RS

HOUF
O T
A
GREDING
RE A

KATE SWAFFER
WE NEED TO RETHINK
DEMENTIA PAGE 32

The Science How Ikea Fever

of Falling Took Over the
in Love World
PAGE 80 PAGE 52

DRAMA The Little Girl

Who Saved Her Family
PAGE 84

Online Dating Stranger Who

Disaster Changed My Life
PAGE 65 PAGE 44

Smart Animals ...................................................... 16

Thats Outrageous!................................................ 97
Puzzles ................................................................. 122
Explore, Interact, Inspire

Available now, everywhere

 Contents FEBRUARY 2017

First Person
32 LIFE BEYOND DEMENTIA
Diagnosed with incurable dementia at age 49,
P. | 38
Kate Swaffer was told to go home and prepare
to die. Nine years on, she continues her fight
for a normal life. AS TO L D TO H E L E N S I G N Y

Inspiration
38 GIVE A GIRL A FISH
From her three year old and a man on the
beach, a young mother learns a lesson in
trust. V I C K I G L E M B O C K I F R O M Q U E ST FO R K I N D N E S S

The Stranger Who Changed My Life

44 SHE WAS MY PROSECUTOR
The unlikely bond between a district attorney
and the hardened gang member she sought
to put away. TO M H A L L M A N F R O M T H E O R E G O N I A N

Consumer Interest
52 HOW IKEA TOOK OVER THE WORLD
The secret to the Swedish giants global
success. B E T H KOW I T T F R O M FO R T U N E
P. | 44
Look Twice
60 SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY
Come to Tasmania for a watery world record.
COVER P HOTOGRAPH BY MEG HANSEN

Crime
65 WHEN AMY MET DUANE ONLINE
For internet scammers, love is the most
powerful bait there is. DOUG SHADEL AND
DAVID DUDLEY F R O M A A R P T H E M AG A Z I N E

Nature
72 ANIMAL PASSION
Consider these wonderful photographic
images, then decide if love exists in the
animal kingdom.

February2017 | 1
 Contents
FEBRUARY 2017

Who Knew?
P. | 72 78 13 THINGS YOUR DREAMS REVEAL
ABOUT YOU
Creative? Conservative? Close to death?
All can be revealed by the character of your
night-time imaginings. MICHELLE CROUCH

Psychology
80 HOW TO FALL IN LOVE
According to science, it takes just 36 questions
and four minutes of staring into each others
eyes. MANDY LEN CATRON F R O M T H E N E W YO R K T I M E S

Drama in Real Life

84 THE LITTLEST HERO
Her mother unconscious at the wheel, her baby
brother panicked and hurt, five-year-old Lexi
stayed calm and went into action. OMAR MOUALLEM
P. | 104 Art of Living
94 WAYS TO GET LUCKY
Four habits to help turn serendipity into sure
things. KAT E R O C KWO O D F R O M H E A LT H .CO M

Travel
98 ROLLING ALONG ON THE WINE TRAIL
What better place for a bike ride than New
Zealands scenic wine region? JA N I E A L L E N

Bonus Read
104 THE BEST HOCKEY PLAYER IN THE
WORLD IS INDIAN
Why youve never heard of Balbir Singh Sr.
PATRICK BLENNERHASSETT FROM A FORGOTTEN LEGEND

2 | February2017
 THE DIGEST
Health
18 Managing dandruff, hearing loss,
fainting spells and medical news
Food
22 Make your own refreshing drinks
Home
24 Banish bad household smells
Travel
26 Ideal cities for the solo traveller
Money
28 Factors that affect creditrating
Pets
30 Unusual furry and feathered
friends that are suitable for kids
Out & About
116 All thats best in books, films,
DVDs and unexpected news

REGULARS
P. | 22
4 Letters
8 Finish This Sentence
10 My Story
14 Kindness of Strangers
16 Smart Animals
91 Quotable Quotes
97 Thats Outrageous!
114 Unbelievable
SEE
124 Puzzles, Trivia & Word Power PAGE 31

CONTESTS
5 Caption and Letter Competition
6 Submit Your Jokes and Stories

HUMOUR
42 Lifes Like That
P. | 92
64 Laughter, the Best Medicine
92 All in a Days Work

February2017 | 3
 Letters
READERS COMMENTS AND OPINIONS

Feline Road Sense

On reading your story on the
traffic-savvy cat (Smart Animals,
October), I thought I must tell
you that I, too, have seen this
behaviour by a cat. The first time
I saw my cat Bungi stop and look
from left to right before crossing the
street I found it hard to believe. But after I saw this happen a few
times, I realised it was not a one-off. No-one has ever believed me
so it was very satisfying to read your story. MASIE SMITH

Safety in the Sun died eight years ago. My grandfather

While I do not dispute the damaging was a wonderful man. He loved me,
effects of the sun, your article Cell By took care of me, and we played and
Cell (November) encourages people ate together. UROOJ FATIMA

to avoid the sun entirely, thus fore-

going the benefits of sun exposure, Words to Dwell On
including stronger bones, and relief I read with interest your filler at
from certain skin conditions such as the bottom of page 64 (Beginnings,
eczema. One should practice sun October) regarding the only four
safety instead of shunning the sun commonly used words in English
altogether. PIAN SA that begin with dw. In our family
we also occasionally use the
On My Mind following words that start with
Coming Out to dw: dwale (deadly
Grandma (My Story, nightshade), dwalm
November) had me in
LET US KNOW (fainting spell), and
If you are moved or dwine (to waste
tears. Reading the story, provoked by any item
I really missed my in the magazine, share away, pine).
grandfather a lot. He your thoughts. See HANS-HEINRICH WEISS
page 6 for how to join
the discussion.
4 | February2017
 Travelling North
I enjoyed reading Leader of the Pack
(November). I have been wondering
what it would be like to be part of a
travelling experience at the top end of
Australia. Robert Skinner opened my
eyes to every detail I had wondered
about. And I loved the colourful Plumbing the Depths
photographs, with which you always We asked you to think up a funny
frame each story. LYNNE MARIE AMBROSE caption for this photo.
Help! Im bowled over.
Owning Up AZEEZAH JAMEELAH MOHAMED
I agree with your article Thats An
I am trying to go with the ow!!!
Awful Idea (October) that the CEDRIC FOO (10 YRS OLD)
medical profession should admit to its
mistakes. I disagree this would lead Yahoo. I found the blockage, can you
give me a hand out?! JOHN STOFMEIL
to more litigation. When a surgeon
suggested that he was in the clear Hate your partner? Try our new
because a mere mortal like me could VacuFlush. FELIX HENG

not question his judgement, I sued Raise your hand, if you like this toilet
him and won. Had he apologised, humour. KHER CHENG GUAN
Iwould have let the matter rest. Congratulations to this months
MARIE PINSDALE winner, Kher Cheng Guan.

WIN
!
WIN A PILOT CAPLESS
FOUNTAIN PEN
The best letter published each
month will win a Pilot Capless
fountain pen, valued at over
$200. The Capless is the
perfect combination of luxury
and ingenious technology,
featuring a one-of-a-kind
retractable fountain pen nib,
CAPTION CONTEST
durable metal body, beautiful
Come up with the funniest
PHOTOS: iSTOCK

rhodium accents and a

14K gold nib. Congratulations caption for the above photo
to this months winner, and you could win $100. To
Hans-Heinrich Weiss. enter, see the details on page 6.

February2017 | 5
 Vol. 192
CONTRIBUTE
No. 1141 FOR DIGITAL EXTRAS AND
February 2017 SOCIAL MEDIA INFO, SEE PAGE 29.

Anecdotes and jokes

EDITORIAL Send in your real-life laugh for
Editorial Director Lynn Lewis
Lifes Like That or All in a Days
Managing Editor Louise Waterson
Work. Got a joke? Send it in for
Deputy Chief Subeditor Melanie Egan
Designer Luke Temby Digital Editor Laughter is the Best Medicine!
& Humour Editor Greg Barton Associate Smart Animals
Editor Victoria Polzot Senior Editor Share antics ofunique pets or
Samantha Kent Contributing Editors wildlife in up to 300words.
Hazel Flynn, Helen Signy
Kindness of Strangers
PRODUCTION & MARKETING Share your moments of
Production Manager Balaji Parthsarathy
generosity in 100500 words.
Marketing Manager Gala Mechkauskayte
My Story
Do you have an inspiring or
ADVERTISING life-changing tale to tell?
Group Advertising & Retail Sales Director, Submissions must be true,
Asia Pacic Sheron White Advertising Sales unpublished, original and
Manager Darlene Delaney 8001000 words see website
formore information.
REGIONAL ADVERTISING CONTACTS
Asia Sheron White, [email protected]
Australia Darlene Delaney, Letters to the editor, caption
[email protected] competition and other
reader submissions
New Zealand Debbie Bishop,
[email protected] Online
Follow the Contribute link at the
RD website in your region, or via:
PUBLISHED BY READERS DIGEST
(AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD
Email
Managing Director/Publisher AU: [email protected]
Walter Beyleveldt NZ: [email protected]
Director Lance Christie Asia: [email protected]
We may edit submissions and use them
in all media. See website for full terms
READERS DIGEST ASSOCIATION, INC (USA) and conditions.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Bonnie Kintzer
Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, TO SERVE YOU BETTER
OUR PRIVACY STATEMENT
International Brian Kennedy Readers Digest collects your information to provide
Editor-in-Chief, International Magazines our products and services and may also use your
information for the marketing purposes of RD and/
Raimo Moysa or selected corporate partners. If the information is
not provided you will be unable to access our
products or services. Our Privacy Policy at the
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THROUGHOUT THE Readers Digest website in your region contains full
details on how your information is used (including
WORLD. REPRODUCTION IN ANY MANNER
how we may share your information with our affiliate
IN WHOLE OR PART IN ENGLISH OR OTHER companies in the US or other overseas entities), how
LANGUAGES PROHIBITED you may access or correct information held and our
privacy complaints process.

6 | February2017
 Editors Note
Navigating a New Way
IM DEVOTED TO OFFERING READERS surprising insights into how
to navigate through challenging experiences. Theres no doubting that
being diagnosed with dementia is life-changing. Globally, more than
47.5 million people live with the condition, with countless families and
friends directly impacted. Sometimes, its difficult to know what to say
to someone with dementia; we worry that our questions might offend
or confuse. So perhaps we withdraw, phone less often, maybe cut short
visits. Worse still, unlike almost every other serious condition, we stop
asking them how they feel. How do we know what someone with
dementia is thinking? It can feel like theres an invisible line between
us and them that can be hard to cross.
So when the chance arose to meet Kate Swaffer,
adynamic academic and mother, who was
diagnosed with dementia at age 49, contributing
editor Helen Signy and I were both eager.
This months cover story, Life Beyond
Dementia (page 32), is personal for me, asitis
for millions of individuals and their families and
friends. Kates response is an honest, lucid and
humorous account of what dementia feels like.
Her strength and achievements shout a clear
message that there is most definitely life
beyond a diagnosis of dementia.

LOUISE WATERSON
Managing Editor

February2017 | 7
FINISH THIS SENTENCE

Stuck in a job that

If I Could isnt you? RD readers
tell us what theyd
Change really like to do

Careers
Id Be a life educator
to set up
teenagers
to succeed.
a professional BRUCE WADDELL,
singer because Perth, WA

singing and
performing bring
me much inner
happiness and
fulfilment.
JEANETTE STUBBS, Perth, WA

a politician
because they get an animal foster carer
a big salary and because I like helping
a good pension. animals and giving them
BETTY DAY, Thornlie, WA a second chance.
JENNIFER BROADHEAD, Berriedale, Tas

8 | February2017
 a farmer and
grow nice food a creative
for others to be linguistics
more healthy. illustrator
STEVE MUSSON,
Barcaldine, Qld
because it would
combine my love
of words and art.
ILSE VAN STADEN,
Gladstone, Qld

a bed tester
because I love to
laze around.
WILLIAM WALSH,
Bundaberg, Qld

a midwife
because I love the
thought of the a ships
whole experience.
RENNIE CAMERON, captain
Grafton, NSW
because I
love the sea.
G. POWELL, Sydney, NSW

a photographer so I could
record history.
JUDY ANDERSON, Langwarrin, Vic

February2017 | 9
MY STORY

Playing with
the Wind
A 15-year-old paraglider confronts the unpredictable
BY DE I RD R E V E N E R AC I ON

Deirdre Veneracion is I AM FALLING. I see the canopy of my paraglider directly

a tenth grader. She in front of me. It is not catching enough wind to stay
was born and raised overhead. My dad is behind me on his paraglider and
in Manila, in the I hear him on the radio shouting, Keep the wing flying!
Philippines, where she
Im about 60 m over a rice field with two water buffalo
currently lives. She
loves outdoor
grazing below. This has never happened to me before
adventures and has I am terrified. I struggle hard not to give in to panic.
also tried scuba My name is Deirdre Veneracion. I am 15 years old and
diving, sailing, rock I am a licensed paraglider pilot. Ive been paragliding
climbing, motorcycle since I was 11.
riding, skydiving, My dad and I arrive at our local fly site in San Mateo,
windsurfing and Rizal, on a June morning. We meet our instructor, along
kayaking.
with a few fellow paraglider pilots and spend the first 20
minutes observing the weather and wind cycles. There
are a few cloud patches in the sky and the wind is coming
from the south-west, locally termed Habagat. During
Habagat, the weather is usually wet and unstable and
difficult to predict but today seems like a beautiful day to
fly. I unpack and lay my wing on the ground. I am looking
forward to playing with the wind.
I go through my pre-flight procedures. I check my lines
to ensure they are free from tangles, put on my harness
and helmet, turn on my radio and test it is working.
Now is a good time! my instructor yells to me. I start

10 | February2017
 to lift my wing directly above my head, I feel the consistent, gentle breeze
check my brake lines again, and put on my wing and on my face. I see birds
all my weight forward. I charge to the flying by my side and cant help but
edge of the cliff towards the horizon. say to myself, Wow! I look up and
At last, I take a step and feel the say, Thank you. I have done almost
ground beneath me fall away. I feel the 100 flights and yet every flight amazes
pressure of my weight on the canopy, me just as much or maybe even more
then I lean back and relax. I see a than my first. I love the unpredictability
winding mountain road and some of each flight. Every flight is different.
small figures that could be cyclists After 15 minutes more, I decide to land.
riding along. Now, Im quite far from Now, Im over a rice field. It is a
where I took off. much smaller landing than most
After 15 minutes of playing with the landing zones but its possible. I know
wind, my father radios me from the this because Ive landed here three
cliff where he is about to take off. or four times before. Out of nowhere,
Hows the wind? I feel my canopy become unstable it
Perfect! I respond. loses pressure and falls directly in front
Dad takes off behind me and he finds of me. I am falling, I can feel it. I have
P HOTO: iSTOCK

a ridge lift, a wind that is deflected butterflies in my stomach. I pull my

upwards by a slope that gliders ride brake line, in the hope that my wing
like a wave to gain altitude. He stays will regain pressure but it doesnt
on it to achieve maximum height. respond. I am now at the edge of

February2017 | 11
M Y STO RY

panic. I hear my dad is fine and has safely

shouting, Keep the wing landed some distance
flying! I look towards away. My heart is still
him and see that he is racing. Local villagers
also in trouble. Its as if gather to check on me
we were inside a washing but, surprisingly, I am
machine being tossed up unscathed.
and down, tumbling Two children climb up
from left to right. I face to the roof to untangle my
the wind with almost full wing, and help me pack
pressure on my speed It s as if we my canopy. They lead me
bar to try to penetrate it. were inside a to a dirt road where I walk
Im ready to land but Im washing machine for about 15 minutes to
not descending. I try
making quick, shallow
being tossed up meet my dad. I am never
more relieved to see my
turns to help me lose and down, dad smiling at me. Our
height but nothing works. tumbling from fellow paraglider pilots
Now Im facing the left to right pick us up, and from the
wind, but I look down expression on their faces,
and realise that the they expect to find us
ground beneath me is moving towards badly hurt. I can hear their sighs of
me. The wind is blowing faster than relief as they approach us.
the speed of my wing. I am flying This is one of those times when we
backwards! I wont make it to the are reminded that no amount of
landing zone in front of me. Directly preparation can prevent Mother
beneath me are sharp bamboo Nature from surprising us. With this
clumps. Behind me is a two-storey in mind, I know I will not stop flying.
P HOTO COURTESY OF DEI RDRE VENERACI ON
poultry farm and to my right is a As a quote attributed to one of the
narrow stream with barely any water fathers of flight, Leonardo da Vinci,
in it. I make my decision: the narrow says, Once you have tasted flight, you
stream is my best chance of landing will forever walk the Earth with your
safely. I look behind and make final eyes turned skyward, for there you
adjustments. There is an area that have been and there you will always
would exactly fit my wing with a tiny long to return.
bit of clearance on both sides.
As I touch down, my wing snags on Do you have a tale to tell?
the roof of the poultry farm. I remove Well pay cash for any original and
my harness and grab my radio. I check unpublished story we print. See page
on my dad and am glad to hear that he 6 for details on how to contribute.

12 | February2017
 Hours of great
reading!
SAVE

U RS
HOOF
AT
GREDING
50%
OR 12 ISSUES
FO
R A
E

KATE SWAFFER
K
WE NEED TO RETHIN Th worlds
The
DEMENTIA PAGE 32
best-loved
The Science How Ikea Fever magazine
of Falling Took Over the
in Love
PAGE 80
World
PAGE 52 Dont miss out.
D
l
DR AM A The Little Gir Each issue
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Who Saved 84 r Fam ily
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Stranger Who
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Disaster Changed My Life rreal-life drama,
PAGE 44
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Smart Animals ..............

...................................
..... 16
laughs and
Thats Outrageous!.......
Puzzles
...................................

...................................
...... 97

.............................. 122
innspiring stories

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KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

I thought Id have to sleep under a tree or in a ditch

BY STAN FOSTER

Stan Foster, 84, RECENTLY I HAVE BEEN REMINDED of the very

lives in Auckland, unexpected generosity and kindness I once experienced
New Zealand. on a hitchhiking trip through New Zealand.
Now retired, he
In 1981, I decided to visit my girlfriend, who lived in
worked in the
building industry. Napier, and since I was short of money, hitchhiking was
He is interested in the only way to go. Leaving Auckland fairly early in the
natural health morning, carrying only a small backpack, I set off by bus
and nutrition and to the entrance of the Southern Motorway. I soon got lifts,
enjoys reading. and most were short, but nevertheless I was on my way.
I enjoyed the friendly conversation and was lucky enough
to have made some distance by dusk.
As I walked along a tree-lined country road, I wondered
where I would spend the night. It was summer and the
weather was warm so I thought I could sleep in a dry
ditch or under a tree. An elderly gentleman greeted me
and asked me where I was headed, interrupting my
thoughts. I replied that I was hoping to get to the next
town, Op-o-tiki.
He laughed and asked if I meant Opotiki. Being English,
I was not familiar with the correct pronunciation and
sheepishly replied that I was. You wont get there before

14 | February2017
 dark, he said. So come with me and My host was a retired sea captain, and
we will put you up for the night. he told me that he was used to being
Opotiki was a further 25 km away, up early and would wake me.
so I followed him to a comfortable, In the morning I woke to a cup of
warm house nearby. He introduced tea and a nice hot breakfast. I began
me to his wife who was in the process saying goodbye and thanking them
of preparing dinner. They invited profusely for their kindness, when
me to sit at the table and before too the lady handed me a wrapped-up
long I was enjoying a nice cup of tea sandwich, saying that it should keep
followed by a hearty beef casserole. me going until I reached Opotiki.
After dinner we all chatted for a We had a laugh and bid each other
while about where I was from and farewell. I have never forgotten their
how I was finding Auckland and then amazing kindness and magnanimity.
P HOTO: iSTOCK

I was shown to my room: an old bus

Share your story about a small act of
that was parked in the back garden. kindness that made a huge impact.
It had a double bed in it and I had Turn to page 6 for details on how to
avery comfortable nights sleep. contribute and earn cash.

