Reader's Digest India-August 2021

Drama in Real Life

have that happen to them,” she says. it’. By studying the exchanges, O’Neill
Since then, Sedky has worked on cracked one way that Seth accessed his
victims’ accounts. When Seth was mak-
about a dozen ‘sextortion’ cases. ing friendly chatter with the girls—such
While sextortion isn’t a federal crime, as asking May her favourite ice cream
prosecutors can charge people with flavour and the names of her pets—he
computer fraud and abuse. Most was really collecting clues that he then
states outlaw non-consensual sharing used to answer the security questions
of sexual images, but generally these on their accounts.
carry far lighter sentences than the
federal laws Sedky relies on. Finally, in 2016, federal prosecu-
tors had enough evidence to charge
Matthew O’Neill, a Secret Service Vallee with interstate threats, aggra-
agent in New Hampshire, reached vated identity theft and computer
out to Sedky for help with the Vallee fraud and abuse. The indictment listed
case. (The Secret Service investigates
computer crimes and identity theft.) ONE GIRL CRIED HERSELF
Sedky jumped in, issuing subpoenas TO SLEEP. ANOTHER
to Amazon, Skype, Yahoo, Google,
Facebook and others. She unearthed ROUTINELY CALLED HER
the trail all Internet users leave: log- MOM AT WORK, SOBBING.
in IP addresses, time and date stamps
and registration information. Investiga- 10 unnamed victims—the women who
tors then went back further, to the In- had been persuaded to come forward.
ternet providers, to find subscriber and
location information. Vallee was released on bail and or-
dered not to use the Internet. Though
With these details in hand, O’Neill the evidence was strong, Sedky was
and other agents mapped the locations worried; she knew from experience
where Seth had logged in. They all had that putting vulnerable victims on the
some plausible link to Vallee: a restau- witness stand in court could be enor-
rant near his mother’s house, an air- mously distressing, “so there were in-
conditioning business belonging to his centives for us to try to get him to plead
mother’s ex-boyfriend. A random per- guilty to avoid a trial.” But Vallee was
son’s Wi-Fi in New Hampshire, turned adamant that it wasn’t him—that some
out to belong to his sister’s neighbour. other dude did it.
These were crucial bits of circumstan-
tial evidence, and investigators needed AFTER GRADUATING from Belmont
as many of them as possible. High in 2011, Mackenzie moved to

“In these cyber cases, you have to
defeat the SODDI defence,” O’Neill
says—that is, ‘Some other dude did

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Reader’s Digest

North Carolina. Her mother had using a Belmont girl’s hacked Face- photo courtesy detective moulton
banned her from social media in high book page to harass Mackenzie further.
school, so she “went a little crazy,” she Mackenzie messaged the girl, who told
says. When Seth contacted her, she re- her about Detective Moulton. Mac-
sponded. But then Seth took over sev- kenzie passed along dates and screen-
eral of her accounts and demanded a shots, adding to the thick case file.
photo of her breasts.
When the trial team called Mac-
“I won’t send one. I’ll fight back,” kenzie, she told them that Seth had
Mackenzie wrote him. stopped bothering her for a bit but that
in recent months he’d contacted her
Mackenzie, who says she was a vic- again, using the same hacked Facebook
tim of abuse when she was younger, page of the Belmont girl, identified in
was determined not to cower. She court papers as M.M.
printed out her exchanges with Seth
and took them to the police in her This information was critical: It
town. “The policewoman told me, meant Vallee was back online, break-
‘Honestly, we don’t really have the ing the terms of his bail. If agents could
technology to be able to deal with catch him with whatever device he was
something like this, and there’s a very using, they would have his browsing
low probability that anything will and messaging history. With evidence
come from this,’” Mackenzie says. that strong, they could circumvent
Vallee’s ‘some other dude’ defence.
A year later, in 2013, Seth started
The government got an order that
“This job picks you,” says Detective required Facebook to deliver daily re-
Raechel Moulton, who decided in ports of IP addresses and log-in times
primary school to become a police officer. for the M.M. Facebook page. Mean-
while, Secret Service agent O’Neill took
over Mackenzie’s Facebook account.
Copying the instant-messaging patois
he’d learnt from his teenage daughters,
O’Neill posed as Mackenzie on Face-
book Messenger. He alternately flirted,
challenged and acted mad at ‘Seth’,
who, the Facebook reports showed, ac-
cessed the app with a cell phone. The
investigators were determined to get it.

On a windy March morning, Secret
Service agents in black SUVs pulled up
outside Vallee’s mother’s house and his
sister’s apartment. They figured Vallee

100 august 2021

photo by cole wilson was staying at one of them. O’Neill, Mackenzie was determined not to cower.
acting as Mackenzie, once again used “I’ll fight back,” she wrote to her harasser.
Facebook Messenger to connect with
the hacker of M.M.’s Facebook page. she says, “quirky and small, and some-
one who I probably wouldn’t have been
Just after O’Neill signed off, Vallee as afraid of if I had actually known who
left his sister’s apartment. Secret Ser- he was.” But when she got up to make
vice agents followed. When he stopped her statement, she tried to avoid look-
at a traffic light, the officers jumped out ing his way. It wasn’t Ryan Vallee she’d
of their SUVs, guns raised. Vallee took feared, she told the judge, trying not
off, weaving through traffic. The Secret to cry, but Seth, who was “everywhere,
Service and local police tailed him until all the time.”
he hit a dead end. As he got out of the
car, a police officer yelled at him to get Judge Paul Barbadoro asked Vallee
on the ground. In the car was a back- whether he had anything to say. He
pack. Inside the backpack was a phone. shook his head and said, “No.”

Five months later, Vallee pleaded The judge sentenced Vallee to the
guilty to 31 counts, including aggra- eight years in prison that prosecutors
vated identity theft, computer hacking had requested.
and cyberstalking.
“It should send a message to other
ON 6 FEBRUARY 2017, Ryan Vallee sat people out there that you can’t do this,”
in the Concord federal courthouse Assistant US Attorney Arnie Huftalen
for sentencing. Sedky told the judge said. “This is real crime. It really hurts
about the emotional devastation people, and it creates injuries that will
Vallee had wrought. She called his last for a lifetime.”
acts a “remote sexual assault” and ar-
gued that Vallee should go to prison from WIRED (july/august 2019), copyright © 2019
for eight years—the higher end of fed- by stephanie clifford, WIRED.COM.
eral sentencing guidelines.

