Features

A niche manufacturer in an age of ever expanding, but little differentiated crossover-heavy model lines, US automaker Chrysler currently fields no SUV-like vehicle, but instead two distinct, more traditional models that it does well, including the chiselled 300 saloon and bullet train-like Pacifica MPV.

A standout player in the shrinking MPV market, the Pacifica was introduced in 2016 with a sleek design, eager engine and plenty of practicality, space and equipment. Revised for 2021 model year, it gained a sharpened up design, new drive-line options and improved tech and equipment.

Moody MPV

A sleeker and more swept design with a higher waistline than its predecessors, the contemporary Pacifica cuts a dramatic demeanour with swooping lines, defined creases and an urgent wedge like shape that carries its height and width with grace. Mildly revised for its mid-life face-lift, the Pacifica’s fascia receives a clearer and better-defined treatment, with various elements being better defined and individualised. This includes sharper deep-set headlights, a bigger and bolder mesh grille, and more chiselled bumper, while the rear receives moodier new full-width lights.

Riding on a front-wheel-drive platform and powered by a transversely mounted naturally-aspirated 3.6-litre V6 Pentastar engine, the revised Pacifica, however, also introduces an optional all-wheel-drive variant for improved poor weather road-holding and an optional hybrid power-train available only for front-drive versions. With all versions sharing the same smooth, eager and now familiar Pentastar engine, and smooth and reasonably quick shifting 9-speed automatic gearbox, the latter’s numerous ratios make best use of the former’s linear delivery for efficiency, performance, versatility and refinement.

Sporty and seamless

A refreshingly engaging counterpoint to smaller turbocharged engines with low-end lag, a muscular mid-range burst and unwillingly low-revving top-end, the Pacifica’s V6 is instead seamlessly progressive in delivery as it urgently sweeps through its rev range. Responsive off the line, the Pacifica’s driven front wheels tug slightly under hard acceleration as its 235/60R18 tyres momentarily scramble to put power down to tarmac. Producing 287BHP at 6,000rpm and 262lb/ft torque at 4,000rpm, the Pacifica goes on to swiftly propel its 2,050kg mass through 0-100km/h in 7.4-seconds.

Responsively immediate at low-end from the get-go, and confidently flexible in mid-range for cruising, overtaking and inclines, the Pacifica is however best when racing to its high 6,400rpm rev limit. A sportier drive than to be expected from a two-tonne mini-van, the Pacifica’s naturally-aspirated engine provides exact input and lift-off throttle response, and incremental delivery. With good on-throttle adjustability, the Pacifica allows one to accurately modulate power and torque application when powering out of corners to maintain traction and control, and tightening cornering lines.

Confident comfort

A sportier and more agile drive than a big three-row people carrier has a right to be, the Pacifica may not be an outright sports vehicle, but handles far better than expected, with responsively tidy turn-in and quick and direct steering. Eager into corners, its nose-heavy weighting and 5.2-metre length may prevent playful weight shifting adjustability through corners, but instead delivers reassuring rear grip. Pushed to its grip limit, the Pacifica’s understeer instinct can, however, be easily and responsively countered by easing slightly off the throttle to tighten a cornering line.

If nimble hot hatch-like corner carving handling traits are not intended or expected for its class, the Pacifica nevertheless well-contains body roll through corners. It is however on highway where it excels as a smooth, stable and reassuringly refined long-distance cruiser at speed. Comfortably and forgivingly dispatching most road imperfections in its stride, the Pacifica is also easy to manoeuvre for its length, with its relatively tight 12.1-metre turning circle, high seating, and excellent visibility over its low and short bonnet. 

Classy and cavernous

Adept in town, the Pacifica’s manoeuvrability is aided by reversing sensors and cameras, and driver assistance systems like rear crosspath and blindspot warnings. For confined spaces, its wide sliding rear doors provide easy access to a spacious cabin, with many storage spaces and useful front and rear passenger features, low loading height, and enormous configurable cargo volume of between 914- to van-like 3,978-litres. Available as 7- or 8-seater with middle row captain or bench seats, the Pacifica delivers spacious seating either way, with wide front door swing angles.