February2017 | 15
 Smart Animals
Sometimes they need a little loving care themselves

Lucky Ducks
WINIFRED BASS
Many years ago, we lived
on a property just south of
Rockhampton, Queensland. We
kept fowls and also had about
20 Muscovy ducks. A large, very
old gum tree grew near the road
in the gully to the side of our
house. The tree had a branch
about eight metres up with a
large hollow that one of our
ducks decided would make an
ideal nesting place. She laid her
eggs in the hollow and began
to sit on them. We knew when
the eggs were expected to hatch
but wondered how to get the
ducklings down.
From the kitchen window,
I had an uninterrupted view of
the gum tree and kept watch.
One morning, I saw a
I LLUSTRATED BY EDWI NA KEEN E

butcherbird on a fence post

hitting something yellow that
was perched on it it was killing
a duckling. I raced down to the
fence just in time to save the
next duckling as it floated down.
One by one, the ducklings
tottered on the edge of the
hollow before drifting down into

16 | February2017
my outstretched armss. The He has saved mme
butcherbird caught no more from aggresssive
little ducklings that daay and dogs on
Imanaged to save eigght. numerou us
Mother Duck flew d down from occasions.
the tree once her ducklings had Once wwe
been safely evacuated d. We were comming
settled them in a pen that out of the
my father had made wetlands when n
until they were old two big Germaan
enough to join the shepherds bore
other ducks. down on us. As I tried
d to
get Gomez out of the wayy,
For Gomez the dogs made for me. I neednt have
h
LESTER OBRIEN worried, though, because within a
Our dog, Gomez, follows the suns minute my little mate had grabbed
warmth. For now, his favourite spot one and sent the other squealing off
to lie is near the car, looking up at into the distance. Hes always been
me bravely from between his paws. protective of me and he preened
Icant say the word walk to him himself after any incident. When the
any longer he gets too excited and owner of the German shepherds
falls over a few times before he is abused me for not having my dog on
able to stagger over to me. He has a leash, Gomez and I gave each other
a neurological problem, a suspected a knowing look and both had a giggle.
brain tumour, that has been getting He can read me, knows when to play
progressively worse over the last and when to back off and I know
few months. when he needs a break from me.
As he falls over again and again, Now Gomezs time is nearly up.
hegives me that look as if to say, From the way he looks at me he
What is going on, dude? Each time, knows I cant help him, but hes OK
I tear up. Gomez, a tan and white with that. Hes content as long as my
American Staffie, has been my mate wife and I continue to cuddle him
for 11years. He has even managed and give him a good rub on the
towin over my wife and shes not tummy. Hes taught me what it is
really a dog person. tobe brave and Ill miss him.
I used to walk him for at least an
hour each day; wed go off and You could earn cash by telling us about the
explore the nearby lake, run around antics of unique pets or wildlife. Turn to
the oval or check out the local shops. page 6 for details on how to contribute.

February2017 | 17
 THE DIGEST
HEALTH

How to Get Rid

of Dandruff
Take control of those unsightly akes
Our skin is designed to shed old skin the scalp, or of other areas of the skin.
cells and grow new ones. Dandruff, While you might associate dandruff
however, is a kink in this assembly- with a dry, flaking scalp, it is actually
line process, causing old skin cells caused by excess oiliness, explains
on the scalp to build up and clump dermatologist Dr Charlene Linzon.
into the unsightly flakes that land on
your favourite black shirt. About half
of the adult population will suffer
from a flaky scalp at some point.
Factors that may contribute to
dandruff include seborrheic
dermatitis, dry skin and
certain skin conditions.
Seborrheic dermatitis
is a skin condition
marked by large
PHOTO: iSTOCK

yellow scales, redness

and inflammation of

Over-the-counter remedies
should take about a month to
work, says pharmacist Debra
Sibbald. Thats how long it
takes for skin cell turnover

18 | February
 Malassezia has been
associated with dandruff
The culprit here is a
common group of yeasts oil production.
called Malassezia that Thankfully, you can
grow on everyone, and it usually get this problem
feeds on oil from the scalp, under control with over-the-
Linzon says. counter (OTC) products. Start by
What tips the scale in dandruffs shampooing your scalp frequently
favour depends on the individual: with a medicated shampoo to reduce
how much oil your scalp produces, oiliness. Here are your choices.
and how vigorously the yeast grows. 1. ANTIFUNGALS The active
The yeast breaks down scalp ingredients in these are zinc
oil, leaving behind a by-product pyrithione, selenium sulphide and
[unsaturated fatty acid] that causes ketoconazole. They slow down the
the flaking associated with dandruff, growth of the yeast that causes the
and the irritation, inflammation flaking and scaling.
and scaling that define seborrheic 2. COAL TAR The active ingredient
dermatitis, says Linzon. in this product slows skin cell
Dandruff is also more likely to turnover, and also works as an anti-
develop at certain stages of life, such inflammatory, says Linzon.
as in infancy (called cradle cap), and 3. SALICYLIC ACID These shampoos
around puberty, when oil (sebum) boast a keratolytic agent, which
secretion increases, providing more helps to loosen and dislodge scales,
food for yeast. Stress also increases explains Linzon.

How you use dandruff products can affect how well they ght akes.
Dr Charlene Linzon offers these tips

QSwitch products regularly, 20 to 30 minutes (once every

alternating between two or three couple of weeks).
kinds. For example, you could use, QUse more frequently. Labels
say, Nizoral one day and Head & usually suggest using a shampoo
Shoulders the next; or alternate twice weekly, but daily use is helpful
every second or third time you for some. (Just watch for hair
shampoo. breakage and dryness signs that
QLeave shampoo on long enough youre overdoing it.)
to do its job ve to ten minutes, Q Consult a GP or dermatologist
or, for a more intensive treatment, ifyou have no relief after a month.

February2017 | 19
HEALTH

NEWS FROM THE

World of Medicine
Just Say I Can Do It Caution to Daily Pill Takers
When over 44,000 volunteers played People with conditions requiring a
an online game against a computer, regular pill routine sometimes
those who were asked to use self- experience adverse effects when they
talk (eg, telling themselves I can first try using a pill organiser, a UK
beat my best score) and imagery study found. The probable cause: if
(eg, imagining playing well) excelled they had been forgetting to take their
beyond the control group, suggesting pills before using the organiser, they
that psychological skills are of real may not have been getting expected
use in competitive situations. results, so their doctors increased the
amount prescribed. Once they take
Nearly Half of Heart their medicine properly, they may
Attacks Are Silent end up with too much in their system,
Heart attacks dont always present leading to incidents such as falls or
with symptoms. An article in the low blood glucose.
journal Circulation found that around
45 per cent of them go unnoticed New Tummy Trouble Culprit
initially. The damage is discovered A slower passage of food through the
only later, when patients large intestine seems to
undergo an MRI or an ECG increase the amount of
during a check-up or harmful metabolites
after showing signs of produced along the
poor heart health. way, according to
Silent attacks triple Danish research. This
the risk of eventually may raise the risk of
dying from heart colorectal cancer and
PHOTO: A DA M VOORHES

disease, so once chronic renal disease.

theyre detected, they Eating a fibre-rich
should be aggressively diet, drinking lots of
treated with blood water, and exercising
pressure control and are all ways of
lifestyle changes. speeding it up.

20 | February2017
 What to Do When
Someone Faints BY DR JAMES HUBBARD

No matter the cause of fainting, if again, let the symptoms subside, and
someone suddenly appears sweaty slowly try once more.
or has a vacant look in her eyes, If the person is able to sit up for a
suggest she sit down and bend over few minutes and eventually stand,
so her head is lower than her chest. the cause is likely vasovagal
If shes willing, lying down is even (associated with a temporary fall in
better. If she starts to fall, try helping blood pressure), especially if you can
her down so she wont get hurt. pinpoint a trigger, such as a fright or
Never keep her upright, because the sight of blood. If youre not sure
this may continue to keep blood its vasovagal, call emergency
from getting to the brain. Once the services or a doctor.
head is as low as or lower than the
heart, the victim should regain WHEN IT MAY BE DANGEROUS
consciousness, albeit probably in a Often, the likely reason for the
groggy state. fainting is pretty obvious, such as
H
Have her
h stay
t ini that
th t position
iti for
f if the person has lost a lot of blood
several minutes until the fainting or is dehydrated from vomiting.
symmptoms subside. Check her However, there are some
pulse and blood pressure if red ags that indicate that
you u have a cuff. Make sure something serious is going
on and that expert treatment
theyre normal before she
is needed. These include
triees to get up. Let her sit sudden onset; heart
for a few minutes, and if palpitations; passing out
there are no symptoms, while exercising; severe
shee could slowly try to headaches;
stan nd. excruciating back
If the fainting or stomach pain;
PHOTO: iSTOCK

symmptoms and double

vision.
recur, help
herr lower
herrself

Feb
bruary2017 | 21
FOOD

DRINKS
Making your own
refreshing drinks is easy.
As you control what goes
into them, you can ensure
they are healthier than
commercially made ones

Melon
Refresher
Preparation 10 minutes
Serves 2 (makes 2 cups/500 ml)

honeydew melon (about 400 g)

1 tablespoon firmly packed,
roughly chopped fresh mint
2 teaspoons elderflower or lime
cordial
1 cup (250 ml) sparkling mineral
Preparation 10 minutes
water
Serves 2 (makes about 2 cups/500 ml)
Remove skin and seeds from
melon. Roughly chop the esh. 1 ruby red or pink Remove skin and all
Put melon, mint, cordial and grapefruit the white pith from
2 tablespoons tap water in a 1 lime grapefruit. Chop esh
blender. Process until smooth. and discard any seeds.
cup (125 g) Repeat with the lime.
Pour into 2 serving glasses. natural (plain)
Slowly top up with mineral water Put all the ingredients
yoghurt in a blender and
and stir to combine.
2 teaspoons honey process until smooth.
PER SERVING PER SERVING
276 kJ, 66 kcal, 1 g protein, <1 g fat 443 kJ, 106 kcal, 4 g protein, 2 g fat (1 g saturated fat),
(<1gsaturated fat), 14 g carbohydrate 17 g carbohydrate (14 g sugars), 1 g bre, 41 mg sodium
(13g sugars), 2 g bre, 97 mg sodium

22 | February2017
 Creeamy Chai
1c (250 ml) milk
Preparation
3 cardamom pods, bruised
5 minutes,
with a rolling pin
plus 10 minutes
1 cinnamo
on stick standing
QUICK DRINK teaspoo
on ground ginger Cooking
5 minutes
Berr 4 cloves
4 pepperccorns Serves 2
Nic 2t oons tea leaves
(makes 2 cups ml

Put 7 2 teas s honey

frozen berries,
Combin ne milk with 1 cup
ras rri straw s or (250 ml) water, cardamom,
blueberries, and cup cinnamon, ginger, cloves
5 m apple ce in a and pepp percorns in a small
blende nd process until saucepan. Bring slowly to the
smooth. Pour into 2 serving boil over medium-low heat. Ass
P HOTOS: (BLEN DER, BERRIES ) iSTOCK. REC IPES READERS DIGEST P TY LTD

glasses and top with mineral soon as it boils, turn off the heat and add
water, sparkling or still. the tea leaves. Leave to stand 10 minutes.
Stir in the honey, then pour through a mesh
strainer into a warmed serving jug.
Fresh or Frozen?
Its good to know that
frozen berries are just as
high in antioxidants as
fresh berries. Dont thaw
the berries before blending,
as the iciness adds a
pleasant texture.

PER SERVING
494 kJ, 118 kcal, 4 g protein, 5 g fat (3 g saturated fat),
14 g carbohydrate (12 g sugars), 1 g bre, 56 mg sodium

February2017 | 23
HOME

How to Banish Bad

Smells from Your Home
Whether you moved somewhere steam the carpets, curtains, drapes,
new and are dealing with someone and upholstered furniture. Walls also
elses leftover odours or you live with absorb smoke, unfortunately. You can
a smell factory (like a litter box or a implement the technique experts use
smoker), there are ways to deal with in buildings that have absorbed smoke
a malodorous situation aside from a from fires: seal the walls and ceilings
clothes peg on your nose. with shellac or a shellac-based primer
this helps lock in the odour and
SMOKE IS A KILLER Tobacco smoke then repaint. If your landlord is top
is a particularly stubborn smell. If you notch, you may be able to get him or
are the
he smoker and you continue to her to pay for it.
smokke in the house, you will not be
able to remove the scent completely,
but an electric air purifier can help.
If a smoky essence has been left by
a preevious tenant, you can freshen
thinggs up with a thorough cleaning.
Its not easy, though, and you might
havee to bring in a professional to

Scooping out
alitter box
daily and
changing the
litter twice
a week will
help keep you
and your cat
happy

24 | February2017
 WHAT CANT COFFEE DO? Have by mildew, which thrives in areas
you ever been to a perfume store? with prolonged moisture. If you want
You may have noticed that they keep to prevent it from growing in your
jars of coffee on hand to keep the bathroom, get the air circulating when
air from being overwhelmed with all that post-shower steam is in the
competing smells by absorbing them. air. A dehumidifier or an exhaust fan
This is a much better way to deal with will do it. Also hang your damp towels
smells than trying to mask them with separately so they can dry thoroughly.
other smells. Coffee can absorb your
household odours, too. Keep an open WET TOWEL SOLUTION Speaking
can of coffee near the cats litter box or of, ugh, wet-towel smell, heres how
in the corner of the laundry room, and to get that particular odour out: mix
your nose will thank you. equal parts of Borax and laundry soap
and pour the mixture into the washing
DONT EVEN LET THE STINK machine with the towels. Start the
HAPPEN Better than dealing with an water, and then pause the cycle to let
odour, of course, is preventing it from the towels (or clothing or shoes) soak
happening in the first place. One of for about 20 minutes before you run
the most common stinks is caused the machine on the regular cycle.
FROM DONT SCREW IT UP! 2013. BY LAURA LEE. PUBLISHED BY READERS DIGEST

DONT CLEAN YOUR HOUSE TO DEATH

There are many commercial cleaners available for mild dew and
grime. You may be tempted to mix these chemicals to ogether
when youre dealing with stubborn lth that no single product
is curing, but this is the biggest mistake you can make. Certain
cleaning agents, such as bleach and ammonia, are gre eat on their BLEAC
CH
own, but they can have deadly chemical reactions whe en mixed.
Most people have heard not to mix straight ammonia and a
bleach the gas can iname your airways and damage e the
AMMONIA
lining of your lungs but they might not read the label of
P HOTOS: iSTOCK

that great toilet cleanser and the fantastic toilet scrub or

know that the chemicals in them, when mixed togethe er, can
create potentially deadly chlorine gas.

February2017 | 25
TRAVEL

A night street market in Hoi An,

Vietnam, provides vivid colour

Ideal Cities for

the Solo Traveller BY MARIA BARILLARO

Whether youre looking to experience AUCKLAND, New Zealand

adventure or escape into peace and Auckland is known for being one
quiet, a getaway on your own might of the friendliest cities in the world,
be for you. The beauty of solo travel is according to surveys by Cond Nast
that you can choose what you want to Traveler, so the single traveller will feel
see and when. Here are some of the right at home. An affordable city with
safest cities in the world guaranteed to lots to see, such as the Civic Theatre,
meet the solo travellers needs. the Sky Tower and the harbour
foreshore, Auckland is a wonderful
HOI AN, Vietnam When travelling place to visit on your own.
alone, people tend to form new
friendships more easily and Hoi An VIENNA, Austria One of Europes
P HOTOS: iSTOCKP HOTO

is a great place to do so. The city finest and most beautiful cities,
offers up the best of everything: Vienna has so much to offer, you
beaches, historical landmarks, lavish cant possibly get bored. You can
hotels and more. With so much to do opt for amuseum tour, a morning
and so many friendly locals to meet, exploring historic St. Stephens
youll never feel lonely. Cathedral, acruise of the Danube, or

26 | February2017
visit St. Anton, known for being
the best ski party city in Europe.

NAPA, California While many

consider Napa to be a romantic
destination for two, its also
an attractive spot for the solo
traveller. With its beautiful
vineyards, Napa is the perfect
getaway from the everyday, St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna
where you can enjoy fine wines
and five-star accommodation.
Many hotels are equipped with private from most hotels along the beach.
pools and lounging areas, so you can Single travellers may also enjoy taking
enjoy a relaxing environment. some surfing or kayaking lessons.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Travelling SYDNEY, Australia In case there

alone here will allow you the luxury of werent enough reasons to visit
soaking in the beautiful and peaceful Sydney (historical landmarks,
surroundings, affordable luxury hotels beautiful sights, beaches, botanical
and fine cuisine, without worrying gardens, and more), its also a safe
for your personal safety. Plus, the city spot to visit solo. Mild temperatures,
is rich in architecture, magnificent fine restaurants and a fantastic
mosques and historic sites. nightlife for singles are a few more
bonuses to visiting this amazing city.
LAHAINA, Hawaii Located in West
Maui, Lahaina is a perfect destination SINGAPORE As Singapore is one
for the single traveller. Hawaii is of the safest cities in the world, it is
considered a safe place to visit, and ideal for a solo escapade. Theres no
not only are the beaches serene and shortage of good hotels and the locals
beautiful, but there is no shortage and hotel staff are known for their
of adult-only resorts for guaranteed friendly nature. Take a walk through
relaxation. A plethora of five-star Chinatown, spend a day at Jurong Bird
hotels offer beach access, private Park, hit the shops on Orchard Road
pools and spa amenities. Shopping or simply watch the world go by at
and fine dining are only a skip away Clarke Quay.

February2017 | 27
MONEY

What Factors Can Affect

My Credit Rating? BY MARIANNE CURPHEY

Paying bills late or forgetting to pay proof that you have a fixed address
off the minimum amount on your and you are who you say you are. The
credit card each month wont just electoral role is often used to verify
land you in financial hot water. It an applicants identity. If there is no
might even affect the amount of credit record of where you live lenders will
you will be able to receive in the view you less favourably because their
future. policy is to combat identity fraud.

WHY DOES MY CREDIT RATING DO YOU HAVE A CREDIT HISTORY?

MATTER? Failing to pay your bills on Not having any credit contracts, be
time can end up being recorded on they credit or store cards, mobile
your credit rating and that could affect phone contracts or other regular
the way lenders view you when you payments, can count against you.
make a new credit application. Even if
you succeed in securing a new credit
card or other form of credit, you u may
have to pay a higher interest rate than
someone with a perfect credit reecord.
For example, a report by Cranffield
Business School in the UK estim mated
that a household might have to pay an
extra 1000 a year for utility billss,
mobile phones, finance, car loaans
and broadband due to a poor rating.
ILLUSTRATION: iSTOCK

Here are the top eight factors

that influence a lenders decisio on.

ARE YOU ON THE ELECTORAL

ROLL? Make sure you have your
current address registered. It is

28 | February2017
By having some form of credit and write to the credit agency and put
paying it off in full at the end of the right any mistakes.
month you are demonstrating that
you can handle repayments and that DO YOU HAVE SEVERAL CREDIT
you dont default. CARDS WITH HIGH LIMITS? If you
have a lot of potential credit this may
DO YOU PAY YOUR BILLS ON TIME? count against you, even if you dont
Its important to be prompt not just actually use it. Thats because lenders
in paying off your credit card bills, are concerned that if the credit facility
but also mortgage and utility bills, is available it means you could use it
too. Aseries of missed payments will all if you needed to.
sound alarm bells for lenders, so make
sure you at least pay off the minimum DO YOU BORROW CLOSE TO YOUR
amount each month and seek help if CREDIT LIMIT ON A REGULAR
your bills are getting out of control. BASIS? Its best to try to avoid
carrying a balance on your credit
WHAT INFORMATION IS ON YOUR cards that is more than 75 per cent of
CREDIT REPORT? The only way to your credit limit on each of your cards.
obtain this information is to contact a Lenders may worry that if you have
local credit reference agency (Google too much debt you might not be able
credit reference agency). Its a good to keep up with any new repayments.
idea to apply for a copy of your credit
report to gain an overview of your HAVE YOU MADE A LOT OF
financial commitments and see APPLICATIONS FOR CREDIT
exactly what a lender sees. RECENTLY? Each credit application
search by a lender will leave a
IS THE INFORMATION CORRECT? footprint on your credit report. Too
A credit report lists all your credit many searches in a short space of time
commitments. It may list your credit can be perceived by lenders as you
and store cards in detail, showing over-stretching yourself financially,
balances and payments for the past or even financial desperation, and
12 months. Lenders may also be able could affect your ability to get credit.
to see the lending terms, outstanding Applying for more than four forms of
balance and monthly payments credit in a year or applying for more
towards your mortgage, and the status than one credit product at a time can
of your current account. You can count against you.

February2017 | 29
 PETS

Zebra finches

Not Your are great low-

maintenance
pets in a small
Run-of-the package

Mill Pet
Looking for a morre interesting friend for the kids than the usual budgie or
guinea pig? Heree arre some slightly more unusual pets suitable
able for child
children

ZEBRA FINCH These h songbirds come Chinchillas dont do well in high

in a variety of colours and markings, humidity. They are rather shy and will
including black-breasted, penguin and need an older and more patient child
yellow beak. Zebra nches are who will handle them carefully and is
sociable and you will need to bring at committed to them for their ten- to
least two home with you. They need 20-year lifespan. Chinchillas do better
regular exercise outside their cage and in twos if you dont have a lot of time
will sleep soundly at night with the to devote to interacting with them.
rest of the family. Or you could build Keeping chinchillas is illegal in
an aviary outside and let your birds Australia, but is permitted in New
exercise as they please. They need Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, the
stimulating
i l i toys to keep
k them
h hap
h py Philippines and many other countries.
and a gentle touch,
touch so that they wo ont
bite through stress. ANT FARM There are many different
types of ants (22,000 species to be
CHINCHILLA ThisT precise) with differing requirements.
quiet and odourle ess The common black garden ant would
rodent can be e an
n be more suitable for younger children
affectionate as they dont sting and are low
addition to yoour maintenance.
family. The chinchilla
needs a cool TROPICAL FISH You will need an
environmentt aquarium and the right equipment.
P HOTO: iSTOCK

(no higher thhan Ifyour child is to be the main carer,

24C) and a large more hardy sh breeds such as danios
cage for its activ
ve or black mollies can stand a little over-
nocturnal lifestyle. feeding and the odd missed tank clean.