Investigators had identified 23 vic-
tims and suspected there were even
more. Most declined to speak at the
hearing. “I can only guess they were
just as ashamed as I was,” May says.
But she decided to attend, as did
Mackenzie and a third victim. Sitting
behind Vallee in the courtroom, Mack-
enzie studied him. He was wearing
glasses, his eyes cast down. He looked,

readersdigest.in 101

Reader’s Digest
102 august 2021

BONUS READ

WAR AND
PEACE ON
MELROSE

HILL

A chance encounter on a train journey leads
to an amazing discovery of a decades-old
World War 2 connection

BY Dr Yashwant Thorat
ILLUSTRATIONS BY Siddhant Jumde

readersdigest.in 103

Reader’s Digest

ay I have a light?” I looked up to see a Japanese
gentleman, about my age, standing next to me with
an unlit cigarette in his hand. I reached for my lighter.

MWe were on a train, travelling from Berne to Geneva
in the autumn of 1980.
“Are you Indian?” he asked.
“Yes” I replied.
We began talking. He was an official at the United Nations,
returning home and to his headquarters. I was scheduled to lecture
at the university. He gave me some useful tips on what to see and
where to eat in the city. Having exhausted our store of small talk,
we fell silent. I retrieved my book, Defeat into Victory, an account
of the second World War in Burma, by Field Marshal William Slim.
He opened up a newspaper.

After a while, he asked, “Are you a professor of military history?”
“No,” I replied. “Just interested. My father was in Burma during
the War”. “Mine too,” he said.

In December 1941, Japan invaded their only convenient supply base and
Burma and opened the longest port of entry.
land campaign of the entire war
for Britain. There were two reasons Winning battle after battle, they
for the Japanese advance: First, forced the Allied forces to retreat
cutting off the overland supply into India. The situation was bleak.
route to China via the Burma Road The British were heavily committed
would deprive Chiang Kai-Shek’s to the war in Europe and lacked
Nationalist Chinese armies of the resources and organization to
military equipment and pave the recapture Burma. However, they
way for the conquest of China. soon got their act together. The High
Command was overhauled: Field
Second, possession of Burma would Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell was
position them at the doorway to India, replaced by Lord Louis Mountbatten
where they believed a general insur- and operational control was given
rection would be triggered against the to General William Slim, a brilliant
British once their troops established officer who forged the famous 14th
themselves within reach of Calcutta. Army—an efficient combat force made
Entering Burma from Thailand, the up of British, Indians and Africans.
Japanese quickly captured Rangoon The Japanese, aware that the defenders
in 1942, severing the Burma Road at were gathering strength, resolved to
its source and denying the Chinese of end the campaign with a bold thrust

104 august 2021

Bonus Read

The author's father, Lt. Colonel (later K. S. Thimayya and L. P. Sen—were
Lt. General) S. P. P. Thorat, descending introduced to Mountbatten, who
Melrose Hill after the night-long battle. made casual but searching enquiries
regarding their war experience.
into India and a simultaneous attack
in Burma’s Arakan peninsula. After a long meeting, the group
emerged from the conference tent
It was in the ebb and flow of and Mountbatten turned to Reggie
these larger events that my father, Hutton, the Brigade commander
a soldier, played a part—first in and said, “All right, Reggie! Let your
Kohima, clearing the Japanese All-Indian Brigade do it. But, by
from the Naga Hills, then in Imphal God, it’s going to be tough.” Turning
and, finally, here, in the forested to the three commanders, he said,
mountains of Kangaw. “Gentlemen, the Japanese are pulling
out of Upper Burma. You have been
In 1945, amidst the blinding chosen to intercept their withdrawal
monsoon rains, Supreme Allied from there into the South. You will
Commander Mountbatten’s plane concentrate at Akyab, proceed to
landed at Maungdaw where the All- Myebon by sea, capture Kangaw,
India Brigade, of which his regiment penetrate Japanese-held territory
was a part, was headquartered. My and convert their retreat into a rout.
father and two other commanders— Is that clear?” It was.

***
My Japanese friend, who had been
listening intently, leaned forward and
asked, “Did you say your father was in
the All-India Brigade?”
“Yes”, I replied.
Our conversation paused as the
waiter served coffee and croissants.
Later, he persisted, “Was he a junior
officer at the time?”
“Battalion commander. Punjab
Regiment”, I replied.
As he digested the information, his
face seemed to blanch. It was perhaps
a play of light or just my imagination,
but I thought he was going to be ill.
“Are you okay?” I queried.
He nodded. “Please carry on.”

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Reader’s Digest

War poster detailing the events of the Allied campaign in Kangaw, Burma. The Burma
campaign was the longest fought by the British Army during the Second World War.

After marching through hostile enemy’s withdrawal, the hill would
territory against stiff opposition, have to be captured despite the odds.
the Punjab troops finally landed at He made the call.
Myebon. They proceeded to Kangaw,
not knowing that 48 hours later they The first attack by the Hyderabadis
would be locked in a battle that was under Thimayya mauled the enemy
to last a fortnight and claim the lives but did not achieve the objective.
of thousands. The second by the Baluchis under
Sen met a similar fate. It was then
The Japanese withdrawal route that Hutton asked my father and
was dominated by Hill Feature 170, the Punjabis under his command to
dubbed ‘Melrose’, an elevated terrain make a final effort. Artillery and air
that gave the men holding it an enor- support was coordinated. The attack
mous tactical advantage. Moreover, was set at 0700 hours on 29 January
intelligence reports claimed they had 1945. At dawn, as the leading com-
two brigades whereas the Indians had panies moved forward, the Japanese
one. Brigadier Hutton realized that to opened machine-gun fire. As artil-
achieve their mission of stopping the lery provided cover and laid out a