The Pacifica features comfortable and well-adjustable front seating, practical, user-friendly forward folding middle row seats for rear row access, and electric seat folding controls in the cargo area. Premium but not ‘precious’, the Pacifica’s cabin is convenient and classy in appointment, with welcoming in ambiance. Generously equipped with driver-assistance, safety, comfort and convenience features including child seat latches, advanced collision warning and lane departure systems, the face-lifted Pacifica also comes with a new Android Auto, Apple Carplay and Alexa enabled 10.1-inch screen infotainment system with dual phone Bluetooth connectivity.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 3.6-litre, transverse V6-cylinders
• Bore x Stroke: 96 x 83mm
• Compression ratio: 11.3:1
• Valve-train: DOHC, 24-valve, variable timing
• Gearbox: 9-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive
• Ratios: 1st 4.7; 2nd 2.84; 3rd 1.91; 4th 1.38; 5th 1.0; 6th 0.81; 7th 0.7; 8th 0.58; 9th 0.48
• Reverse/final drive: 3.81/3.25
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 287 (291) [214] @6,400rpm
• Specific power: 79.6BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 146.1BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 262 (355) @4,000rpm
• Specific torque: 98.4Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 180.7Nm/tonne
• Rev limit: 6,400mm
• 0-100km/h: 7.4-seconds (estimate)
• Fuel capacity: 71.9-litres
• Overhang, F/R: 972/1,127
• Track, F/R: 1,735/1,736mm
• Approach/break-over/departure angles: 14°/12.5°/18.7°
• Drag co-efficient: 0.30
• Seating: 7/8
• Lift-over height: 617mm
• Cargo volume behind 3rd/2nd/1st rows: 914-/2,477-/3,978-litres
• Kerb weight: 2,050kg
• Weight distribution, F/R; 55 per cent/45 per cent
• Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion
• Steering ratio: 16.2:1
• Suspension, F/R: Macpherson struts/twist blade, coil springs
• Brakes, F/R: Ventilated disc, 330 x 28mm/disc, 330 x 12mm
• Tyres: 235/60R18

By Dr Tareq Rasheed
International Consultant & Trainer

We are essentially made of light and energy. The latter is defined as the ability to achieve a certain amount of work in a specific frame of time. Some people have a higher amount of energy and thus can achieve in less time than others. 

On the other hand, Aura is the light and luminous body that surrounds our physical body. 

Your level of energy is impacted by 3 elements

• Time: they are times where the energy level is the highest; the best times to energise yourself is just before one to one and a half hours before sunrise

• Place: some places give off higher levels of energy and open places are better than closed spaces. Environment-friendly places are higher in energy than polluted, contaminated places. Even planets have different levels of energy!

• Effort: your energy level will be higher depending on the amount of effort put into a certain task

Energy has four interrelated components:

• Physical: this is related to physical energy and the ability that our bodies have to achieve certain tasks. We can enhance our physical energy or lower it with good nutrition and enough hours of sleep and relaxation

• Emotional: negative emotions will lower our emotional energy (depression, worry, fear, boredom, etc…). Positive emotions, however, will energise our emotional energy to higher levels (love, passion, enthusiasm), we can energise emotional energy by building good relations with others

• Mental: this is related to our brains and mental capacities and the ability to think, develop and achieve. This mental capacity can be tested by doing an IQ Test (this website will help to test your IQ mark ; www.iqtest.com )

• Spiritual: this relates to our inner voice and beliefs and relationship with God

These four elements will always affect your aura either positively or negatively. Positive energy will always make our auras illuminate and shine which help in positive achievements.

Being self-aware of these four components will energise your aura with positive energy.

But, how can we test and enhance our self-awareness?

There are seven questions which you have to answer; make sure to allow time for these questions to really achieve high levels of self-awareness:

• What are your major skills that will help you in your achievements in life?

• What are your talent and passion that always energise you?

• What are the main values that you believe in? 

• What is your dream in life?

• What are your points of strengths?

• What your fears?

• What are your motivators?

By being able to answer these questions, your self-awareness will increase, and this will help you in your life in the four levels of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

NEW YORK — Like many people in his generation, Vijay Damerla finds most of his new music online — but the 20-year-old is slowly becoming a vinyl junkie, amassing records in his room.

The student says he doesn’t even own a turntable, saying for him “it’s the equivalent of like getting an artist poster, or like even an album poster on your wall”.

“Except, like, there’s actually kind of a little bit of a relic from the past.”

For Celine Court, 29, collecting vinyl — she says she owns some 250 records — is about the nostalgic, warm sound that many listeners say digital copies chill.

“If you listen to music on vinyl, it’s so different,” she told AFP as she perused the stacks at New York’s Village Revival Records. “It has like this authentic kind of feeling to it.”

Vinyl’s popularity has grown steadily in recent years, a reversal after CDs and digital downloads reigned over the 1990s and early 2000s.

The latest report from the Recording Industry Association of America said that in 2022 more record units were sold than compact discs for the first time in three decades, with consumers snagging 41 million pieces of new vinyl last year compared to 33 million CDs. 

Revenue from vinyl had already started surpassing CDs as of the 2020 report.