30 | February2017
 JOIN THE
CONVERSATION
Four great reasons why you should
join us online

We give away First look at

cash and prizes future issues
Join fun Get a sneak peek
competitions and at upcoming
quizzes stories and
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We give
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FIRST PERSON

Life
Beyond
Dementia BY KATE SWAFFER
AS TO LD TO H E LE N S I G N Y

A disturbing diagnosis triggered

a deep resolve to keep living
I WAS 49 when I was first diagnosed changes, maybe you have depression.
with dementia. As a retired nurse, its Research shows that most people
the only disease I know of where youre under 65 dont get their diagnosis for
told to just go home and prepare to die three to four years after they first start
via aged care not to fight for your life. discussing symptoms with their doctor.
Thats what I ended up doing. I am But for me it was a little different.
living every day as if its my last, fit- I had a busy life, with two teenage
ting in as much as I possibly can, and boys, a job and my university stud-
P HOTOGRAP HED BY M EG HA NSEN

squeezing all the juice out of every ies. Id needed brain surgery a couple
lemon. Now I see dementia as a gift. of years earlier, when I was 45, to fix
Its given me a clarity about life I a brain malfunction that I was born
didnt have before. with. At one of my regular six-monthly
When younger people experience check-ups with my neurologist, I men-
cognitive changes, theyre told its be- tioned Id been noticing some changes
cause they are middle-aged, working, in my language and maths ability, and
bringing up kids, paying mortgages. was having some episodic short-term
Youre stressed, you have hormone and long-term memory loss. Id started

32 | February2017
 Dementia rights
advocate Kate Swaffer
L I F E B E YO N D D E M E N T I A

to see numbers back to front and was I was told I had a form of frontotem-
having trouble with simple maths. poral dementia, specifically in my left
Suddenly I couldnt spell that, and I temporal lobe. There is no cure, nor for
couldnt differentiate between differ- me, any medication that could change
ent spellings of their and there. Id the progression of the disease. The
also started getting lost occasionally on only option offered to me was to give
campus, but had thought all of these up my pre-diagnosis life, get my end-
symptoms were a side effect of the of-life affairs in order, and acquaint
brain surgery. myself with aged care.
Id worked some years before in a I was stunned, and I cried for weeks.
dementia unit, but even I thought I had a driving test and jokingly said to
that only older people the examiner when he
get dementia. I never asked me how I thought
thought for a second I had done: Well I didnt
that I might have it. De- My world was kill you, did I? I was to-
mentia isnt going into disappearing tally unaware that he had
the next room and for- the world I used not felt safe! I lost my li-
getting what you went cence as I only scored 35
in there for and remem-
to know, the per cent in the test. I had
bering later. Everyone capacity I used to little insight that Id lost
gets memory loss with have, my memory my capacity to drive.
ageing, just as your that was so sharp
eyes deteriorate and EVERYDAY life became
your skin goes saggy. more of a struggle. My
Dementia is when cognitive changes world was disappearing the world I
are so great that they get in the way used to know, the capacity I used to
of you being able to get on with your have, my memory that used to be so
usual daily activities or life or work. I sharp. Id pick up a research article at
was compensating, but it was really university expecting to read it for the
starting to impact my life. I sent out first time and I would see I had writ-
a quote that was completely wrong I ten notes all over it. Bits of my long-
saw the numbers the right way round term memory started to be rubbed
but I wrote them back to front. I also out. I could not remember being at
got badly lost in the Barossa Valley a girlfriends wedding, even though
and ended up in a farmhouse with Im clearly in the photos, yet I do re-
absolutely no idea where I was. member her fathers funeral six weeks
There were lots of things they had to before that. I also started to lose my
rule out, so it took 18 months to get the spatial awareness, misjudging glass
diagnosis. Its hard to forget that day. doorways. The acquired dyslexia

34 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

impacted things such as reading signs nothing. So many people with demen-
back to front and it became dangerous tia take on learned helplessness, and
to cross a busy road. are often isolated and lonely.
The other thing I noticed was stigma Then I started searching online. I
and fear in the community, the mis- was inspired by an interview with a US
perception that all people with de- clinical psychologist who was 62 when
mentia are end-stage. People started he was diagnosed with dementia. Hed
to disappear from my life. Ive heard found writing a journal to be therapeu-
this again and again from people with tic, so I started my blog What the hell
dementia living all over the world. Its happened to my brain? It helped me
not through unkindness; its just that to get the angst and fear out.
they dont know what to say. Others It took me six to 12 months to stop
started talking to my husband and not being stubborn about accepting help.
even looking at me. Its like when you first start needing to
There is a misperception that people use glasses; at first you resist but then
with dementia cant communicate, you realise they can be life enhanc-
cant understand or wont make sense. ing. I pulled together a number of aids
We may have dementia, but this does that help me maintain independence,
not make us stupid or deaf! But this such as laminated help sheets for
disengagement only teaches us to be when I cant work out how to make a
helpless if youre struggling to speak cup of coffee, or to remind me to turn
and your partner keeps talking over off the stove or how to use the shower.
or correcting you, its easier just to say My husband and I have agreed that

HOW TO LIVE A BETTER LIFE WITH DEMENTIA

While Kate Swaffer recognises that remain independent for as long
living with or supporting someone as possible.
with dementia is not easy, she Q Reclaim your pre-diagnosis life
stresses that laughter and love will dont go home and simply get ready
get you through. She offers these to die via aged care.
tips on how people with dementia Q It really is possible to live a
and their families can live better. meaningful and productive life,
Q Manage your symptoms of even with dementia.
dementia as disabilities and demand Q Manage your lifestyle and health.
proactive rehabilitation and disability Stop smoking, be active, eat healthy
support. food.
Q Talk about it. Tell your family and Q Get your end-of-life affairs in order
friends how they can support you to whether you have dementia or not!

February2017 | 35
L I F E B E YO N D D E M E N T I A

he should never do things for me that THERE is a gross underestimation

I can still do for myself I need to work both in the community and the health
really hard to remain independent for sector about the capacity of people
as long as possible. with dementia to contribute, to par-
I was friends with some of the lec- ticipate and to understand. Almost
turers at university. We discussed the no-one is diagnosed end-stage with
idea of neuroplasticity, that all the any disease, including dementia.
symptoms I was experiencing were However, things such as reading
just disabilities that could be managed have become more difficult now, and
through the universitys disability sup- I have trouble following the plots of
port unit. They organised disability TV shows and movies. But with pro-
supports, and also a buddy to help fessional help, I have been able to
me find my way around campus, and keep finding my words, and to advo-
software to manage the dyslexia. They cate for people with dementia. I had
helped me to keep living my life. speech pathology from very early
Since then I have gone on to com- usually with dementia its reserved for
plete a Masters of Science in Demen- the later stages, when you cant swal-
tia Care and commenced a PhD in low. It has taught me to use my inner
dementia in 2016. I have also pub-
lished two books about dementia
and two poetry books as well as con- WHERE TO FIND HELP
tinuing with my blogs. In 2014, I also We recommend you consult your
co-founded Dementia Alliance Inter- doctor if you are worried about
national, an advocacy organisation memory or cognitive changes. For
for people with dementia. Im now 58 support if you have dementia or
someone you care for has the
its nearly nine years since my diag-
condition, you can access help
nosis, and I give conference presen- from the following organisations:
tations, and am continuing with my Q Alzheimers Australia 1800 100
studies, writing and poetry. 500, www.ghtdementia.org.au
The way I have survived is very Q Dementia Alliance International
different from what I was told to do. [email protected]
I have self-prescribed brain injury Q Alzheimers New Zealand 0800
rehab. I have changed my lifestyle to 004 001, www.alzheimers.org.nz
Q Alzheimers Disease Foundation,
be able to come off my blood pressure
Malaysia 3 7956 2008,
medication, got fitter, and I now rarely www.adfm.org.my
drink alcohol. All these things have Q Alzheimers Disease Association,
the potential to reverse or slow the Singapore 6377 0700,
progression of dementia, especially if www.alz.org.sg.
you are in the early stage.

36 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

voice to search for the words I need. to demand support to keep living as
Its like my words are up there on the independently as we can, for as long
ceiling like helium balloons, and Im as possible. Our symptoms are dis-
constantly searching for them. Man- abilities to be supported, rather than a
aging the symptoms as disabilities is death sentence. With all these things,
very tiring. But its better than not it is possible for us to reclaim our
living and functioning as well as pre-diagnosis lives, and to improve
possible. our quality of life and
If we go on holiday, by wellbeing significantly,
day three I cant remem- Id like the health- at least until the later
ber my husbands name.
care sector to stop stages of dementia.
Im like a newly retired My biggest passion,
person who has no idea prescribing which is also why I
what day of the week it disengagement campaign for a human
is. So I keep myself very and start rights-based approach to
busy every day, I rarely prescribing dementia, is to empower
stop. Im like a swan I and teach people diag-
look calm on the surface rehabilitation nosed that they can live
but underneath Im pad- with dementia, not only
dling hard to stay afloat (to function). If die from it, and to educate healthcare
I stop paddling, I will sink. professionals its also possible.
We have to change how we think There are lots and lots of things
about dementia. Forget about the about dementia that can be really sad.
human cost we cant afford the eco- There are many days when I sit on the
nomic cost to keep telling people to back step and cry. And it would be easy
go home and become dependent on to get lost in the sadness of dementia.
their families and the health system, But I cant cry all the time. There
as is currently happening globally. Id will be enough sadness down the
like to see the healthcare sector stop track. For now, I am just trying to live.
prescribing disengagement and start Really live.
prescribing rehabilitation and healthy
Drawing on real stories,
lifestyle changes, as well as proactive Diagnosed With
disability supports for the symptoms Alzheimers or Another
of dementia, in the same way they Dementia by Kate
Swaffer and Lee-Fay
would if Id had a stroke. We need Low focuses on
to have buildings that are dementia managing the
symptoms and living
enabling we have ramps, why not a productive life.
colour contrasting lines on stairs so New Holland Publishers,
we can find our way down? We need 2016, RRP A$29.99

February2017 | 37
 INSPIRATION

My daughter
approached a
strange man
on the beach.
What happened
next was a
real lesson

Give a Girl
Fi
a
ILLUSTRATIONS: KEITH NEGLEY

BY VIC KI GLEMB OCKI

FR O M Q U E ST FO R K IN DN ESS

February2017 | 39
GIVE A GIRL A FISH

W
E ARE GOOD MUMS, I SAID TO MY FRIEND,
as we sat on our very fancy beach chairs,
under our very sturdily stabbed-into-the-sand
beach umbrella and watched as our girls
played in the surf.
In fact, I felt like an extraordinarily good mum on that summer
morning Id woken up early, made a picnic lunch, herded my
three- and five-year-old daughters into the car, driven to my
friends house, packed her and her three- and five-year-old
daughters into the car, and driven the hour and a half to the beach,
where we unfurled our towels by 10am.

Out of nowhere, the girls took off run- stories about abductions and two
ning. About 50 metres from us, a man year olds found dead on train tracks.
maybe in his late 50s was fishing Good mums should be wary. Good
with gigantic poles that looked like mums should teach their daughters
they could hook Jaws. that the world is a dangerous place.
The girls stood next to him and So I felt relieved when Drew trotted
watched w ith their little mouths over to me and grabbed a shovel.
hanging open as he cast the lines. Then she looked me square in the
He smiled at them. They ran back eye: I want to be with man.
to us all except my three year old,
Drew. Instead, she plopped her red- SHE R AN BACK, sat down next to
and-pink-flowered bum next to the him, and started digging.
white bucket where the man was I watched them like a hawk, every
probably planning to put the fish that few seconds darting my head towards
he caught. my five year old to make sure she
My brain immediately shot into hadnt been swept out to sea, then
Mama Bear mode: child molester. back to Drew to make sure there was
Paedophile. Felon. no contact. Just a man fishing. A little
Drew! Come here! Play with your girl sitting.
friends! I yelled, very aware that my What do you think shes saying to
speeches about not talking to stran- him? my friend asked. In the second
gers werent working. It seemed like Id glanced away, Drew had started
all parents heard these days were talking. Her mouth was moving at

40 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

warp speed. She was probably telling My friend gave me that fish! she
the man where we lived and how her protested. The sand in front of the
father was away on business and how umbrella turned into a preschool
her mother sometimes let her ride cage match with a yellow rubber fish
bikes with her sister in flipping through the
the driveway alone. He air. Tears were fast ap-
nodded. She kept talk- The other girls proaching. I felt like
ing. He nodded again, I might cry myself. I
then laughed. She
were impressed, tried to confiscate the
laughed. and they fish, but that merely
A few seconds later, didnt try to increased the volume
she ran back to us, of the tantrums-in-
waving something very hide how waiting.
shiny and slimy. insanely jealous Suddenly, there he
L ook, Mummy! A was: the man, standing
fish! they were right next to us. He was
A what? I recoiled. holding three more
A toy fish! It was, in- rubber fish. He handed
deed, a toy fish yellow and rubber them to each of the girls. Thank you,
and covered in gold sparkles. This they said, without prompting.
must have been what he was using for Thank you, I said, realising that yes,
bait. And hed given it to Drew. The there is evil in the world but there
three other girls were impressed, and also is good, and kindness in stran-
they didnt try to hide how insanely gers, and lessons for mothers to learn
jealous they were. They all lunged for that only three year olds could teach
the fish. Drew looked at me for help, them. The man half-waved at us and
then at the man, then back at me. walked back to his poles.
QUEST FOR KINDNESS (SEPTEMBER 2, 2010) 2010 BY VICKI GLEMBOCKI. ALICIABESSETTE.COM.

HOLIER THAN THOU EVEN IMAGINED!

The farewell word Goodbye first came into use in the late
1500s as a contraction of the phrase God be with ye. Similarly,
the Spanish sign-off Adios is a contraction of the words
a Dios literally meaning to God.
SOURCE: ENGLISH.STACKEXCHANGE.COM

February2017 | 41
 Lifes Like That
SEEING THE FUNNY SIDE

FEB
1952
From the Archives
We think we live in a connected world but in
some ways thats always been the case, as this
charming 65-year-old letter shows.
Radio stations get many strange requests, but perhaps
one of the strangest was received by a big Chicago
station. A Montana sheepherder wrote that he lived
alone with his dog, 4000 sheep and a little battered radio
set. He had a violin and when the symphony orchestra
played he always tuned in and often wished he could
play along. He had tried but his violin was out of
tune. Some time before you start the next
programme, he wrote, would you have the orchestra play A for me?
Just before the next Chicago Symphony broadcast, listeners heard this
announcement: The orchestra will now play A for a sheepherder in
Montana. SUBMITTED BY MRS O.H. DE VAUGHN

USE IT OR SOBER ROVER

LOSE IT When we take our dog on car trips,
I told my kids to get we carry his drinking water in an
ridof toys they dont old gin bottle. During one jaunt,
play with, so if you wed stopped to let him out of the
hear a commotion, car. As I was pouring some water
its them desperately into his bowl, I noticed a man
playing with every watching.
He came over and whispered,
toy they own.
@MAUGHAMMOM
Ihope you wont let him drive!
ON TWITTER Source: gcfl.net
 The Great Tweet-off:
Valentine Edition
Some Twitter users have a unique
way of wishing their loved ones a
happy Valentines Day. Here are a
few of our faves.
I told my wife her Valentines
KNOW THY NEIGHBOUR Daygift this year is the privilege
We decided to move out of the house ofbeing married to me. Shes
wed lived in for four years. A few days sohappy she still hasnt
stoppedcrying. @XPLODINGUNICORN
before we left for good, my husband
drove a rented truck up to our garage Impress your lady this
door so we could start loading boxes. Valentines Day by giving
Later that day, one of our neighbours her a delicious gourmet
arrived carrying a plate of muffins. boxof listening. @RANDILAWSON
Isnt that thoughtful, my husband
said to me. He must have realised we This Valentines give her what
packed our kitchen stuff. shereally wants: a throne forged
from the bones of her enemies &
The man stuck out his hand and
arelentless reign of terror over
boomed, Welcome to the themasses. @PLEATEDJEANS
neighbourhood! Source: gcfl.net
You are never alone on Valentines
Day if youre near a lake and
ON REFLECTION
have brread. @PRIMAWESOME
When parents say to kids, Go to
yourroom and think about what HOW TO MAKE
P HOTOS A ND ILLUSTRATI ON (VIOLI N): iSTOCK

youve done, its really good practice AVALE ENTINE

for what youll do every night as 1. Get paper.
2. Colou ur
anadult. @TASTEFACTORY ON TWITTER
paper red.
3. It looks
SEEMS FISHY like bleeeding
My friends daughter found a baby paper.
tooth that her kitten had lost. She 4. This used
u to
decided to try to put one over on the be a living tree.
tooth fairy, so that night she placed it 5. We are monsters.
@
@SOMECHRISTWEETS
S
under her pillow. And it worked. But
the tooth fairy left a can of sardines. Source: BuzzFeed.com

SUBMITTED BY SANDRA E. MARTIN

February2017 | 43
THE STRANGER WHO CHANGED MY LIFE
How a hardened criminal and the district
attorney set on putting him away found
common ground, as friends

She Was
My
Prosecutor
BY TO M H ALLM AN FR O M T H E O R E G ON IAN
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT

Everyone on the street knew

my dad. He got respect out of
fear, says DeQuandre Davis.
Everyone knows Im his son
 S H E WA S M Y P R O S E C U T O R

EQUANDRE DAVISS Instead, Judge Paul Papak released

father was a legend, Davis and ordered him to participate
a feare d and re- in the Court Assisted Pretrial Super-
spected leader of vision programme. Its a way to keep
the Crips until rival defendants out of trouble, and out of
gangsters shot him dead on a Port- prison, while their cases make their
land, Oregon, street in 1990. He left way through the system.
behind a one year old, a son who I was apoplectic, Beckerman said.
would be schooled by the street, He needed to be put away.
spend time in prison, and have an ex- Davis eventually pleaded guilty to
tensive rap sheet by age 24. the gun charge, and he faced up to
Stacie Beckermans father was a leg- ten years in federal prison. Over the
endary Iowa attorney, a do-gooder months they awaited sentencing,
who served on the boards of non-profit though, Beckerman, Davis, his court-
organisations and his church and died appointed defence attorney, and a
of a heart attack three weeks after she pretrial employee were forced to meet
graduated from Harvard Law School. twice a month with Papak.
By 41, she was a US federal prosecutor I was impatient, sceptical and
with a reputation for toughness. frustrated, Beckerman said. Im an
Davis and Beckerman were brought in-the-trenches prosecutor, and I had
together nearly four years ago. a million other things I needed to be
From the outset, Beckerman knew doing.
Daviss case would be easier than Davis also saw the pre-sentencing
what normally came across her desk meetings as pointless. I thought she
at the US Attorneys Office Gang and was going to say lies about me, he
Sex Trafficking Unit. In June 2013, said. I know the system. Justice isnt
Portland police had stopped a car full equal.
of men and found a gun in the pocket So the prosecutor and the criminal
of a coat that had been left by Davis. both brought a certain attitude to that
Already a felon after a robbery convic- first meeting, in January 2014. Davis,
tion as a teen, he was prohibited from about 1.9 metres tall and muscular,
carrying a gun. At arraignment, the didnt smile or look anyone in the eye.
judge released Davis from prison and He seemed bored barely talking, and
required him to undergo random drug mumbling when he did and kept
screening. He soon tested positive for his distance from Beckerman, who
marijuana. Beckerman thought he reminded him of a strict high school
was dangerous and argued he be held principal. Beckerman, a good 30 centi-
until trial. metres shorter, was all business. In her

46 | February2017
 Im an
in-the-trenches
prosecutor, and
I had a million
other things
I needed to be
doing
STACIE BECKERMAN

tailored black or blue business suits, 14, a close friend was shot to death.
she had one purpose: to put Davis At 17, he was imprisoned after being
behind bars. convicted of robbing a man who was
selling fake drugs.

W
HILE BECKERMAN lived in I didnt let anyone walk over me.
a precise world a defend- I didnt care if I died young, he said.
ant is either guilty or not My mama always taught me not to
Davis lived in a grey place foreign fear nothing but God.
to most law-abiding people, a place January passed.
with its own rules and codes that must February.
be understood to survive. Eight years At meeting after meeting, Becker-
after his father was gunned down, a man and Davis went through the mo-
nine-year-old DeQuandre threatened tions. Theyd pick benches on opposite
a classmate with a toy gun. He lived off ends of the hallway as they waited for
and on with his mother and his fathers the courtroom doors to open. Inside,
sister, and also in foster care. He spent Beckerman sat alone at one counsel
time in juvenile detention and was ex- table; Davis and his attorney sat at the
pelled from an alternative high school other. Judge Papak ran the meeting
after his freshman year. When he was from his bench.

