh, I couldn’t help but reflect on just how lucky we are to live among civilisation. Something as readily available as water, stocked on supermarket and canteen shelves was strictly rationed in all its forms at AMADEE-18’s base camp. “We only take showers once every two days here because water is so scarce here in the desert. We use the navy shower system here, where we turn on the tap for 30 seconds, soap ourselves, and then wash ourselves for another two minutes. We have to conserve water here in the desert, so we take a maximum of just three minutes for a shower,” said Gromer. But he saved the kicker for the end: “Because you’re here for less than two nights, you won’t be eligible for a shower.” Water wasn’t the only thing that was scarce. Space was at a premium, too. The main dome – a two tonne inflatable contraption that took mere minutes to inflate – was roomy enough to work in, but the rest of the base wasn’t. I did carry along a sleeping bag, but I didn’t need to use it. Not for the reason I had lugged it along anyway. They had given me and the German TV crew I was sharing my porta cabin with a couple bunk beds, but with temperatures plummeting to single-digit figures at night, and nary a blanket to be found, I had to repurpose my sleeping bag as a makeshift blanket. Not that it helped: I may have landed in Salalah at 1am, and had gotten little sleep for the night, but the incessant cold allowed just a brief, fitful rest. As I awoke early to finger-numbing cold, chilly winds, and stinging desert sand that forced me to don my sunglasses despite the cloudy, grey early morning skies, I was wondering if breakfast would help warm my spirit (and my body). Dinner had been a humble meal of chicken and potatoes, and breakfast was just as – if not more – simple. “You can have either bread with cheese, or cornflakes with milk, and we also have bananas and grapefruit,” Olivia Haider of the OeWF told me as I entered the military tent which served as AMADEE-18’s dining room. “Please help yourselves to cereal bars because lunch will only be served at two.” I however, wasn’t around for it: the nice soldiers who had dropped me off the previous afternoon had come to pick me up, and as we made our way back past the two army checkposts and the Frontier Force Base in Thumrait, I began to once again grow accustomed to the flurry of beeps from my phone, which had once again regained contact with the outside world, now that we had left the camp in Marmul, where a lack of mobile phone data meant we were all but cut off from the outside world. My accommodations at AMADEE-18’s base camp may have been basic, my meals frugal, my stay far from comfortable, but as my thoughts once again moved to the present, and the piping-hot grilled meats and fresh oven-baked bread in front of me, I couldn’t help but feel grateful for life’s small pleasures. The educators, scientists, astronauts, and researchers who have sacrificed so much of their time and comfort to come all this way into the desert have willingly decided to trade a safe and secure life for the greater good. One that sees them work night and day to make a manned Mars mission in future a reality. Because they realise that the needs of the many will always outnumber the needs of the few. And that’s a good thing. — gautam@timesofoman.com
AMADEE 18 mission patch A great tradition of any spacefaring mission has been its mission patch, a badge that often reminds those who took part in such missions – and those around them, of just what went into such Herculean efforts behind the scenes. The Austrian Space Forum’s mission is named AMADEE-18, after the famed Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with the mission patch reflecting elements from both this earth and beyond. “The mission patch has two sunsets, with the lighter one reflecting the way it looks on Earth and the darker one depicting what it looks like on Mars,” said Dr Gernot Gromer, Field Commander for AMADEE-18. “This means that although we may be different planets, we are all part of one universe,” he added. “In addition, the lines are representative of Omani architecture, and also pay tribute to all the different experiments and missions that are currently being conducted for man to reach Mars. “They all intersect and reach the centre because it shows that although we may be working independently and on different projects, we all share a common goal and unified dream of one day landing on Mars.”
