Taliban captive won his release by cooking curry

Somen Debnath was travelling through the war-torn country as part of a five-year bicycle ride through 33 countries to promote Aids awareness.But he was taken by armed militants – who assumed he was a spy – as he travelled through the remote region of Herat.

He spent three weeks blindfolded strapped to a chair in a pitch black 10ft by 10ft dungeon living in daily fear that he would be killed.

Unable to understand his captors' commands, Indian-born Mr Debnath, 28, was regularly beaten for disobeying orders, starved and repeatedly told he was going to die.

But after realising that one of his captors had a very basic grasp of English, he convinced him to allow him to cook them all a meal.

The Taliban kidnappers were so impressed with his banquet they decided he was ''safe'' and let him go.

Mr Debnath said: "I cooked hot, spicy Indian food for them the way we have it in the Sunderbans in India."

"They were very happy and told my interpreter that I seemed to be a safe guy."

"In the meantime, I had chatted up the interpreter and through our short exchanges, made it clear that I was just a man who was out on adventure and had no intentions of harming their cause."

"The interpreter must have passed this on and I was set free after 24 days. The first sunlight which hit my eyes out in the open almost blinded me."

Mr Debnath, who has a degree from India in zoology and fine arts, set off on his bike from his village of Sunderbans, east India, in 2004.

His plan was to visit 191 countries by 2020 to highlight the plight of Aids across the globe and entered Afghanistan across the Pakistan border earlier this year.

But last month, as he cycled through the remote foothills of the Taliban territory of Herat, 138km from Kabul, Mr Debnath was snatched by militants, blindfolded and held hostage.

''I was looking for a newspaper office or at least some Indian official and it was obvious that I knew nothing of Herat,'' he added.

"Suddenly, a group of around 10 burly men, clad in traditional Afghan clothes and turbans, with bearded faces covered by scarves, surrounded me and started asking me questions."

"I could not answer them because I did not understand their language. They blindfolded me and took me to their hideout. I had no idea where it was. It was semi-arid land.

"I was put in a jailhouse. I did not see any other inmates though."

"I was given no food except some rice and a morsel of beef. I had to survive on that for three days."

"At times, they beat me up in frustration for not understanding their commands. I was repeatedly asked whether I had read the Holy Koran, whether I was a Hindu, whether I was a Pakistani, why was I carrying exercise books, what notes had I taken."

"I knew I would be slaughtered, I simply stood no chance."

"Most of time, I was strapped and tied with rough coir strings except when they allowed me to go to the lavatory."

He added: "I knew that the only hope was in total surrender."

"I told them that I respected their religion and admired their way of life. I told them that I believed in equality of all religions though even while saying this, I knew the sword could fall on my neck."

After 24 gruelling and terrifying days Mr Debnath was released and will travel home to tell his family of his ordeal – but has vowed to visit 191 countries before 2020.

Unable to attract even a single girl, frustrated man sues Axe

New Delhi. In what could prove to be a major marketing and legal embarrassment for Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 26-year-old man has filed a case against the FMCG company, which owns the Axe brand of men grooming products, for ‘cheating’ and causing him ‘mental suffering’. The plaintiff has cited his failure to attract any girl at all even though he’s been using Axe products for over seven years now. Axe advertisements suggest that the products help men in instantly attracting women.

Vaibhav Bedi, the petitioner, also surrendered all his used, unused and half-used deodorant sprays, perfume sticks and roll-ons, anti-perspirants, aftershaves, body washes, shampoos, and hair gels to the court, and demanded a laboratory test of the products and narcotics test of the brand managers of Axe. Vaibhav was pushed to take this step when his maid beat him with a broom when he tried to impress her by appearing naked in front of her after applying all the Axe products.

“Where is the Axe effect? I’ve been waiting for it for over seven years. Right from my college to now in my office, no girl ever agreed to even go out for a tea or coffee with me, even though I’m sure they could smell my perfumes, deodorants and aftershaves. I always applied them in abundance to make sure the girls get turned on as they show in the television. Finally I thought I’d try to impress my lonely maid who had an ugly fight with her husband and was living alone for over a year. Axe effect my foot!” Vaibhav expressed his unhappiness.

Vaibhav claims that he had been using all the Axe products as per the company’s instructions even since he first bought them. He argued that if he couldn’t experience the Axe effect despite using the products as directed, either the company was making false claims or selling fake products.