106 august 2021

Bonus Read

smokescreen, the Punjabis began to The battalion commander would
climb the hill. Ensconced in well-dug be decorated with the DSO for
bunkers, the Japanese rained fire on “unflinching devotion to duty and
the climbing party. Air cover, a key personal bravery”. But that was far
part of the plan, failed to material- into the future.
ize—bad weather and bad luck. The
Indian casualties mounted. At that moment, on the field of bat-
tle, the triumphant chief looked over
Taking a calculated risk, the the captured Japanese, assembled, as
commander pushed on. They were soldiers do, neatly and in order. On
hardly 91 metres from the top when seeing the Indian commander, their
the Japanese threw everything they leader called his men to attention,
had at them. In the face of such stepped forward, saluted, unbuckled
unrestrained ferocity, the advance his sword, held it out with both hands
began to falter, hovering uncertainly and bowed. The Indian was startled
on the edge of retreat. It was the to see his enemy’s face streaked with
moment of truth—fight or flee? tears. He understood the pain of
defeat, but tears? After all, this was
As he watched his men being
mowed down by heavy fire, a rage The advance faltered,
erupted within the commander. hovering on the edge
Throwing caution to the winds, he of retreat. Should they
ran ahead to stand with the troops.
His presence seemed to tip the fight? Or flee?
scales—the soldiers rallied, ‘fixed’
bayonets and charged into the war—one or the other side had to lose.
Japanese, shouting obscenities and What the Japanese could not
primeval war cries. Fierce hand-to-
hand combat ensued. Neither side explain was that his tears were not
took or gave quarter. The conflict of grief but of shame. How could he
continued unabated through the make him understand what it meant
night. The Japanese counter-attacked to be Samurai? Given a choice he
in wave after wave, but the Indian would have preferred the nobler
line held firm. Then, the last bullet course of hara-kiri (taking one’s own
was fired and there was silence. life) than surrender, but fate willed
otherwise. The ancestral sword in his
Many years later, Mountbatten hands had been carried with pride by
would describe what took place as his forefathers. Now he was shaming
“the bloodiest battle of the Arakan”, them by handing it over.
and rightly so. Around two thousand
Japanese and 800 Indians lay dead in
the course of that single encounter.

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Reader’s Digest

All this was unknown—unknow- Japanese flags like this one were often
able—to the Indian commander. brought back home as souvenirs by the
And yet there was something in the victors after close-combat encounters.
manner and bearing of the defeated
officer in front of him which moved soldiers are different from those who
him deeply. He felt that the moment guide other mortals, for they bind
was not merely solemn but deeply them in strange webs of understand-
personal, even sacred. ing and codes of honour that persist
no matter what flags they fly.
He reached out to receive the
sword, and then, inexplicably— The moment passed. The success
compelled by an emotion which signal was fired. Far away in the jun-
perhaps only a soldier can feel for a gles below, Brigadier Hutton watched
worthy opponent—stepped forward the three red lights in the sky and
and spoke clearly and loudly for smiled. He would later explain that
everyone to hear: “Colonel, I accept at stake that night was not only the
your surrender, but I receive your battle mission itself, but the larger
sword, not as a token of defeat, but issue of whether Indians ‘had it in
as a gift from one soldier to another.” them’ to lead men in war. Sceptics
felt his faith was misplaced, but the
Battle was battle. Each day’s victory offered vindication.
fought with strength.
Now, that it was over, ***
they were all just men. The story ended, I looked out of
my compartment window, lost in
The Japanese leader looked up, thought when I heard a choking
his face lit up with surprise and sound. My Japanese friend had
unspoken gratitude for the remark broken down. He swayed from side
that redeemed his honour.

The Punjabi soldiers—Hindus
and Muslims—nodded in apprecia-
tion. Battle was battle. When it was
on, each fought the other with all
their strength. Now that it was over,
they were all simply men—there was
no personal or national animos-
ity. Maybe the gods who look after

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Bonus Read

The Samurai sword surrendered to to the platform and bid farewell.
General Thorat after the Melrose battle “Goodbye,” I said. “Keep in touch.
Incidentally, would you like me
to side, his eyes closed, clearly in the to restore the sword back to your
grip of an emotion more powerful family?” He smiled and said,
than he could control. He kept saying “Certainly not. The sword already
“Karma, karma,” and muttering to rests in the house of a Samurai.”
himself in his own language. After
a while, he looked up and held both That was the last I saw of him.
my hands. “It was my father who Usha, my wife, says the probability
battled yours on Melrose. It was he of our meeting defies statistics.
who surrendered. Had your father She should know, having studied
not understood the depth of his economics and statistics. That both
feelings, he would have come back our fathers joined the army during a
and died of shame. But in accepting World War and fought in Burma was
our ancestral sword in the manner perhaps understandable; that they
he did, he restored honour to my were present in the same specific
father and to our family. That makes battle—difficult but believable.
us brothers—you and I.” They returned to their families—
plausible. But that their sons grew
When the train pulled into up in two different lands, happened
Geneva station, we stepped off on to go to Berne at the same time,
board the same train, share the
same compartment, and discover a
connection from four decades ago—
that undoubtedly is insane.
Personally, I do not believe in pre-
destination and yet, at times, I am not
so sure. The sword has a pride of place
in our home. Now, whenever I see it,
my mind enters the jungles of Arakan,
where in the midst of the madness of
war, two soldiers entered the heat
and fury of battle and emerged on to
a common ground where respect and
humanity won the day.

Dr Yashwant Thorat is the son of late
Lt. General S. P. P. Thorat, KC, DSO.
First published in Salute, July 2017.

readersdigest.in 109

CULTURESCAPE

Books, Arts and Entertainment

TURNING
OVER A
NEW LEAF

In Irwin Allan Sealy’s latest
novel, we discover an Asoka who

is more human than saint

by Sukhada Tatke

Emperor Asoka ruled much
of South Asia and played a
crucial role in the spread of
Buddhism in the 3rd century
BC. But who was the man? What
brought about his transformation
from a warmonger to a practitioner
and preacher of peace? Irwin Allan
Sealy’s latest novel Asoca: A Sutra—
an imagined memoir told in the voice
of the ageing emperor, ‘Asoca’, after he
has abdicated and retired to a cave—
might provide some answers.

110 august 2021

Reader’s Digest

“FOR A What drew you to write a book on Asoka?
REVOLUTIONARY A glimpse—quite late in life—of his
TRANSFORMATION famous Kalsi edict rock located in the
OF THE KIND ASOKA very district where I’d spent a goodly
WENT THROUGH, portion of my life, Dehradun. The rock
was pivotal in establishing an accurate
THE HUMAN chronology for our ancient history and in
MATERIAL MUST the deciphering of our archaic languages,
BE EXCEPTIONAL.” so I was a little ashamed of having failed
to visit this crucial landmark in my
own backyard. I think the novel was
part expiation.