February2017 | 47
Seeing
DeQuandres
vulnerability up
close made me
want to do more,
says Beckerman

March went by. Perhaps it was the day they walked

April. into court together, after he held the
Its hard to pinpoint precisely when door for her and let her pass first. Per-
something changed between them. haps it was when they began saying
Neither Beckerman nor Davis can goodbye at the end of meetings instead
remember the specific date, time or of merely stalking off in silence.
other details. Beckerman had come to believe
Perhaps it began the day that Beck- that Davis was trying to make mean-
erman decided to stop sitting at the far ingful changes in his life, that he had
end of the hallway and asked Davis if found the right attitude. He took a job
she could join him on his bench. I sat on an assembly line at a local food
with him because I finally felt comfort- company that made granola bars. In
able with him, she said. I recall he time, he was promoted to sanitation
didnt say much. I dont think he was clerk. He started classes at Portland
comfortable with me yet. Community College.
Perhaps it was the day Davis lis- Beckerman noticed Davis never
tened to Beckerman talking about complained or missed a meeting,
something and smiled. A smile, he even though he had to take two buses
said, goes a long ways. from the halfway house where he was

48 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

living during the pre-sentencing Those books changed the way I

period. Davis was doing everything saw her, Davis said. It changed the
the law and law enforcement required: way I saw the system. Davis cut ties
working hard, attending life-skills to old friends. He stayed clean. I
classes, remaining sober and staying wanted to not just be a father, he said.
out of trouble. I wanted to be a dad.
The case Beckerman had once

A
FTER ONE MEETING, Beck- thought would be easy was now keep-
erman returned to her office ing her up at night. She believed Davis
and glanced at her computer. deserved a second chance, a different
Taped to the side was a quote from kind of justice.
John Wesley, a cofounder of the And so, early one July morning, as
Methodist Church. Beckerman had her family slept, Beckerman sat at her
first heard the words from her father home computer to write a letter to US
and kept them as a reminder of his district court judge Michael Mosman:
values. Now they carried new meaning: If he goes to prison, he leaves behind
Do all the good that you can another young boy to be raised by a
In all the ways that you can single mother, or he receives a sen-
In all the places you can tence of probation and is present the
At all the times you can day his son is born, the day his son
To all the people you can says his first words, and the day his
As long as ever you can. son takes his first steps. The govern-
May passed. ment votes for the latter path, in an
Then June. effort to stop the cycle of paternal ab-
At one of their last meetings before sence that likely played an important
the September 2014 sentencing, Davis role in Mr Davis ending up before this
proudly announced that his girlfriend court in the first place.
was pregnant with a boy. Hed picked On the day of Daviss sentencing,
out a name: DeQuandre Davis Jr. he and Beckerman met in the hall-
A few weeks later, Beckerman way outside the court. He was wear-
walked to Target and bought a few ing a sharp dark suit. He stood up,
books for Davis and his future son. slipped on his jacket, and grinned
I wanted him to know I cared about at Beckerman. See, he said, now I
him and his new baby, Beckerman look just like you. She smiled back,
said. But I was also nervous about and he opened the door for her.
what my colleagues would think, Inside the courtroom, Daviss attor-
because lets just say its not every day ney and Beckerman asked the judge
a prosecutor is buying baby gifts for a to place Davis on probation with
defendant. conditions. Beckerman wanted Judge

February2017 | 49
 S H E WA S M Y P R O S E C U T O R

Mosman to restrict the neighbour- why a 20-year-old black male in a

hoods to which Davis could travel, tough neighbourhood feels like he
prohibit him from associating with needs to be armed. No-one taught me
gang members, and require random about what attracts kids to join gangs.
drug testing. Beckerman even wanted I knew the law, and I could apply the
Davis restricted from travelling in law. But it is difficult to stand in judg-
a car with other people, something ment of other human beings without
that frequently led to trouble, without understanding human beings.
official approval.

I
Before ruling, Mosman asked Davis N THE ENSUING YE AR , Davis
to explain himself. became a father. Although he
Im being given the chance to show didnt live with his son, then
I can do something different with my almost the age Davis had been when
life than crime, he told the judge. his own father was murdered, he saw
Mosman agreed to the deal. After- him often and read the boy the books
wards, back in the hallway, the pros- Beckerman had given them.
ecutor and the felon hugged. When I was little and saw other
I learned a lot about the law at kids with a dad, I used to feel so sad,
Harvard Law School, Beckerman Davis recalled. Now when I am with
said. But no-one taught me about my son, I talk with him, hug him,

Im being
given the chance
to show I can
do something
different with
my life than
crime
DEQUANDRE DAVIS
 READERS DIGEST

kiss him, and sing songs to him. He

UPDATE Some habits are hard to break.
goes to sleep every night listening to Davis started smoking marijuana and failed
church songs. to show up for routine drug tests, resulting
Beckermans life changed for the in a ve-month prison sentence, which was
subsequently cut to two months for good
better, too. On June 5, 2015, she
behaviour. Since then, he has found a job,
became a US magistrate judge in the has checked in as required with his parole
district of Oregon. The swearing- officer, and has taken all routine drug tests.
in ceremony at the courthouse was Beckerman offered some perspective
to those who would criticise Davis.
crowded with family, friends and of-
Anyone who has worked with offenders
ficials, all prosecutors or other rep- knows that there will be bumps in the road
resentatives from the criminal justice to change, she said.
system. Except for one person. When It can be difficult for someone who
has had no structure in his life for more
Beckerman entered with her family,
than 20 years. I took a chance on
she spotted Davis in the back and DeQuandre because I believed he was
beamed. He smiled back. ready to walk away from the gang
A man in a suit took note of the ex- lifestyle, and I continue to believe in him.
I bought a DQ (Dairy Queen) onesie
change and asked Davis how he knew
for DeQuandres kiddo a while back that
Beckerman. I never had a chance to give to him, she
She was my prosecutor, he said. said. Now it doesnt t DQ Jr., so I put it
The man chuckled. Youre joking, on a stuffed bear. I had a bag for DQ to
hide it in when he walked out of the
right?
courthouse, but he tossed the bag aside
No, Davis said quietly. She was and said he was going to walk around
my prosecutor. with the doll all day.
FROM THE OREGONIAN (NOVEMBER 2015), 2015 BY OREGONIAN PUBLISHING CO., OREGONLIVE.COM.

SORRY, IM NOT SORRY

Children write the best apology notes, as these extracts show (all
spelling unedited for authenticity).

Dear Jase, Im sorry for kicking you with a feather. Kicking is

not okay because it hurts people. Also dont forget about the
time when you were a baby crying little devil but I liked you
and now you still are a crying little devil who gets away with
everything. Sincerely, Ty.

Dear mum, you are my favorit mummy ever. Im sorry for calling
you a pice of poo Love, your daugher, Karah. HUFFINGTONPOST.O.UK

February2017 | 51
CONSUMER INTEREST
 The Swedish home furnishings giant
has been quietly planting its blue and yellow
flags in places youd never expect

TOOK
OVER
THE
WORLD
ILLUSTRATION BY GA RY NEILL

BY BETH KOWITT FROM FORTUNE

February2017 | 53
H OW I K E A TO O K OV E R T H E WO R L D

I
T TOOK TIME to select just the rather than the East Sea, as the South
right shopping complex, off just Koreans call it.
the right highway interchange But the Koreans seem, for the most
and just the right distance from part, to have forgiven the Swedes.
Seoul, to house a 59,000-square-metre The Gwangmyeong store, which is
store. It took time to solve certain the companys largest in the world by
mysteries, such as how to showcase shopping area, quickly became one of
kitchens that incorporate kimchi Ikeas top-performing outlets.
(a fermented dish) refrigerators, a
uniquely Korean appliance and IKEA IS A GENIUS at selling Ikea
even more time to untangle nuances flat-packing, transporting and reas-
of the market, such as the preference sembling its quirky Swedish styling
of South Koreans for metal chopsticks. all across the planet. Today the Ikea

THE IKEA MODEL IS BASED ON

VOLUME, WHICH HELPS IT SECURE
A LOW PRICE FROM SUPPLIERS

In all, it took about six years for Ikea Group has 328 stores in 28 countries.
to unveil its inaugural store in South Its aiming for around 500 stores by
Korea, in Gwangmyeong, from the 2020.
first scouting trip to the opening in China, where Ikea has eight of its
December 2014. ten biggest stores, is the companys
The lag was quintessentially Ikean. fastest-growing market. Singapore
The more global, the more complex it and Malaysia both have an Ikea pres-
gets, says Mikael Palmquist, regional ence. An outlet in Morocco opened in
manager of retail for Asia Pacific. We March last year, and there are hints
need to get these things right or we that Brazil may not be far off. Mean-
will never be taken seriously. while, in India, Ikea plans to invest
Even with all that careful planning, about US$2 billion over the next 15-
Ikea managed to get a few things 20 years to open 25 stores.
wrong. It misjudged the number of Getting it right in emerging markets
parking spaces needed, and a world such as China and India, where Ikea
map for sale in the store upset some is well-positioned to capitalise on a
customers: the body of water east of growing middle class, is a key factor
Korea was labelled the Sea of Japan in its goal of hitting 50 billion in sales

54 | February2017
 Top: Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad shows the first gla caf chairs in 1961.
Above: From this humble beginning, the chair collection quickly grew during the 1970s

by 2020. Thats up from 31.9 billion thin wallets. Were guided by a vision
in 2015. to create a better everyday life for the
The Ikea model is based on volume many people, says Ikea Group CEO
producing a lot of the same stuff and president Peter Agnefjll. That
over and over, which helps it secure is what steers us, motivates us that
a low price from suppliers and in turn is our role. We feel almost obliged to
charge a low price to customers. One grow.
PHOTOS COURTESY IKEA

Billy bookcase, an Ikea classic, is sold

every ten seconds. More stores mean RESEARCH IS AT THE HEART of
more volume and the chance to drop Ikeas expansion. The more far away
prices even more. we go from our culture, the more
For the company, this isnt just a we need to understand, learn and
business model. Its a mission: help- adapt, says Mikael Ydholm, who
ing the many people and those with heads research. Rather than focus on

February2017 | 55
H OW I K E A TO O K OV E R T H E WO R L D

differences between cultures, its his all kinds of things except sitting and
job to figure out where they intersect. watching TV, Ydholm says. In Shen-
For example, the company did a zhen, most of the subjects sat on the
study of 8292 people in eight cities, floor using the sofas as a backrest. I
examining morning routines. People can tell you seriously we have not de-
are the fastest out the door in Shang- signed our sofas according to people
hai (56 minutes) and the slowest in sitting on the floor and using a sofa
Mumbai (2 hours, 24 minutes). New like that, says Ydholm.
Yorkers and Stockholmers are the The aim of gaining all this cultural
most likely to work in their bathrooms knowledge is not to tweak the prod-
(16 per cent). But regardless of city, ucts for each market. Rather, Ikea has
women spend more time than men become awfully good at showing how
picking out their outfit for the day, a the same product can mesh with dif-
process many find stressful. ferent regional habitats.
With this data in hand, Ikea came Witness the full-size sample rooms
up with a free-standing mirror that that Ikea sets up in stores. The rooms
has a rack on the back for hanging play an essential, if secret, role: show-
clothes and jewellery. The Knapper, as ing consumers how to fit Ikea pieces
its called, is intended to help custom- into their lives. Displays in Sendai,
ers assemble an outfit clothes and Japan, and Amsterdam could fea-
accessories the night before to cut ture the same beds and cabinets, for
down on morning panic. example. But the Japanese version
The problem with surveys is that might incorporate tatami mats, and
people lie. Ydholm puts it more deli- the Dutch room will have slanted ceil-
cately. Sometimes we are not aware ings, reflecting the local architecture.
about how we behave, he says, and Ikeas catalogues, which come in 32
therefore we can say things that maybe languages, with each one reflecting
are not the reality. Or it could be that local customers and customs, serve a
we consciously or unconsciously ex- similar purpose.
press something because we want to For every room set-up, there is an
stand out as a better person. Ikea employee tracking any element
One way Ikea researchers get that needs to be switched out mak-
around this is by taking a first-hand ing sure that glass products produced
look themselves. The company re- in mainland China dont show up
cently put up cameras in peoples in Taiwans catalogue and removing
homes in Stockholm, Milan, New Persian rugs from the one that gets
York and Shenzhen, China, to bet- mailed to Israelis.
ter understand how people use their Ikea has not always got these local
sofas. What did they learn? They do nuances right. The company came

56 | February2017
PHOTOS : (TOP) COURTESY IKEA ; (BOTTOM ) JUN G Y EON-JE/AFP/GETTY IMAG E S

Top: Over 8000 people queue for smoke-damaged bargains after a fire at Ikeas flagship
store in Stockholm in 1970. Above: Ikea opening day in Gwangmyeong, Korea, in 2014

under fire for Photoshopping women longer than our cars and change our
out of its catalogue for Saudi Arabia dining room tables as frequently as
and removing a lesbian couple from its our spouses. Furniture can be its own
magazine in Russia. We have made kind of ball and chain. Its passed
mistakes, acknowledges Kajsa Orvar- down from generation to generation,
son, communications manager at the or its so expensive that people feel its
in-house media agency where the cat- forever. From the get-go, Ikea shook
alogue is produced, but we are be- up that paradigm. It traumatised fur-
coming more and more aware of how niture retailing, says Martin Toogood,
to improve and to share our values. who has run several companies that
In the furniture world theres an oft- have competed against Ikea over two
cited statistic that we have our sofas decades.

February2017 | 57
H OW I K E A TO O K OV E R T H E WO R L D

Ikea kept its prices down with an containers without wasting any
obsessive focus on costs. It might skip space. Wasted space means wasted
an extra coating of lacquer on the money and is also environmentally
underside of a table that people never unfriendly. I hate air, says Dickner.
see or use. The company has also But he admits that sometimes Ikea
stripped out as much labour as pos- has gone overboard with flat packing,
sible from the system, pushing tasks putting too much of a burden on cus-
that were once done by traditional re- tomers. To ensure it doesnt take three
tailers onto the customer. Flat-packed hours to put together a tiny inexpen-
furniture made it easier for customers sive item, the instruction-manual
to take purchases with them, cutting team is sometimes called on to give
out the expense of stocking and deliv- input. New employees who arent yet
ery Ikea figured out flat-packing in accustomed to the ways of the Allen

EMPLOYEES NOT YET ACCUSTOMED

TO ALLEN KEYS ARE BROUGHT IN TO
DO ASSEMBLY TESTS

1956, when a designer took the legs off key are brought in to do assembly
a Lvet table to get it in his boot. tests. Products that take too long to
Ikeas products are sourced from put together are called husband kill-
1350 suppliers in 50 countries. Sixty- ers, Dickner says.
four per cent of Ikeas goods are made
in Europe, 33 per cent in Asia, and IN RECENT YEARS Ikea has been kill-
three per cent in North America. Some ing far fewer husbands. The company
12,000 products comprise Ikeas range, has accomplished this feat in large
but in reality its more like 50,000 be- part through improving its product
cause of variations in elements such as design.
plugs for different countries. To pack it Design manager Marcus Engman
all up, the company uses 800 million and his team come up with some
square metres of cardboard every year. 2000 new products every year. Prod-
I am not proud of it, says Allan Dick- ucts under development go through
ner, deputy manager of packaging. We rapid prototyping in the pattern shop
try to minimise it. to provide a sense of what they will
The magic of flat-packing allows actually look like in the flesh or at
goods to be jammed into shipping least in plastic.

58 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

On a recent visit, one of the four a folding table that he saw in bars and
3-D printers was outputting a toilet restaurants throughout China. It
brush. Apparently this is one of the costs near to nothing, he says. It is
more normal items. One of the oddest the smartest table. It has the construc-
things Henrik Holmberg, who man- tion of an ironing board.
ages the department, has ever worked Engman is also excited these days
on was a lamp made from the same about acacia wood, which Ikea
material as egg cartons. I thought sources primarily from South-East
that was very crazy, he says, but we Asia. Normally used in outdoor furni-
proved the technique was possible. ture, acacia has the properties of teak
If air is the enemy in shipping, it is but the price of pine.
the ally in design. The more air in our Walking through the design centre
products, the better, says Engman, is a bit like seeing into the future.
who started working at Ikea when he Some of the designers are already
was a teenager, pushing trolleys. In working on products for 2019. Theres
the design centre, Engman points out an electric bike on the horizon in
a table under development that con- some markets, as well as products
sists of two trays cobbled together. Its that, Engman says, encourage social
hollow centre means the use of fewer interaction and play. Socialising
materials. Its legs even attach without through devices such as smartphones
screws part of a general move at Ikea is eroding togetherness, he says, and
to try to simplify assembly. that togetherness is an essential part
Ikeas designers look well beyond of home life and therefore vital to Ikea.
the furniture industry for expertise Electronic technology is one area
when it comes to trimming production where Engman says Ikea wont go.
costs. They commissioned a shopping- We werent any good there, he says.
trolley manufacturer, for instance, to A venture into televisions was one of
mass-produce a new table and a the companys great failures. We are
bucket maker to punch out a chair. world champions in making mis-
So, too, design inspiration comes takes, adds Engman. But were really
from everywhere. Engman points out good at correcting them.
FORTUNE (MARCH 15, 2015) 2015 BY TIME, INC. FORTUNE.COM.

AMAZING ANIMAL SLEEP SCHEDULES

Otters sleep oating on their backs in a posture of serene

repose, sometimes holding paws with their friends so they
dont drift apart. MENTAL_FLOSS

February2017 | 59
 SEE
THE WORLD ...
Turn the page
... DIFFERENTLY
One hundred and fifty-four people
crowded together nothing that
unusual, at least at a market or in
acinema. However, its very different
when you are on skis being pulled
overthe ocean for one nautical mile
(about 1.8 km) by a 3000 horsepower
boat. Thats what happened in January
2012 just off the coast of Tasmania
when water-ski enthusiasts from all
over the planet set a new world record.
Only nine participants were not able
to stand on their feet or, rather, on
their skis. In a spectacular display,
145 athletes stood their ground
and achieved the watery milestone.
PHOTOS: CATERS NEWS AGENCY LTD
 Laughter
THE BEST MEDICINE

WORLDLY WISE
Comedian Mitch Hedberg was eager
to hang a map of the world in his
house. Im gonna put pins into all
the locations Ive travelled to, he
said. But first Im gonna have to
travel to the top two corners of the
map so it wont fall down.

Hell hath no fury like a four I hate airline food!

year old whose sandwich has
been cut into squares when
he wanted triangles. KIDS WILL BELIEVE ANYTHING
Adults remember some of the
@LURKATHOMEMOM ON TWITTER
more unusual lies they were told
as children
BRIDGING THE AGE GAP
Q When I was younger, my dad
A wealthy 75-year-old widower starts told me people only get to speak
showing up around town with a 10,000 words per month. If you
CA RTOON: CON AN DEVRIES ; I LLUSTRATI ON: iSTOCK

beautiful and much younger wife. reached the limit, he said, you
How did you get her to marry couldnt physically talk until the
you? his friend asks. new month began. Any time I was
I lied about my age. especially talkative, Dad would say,
Careful, youre over 9000 by now.
You told her you were 60?
No, I told her I was 90. Q My mum convinced my brother
and me that a penguin lived behind
Source: reddit.com
our fridge. She warned us that if we
left the door open too long wed
Q: What do use up his cold, and hed get mad
vegetarian and come out and bite us.
zombies eat? Q My father told me that pears
A: GRAIIIIIIINS! were apples from outer space.
Source: reddit.com Source: buzfeed.com
 CRIME

You fill the space

between my fingers.
Tell me more about you.

Last night,

AMY
in my dreams,
I cant wait to hold I saw you on
your hand and walk the pier.
along the sandy
beaches at sunset.

My life will never be

the same since I met
you. Happy New Year.

Oh, Amy. You know

me better than that.

ONLINEShe gave him her and he

took $300,000 from her.
A harrowing story of online
dating deception
BY D O UG S H AD EL AND DAVID DU DLEY
FR O M AA RP T H E MAG A ZIN E
 UANE

SHE WROTE TO HIM FIRST, ON A met some. But either

THURSDAY EVENING IN DECEMBER they werent her type or
they werent who theyd
2013. YOU WERE LISTED AS said they were in their
A 100% MATCH! I AM NOT SURE profiles.
WHAT A 100% MATCH MEANS Then she saw this guy
with a mysterious profile
FIRST, WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED name: darkandsugar-
IN ME? CHECK MY PROFILE. clue. The photo showed
a trim, silver-haired man
Later, when Amy* puzzled over their with a salt-and-pepper beard. He was
relationship, shed remember this. She 61, liked bluegrass music, and lived an
had contacted him, not the other way hour away. And he was a 100% match,
around. That had been a fateful move; so she wrote to him.
it had made everything easier for him. More than a week later, she got this
But she didnt know that yet. message: Thank you so much for the
It had been over two years since email and I am really sorry for the
Amy had experienced the death of her delay in reply, I dont come on here
husband of 20 years, four since she had often I would love to get to know
lost her mother two sharp blows in you as you sound like a very interesting
her 50s. Now she was alone in a house person plus you are beautiful. Tell me
in Virginia. Her family lived nearby but more about you. In fact it would be my
when it came to meeting men, how- pleasure if you wrote me at my email as
ever, her choices were limited. I hardly come on here often.
In the autumn of 2013, she signed He gave her a Yahoo email address
up for a six-month subscription to a and a name, Duane. When she went
popular online dating site. She con- back to the dating site to look at his
sidered herself pretty tech savvy. She profile, it had disappeared.
had a website for her business, was She wrote: Your profile is no longer
on Facebook, and carried a smart- there did you pull it? Id like to
phone. In her profile, she was honest know more about you. Please email
about her age (57) and finances (self- me with information about yourself
*Names have been changed.

sufficient), and her pitch was straight- and pictures

forward: looking for a life partner Duane sent a message that sketched
successful, spiritually minded, intel- a peripatetic life. He was a computer
ligent, good sense of humour, enjoys systems analyst from California who
dancing and travelling. No games! had grown up in the UK, and had lived
She exchanged messages and had in Virginia for five months. He made
a few phone calls with men; she even flirty jokes (If I could be bottled I

66 | February2017
would be called eau de enigma) and or tell their loved ones. Their silence
described an imaginary first meeting: stems from shame, fear of ridicule and
The restaurant is a white-painted denial. Once people are invested in
weatherboard, simple but well-kept, these [romances], its extremely dif-
set on the edge of a lake ficult to convince them they are not
Duane was nothing like the men dealing with a real person, says fraud
Amy had met so far. You certainly expert Steven Baker. People want to
have a great sense of humour and a believe so badly.
way with words, she wrote. She men- When Amy talks about how she fell
tioned the deception shed encoun- in love, she mentions Duanes voice.
tered on previous dates. It was musical, clipped, flecked with
Within two weeks, theyd exchanged endearing Britishisms. They began
eight more emails. Duane suggested talking for hours every day in addi-
they fill out questionnaires listing their tion to emailing and texting. His years
favourite foods, hobbies, quirks and in England explained the accent, but
financial status. He also sent a link to a there was also a wisp of something
song, Marc Anthonys I Need You. else in his voice. Still, this did noth-
It holds a message in it, he told ing to deter her interest. In their con-
her, a message that delivers the exact versations, Amy opened up to Duane
way I feel for you. about her marriage, her job and her
Amy clicked on the link to the conviction that things happened for a
ballad, which ends with the singer reason. She had never met a man who
begging his lover to marry him. Then was so curious about her.
she listened to it again. She was just as fascinated by
Duane. Or was it Dwayne? The spell-
SEDUCTION.COM ing had switched from his earlier
Its an ancient con. An impostor poses emails. There were other curiosities.
as a suitor, woos the victim, then loots Shed be making breakfast, and hed
his or her finances. In pre-digital times, be talking about going out for the
scammers found their prey in the per- evening. He travelled for work, he ex-
sonal ads of magazines. Today, tech- plained. He was calling from Malaysia,
nology has opened up a vast pool of where he was finishing a computer job.
victims. Fifteen per cent of adults in He sent her a link to an old John
the US said theyve used a dating web- Denver song, Shanghai Breezes,
site or app. In 2015, the FBI received about two lovers separated by
12,509 complaints related to online- distance.
dating fraud, with losses of $203.3 mil- She wrote: Wow It feels like the
lion. That figure may be low because universe is manifesting my perfect
many victims never report the crime partner right before my very eyes.