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AMADEE-18 Oman was chosen as the site for the Austrian Space Forum’s experiments in an atmosphere which was designed to simulate Mars on Earth. The geophysical and biological components of the Dhofari desert near Marmul were considered to be an ideal copy of the surface of Mars. Some 20 experiments are to be conducted in Oman, with the Mars simulation mission officially beginning on February 8, a week after its bridgehead phase where the scientists check all of their equipment to ensure that all of it is working, before going into isolation for about three weeks. Over 200 scientists from 25 nations will be collaborating on AMADEE-18. The experiments range from the testing of their new Aouda spacesuit prototype to the setting up of a portable greenhouse on Mars to grow crops for astronauts, and include field tests of rovers that perform several functions, including laser mapping, water detection and moisture location on Mars. A full list of experiments is below: • Hortextreme inflatable greenhouse for hydroponic cultivation (Italian Space Agency) • Fatigue in analogue astronauts while wearing a restricting exoskeleton (Medical University of Vienna) • Teamwork effectiveness during the AMADEE-18 mission (University of Western Ontario) • MSTAT Mars simulation for two astronaut teams (Ben Gurion University) • SITAS – situational awareness in spacesuits (University of Witten/Herdecke) • MIMIC – Monitoring of Mars isolation crew by speech processing (Graz University of Technology) • THESEOS – Terrain hazard evasion for safer explorations, operations and science (Mission Control Space Services and Carleton University) • VRITAGO – Virtual instrument testing and analysis of geological outcrop (Mars Planet) • Husky Autonomous Rover (Graz University of Technology) • AviNav autonomous visual navigation and data transfer (Alpen-Adria University of Klagenfurt) • ScanMars subsurface Mars scanner (University of Perugia and National Institute for Astrophysics) • Field spectrometry (Italian Space Agency) • Water exploration experiment (Petroleum Development Oman and Umm Al Khair Primary School) • Tumbleweed Mars Rover (Sir Karl Popper Schule) • AD3PT 2 Mars 3D printing operation and technical processes (Graz University of Technology and Texas A&M University) • EOS extravehicular orientation system (HTBLA-Eisenstadt)
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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 9 FEBRUARY 15, 2018
VOLUME 11 ISSUE 9 FEBRUARY 15, 2018
WORKING MOTHERS:
Get Over The Guilt STORY FARZEEN ASHIK
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s it better to be a working mother or a stay-at-home mom? This debate has been there for long and there are proponents of both the philosophies. Having checked out the grass on both the sides I have finally settled for the best of both worlds (I work part-time). However, everything is not all hunky-dory all the time, I do miss out on a lot of things at work because I rush out during the middle of the day and all I do at the office is ‘work’. I don’t really have time to ‘socialise’ as my hours are limited. And when I’m home it’s not like I’m giving my 100 per cent attention and time to the children. I still have to answer work calls, resolve crises, check my e-mails, make reports and meet deadlines. Still, I’m thankful that I have a career and also can be there for the children. As someone who has worked the whole nine hours (and more) I understand the exhaustion and irritation you feel when you get home after a terrible day only to be confronted by tears or accusations at home. You want to be there for that school play but your boss says there’s no way you can miss that review meeting. You want to read your child a bed-time story but half way through it you are asleep. You want to bake some muffins for the school fete but forget to buy the ingredients the previous day. You keep missing the PTA meetings and the school sends you an e-mail asking you meet the principal. Sounds all too familiar, isn’t it! Relax, we are human too and we never said we would be perfect specimens of motherhood, did we? So, here’s why we shouldn’t feel guilty every time we make eye-contact with those who are so quick to judge us.
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Your children do not suffer in daycare or nurseries Young children do not suffer if their mothers work, a study by Bristol University suggests. Researchers traced the development of 14,000 children in the south west of England over a ten year period. They discovered that there was no difference between the development of children of working mothers and of those who stayed at home. The study also showed that children who spent the first three years of life being looked after in nurseries suffered “no measurable psychological or behavioural ill effects because of their mothers’ absence”. So, there you go. Your children will turn out just fine, don’t fret.
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Working mothers raise more independent children A 2015 Harvard study has found that children of working mothers go on to have more successful careers and more equal relationships.“We hope the findings from our research will promote respect for the spectrum of choices women and men make at home and at work,” the researchers concluded. “Whether moms or dads stay at
home or are employed, part-time or full-time, children benefit from exposure to role models offering a wide set of alternatives for leading rich and rewarding lives,” says Harvard Business School professor Kathleen McGinn, lead author of the study. Women whose moms worked outside the home are more likely to have jobs themselves, are more likely to hold supervisory responsibility at those jobs, and earn higher wages than women whose mothers stayed home full time.
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More flexible Children of working moms are usually less fussy. They are used to being with other caregivers and learn early on that mom and dad can’t be around to handle their every need. They are raised to handle challenges. They know that sometimes things get rushed or cancelled and most of the time they are the last ones to be picked up from school. But they get ready to roll with the punches which makes them more adaptable as they grow older.
