The last 12 months of media coverage related to Mexico would have many people believing that Mexico as a country is a risky place to visit because of the recent H1N1 (Swine flu virus) and stories of drug kidnappings and shootings primarily centered around several US border towns. Regional events have unfortunately had a negative effect on the local tourism economy half a country away on the Yucatan Peninsula.

A fair (or unfair) comparison might be made if when the LA Riots erupted after the Rodney King verdict in the US in 1991, if people from around the world had the perception of, “don’t go to the United States, there is violence and looting in the streets and the place is burning down!” I certainly wouldn’t visit South Central Los Angeles that week, but it’s not going to cancel my trip to San Diego.

As a lifetime Colorado resident that has been a full-time resident on the Yucatan peninsula south of Cancun for nearly 2 years, I can tell you it’s a wonderful place to live and visit. I have never felt “unsafe” for myself, members of my family or friends that have visited on numerous occasions. As far as the flu here, the virus does not do well in warmer climates and with the average temperatures here in the mid 80’s, it’s a much safer place to be than most locations to the north.

Why should you visit this amazing area? The biggest reason is that it truly is a beautiful and magical place that is changing fast. We can only hope that much of what we love about this place will remain as the coming years bring the inevitable changes that paradise found almost always delivers. It’s a bit of sad irony to have places like this shared knowing that sharing will change the place. So forgive me beautiful places of the world for sharing a little bit about a place called paradise, Tulum.

For those of you who have been to Tulum, Mexico the mere mention of the place will certainly conjure fond memories of lazy days on the beach and the varied shades of turquoise blue waters. The Tulum beaches and warm clear blue waters are indeed sublime but there is much more to this place than mere breathtaking beauty.

Tulum is kite boarding schools and “Eco Chic” cabana resorts like Ocho Tulum, Playa Azul and OM Tulum, small Mayan and Mexican Yucatan hotels and spas; try Blue Tulum Hotel and Spa for total luxury with the highest standards. Tulum is scuba adventures on the Caribbean reefs and under the earth exploring the world’s largest underground river system that collects in sinkhole springs known as cenotes. Tulum is saltwater flats and deep sea fishing, kayaking lagoons and a growing Mecca of yoga; it’s mostly green and natural with the 1.3 million acres of protected Sian Ka’an wetlands with protected low impact access.

It’s an international melting pot where you may hear six languages on any given day just walking down the street. Tulum also has a growing deserved reputation for a wide variety of excellent restaurants serving up fine local and international fare in paradise. You’ll find all kinds of the traditional Mayan and Mexican dining options, but you’ll also find plenty of Italian, French, German, Thai, Sushi and more.

Tulum is within a short drive to all the other things that make vacationing on the Yucatan so much fun and convenient though maybe not so adventurous activities like golfing, world class shopping and night clubs as close as 30 minutes away in Playa del Carmen.

So yes, Tulum is a unique and great way to have that adventure vacation. It’s got a little bit of everything that you want in a tropical destination vacation. For me, that’s adventure and getting out in it and for others it’s never leaving the beach or a day or week of shopping or golf.

What people need to know is that Tulum and the rest of the Yucatan is a great vacation destination that is safe for both the adventurous and the more tame sun seekers. See you in Tulum!

Everything in computing needs storage – blogs, instant messaging, social networking and person documents, all reside on our own computers or that of some one else’s, e.g. Gmail in case of emails. As the amount of data available increases, storage requirement and its measuring units increase as well.

Units of storage in computing start with bytes (or 8 bits). A little more than thousand bytes (i.e. 1024 bytes) comprises a Kilobyte (KB), a 1024 KB comprises a Megabyte (MB), and 1024 MB comprises a Gigabyte (GB) which is the most common unit of storage today. This multiplication of 1024 goes on to define Terabyte and then Petabyte.

