Welcome Aboard !

Real pleasure to welcome aboard Kapeesh(a.k.a maverick) at far niente!!! and Harshad at The Devils Own .... Two fellow COEP fellow bloggers from FE. And yes they are intrested in quizzing too. So here's hoping for good times ahead !

For all You Billy Joel Fans

Hey, check out this amazing flash video by Ye Li a student at CalTech. And yes, thanks to the guys at TechFest '05 for the recommendation.

Cheers,

Puraa.ne Bandey - Naye Vichar

Lit Blog, Sudarshan, Anand, Niranjan, Ashish.
Turns out most of these guys are real gurus. A real privilige to have them on the roll.

Puneri Wins the World Cup !



I know how we indians have this annoying obesession of picking out some far out NRI who has achieved something and hype that person so much that he is suddenly remembered that he has a penninsuar region somewhere in Asia that has 1 billion people talking about him. Well i usually despise such a thing. Case in point Bobby Jindal.
However i just could not resist it when i found out Australia's second highest scorer against India in the Women's World Cup final was a lady called 'LISA STHALEKAR' who was born in 1979 in PUNE. Hurray !!

I think she is the first Pune born person to hold the World Cup for Cricket in both versions of the game. And BTW if Lisa Carpini Sthalekar says she doesn't care a bit about India, don't be surprised !

(PSST : To find out more click here)

Cheers,
Abhishek

Jim and The Stroke of Good Luck

Never has anyone been so after me to do something than certain female members of my family who insist that I take some immediate counter-insurgency methods to ensure that the weapon of 'mass' does not destroy me. There we wide suggestions on the table right from going for a jog in the morning, to doing yoga, suryanamaskar, doing exercises etc. I finally settle on joining the gym as I thought that way I wouldn't be under the ever watchful eyes of the same pre-described member/s. So I went up to the local Gym to enroll.

So this lady tells me to come in the evening where she would get me an appointment with a certain 'Sir'. So I turn up in the evening to find this 'Sir' to be some sort of a 5-foot version of the dog in Tom and Jerry. Short, puffed up in the chest, and yes probably used to running around behind hapless prey like me. So he takes me to this super-secret locker room and asks me to strip. Then he like goes on measuring every freaking circle he can make around my body. I realize I had parts like uppper-abdomen, lower-something etc etc. which turn up radii which they shouldn't So he goes on rattling numbers and saying 'oh no ... oh no ...' while I stand there guessing at what the ideal number should be. Then he tells me to get dressed up and takes me to this weird machine where he sort of asks em to put my fingers around some sort of handle and asks me to wait for some time before he happily chirps around with the petite little receptionist about Abhishek Bachchan's look in Yuva. After I am thoroughly engrossed in listening to this extremely stimulating discussion the machine in my hand suddenly starts beeping and starts flashing some numbers. I even manage to see a few short forms rattled of here and there - you know like a pattern design. He again conjures up that grave face of his and starts shaking his head in some sort of deep contemplation. 'He says that your BMP is 30, that is too high we must do something... good u joined. see the effects blah blah....'. After much deep thought and after a second of asking someone I find out that BMP stands for body mass percentage, which turns out to be 30% for me. Then he gives me my card like a menu card to wholesomely devour. For starters we have bending, stretching.... for main : 3 set this 2 set that and then just as warming down you have to go up and down the stairs 5 times. Now unfortunately this particular gym is located in one of the newer constructions thereby having a good 6 floors and thereby going up and down 6 times even by the ever-present tempting lift was too tiring.

I finally settled into the routine of skipping some or the other part of my daily three course 'meal' and later promptly feasted myself to those amazingly hot and yummy samosas in the nearby sweet shop. The affair wasn't going to last for long. Even if I liked working out, listening to 'dhoom machale' everyday (both versions promptly played back to back at least 7 times) would have been motivation enough. I celebrated my separation with an extra samosa and told the initiators that I had suddenly become extremely academically oriented and wasn't getting enough time to study. That was the only way out really and it worked. Now that it seems that the effects of gymming have worn off and people desperately trying to convince me that even my neck is getting thicker have succeeded in ensuring that I restart my quest for biomolecular destruction.

However this time I chose something that I hope I will like. Today my friends was my first day at the wonderful art of trying to behave like birds and imitate the wide variety of insects that we have been fortunate to co-exist with - in water.

Here's to a good long stint in H₂0 + Cl₂. May the neck grow thinner!