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Spending time with them A Journal of Marriage and Family 2015 study indicated that whether you work outside home or not, children tend to spend the same amount of time with their moms. Any time you spend with your children is quality time. It could be a few hours after work or perhaps the whole day if you have that luxury. But what I’ve observed is that even when I stayed home I didn’t spend every waking minute with my child. I had other tasks to complete and that meant leaving her to play by herself while I did the laundry or cooked lunch. So, in effect the amount of time I spent focusing wholly on my child was probably the same amount of time I did when I was working. The difference was that I was less stressed and had way more flexibility with how I did that when I was a stay-at-home mom.
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It’s your life Once you get married a whole clan of people will have an opinion about what you do and how you do it. You may get a lot of comments about why you need to work if your husband is providing enough for the family. And why you mustn’t upset the balance at home needlessly. I say you work because that’s your choice. If you have been given an education then shouldn’t you be using it given an opportunity? Don’t make excuses for being successful and passionate about your work. Farzeen Ashik is the author of the prize-winning novel ‘Rainbow Dorm Diaries-The Yellow Dorm’.
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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 9 FEBRUARY 15, 2018
WHERE
WORK MEETS
P
IN PERFECT
VOLUME 11 ISSUE 9 FEBRUARY 15, 2018
LEASURE HARMONY
STORY ASHISH DUBASH PHOTOGRAPHY SUPPLIED
T
he idea of spending a weekend in a business hotel right in the heart of the city might not sound appealing if relaxation and rejuvenation is in your mind. After all spending a day or two at a hotel should be filled with indulgence, and a business hotel might not offer that opulence and grandeur. But exceptions are always there and Sundus Rotana in Muscat is one such place where rejuvenation meets business in perfect harmony. Located few minutes’ drive from Muscat International Airport and the new Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre, this new hotel in town is full of pleasant surprises. While it’s busy like any other business hotel and always buzzing with activities, at the same time it’s gorgeous too, and can be a perfect abode for your weekend stay. As soon as I walked inside the nice, bright room, my day was made and I looked forward to my stay. At Sundus there are 215 rooms and suites that are spacious and have contemporary furnishings with a stylish décor. They also have modern amenities and the latest technology to ensure that the guests feel at home. The Club Rotana
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rooms on the 5th floor offer several additional personalised services and benefits, such as access to the executive lounge where one can chill to the hilt. I was totally fascinated with the turnaround TV in my room, where I could watch the television while sipping coffee on the sofa or while lazing on the bed. Lunch was beckoning at Ginger Restaurant where I ate lemon and rosemaryrubbed chicken and Laham Maqlay, along with an array of sumptuous delights. We finished the hearty lunch by sipping some Kyoto coffee, a speciality, at the Lobby lounge. The long leisurely lunch was followed by a tour of the hotel. The hotel has six conference rooms that have state-of-theart facilities, with the latest audio-visual technology to meet the requirements of today’s modern executives, and an elegant Diwan ballroom for about 350 people, used for weddings, banquets or parties. There is also a new signature restaurant called Teatro, with an open kitchen that serves different cuisines and have a sushi bar too. The Bodyline Fitness and Wellness Club is good for a quick workout, and the swimming pool and steam rooms are the perfect places to unwind and relax after a tiresome day. Later in the evening we were back at the Ginger Restaurant for dinner where I had grilled jumbo prawns, marinated with herbs and a rib-eye steak. I rounded off the dinner with some Chemax coffee, while relaxing in the lounge. The breakfast, as expected, was a huge spread with a lot of live counters, from eggs, to grilled meats, to cereals, fruits, waffles and a whole lot of other food. So this weekend treat yourself to some luxury, right here in Muscat. — ashishdubash@timesofoman.com LOCATION Sundus Rotana Al Maardih Street, Seeb, opposite Muscat International Airport Email: sundus.hotel@rotana.com +968 2451 1800
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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 9 FEBRUARY 15, 2018
STORY INDRANIL CHOWDHURI