Petabyte is considered to be a milestone in the scientific approach – to an extent that at times it is called the Petabyte Age. What sets this huge amount of data apart from previously available limited data is the prediction that in the Petabye Age, scientific researchers would no longer need to create hypothesis, models and then test if their hypothesis and model is correct or not.

For example, instead of hypothesizing that a certain age group is more susceptible to health risks, or certain geographical area is likely to be hit by a riots or political uncertainly due to a certain reason and testing this against some data, advanced data mining could be used. Such a mining over Petabytes of data would allow crunching virtually unlimited inflow of information such as scanning news items around the world to pin point trouble areas along with trends and issues of ‘high importance or severity’ without the need to identify their underlying causes. This type of ‘geo-tagging’ has already started in form of projects such as Google Zeitgeist and Europe Media Monitor – EMM. Therefore, in Petabyte Age, ages old scientific methods of hypothesize, model, test are poised to be replaced by what huge amounts of data tells us. In short, inferences out of huge data collected from around the world would need no models of their explanation as numbers would speak for themselves. For e.g. rapid monitoring of epidemics, prediction of wars, voting patterns etc. In his article titled ‘The end of theory’, Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired writes – ‘Science can advance even without coherent models, unified theories, or really any mechanistic explanation at all’. More radical views have even called Petabyte Age as End of Science while others have dismissed it as too futuristic.

Terminologies have already been defined beyond Petabyte – this includes Exabyte, Zettabyte, Yottabyte and Brontobyte, with each one starting from Petabyte being multiplied by 1024 to arrive at the next terminology. But only time will tell if Petabyte Age with ability to process zillions of data points and aggregating information through numerous sources and sensors using processing clouds would change the science or not.

Ever since the National Geographic show “Doomsday Preppers” made prepping go mainstream, people ask what is the difference between a prepper vs. a survivalist. There are as many opinions as there are preppers and survivalists, but let’s look at the broader definitions.

A prepper is anyone who is concerned about not being a helpless victim in case of an emergency like a natural disaster, a terror attack or a failure of the power grid. Preppers store up food and supplies and are the resourceful “Go-To” people in there neighborhoods. Preppers are the kind of people you want to have around if something bad happens.

The term “survivalist” generally refers to a person who takes prepping to an extreme, with a focus on being worried about the collapse of civilization. Therefore, a survivalist will be more likely to focus on self-defense and having a “bugout location” – like a cottage in a remote area – where they can retreat to if there are widespread riots and civil unrest.

The fact is that there is a lot of overlap between preppers vs. survivalists and they probably have a lot more in common than they do differences. Generally speaking, it is just a matter of degrees.

One thing that they do have in common is a concern for food shortages, which could happen due to any number of different things happening.

So now you know the difference between a prepper and a survivalist. Which one better fits your attitude about being prepared instead of being a victim? And how much confidence do you have that you will be okay if things ever go south…

Introduction

Android is an operating system (OS) from Google. Android is open source. Android has a huge market share. Smartphones running on Android sell more than other operating systems. Android is app friendly. The hosannas sung in favor of Android can fill an earth mover truck! Android is touted to be app dependent which is good news for smartphone users who can download apps by the cartload. However, the development of apps is not without any pitfalls, in fact some severe.

Disadvantages? Nay, Challenges!

The overwhelming Android presence has triggered a market for application development which is getting bigger by the day. Google Play Store, the online shop hawking app wares is awash with apps of all hues and sizes. Users are aplenty and challenges encountered in Android app development are of equivalent proportions. So what are these challenges?

Multiple vendors: Many smartphone manufacturers use Android as the operating system, albeit with many modifications. Libraries, features et al get modified or deleted leading to a pesky increase in fragmentation issues.

Lack of Usage policies: Android’s originator, Google, has been rather lenient allowing app developers to tweak and twist it to suit their purpose. This no rules approach has let every Tom, Dick and Harry developer run riot resulting in bumpkin apps sharing silo space in Google Play Store. How do we ensure that quality apps alone gain entry to Play?