February2017 | 67
WHEN AMY MET DUANE
WHEN AMY RETURNED
Amy sent that note a FROM HER TRIP, SHE FOUND
week after her first mes- A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS
sage from Dwayne. In AND A NOTE: MY LIFE WILL
emails and calls, they
NEVER BE THE SAME SINCE
shared their lives. Mixed
in were his ardent decla- I MET YOU. HAPPY NEW
rations of affection: Last YEAR. LOVE, DWAYNE
night, in my dreams, I saw
you on the pier. The wind
was blowing through your hair, and career ended five years before Amy
your eyes held the fading sunlight. contacted her suitor. (Enitan agreed
Those florid words cast a powerful to talk on the condition that he would
spell on Amy. You are filling my days not be identified by his real name.)
and nights with wonder, she confessed Based on his account, the playbook
to Dwayne at Christmas. Are you real? he followed has not changed. He
Will you appear someday hold me estimates that over four years, he took
in your arms, kiss my lips and caress more than $800,000 from about 20
me gently? Or are you just a beautiful, victims, both men and women. Hed
exotic dream? If you are I dont change his voice to sound feminine
want to wake up! when speaking on the phone to his
When she returned from a trip to male victims, he said; only once did
Florida with a friend, Amy found a he get caught.
bouquet of flowers, with a note: My He describes a three-stage strategy.
life will never be the same since I met Using stolen credit card numbers, he
you. Happy New Year. Love, Dwayne. would flood dating sites with fake pro-
files. Photos were pirated from social
VULNERABLE HEARTS media or other dating sites. To snare
Enitan* lives in a small village in women, hed pose as older, finan-
Nigeria. (Most dating fraud originates cially secure men. For male victims,
in Nigeria and Ghana, as well as in he just needed a picture of an alluring
some other countries with large West woman. All his victims, he says, were
African communities.) In 2004, when divorced or widowed: The lonely
he was 18, he fell in with a group of heart is a vulnerable heart.
young Nigerian men known as Yahoo Ideally, Enitan let the victims make
Boys, named for their use of free the first move. Its always better if they
Yahoo.com email accounts. Igno- respond to your ad first because that
rance and desperation, he says, drove means they already like something
him to crime. about you, he says. If you respond
Enitan is not Dwayne; his fraud first, you have a lot of convincing to

68 | February2017
do. After learning everything about the scammer. You want them think-
his target, hed launch a campaign of ing, My dreams are your dreams, my
love notes and gifts. This is where you goals are your goals, and my financial
need lots of patience, he says. This is interests are your financial interests,
where the real game is. he says. You cant ask for money until
In the 2008 book Truth, Lies and you have achieved this.
Trust on the Internet, Monica Whitty,
a UK psychologist, wrote about how MONEY TROUBLES
online romances can be hyper- Slightly less than a month after his first
personal more strong and intimate contact with Amy, Dwayne brought up
than physical relationships. Because his money troubles. Hed planned to fly
the parties are spared the distractions back to Virginia in January after he fin-
of face-to-face interaction, they can ished a big project, but some compo-
create idealised avatars that com- nents were stuck in customs. Dwayne
mand more trust and closeness than had a UK trust fund and would retire
their true selves might. after this job, he said. But he couldnt
Age is a factor: not only are older use the fund to cover the customs fees.
victims more likely to lose larger sums And he couldnt come back to the US
of money, but theres evidence that the until he completed the job. If Amy
ability to detect deception declines could help him, hed pay her back.
with age. When Whitty surveyed UK Amy had money, and Dwayne knew
scam victims, she found that certain it. She owned her home and two other
personality types were particularly properties, and she had inheritances
vulnerable people who were roman- from her mother and husband. He also
tics and risk-takers, believers in fate knew she was in love with him. Amy
and destiny. Women were slightly less wired $8000 to the fianc of a friend
likely to be scammed than men but of Dwaynes in Alabama, whod get the
were far more likely to report it. funds to Dwayne.
One term that Amy later learned Then he asked her for $10,000 to
was love bombing, a phrase referring bribe officials because of an expired
to the smothering displays of affec- visa. Finally, he set a day for his flight
tion that victims receive from suitors. home January 25 and emailed her
A persons defences are broken down his itinerary. Amy told her brothers
by exhaustion, social isolation and an and friends theyd finally meet her
overwhelming amount of attention. mysterious boyfriend.
Amy described the feeling as akin to Then a problem came up: Dwayne
being brainwashed. Enitan calls it had to pay his workers. While hed
taking the brain, where the goal is to received $2.5 million for the project
get the victims to transfer allegiance to he even emailed her an image of the

February2017 | 69
WHEN AMY MET DUANE

cheque he couldnt open a bank Besides, hed be there on February

account in Malaysia to access it. She 28. He sent a text from Kuala Lumpur
sent more money. January 25 came airport: Ill be home soon, my love.
and went without Dwayne. He apolo- Then he went silent, and Amy tried
gised profusely and sent more flowers. to tamp down the panic. He texted
Soon he needed more help. She her three days later something
wired another $15,000. This is a famil- about being held up by immigration
iar pattern in love cons: the scammer in Malaysia and needing money to
promises a pay-off a face-to-face bribe the officials. This was the third
meeting that forever recedes as time hed failed to show. Still, she
crises and barriers intervene. As Feb- wired him the funds, putting the total
ruary wore on, Amy told friends that amount shed sent him over $300,000.
Dwayne was coming soon. But she Amys sister-in-law figured it out.
never mentioned that by now she had You need to see this, she told Amy,
given him more than $100,000. sending her a link to an episode of
Dwayne would pay her back, of Dr. Phil that featured two women
course. When doubt crept in, Amy who had been unknowingly engaged
would look at his pictures or read his to imaginary men theyd met online.
messages. Still, little things were odd. Amy watched in horror.
Once, she asked what hed had for A few days later, Malaysia Airlines
dinner. He said stir-fried chicken. Flight MH370 disappeared. This was
But I thought you hated chicken, the same route that Dwayne had
she replied. planned to be on. Amy couldnt help
He laughed. Oh, Amy. You know worrying that hed been on board.
me better than that. Finally, he phoned. They spoke for
One night she commanded only a few moments before the call
Dwayne, Send me a selfie, right now. broke up. She was relieved but also
She got a photo moments later. There disturbed. Something was different.
he was, sitting on a bench in the sun. That week, the daily siege of calls,
How do I know youre not a Nige- emails and texts from Dwayne ended,
rian scammer? she asked one day, and Amy wondered, How much did she
playfully. know him? She fed the photos hed sent
He laughed. Oh, Amy. You know into Googles image search. Eventually,
me better than that. up popped the LinkedIn page of a man
Psychologists call this confirma- with an unfamiliar name. She Googled
tion bias if you love someone, you the phrase romance scam and started
look for reasons he or she is telling reading. Yet even as she learned the
the truth, and Amy was looking, des- truth, part of her hoped that her case
perately, for reasons to trust Dwayne. was somehow different.

70 | February2017
 PEOPLE THINK THAT
VICTIMS ARE ALL LONELY her report and told her
OLD WOMEN WHO CANT that a woman in the next
GET A DATE, BUT IVE town had lost $800,000.
The psychological trauma
SEEN DOCTORS,
suffered by victims is two-
LAWYERS, POLICE fold. First, they must cope
OFFICERS [GET CONNED] with the end of a serious
relationship. Its like
finding out someone you
VICTIM OF A CRIME loved has died, and youll never see
Romancescams.org, a resource centre them again, Sluppick says. To com-
and support group for dating fraud, has pound the damage, victims blame
collected more than 60,000 reports, themselves and their loved ones
from men and women, young and old. often do, too. People think, Why did
People think that victims are all lonely I let this happen to me? she says. But
old women who cant get a date, but youre a victim of a crime.
Ive seen doctors, lawyers, police offic- Some victims try the risky practice
ers [get conned], says Barbara Slup- of scam baiting, attempting to turn
pick, who founded the site in 2005. the tables on fraudsters. Months after
Some of the most aggressive anti- she discovered the con, Amy contin-
scam efforts have come from Australia. ued talking to Dwayne, promising
Brian Hay, the head of a fraud unit in him $50,000 if he sent various docu-
Brisbane, has orchestrated stings that ments. She wanted to lure him into
have led to the arrest of criminals in giving up something incriminating.
Malaysia and Nigeria. But so dim are Eventually, Amy had to accept that
the chances of finding offenders that Dwayne would never show his true
he rarely tells victims about these face or give her the confession she
cases. The strongest drug in the world yearned to hear. She emailed him, tell-
is love, Hay says. These bastards ing him not to contact her again.
know that. And theyre brilliant at it. A few minutes later, he texted. He
When Amy went to her regional promised not to call. I know youre
FBI office, she says, an agent took innocent, he wrote. And so am I.
FROM THE JUNE-JULY 2015 ISSUE OF AARP THE MAGAZINE 2015 BY AARP, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

WORDS TO THAT EFFECT

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is a fear
oflongwords.

February2017 | 71
 s

Passion
Animals may not celebrate
Valentines Day, but they
certainly know a thing
or two about love
BY CO R N E L I A KUM FE RT
NATURE
Wolves are true romantics. Once a pair has formed a bond, they stay
together for life. Thats why the vast majority of wolf packs consist of a pair of
wolves and their offspring.

Male zebras keep a harem and are real Casanovas. But they give the females
alot of loving care and attention and enjoy joining in a bit of mutual grooming.

Polar bears are born loners but even they make an exception
occasionally. Once a year during the mating season, they seek
out bears of the opposite sex.
Burrowing owls reinforce their pair bond by preening. Because they nest and
roost in underground burrows, these little birds need to be both cunning and
courageous. To deter predators, they imitate the sound of a rattlesnake.

Pairs of Siberian tigers spend up to seven days together, playing and

cuddling. Once the female is pregnant, they go their separate
ways. For the rest of the year they prefer to live and hunt alone.

Female squirrels look for love in many places during the mating season. Thats
because these cute rodents dont set any store by monogamy and instead try
to mate with as many partners as they can.
A LL IMAGES : INDIA PICTURE
WHO KNEW?

13 Things
Your
Dreams
Reveal
About You
BY MIC H E L L E C R O U C H

1 How creative you are Creative

people are more likely to dream
about unusual settings (rather than
3 That youve got a heart problem
People who have frequent night-
mares may be significantly more likely
home or work) and about obstacles in to suffer from an irregular heartbeat
the natural world, such as a log or a or chest pain compared with those
rock they cant get around. who dont have them, according to a
study of older adults. That may be

2
ILLUSTRATI ON: SERGE BLOCH

Your political views People who because heart problems can make it
describe themselves as conserva- more difficult to breathe at night.
tives are more likely to have mundane,
realistic dreams, while liberals have a
more varied and active dream life.
Does that mean liberals are more open-
4 If youre avoiding something
Do you ever dream about being
pursued by a stranger, a scary monster
minded? Or that theyre caught up in or a giant tidal wave? This could indi-
their own fantasies? Take your pick. cate that youre afraid to deal with

78 | February2017
something in your waking life. Ask
yourself what issue, person or emo-
tion youre not confronting.
9 Whether youll give up smoking
for good One study found that
the more you dream about smoking
and experience the guilt associated

5 How fast youll bounce back

from your divorce Divorced peo-
ple who have longer, more dramatic
with falling off the wagon (even a
phantom wagon), the more likely you
may be to quit.
dreams about the old relationship are
more likely to adjust better to being
single. Dreams may help divorced folks
(and the rest of us) work through
10 Your risk of Parkinsons Up to
90 per cent of people who act
out violent dreams by punching,
trauma. kicking or yelling while asleep may
eventually develop Parkinsons dis-

6 How you pursue the big answers

Adults who attend religious ser-
vices frequently may recall fewer
ease. The behaviour may indicate
REM sleep behaviour disorder, an
early sign of the disease.
dreams than those who dont attend
worship services regularly. If youre
not relying on religion to answer big
life questions, then your dreams may
11 Whether youre depressed
Depressed people start dream-
ing much sooner than others, as early
become a resource for insight. as 45 minutes after falling asleep,
rather than the usual 90 minutes.

7 That youre a workaholic Type A

personalities tend to report more
disturbing dreams than laid-back 12 Death may be near The closer
a person is to passing, the
folks. Hard-driving types put more more likely he or she is to dream
pressure on themselves, and that about loved ones whove passed on.
stress can appear in dreams.

8 If youll pass a test with flying

co l o u r s University students
13 What medications youre
taking Many drugs are known
to cause bad dreams, including anti-
spent an hour learning how to navi- depressants, antibiotics, statins and
gate a complex maze. When tested some antihistamines.
later, the only students whose perfor- Sources: Kelly Bulkeley, a psychologist specialising in dream
research; Dr Michael Howell, a neurologist at the University
mance improved were those who had of Minnesota; Stephanie Silberman, a board-certied sleep
dreamed about the maze during a specialist in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Rosalind Cartwright,
author of The Twenty-Four Hour Mind: The Role of Sleep
nap. Dreaming may consolidate and Dreaming in Our Emotional Lives; Veronica Tonay,
author of The Creative Dreamer: Using Your Dreams to
memories, which boosts learning and Unlock Your Creativity; Michael Schredl, of the Central
Institute of Mental Healths sleep laboratory in Mannheim,
problem-solving skills. Germany.

February2017 | 79
PSYCHOLOGY

Intimacy can be created by asking

specific and personal questions

How to Fall in

Love BY M ANDY LEN C ATR ON

FR O M T H E NE W YO R K TIMES

M
ORE THAN 20 YEARS ago, you could fall in love with anyone. If
psychology professor Arthur so, how do you choose someone?
Aron succeeded in making Actually, psychologists have tried
two strangers fall in love in his labora- making people fall in love, I replied,
tory. Two years ago, I applied his tech- remembering Arons study.
nique in my own life, which is how I I explained the study to my friend.
found myself standing on a bridge at A man and a woman enter the lab
midnight, staring into a mans eyes for through separate doors. They sit face-
four minutes. to-face and ask each other a series
ILLUSTRATI ON BY DREW SHANNON

Let me explain. Earlier in the even- of increasingly personal questions.

ing, that man and I were hanging out Then they stare silently into each oth-
for the first time one-on-one. He was ers eyes for exactly four minutes. Six
a university acquaintance I occasion- months later, the two were married.
ally ran into at the climbing gym and Lets try it, he said.
had thought, What if? We were nursing Let me acknowledge that, first, we
our first beers when our conversation were in a bar, not a lab. Second, we
took an unexpected turn, and he said, werent strangers. Not only that, but I
I suspect, given a few commonalities, see now that one neither suggests nor

80 | February2017
H O W TO FA L L I N L O V E

agrees to try an experiment designed appear to have in common, he looked

to create romantic love if one isnt at me and said, I think were both in-
open to this happening. terested in each other.
I Googled Arons questions; there I grinned and gulped my beer as he
were 36. We spent the next two hours listed two more commonalities I then
passing my iPhone across the table, promptly forgot. We exchanged stories
alternately posing each question. They about the last time wed each cried
began innocuously: Would you like to and confessed the one thing wed like
be famous? In what way? And When to ask a fortune-teller. We explained
did you last sing to yourself? To some- our relationships with our mothers. I
one else? liked learning about myself through
But they quickly became probing. my answers, but I liked learning things
In response to the prompt Name about him even more.
three things you and your partner We all have a narrative of ourselves
that we offer up to strangers and ac-
quaintances, but Arons questions
make it impossible to rely on that
narrative. The moments I found most
FOUR INTIMATE QUESTIONS uncomfortable were not when I had
to make confessions about myself but
Arthur Aron explored whether
when I had to venture opinions about
intimacy between two strangers my partner. Such as: Tell your partner
can be accelerated by having what you like about them; be very hon-
them ask each other 36 personal est this time, saying things you might
questions, four of which are below. not say to someone youve just met.
1. Given the choice of anyone in Its astounding, really, to hear what
the world, whom would you someone admires in you. I dont know
want as a dinner guest? why we dont thoughtfully compli-
2. What would constitute a ment one another all the time.
perfect day for you?
We finished at midnight. Looking
3. If you were able to live to 90
and retain either the mind or
around the bar, I felt as if I had just
body of a 30-year-old for the woken up. That wasnt so bad, I said.
last 60 years of your life, which Definitely less uncomfortable than
would you want? the staring into each others eyes part
4. Do you have a secret hunch would be.
about how you will die? He hesitated and asked, Do you
FOR THE OTHER 32 QUESTIONS, GO TO think we should do that, too?
WWW.RD.COM/ADVICE/RELATIONSHIPS/
FALL-IN-LOVE-QUESTIONS/ Here? I looked around the bar. It
seemed too weird, too public.

82 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

We could stand on the bridge, he visible musculature of the iris, and the
said, turning towards the window. smooth wet glass of the cornea. It was
The night was warm. We walked to strange and exquisite.
the highest point, then turned to face When the timer buzzed, I was sur-
each other. prised and a little relieved.
OK, I said, inhaling sharply. Most of us think about love as some-
OK, he said, smiling. thing that happens to us. But this study
Ive skied steep slopes and hung assumes that love is an action, that
from a rock face, but staring into what matters to my partner matters
someones eyes for four silent minutes to me because we have at least three
was one of the more thrilling and ter- things in common, because we have
rifying experiences of my life. close relationships with our mothers,
and because he let me look at him.
I KNOW THE EYES are said to be the Its true you cant choose who loves
windows to the soul, but the real crux you, and you cant create romantic
of the moment was not just that I was feelings based on convenience alone.
really seeing someone but that I was Science tells us our pheromones and
seeing someone really seeing me. hormones do a lot of the work.
Once the terror subsided, I arrived But despite this, Ive begun to think
somewhere unexpected. love is a more pliable thing than we
I felt brave and in a state of wonder. make it out to be. Arthur Arons study
Part of that wonder was at my own taught me that its possible simple,
vulnerability, and part was the weird even to generate trust and intimacy,
kind of wonder you get from saying a the feelings love needs to thrive.
word over and over until it loses its Youre probably wondering if he and
meaning and becomes what it actu- I fell in love. We did. Although its hard
ally is: an assemblage of sounds. to credit the study entirely, it did give
So it was with the eye. The senti- us a way into a relationship that feels
ment associated with that clump of deliberate.
nerves fell away, and I was struck by Love didnt happen to us. Were in
its astounding biological reality: the love because we each made the choice
spherical nature of the eyeball, the to be.
THE NEW YORK TIMES (JANUARY 9, 2015) 2015 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, WWW.NYTIMES.COM

LOVELY DAY FOR IT

Tired of the erratic weather? Were lucky it snows

metal on Venus. HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

February2017 | 83
DRAMA IN REAL LIFE

The Shymanskis had taught their five-year-old

daughter what to do in case of emergency,
knowing it could save her life. They didnt know
it would save her mother and baby brother, too

The Littlest
Hero
BY OM A R M O UA L L E M
ILLUSTRATION BY YUTA ONODA
THE LITTLEST HERO

ANGELA SHYMANSKI WAS making of road construction. The stops and

great time. It was 8.30am, the kids were starts had begun to bother Peter, who
fed and the car was packed with all the was now shrieking in the back-facing
necessities for a road trip: a pop-up tent, car seat next to Lexis. This calls for a
toys and snacks for five-year-old Lexi, nursery rhyme, Angela thought. She
and, for ten-week-old Peter, a pink blan- inserted a CD and hoped for the best.
ket and seven days worth of clothes Zoom, zoom, zoom. Were going to
all of which had been worn. No matter, the moon. Zoom, zoom, zoom. Were
thought Angela. It was 26C in central going to the moon.
Alberta the hottest June 8 on record In no time, both children were
so her infant would be fine for the eight slumped in their car seats. Once out
hours home to Prince George, British of the construction zone, Angela ac-
Columbia, in nappies only. celerated to just below the 100 km/h
The 28-year-old Canadian had speed limit. The warmth of the sun,
driven these nearly 800 kilometres combined with the lulling music, soon
alone before to visit friends and began to have a relaxing effect, so
family. Her husband of eight years, Angela opened the window, hoping
Travis, an instrumentation mechanic the blast of wind would keep her alert.
at an oil refinery, couldnt come on She began searching for a rest stop.
the week-long holiday, but Angela, a Zoom, zoom, zoom.
swimming and first-aid instructor, was Angelas eyes closed for just a few
eager to show off Peter to her friends. seconds.