Big-box retailers including Walmart have embraced the retro format, and megastars including Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Billie Eilish have sent pressing plants into overdrive.

Just this week Metallica purchased a plant to keep up with demand for their own reissues.

Smaller shops are also feeding interest: Jamal Alnasr, who owns Village Revival, stocks some 200,000 records at any given time, not to mention used CDs, cassettes and memorabilia.

“Who would imagine vinyls will come back to life?” said the 50-year-old shop owner, who moved to New York from the West Bank in his late teens.

At one point he had even donated much of his own personal collection, which he estimates could be worth some $200,000 these days, to an archiving institution: “In the nineties, if you talk about vinyl, I don’t think you’re cool.”

But decades later he says “every day I see [this] young generation buying new items.”

“I’ve been doing this for like 30 years... a new generation, kids, they come in look for all the music from the 1930s and 40s and 50s.”

“They actually know more than us, we who grew up in the 1990s and 80s,” he laughed. 

“It’s a beautiful thing.”

Physical experience

Alnasr deals in both new and used vinyl — the RIAA report refers to reported sales of new pressings, which the shop owner does stock; he estimates the store contains about half new, half used items.

He said that because vinyl is relatively expensive to manufacture and distribute, the markup these days on new items can be as little as five per cent, and he relies on original collectibles to make up the difference.

Alnasr said his business is driven by a combination of music nerds and more casual listeners, and with a $15,000 monthly rent — once a bohemian haunt, today’s Greenwich Village is among the city’s priciest neighbourhoods — he’s mostly operating on the margins.

“Every time I’m about to sink I just take everything I’ve got personally and put it back into the business,” he laughed. “I guess... I love my business more than I love myself.”

Echoing student Damerla’s experience, Alnasr said many people buy records for the art — and discover the music later.

He’s fine with that, but does insist that most of his sales be conducted in person.

For a known customer — Alnasr is a favourite record dealer among celebrities, having befriended the likes of Lana Del Rey, Bella Hadid and Rosalia — he’s willing to procure and ship an item.

But for the most part, he prefers people “physically experience” the vinyl.

“You can say I’m the only stubborn New Yorker — I do not want to sell this format online,” he laughed. “I want people to come here... dig through vinyls and get educated.

“They will see way much more than the front one, there is a lot of hidden gems in here.”

No matter the vinyl revival, sales of physical music media remain niche, with streaming remaining the dominant listening format.

Services including paid subscriptions and ad-supported platforms grew seven per cent to reach a record high $13.3 billion in revenue in 2022, according to the RIAA, accounting for 84 per cent of total US profits.

But Court, who is from the Netherlands, called streaming “too fast, too easy.”

“It’s just a better energy to collect your vinyl and then listen to it and be proud of it.”

SOLNA, Sweden — Come rain, sleet or snow, young children nap outside even in mid-winter all across Scandinavia, where outdoor preschools teach children a love of nature.

Sitting in the forest on a tarp laid out over the snow in Solna near Stockholm, Agnes and her friends — all around five — are lining up sticks.

“We use pieces of wood to show them that you can use anything you find in nature to do maths,” said their preschool teacher Lisa Bystrom.

In a scene that would shock some parents elsewhere, the children whittle sticks with large knives, their teachers seemingly unperturbed.

“Once they get to school, they will sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil but here we think this is more fun,” Bystrom said.

In Sweden and Denmark, school is mandatory from the age of six.

But before that most children attend daycare or preschool, with many parents opting for outdoor ones where children play in the woods and learn to appreciate nature.

“Technology today takes over most [things], so I think it’s necessary to be in nature from a young age to learn how to behave and to respect nature,” said Andreas Pegado, one of the educators whose daughter also attends the preschool.

Every day, the little ones eat lunch seated on wooden benches around a wood fire — unless heavy rain forces them indoors.

After their meal, kids that are two and under settle down for a nap, bundled into sleeping bags under a canopy — even when the temperature falls below zero.

“They get a lot of fresh air, [so] they sleep longer, they sleep better,” said Johanna Karlsson, the head of the “Ur & Skur” (Come Rain or Shine) preschool, unbothered by the day’s temperature of five degrees Celsius.

‘Forest buses’

In neighbouring Denmark, many preschools use “forest buses” to bring “asphalt kids” to nature areas.

Every day, a group from the Stenurten preschool — one of 78 Copenhagen preschools that offer daily excursions like this — leaves the Norrebro neighbourhood in the city centre on a 30-minute bus ride to the forest.

A little wooden house provides shelter if necessary, and a large field leads to the forest where the kids can run free. 

In the open air, the educators can vary their pedagogical approaches and develop the children’s independence.