Software and Hardware Diversity: Multiple versions of the software launched in quick time pose an issue in compatibility of the app for more than one version. As concerns hardware, the market is flooded with smartphones of all screen sizes, operating mechanisms and processing speeds increasing the headache of app developers to ensure satisfactory performance of their apps in these devices.

Commercialization blues: Once an app is ready for sale, the app developer has to pay Google a fee upfront to host his/her app. Google scrutinizes the app to detect and remove any malware, causing considerable delay on the commercialization aspect. The temptation to include advertisements in apps can incur users’ wrath. One also has to keep an eye on the patent aspect, lest anyone sues for plagiarism.

Workarounds

While all the challenges may not be doused with long lasting solutions, workarounds are available that should help one to get by.

Software and Hardware: It must be accepted that a single app may not satisfy all the mobile devices running different versions of Android. Diversity in hardware and software is a reality that must be accepted. Fortunately hardware nowadays show flexibility in running different Android versions based apps. App developers must do a research on the target devices and versions and decide the best fit to target their apps.

Commercialization: Again research plays an important part. Identify the target users and devices so you may derive revenue through app usage of this targeted group. This would also free you of the need to use advertisements in you app driving away your users. Or, make you app so user friendly that users will not mind encountering a couple of small advertisements on the side.

Conclusion

Challenges may be endemic or spread out but those involved in Android application development do find ways to surmount these issues. Diversity in Android can be a boon as well a bane depending on how we approach app development. To reiterate, a thorough research and passion for achieving the intended goal will enable one to sail through teething problems and launch their app successfully. Ready Steady Go!

Bollywood has made a lot of movies over its existence period. There are some movies that cannot be missed and such movies deserve to be watched at least thrice over the course of your life time. These Bollywood movies are all time hits and you cannot give such movies a miss. Here we have compiled a list of the top Bollywood movies that are evergreen.

1. Kismet- 1943

Kismet presented some very bold themes in the movie and this was for the very first time in Bollywood that such themes were produced. This movie includes a single pregnant girl and an anti-hero. Kismet was so good that it ran in the movie halls for over 3 years and is one of the earliest super hits in Bollywood.

2. Mother India- 1957

This is a Bollywood classic movie that is a part of the pop culture called Mother India. It is an epic melodrama that revolves around the difficulties and hardships faced by many women in India. It is one of the first movies that dealt with women and the complete movie was about women and their difficulties.

3. Mughal-e-Azam- 1960

The tickets of this movie were sold at the most expensive rates during that period of time. It earned a lot of money because of its amazing story line and acting. Riots and fights were regular occurrence for fans who wanted to watch this movie in the Maratha Mandir.

4. Sholay- 1970

This was the biggest super hit of Bollywood in the 1970s. It had the best actors on screen, Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra. This movie only started picking up momentum during its third week after slumping in its first week.

5. Hum Aapke Hai Koun- 1994

This movie was the first melodrama romantic movie of the period of the 90s. This movie broke all the previous records and created new records because of its amazing and super talented cast. The script of this movie was also stupendous which made it very entertaining. It is the first Bollywood movie that had crossed the landmark 100 crore mark. These days 100 crores is not a big deal though.

There have many films that came and disappeared. However the above list of movies is something that cannot be ignored if you are into movies. You need to watch these movies in order to understand how great Bollywood was at one time. IT has evolved over a period of time but such movies are irreplaceable.