IT WAS AN important trip for Lexi, EXACTLY ONE YEAR earlier, Lexi
too. The morning they had left Prince was receiving the most important
George June 1, 2015 marked the lesson of her young life. On this par-
beginning of the 100-day countdown ticular night, the Shymanskis were
to kindergarten. Angela was keen to preparing Lexi for a future emer-
fill the holiday with fun; by weeks gency a cousin of Traviss had lost
end, Lexi had seen gorillas at the Cal- his home in a flood, and they wanted
gary Zoo, picnicked with cousins, had to be ready for such a scenario.
got dizzy on amusement park rides Together the young family filled a
and made sandcastles at the beach. duffel bag with water bottles, canned
As she was driving along the Ice- food, a first-aid kit, some cash, CPR
fields Parkway, Angela missed her first masks, spare clothes and toys, and
turnoff, but decided to continue west tucked it in a closet by the front door.
on a slightly longer, more scenic route. Then they showed Lexi the smoke
The lost time would have been negligi- alarms: if they start beeping, said her
ble were it not for a 30-minute stretch parents, hurry to the driveway. Dont

86 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

go searching for anything or anyone a big white pillow one of the side
just get help and dont look back. airbags that now obscured all the win-
To demonstrate, the three walked dows. She pushed on the pins of her
barefoot to the nearest neighbours five-point harness, something Mummy
place, about half a kilometre away, as and Daddy always did for her. Once
Travis and Angela believed that call- they were unclipped, Lexi managed to
ing the emergency services wouldnt wriggle out of the straps to exit the car,
but when she pulled the handle, the
door was stuck. Turning on her side,
Lexi kicked at the door until it flopped
LEXI SPOTTED open and the car filled with sunlight.
HER MOTHER IN THE Thats when Lexi spotted her mother
FRONT SEAT. in the front seat, sleeping on an even
WAKE UP, MUM! SHE bigger pillow. Wake up, Mum! she
SCREAMED. PLEASE screamed. Please wake up! Angela
WAKE UP! didnt respond.
Though it hurt to turn her head,
Lexi looked over the side of the SUV
be practical for a child with limited and stared down a steep hill it was
vocabulary and geographical sense. just like the indoor rock-climbing gym
Lexi absorbed every instruction. she liked to visit, but with boulders
This became apparent months later, the size of beanbag chairs, trees and
when a smoke alarm went off during no ropes. The only thing keeping her
dinner prep. Before Angela could family from rolling down the incline
reset it, Lexi was running to the drive- was the large evergreen with which
way. She never looked back. the vehicle had collided.
That would be the only time Lexi
THE FIRST THOUGHT that crossed looked down, or back.
Lexis mind: who turned off the power? Her flip-flops had flown off in the
Seconds ago, it was a sunny day. Now accident, but Lexi felt no pain as she
it was dark, her neck hurt, the car crawled over glass, rocks, branches and
horn was blaring and Peter was wail- pine needles and up the embankment
ing. Lexi reached in his direction but to the highway her mother had driven
hit a force field her tent had flopped off. It was just as shed practised.
forward and popped open. The girl
fished around the thin canvas and felt LONI AND JEREMIAH JIRIK were
her baby brothers hand. about halfway through their journey
Lexi stretched for the door handle, when they pulled over for a roadside
but it was out of reach, hiding under picnic. They werent in any rush,

February2017 | 87
THE LITTLEST HERO

having decided to take the scenic and swollen. Im so stupid, she told
route through Jasper National Park. him. I shouldve pulled over sooner.
When their bellies were full and their He could barely hear her words over
bodies were rested, the couple, their the blaring of the car horn; the sound
three children, aged seven to 18, and of the baby crying didnt even register
their two dogs climbed back into the until Angela mentioned Peter.
silver minivan for the final stretch. The seat the infant was attached
No sooner had Jeremiah steered to had become unhinged and had
onto the highway when Loni yelled flipped forward, leaving Peter upside-
Stop! She pointed some 15 metres down in his harness, with little room
ahead, to a tiny blonde child in shorts between the back of the steel-framed
and a tank top climbing out of the seat and the floor. Jeremiah unlatched
ditch. Jumping up and down and the half-naked baby, wrapped him in
waving her arms at traffic, the bare- his blanket and climbed up to Loni,
foot girl seemed to have materialised grabbing at the evergreens branches
out of nowhere. Jeremiah flicked on with his free hand.
his hazard lights and pulled over. His wife had been trying to phone
Help! Lexi cried out as she ran for help but couldnt get clear recep-
toward them. My mum needs help! tion. She gave up and started flagging
Jeremiah scanned the tree-lined down cars; five zipped past before one
road. There was no-one around. finally pulled over.
Wheres your mama? he asked Lexi. The driver, Lise Lord, was en route
The child pointed into the ditch, to a to Calgary with her business partner,
crushed SUV. Without hesitating, he Rick Nowicki, for a meeting. Long
tore down the incline in his sandals. before Nowicki had turned to finan-
Lexi tried to follow, but Loni con- cial coaching, he had been a firefighter
vinced her to stay back. The girls and emergency medical technician. He
neck was red and bruised, and she knew that whoever was still inside that
complained that she couldnt move SUV had to be stabilised.
it. The woman summoned Isaak, her Nowicki was preparing to make
oldest child, to assist, but told her his way into the ditch when Jeremiah
daughters KayDea and Analiseah to reappeared with something wrapped
stay behind she didnt want them in pink a baby girl, he said to Loni,
witnessing a potential tragedy. passing her the child before returning
to Angela with the former firefighter.
ANGELA SHYMANSKI WAS regaining Thats my brother! corrected Lexi,
consciousness when Jeremiah came who, following a once-over from No-
hurtling down the hill. She looked wicki, was lying on Isaaks sweater
over at the stranger, her face scraped while the teen held an icy bottle

88 | February2017
 of water to her neck. Loni rocked
the baby in her arms. About twice a
minute, Peter would stop wailing,
stare into the sky with a frozen expres-
sion, then shriek again. Loni, a special
education teacher for 16 years, had
seen this happen with her students
and recognised it as seizures.
Down the embankment, Angela was
now sitting sideways, trying to open the
drivers side door. She kept referring to Lexi Shymanski being airlifted from Jasper
herself as a bad mother. Lets not talk
like that, said Nowicki. This could the battery cords. He wrapped his hand
happen to anyone. Anxious to com- around the hot wires and tore at them
fort her, he opened the door, pushed until the horn finally cut out. The three
aside the airbag and showed Angela of them then waited quietly for 20 min-
her children. There, at the edge of the utes, with only the sound of birds chirp-
road, was Peter in Lonis arms and Lexi ing, until ambulance sirens broke the
safely in the care of Isaak and Lise. silence. The paramedics needed ropes
Once Angela had calmed down to get up and down the embankment
somewhat, Nowicki began going over Lexi had climbed alone in her bare feet.
the injury-assessment checklist. The
seat belt had bruised her chest; more TRAVIS SHYMANSKI HAD just fin-
alarmingly, the woman was complain- ished lunch at his desk in Prince
ing of severe pain in her lower back. George when Angela called, mum-
Can you move your hands? Can you bling something about an accident
squeeze your fingers? Wiggle your and about the kids being OK. In less
P HOTO: COURTESY THE SHYM AN SKI FAM I LY

toes, said Nowicki. Everything seemed than an hour, the 29 year old was on
to be working, but he still wouldnt a plane to Edmontons University of
allow her to leave without a stretcher. Alberta Hospital, where his wife had
Instead, he asked Angela for her been flown by helicopter. After going
husbands phone number he would into shock at Seton General Hospital
give it to the first responders Loni had in Jasper, Angela had been resusci-
called using a satellite radio from a tated by doctors. She was now con-
passing forestry worker. While he wrote scious, but shed suffered a dozen
the digits on the dusty, cracked wind- injuries to her head, lungs, liver
shield with his finger, Jeremiah, wor- and back. Twenty-four hours after
ried the smoking vehicle would catch the accident, the situation looked
fire, was fishing under the bumper for slightly better for Angela. She had

February2017 | 89
THE LITTLEST HERO

permanent nerve damage in her left

leg, seemed to be suffering some am-
nesia and was told shed likely never
again do rigorous exercise but she
might be able to walk. Peter had intra-
cranial swelling and bleeding, but after
a few days of worry, it was determined
he would be fine.
Lexi, who refused to leave her
fathers side, had little more than a few
scratches and bumps on her hands
and feet. However, Travis was worried
about psychological strain and didnt
want his daughter spending more time The Shymanski family at home, shortly
in the trauma ward than necessary, so after the accident
he sent her away with his sister, then left
to pick up lunch for Angela and himself. but he didnt know the details of her
His phone rang as he crossed the courage. Shes a remarkable little girl,
street. Is this Travis? asked a gravelly Nowicki told him.
voiced man. It was Rick Nowicki, who
had memorised the number Angela IN NOVEMBER 2015 while Angela,
had called out to him. who could move with a walker, was
Nowicki, in the city for an appoint- awaiting disc-replacement surgery
ment, was calling to see how the in Germany the Royal Canadian
family was doing and to ask if he Humane Association awarded Lexi a
could bring flowers for Angela and a Bronze Medal for Bravery.
teddy bear for the child who had saved At the ceremony, a reporter asked
P HOTO: COURTESY THE SHYM AN SKI FAM I LY
her mother and baby brother. Lexi about her plans for the medal. She
Lexis role in her familys survival replied that she wanted to take it to
was news to Travis. His sister and school for show and tell. However,
Angela had told him what theyd once she arrived home, Lexi changed
heard from Lexi that his daughter her mind. She decided to bring Peter to
had escaped from the car and got help show and tell instead.

SOONER OR LATER

My present self wants me to do my work later, but my

future self wants me to do it right now. PARADOXWATERMELON

90 | February2017
 Quotable Quotes
Make-up can only make you look pretty
on the outside, but it doesnt help if
youre ugly on the inside. Unless you eat
the make-up. A t t r i b u t e d t o AU D R E Y H E P B U R N

I think Ive discovered the secret TH EY SAY MARRIAG E S

of life you just hang around ARE MADE IN H EAVE N .
until you get used to it. BUT SO ARE TH U N DE R AN D
Pe a nut s c re at or C H A R L E S M . S C H U L Z
LIG HTN ING .
C L I N T E A S T WO O D , f i lmm a k e r

People who think they know

everything are a great
annoyance to those of us
who do. I S A AC A S I M OV, s c i e n c e f i c t i o n w r i t e r
PHOTOS: (HEPBURN) GETTY IMAGES; (POPE) CASA ROSADA

I have noticed that even people

If everything was
who claim everything is pre-
perfect, you would determined and that we can do
never learn and you nothing to change it look before
would never grow. they cross the road.
B E YO N C , s i n g e r a n d s o n g w r i t e r S TE P H E N H AW K I N G , p h y s i c i s t

Do you open your hearts to the memoriees

that your grandparents pass on? Grandpare ents
are like the wisdom of the family, they arre
the wisdom of a people.
P O P E F R A N CI S , O c t o b e r 2 6 , 2 013 s p e e c h , S t . P e t e r s S q u a r e

February2017 | 91
 All in a Days Work
HUMOUR ON THE JOB

GO TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASS

Teachers ask a lot of questions. Here are some of the
answers theyve been given in return.
Q: Who was Joan of Arc?
A: She was Noahs wife. JENNIFER EVANS PFOHL

Q: Use etiquette in a sentence.

A: I dont know the meaning of etiquette.
PREETHA RENGASWAMY

Q: Which US state is a peninsula?

A: Peninsulvania. ROBERTA EDGAR

Q: What percentage of the European population

died following the outbreak of the plague?
A: One hundred per cent, eventually. KIM MCCOLLUM

PHONE NUMBER OF THE BEAST I HATE WHATEVER DAY THIS IS

I was searching for the phone Our new employee did not have
extension of a new employee who a great start. On his very first day,
already had the reputation of being he was two-and-a-half hours late.
unpleasant. Not having any success, Luckily for him, he called in to
I asked my colleagues: Does explain.
anybody know Julies extension? I know this sounds bad, he
A voice from the next cubicle over began, but I didnt realise today was
mumbled, Try 666. Monday. SUBMITTED BY MICHELE CHOATE
SUBMITTED BY MICHAEL BEST
TO HER CREDIT
Filling out a credit card application,
my friend came upon this question:
What is your source of income?
She wrote: ATM.
SUBMITTED BY MICHAEL MCRAE

92 | February2017
 IN THE LINE OF FIRE
The line at our local post
office was out the door, and,
seeing that only one postal
worker was on duty, the
customers were getting testy.
To help hurry things along,
a customer called out,
How can I help you go
faster?
The postal worker yelled
back, Go home!
Remember, Ill do all the barking.
SUBMITTED BY SCARLETT BUZEK

SLEEPY JUSTICE HARD AND FAST

When I served jury I used to work in a doctors office.
duty recently, we Last year I was speaking to a patient
were issued pads and about an upcoming medical
pens with which to procedure and advised him to fast
take notes. for 12 hours leading up to the
On the second appointment. He looked at me quite
day, I noticed that shocked and said, All at once?
the man next to me SUBMITTED BY RUTH LEE
had filled a couple of pages.
He showed me what hed written: A FAX?
Please dont fall asleep! Please dont Youre sending me something via fax?
fall asleep! Please dont fall asleep What is it, an important document
CA RTOON: MI CK STEVENS; PHOTOS: iSTOCK

SUBMITTED BY YEFIM M. BROOD from 1993? Source: meetingboy.com

WRONG SEAL
No-one has ever been more impressed to learn
that Im a US Navy SEAL than my grandsons
kindergarten class. On career day, I told them stories
of my exploits in the military. After I finished, hands
shot up all over the classroom. One little girl enquired,
Can you balance a ball on the end of your nose?
Source: gcfl.net

February2017
2017 | 93
ART OF LIVING

Serendipity isnt a
game of chance.
Experts have
identied four habits
that can set us all up
for good fortune

BY KAT E R O C KWO O D
F R OM H EALTH .CO M

WHEN ANNA Z. moved to Chica o, she joine

a group for Arabic speakers. I lo
o trying new
things, she explains. I saw t s group an
thought, Why not? As luck wo ld have it, the
organiser grew up in Fez, Morocc , where Anna
had lived when she was learni g the language.
Today theyre married with a l ttle boy
Some people might say that kismet led Anna
to her future husband. But nnas openness

94 | February2017
 lifes quirky possibilities p her in COURT CHANCE
e right place at the right timee. Luck 2 Lucky people cultivate lots of
nt some mysterious forc . To a friends and acquaintances. In one
very large extent, we are re onsible study, Wiseman showed participants
r much of the good fortu that we a list of last names and asked them to
encounter, says Richard iseman, indicate if they were on a first-name
a professor of psycholog and the basis with at least one person with
thor o e Luck Facto Here are each surname. Of subjects who con-
some of the traits that se arate for- sidered themselves lucky, nearly 50 per
nate folks from the self roclaimed cent ticked eight names or more. Only
lucky. 25 per cent of unlucky people could.
Lucky people talk to lots of people,
ECT GO D THINGS attract people to them, and keep in
en peo e feel lucky, touch, Wiseman says. These habits
tilts the scales f serendip- result in a network of luck, creating
y in their fav r. Their ex- potential for fortuitous connections.
ctations become self-fulfilling Colleen Seifert, a cognitive scientist
ophecies, says iseman. Re- at the University of Michigan, advises
searchers at New rk University getting out of an everyday rut: attend
scovered that st ents who be- a conference or sign up for scuba les-
eved that they w uld get a date sons. Throwing a little chaos into your
were significantly m re likely to win life opens you up to a chance encoun-
over the object of t ir desire. ter, she says. That person could end up
e simple expla ation: self-assur- being your soul mate, business partner
ance. If you believe t at youll do well, or someone you chat with for five
youll be more m tivated. Feeling minutes and never see again. The goal
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CLAI RE BEN OIST

cky might even h lp you win a prize is to stay open to possibilities.

at a charity dinner: he more optimistic
u are about yo chances, the more LOOK FOR SILVER LININGS
ffle tickets you probably buy. Not 3 Finding value in bad luck
an optimist by n ure? Lucky charms can help your brain process situa-
can work by boos ing confidence. In a tions differently, according to Tania
2010 German st y, superstitious sub- Luna, coauthor of Surprise: Embrace
cts played a emory game; people the Unpredictable and Engineer the
o used talis ns scored higher than Unexpected. Luna showed kids emo-
ose who didn t. tionally intense images such as a

February2017 | 95
W AY S T O G E T L U C K Y

boy crying while measur- Maybe Elizabeths pit stop was

ing their brain activity. a fluke. Or maybe h her intuition
Then she showeed them had warned her to avoid an
again with a reasssuring erratic driver. S She cant be
explanation, like This When sure. But we process far
boy has just been b people feel more visuall information
reunited with his and senssory details
mum. Their brains lucky, it tilts t h a n w e re a l i s e,
showed a dramatic the scales of which h can lead to
drop in activi ty serendipity in ncts we cant
instin
in the amygdal a, their favour exp lain.
which is though ht IIn one UK
to process fear. sttudy, subjects
Lucky people aare pllayed a game
similarly able to transform a stumbling with cards they had n ever played
block into a positive event, which before while their heart rates were
helps them keep taking chances. Face monitored. The game was designed so
your next setback with these ques- that there was no obvious strategy to
tions: What have I learned? What do I follow and instead players had to
want now? How can I get it? follow their hunches. Researchers
found the winners were those who lis-
TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS tened to their heart rate, which would
4 Elizabeth B. will never forget her increase before they made a certain
luckiest moment: she was driving to choice. This subtle bodily change was
New York when something told her to what people understood to be
buy a lotto ticket. After she pulled over, intuition.
a terrible accident occurred: A pick-up So trust your instincts. Lucky people
truck crossed into my lane and crashed are more apt to do things to tune in to
into a guardrail. If I hadnt stopped, my their inner voice, such as meditating
car would have been totalled. and taking walks.
HEALTH.COM (MAY 13, 2015). 2015 BY HEALTH MEDIA VENTURES, INC.

WORD PLAY
Guess the popular sandwich were thinking of based on
the following play on words.

CLUE Heavily interrogated gouda

Answer Grilled cheese

96 | February2017
 Thats Outrageous!
ALL FIRED UP

RING OF FIRE rescue his meal. The incident made

When first Robert Rib Man Wright a local
responders hero in his town of Fresno,
rushed to an and a week later he was
address in Des honoured by being
Moines, Iowa, in the autumn of asked to throw out
2006, they were expecting a blaze; the first pitch in
instead, they found a bonobo. The one of Fresnos
address was that of the Great Ape minor-league
Trust of Iowa, a research centre where baseball games
scientists study primate behaviour. while clutching a rack
It turned out, a 20-year-old female of tasty ribs in the other hand.
bonobo named Panbanisha had
pulled the alarm. Researchers scolded AN EXPLOSIVE IDEA
her with a stern message: quit Talk about adding fuel to the fire. In
monkeying around. October 2015, a man burning garbage
Panbanisha died in 2012, but the in a field near Liberty, Missouri,
centre (now the Ape Cognition and found his blaze getting out of hand.
BY LIN DA BESN ER; ILLUSTRATI ON: PIERRE LORANGER

Conservation Initiative) isnt taking He decided to remedy the situation

chances: protective cases cover all fire by driving over the flames with his
alarms within reach of hairy fingers. van. But the man had forgotten a
crucial detail: there was firearm
GRILL OR BE GRILLED ammunition stored in his vehicle.
California resident Robert Wright Black smoke billowing from the
leaves no man or meat behind. van caught the attention of a sheriffs
One evening, while he was barbecuing deputy on a routine traffic stop
a late-night snack, Wright noticed nearby. The police officer arrived
flames shooting out the window of his on the scene to the sound of rapid
neighbours apartment. He ran into gunfire, but luckily, no-one was
his building, which was filled with harmed the vans distraught owner
smoke, made sure his family got out was watching the conflagration from
safely, and then charged back in to asafe distance.