“Their curiosity is a bit different here,” said Iben Ohrgaard, one of the preschool staff. 

Snowsuits for all

Everyone is kitted out in snowsuits, kids and adults alike. A popular Nordic saying goes: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.”

But is it really reasonable to stay outside all day, even when it’s -10ºC?

The educators all agree: young children who spend their days outside have better self-confidence and are sick less often.

In the 1920s, an Icelandic doctor recommended that babies sleep outdoors to strengthen their immune systems, a practice now common across the Nordic countries and which the medical community has never contradicted.

A study published in 2018 in the British Educational Research Journal suggested that outdoor preschools improve children’s team working skills by encouraging kids to collaborate through play, among other things.

Outdoors “they try different solutions themselves”, said Ohrgaard, helping limit conflicts.

“If they climb a bit too high in a tree, they know there are adults there. But they try a little more themselves. And they grow up with the feeling that ‘I can do it,’” she explained.

“That gives them the strength to try once more before asking for help.”

For parents, the days spent outdoors are a “gift”.

“When you live in the city, in the capital Copenhagen, there’s not really any nature. It’s an enormous gift for the kids,” said Line Folkhammar, mother of five-year-old Georg. 

And the added bonus for parents? “He comes home tired,” she said with a laugh.

PARIS — The chances have plummeted that a newly-discovered asteroid with the potential to wipe out a city will hit Earth on Valentine’s Day 2046, the European Space Agency said on Tuesday.

The asteroid, which is named 2023 DW and is estimated to be around the size of a 50-metre Olympic swimming pool, was first spotted by a small Chilean observatory on February 26.

It swiftly shot to the top of NASA and ESA lists of asteroids that pose a danger to Earth, leading to a raft of alarming news headlines, some warning lovers to cancel their Valentine’s plans on February 14, 2046.

Late last month the asteroid was given a one in 847 chance of hitting Earth — but the odds rose to one in 432 on Sunday, according to the ESA’s risk list. 

However, Richard Moissl, the head of the ESA’s planetary defence office, told AFP on Tuesday that overnight the probability fell to one in 1,584.

“It will go down now with every observation until it reaches zero in a couple of days at the latest,” he said.

“No one needs to be worried about this guy.”

NASA on Tuesday lowered its own odds of impact to one in 770, meaning there was a 99.87 per cent chance that the asteroid will miss Earth.

“We tend to be a little more conservative, but it definitely appears to now have a downward trend in probability,” NASA’s planetary defence officer Lindley Johnson told AFP.

He said it was normal for the impact odds of newly discovered asteroids to briefly rise before rapidly falling.

This is because new observations shrink the “uncertainty region” where the asteroid will travel to on its closest point to Earth, he said.

While the Earth is still inside that uncertainty region, the odds temporarily increase — until further observations exclude Earth and the probability drops down to zero, as is expected to happen with 2023 DW.

But what would happen in the increasingly unlikely event that the asteroid does strike Earth?

Davide Farnocchia, a scientist at NASA’s Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies, said a good comparison was the Tunguska event, in which a similarly-sized asteroid is believed to have exploded in the atmosphere above a sparsely populated area in Siberia in 1908.

“The resulting explosion flattened trees over an area of about 2,000 square kilometres,” Farnocchia said. London covers an area of around 1,600 square kilometres. 

Moissl said that an asteroid the size of 2023 DW would create “regionalised destruction” and not have a major effect on the rest of the world.

The asteroid, which is orbiting the Sun, came around 9 million kilometres from Earth during its most recent closest approach on February 18 — a week before it was discovered.

If it was to strike Earth in 2046, it would be speeding along at around 15 kilometres  a second, according to estimations.

There would be a roughly 70 per cent chance it lands in the Pacific Ocean, but the potential strike zone would also include the United States, Australia or southeast Asia, Moissl said.

Even if the asteroid is heading our way, the experts emphasised that the world is no longer defenceless against such a threat.

Last year, NASA’s DART spacecraft deliberately slammed into the pyramid-sized asteroid Dimorphos, significantly knocking it off course in the first such test of our planetary defences.

Farnocchia said the “DART mission gives us confidence that such a mission would be successful” against 2023 DW, if required.

With 23 years to prepare, there is “ample time” for such a mission to be planned, Moissl said. 

The ESA’s Hera mission, scheduled to launch next year to inspect the damage DART had on Dimorphos, could even be repurposed for reconnaissance if necessary, he added.

Such plans would not be considered until the probability of an impact passes one in 100, when it would get the attention of UN-endorsed bodies like the International Asteroid Warning Network and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG), Moissl said.