In Zelaldinus (2017), the narrator was
your alter-ego. Here, Asoka is looking
back on his life as a 70-something man.
Did your being close to him in age have
any bearing on his reflections?
Certainly, it helped to be able to look
back as Asoka himself might have to-
wards the end of his life. I’d like to think
that proximity—reflecting on life from
a comparable vantage—gave the first-
person narrative some authenticity. We
don’t know for sure when Asoka was
born or when he died, so his age is con-
jectural. Historians think he lived into his
mid-seventies.

photo: arun pardesi You said in an interview that the sorrow
of Asoka resonated with your own expe-
riences as a person. Can you elaborate?
I did have in mind a darkening of the
screen—a sobering or sombering—that
comes with advancing age. In fact, the
Kalinga war came when Asoka was barely
middle aged, but it appears to have pro-
foundly changed—you could say aged—
him. Sorrow is almost by definition an

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Reader’s Digest

older person’s response; it goes much Of all your books, this one seems to
deeper than simple sadness, which is be among the more ‘straightforward’.
available to you at any age. Yes. In the past I’ve often chosen com-
plex modes of story-telling. The form—
You make a distinction between say a nama or a chronicle, as indicated
‘Asoca’ and ‘Asoka’. Could you tell us in the subtitle—was a clue to the strat-
a little about the ‘k’ sound and why egy of the text. This time the strategy
the difference? itself was straightforward. I set out to
It was just a way of distinguishing my tell a plain unvarnished tale, something
fictional character from the historical the sutra—or thread—exemplifies: no
man. The ‘c’ was my proprietary mark, loops, no knots, just a continuous yarn.
which allowed me to shape my man in Hence Asoca: A Sutra.
any way I pleased. He was ‘my Asoca’
in the way Zelaldinus was my Akbar. How did you strike the balance be-
(The Jesuits at court wrote his name, tween taking creative liberties in the
Jalaluddin, as Zelaldinus in
Latin, and I thought Good, novel and staying faithful
I’ll call my man that!) In to the spirit of the man?
Asoca the eccentric spelling The edicts are what we
is also a linguistic marker: know this man by, and
There’s light weather made their unique feature is their
of the way people speak and advocacy of non-violence
how it indicates their social and a message of tolerance
class or regional origins. that broke with the vaunts
of all other rulers of antiq-
Were you already thinking uity. I needed to keep this
of this book when you quality front and centre
wrote these lines in Zelaldinus: without making a saint of
“… Ashoka the great? Don’t the man. The man who emerges from
make me laugh ...”? the edicts is in fact very human: a bit
Strangely, no. At that point I was Akbar. humourless, a bit sanctimonious, a bit
And of course, the poem was a one-off, of a prig, so I tried to work those quali-
a comic set-piece. The reader under- ties into the book. There is also a tra-
stands Akbar here is the edgy, imperial dition that Asoka was a cruel king who
egotist looking for the nearest competi- turned over a new leaf when he became
tor. Asoka is more than the straw man a Buddhist. Now, I could have used this
Akbar sets up here. That’s part of the alleged transformation in a lurid way
joke, which then goes still further with that made for melodrama, but in fact I
the ‘other guy’—Christ. was trying to create an ordinary man,
neither saint nor sinner. Extraordinary

112 august 2021

Culturescape

men have their ordinary moments, and awakening to practical and political
many of the liberties I take surround ends—his programme of dhamma.
such moments in his life.
Asoka’s story is inspiring in that a
Tell us a little about how your visits man who spread destruction trans-
to Kalinga influenced the book. formed after great penitence. Do
To stand by the Kalsi rock, or the one at you think our present-day leaders
Kalinga, is to step outside time. As you are capable of such introspection?
muse, you’re gathered up into a past For a revolutionary transformation of
that has vanished so completely that the kind Asoka underwent, the human
you’re obliged to reinvent it. Possibly material must be exceptional. I see no
that strenuous evocation turned me evidence of the necessary strength of
into a storyteller: recreating the times character among today’s leaders, but
led to recreating the king. We all grow there’s no such thing as a kali yuga any
up with a smattering of Asoka, and I more than there’s ever been a golden
think I’d reached a tipping point where age. History can throw up an aberration
I was after more. I began by reading the any time, just as it did in Gandhi’s day.
edicts. The edict rocks should be places
of national pilgrimage. “Forgive yourself,” Asoca is told in the
end. Do you think that is a good start-
In the novel, Asoca doesn’t shy away ing point on the path to redemption?
from recounting war and bloodshed It is a prerequisite to wiping the slate
in great detail when he speaks about clean, and that is a necessary first step
the signal he gave to “begin the kill- on the path.
ing”. Usually, one tends to bury one’s
darkest mistakes, but not Asoca. What are you working on now?
What does that say about him? On a gazetteer of the Doon valley.
It says he was an uncommon man, un- Something along the lines of the
usually reflective, ahead of his time (as Imperial Gazetteer of India, which was
a ruler if not as a thinker—remember an extraordinary work of literature. Of
always that the Buddha preceded him course, that encyclopaedic work
in a sense that made him possible) and would simply be a point of departure:
spiritually resourceful. Only an unusu- old forms are a springboard to new
ally strong personality could snatch kinds of writing. My Gazetteer will be
victory from a moral defeat the way he considerably more playful and will
did. To take a cynical view of his trans- happily accommodate fact and fiction,
formation is to miss a human triumph something that would horrify any civil
that is also a piece of admirable king- servant worth his salt, especially those
ship, because he proceeds to turn his staid Raj sahibs.

readersdigest.in 113

LAUGHTER

The best Medicine

Little Johnny and “A tattoo? You’re kidding. It sure looks like a suit.”
his friend Tommy
were on their very really boring people are still at the back peter steiner/cartoonstock.com
first train ride. A until you fall asleep. of my cupboard.
vendor selling con- It’s online sedating. — @craiguito
cessions came by, —Jon Harvey, Ê I switched the
and Tommy’s mother comedian labels on all my
bought each child wife’s spices. I’m
a candy bar. Season to Taste not in trouble
Ê Spices were first yet, but the thyme
Johnny eagerly brought to Europe is cumin.
tore into his just as in the Middle Ages, —Submitted by
the train went into and some of them Justin Mitchell
a tunnel. When the
train emerged, Johnny
saw that Tommy was
still struggling with
the wrapper.