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he Kingdom of Morocco, the most westerly of the North African countries, is known as the Maghreb – The Arab West. It has the Mediterranean and the Atlantic as coastlines, bordered by mountains, a dry and rugged interior and not far from the Sahara Desert. With its capital at Rabat, the kingdom is a harmonious blend of Arab, Berber, European ,and African cultures. With iconic cities, a cornice in Casa that can compete with the French Riviera, and being host to the who’s who of the planet for many years, Morocco remains a gem of Africa. CASABLANCA For a die-hard romantic, Casablanca
conjures up a vision of the 1942 film of Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart. The reality being, the film was shot in Hollywood, and no crew or performers travelled to Morocco for the filming. But tourists can’t resist an urge of dining at Rick’s Café. There is even a private tour of the restaurant, and a souvenir shop to keep it in memory. But Casablanca is not about the bar that is famous. Morocco’s most populous city has quite a few sights to offer, though pale in comparison to Marrakesh and the other cities of the country from the tourist perspective. Casa is a seamless gel of stunning architecture, art-deco and even radically modern. The Cinema Rialto is a fine specimen of the French influence, but
spread all over the town, one finds art and design inspired by various ages and traits. The city boasts of a very refined cultural scene, and various galleries and museums have sprung up, and hosts events and recitals. Being on the Atlantic, gives Casa a wonderful opportunity to use the situation to her advantage. La Cornice, the city’s waterfront, with its cafes, and ocean view restaurants come right out a scene of the French Riviera. One cannot be in Casa and miss the Hassan II Mosque. Designed by a French architect, the mosque commemorates the 60th birthday of King Hassan II. With a minaret rising to 210 metres, the mosque partially stands out in the ocean, and can accommodate 25,000 worshippers inside the dome, and another 80,000 in the courtyards outside. It is the
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third largest mosque in the world, and is topped by a spectacular laser beam shining towards the holy city of Mecca.
Qatar Airways flies to Casablanca from Muscat with a short transit at Doha, with a flight time for a single way at about 6 hours
FEZ The wonderfully preserved medieval capital of Morocco, Fez is famous for being home to the world’s oldest university, the Qarawiyyin University. Fez is the core of the leather industry that makes the name of Morocco generic in the world of leather products. The streets crisscross making it absolutely complex to navigate. They say, that it is easy to lose yourself in the puzzle, wander about, taking in the sights and the smell, and then trying to find your way out with the help of the locals. But as it is the largest non-vehicular zone in the planet, efforts in making way past load bearing donkeys and mules will be consistent. Somewhere tucked in the depths lies the Qarawayyin University. It is the oldest existing educational institution in the world. Basically a centre of higher Islamic studies and Islamic legal sciences, but today it has moved on with times in its curriculum and teaches science and modern subjects as well. The University and its encompassed mosque has been expanded over the centuries till it became the largest in Africa at a point in time, but pales in comparison to the grandeur of similar institutions in Eurasia. The design is austere. The columns and arches are plain white. The floors are covered in reed mats, not lush carpets. Yet the seemingly endless forest of arches creates a sense of infinite majesty, while the simplicity of the design complements the finely decorated niches and outer courtyard. In the midst of the maze lie endless colourful leather-dying pits. Being in Fez and missing out on the Chaouwara Tanneries would be sacrilegious. They compete to be the city’s most iconic sights. It is best to reach early in the morning when the pits are filled with coloured dyes and the technician at hand could possibly give a small idea as to how the process works. Moroccan leather is the best in the world and the prices would be the best as one can get if bought from source. Surrounded by hills, it constrains the expansion of the city. But the views from the hills is spectacular, more so during sunset and after dark. There are two fortresses overlooking the medina, the Borj Nord, and the Borj Sud which are vantage points for having a bird’s eye view of the city of Fez. TANGIER An enthralling gateway to Africa, at the tip of the continent, Tangiers has been a part of many an invasion which each victor tearing the city apart and rebuilding on their own.
