HINDUSTAN TIMES, NEW DELHI 04 hindustantimes FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2017 ht kaleidoscope thisdaythatera S W I M M I N G LEGEND CURIES ISOLATE YOUR SHOT RADIUM Might make a comeback if I get the itch, says Phelps Michael Phelps hasn’t gotten the urge to return to swimming. Not yet anyway. THE WINNINGEST ATHLETE IN The winningest athlete in Olympic history is OLYMPIC HISTORY IS CLEARLY clearly enjoying marriage, fatherhood and a ENJOYING MARRIAGE, FATHERHOOD newfound willingness to speak out on conten- tious issues such as doping. AND A NEWFOUND WILLINGNESS TO n Marie Curie But, in a tantalising concession that he hasn’t SPEAK OUT ON CONTENTIOUS totally closed the door on another comeback, n On April 20, 1902, Marie and Phelps said that it might be tough to stay away ISSUES SUCH AS DOPING. Pierre Curie isolated from the pool - especially if he attends the world BUT PHELPS SAID HE HASN’T radioactive radium from the championships in Budapest, Hungary, in July. mineral pitchblende in their “The true test will be, if I do end up going over TOTALLY CLOSED THE DOOR ON laboratory in Paris. In 1898, to the worlds this summer, do I have that itch the Curies discovered the ANOTHER COMEBACK again?” Phelps said Tuesday during a telephone existence of radium and interview. more. This is a really cool opportunity for me to polonium in pitchblende. They shared the 1903 Nobel He was already strongly considering his first do some things I was not able to do when I was Prize in physics with French comeback when he attended the 2013 champion- swimming.” scientist A Henri Becquerel ships in Barcelona, and there was no doubt he’d That includes lending his still-considerable for work on radioactivity. be back for his fifth Olympics when that meet clout to issues that he considers important to ended. swimming and the world. n Marie Curie was born Marie Sklodowska in Poland in “I was just like: ‘This is a joke. How can these In the lead-up to the Rio Games, Phelps 1867. She was the daughter guys be swimming this slow?’” recalledPhelps, talked for the first time about the scourge of of a physics teacher and a who was especially motivated by a disappoint- doping, saying he wasn’t sure if he had ever gifted student. She studied ing performance from the men’s relay team. competed in a totally clean race, even while at the Sorbonne in Paris. “We’ll see if I get that itch again.” winning a record 23 gold medals and 28 medals She received degrees in For now, he’s happy with his post-swimming in all. physical sciences and life, which includes a new sponsorship deal In February, he took it a step further by testi- mathematics. She met with Colgate in which he is pushing water con- fying at a congressional hearing on improving Pierre Curie, a physicist and n Jalaj Varshney, a Class 8 student of Ryan International School, Ghaziabad, has captured this picture of the Taj Mahal in Agra. If you servation. anti-doping measures. He said athletes don’t chemist, and they got have taken photographs of any city hotspots, monuments or fun moments and would like to have them featured in this space, send While Phelps still travels extensively, tend- believe in the testing programs that are already married in 1895. them to [email protected] ing to various sponsors and business interests, in place, and he urged lawmakers to help n Marie Curie began to study he gets a lot more quality time with wife Nicole “ensure the system is fair and reliable.” uranium . She coined the and their son, Boomer, who will celebrate his “Throughout my career, I never spoke out term radioactivity, which first birthday in a few weeks. about anything,” Phelps conceded. “I stayed in describes the phenomenon B O O K END “He has started standing by himself a little bit my lane and focused on what I was doing. To get of radiation caused by from time to time,” Phelps said. “He’s on the out front and speak out on things that are pas- atomic decay. She studied move all the time now and loving it. He’s killing sionate to me, to take different approaches to the mineral pitchblende it. It’s so fun to watch him. Every day, it’s some- things I want to talk about in different walks of and found radioactivity. thing different, something special. It’s a treat life, that’s pretty cool and pretty special for me. Pierre Curie joined her in her for me to see it face to face. It’s wild. It’s mind- The opportunities I have are amazing. work and they discovered A delightful Panchatantra polonium, named