“I had always stored them in cool and dry place, and kept them away from direct light or heat. I’d always use a ruler before applying the spray and make sure that the distance between the nozzle and my armpit was at least 15 centimetres. I’d do everything they told. I even beat up my 5-year-old nephew for coming near my closet, as they had instructed it to keep away from children’s reach. And yet, all I get is a broom beating from my ugly maid.” Vaibhav expressed his frustration.

Vaibhav claims that he had to do go a lot of mental suffering and public humiliation due to the lack of Axe effect and wants HUL to compensate him for this agony. An advocate in Karkardooma Court, who happened to mistake Vaibhav for some deodorant vendor when he entered the court premises with all the bottles, has now offered to take up his case in the court. HUL has been served a legal notice in this regard.

HUL has officially declined to comment on the case citing the subject to be sub judice, but our sources inform that the company was worried over the possible outcomes of the case. The company might argue that Vaibhav was hopelessly unattractive and unintelligent and didn’t possess the bare minimum requirements for the Axe effect to take place. Officially HUL has not issued any statement, but legal experts believe that HUL could have tough time convincing the court.

“HUL might be tempted to take that line of argument, but it is very risky. There is no data to substantiate the supposition that unattractive and unintelligent men don’t attract women. In fact some of the best looking women have been known to marry and date absolutely ghoulish guys. I’d suggest that the company settles this issue out of court.” noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani said.

Meet the sexual healer who has slept with 1,500 men

Mare Simone, 54, calls herself a "sex surrogate" and has devoted her working life to helping men, women and couples overcome problems in the bedroom. As a qualified sex therapist, she has given lessons in love to more than 10,000 clients over the past 23 years.

And while she estimates she has had penetrative sex with 1,500 of them, she insists there is nothing illegal about what she does. Mare says: "I earn my living by sleeping with other women's husbands or boyfriends. But I am in no way a prostitute as sex surrogacy is legal, as long as it is done in a therapeutic and healing atmosphere.
"People are paying for counseling and to cure their problems - not sex.

"I am helping improve and change the sex lives of thousands of men, which means I am also helping improve the sex lives of their wives and girlfriends.

"Some women become baby surrogates because they want to help women who can't have children. In the same way, I feel drawn to helping others have an intimate sex life.
"My job is so fulfilling and enjoyable. Seeing my customers leave with a new-found sexual confidence is a wonderful sight."

Single Mare, from Chelsea, West London, holds around five sessions A DAY and sees people from all walks of life. She says: "My clients are all ages, shapes, sizes and professions. They have either been recommended to see me by a sex therapist or former client or they seek me out through sexual surrogate organizations.

"The men generally need help with erection and premature ejaculation problems or have been sent by their wives because they weren't pleasing them in bed. Before they see me, they all have an STD test, and must always use a condom when seeing me.
"I also have some women come to me. Their problems are usually that they can't orgasm or have had bad lovers. I show them how to pleasure themselves and make them love their bodies.

"Some visit me for a few sessions, while others have around 12, depending on the extent of their problems.

"All of my sessions start in the same way. We start by chatting while I caress their hands to make them feel relaxed and confident with me.

"During the next few sessions I move to giving them back and shoulder massages, so the client relaxes further while talking about their problems.
"Following that, we do a mirror exercise. This is where the client and I will both take off our clothes and look at our bodies in the mirror.

"Usually, they feel very timid about their bodies and find it difficult to look at themselves. But when they realise I am not judging them, they begin to open up and feel confident.

"At that stage I move on to front body massages. I take over 'down below', showing them how they should be touching themselves.

"Finally, it's time to put everything into practice. This is the stage of lovemaking, so they can learn how to control themselves and solve their sexual problems.
"My job is basically to make people realise their problems are not just physical. They are in the mind and have a lot to do with self-confidence."

Mare has not always been so sexually open. At the age of 19, she was raped by a male friend after accepting a late-night lift home from a party.
Too afraid to report the attack, she lost her confidence in men and sex. When she married her first husband, Victor, ten years later, she still could not bear to be touched intimately.

She recalls: "My fear of sex put a huge strain on my marriage and I knew deep down it was due to the rape.

"Overnight I went from being outgoing to being introverted. When I did date, I found making love scary and traumatic.

"When I married Victor, our sex life was never great and after four years we divorced but we have remained friends.

"It was then that a friend recommended I start reading about tantric sex and sexual surrogacy.

"Learning about this unknown world of sexual healing made me feel that there was hope for me to get my sexual confidence back."

