Saying of the week
The world’s richest man, and the greatest philanthropist in history, Bill Gates, famously pronounced thus recently: “imagine if trees gave of Wifi signals, we would be planting so many trees and we’d probably save the planet too....
“Too bad trees only produce the oxygen we breathe.”
To the rescue
A former prime minister’s son, who was recently restored to his family after years in captivity at the hands of the Taliban, shared some interesting vignettes with our mole. For one, he said, he was not physically abused, and from very early on, had managed to build a rapport with his captors. There came a time he said when he was playing cricket with the youngsters at the camp, and teaching them some English too. When the Fifth Cavalry found him, he said, and ultimately rescued him, he was grateful. But when “they” asked him to sign a declaration saying he was physically harmed and maltreated by his captors, he refused to do so.
Modes of relaxation
Everyone needs time off, time to unwind and relax, especially those who have demanding careers and high stress jobs. We’ve heard that President Obama plays the word game Scrabble, preferably with his wife and daughters, when he wants to unwind after a long day. Prime Minister Modi does yoga to destress and “align mind and body”, as he says. The Great Khan loves the great outdoors and will take long walks around his estate in Bani Gala when he needs to relax. He says his favourite leisure activity is partridge shooting, preferably with his boys. And The Man of Steel will typically wind down to old songs of Lata, Noorjehan, Mukesh, Mehdi Hassan and Muhammad Rafi at night. We hear these melodies have the power to get him to nod off within the hour.