Cheers,

COEP on the NET
To all those COEP alumni who read my blog, and to all of my college mates who have been crying out for a better website and anyone else who's interested check out The Official Alumni Website and something called COEP Charitable foundation. Both are extremely good with the latter one methinks being updated regularly. Also one can get registered there.(Although the website prods one to check out the COEP alumni chapter in Serbia and Montenegro and then much to my surprise tells me than one doesn't exist. However u can get the adress of the Chicago chapter) Guess me and my friends will have to shelve ideas for a new website. :-( .
Cheers,

Alfalfa with Abhishek

(Cover Song - Images of green pastures with cows grazing. These hybrid, high milch, high yield cows incidentally have morphed pictures of film stars, well endowed society types, high society butterflies as faces (with a find-a-picture-of-me-among-those-cows teaser leaked in the media) with 'I will light the fire' playing in the background.)

Me: Today my guest on this show is truly a personality that has in all respects, finally arrived. He till now had everything one needs to survive - money, acclaim and popularity, but lacked that essential something needed to be a real strong horse in the industry. We have seen him in many roles and in various capacities as the quintessential funnyman or the non-existent, psychopathic, weirdly irrational Actor in a Negative Role (sic). Yes friends we are talking of none other that the extremely gifted, the extremely talented, the extremely funnyman of Bolywood, Mr. Shakti Kapoor himself.

(muted applause from People for Objectionable Racketing of Nudity as SK and me shake hands. He refuses to hug/kiss even though we both are gay.)

Shakti Kapoor: (Taking to Alfalfa like a fish to water) Hmm.. this tastes good. Is it intoxicating?

Me: Welcome to the show Shaktiji, how does it feel being here?

SK: Ya, ya feels great - after a long time I am facing a camera, one that is not hidden that is. You see I had become so accustomed to facing the hidden camera that yesterday when I went to the shoot, I started to hit the hero (and hit-on the heroine) even before the director said Action. Actually I wanted to hit him anyway because he refused to meet my good friend Ruchi at this particular 5-star. You see this hidden camera revolution is amazing, you save a lot of time. No reshoots, no action, shot, scene etc time pass. Ya it feels good. Real good!

Me: You recently achieved what everyone dreams of. An amazing 156.35 minutes of video footage was dedicated to you on national television. In fact your tape was so popular that apart from the subtitles in Oriya, even a special Braille version is expected soon.

SK: Ya ya actually Rajat Kapoor said 'are bhai kisi doosre ko lete hai' - but being an old friend, he helped me so that I could fast-forward my divorce case in the courts. I am getting impatient for Elton you see. As for the Braille version, the complete credit goes to 'my-good-friend' S.L.Bhansali jisne apni leela firse dikha di. Actually he is going to insert small advertorials for his next film 'Couchie Coo' in between the text. Actually SLB must now be watching this from Bang-a-lore where he is trying out a few girls for this role.

Me: On that note I heard that you are wearing some fabulous clothes in this movie.

SK: Now naughty boy, I am a stickler for privacy, I am not going to tell you - I hate revealing outfits

Me: But you said you loved the dress that Ruchi was wearing.

SK: About that I would like to clarify that this allegation is completely false, biased and politically motivated. It is media crusade to defame me and to erase my good name that I have created through tireless hardwork, dedication and suffering in this industry. I have said it a hundred times and now say it again - 'I never got time to see what she was wearing.'

Me: Oh! I see. Now Salman Khan and other members of the film fraternity have come out strongly in your support. How does that make you feel?

SK: Oh I tell you, it feels wonderful. When you have the love support and backing of the entire industry I feel reassured that my 25 years of playing roles involving hasna-hasana, the occasional rapist and the more frequent mentally retarded chap have not gone down the drain. Also most of these people were my 'good-friends' you see.
(I thought I would mention, being a method actor to the core SK practices diligently and lives and dresses exactly like his roles, working esp. hard when the occasional sane, rational person comes up)

Me: Now Shaktijee we move onto one of the best sections on the show. Its called 'Grazing through the Rapids'. It is basically a rip-off of that famous show which no doubt you watch (since it comes before Baywatch) so I will not take the trouble of explaining the rules.

The Best moment in your career:
The time I did signed 'Mogambo Khush Hua'. It is basically Mallika Sherawat's dad's production (I mean the film) in which I play Mogambo (why do you think Amrish Puri died so early) and Mallika runs and runs so that she has to cross my bodyguards like Mran #mi, Neha Dudhpiya and the like. Oh watch out for that one. It will be released as soon as Abhishek Bachchan lets go of that tape.

The Worst Moment of you career:
Actually you can't call it career, but how did I miss that skirt man!

SLB or Salman Khan
Elton

Rajat Kapoor or Maneka Gandhi
Shoaib Illyasi

(I let out a grunt to indicate subtly that the names after the questions indicate options- which basically means, man you have to choose one of those two, not anything but those two!)