Mare decided to take a four-day course in sex therapy, where she learnt about tantric sex, an ancient Hindu practice that concentrates on a slower form of sex. "It was fascinating and during the course I also realised, for the first time, that the rape I had endured a decade before was not my fault. I could enjoy sex without feeling dirty, ashamed or guilty."

Now, Mare spends most of her time working in the US, where she is inundated with clients.

She says: "I see about four or five people a day and charge around £100 for a session.

"Sometimes I will have sex with a husband in front of his wife, to show them both how to be more sensitive lovers. Often, couples find just talking openly to a stranger about the problems in their love life helps in the bedroom."

Although she is proud of her job, she still finds it difficult to tell friends and family about her work. She also does not discuss it with any potential boyfriends.
She says: "I usually tell them I am a yoga teacher, until I trust them enough. Some can't cope with it and run a mile, while others simply find it fascinating and are impressed.

"A few trusted friends know what I do but my family would be horrified to hear about my daily life.

"As part of my work, I regularly do sexual surrogacy tours, travelling the world, helping people with their most intimate problems.

"The last time I was in London I saw 30 clients, some who had booked me months in advance.

"It's amazing how many people in the UK desperately want help with their sex lives, but have no idea where to turn.

"There are many sex surrogates in the US but they are extremely rare in the UK.
"People have to understand that intimate sex sometimes has to be learned. It does not come naturally to some people.

"The stress of modern life can cause problems and it's my job to fix that.

"Since I started surrogacy work, I have seen more than 10,000 clients and estimate that I have had penetrative sex with around 1,500 men. I continue to see clients weekly.

"Witnessing the men and women I help make huge improvements and feel confident about their bodies is wonderful.

"In the 20 years I have been doing this job, I have never felt miserable about going to work. I love what I do and have no plans to retire within the next ten years.

"I am a sexual healer and so proud and happy that I found my dream job."

The Winter Cometh

We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again—to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.
-Pico Iyer
The age of the hill station mirrored the period when seaside resorts, spas and the great mountain lodges were built in Europe and the United States. In some case, the style and atmosphere of these European or American mountain retreats were consciously copied in the colonies. The Adirondacks influenced a planner of Baguio, in the Philippines for example. But in colonial Asia, the relatively high altitude hill station, usually at 5,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, always had to be more than just a resort. The hill station was also a genteel fantasyland, a retreat from reality where the homesick colonial could be cosseted by the atmosphere of a European hometown, down to its familiar institutions: the club, the library, the village church. The hill station at its homiest was and is a phenomenon most often associated with the British in India, but the French, the Americans, and to some extent the Dutch also endowed them with similar properties. As Indians, we must now take pride in announcing to the world a completely made by Indians – Hill-station!
If you're looking for an exotic winter vacation with clouds in your hair and memorable nature trails, Lavasa as a hill-station is hard to beat. Citrus Citrus has pulled together some ideas for adventurous types more interested in exploring the rain forests of Lavasa or the rappelling off Ekaant than hanging out in the shopping malls of cities such as Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, or Singapore. Even so, the Lavasa resort selections offer all the amenities one finds in major urban centers. Here's a sampling of what Lavasa has to offer this winter vacation season.
The best time of the year for water-sports activities is now! Lavasa is turning out to be the water-sports capital of the country – with personal water jets, speed-boats, pontoon boats, inflatable dinghies and a water-obstacle floating dock! Again the winter months will be the best time to see the almost-extinct fresh-water crabs & the fruit-bats of Lavasa. For the trekking enthusiasts, the nature trails are full of flowers & butterflies the next 4 months! For the adventurous types, go rappelling with the official adventure co of Lavasa – Z-bac! I can bet my last penny that someone who steps foot into Lavasa for the first time will skip a heart-beat! It is a mini-Switzerland in Maharashtra! Its not only tourism that is being promoted – the Lavasa Corporation is also supporting traditional crafts of the villagers around and the first cooperative for bamboo weaving is called Bamboosa!
By now all of us have heard (too often) the old Proust line about how the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new places but in seeing with new eyes. Yet one of the subtler beauties of travel is that it enables you to bring new eyes to the people you encounter. Thus even as holidays help you appreciate your own home more—not least by seeing it through a distant admirer’s eyes—they help you bring newly appreciative—distant—eyes to the places you visit. You can teach them what they have to celebrate as much as you celebrate what they have to teach. This, I think, is how tourism, which so obviously destroys cultures, can also resuscitate or revive them, how it has created new “traditional” handicraft outlets, and caused craftsmen in villages around Lavasa to pay new attention to their works. If the first thing we can bring the Indians is a real and balanced sense of what contemporary Lavasa is like, the second—and perhaps more important—thing we can bring them is a fresh and renewed sense of how special are the warmth and beauty of this town or hill-station, for those who can compare it with other places around the globe.
Thus travel spins us round in two ways at once: It shows us the sights and values and issues that we might ordinarily ignore; but it also, and more deeply, shows us all the parts of ourselves that might otherwise grow rusty. For in traveling to a new place, we inevitably travel to moods and states of mind and hidden inward passages that we’d otherwise seldom have cause to visit. The beauty of this whole process was best described, perhaps, before people even took to frequent flying, by George Santayana in his lapidary essay, “The Philosophy of Travel.” We “need sometimes,” the Harvard philosopher wrote, “to escape into open solitudes, into aimlessness, into the moral holiday of running some pure hazard, in order to sharpen the edge of life, to taste hardship, and to be compelled to work desperately for a moment at no matter what.”
Welcome to Lavasa!