Saadat Hassan Manto (1912__1954) was born in Sambrala (now part of East Punjab) on the 11th of May, 1912. He himself gave birth to ‘Manto’ as he neared the end of his schooldays. The first page of the book contains the following lines entitled as

” In memory of a conversation”:

“The milk of human kindness… if

you’ll pardon the cliché… flows in

the breast of every Manto character …”

“Its colour will have to be black if society

is to accept that verdict…”

Manto is known for writing unspeakable truths, hidden and dark tales of mankind augmented with pessimism, reality and bleak side of life, depicting sociopolitical and historical events along with the shades of gender and racial discrimination, injustice, violence, and all that one could feel. He gives the voice to all such emotions and pent up feelings that everyone wants to express but is unaware of the channel to express, this is the reason his words coincide with thoughts of all folks irrespective of their social strata, language and culture. Most of his stories entails stream of consciousness, discovers all that runs through the mind of every human being.

He had strong conviction over his art of story telling as his own epitaph contains lines:

“Here lies Saadat Hassan Manto along with his art of story writing… even now under tons of earth he is wondering, who is greater story writer… he or God.

Most of his short stories have been written in the background of partition between India and Pakistan, cover numerous socio political issues in such a subtle and pithy manner that no one can math his mastery of weaving words within a tapestry.

“Sakina” is the story that unfolds grim picture of Indo-Pak partition (1947), along with the shattered drams and expectations associated with new land of freedom. This story reveals how trust of an elderly father is broken by his own companions, whom he thought of his saviors and confidants. In the opening lines we are told that the special train carrying refuges from Amritsar has arrived after eight hours at Mughalpura , beyond the new international border, first paragraph depicts the scene depicts the scene of looted, wounded and brutally killed people during the riots.

An old man Sirajuddin wakes up and finds himself laying on the cold damp ground of the refugee camp. All around him, he sees an agitated sea of humanity, men, women and children. He wants to think and recollect but his memory fades away. Images begin to form on the screen of his mind rioting, looting, fire, running, the railway station, gun fire, the dark night and… and Sakina. At once sirajuddin rises up to his feet and like a madman rushes into the masses of people around him.

Dejected by his missing daughter, he looks for someone to bring his daughter back. After some days he meets with a party of young men, who possess guns and a lorry. They after having got the description regarding Sakina promise him to locate her and bring her back.

But after locating Sakina they prove otherwise, instead of handed her to Sirajuddin, they ruthlessly use her and then caste her away near the rail tracks, where she is found lying unconscious. When she is brought to the refugee camp hospital, Sirajuddin recognizes her by the black mole on her pallid lifeless cheeks and creams with joy “Sakina…. Sakina.” But quite shocking to the readers, when doctor examines the pulse of girl, looks at Sirajuddin and nodes his head towards the window “Open it” he says, the girl on stretcher i.e Sakina stirs, her hands move slowly and she opens the knot of her shalwar and pushes the garment down her thighs…

Old Sirajuddin face lights up with joy, “She’s alive…” he shouts, “My daughter’s alive…”

The doctor begins to drip with sweat.

The plight of helpless people migrating from one land to another is conveyed through a hair-raising event that leaves a lasting gloomy impact on readers. How human beings get turned into wild animals during any situation of chaos, when things fall apart and center cannot hold. One shudders deeply on looking through the windowpane opening into the time when a blood stained line was drawn between two civilizations and religions at the cost of several lives, sanctities and honors. When so many fathers lost their daughters and got their embodiments only, devoid of souls.

The usage of word “open it” entails symbolism and leads towards so many connotations and interpretations. Earlier this story was entitled as “Khol Do” while it was written in Urdu version, but when translated, its title was changed into “Sakina”. This story is an index of how social fabric is destroyed when anarchy and disorder is prevalent in society, History discloses that aftermath of any war gives birth to lost generation, who have aimless lives and are subjected to agonies, immorality, dissatisfaction and anxiety.

This short story reflects the socio political and geographical condition of migrated people at the time of partition, religious and cultural differences that became the root cause for two separate realms. The naïve and simple attitude of people, their blind trust on others, expectations and dreams regarding new liberated land, their capacity to sacrifice and sufferings. Then their exploitation and manipulation at the hands of authorities and people around them.