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The Grand Socco (the large market place) is an attraction by itself, with a palm tree lined cobblestones walkways and a central fountain. Be it the Kasbah Museum, which archives the history of the locality from ancient times till date, or the Ville Nouvelle with its colonial ambience, or the house where the great explorer Ibn Battuta was born and raised and lived his land years, there are many attractions. Apart these, there are various other places of interest and it needs a couple of days to wade through them and feel the ambience that they have to offer. Short day trips can be absolutely rewarding, be it the Cap Spartel Lighthouse or the Grottes d ‘Hercule. The caves of Hercules carry the myth of Hercules. It is a man-made cave with one side opening to the land and the other to the sea. MARRAKESH The most important of the four imperial cities of Morocco, Marrakesh has stood the tides of time for more than a thousand years. A melting pot of cultures, the name is mystical enough to attract tourists from all over the world. So fascinating has Marrakesh evolved to that it has become home to one of the most glamorous International Film Festivals of the world. The highlight of any Marrakesh visit invariably ends up at the Djemma ElFnaa. Supposedly the busiest square in Africa, it is more like an open air theatre. Always packed with entertainers, from belly dancers, to fire-eaters, acrobats, animal shows, and countless other types of variants. Come dusk, and the whole place evolves to an open air food court. Literally hundreds of stalls fire up their grills and the waft of meat being skewered over fire fill up the place. Declared as “Masterpiece of World Heritage” by UNESCO in 2001, with 1000 years of performances irrespective of weather or political climate, the show goes on heroically in the Djemma El-Fnaa. Marrakesh is a city to engage the senses, to walk through intricately carved archways, through exquisite gardens and ornate mosques. Don’t miss the electricblue Jardin Majorelle villa, which was gifted to Marrakesh by Yves Saint Laurent, to be kept open for the public as the city had adopted him way back in 1964. Apart from this, there are quite a number of museums and galleries of art, the famous Koutoubia Mosque, the ubiquitous Medina, and the Bahia Palace amongst others which can keep one engrossed.
Indranil Chowdhuri is based in Oman and an avid traveller who has completed foot printing in more than 100 countries.
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HI WE E KLY
VOLUME 11 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 8, 2018
ALL I SEE IS YOU
AIYAARY
EARLY MAN
Cast: Blake Lively, Jason Clarke and Ahna O›Reilly
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra ,Manoj Bajpayee, Anupam Kher, Rakul Preet Singh and Naseeruddin Shah.
Cast: Maisie Williams, Tom Hiddleston and Eddie Redmayne
A blind woman’s relationship with her husband changes when she regains her sight and discovers disturbing details about themselves.
What happens when a mentor and former protege get caught in a game of cat and mouse.
Set at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, Early Man tells the story of Dug, along with sidekick Hognob as they unite his tribe against a mighty enemy Lord Nooth and his Bronze Age City to save their home.
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BLACK PANTHER Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan and Lupita Nyong’o Marvel Studios’ ‘Black Panther’ follows T’Challa who, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda’ returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king. But when a powerful old enemy reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king and Black Panther is tested when he is drawn into a formidable conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people and their way of life.
AADHI ( MALAYALAM)
NAACHIYAAR (TAMIL)
Cast: Pranav Mohanlal, Siddique and Jagapathi Babu
Cast: Jyothika and G V Prakash
Aadhi, an aspiring musician, travels to another state in hopes of making it big. While there, an unexpected event leaves him trapped. He is unable to return to his family and runs for his life.
The story was based on the life of psycho killer Jayaprakash, who killed nine of his relatives in the 1980s at Valasaravakkam, Chennai.
COMING SOON
Running at : Vox Cinemas, City Cinemas
TONYA
GAME NIGHT
Cast: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, and Allison Janney
Cast: Jesse Plemons, Rachel McAdams, and Jason Bateman
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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 9 FEBRUARY 15, 2018
Women’s and Men’s Spring-Summer 2018 Runaway Show held at Muscat Bay. Photos Shabin E
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Various linguistic groups of the Indian community in Oman performed at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photos Shabin E.
Members of British School Muscat’s Musical Youth Theatre performed Shakespeare’s play, ‘The Tempest’. Photos Shabin E.
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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 9 FEBRUARY 15, 2018
SUDOKU
HOW TO PLAY Fill empty cells with the numbers 1 to 9, so that each number appears once in each row, column, and area.
Level | Moderate
Level | Easy
7 6
3
1
5
4
1
8
2
6
5
2
8 7
7
4
5
6
3
5
6
1
4
5 3
6 9
1
8
2
4
5
5
7
7
Easy
1
7
3 6
2
6
3 6
7
7 1 5
1
6
8
9
THIS WEEK’S SOLUTIONS
Level | Difficult
8
2
9
4 2
6
8
4 6
4
3
3
9
9
2
1
4 2
5
2
8
5
2
3
9
5
8
8
3
5
2
3
8
7
Medium
1
8
5 5
8
7 Difficult
H I WH I EWEE EKKLYL Y
V O L U M E 1 0 I SVSOULEU7M8 E 1 1 I S S U E 7 J U LY 1 3F , E 20 B 1R7U A R Y 1 , 2 0 1 8
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