Fetus can 'catch' mum's cancer

In rare circumstances, it is possible for cancer to be passed in the womb from mother to fetus, according to international researchers. A team of British and Japanese researchers, writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, report the case of a Japanese woman who developed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) shortly after giving birth, and at 11 months, her daughter developed tumors in her cheek and fluid on her lungs.

The researchers examined the DNA of the child's tumors and found that the cells carried the same mutation as the mother's cancer cells, however the child's own DNA did not contain the mutation. Additionally, the child's cancer cells lacked genes related to immune system function which normally block any cancer cells which passes through the placental barrier during pregnancy. 'It appears that in this, and other cases of mother-to-offspring cancer, the maternal cancer cells did cross the placenta into the developing fetus and succeed in implanting because they were invisible to the immune system', said lead researcher Professor Mel Greaves, from the Institute of Cancer Research in the UK.

Genetic analysis showed that there was no DNA from the child's father in her cancer cells, ruling out the possibility that she inherited the disease at conception. Professor Peter Johnson, the chief clinician at charity Cancer Research UK, emphasized that this kind of case is very rare. There are records of only 17 similar cases worldwide, where cancer breaches the placental barrier and is able to grow in the fetus without being attacked by the immune system. 'This is really important research as it adds to the evidence that cancers need to evade the immune system before they can grow, giving hope that by alerting a patient's immune system to a cancer, we can develop new types of treatment', said Professor Johnson.

Assessing Embryo Metabolism May Aid IVF Success

Examining the metabolism of embryos may help determine which ones offer the best chance of success with in vitro fertilization (IVF), a new study finds.

Currently, the process of selecting embryos for implantation in the mother's womb is highly subjective.

"It's a guessing game that can end in IVF failure or multiple pregnancies," Dr. Emre Seli, an associate professor in the obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences department at Yale School of Medicine, said in a school news release. "Our goal is to find a way to pinpoint the embryos with the best chance of success, so that we can transfer fewer embryos and cut down on the possibility of multiple pregnancies without reducing the pregnancy rate."

Seli and colleagues have studied the metabolomic profiles of spent embryo cultures. A metabolomic profile is a unique chemical signature of the activity of embryos in culture.

The Yale team found that a viability score based on a noninvasive metabolomic assessment of embryo culture media affected pregnancy outcomes in women treated at four centers in Europe and Australia. The research, performed in collaboration with Molecular Biometrics Inc., was presented this week at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting, in Atlanta.

"These findings have important implications for the more than 125,000 IVF cycles performed yearly in the United States," Seli said. "The high multiple pregnancy rates associated with IVF have significant public health consequences, such as decreased survival and increased risk of lifelong disability associated with severe prematurity."

Cutting Edge in Gynecological Oncology - A MOGS Indo-Israeli Year Event

The MOGS Live Surgical Workshop on the Cutting Edge in Gynecological Oncology was held on 14 November 2009. Cases were performed at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel and relayed live to the ITC Grand Grand Central, Parel, Mumbai.

In the morning session, there was a demonstration on Radical hysterectomy for carcinoma cervix by Dr.Rajendra Kerkar.During the course of surgery he especially highlighted the nuances of surgical anatomy with respect to the pelvic vasculature and lymph nodes. This was followed by a demonstration of laparotomy for a large pelvic mass. It turned out to be large degenerating fibroid. This challenging case was skillfully dealt with by the invited Israeli onco-surgeons Dr.Jacob Korach and Prof.Gilad Ben-Baruch.