Title: BLACK MILK (an anthology of short stories)

Author: SAADAT HASSAN MANTO

Translated from Urdu by: HAMID JALAL

Genre: PROSE

Publisher: Sang_e_Meel Publications 1996

Pages: 187

Language : ENGLISH

Title of short story: SAKINA

Kamala Das hails from India and is famous for her collection of Short Stories, poetry and her famed Autobiography My Story.

The autobiography starts off with Kamala Das sand her family hybridizing into the customs of British Culture. It is interesting and ironic that she accepted European rulers with bonhomie.

She talks of herself and her brother being bullied by whites in school. Is she contradicting herself?

Again Kamala talks of Indian Patriotism. Her father asks her to shed of all ornaments and wear Khadi Saris.

Is she a confused soul? On the one hand she accepts British rule and on other hand she displays Indian patriotism.

Kamala has a wounded childhood. Her parent’s behavior is oxymoronic. She describes her father as being crude and her mother has being refined and sophisticated.

It is political irony that she admires Hitler and Mussolini whose photos were being displayed in newspapers. They have turned out to be the worst tyrants of History.

Kamala Das talks of her childhood days of belonging to family of literary cognoscenti. From her writings it is very clear she was highly Europeanized.

Kamala Das is fond her aunt and at her death she found many poems dedicated to Krishna.

It’s an interesting fact that while she was in school, a girl named Devaki wrote a love letter for her. Actually the reality is that Kamala did not know of sexuality till marriage.

Kamala Das talks of her grand uncle who was an avid reader and a collector of books. She also mentions him of joining the Theosophical movement. Is her narrative a fashionable cosmetic? After deconstruction texts are canopy of being interpreted. Claims to intellectualism can be a sham.

Kamala Das recalls her experiences her life in boarding school. This was a time when she got infatuated. She always dreamt of being a princess. Her mind was clouded with thoughts of fetish narcissism. Very early in life she embraced the idea of bourgeoisie capitalism.

It’s interesting to note Kamala’s transition to adolescence. When she menstruated she thought she was going to die. Her mother guffawed it and gave her sanitary napkins.

I admire Kamala Das for having no color of religious prejudice. Many of her father’s staff were Muslims. When the Hindu Muslim riots broke out, she was vociferously against these riots.

Kamala in a narrative recounts a young man who visited her, a charming intellectual who had a crush on her and who kissed her on the lips. It was an epiphany of coming to terms with one’s sexuality.

Kamala recalls when she was young, she was forced into marriage. Her husband was crude lecherous creature, quite to her disappointment, she being very romantic. Kamala talks of her first night where she was literally raped by her husband.

Her husband was a beastly character. There is one instance where he locked the first born in the kitchen as a punishment and he had to stay there for the whole night.

There is moment in her life when she almost insane. It is quite clear that she was wounded soul with the heart of poetry.

Kamala talks of many experiences which made her a writer. One is her husband’s beastliness of wanting to plunder her in bed. This was a too harsh string for her. Then came the sights and smells of Calcutta. She became thrilled to see Eunuchs dancing in the street. Numerous were sexual escapades. All of her life she was looking for ideal love. She was in conflict with love and confused about the difference between Platonic and Erotic love. Yes Kamala Das was blatant in violating the shibboleths of Kerala culture.

There came an instance in Kamala’s life, after the publishing of her autobiography, My Story, she became estranged from her husband.

Life is very uncertain and risk is certainly a major component of it. The danger to life is always on everybody’s mind. The risk, as well as the certainty factor, is on the rise in the present times owing to the extravagant lifestyle of today. In this fast running time, people generally try and acquire house property within their lifespan and owing to the uncertainties it becomes a mandate to start getting the house insured and saving it from the loss or damage. When we secure our lives why not the house that we buy with so much of difficulty?