India TV or NDTV
FTV

(No use)

The Best Movie you have seen in recent times
Actually I thought I was the best, but Aman - tu toh chupa rustom nikla.

(NOTE: Some parts of this segment have been abruptly cut out to make the comments seem misquoted and thereby more effective. Other reasons for the same include ensuring approval by Food Development Authority who would have definitely objected to the high cheesy content and some comments SK made I could not hear due to excessive chanting of 'My Hero' by some members of PORN. Anybody having a damn problem with this can appeal against it under some goddamn act whereby they would take 20 goddamn years to get us a penalty of a 100 bucks. They are better advised to enjoy it.)

Let us continue..

Me: Actually we were going to also call Ruchi on this show but she said that she had an important appointment with some talk show host in an hour from now, and thus couldn't make it. So the proud winner of this 'Finest quality, original imported from the Savannah Alfalfa Hamper' is the one and only 'You'.

SK: I would like to thank my producers, Rajat, Maneka, Shoaib you guys were wonderful. I would also like to thank Ruchi without whom this would not have been possible. .....zzz....zzz.... and finally my dear 'Elton' who stood by me through thick and thin - this one is for you.

Me: Thank you Shaktijee for sparing us some of your valuable time. It was wonderful talking to you.

SK: Thank you Abhishek, umm.. this tastes good.

Me: So that was the ever ebullient, ever straightforward, ever condescending Shakti Kapoor. If you want to win this exclusive Alfalfa Drink Mug personally kissed by Shakti Kapoor then SMS 'Myhero' to 7676. Now I need to be proceeding towards interviewing a few new faces for my new film 'Abe Shaa.ne'.
Till next time then - cya,

[ This interview in no way attempts to prove or disprove the existence of anything that you claim it tries to. It is a mere social comment - because I could no longer bear to hear Krish Shrikant speak (Pali was it ?) nor see Bucknor's vile attempt at replacing the universal sign of disgruntlement by the Index finger. If anyone's feeling are hurt then please note down this number- 022-7652046 Thane Mental Hospital. Also all data in this interview is apocryphal - any similarities to the truth is to some extent co-incidental and to large extent pure luck.]

L-Vis Press-Lee

It seems Reuters has caught onto PT's lead and is producing significantly insignificant stories. Not that this is as bad as PT's daily dose of amazing 'bizarre' events, definitely worth a dekko. - Here

Cheers,
Abhishek

(Sad that India is still referred to as a land of 'snake charmers and elephants')

When was the Last Time you did something for the first time?

Today, i went to the toilet with my helmet on,
(oh! and i made my first robot)

Cheers,

Talking Sorrow . . .

Talking sorrow, singing love
Mercy of God far above,
Talking to me - telling me so
The tender heart that loves to go

Around the world, in the eye
And together we live and die
And together we go around
Through closed minds and open ground

Tell me more, of day and night
Of infinite blindness, pointless sight
Treasury filled, is joy no more
To the heart filled with love before

When trees tell, and the birds cry
Far far above, in the sky
He's telling me - to fool around
The gentle touch, and incoherent sound

To tell us more of the tearless eye
The hand that fell in the blazing sky
Tempest, sandstorm, wind and mill
Come and go as it stands still

It whispers something and goes around
Joy discovered, nothingness unfound
Talking sorrow, singing love
The Mercy of God, far above.

-Abhishek

My College - 219999850 years from now.


(Yes, i'm thinking lets call it alongtime centenary, may be to spice it up tes-pui-alongtime centenary)

Yes friends i'm sticking my neck out - (not that i'm sure i'll have a neck after a tes-pui-alongtime centenary but why take a chance - if i'll have it i will stick it out). Anyway all i'm trying to do, is try and be a Kalam (imagine how long his hair would be after a tes-pui-alongtime centenary) and speak out to 'mere pyare vidyarthi mitro' (i'm assuming he would have learnt hindi after a tes-pui-alongtime centenary). So here goes -

" You see I had said to you before you had this .. umm... ah yes tees-poi-alentem centenary i.e after 150 years of your college that may this college prosper till the sun goes around the galaxy. I had said at that time that it requires 220 million years to achieve that. But since then the nation has managed to get enough money from Veerappan's secret bank account which they discovered under the name of RS Lodha ( for the uninitiated it was a unanimous decision taken by the Intergalactic Monetory Fund to scrap the making of wills and pass on all fortunes to RS Lodha about 200 million years back) that they were able to bribe enough of George Bush's 'advisors' to convince him to wage a war on Alpha Centauri 1 because they confirmed reports of Osama Bin Laden hiding there. George Bush even quit playing golf in ensuring research money to produce the intergalactic-earthbooster system which has helped us revolve around the centre in (tes-pui-alongtime centenary/2) years. (Those who were wondering why Osama still hasn't been caught, Bush insisted that we turn the boosters in the opposite direction to get his ball back so that he could tee off at the 15 and reduce his handicap of 10^56). However i am sure none of you must be aware of such basic metaphysical changes because all your old text books which contained the future of science ( it's possible to travel faster than light, electrons can be negatively charged, Bush's handicap is 1) have now been modified to the then correct values.