February2017 | 97
TRAVEL

A flat path, gentle

terrain and sunshine
Glen Allen among
the rows of vines
in Marlborough
 Cycling through the vines
to the tasting rooms of New
Zealands premier wine region

Rolling
BY JANIE ALLE N
Along
Wine
on the

Trail
B
Y MID-MOR NING light breezes have swept
away the overcast dawn, leaving only wispy
clouds. Its February high summer in New
Zealand and the scent of f lowering lavender is in
the air. My husband and I are in the Marlborough
wine region, located at the top of the South Island,
and were about to start two days of cycling through the
vineyards.
Ready? says Jo Hill, handing us a map to nearby cellar
doors. About 40 of Marlboroughs 140 or so wineries are
open to the public many are within easy cycling range
but Jo suggests we visit at most five a day. By the fifth

February2017 | 99
ROLLING ALONG ON THE WINE TRAIL

winery, your tastebuds are shot, she first sauvignon blanc vintage, a young
explains. Irishman working in the liquor busi-
Jo and her husband, Steve, own ness in Christchurch, Ernie Hunter,
Wine Tours By Bike in Renwick. The also planted sauvignon blanc in the
village is in the broad Wairau Valley, region. In 1986 he entered his wine in
home to many family-owned and The Sunday Times Vintage Festival in
some corporate wineries, such as London, England and won both the
Cloudy Bay. gold medal and the popular vote. It
Jos map lays out a 20-kilometre stunned the wine world.
circuit for the first day. I hope Im up New Zealand sauvignon blanc was
to it its been a while since I spent so different it surprised everyone,
that much time on a bicycle. Our says Jane Hunter, an internationally
route, she says now, avoids most high- respected vintner who has managed
ways and hills, but adds as we leave, Hunters winery since her husbands
Theres just one wee hill. death at age 38 in 1987. It was our
Glen and I push off to a wobbly oak-aged sauvignon blanc, she adds.
start on the crunchy gravel driveway Back then we didnt do the work
and turn our sturdy three-speed bikes we do now in the vineyards, and the
onto a quiet country road, already sauvignon blanc was really grassy
among grape vines. quite greenish and very overpower-
ing. Aging it in oak barrels created a

T
ODAY, THE MARLBOROUGH more mellow and elegant wine, she
wine region, made up of the explained. Hunters Wines won the
Wairau Valley, Southern Valleys competition three years in a row.
and Awatere subregions, is known The trophies were game chang-
around the world for its sauvignon ing for New Zealand wines. There
blanc savvy, as the locals call it. But had been nothing new in the world
it wasnt always so. This was farming of wine for centuries, says Tessa Ni-
P HOTO (P REVIOUS S PREA D): JA NI E ALLEN
country in 1973, when Frank Yukich of cholson, a reputed New Zealand wine
Montana Winery in Auckland bought writer and editor. Now its a world-
land south of Renwick and planted wide phenomenon. It has gone from
vines. Among the grape varieties he nothing to more than 23,000 hectares
tested was sauvignon blanc. Marl- and NZ$1.2 billion in wine exports.
boroughs sunny days and cool nights
created a surprisingly pungent wine, IS THIS THE WEE HILL Jo warned
tangy and aromatic, soon to fulfil Yu- us about? I wonder aloud, as a half-
kichs prediction Wines from here hour later I am pedalling hard to get
will become world famous. up the short but steep hill to Seresin
In 1979, the year Yukich released his Estate.

100 | February2017
 The Garden Caf at Hunters winery is surrounded by two hectares of native plants

But its worth it. At the top is a on the antique wood counter for us to
horse-drawn wagon, and Melissa Rae, taste. She pours the sauvignon blanc,
originally from Lapland, Finland, but which slides over our palates with a
who has worked at Seresin for ten tangy crispness and touch of sweet-
years, invites us on board. She takes ness delicious. The chardonnay,
us to a lookout over the sunny valley. riesling and pinot noir the latter a
Six or so kilometres to the north, the Marlborough up-and-comer are also
Richmond Range is banked with rain- exceptional. Olive oil and honey are
clouds. These mountains and others made on the estate, too. Fran opens a
to the south moderate Marlboroughs bottle of olive oil infused with lemon
weather, making it the sunniest region for us to sniff.
in New Zealand the Maori named it We are at the bottom of the hill be-
the place with the hole in the clouds. fore Glen realises that he didnt pay
Melissa tells us Seresins vineyards for the bottle of oil he came away with.
are among a handful in Marlborough He turns his bike back up the steep
to be certified biodynamic. It is more slope. He returns laughing. Fran gave
restrictive than organic, she explains. him the oil. She says I earned it!
If we take anything from the land we Fifteen minutes later we veer onto
put it back, thats the principle. To a picturesque lane and cross a stream
P HOTO: JESS ICA JONES

qualify, vineyards must be farmed in a edged with old willow trees to arrive
way that promotes soil health. Every- at Bladen Wines cellar door. Owners
thing from mulch and fertiliser to Dave and Christine Macdonald ar-
sprays is made on the estate. rived in Marlborough in 1989, part of
At the small cellar door, manager a wave of small wineries that started
Fran Broad has lined up four wines up after Ernie Hunters success.

February2017 | 101
 The Wairau Valley in autumn, set against the Wither Hills to the south

Christine, a cheerful brunette in company with other small wineries

her 50s, poured us an off-dry gewrz- and went to international fairs to pro-
traminer, sweeter than the savvies and mote Marlborough wines. That was
creamy on the palate. Were quite the best thing that happened for all
chuffed with this gewrz, Christine of us, she added. This industry has
says with a smile, adding that Cuisine, been amazing, watching it grow the
one of New Zealands top food maga- way it has, she says.
zines, rated it second among 33 New So far everyone wed met had
Zealand gewrztraminer wines. proven Steve Hill right when he had
She and Dave were in their 20s, told us, The beauty of this region is
living in Wellington and working in everyones small enough that theyre
jobs a world away from wine when interested in meeting people and pas-
they got caught up in the fire that was sionate about what they do!
happening here, she says.
We bought this bit of land pure BY THE TIME we leave Bladen, it is
paddock off a farmer. It was stony midday, and we head north to Rapaura
and dry, Christine continues. They Road, known as the Golden Mile for
commuted from Wellington to Marl- the dozen-plus wineries on it. We
P HOTO: DAVID BRIN N

borough on weekends for three years, work up an appetite cycling the two or
planting pinot gris, semillon and so kilometres to our next stop, Wairau
gewrztraminer grapes. The varieties River Wines, which has a restaurant.
we liked to drink, she says. They later Passing through the winerys mod-
added riesling and sauvignon blanc. ern cellar door, we enter a busy dining
They banded together in a trading room with a contemporary casual vibe

102 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

that looks more Manhattan than rural We visited two more wineries that
New Zealand. Were shown to a table afternoon, ending the day at Te Whare
on a covered patio overlooking a lush, Ra (Maori for house in the sun).
manicured lawn. Owner Anna Flowerday, 42, greeted
We order the house speciality, a us at the small cellar door.
double-baked blue-cheese souffl, Some of the riesling, chardonnay
with rocket, pear and walnut salad, and gewrztraminer vines planted on
and, of course, a glass of pinot gris. the 14-hectare wine estate go back to
The souffl was light and luscious and 1979, she says. Marlborough makes
the wine a perfect pairing. We linger great sauvignon, but it equally makes
over a second glass. great aromatic whites of other kinds.
The winerys owners, Phil and Chris Anna and Jason planted sauvignon
Rose, farmed lucerne and alfalfa on blanc, pinots and syrah. Im quite
the family farm here in the 1970s, says proud of this pinot, she says, pouring
marketing executive Gemma Lyons. It tastings of the organic red.
took a court battle for the Roses to get Te Whare Ra was named Winery of
permission from the district council to the Year for 2014 by Raymond Chan
plant grapes. Farmers objected to the Wine Reviews. A New Zealander with
change in use of the land, the forestry more than two decades of wine judg-
industry feared they wouldnt be able ing, Chan called Te Whare Ra the
to use sprays if grapes were growing modern and young face of wine-
nearby, and church groups objected growing in New Zealand, and cited its
to alcohol. wines and respect for the environment.
Would the district council have Thats what gets me out of bed in
relented sooner, we wonder, had the morning, says Anna. I want to be
they known that land planted with the best. If people have only got one
vines here would be valued today at day and can only see five wineries, I
NZ$250,000 a hectare? want to be on that list.

STAKING A CLAIM ON MARS

In 1997, three men from Yemen tried to sue NASA for trespassing
on Mars. They claimed that they had inherited the planet from their
ancestors three thousand years earlier. They didnt win their case
because there is an international treaty stating that everything
in the solar system, except Earth itself, is the property of everyone
on Earth. MATTHEW SANTORO IN MIND=BLOWN (2016)

February2017 | 103
BONUS READ

Balbir Singh Sr. has won three Olympic gold

medals and holds an Olympic Games record.
So why dont we know his name?

THE BEST HOCKEY PLAYER

IN THE WORLD
IS INDIAN
BY PAT R I C K B L ENNE RH ASS E TT FR O M A FORGOTTEN LEGEND
ILLUSTRATION BY SONIA ROY
T H E B E S T H O C K E Y P L AY E R I N T H E W O R L D I S I N D I A N

I
MAGINE YOURE ONE OF THE MOST DECORATED ATHLETES
in India, a country of more than a billion people. In 1948,
you were largely responsible for your homelands first
Olympic gold medal as an independent nation, yet your
contributions have been all but erased. You imagine your
statistics, awards and accolades spoke for themselves, but
no-one was speaking for you.

FIELD HOCKEY WAS INDIAS go-to Delhi, and multiple statues have been
sport for much of its existence, predat- erected in his name.
ing the countrys independence in 1947. One of the theories about the snub
After India became an independent thats been gaining momentum is that
nation, birthing Pakistan in the pro- the Hindu powers-that-be didnt want
cess and essentially quashing the Brit- a Sikh players accomplishments to out-
ish Raj team, competition grew fierce, shine those of their star, Chand, who had
yet Indian players nevertheless domi- also won three Olympic gold medals.
nated. Balbir Singh Sr. was the dagger Not one stadium has been named
in the heart of Great Britain at the 1948 after the Sikh athlete, nor a statue
Summer Olympics in London, leading erected in his honour; the memora-
his homeland to its first medal as a bilia hed donated to Sports Authority
sovereign nation a year after Partition. of India have gone missing.
Today, Singh Sr. is a soft-spoken His story has all the makings of a
92-year-old Indian hockey centre for- Bollywood film, and yet hes fallen
ward with three Olympic gold medals, into obscurity.
a Guinness World Record and an
Olympic Games Record to his name. METACARPAL BONE cracks like an
He is a devout Sikh from a predomin- eggshell. Proximal phalanx snaps like
antly Hindu country. He moved to a twig. The resulting pain sensation
Canada in the early 1980s and now sends shock waves to the brain, forc-
splits his time between Burnaby, Brit- ing a momentary blackout. The man
ish Columbia, and Chandigarh, India. falls to his knees on the field but re-
And he has been largely forgotten. gains his footing quickly. The sensory
Instead, Dhyan Chand a Hindu explosion pushes a tiger growl out of
is getting all the press. Although he his mouth. The index finger on his
died 37 years ago, his legacy appears right hand is broken.
to be growing. Theres Major Dhyan Without this digit which helps him
Chand National Stadium in New turn his stick over on the ball to go

106 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

backhand hes like a pilot whos lost This moment would define the 1956
control. He stops momentarily to in- Melbourne Olympics for him.
spect the damage. The finger has al-
ready doubled in size and turned shades IF YOU ASK SINGH SR. about when
of beetroot, deep blue and purple. he was born, he will answer suc-
The play circles back to him. He re- cinctly: It was a cold day.
ceives a pass, but the pain overwhelms It was October 10 in 1924, at around
him as soon as he grips his stick. A de- sunset. A midwife aided Singh Sr.s
fender swipes the ball from him, aston- mother, Karam Kaur. His father, Dalip
ished that hes just pickpocketed the Singh Dosanjh, was an outspoken critic
greatest player in the world. of British rule and a freedom fighter.
The play drifts away like a receding He was in and out of jail, sentenced to
tide. At 32 years old, number 13 Balbir hard labour in prison more than once.

LIKE A STEAM HAMMER RAMMING

INTO HIS FINGERNAIL, THE BALL
HAD CRIPPLED HIS ENTIRE HAND

Singh Sr. experiences an emotion hes Temperatures fell close to freez-

never felt on the pitch: helplessness. ing during Singh Sr.s birth, which
Hed been standing so close to the is rare for most of India but not un-
ball; hed been so confident in his own heard of in the small farming village
body and reaction time, his ability to of Haripur Khalsa, in what is now part
force a turnover. But then, like a steam of Indias Punjab state. At that time,
hammer ramming into his fingernail, Haripur Khalsa had a population of
the ball had crippled his entire hand. a few hundred, a melting pot of Sikhs
The Afghani centre back had fired (such as Singh Sr.s parents), Muslims
such a low drive it was clear he was and Hindus, all living together in rel-
trying to injure the Indian star. Mis- ative harmony.
sion accomplished. Holding a stick Singh Sr. couldnt sit still, even for
was like picking up a hot metal rod. a moment. One day, the toddler
Although he would tell no-one against his mothers wishes scaled his
until the match was over, Singh Sr. familys mud hut, pulling himself along
knew what the X-rays would say: using the loose straw. He made it to the
multiple fractures. top, but with his feet now slathered in

February2017 | 107
T H E B E S T H O C K E Y P L AY E R I N T H E W O R L D I S I N D I A N

slippery clay he tumbled to the ground. He darted from his house straight
He hit the dirt with a thud. onto the pitch, his little legs barely
When the boy was a few years old, able to keep up with his excitement.
his father moved the family to Moga, Immediately, he joined a game, run-
a city located 70 kilometres southwest ning back and forth until he felt as if
of Haripur Khalsa. In Moga, the farm his lungs were about to burst. That
boy would get an education and a night, he came home exhausted.
shot at a more prosperous life. When he awoke the next day, his
But the move did little to temper rambunctious soul had a purpose,
Singh Sr.s mischievous nature. Hed and one purpose only: field hockey.
climb high into fruit trees and perch
on the tallest branch. Hed scale the IN 1956, FOR THE FIRST TIME, the
wooden fences at school, get up on Olympic Games were being held out-
the roof and dart across the concrete side of Europe and North America,
as students stared in amazement. His in the southern hemisphere, in Mel-
body needed to be in motion. bourne. Singh Sr. had been named
Singh Sr.s house was across from team captain, a huge honour, and
the school. From the front, he could asked to carry the flag in the opening
see the hockey pitches behind the ceremony. But none of that mattered
classrooms. Every day, in a rare show if his injury would cost the gold medal.
of stillness, hed sit listening to sticks India demolished Afghanistan 140
crackle like kindling, the tough leather to win the first game of their group
ball whipping hard across the field, stage. Singh Sr. had notched five goals
players yelling as they galloped after before his finger snapped.
it like a herd of unruly animals. That night, a doctor held an X-ray
His mother was stunned. Could this up to the light and showed Singh Sr.
be her uncontrollable son, perched where the bones had broken, the seis-
cross-legged like he was meditating? mic crack in his plans. Singh Sr. knew
But her child wasnt seeking divine hed been foolish; the team had never
intervention. Hed found a different been under any pressure, and his bra-
deity to follow. vado was needless.
Shortly after, on his fifth birthday, the All the kerfuffle had finally got to
boy was gifted the most important pre- him. All the Indians telling him he was
sent of his young life. Once again, the a god, a hero, unstoppable. Kids
patriarch of his family had found a way asking if he could score goals while
to steer his child in the right direction. juggling three balls.
My father bought me my first The athlete sombrely made his way
stick, says Singh Sr. And the rest back to the Olympic Village, where an
ishistory. emergency meeting was being held.

108 | February2017
 The Indian officials whod gath-
ered quickly decided their star
wouldnt play in the remaining
two group matches against the
US and Singapore. This would
allow Singh Sr. a full week to
rest his hand before the play-offs
started against Germany.
The members of Team India
were forbidden to speak about
Singh Sr.s injury; the official line
was that he was being saved for
the semifinals and finals. Their
captain wrapped his finger in a
cloth bandage and mostly kept
his hand in his pocket.
With Singh Sr. out of the line-
up, the team feared Indias aura
of invincibility would crack. On
a 1954 tour to Malaya, Singh Sr.
had scored 83 of his teams 121 At the age of 16, Singh Sr. snagged the title of
lead goal scorer at his first tournament
goals in 16 matches. If he was
out of the picture, opponents
could attack fully, rather than give up and wanted to make sure he had zero
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE BHOMIA/DOSANJH FAMILY

two defenders to man-mark. It would time with the ball. What they didnt
be like the New York Yankees at the know was that he was in no condition
World Series without Babe Ruth. to score. The Indian captain was the
perfect decoy. A fit man, he dragged
A L L T O O S O O N, the team headed the two players all over the pitch. The
to the Melbourne Sports and Enter- game became a tough, ugly affair.
tainment Precinct for the semifinal By halftime, the teams were tied
game against Germany. After winning 00. Singh Sr. quietly headed to the
gold in London in 1948 and Helsinki locker room. Shame dripped off him
in 1952, India was going to have to like sweat. He could do nothing more
scrape its way to a third win as an in- than rope in defenders; passing was
dependent nation. almost out of the question.
Quickly, Singh Sr. was trailed by His long-time friend Udham Singh
two defenders from the well-trained approached. As a centre half, Udham
German squad. They knew who he was was responsible for getting the ball

February2017 | 109
 Singh Sr. (middle row, centre) with the rest of Team India, the gold-medal winners
at the London Olympics in 1948

to Singh Sr. in scoring position. Now and Udham both darted forward,
he was lost. He sat down beside his with defenders on their heels and
despondent brother-in-arms. the German goalkeeper racing out
I will score, said Udham. Just get to cut off the angles.
me the ball and I will do it. Right before the pile-up, Singh Sr.
Udham came out in the second half stretched out his arm, extending his
with fire in his belly. He took the ball at stick ahead of the pack of players.
centre, and rather than pass, as he usu- Although he couldnt shoot, he man-

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE BHOMIA/DOSANJH FAMILY

ally did, he ducked past two German aged to tap the ball enough to change
players. Suddenly the teams forma- its direction, throwing the keeper out
tion was out of whack; the centre half of line. Everyone then collided in a
was encroaching unguarded on the glorious mess, the ball dribbling into
defence. But two of the fullbacks were the goal.
reluctant to leave Singh Sr.s side.
Heading straight for the goal, I N T H E O LY M P I C V I L L A G E that
Udham darted between the defend- night, Singh Sr. tried to remain stoic
ers line. Singh Sr. remained by his despite a right hand that wouldnt
side, four players tearing towards do as it was told. He took a sleeping
the German goalkeeper. Udham tablet, but it did no good. He tossed
took one more tap right outside the and turned for hours.
crease but pushed the ball a little His thoughts moved to his family
too far to regain control. Singh Sr. back home in Ferozepur. His wife,

110 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

Sushil, their daughter, Sushbir, and Gandhi starving himself to stop people
infant son, Kanwalbir, entered his whod shared villages for centuries from
mind. He remembered taking them killing one another. Hindus and Sikhs
to the Hamandir Sahib, the Golden forced to head east, and Muslims forced
Temple of Amritsar, where they to the west. Singh Sr. remembered the
prayed to give thanks for his being lifeless bodies hanged in trees, the
named captain. smell of cooked flesh and kerosene. The
Since 1928, India or the British Raj horror caused in the name of religion.
had won gold in Olympic field hockey This was about more than just a
five times in a row. A sixth was in hockey game.
reach, but doubt plagued Singh Sr.
How would his country receive the G A M E D AY. I N D I AS S TA R awoke
team if they lost? He needed to find from another terrible sleep. He looked
the strength to overcome this mental down at his swollen finger he could
hurdle. He needed God by his side. barely make a fist.

INDIA OR THE BRITISH RAJ HAD WON

GOLD IN OLYMPIC FIELD HOCKEY FIVE TIMES
IN A ROW. A SIXTH WAS IN REACH

COMPOUNDING THE STRESS was Suddenly he noticed a letter tucked

Indias opponent in the gold medal into his suitcase. It was from his father.
match: Pakistan. The political rami- Written in Urdu, it was typical of his
fications of the final, to be played on dads letters, all business, no nonsense:
December 6, were heavy. Images of
Partition the 1947 division of the Dear Balbir,
Indian subcontinent, after the British Sat Siri Akal. [God is the only truth.]
departed, into Hindu-majority India By now you have fulfilled every
and Muslim-majority Pakistan hung desire of yours in hockey. The honour
over the event. Each player struggled that you have earned in this field
to shake the terrors they had endured: is also perhaps your last. I believe
Muslims watching the slaughter of you are the only player selected to
friends and family by Hindus, and captain India twice in succession in
vice versa; Sikhs witnessing unspeak- international matches. Your game has
able atrocities in the name of freedom; been acclaimed all over the world.

