The Sunday Mail
MOST people would agree that your wedding day is one of the most special days of your life, not to mention probably the most expensive.
But, while most people would associate their wedding day with committing themselves to their life partner, one woman decided to put all her time, money and energy into herself, by treating herself to a lavish wedding where she married herself.
Patricia Christine said she felt pressure of the societal expectation she should get married before turning the milestone age of 30, but having called off her engagement to her ex-partner eight years ago, the 28-year-old decided to defy expectations by hosting her very own self-commitment ceremony.
In May last year, the teacher, who hails from Sydney in Australia, held the ceremony, surrounded by her closest friends, buying herself a wedding ring, flowers and a floaty, bohemian wedding dress for a total cost of just US$68,75 (£50).
During the 30-minute ceremony, Patricia spoke about self-love and how she hopes other young women will be accepting of themselves, regardless of their relationship status.
“I wanted to defy societal expectations and show women that the most important relationship we have is with ourselves,” she explained.
“We search our whole lives to make a huge declaration to another but we don’t do it for ourselves first.”
Following the ceremony, Patricia and nine of her friends had a casual celebration with a picnic in the park, and the 28-year-old later took to Instagram to share the good news, writing: “I said yes… to myself!”
Despite making the commitment to herself, Patricia is still open to the idea of meeting a partner in the future, as she believes the work she is doing focusing on herself will ultimately make her a better partner too.
Snooker master without arms
Born without arms, Muhammad Ikram (32) from Pakistan has nevertheless mastered the game of snooker.
In Samundri, a dusty, rural town in Punjab province, Ikram has spent eight years pushing a cue ball around with his chin, and now he can take on anyone.
“I have met very good snooker players who tell me I am a real genius, and that I can bring great fame to Pakistan,” Ikram told Reuters Television.
One of nine born into a poor family, Ikram was uneducated and deprived as a child.
His main pastime was watching people play snooker, a game no one dreamed he could ever play. He does not remember how the idea struck him, but somewhere along the line, he started practicing in secret.
“He would eagerly watch the other boys play. He would keep wishing he also had arms so he could play like them,” said his mother, Razia Bibi.
“Then he started using his chin.”
Mian Usman Ahmed, co-owner of Cuemaster Snooker Club, says Ikram has won several prizes in local tournaments over the past two years.
“He would come to the club and ask that he be allowed to play. We would look at his arms and feel he was unable to,” Ahmed said.
“He insisted we allow him to … prove himself. When he did that, we saw he was actually very good.”
Ikram says people appreciate his undaunted spirit, and some eateries allow him to eat for free, with waiters volunteering to spoon-feed him.
“God has not given me arms, but He has given me courage. And I have used that spirit to fulfil my ambition. So, no one should lose hope,” Ikram said when asked what he would say to others with disabilities.
He hopes one day, with government help, to play at the international level.
A toddler that swims with a snake
Eight-year-old Inbar likes to cool off in her small backyard pool in Israel with her favourite swimming buddy — her pet python.
The 11-foot (3,3 metre) yellow serpent, named Belle, is one of her family’s many pets, living happily together on an animal sanctuary in an agricultural community in southern Israel.
She was named after Belle, the female character in Walt Disney’s popular animated film Beauty and the Beast, who dons a yellow ball gown in a famous dance scene in the movie.
Inbar said Belle is good company during a coronavirus lockdown that has kept schools closed over the past few weeks.
“It helps me pass the time because I really like to hang out with snakes and sometimes I help snakes shed (their skin) and I help them to be happy during coronavirus,” Inbar said.
Sarit Regev, Inbar’s mother, said the two grew up together.
“Inbar was raised with all these animals and she was raised with the snakes. When Inbar was little she swam inside the bath with the snake and now she has grown up and the snake got bigger, so they swim together in the pool. It’s very natural for us,” she said.
“There are people that say –‘you are crazy, how can you do it, you don’t love your kids,’” said Regev.
“It’s a lovely life to live like this. When a kid grows up with animals he becomes a person that loves other people, he becomes a person that cares about others and not about himself,” she said.
Sewing needles, nails, screwdriver found in teen’s stomach
Bizarre though it may sound, an 18-year-old boy has been found to be carrying three-inch long iron nails, sewing machine needles and a screwdriver in his stomach.
Karan (18), a resident of the Bhatwa village in Unnao, complained of severe stomach pain and was brought to a medical facility on the Lucknow-Kanpur highway last week.
After a scan, the doctors detected foreign bodies in the stomach.
A three-hour long surgery was performed on Monday during which the doctors found sharp-edged iron tools, 30 three-inch iron nails, a rough-edged tool, a four-inch long iron rod, four sewing machine needle threaders and a screwdriver in his stomach.
The patient’s father, Kamlesh, told doctors that Karan was mentally disturbed and they did not know how and when he swallowed so many tools.
Radha Raman Awasthi, a senior doctor at the private hospital in the Shuklaganj area of Unnao, said: “The patient appears to be mentally ill, but is recuperating.
He did not respond to our queries on how iron tools entered his stomach. There is a chance of him contracting sepsis, so the next seven days would be crucial. We are monitoring his condition round the-clock.” — Wires