The next case demonstrated was that of groin node dissection for positive groin nodes in a case of Ca Vulva, which was operated upon by the invited onco-surgeons from Israel. There was healthy interaction between the faculty in the Operation Theatre and the chairpersons and audience at the ITC.

Laparoscopic Radical Hysterectomy-Pune Technique
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In the afternoon session, the Israeli team demonstrated two cases of laparotomy for ovarian masses. In the first case they performed a debulking/cytoreductive surgery for a cystic ovarian tumor. The procedure was carried out very smoothly and it was much appreciated.

This was followed by a secondary cytoreductive procedure. Prof.Jacob Korach and Dr.Gilad Ben-Baruch demonstrated the technique of omentectomy and interacted with the audience about their approach, their surgical technique and their experience in Israel.

The operation theatre at the Tata Memorial Hospital was coordinated by Dr Rajendra Kerkar. The sessions were chaired by Dr GB Belvi, Dr S Sanjanwala and Dr Madhvi Pandya in the morning and Dr Reshma Rao and Dr Aparna Prabhu in the afternoon.

The workshop was attended by over 100 delegates not only form Mumbai but also from all over the country.The organizing secretaries were Dr Sulbha Arora and Dr Parikshit Tank.

The MOGS Conference on the Cutting Edge in Gynecological Oncology was held on the 15th November 2009 at the ITC Grand Central, Parel, Mumbai. There were 127 registrations for this event. There were 35 delegates from outside Mumbai attending the Conference.

Cutting Edge in Gynecological Oncology - Conf Inauguration
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The opening session was an Invited Video Session. The faculty demonstrated a variety of open and laparoscopic techniques for the entire gamut of gynecological cancers. Dr Shailesh Puntambekar, one of the invited faculty from Pune, has been recently awarded the Golden Laparoscope Award from the AAGL. As a last minute request, he shared with the audience his award winning video on laparoscopic posterior exenteration.

Complications of Laparoscopic Surgery-Video album
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The Conference was then officially inaugurated. Appreciation plaques were awarded to Dr Rajendra Badwe, Director, Tata Medical Center and Dr Rajendra Kerkar. The Israeli faculty members, Professor Gillad Ben-Baruch and Dr Jacob Korach were thanked for their efforts at the Workshop yesterday and for their visit to India. Dr Puntambekar was felicitated for his recent achievements.

The next session of invited lectures featured dilemmas in borderline tumors by Dr Anita Borges, a celebrated name in the field of cancer pathology. Dr Jacob Korach from Israel gave a balanced view on treating gynecological cancer in the geriatric patient. The concept of cytoreduction for ovarian cancers was expounded by Dr Hemant Tongaonkar.

Before lunch, Dr Amish Dalal conducted a well-planned and informative panel discussion on controversies in gynecological oncology. The panel comprised of surgeons (Dr Jacob Korach, Dr Amita Maheshwari and Dr Murad Lala), radiation oncologists (Dr V Kannan and Dr U Mahantshetty) and medical oncologists (Dr H Menon and Dr Kumar Prabhas). The discussion was fruitful and had -important take-home messages for the delegates.

After lunch, we opened up the newer vistas of minimal access surgery in gynecological oncology. Dr Neeta Warty dealt with the suspicious adnexal mass. Dr Puntambekar spoke about complications and the videos on the problems one can face were engrossing. Interestingly, most of the complications were treated laparoscopically as well. Dr Rajendra Kerkar gave a detailed account of minimal access surgery and future directions in gynecological cancers.

The next session was a sponsored session on prevention of cervical cancer. Dr Ashwini Bhalerao Gandhi and Dr Bhaskar Pal from Kolkatta spoke on this subject and this was followed by an audience interaction.

The last session was the Indo Israeli Keynote Address. Professor Gilad Ben-Baruch brought with him his immense experience on the subject of his interest, organ preservation and conservatism in gynecological oncology. His talk was peppered with case notes and personal insights which enthralled the audience.

On the whole, the scientific content was of high quality. The program ran on schedule with adequate time for the audience to participate. The venue was well-appointed with a sumptuous lunch buffet. The hotel staff extended a great deal of co-operation to make the program a pleasure to attend and organize.