“I wouldn’t eat
that if I were you,”
Johnny said to Tommy.

“Why not?” asked
Tommy.

“Because I took one
bite and went blind
for half a minute.”

—Innerworkspublishing.com

I’ve created an app
to help with insomnia.
It lets you talk to other

114 august 2021





Start each day with a positive thought, Reader’s Digest
like I can go back to bed in about 16 hours.
$10 million?”
— @AbbyHasIssues “No,” the man said.
“Half of my estate?”
A priest, a minister $10 million, half “No,” the man said.
and a rabbit walk into of my estate, or my “Ah! You want to
a blood bank. The daughter’s hand in
rabbit says, “I think marriage. But there’s marry my daughter.”
I might be a type O.” a shark in the pool.” “No! I want the
—Submitted by
Vincent Gottschalk One day as he said name of the man
this, there was a loud who pushed me in!”
A wealthy business- splash. A man swam
man liked to show his a lap of the pool and —Alphausa.org
party guests his pool got out just as the
and say, “If you swim shark thudded into Reader’s Digest will pay
a lap, I will give you the wall. for your funny anecdote
or photo in any of our
“So, would you like humour sections. Post it
to the editorial address, or
email: [email protected]

EVERY TRICK IN THE BOOK

Bibliophiles can be so clever! Before you dive into your summer reading,
watch out for booksellers (and librarians) pulling pranks.

via sadanduselss.com (2)

readersdigest.in 117

RD RECOMMENDS

Films

ENGLISH: After its Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard in a still from Annette
recent premiere at
Cannes, reviewers to tick all the boxes an Though it is hard to
didn’t quite seem to edge-of-your-seat thriller replicate the valour of
know what adjectives should. In an effort to Captain Vikram Batra
they should employ exact revenge for the in the 1999 Kargil War,
for this film. While death of her son, Seema it was, perhaps, a mat-
most called ANNETTE Palwa (Neena Gupta) ter of time before the
(streaming on Amazon kidnaps the family of Hindi film industry
Prime Video from police officer Nikhil gave his heroism the
20 August) “beautiful”, Sood (Bajpayee). cinematic treatment.
they also thought it Chaos ensues. SHERSHAAH, relea-
was “baffling”. Starring sing on Amazon Prime
Adam Driver and Mar- Video on 12 August, is
ion Cottilard, this Leos the perfect biopic to
Carax rock opera is watch this Indepen-
about a mysterious child dence Day weekend.
who turns her parents’ Siddharth Malhotra
lives upside down. plays Batra as an ordi-
nary man filled with
HINDI: There is hardly extraordinary courage.
anything which Manoj
Bajpayee touches these Manoj Bajpayee as police TAMIL: Even though
days that does not be- officer Nikhil Sood in Dial 100 anthology films are all
come gold. Given its the rage, NAVARASA
high-adrenaline trailer,
DIAL 100 (releasing on
Zee5 on 6 August) seems

118 august 2021

(releasing on Netflix on Reader’s Digest
9 August) promises to
exceed expectations. Suriya Sivakumar in Navarasa
Created by Mani Ratnam,
the film’s segments each
explore one of nine emo-
tions that make up the
gamut of human feeling.
With directors such as
Arvind Swami and Bejoy
Nambiar, and a cast that
includes Revathi and
Vijay Sethupathi, this
one cannot be missed.

#WATCHLIST: boasts of names such
0N OUR RADAR as Kit Harrington and

Minnie Driver, this col-

Modern Love Season 2: lection of love stories

The first season of this seems to have all the

anthology series proved right ingredients—

not only that the New quirk, warmth and dol- FalconandMagluta
York Times column
Modern Love is a great lops of mush. Strea- from Cocaine Cowboys .

ming on Amazon Prime

read, it is also fun to Video from 13 August. Corben gave us a

watch. With a cast that compelling overview

Cocaine Cowboys: The of cocaine trafficking,

Kings of Miami: Coming but this time he has

to Netflix on 4 August, narrowed his focus

this series will see down to two notori-

filmmaker Billy Corben ous drug lords—

update his 2006 docu- Augusto “Willy”

mentary, Cocaine Cow- Falcon and Salva-

boys. Fifteen years ago, dor “Sal” Magluta.

Kit Harrington in Modern Love Season 2

readersdigest.in 119

Reader’s Digest

Books

Better to Have Gone: Auroville—Love, Death and the
Quest for Utopia by Akash Kapur, Simon & Schuster

John Walker, the were both found dead Scope Out
handsome scion of an 20 years later.
influential East Coast The House Next to the
American family, came Akash Kapur grew Factory (Fourth Estate):
to India in the 1960s up in Auroville and
with Diane Maes, his later married, Aura- Made up of nine
Belgian hippie lice, John and Diane’s interlinked stories,
lover. Together Sonali Kohli’s book
they gave shape daughter. In tells the story of post-
to their dream 2004, the couple Partition India through
of a new world. return to Pondi- its protagonist Kavya
At first, Auro- cherry with and her affluent family.
ville, the com- their two sons.
munity they In his memoir, Funeral Nights (Context):
joined, seemed Kapur confronts
to have realized the ghosts of his In Kynpham Sing
a utopian ideal, but like parents-in-law, Nongkynrih’s unusual
with any utopia, John but also asks a and compelling novel,
and Diane’s plenitude deeper question: What a group of friends find
could not last. They price are we willing to themselves lost in a
pay in our quest for a jungle, swapping stories
perfect world?
that throw light on
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE ... Discordant Notes: Khasi life and culture.

The Voices of Dissent in the Last Court of Fragments Against
My Ruin: A Life (Context)
Resort (Volumes I & II) by Rohinton Fali
Farrukh Dhondy
Nariman (Penguin): Although justice is many things—
comes to rely on consensus, it isn’t television celebrity,
essential that all judges on a bench writer, unabashed
are always in agreement. A dissenting judgement, leftist and homegrown
for instance, records the opinion of a judge who Parsi boy. This
disagrees with the verdict at which his peers arrive. memoir is a sum of
In these definitive volumes, the eminent Rohinton all those parts.
F. Nariman examines the most important dissenting
judgments in the history of India’s Supreme Court.