Home insurance is nothing but a distinctive kind of insurance that shields the house from various dangers which could be theft, damages, or destructions. The home insurance can be bought for a fixed period of time, after the lapse of which one needs to get it renewed. This is more like having a contract. To get the maximum benefit out of the overall policy, a basic premium needs to be paid to the company. All prominent insurance companies extend all-inclusive home insurance policies. Since it is a very costly affair, any sort of appalling destruction which could be due to any natural calamity can shake its very existence due to which it could become worst so it is best to guard against such sudden and uncalled situations. This is of benefit for both the landlord as well as the tenant.

After getting an acumen regarding the home insurance, let us get a broader perspective regarding the home insurance, in becoming a mandate and becoming a prototype.

Importance

• This policy offers a shield against any sort of injuries, House insurance policies provide liability coverage which covers you against personal injuries, any sort of damage done to the property, damage done by external sources. It is thus advised to have a coverage for not only the protection of the house property but even for self.

• We have read above that the policy provides coverage against natural calamities but it even helps to cover from any man-made threats or acts like vandalism, theft, robbery, riots, and even actions undertaken out of a spiteful intention etc. Thus, it is wise enough to have a cover to be able to recuperate from the losses and re-construct the house.

• In case, a damage has been done to the property, and it needs a renovation. The policy will cover all expenses related to rent in case you wish to shift to another place to live till the former is in a proper condition. Though the limit of the same is set as per the policy when you buy it.

• Any loss or damage that happens not only to the house but even the goods and the articles of the insured house gets covered as well under the policy, whether they are expensive jewellery, appliances, electronic goods, important credentials, house furniture and so on.

• Banks prefer sanctioning the loans to those who already have a home insurance.

It is thus advised to be prudent and keep the home safe and secure against all sorts of malicious activities, natural calamities, and man-made threats and so on. Ambiguity and diffidence go hand in hand, so let us assure ourselves and our families with a secure future, as it is better safe than be sorry.

The lesbian interest movie industry has made a few advances in the last 20 years. Here are some lesbian interest movies featuring Indian families.

I Can’t Think Straight. A movie by Shamim Sarif released in 2008. Tala is a British Indian who is dating and due to marry Ali. Things go a little awry when Tala meets Ali’s best friend Layla and there is an immediate attraction between them. The film explores the conflicts between Tala’s family values and her family’s opinion versus her growing affection for Layla.

The World Unseen. Also by Shamim Sarif and released in 2007. This focuses on the south African Indian community and is based in 1952. Amina, a free spirited and modern woman who runs a restaurant meets and falls in love with Miriam, who to all intents and purposes is a traditional Indian housewife. Throw into the picture a background of apartheid which features in this movie and you have a movie that not only challenges the sexuality but race issues of the era explored.

Nina’s Heavenly Delights. Movie by Pratibha Palmer released in 2006. Nina is a British Indian who grew up in Glasgow but currently living in london to avoid an arranged marriage. On her father’s death she is forced to go back to Glasgow to sort out his affairs which include an indian restaurant. The restaurant is in financial trouble and to try to save it, and to fulfill her fathers wishes, she enters the restaurant in a cooking competition. The restaurant is co-owned by Lisa and during the preparation for the competition, Lisa and Nina develop a growing attraction for each other. A major obstacle to a relationship developing is Nina’s fear of how her mother will react to her as a lesbian.

Fire. A movie by Deepa Mehta released in 1996. A trail blazer released in India to riots and demonstrations because of the lesbian content. Fire is a movie about a traditional Indian girl who gets married but soon finds her new husbands attentions are otherwise occupied. The newly weds move in with the husbands brother and his wife. That marriage also has its problems which could be attributed to their inability to have children. A relationship soon develops between both women which given their values and community seems doomed to end in tragedy.

These are just a handful of lesbian interest movies with an Indian flavor.