The aim of SMPAG is to “have everyone on the same page and avoid what happened in the movie ‘Don’t Look Up’”, in which “stupid stuff” happened because nations did not coordinate with each other, Moissl added.

However such defence mechanisms look unlikely to be required for 2023 DW.

“Everyone should relax, ignore the sensationalist headlines and stories, and watch how this situation plays out,” NASA’s Johnson said, adding that any threat was likely to “evaporate” soon.

“Nevertheless, the planetary defence community will keep looking up!”

A more affordable and family-oriented Land Rover SUV with compact dimensions and plenty of practicality, the Discovery Sport was at home both on city street school run, as it was on remote snow-packed Icelandic routes, as demonstrated during a first test drive upon its 2015 launch.

A smooth driving, well-mannered and comfortable vehicle with genuine off-road ability, manoeuvrability and cabin versatility ever since, the Discovery Sport was revised in 2019, and gained a subtle aesthetic refresh, along with a more significant driveline and technology update.

Premium practicality

More accessible and practical yet still a premium product in an expanded Land Rover line-up with more choice but narrower differentiation between models, the discretely revised Discovery Sport’s platform is unchanged, but it is 13 per cent stiffer, and features rigidly-mounted subframes for improved refinement, comfort and crash safety. The face-lifted Discovery Sport meanwhile retains its clamshell bonnet and floating roof design with forward-slanted C-pillars. Marginally longer in front owing to revised bumpers, the Discovery Sport, however, adopts a more assertive and bulbous style, and features slimmer and taller front side intakes.

The Indian-owned British manufacturer’s more attainable and utilitarian daily drive SUV, the Discovery Sport nevertheless shares much in both design philosophy and interior ambiance with it nearest, but smaller and pricier in-house Range Rover Evoque counterpoint. With user-friendly layouts, and a classy but uncomplicated upmarket style that incorporates sophisticated equipment and good appointments, the Discovery Sport is a spacious and versatile family car with comfortable and configurable seating, front and rear, and includes high-set stadium style second row seats, and optional third row seats.

In-house engineering

Distinctly more up-market from front and rear views, the face-lifted Discovery Sport’s fascia features a more dramatic style with slimmer, more angular and more dramatic headlights that ditch its predecessor’s ‘crosshair’ design style. More thoroughly updated underneath, the Discovery Sport ditches its former Ford Ecoboost-based 2-litre engine it for an in-house engineered turbocharged 2-litre 4-cylinder Ingenium petrol engine, available in different states of tune, and mated to a slick shifting 9-speed automatic gearbox with a wide ratio range to optimise performance, versatility and economy.

Producing 247BHP at 5,500rpm and 269lb/ft torque over a wide and easily accessible 1,300-4,500rpm range in the more powerful P250 variant, using the Ingenium petrol engine, the Discovery Sport’s combustion engine is aided by a standard 48-volt starter/generator mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV) system. Powering ancillary systems, the MHEV system also makes discrete driving contributions on hard acceleration and allows for longer and earlier stop/start functionality, including engine shutdown for coasting on deceleration. The MHEV system meanwhile recoups braking energy to store in underfloor batteries.

Smooth versatility

With its quick-spooling turbo, the Discovery Sport is responsive from launch, but is eager through to redline. Driving all four wheels, it accelerates through 0-100km/h in 7.8-seconds and onto 225km/h, but is best in its rich mid-range torque plateau, where it is confidently versatile accumulating speed on highways. Refined in noise, vibration and harshness isolation, the Discovery Sport is stable, settled reassuring at speed. Though heavier, the revised Discovery Sport nevertheless returns slightly improved 7.8l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency, in part thanks to its MHEV system.

Comfortable and confident, the Discovery Sport is a manoeuvrable compact SUV with restrained dimensions and tidy interior packaging. Easy to drive and park in the city with its 11.8-metre turning circle, the Dicovery Sport also features a commandingly high and well-adjustable driving position, and good visibility, despite its high-set bonnet. Forgiving over rough imperfections, its suspension is engineered to well-absorb vertical impacts, and is comfortable over all except the most sudden and jarring of potholes and bumps, even with large, firm optional R-Design alloy wheels and tyres.

Utility and manoeuvrability

With quick, direct and light 2.31-turn electric-assisted steering and reassuring grip, the Discovery Sport turns tidily into corners, but its high driving position slightly amplifies the sense of body lean. That said, balanced handling, road-holding levels and active torque vectoring four-wheel-drive make it confident and committed through winding roads and fast bends, and more agile than expected. A practical vehicle, the Discovery Sport also boasts genuine off-road ability, the with good 22.8° approach, 28.2° departure and 20.6° break-over angles, generous 212mm ground clearance and 600mm water fording capability. 