after blowing for Nicole and I. We still look at each “Hopefully,” he added, “I can change some Poland. She was the other sometimes and go: ‘Wow, we have a son. things and make a difference.” recipient of the 1911 Nobel ABOUT THE BOOK began when her daughters This is our son.’” He’s doing a media blitz this week for his new Prize in chemistry, making n Title: Panchatantra wanted to listen to bedtime sto- If Phelps returns to competitive swimming, deal with Colgate and the “Save Water” pro- her the first person to win a n Author: Vishnusharma ries. She began the translation the demands of training would surely cut heav- gram, coinciding with Earth Day on Saturday. second Nobel Prize. n Translator: Rohini Chow- but shelved it and then resumed ily into his family time. That’s why, if he tries to “It completely blows my mind to think about dhury it on the insistence of an editor. predict what the future might hold, it doesn’t how much you can waste when you brush your n Publisher: Puffin The translator says an inter- include a sixth Olympics at Tokyo in 2020. teeth twice a day,” Phelps said. “If you leave the DETECTIVE n Price: ~ 299 esting feature of the Panchatan- “I’m having so many amazing experience, so water running while you brush your teeth, it’s GENRE BORN tra is the story-within-a-story many cool experiences, with my family,” he wasting four to five gallons every time you do Rohini Chowdhury’s translation structure. Her translation incor- said. “I don’t see myself making a comeback. I that. Every time. If we can get people to stop n Edgar Allen Poe published of the Sanskrit Panchatantra is porates such a structure which have no desire right now to do it. I’m in the sec- doing that, think how many millions of people the first detective story, The refreshing as it retains the spirit most other children’s versions of ond chapter of my life. I have a lot of things I now could contribute in that small way.” Murders in the Rue Morgue, of the original, but is not literal the fables leave out. want to accomplish. I’m realizing that more and THE ASSOCIATED PRESS in Graham’s Lady’s and and the prose is simple and clear. Another feature of the origi- Gentleman’s Magazine on The original stories in San- nal Sanskrit text is that has this day in 1841. skrit were created many centu- mainly male characters and is at n The story describes the ries ago, but are relevant today times misogynistic. The author analytical powers used by as they teach us about human has left out a few tales in the Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin affairs. translation which were misogy- to solve a series of murders The book begins with the pro- nistic. As there were only a few of in Paris. The tale is narrated logue. A good king, Amara- them, leaving them out did not by the detective’s room- shakti, ruled over a kingdom disturb the structure of the book. mate. whose capital was Mahilaropya. To appreciate the book better, n Following the publication He had three sons who were lazy scholar and offered a hundred skrit after their dominant trait. we need to know a little about the of Poe’s story, detective and did not want to study. The villages for teaching the princes. Naming characters in this fash- translator, Rohini Chowdhury. novels emerged. English king employed many teachers The scholar politely turned ion is a device which even con- She is a children’s writer and lit- novelist Wilkie Collins but failed to teach them. Dis- down the material benefits but temporary novelists and play- erary translator. She has written published a detective novel in 1868. In Collins’ story, tressed at his inability to educate agreed to teach them. Vishnus- wrights use. more than 25 books and several Sergeant Cuff searches for them, he called a meeting of his harma created these stories to The book is handsomely pro- short stories. Her formal educa- the criminal who stole an council of ministers. educate the three princes. The duced, but one wishes there were tion was in economics and man- Indian moonstone. The A minister said that wisdom scholar realised that stories are illustrations. I guess the publish- agement at Jadavpur Univer- novel has several features does not come from learning the a powerful way of teaching ers excluded them to keep the sity, Kolkata and IIM, Ahmeda- of modern mysteries. rules of grammar or law or one of truths about life. They mould the price low. The book would be a bad. It would be nice if all n n The great detective, the many subjects.