120 august 2021

Music

TUNE IN

Song: ‘Churaya’
Artist: Amit Trivedi

When Amit Trivedi burst on to the Amit Trivedi
scene, actors in Hindi films still pre-
tended to sing on screen. Unlike to- dry, he, too, has been forced to adapt.
day, Bollywood soundtracks were AT Azaad, his new independent label,
much sought after. Trivedi didn’t gives Trivedi freedom to make music
take long to engineer what would he likes. On ‘Churaya,’ for instance,
soon become a trademark sound. he uses the trumpet and saxophone
For audiences, the songs of Dev.D liberally. With a video that’s as cheery
(2009), Aisha (2010) and Queen (2013) as his production, Trivedi shows us
were at times more memorable than that music can beat all odds.
the films themselves. Even though
Trivedi’s style is unmistakable, no two
melodies of his have ever sounded the
same. His is a big, profound talent.

Trivedi has always been very good
at understanding a film’s context, but
with the pandemic sucking Bollywood

LISTEN assembling its audio tems with guests
cast: James McAvoy, like Anupama Chopra,
AUDIOBOOK: Riz Ahmed and Amitav Ghosh and
Michael Sheen. Sameer Kulavoor.
Neil Gaiman’s THE
SANDMAN is Bible for PODCAST: Hosted by
some comic book lov- journalist Raghu Kar-
ers and Audible did nad, MARINE LINES:

due jus- MUMBAI’S HIDDEN
tice to
its cult WORLDS explores the
status city’s various ecosys-
when

—COMPILED BY SHREEVATSA NEVATIA

readersdigest.in 121

Reader’s Digest

REVIEW

A History
of Violence

Fahadh Faasil’s
Malik reminds us

that in cinema,
crime does pay

By Jai Arjun Singh Fahadh Faasil in Malik

TO UNDERSTAND the spanning five decades, in communal tensions
breadth of current with a large cast of char- exploited by politicians
Malayalam cinema— acters. It begins with a and police—leading to
responsible for, perhaps, very long, single-take se- a parting of ways with
the most vibrant film- quence that introduces his brother-in-law David
making in the country us to the household of (Vinay Fortt). Though
today—consider the last the ageing Sulaiman or centred on the politics
two collaborations be- ‘Ali Ikka’ (Faasil), as he of a specific area, Malik
tween writer–director prepares to leave for a (streaming on Amazon
Mahesh Narayanan and Hajj pilgrimage. He is Prime Video) draws on
actor Fahadh Faasil. In arrested, though, and templates and character
2020, with pandemic- plans are made to kill types that have been
generated restrictions on him in prison. This sets genre staples since The
conventional filmmak- the framework for flash- Godfather (some scenes
ing, they made the low- backs—narrated by dif- also feel like a homage
budget, experimental ferent characters—that to Mani Ratnam’s Naya-
‘computer screen film’ detail the rise to power gan). While crime-movie
CU Soon, through video of a man who becomes a aficionados might find
calls, online chats, and hero in the Ramadapally it over-familiar at times,
only very basic real- region. While Sulaiman, on its own terms, this is
world sets (Faasil offered a Muslim, falls in love a solid, well-acted film
the use of his own flat). with and marries a with a sense of the broad
Christian girl Roslyn sweep of history and the
Their latest, Malik, on (Nimisha Sajayan), he intimate moments that
the other hand, is a big- also finds himself caught forge that history.
canvas gangster film

122 august 2021

Culturescape

STUDIO

Gandhi greeted by also see their suffering. on Gandhi’s part. He
Darwen’s textile His empathy, they felt, told the workers about
workers, 1931 would win the day. In India’s struggles, all
September 1931, when the while refusing to
38.1 x 28 cm a 62-year-old Gandhi cede an inch. When
visited London to an old weaver com-
IT WAS LANCASHIRE’S discuss India’s future, plained about how bad
Darwen extended a things were, Gandhi
cotton town of Darwen warm invitation. only said, “My dear,
that felt keenly the He accepted. you have no idea what
sting of Mahatma poverty is.” Nearly 90
Gandhi’s swadeshi Although it was years after this photo
movement. Unlike Gandhi’s boycott that was shot, it serves as a
the rest of Britain that had crippled their in- reminder of our hard-
mocked Gandhi, his dustry, they flanked won independence,
methods and strange him the way they yes, but it does also
demands, the mill would a matinee star. prove that inter-
workers of Darwen There was laughter, dependence can, at
did not hold the hurrahs, and as seems times, matter, too.
Mahatma’s protest obvious from this pho-
against him. They just tograph, some shyness — BY SHREEVATSA NEVATIA
badly wanted him to
readersdigest.in 123

ME & MY SHELF

In books such as Daughters
of the Sun and Heroines,

Ira Mukhoty made apparent
her love for feminist narratives
in Indian history and mythology.

Released earlier this month,
her first novel, Song of Draupadi,

helps further that abiding
affection for strong,
radical women.

Beloved the mythical town of Macondo. In prose photo: devaki jayal
that is breathtaking and fantastical, and
BYTONI MORRISON, with an imagination that combines lyri-
cism and lunacy, Márquez conveys the
RHUK, `499 chaos and beauty of human life. To be
Having been brought read with caution.
up on a diet of Anglo-
Saxon writers, reading The God of Small Things
this electrifying and
startling novel entirely changed the BYARUNDHATI ROY, Penguin India, `450
way I thought about the written word. Arundhati Roy’s novel may not have
Morrison’s innovative and almost dis- aged particularly well, but when I read
turbing use of language to describe the it 25 years ago, I was mesmerized by
haunting of a black American woman her luminous prose and her fastidious
by the ghost of her daughter is a literary attention to detail, almost like a seam-
tour de force. The flavour of this book stress spinning a rainbow gown. A
stays with you your whole life. disturbing love story shackled by a
sense of foreboding and disquiet.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing
BY GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ,
BYEIMEAR MCBRIDE, Faber & Faber, `899
Penguin India, `399 This debut novel by Irish writer Eimear
A novel that almost single-handedly McBride is almost beyond categoriza-
defined the genre of magic realism, tion. The author uses a stream-of-
Márquez’s labyrinthine novel describes
the vicissitudes of the Buendia family in

124 august 2021

Reader’s Digest

consciousness style to tell the story of a couple when they lose their 11-year-old
young Irish girl who lives with a brother son, Hamnet. Interestingly, Shakespeare
suffering from a brain tumour. In prose is almost entirely missing in the book,
that is as fractured and full of seams as reduced to just a pronoun and descrip-
the brother’s scars, this is a haunting tor—‘he,’‘husband.’The story is filled
tale of love and pain. with foreboding but is told in rich, lumi-
nous prose. The story of Agnes, entirely
H is for Hawk forgotten by history, is mesmerizing.