To enhance its off-road driving envelope, the Discovery Sport is equipped with Land Rover’s Terrain Response 2 system, which adjusts various driving and system parameters for different conditions and surfaces. Other standard and optional equipment includes a ground view camera for precise manoeuvrability through narrow off-road routes, numerous driver assistance, safety and convenience features, and a mirror display camera with clear unimpeded rear views. A utilitarian and capable vehicle, the Discovery Sport features useful storage spaces, and generous 963-litre luggage volume, which expands to 1,574-litres with rear seats folded.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 2-litre, all-aluminium, turbocharged, transverse 4-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 83 x 92.29mm
• Compression ratio: 10.5:1
• Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, continuously variable valve timing, direct injection
• Gearbox: 9-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 247 (250) [184] @5,500rpm
• Specific power: 123.7BHP/litre
• Power -to-weight: 127.4 BHP/ton (kerb)
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 269 (365) @1,300-4,500rpm
• Specific torque: 182.8Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 188.2Nm/ton (kerb)
• 0-100km/h: 7.8-seconds
• Top speed: 225km/h
• Fuel consumption, combined: 7.8l/100km
• Track, F/R: 1635/1642mm
• Overhang, F/R: 901/955mm
• Approach/departure/ramp angles: 22.8°/28.2°/20.6°
• Maximum gradient: 45°
• Maximum side slope angle: 35°
• Aerodynamic drag co-efficiency: 0.33
• Boot capacity, min/max: 963/1,574-litres
• Unladen/kerb weight, 5-seat: 1,864/1,939kg
• Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link
• Steering: Variable ratio electric power-assisted rack & pinion
• Turning circle: 11.8-metres
• Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 349mm/discs, 300mm
• Tyres: 235/50R20

By Shama Kaur
Kundalini Yoga Teacher, Aquarian Trainer Health 
and Wellness Mentor

Over the course of my life, I have been in and out of quite a few relationships and it truly never gets easier to readjust to the feeling of being single. That’s probably why many people jump into a relationship just when another has ended; to avoid that void the emptiness that is felt inside — with a new distraction.

My last separation was a little over two years ago. We were together for just over a year, things were getting more real and serious and the possibility of marriage was on the table.

We met each other’s families and we were part of a common community — the global community of Kundalini Yogis.

Soul mates

We shared many common interests like hiking, dancing and travelling. We were both Kundalini teachers and adhered to the yogic lifestyle; we were both vegan/vegetarian, enjoyed using the tools provided by Kundalini Yoga and meditation to help us solve problems, and we often meditated together.

We shared moments of ecstatic joy, you know, the kind of joy where you feel your heart fluttering, cheeks blushing and giggling at the silliest things. We travelled to Spain, Italy, France, Morocco, Greece and Portugal to experience the beauty of extraordinary landscapes and epic cultures. 

The bond that we had was so contagious that just by looking at us people felt joyful too. Love was definitely in the air, a kind of love that robbed us blind of the realities that were ahead of us and kept us both fascinated by the dream of having a long life together. In those two years, I lost myself in him and he lost himself in me.

A broken heart

When things ended, my heart was shattered. I couldn’t sleep without checking my phone a million times. I couldn’t eat for days and lost a lot of weight. I was teaching a Level 1 Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training in Palestine at the time and I remember hiding in the bathroom during breaks while I wept and my entire body shook with complete disbelief.

But with 15 students in the other room waiting for the next topic, I knew I had to hold it together. What helped me keep going was my spiritual mentor, who reminded me to remain conscious of my breath and to breathe so deeply into the depths of my broken heart until I could transform the pain into love.

My mentor said: “Just keep your love one step ahead of the pain. ” This was my prayer and my practice for countless nights. To breathe into the pain and transform it to love; a love for myself and for all those who were suffering from the pain of a broken heart.

Turning loneliness into an opportunity

When our life takes a turn from being in a relationship to being single, it is really difficult, not only because of the pain of a broken heart, but also because of the many rituals, habits and norms that we once shared with one another. The morning messages and evening good nights, the mid-day jokes and lunchtime flirts, the weekend plans and post-work ‘vents’, or the shared stories of triumphs.

When we are newly single, we forget how we once used to get through our day alone, without sharing the intricacies of our day with anyone else. It takes a little time for our brain to readjust and remember who we were before and how we brought joy to ourselves each day.

After around nine months of being separated, I still felt lonely sometimes and my mind drifted into the distant memories of the past. But one day, on my daily sunset walk in the park, something hit me that said: “Wait Shama, look around you, nothing is a coincidence, you have an opportunity here, an opportunity to master the emptiness, to master the void, something that terrifies most.”