February2017 | 111
T H E B E S T H O C K E Y P L AY E R I N T H E W O R L D I S I N D I A N

Another ambition of yours, to become

deputy superintendent of police, has
also been fulfilled I congratulate your
wife, your dear children, your mother-
in-law, maternal uncles and your
loving mother on this achievement.
As captain of the team, you will
have to be extremely cautious.
1. You must never be arrogant.
Arrogance is a disease. Yes, everybody
has the right to a certain amount of
pride, but not arrogance.
2. It is likely that some members of the
team are jealous of you, but you must
treat them with kindness.
3. On account of your brilliance,
teams of various countries will be
itching to pull you down. You will The three-time Olympian in March 2016
have to be very careful and guard
against injuries. At the same time, 8. Alertness is the need of the hour.
you will have to out-dribble and out- 9. You must always respect your well-
manoeuvre [opponents]. wishers and be of help to them.
4. You will have to be friendly with 10. Every player must live in an
everybody. atmosphere of mutual trust and
5. You will have to keep the honour friendship and play for the country.
of the national flag You will have We in Moga are praying that Indias
to play not for yourself but for your hockey team wins another Olympic
country. You will have to enhance gold medal.
Indias prestige. You must go to Australia with an
6. You must score at the first available
P HOTO: PATRICK BLENNERHASS ETT

easy mind and perform your duty

opportunity. Hockey is not a game for As soon as you reach Melbourne,
selfish players. You must never allow a send us your postal address and also
good chance to go a-begging. mail your schedule of matches.
7. You must always remain calm Your loving father.
and keep your presence of mind.
Needless excitement will only Singh Sr. wished hed found the
spoilyour judgment. letter at the outset of the games. His
FROM A FORGOTTEN LEGEND: BALBIR SINGH SR., TRIPLE OLYMPIC GOLD AND MODIS NEW INDIA
2016 BY PATRICK BLENNERHASSETT. PUBLISHED BY NOW OR NEVER PUBLISHING. NONPUBLISHING.COM.

112 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

fathers words felt like a premonition: stick whacked out of his hands, his
he had been neither alert nor careful, knees targeted; any part of his body
and had not kept his presence of mind. in striking range was punished.
All Singh Sr. could do was run, so
SINGH SR. VALIANTLY headed out he did. From the first moments of
onto the pitch. He could see Paki- the match, he sprinted long looping
stani players who were once his routes, heading out to the corner,
friends. Now these Muslim men were backtracking, filling holes. The rest of
enemies, their own families raped the Indian team knew their captain
and murdered during the period of wouldnt be putting the ball in the
national strife. No one was innocent; net, so they moved the ball through
everyone was to blame. the gaping holes he left for them.
As soon as the whistle sounded, Right after the half, when it looked
number 13 was knocked around, his like the two teams were going to come
to a nil-nil draw, India took advantage
of a penalty corner and moved into
Puzzles See page 122
the lead. Now all they had to do was
MAKE A BEELINE
play evenly for another 30 minutes.

THE S OUND OF THE final whistle

was like an angel calling out. Singh Sr.
looked up at the sky and wept. He had
amassed 22 goals in the Olympics.
He had won three gold medals for
his country.
As he led his team out to the victory
A TALL ORDER platform, the pride hed lost during
The moves below could be performed in any
order: Move 6 to the position after 5. Move 1 to these games returned. Regardless of
the rst position. Move 2 to the position before 3. his selfish play against Afghanistan,
his team was golden and all would be
SUDOKU HIDDEN
MEANING forgiven he hoped. Slowly, his stern
8 2 1 9 6 4 7 5 3
A. An outside demeanour cracked. Stepping up to
3 7 9 8 5 2 4 1 6 chance
6 4 5 1 3 7 9 8 2 B. Geography the middle box, with the captains of
4 1 6 7 9 5 3 2 8 lessons Pakistan and Germany at his side,
2 8 3 6 4 1 5 7 9 Singh Sr. smiled.
5 9 7 3 2 8 6 4 1
7 3 4 2 1 6 8 9 5
In March 2016, Hockey India presented
1 6 8 5 7 9 2 3 4 Singh Sr. with its rst-ever lifetime
9 5 2 4 8 3 1 6 7 achievement award, the Major Dhyan
Chand Lifetime Achievement Award.

February2017 | 113
 Unbelievable
TRUE TALES TOLD TALL

Accidental Purchases
Nury Vittachi relates what can happen when fingers do the walking
ABOUT TWO YEARS AGO, camel cost US$1540, a sum which
Itried to remove a bubble Iconsidered intriguingly affordable,
from my smartphone although it was the thought of
protective screen and explaining it to my spouse that put
accidentally bought a me off.
I LLUSTRATI ONS: i STOCK

camel. Luckily, I managed Her: You said you wouldnt buy any
to back out of the purchase more ridiculous junk.
by switching the phone off and turning Me (covering camels ears): He can
around three times for luck, a useful hear you.
trick I learned from my children. So I was sympathetic when reader
At the time, a 500-kg live, single-hump Alice May Lo told me about a UK man

114 | February2017
who accidentally bought a bus. Dave her error, she said: Oops, sorry. He
Little, 27, woke up after a night of continued: No problem. You need
partying in Ibiza, Spain, to see on his all the practice you can get.
smartphone that he had the previous A techy colleague says that you
night purchased a full-sized tourist no longer need to complain about
coach on eBay for US$36,000, media annoying accidental calls. You just
reports said. That beats the silliest record them and wreak revenge.
thing I ever accidentally bought, Adobe Systems has a new program
which was a banana-only lunchbox that encodes voices from small
that my daughter slipped samples. You can then
into my shopping basket, type whatever words
Alice said. For a tense half- you like and hear them
It doesnt beat my
record. In the 1990s,
minute I was a spoken in that voice.
If, like me, you have a
I accidentally bid at a major property wonderfully creative
Hong Kong land auction. tycoon in the (desperately evil) streak,
For a tense half-minute Trump bracket you can use the sound
I was a major property of a persons voice for
tycoon in the Trump literally thousands of
bracket. Luckily, a passing billionaire illegal and immoral purposes I
outbid me, or I would have had mean, harmless and amusing pranks.
something even harder to explain to But returning to accidental online
my wife that evening. purchases, a survey of friends and
Her: How was your day, darling? colleagues showed that they had
Me: Nothing special. Except that bought items ranging from a sheep
I bought Kowloon. skull to pop-star memorabilia. One
Simple accidents can have dire had bought huge amounts of spin-off
consequences. This columnist has merchandise (including onesie
written about cases in the US, outfits) of licensed characters from
Philippines and Vietnam where childrens television shows. And I
people dialled wrong numbers and got dont have children, she said.
into arguments that turned into armed That was when I started regretting
shoot-outs. Who would want Died of my failure to complete my camel
a Wrong Number on their gravestone? purchase. I saw myself swinging open
Better to respond to accidental the door to my spare room. You
calls good-naturedly. Reader Angela think thats a story? Meet Dromo.
Sias told me she sang the whole of
Happy Birthday to a stranger on the Nury Vittachi is a Hong Kong-based
phone. After the listener pointed out author. Read his blog at Mrjam.org

February2017 | 115
 NEWS
out about BOOKS FILMS DVDS

Paris to Trial Flying River Taxis

As the worlds cities get ever more populated, many are looking to exploit
their often underused waterways in ingenious ways. Nowhere is this truer
than in Paris, where a new form of eco-friendly transport is due to be tested
on the River Seine this year.
The brainchild of record-breaking French yachtsman and inventor Alain
Thbault, the SeaBubble is a novel form of water taxi that ies above the
surface on its four marine wings. The idea actually came from my
daughters, he says. They told me to invent a zero-emission cab because
they were sick of seeing the pollution.
The SeaBubbles are powered by solar energy and have enough room
for four passengers and a pilot, although Thbault hopes that they will
one day be driverless. Tim Hulse

The solar energypowered vessels can carry

five people and reach speeds of up to 30km/h

116 | February2017
 SILENCE
Drama/History
Martin Scorsese
directs this
historical drama
adapted from Shsaku
Ends 1966 novel
that follows young
Jesuit priests Fathers ANNIE SLOAN PAINTS
Sebastio Rodrigues EVERYTHING
(Andrew Gareld) and Cico Books
Francisco Garrpe
As this book indicates, internationally renowned
(Adam Driver) as they
decorative painting expert Annie Sloan literally
travel to 17th-century
does paint everything. Here are 40 step-by-step
Japan. Their mentor,
projects for your entire home, from walls, oors and
Father Cristvo
furniture to curtains, blinds, pillows and shades.
Ferreira (Liam Neeson),
Leather, rope, wood, ceramics you name it, Annie
is missing after
applies her paintbrushes, paints and brilliant eye for
reportedly renouncing
colour, texture and pattern to dozens of surfaces.
his faith and, as the
Get set to transform parts of your home and items
young men investigate,
that have seen better days into born-again treasures.
they nd that the
Christian population
has been driven
underground in the A Teddy a Day
face of persecution.
The circumstances
Campbell Remess, 12, has
surrounding Ferreiras made it his business to
disappearance come to ensure sick children in
light as they face the hospitals across Australia
ultimate test of faith. receive a teddy bear to
help them through their
day. Over the past three
P HOTO: (REM ESS) PROJECT 365

years, the young boy, who

lives in Hobart, Tasmania, has sewn over
800 teddy bears. He helps fund his fuzzy
and uffy creations with cash raised from
his Facebook crowd-sourcing page,
Project 365 by Campbell, and donations
ofmaterials from well-wishers. Caitlin Quinn

February2017 | 117
OUT & ABOUT

THE BEATLES: EIGHT

DAYS A WEEK THE
TOURING YEARS
Documentary/Music
Directed by Oscar-
winning lmmaker
Ron Howard, Eight Days
aWeek is a compilation
of footage featuring
music, interviews and
stories of The Beatles
250 concerts from 1962
to 1966. This is the period
when Beatlemania was
at its peak and the group
rst toured Britain,
Germany, the US and
therest of the world. BOLSHOI
Beyond giving CONFIDENTIAL
moviegoers the Secrets of the Russian ballet
opportunity to see the from the rule of the tsars
Fab Four at their musical to today
height, the lm captures Simon Morrison
the spirit of the band at HarperCollins
the time for example, To witness a Bolshoi Ballet production
touching on their refusal is to be transported to an enchanted
to play for segregated world, where the mesmeric presence and
audiences in the US. steely technique of the dancers linger in
thememory long after curtain fall. Equally
captivating is what has happened offstage
in and around the Bolshoi Theatre through
its 250-year history. A chronicle of the
events that have dened the present-day
Bolshoi, this book, if it were a thriller, would
P HOTO: (BALLET) GETTY I MAGES

be up there with the best. But we are

dealing with real life here, not ction, which
makes it even more remarkable. Fire, pillage,
defections, bombing, jealousies, intrigue,
political diktats and scandals, one as recent
as the 2013 acid attack on the artistic
director the Bolshoi has weathered many
lows. But, lucky for us, its balletic legacy is
still writ large in the world of dance.

118 | February2017
 READERS DIGEST

THE ODDITORIUM
The tricksters, eccentrics,
deviants and inventors
whose obsessions
changed the world
David Bramwell
and Jo Keeling
Brewers (by Hachette)
Theres nowt so
queer as folk, as
thesaying goes, and
thismixed bag of non-
PARIS CAN WAIT Comedy/Romance conformists conrms
This light-hearted romantic comedy starts in itinspades. Consider
Cannes and takes us on what becomes a two- NellieBly, an American
day trip, through many charming towns, to Paris. journalist, who, in 1887,
Anne (Diane Lane), unable to join her husband, spent ten days in aNew
Michael (Alec Baldwin), on a private jet from Cannes York mental asylum,
to Paris due to an ear infection, accepts a ride with pretending to be insane.
his business associate, Jacques (Arnaud Viard). So, Or John Hunter, the
in his battered Peugeot, Jacques delights in having surgeon who stole anIrish
Anne all to himself. Anne soaks up the attention giant. Or L.L. Zamenhof,
and, although she doesnt fall for his routine, the who created alanguage
twodelight in the simple pleasures: museums, Stalin called the language
restaurants, markets, food, wine and good company. of spies. Were they
courageous, resourceful,
obsessive orjust plain
Green Energy crazy? You decide.
Overtakes Coal
The worlds capacity to
generate electricity from
renewable sources has
overtaken coal, reports the
P HOTO: (FOOTP RINT) i STOCK

International Energy Agency.

Its the result of a worldwide
push to use sources such as
wind, solar and hydro. For
instance, in 2015, half a million
solar panels were installed every
day around the globe. Tim Hulse

rua |
 HIDDEN FIGURES Drama
Based on the true-life stories of the three women known as human
computers, Hidden Figures is about Katherine Johnson (Taraji P.
Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle
Mone). This lm is a heartfelt tribute to the people who served as the brains
behind one of the greatest operations in US history. As the US competed with
the USSR to put aman in space, these remarkable African-American women
were specically tasked with calculating the launch of astronaut John Glenn
into orbit and guaranteeing his safe return. Dorothys, Marys and Katherines
combined brilliance and ambition to accomplish what had hitherto only been
a dream crossed all gender, race and professional boundaries, helping fuel
some of Americas greatest achievements in space.

Oldest Vertebrates
A University of Copenhagen study
has found that Greenland sharks
can live as long as 500 years. The Greenland
reason for their remarkable longevity sharks are the
is not yet known, but its believed longest-living
that the deep, frigid waters of the vertebrates
North Atlantic where the rare known on Earth
creatures make their home are a
contributing factor. With a growth
P HOTO: (SHARK) ALAMY

rate of just a few centimetres per

year, the slow-maturing sharks do
not reach breeding age until they
are at least 150. The largest shark
the group measured was ve
metres, giving it an estimated age
of at least 392 years. Greg Barton

120 | February
b 2017
 ERS DIG

HOUSE PLANTS
How to look after your indoor plants
Isabelle Palmer Cico Books
Are you one of those
peoplewith a knack for
killing indoor plants?
Fortunately, Isabelle
Palmeris your knight
withshining secateurs,
anexpert in small-space
gardening whose inventive Culture Bonus
planting ideas and easy for Youngsters
projects will bring vibrant Remember when you were
greenery and owers intoyour home, no matter starting out, and wanted
how limited your space, gardening skills or that best-selling book, or
budget. Learn how to create terrariums and tickets to see a concert but
hanging baskets. Grow a sculptural display of you just didnt have enough
airplants on a wall or make an indoor pond for money? Seems the Italian
aquatic plants in a glass vase. From replace to Government has decided
windowsill, from doorway to skylight, there are money shouldnt get in
plants that, with a little love and attention, and theway of its youngsters
aquirky container or two, willlift your mood having a good time. If they
andbring the outdoors in. turn 18 between November
3, 2016, and December 31,
2017, they can download
anapp called 18app, which
allows them up to 500
forspending on cultural
activities such as buying
books, concert tickets
andmuseum trips. The
scheme will cost the
ItalianGovernment 290
million. Parliamentary
undersecretary Tommaso
P HOTO: (TICKETS) i STOCK

Nannicini told the press

thatthe investment sends
aclear message of the
importance of cultural
consumption to an
individuals wellbeing.
Caitlin Quinn

February2017 | 121
BRAIN POWER
TEST YOUR MENTAL PROWESS

Puzzles
Challenge yourself by solving these puzzles and mind stretchers,
then check your answers on page 113.

MAKE A BEELINE
Without crossing over a line, trace a path
frombee to ower.

A TALL ORDER
Order these digits from
shortest to tallest in only
three moves. A move
consists of taking a
single digit out of the
line and reinserting it
at another position.

122 | February2017
 1 7
8 2
43 8
4 6 9 3 8
2 6 4 1 9
5 7 2 6 1
3 1 9
5 9
2 1
(BEELINE) CRAIG KAPLAN; (TALL ORDER) DARREN RIGBY; (SUDOKU) IAN RIENSCHE

TO SOLVE THIS SUDOKU

You have to put a number from 1 to 9 in each
square so that:
Q every horizontal row and vertical column
contains all nine numerals (1-9) without
repeating any of them;
Q each of the 3 x 3 boxes has all nine numerals,
none repeated.

HIDDEN MEANING
Identify the common words or phrases below.

Geography
CH CE - on on
AN
A B

February2017 | 123
BRAIN POWER

TEST YOUR GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Trivia
1. Including Rio 2016, how 9. H
How many people
many Olympic Games have dieed when US Airways
been held in the Southern Fligght 1549 landed
Hemisphere? 2 points in tthe Hudson River
in 2009
2 after it was
2. Was Shakespeares Juliet
disabled by a flock
a Capulet or a Montague?
of ggeese? 1 point
1 point
10. W
What flower is
3. The name of the US state
descriibed in the film
of Colorado means what in The Soound of Music as
Spanish? 2 points small and white, clean
4. Which gladiator led and briight? 1 point
8. The beckoning cat
an uprising against Rome? figurines seen outside 11. From which language
1 point stores and restaurants does the word magazine
are Chinese or derive? 2 points
5. In what year was
Japanese in origin?
India partitioned to create 12. Deepwater Horizon,
1 point
the country of Pakistan? on which the 2016 film of
2 points the same name was based,
6. Which member of the pop group was what? 1 point
ABBA was fathered by a German 13. Fans of singer Taylor Swift are
soldier during World War II? 1 point known as what? 2 points
7. The stomach of a cow has four 14. Who is the only batsman to have
compartments. Is this true of horses, scored 100 centuries in international
too? 1 point cricket? 2 points
P HOTO: ISTOCK

16-20 Gold medal 11-15 Silver medal 6-10 Bronze medal 0-5 Wooden spoon
makhazin, meaning storehouse. 12. An offshore oil rig. 13. Swifties. 14. Sachin Tendulkar.
7. No, the stomach of a horse has a single compartment. 8. Japanese. 9. None. 10. Edelweiss. 11. Arabic, from
Colorado River, which is reddy-brown from silt). 4. Spartacus. 5. 1947. 6. Frida (Anni-Frid) Lyngstad.
ANSWERS: 1. Three Summer Olympics, zero Winter Olympics. 2. A Capulet. 3. Red-coloured (for the

124 | February2017
 BRAIN POWER

IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR

Word Power
Straight from the Heart
Before sending a card this Valentines Day, be sure you know the language
of love. Here are some words perfect for would-be Romeos and Juliets.
Dont know them by heart? See the next page for answers.

BY E M ILY COX & H E NRY RATH VON

1. ardent adj. A: engaged. B: lyrical. 10. liaison n. A: secret affair.

C: passionate. B: exchange of vows. C: pet
2. paramour n. A: chaperone. nickname.
B: lover. C: token of affection. 11. beaux n. A: traditional string
3. buss v. A: kiss. B: elope. C: carve used to join hands in marriage
initials in a tree. during the wedding ceremony.
B: winks of an eye. C: boyfriends.
4. swain n. A: intense crush.
B: male suitor. C: gondola for two. 12. requite v. A: ask for someones
5. connubial adj. A: coy. hand. B: give back, as affection.
B: of marriage. C: about the heart. C: fondly remember.
6. troth n. A: rustic altar. B: loyalty. 13. epistolary adj. A: serenading.
C: Celtic wedding ring. B: set in a gazebo. C: relating to
letters.
7. coquettish adj. A: flirtatious.
B: alluring. C: shy. 14. philtre n. A: love potion.
8. endearment n. A: words
B: a gentle caress. C: family keepsake
expressing affection. B: fainting spell. or hand-me-down.
C: recipients address on a letter. 15. cupidity n. A: heart shape.
9. platonic adj. A: of a honeymoon. B: lust or desire for wealth.
B: smitten. C: without physical C: condition of instantaneous
desire. romance, as love at first sight.

February2017 | 125
WORD POWER

Answers
1. ardent [C] passionate. When the 9. platonic [C] without physical
pop star checks his mail, he almost desire. I hate to disappoint the
always finds one or two bizarre gifts paparazzi, but my current
from some of his ardent fans. relationships are all platonic.
2. paramour [B] lover. Claire was 10. liaison [A] secret affair. The
overwhelmed by the devotion and young couple stole away at midnight
affection of her new paramour. each evening for their liaison.
3. buss [A] kiss. During the bus ride, 11. beaux [C] boyfriends. I doubt
Lauren and Alex sneaked off to buss that Sharon considers young
in the backseat. Timothy one of her best beaux.
4. swain [B] male suitor. The 12. requite [B] give back, as
princess gave a weary sigh as she affection. Her lyrics tend towards
awaited the entreaties of her swains. requited love rather than heartbreak.
5. connubial [B] of marriage. Aside 13. epistolary [C] relating to letters.
from their celebrity status, Paul The romance between Elizabeth
Newman and Joanne Woodward were Barrett Browning and Robert Browning
famous for their connubial bliss. is marked by an epistolary trail.
6. troth [B] 14. philtre [A]
loyalty. It was in love potion. Hoping
this gazebo, 20 years GONE A-COURTIN for attention from
ago, dear, that we You may know that my crush, I went to
pledged our troth, horticulture pertains to Madam Ava for her
said Arthur. gardening. It comes from purported philtre.
the Latin hortus (garden).
7. coquettish [A] 15. cupidity [B]
Add the prex co- (with)
flirtatious. Alison to that root, and you get lust or desire for
caught Deans eye both court (a yard) and wealth. The cupidity
with a coquettish cohort (a companion). In of the accused
smile and nod. royal settings of old, and investors was clear.
still today, a owery yard
8. endearment
is an ideal spot for courting
[A] Between hugs a sweetheart. (A quaint VOCABULARY
and kisses, old synonym of courting RATINGS
Lawrence was is pitching woo. But 9 & below: Flirty
murmuring etymologists arent sure 1012: Affectionate
1315: Word Power
endearments. where woo came from.)
Wizard

126 | February2017
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