Category Ask the Psychologist

My little sister of 12 sends messages and calls a lot of boys who ask for her phone number. I’ve told her that when I was her age, I was also influenced to do such things but did not resort to such things and so I feel she also must keep away as it can be dangerous. But she does not listen. She may get into a lot of problems with my parents if they catch her. I have even told her that I will tell our parents but she told me that if I told them about her, she will tell them about my ex. What should I do?

You are just one year older than your sister and are well aware of the new and strong emotions aroused by the flow of sex hormones into the blood at the beginning of the teenage. You want to help your sister to avoid the mistakes you may have made at her age; your intention is good, but she does not listen to you. Rather than threatening her with telling your parents, it is better to keep sharing with her your experiences and keep an open and friendly dialogue with her. If your parents come to know, she will have to face their correction and listen to them. It is the duty of the parents to correct and guide their children.

Picture Credit : Google

I met a guy a year ago in train. We had eye to eye contact. Our families were near us, so we did not talk but we exchanged numbers and spoke to each other for many days. He is 24 years and I am 16. We love each other. I don’t care what people say but I want some advice from you. Is this fine in this modern generation or not?

To live in a “modern generation” does not mean to give yourself up in a relationship with someone with whom you just had “eye to eye contact” and some phone conversations. You may not care what people say but you should care for what your parents may say if they come to know about it. Love is built on a deep and committed personal knowledge of each other, sharing of ideals and values, care and respect for each other. This takes time and maturity, which you do not have at the age of 16.

Picture Credit : Google

I met a boy online about four years ago. He is 21 years old now. We have been good friends. We usually share photos and chat online. Last year, he told me that he was in love with me. At first I didn’t want to be in a relationship with him but slowly I started feeling that I love him too. We have never met each other (he lives in West Bengal), so I’m worried that he might not be the right person for me. Is this love? Should we be in a relationship?

For the last four years you have been in an online relationship with a boy whom you never met. All you know about him is what he tells you in your online chatting; nothing more. Now he’s started chatting about loving you and you started “feeling” that you too “love him”. Much of what I wrote in the letter ‘I AM IN A LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP’ applies to you also. Read it carefully. Stop dreaming about love and start living real and committed relationships with people near to you, starting from your family. To your question: “Is this love?” I reply: no, it is just feelings and emotional dreams; this is called ‘infatuation’.

Picture Credit : Google

Strawberries are not berries. They are an “aggregate fruit”, forming from a flower that has many ovaries; the ovary being the part of the flower that eventually develops and ripens into a fruit. Once the ovaries are pollinated, the ovaries will smell and eventually from the strawberry. Actual berries, though, are what are known as “simple fruits”; they form from a flower that has only one ovary. Examples of actual berries that most people don’t think of as such include: tomatoes, and – believe it or not – bananas! (Their seeds are so tiny it’s easy to forget they’re there.)

Since they were discovered in 1887, the Waitomo Glowworm Caves in New Zealand have inspired wonder with their stalactites and stalagmites, glowing with tiny bright blue lights. The fungus gnat, Arachnocampa luminosa, which is unique to New Zealand, can be found in massive numbers in the caves. Their bioluminescent larvae cling to rock walls and hunt prey with long, glowing strings of sticky mucus. The larvae use the lights to attract insects into the sticky strings, where they are consumed.

Picture Credit : Google

Ko Hingham in Thailand is a small uninhabited island which according to Thai mythology, the gods decided to adorn with precious stones. But Tarutao, a Thai deity, is said to have placed a curse onto the island. Any visitor who dares to take even a pebble off the island would be cursed forever! Each year the National Park office, which manages the island, receives dozens of stones returned via mail. The stones of Koh Hingham must stay on Koh Hingham or you risk the wrath of Tarutao!

Even though you cannot take the stones home, you can play with them within the boundaries of the island for as long as your inner child wishes to do so. Thai people, for example, use them to build miniaturized cheddis and kneeling in front of them, they lay their most ardent wishes and prayers. Less mystically, tourists write short messages in black and white such as flower-powers and I-love-yous. Come and do the same, just leave the stones behind.

Picture Credit : Google

 Kiyoshi Kimura, president of sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, has spent about $2.6 million over the past four years on exactly four giant Pacific bluefin tuna in his annual winning bids at the opening of the Tsukji Market, Tokyo’s premier fish market, the largest and busiest in the world. This year, he spent $37,500 on the first tuna (180 kg) of the season while in 2013 he paid $1.76 million for a 222 kg tuna, which remains an all-time record.

Japanese eat 80 per cent of the bluefin tuna caught worldwide, and much the global catch is shipped to Japan for consumption.

Mr Kimura also set the old record of 56.4 million yen at last year’s New Year’s auction, which tends to attract high bids as a celebratory way to kick off the New Year – or get some publicity. The high prices don’t necessarily reflect exceptionally high fish quality.

The price works out to a stunning 700,000 yen per kilogram, or £2,240 per pound.

Stocks of all three bluefin species -the Pacific, Southern and Atlantic – have fallen over the past 15 years amid overfishing.

Picture Credit : Google