BY HELEN MACDONALD, After the Prophet

Random House, `499 BY LESLEY HAZLETON,
When Cambridge research scholar,
writer, falconer and naturalist Helen Anchor, `799
Macdonald found herself devastated by A lucid and engaging
grief over the sudden death of her father, account of the great
she decided to train a goshawk as a way rift that gave rise to the
to sublimate her sorrow. She produced Sunni–Shia branches of
a book which is at once a memoir, a fal- Islam and continues to violently divide
conry manual and a heart-breaking Muslims. Hazleton brings to life with
meditation on loss—all interspersed great vividness the terror- and grief-rid-
with gorgeous descriptions of nature. den events that occurred immediately
after Prophet Muhammad’s calamitous
Wolf Hall death before he could name a successor,
which led to the schism that haunts the
BYHILARYMANTEL, Fourth Estate, `499 Islamic world even today.
The first—and best—of Hilary Mantel’s
trilogy about the rise and fall of Thomas A Strange and Sublime Address
Cromwell at the court of Henry VIII is
a masterclass in historical fiction. From BYAMIT CHAUDHURI, Penguin India, `299
the first paragraph, the reader is pulled
into the 16th-century world of Cromwell Tales from Firozsha Baag
with all its violence and splendour. The
book is spotlit by the brilliant prose and BYROHINTON MISTRY, Faber & Faber, `499
attention to detail that Mantel brings Both these books, written only a few
to all her work. years apart from each other, marked
the rise of Indians writing in English
Hamnet with more panache, confidence and
style than ever before. Both these books
BYMAGGIE O’ FARRELL, Tinder Press, `699 are deeply anchored in the keenly noted
This re-imagined story of Shakespeare reality of Indian cities—Calcutta and
focuses entirely on his wife Agnes, Bombay—and are eloquent testimonies
and the terrible tragedy suffered by the to their grace and beauty, but also the
violence and chaos of everyday lives.

Book prices are subject to change.

readersdigest.in 125

BRAIN GAMES
7 Pages to sharpen Your Mind

21 14 19 23 4 8 22

1 to 25 24 1 20

Moderately difficult Move

the numbers from the outer 3 18
ring onto the board. Each num-

ber must be placed in one of the

five cells that lie in the direction 17 9

indicated by its chevron. The (1 TO 25) JEFF WIDDERICH; (MATHELOGICAL) FRASER SIMPSON; (FAVOURITE THINGS) EMILY GOODMAN

numbers must snake together 13 5
vertically, horizontally or diago-

nally so they link in sequence 6 12
from 1 to 25. (For example, 2

must be adjacent to both 1

and 3.) There’s only one 25 15 16 11 2 7 10
solution. Can you find it?

Mathelogical ABC Favourite Things
Difficult Each Easy Amar, Sheela, Roohi and
Basim each have a different
letter in the grid favourite activity from among
the following: rock climbing,
stands for one DEF kayaking, cooking lessons and
zip-lining. Can you figure out
of the whole who likes what, based on the
following clues?
numbers from GHJ Ê Amar’s favourite activity isn’t
1 through 9. No rock climbing.
Ê Sheela is afraid of heights.
two of them rep- Ê Roohi can’t do her favourite
activity without a harness.
resent the same Ê Basim likes to keep his feet
on solid ground at all times.
number. With the help of the clues, can

you figure out which letter stands for what?

1. B × F = the two-digit number AB

2. B + J = G

3. D × D = the two-digit number BC

4. One of the rows contains only

odd numbers.

126 august 2021

reader’s digest

Trains 80 km
Moderately difficult
This map shows Maya, her 60 km
destination and three train
routes she can take to get 50 km
there. Each segment of track
has a different speed limit, 30 km
indicated by the speeds
shown. The distances of each A 120 km/h
segment are indicated by
their colours and the legend B 150 km/h
to the right. Presuming that C 100 km/h
each train always goes at the
top permitted speed and 120 km/h
doesn’t stop anywhere along 90 km/h
the way, which route (A, B 100 km/h
or C) is the fastest?
120 km/h

Dominoes
Easy A standard double-six set of 28 dominoes has been arranged in a rectangle.
Can you draw in the lines to show the placement of the dominoes? We’ve listed the
28 dominoes so you can cross them off as you find them.

(TRAINS) SUE DOHRIN; (DOMINOES) FRASER SIMPSON For answers, turn to page 128.

readersdigest.in 127

SUDOKU

BY Jeff Widderich

Favourite Things 754 3
Amar likes to zip-line, 6
Sheela likes to kayak, 98
Roohi likes rock climbing 21 53
and Basim enjoys cook- 68
ing lessons. 39
652 4
Trains 49
Route A, which will take 1
70 minutes. 48 27

Dominoes To Solve This Puzzle SOLUTION
Put a number from 1 to 9 in
each empty square so that: 167543928
Ê every horizontal row and 354298617
vertical column contains all 928671345
nine numbers (1-9) without 279814563
repeating any of them; 413956872
685327194
Ê each of the outlined 3 x 3 732165489
boxes has all nine numbers, 841739256
none repeated. 596482731

128 august 2021

WORD POWER Brain Games

Ready to try this month’s quiz on for size? 9. lapel n.
It’s a closetful of fashion and clothing (luh-’pel)
words that’ll come in handy whether a elbow patch.
b jacket’s front flap.
you’re lounging in your sweats or stepping c pocket square.
out in your Sunday best. Will you stay
on trend or fall behind the times? 10. sheath n.
Turn to the next page for answers. (sheeth)
a crocheted shawl.
By Sarah Chassé b close-fitting dress.
c long cape.
1. stiletto n. 5. houndstooth n.
(stuh-’leh-toh) (‘hownz-tooth) 11. haute couture n.
a high heel. a belt buckle. (oht kuh-’tyur)
b body armour. b hidden pocket. a high fashion.
c traditional costume. c checked pattern. b evening gown.
c off the rack.
2. knockoff n. 6. sashay v.
(‘nahk-off) (sa-’shay) 12. beanie n.
a shoulder pad. a drape. (‘bee-nee)
b imitation. b strut. a handmade button.
c stunning beauty. c twirl. b knit cap.
c ballet flat.
3. dapper adj. 7. camisole n.
(‘da-per) (‘cam-uh-sohl) 13. array v. (uh-’ray)
a dated. a raincoat. a dress up.
b threadbare. b sleeveless top. b lay out.
c stylish. c slipper. c embroider.