ASKARI is a splendid and well researched novel that seeks to expand our understanding of the nature of betrayal. It is the story of Mr. X1, (a name given to Glory Sedibe, once a respected commander of the military wing of the African National Congress, by the court to shield his identity during his testimony against his former comrades) and his journey to becoming an ASKARI (a rehabilitated or tamed terrorist).

The trial in which Sedibe testified was billed by some as South Africa’s biggest political cases since the Rivonia Trial in which Nelson Mandela and his colleagues were given life sentences to Robben Island. ASKARI is about Mr. X1’s (Glory Sedibe) metaphormosis from insurgent to counter-insurgent-from a freedom fighter to donning the mantle of a despised traitor.

Sedibe, like the majority of black youths who left the country after the Soweto riots of 1976, came from a very poor family. Though his father, Ephraim, was a teacher in the rural asbestos mining town of Penge, he barely earned enough to keep the wolf from the door. However, he inspired and impelled his sons to get an education.

The seeds of revolt in Glory Sedibe were deeply planted and long nurtured. His elder brother, Kaborone, was imprisoned for terrorism while at university. This event and the panorama of poverty in his hometown spurred the 24-year old to leave the country of his birth and join the fight against apartheid. He could have chosen the easy exile life of a student. Instead, he opted for the military route and joined uMkomto weSizwe- the armed wing of the ANC.

He received training in military intelligence from the old Soviet Union and East Germany. He rise through the ranks of MK (the military wing of the ANC) was spectacular. Though some accused him of pomposity and arrogance, he was highly regarded by many for his penetrating intellect and remarkable eloquence.

In 1986, in a daring prison raid, he was captured by the South African Police in Swaziland, brutally tortured, and turned into the perhaps the most useful collaborator the South African government ever had. With his assistance military operations against the government were scuppered, several ANC internal combat units wiped out, and because of his testimony in the political show trials some of his colleagues were sent to long prison terms.

In looking at the nature of betrayal, the author graphically examines the private agony of detainees in apartheid’s inferno of torture. He examines the role that the brutal doctrine of counter-insurgency plays in the turning of a captured ‘terrorist’. This is the burning lake of torment that Sedibe found himself in when he was captured-as ‘racist sadists’ converged on him ‘like vultures on carrion.’

However, is the torture chamber the only factor in treason? The book rigorously examines the complex phenomenon of collaboration-the choice political prisoners make between collusion and death-the difference between an individual’s reach and their limits. It scrutinises at why some under pain of torture and even the threat of death still refuse to denounce their political beliefs, and why others enthusiastically sold their souls.

The book also reveals how treason transformed the lives of the collaborators. ‘Whoever has succumbed to torture can no longer feel at home in the world. The shame of destruction cannot be erased. Trust in the world, which already collapsed in part at the first blow, but in the end, under torture full, will not be regained.-Amery.

Treason left an indelible mark in the character and life of Sedibe. From trying to change the world around him, he destroyed his life. He betrayed his friends and colleagues and damaged the cause he had worked for. From a gregarious and inspired revolutionary, treason turned him into an incurable alcoholic. This was a problem that grew as his service as a counter-insurgent grew.

Traitors put themselves inside a different kind of jail according to Hugh Lewin-himself betrayed to a long prison sentence by a colleague. ‘It is a jail,’ Lewin writes, ‘that had no keys. We served out sentence and were released. They bought their freedom with pieces of silver, and they would live with that knowledge for the rest of their lives.

According to Whitaker Chambers in his book Witness:

‘The horror of treason is its sin against the spirit. And for him who violates this truth there rises inevitably a black vacuity, which is in reality a circle of absolute loneliness into which neither father, wife, child for friend, however compassionate, can bring the grace of absolution.’

ASKARI is a highly readable, elegant and memorable book that illuminates the universal tragedy of betrayal. The narrative is comparable to the very best of modern non-fiction work and often transcends the goriness and carnage of its subject. One can also call the book a ‘historical novel’ since it exposes the wanton apartheid creature in all its grotesque and hideous lineaments.