Healing

And that was the beginning of my healing journey. I imagined that I was a Shamanic Healer in the mountains of Peru with no one around me except the birds, trees, oceans and seas. I paid attention to the earth beneath my feet, the leaves falling off trees, the birds chirping and the tree branches dancing in the wind. I spent moments in absolute stillness in the darkness of night listening to the sound of my heartbeat, and mentally chanting “God and me, Me and God are One”. I trained myself to get really comfortable with the art of being still and called upon the forces of the Great Mother, the saints and angels to be by my side and I felt their presence all around me.

Healing was on its way and it reminded me of the artist deep within. I enrolled into some art classes and began painting again. I read books that inspired me to dance. I wrote poetry that released my anger and sadness. I brought together women in circle gatherings where we shared openly about love and relationships, and stood by one another to listen and heal.

Now it’s almost two years since my separation and my life is filled with so much abundance and joy. I cherish the time to do all the things that make me happy, the time I have to teach and mentor my students, the time I have to play with my 11/2 year old niece and support my sister with her newborn, the time I have to pray, dance, paint, meditate and bring women together from all ages to talk, share and heal.

One of the perks of being single is that we do not need to negotiate with anyone else about how to spend the precious moments of the day. We are like artists who can envision how our day will look like and create it by inviting others into the picture. We do not need to compromise or let go of things we wish for if another person is not interested. Instead, we can choose to build new relationships with those who share our interests.

We have an opportunity to learn, grow and transform, like a caterpillar that grows into a butterfly without anything holding it back. We are free to explore, discover and learn.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

THE HAGUE — At first glance it seems to be just a modern take on Johannes Vermeer’s masterpiece “Girl with a Pearl Earring”. But look more closely and things get a little strange.

Firstly, there are two glowing earrings in the image hanging in the Mauritshuis museum in the Dutch city of The Hague. And aren’t those freckles on her face actually... a slightly inhuman shade of red?

That’s because the work — one of several fan recreations replacing the 1665 original while it’s on loan for a huge Vermeer show at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum — was made using artificial intelligence (AI).

Its presence has sparked a fierce debate, with questions over whether it belongs in the hallowed halls of the Mauritshuis — and whether it should be classed as art at all.

“It’s controversial, so people are for it or against it,” Mauritshuis press officer Boris de Munnick told AFP.

“The people who selected this, they liked it, they knew that it was AI, but we liked the creation. So we chose it, and we hung it.”

‘Frankensteinish’

Berlin-based digital creator Julian van Dieken submitted the image after the Mauritshuis asked people to send in their versions of the famous painting for an installation called “My Girl with a Pearl”.

Van Dieken said he had used the AI tool Midjourney — which can generate complex pictures on the basis of a prompt, using millions of images from the Internet — and Photoshop.

The Mauritshuis then chose it as one of five images out of 3,482 submitted by fans that would be printed and physically hung in the room where “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is normally housed.

“It’s surreal to see it in a museum,” van Dieken wrote on Instagram.

The budding artists ranged in age from three to 94, depicting the “Girl” in diverse styles ranging from a puppet to a dinosaur and a piece of fruit. 

But the decision to choose an AI-generated image sparked a backlash.

Dutch artist Iris Compiet said on the Instagram feed for the Mauritshuis exhibition that it was a “shame and an incredible insult”, and dozens of others piled in.

“It’s an insult to the legacy of Vermeer and also to any working artist. Coming from a museum, it’s a real slap in the face,” Compiet told AFP.

She said AI tools breach the copyright of other artists by using their works as the base for artificially generated images, as well as scraping the data of Internet users in general.

The image itself she described as “almost Frankensteinish”.

Artist Eva Toorenent, of the European Guild for Artificial Intelligence Regulation, criticised what she called the “unethical technology”.

“Without the work of human artists, this programme could not generate works at all,” she was quoted as saying by the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant.

‘What is art?’

“It’s such a difficult question — what is art, and what is not art?” said the Mauritshuis’s de Munnick.

But he insisted that the museum, whose collection boasts three Vermeers and nearly a dozen Rembrandts, had not deliberately set out to make an artistic statement on AI.

“Our opinion is, we think it’s a nice picture, we think it’s a creative process,” he said. “We’re not the museum to discuss if AI belongs in an art museum.”

He admitted though that “up close, you see that the freckles are a little spooky”.

Visitors to the Mauritshuis were equally divided, he added.

“Younger people tend to say, it’s artificial intelligence, what’s new. Elderly people sometimes say we like the more traditional paintings.”