4. anorak n. 8. haberdashery n. 14. gabardine n.
(‘an-uh-rak) (‘hab-er-da-sher-ee) (‘gab-er-deen)
a hooded jacket. a finery. a wide-legged pant.
b snowsuit. b hatmaker. b clutch purse.
c hiking boot. c menswear. c woven fabric.

15. accessory n.
(ak-’seh-suh-ree)
a new collection.
b decorative item.
c reflective vest.

readersdigest.in 129

Reader’s Digest

This Swimsuit is the Bomb

In the summer of 1946, two French designers were competing to
create the tiniest two-piece bathing suit. Jacques Heim made waves
with the Atom, a revealing number named for the teeny particle. Not to be
outdone, Louis Réard unveiled an even smaller, navel-baring suit that shocked
the public. But what’s smaller than an atom? As it happened, the first post-war
nuclear tests (in which atoms were split) made headlines that same week, on the
remote Bikini Atoll. And the name of a fashion bombshell, the bikini, was born.

Word Power 6. sashay (b) strut. 12. beanie (b) knit cap. dendong/getty images
The models sashayed Jia sports her trade-
ANSWERS down the runway. mark beanie year-
round, even in the
1. stiletto (a) high heel. 7. camisole (b) sleeveless heat of summer.
Muskaan sprained top. Wearing a black
an ankle when her camisole and a pink 13. array (a) dress up.
stiletto broke. tutu, the ballerina Arrayed in an ornate
floated onstage. gown and a tall golden
2. knockoff (b) imitation. crown, the queen took
This may look like a 8. haberdashery (c) her seat on the throne.
Gucci handbag, but menswear. The shop sells
it’s a knockoff I bought trousers, cufflinks and 14. gabardine (c)
for 2,000 bucks! other haberdashery. woven fabric. “Please
don’t toss my gabar-
3. dapper (c) stylish. 9. lapel (b) jacket’s dine blazer into the
Zinia cut a dapper figure front flap. The senator washing machine.
in his grey pin-striped suit. always has a flag pin It’s dry-clean only!”
on her lapel.
4. anorak (a) hooded 15. accessory (b)
jacket. “Does the dog 10. sheath (b) close- decorative item.
need a sweater, a rain fitting dress. Rachel chose Mother always said
bonnet and an anorak?” a simple white sheath for the best accessory is
Raj asked. her beach wedding. a big smile—or a
big diamond.
5. houndstooth (c) 11. haute couture (a)
checked pattern. “Should high fashion. Ali’s idea Vocabulary Ratings
I go with the houndstooth of haute couture is a
or the classic plaid for clean T-shirt and jeans 9 & below: good
my new golf pants?” without holes. 10–12: gold
Mona asked. 13–15: god

130 august 2021

Brain Games

QUIZ 11. What hit Chinese
drama was streamed
BY Samantha Rideout over 15 billion times
before the Chinese gov-
ernment censored it?

1. What American politi- 6. Approximately three 12. Before there was an
cian wrote the books quarters of the world’s Internet, a Soviet mathe-
Smart on Crime, Super- smartphones run on matician proposed a nation-
heroes Are Everywhere which operating system? wide network of civilian
and The Truths We Hold? computers. True or false?
7. In which of the follow-
2. What type of wine was ing countries would you 13. What mythical
sent to the International not find a pyramid that’s beast is the national
Space Station for a year, more than 2,000 years animal of Scotland?
to see how it would age? old: Sudan, Mexico,
Madagascar or Italy? 14. Which country’s
3. George Bridgetower national broadcaster
was a virtuosic British 8. Tremors, loss of smell popularized the concept
violinist of African and stiffness are symp- of ‘slow TV’ when it aired
descent. What composer toms of what condition an eight-hour recording
dedicated his ‘Violin affecting the production of a train journey?
Sonata No. 9’ to him? of dopamine in the brain?

4. What Canadian folk 9. In the winter of 2021, 15. There are now over
artist lived in a house what genre of traditional 30 Godzilla movies. In
that measured roughly folk music was trending which decade was the
4.1 by 3.8 metres? on the youthful social- original released?
media platform TikTok?
5. Vikings might have
helped which animals 10. An estimated 18 to
spread across the globe, 35 per cent of humans
by bringing them on experience photic snee-
ships to control rodents? zing, which is what?

ISTOCK.COM/NICESCENE Answers: 1. Kamala Harris. 2. Red wine (Bordeaux). 3. Ludwig van Beethoven. 4. Maud Lewis.
5. Cats. 6. Android. 7. Madagascar. 8. Parkinson’s disease. 9. Sea shanties. 10. Sneezing in
response to bright light. 11. Story of Yanxi Palace. 12. True, but the proposal was rejected.
13. The unicorn. 14. Norway. 15. The 1950s.

readersdigest.in 131

Reader’s Digest ALAMY (3); AP PHOTO

QUOTABLE QUOTES

Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own
life that the more I exercise it the more natural it

becomes to not let my fears run me.

Arianna Huffington, founder, The Huffington Post

There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot
appear to them except in the form of bread.

Mahatma Gandhi, leader of India’s Independence movement

Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life.
Can you give it to them? Then, do not be too eager to deal out death

in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

J. R. R. Tolkien, author

Women must try to do things as men have tried. When
they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.

Amelia Earhart, aviator

Arianna Huffington Mahatma Gandhi J.R.R. Tolkien Amelia Earhart

132 august 2021



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Total Pages in this issue of Reader’s Digest, including cover: 134; Published on 1st August 2021, Monthly Magazine: RNI No. 6175/1960