Within an hour of her first meeting with her future husband, Amey Sarode, in 2018, Bhavana Patil told him that she stammers. “He was a bit surprised as we had only chatted in Marathi until then, and I do not stammer when I speak Marathi,” says Patil, 29.
She directed him to some blog posts about her experiences with stammering. "Read my posts and let me know if you still want to meet again," she told him.
“I can’t imagine what you went through,” Sarode told Patil when he met her next. “But I can assure you that your stammer would never become a hurdle in our relationship.”
While Sarode's empathetic reaction is a major reason why the duo have been happily married for two years, Patil says: "That confidence to tell a prospective [arranged marriage] partner that he should accept my stammer before we proceed is something I got from Tisa."
The Indian Stammering Association
Patil chanced upon The Indian Stammering Association online in 2016, when she was dejected, unable to find a suitable job after her engineering degree, and “as usual” holding her stammer responsible for her problems. “I emailed them looking for a solution for my speech, but what I got was life-changing.”
Tisa – the largest community in India for people who stammer – offers free online courses, counselling, communication workshops and daily virtual meetings for its 4,000-plus members. City-specific self-help groups offer tips and techniques to manage stuttering, plus mental and emotional support.
The stigma of stammering
More than 70 million people worldwide stutter and, while it is recognised as a disability in the UK and the US, India does not list it under its Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act, thereby limiting its awareness as a social problem for people who live with it.
Most Tisa members grew up with the same experiences: unable to respond to the roll call in school; bullied by peers; not performing well in oral exams and project presentations; and limited social interactions.
Stammering is also a stigma in the country, especially for women.
The pressure of being a “perfect woman” in order to be eligible for marriage is too high, Patil says. It’s why her worried mother asked her to hide her stammer from potential grooms. “There is immense resentment in people for their daughter-in-law when she doesn’t measure up to their expectations,” Patil says, offering an insight into India’s as-yet gender disparate society.
Prathibha Ramamurthy, 32, a senior presales consultant in Bengaluru, got the same advice from her mother. “At one point, my family suggested I marry my cousin, since it may be difficult for me to meet a partner with my stammer.”
While consanguineous marriages are permitted in her community, Ramamurthy refused. She found a partner who accepted her despite his parents’ and siblings’ unfavourable attitude, which still exists in the form of mockery. “It isn’t easy, but my husband’s love keeps me going,” Ramamurthy says.
Others, such as chemical engineer Rajgauri Vedprakash, 23, experienced depression. "I worked so much harder for my college projects, but experienced a block while presenting and sometimes couldn't speak at all. For a long time, I had very low self-esteem."
Self-acceptance is paramount
Ramamurthy attended Tisa's weekly self-help meetings for three years, where she practised techniques to improve her fluency. Meditation and counselling by a peer group helped boost her confidence and, in time, she accepted her stutter as a part of herself. "All my life I had lived in denial, and blamed my parents and God for giving my stammer to me," she says.
Fellow Tisa member Anupam Saxena, 32, even started a theatre group for the community. In 2017, they performed three plays for a ticket-buying audience in Bengaluru. All the actors spoke to the audience about their stuttering before the show. "Being able to [act] publicly made me more comfortable with myself," says Saxena.
Acceptance is the most important thing that Tisa propagates. “We tell members that they are not alone and that stammering is not their fault,” says Dr Satyendra Srivastava, a physician and social worker from Dehradun, who founded Tisa in 2008.
Communication, he says, is a two-way street, and the responsibility of both the speaker and listener, in that the latter should have the patience to listen attentively to what is being said.
Founding Tisa
Srivastava started Tisa as a blog to pour out his feelings about his experiences with stammering. "There was a time when I let my happiness depend on the number of words I stammered in a day or not," he says. His outlook towards life changed with a chance meeting with a spiritual leader, who told him he was much more than his speech.
Tisa emerged as a multidimensional voluntary group because Srivastava wanted to provide a sense of community to people who stammer, so they don’t feel isolated. Twelve members volunteer their time regularly to support the group’s various activities. “We follow an old Indian belief, that serving others should be driven by empathy and care, not money,” Srivastava says.
Tisa is, however, limited in its reach to tech-savvy internet users. "We'd like to create self-help groups, and conduct workshops for teachers and parents in rural areas, but we don't have local partners," he says. "Thousands of kids who hide their stammer to escape ridicule could be supported."
Heart-warming success stories
As arduous as the condition is for many, the success stories are as heart-warming. Saxena says he looked upon his stammering as a penalty for crimes committed in his past life. Being a Tisa member has given him something he sorely lacked growing up, as he strove to keep his condition a secret: friends.
We'd like to create self-help groups and conduct workshops in rural areas. Thousands of kids who hide their stammer to escape ridicule could be supported
Stress and nervousness trigger a speech block for people who stammer. Dr Humayun Khan, 27, went through this when interacting with supervisors during his postgraduate entrance exam, thus ruining his performance. A single tip from Tisa – "keep smiling and maintain eye contact with the person you talk to" – has helped him stay calm in stressful engagements, he says.
Ashish Agarwal, 36, was so invested in attaining speech fluency during college that he ended up falling into a depression that lasted a year and led to a compromised lifestyle and psoriasis, an autoimmune skin disease. Once he became a Tisa member, he shifted his focus from fluency to effective communication. "The sense of belonging members find trickles down to other spheres of their life, too," says Srivastava.
Tisa provides a manual for parents, teachers and employers, which comes in handy when volunteers conduct free communication workshops in cities and participate in corporate diversity conferences.
Sensitisation has helped teachers understand that some children may not speak up at all because of their shame of stammering. Employers learn that it is a good idea to be patient and give a few extra minutes during interviews. Even a single convert goes a long way in influencing the life of a person who stammers.
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Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
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Three trading apps to try
Sharad Nair recommends three investment apps for UAE residents:
- For beginners or people who want to start investing with limited capital, Mr Nair suggests eToro. “The low fees and low minimum balance requirements make the platform more accessible,” he says. “The user interface is straightforward to understand and operate, while its social element may help ease beginners into the idea of investing money by looking to a virtual community.”
- If you’re an experienced investor, and have $10,000 or more to invest, consider Saxo Bank. “Saxo Bank offers a more comprehensive trading platform with advanced features and insight for more experienced users. It offers a more personalised approach to opening and operating an account on their platform,” he says.
- Finally, StashAway could work for those who want a hands-off approach to their investing. “It removes one of the biggest challenges for novice traders: picking the securities in their portfolio,” Mr Nair says. “A goal-based approach or view towards investing can help motivate residents who may usually shy away from investment platforms.”
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Winners
Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)
Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)
Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)
Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)
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Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
'Lost in Space'
Creators: Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Irwin Allen
Stars: Molly Parker, Toby Stephens, Maxwell Jenkins
Rating: 4/5
Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
The Kites
Romain Gary
Penguin Modern Classics
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.
Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
The Orwell Prize for Political Writing
Twelve books were longlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing. The non-fiction works cover various themes from education, gender bias, and the environment to surveillance and political power. Some of the books that made it to the non-fiction longlist include:
- Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War by Tim Bouverie
- Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy
- Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
- Follow Me, Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims by Hussein Kesvani
- Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS by Azadeh Moaveni
Teachers' pay - what you need to know
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
RESULTS
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