The Mauritshuis was looking forward to the return of the real “Girl” in April, he added. The painting’s fame has increased in recent years due to a 1999 novel by US author Tracy Chevalier and an ensuing Hollywood film.

“Well, she is beautiful in the [Rijksmuseum] exhibition... But we will be very happy when she is at home.”

SEOUL, South Korea — It is the kind of K-drama that rivets millions of viewers — bitter boardroom battles, expensive lawyers, hostile takeover claims and high-stakes shareholder meetings.

Except this is playing out in real life as the godfather of K-pop fights his nephew for control of the music company he founded.

It features HYBE, the agency behind the smash-hit group BTS, and tech giant Kakao in an A-list battle that could also determine the billion-dollar industry’s future.

And it was triggered largely by one man: South Korean activist investor Lee Chang-hwan.

Lee’s fund Align Partners bought a one per cent stake early last year in SM Entertainment, one of South Korea’s leading music companies that helped bring K-pop to the world, managing early hit groups such as boy bands Super Junior and SHINee.

He used that stake to argue for corporate reform, saying that SM founder Lee Soo-man — the so-called Godfather of K-pop — was, in effect, syphoning off millions of dollars every year in bogus consulting fees.

“It didn’t make sense,” Lee Chang-hwan told AFP in a recent interview, saying the money — six per cent of publicly listed SM Entertainment’s sales every year — was paid to a private entity called Like Planning, which was entirely owned and controlled by Lee Soo-man.

The 36-year-old self-made investor, who was raised by a single mum and first shot to public attention by winning a popular South Korean TV quiz show, started asking uncomfortable questions.

Lee Soo-man’s pet company had raked in “nearly 160 billion won [$120 million] over the past 20 years”, he said, as SM risked major financial and reputational damage due to the behaviour of its founder.

Lee Soo-man not only created individual K-pop bands in the 1990s such as H.O.T. and S.E.S., whose success arguably laid the groundwork for the stratospheric rise of groups like BTS and BLACKPINK, he came up with the industry’s whole modus operandi. 

He pioneered an obsessive level of training and micro-management of “idols” — trained K-pop stars — and his idea of combining strong visual performances and aggressive overseas marketing helped make SM Entertainment an industry behemoth.

He founded the company in 1989 and took it public in 2000 — so he was predictably outraged last year when SM Entertainment’s management, including his nephew, agreed with activist investor Lee Chang-hwan’s assessment and moved to terminate the “unfair” deal with Like Planning.

In an apparent fit of revenge, Lee Soo-man sold the majority of his stake in SM — 14.8 per cent of the company — to one-time rival HYBE, the agency that manages BTS, for $325 million. 

The move made HYBE the single largest shareholder in SM Entertainment, prompting outraged protests from SM’s management that it was a hostile takeover that would create an HYBE monopoly and damage the K-pop industry’s massive potential.

In a bid to wrest back control, SM’s management brought in South Korea’s Kakao, a sprawling cash-rich tech conglomerate that owns the country’s most popular messaging app. Kakao is now seeking to buy a controlling share of the company to block HYBE.

‘Valley of death’

The feud has unleashed a family succession drama, with founder Lee’s nephew, Lee Sung-su, who is the company’s CEO, taking to YouTube to air their dirty laundry. 

Accusing his uncle of tax fraud using overseas companies, he demanded the elder Lee “kneel down and apologise” for his alleged crimes.

“Sir, please stop now... It is the only way to save you from the Valley of Death”, he said in a video posted online.

Lee Soo-man has not responded to his nephew’s allegations, and could not be reached for comment by AFP, but Yonhap reported he has said Lee Sung-su is a “good nephew” and that his “heart aches” due to the feud.

Experts say the drama is an illustration of a perennial problem in South Korea’s dynastic chaebols: founding families exerting control through a complex web of crossholdings, allowing them to wield unchecked power despite not holding controlling shares. 

The chairman of South Korean giant Samsung Electronics, who was also the heir of the founding family, was convicted and jailed in 2017 over corruption, although he was given a presidential pardon last year.

Align Partners’ Lee Chang-hwan says the SM Entertainment case is similar.

“It was a bad example of a person who runs the company as if it’s his private entity... Whether it was legal or not, it is hard to accept as a shareholder,” he said. 

Lee Chang-hwan also opposes HYBE’s bid for control, saying their efforts to create a monopoly bode ill for the market.

“We thought there was great potential for further K-pop growth,” he said, adding he first started looking at investing in the industry in early 2021. 

“BTS was already a huge success and we witnessed the formation of a real K-pop fan base in North America and Europe,” Lee Chang-hwan said. SM Entertainment was “undervalued” due to its management woes, he said, and seemed a good target.