I feel such a pleasure to visit these hallowed (I'm thinking my speech writer meant hollow) halls again that I wish those stupid people quit testing PEPSI and get to work at the only thing your college has that no other college can every have - The Mulla River. This is a virtual haven for environmentalists to test their skills (after Bush's brain) & if fishes had fortunes Lodha would have been InterGalactic President by now. Anyway I must congratulate your college for educating all your teachers (in a training camp that took 219999850/2 years ) that a singular object has a plural verb. I would also like to congratulate all those people who finally got a project shortlisted for TechFest in paper presentation for their seminal work titled "Mathematical Analysis of Bush's swing and it's co-relation with increasing pollution in the Mulla. "I would also like to heartily welcome what seems like a going back to the 'under the tree - Gurukul' system of teaching because that is all that I see here.

I have had a wonderful time, coming back to these beautiful umm.. environs and would like to come back again when your college has finished inventing a name for 440 billion years - time taken for Bush to get a handicap of 1. Till then I hope scientist have invented a meter which can measure frequencies much beyond the realm of human imagination (which has been calculated to be about 2 mm - yes one dimensional, in a path-breaking book, 'The Human Mind, It's Length and Its Young's Modulus" by Japanese scientist Aatatari Ooduka) to measure the college's identity crisis frequency(A term now denoted ny the symbol COEP) Till then goodbye to everyone at umm let me see what is it now ? - aah. COEP. "

(A certain Vilasrao Deshmukh interrupts saying I hereby declare that my son will only sign films, which ensure that 'COEP cha naav badlu naka' is printed as a social message" and also a certain TV set groans Damn, where's the ball?)



Chao,

(Credits - a certain Vinod Jee who introduced me to this genre of writing)

For the Uninitiated see this

Check out new additions to the list :


Gaurav
George
Sarika
Vineet
Vinod G
Samrat
Harish

Cheers,

Shwaas Vs ?

One amazing thing on the second last day of PIFF was that 3 major contenders for the Academy Award for the best Foreign Film were being shown on the same day. Afghanistan's Earth and Ashes, South Africa's Yesterday and India's Shwaas. Albeit these three are yet to be shortlisted, trusting PIFF organizers I have come to believe that these films are hot favourites to make the cut. So what chances does homegrown talent have against these prospective competitors?

Earth and Ashes -

A from the heart tale of a Grandfather and his Grandson travelling to a faraway mine where the Grandson's father works to tell the news of devastation of the whole family in a bombing of their village. Where the film scores, is its simplistic storyline - objective and effective. The screenplay and the cinematography are absolutely amazing. The sweeping desert landscapes, the bombed village, and the appalling haplessness that the Grandfather faces have been wonderfully portrayed. Sub-plots have been woven wonderfully into the main storyline, i.e. the rich merchant from Kabul who helps waysiders, the grandson becoming deaf and his attempts to convince everyone that their voices lay hidden in one of the tanks which lie bombed along the road, the daughter being abused in public, the kid chasing the goat into a landmine where it is reduced to smithereens etc. give the viewer a bone-chilling overview of life during the war. Many people have praised the acting talent of Ashwin Chitale, the child actor in Shwaas. However the grandson in this movie I thought was much better. Ashwin's character is such that he plays himself most of the time in the film. However this kid in Earth and Ashes portrays someone deaf - someone who he is not, with aplomb. The film is technically brilliant, emotionally touching and wonderfully directed and written. The film's end - a pitch-black screen with the Granddad singing (wailing?) for atleast two minutes is absolutely chilling (and brilliant).

Yesterday -

This was the movie that won the best film (The Prabhat Award) at this year's PIFF. This movie tells the tale of a village belle named Yesterday whose husband works in the city. She finds out that she has contracted HIV and on the advice of the doctor tries to warn her husband that he may have it too. She shows the moral power to survive, till her only daughter Beauty is admitted to school. She also lives through her husband's last days and helps to make his end as comfortable as possible. Again the film scores on the same points that the earlier film did. Amazing cinematography and a simple direct story. I thought the film is in some ways a case of old wine in a new bottle - however the brilliance of the filmmaker cannot be overemphasized. Another interesting aspect is the portrayal of South African village life (in Kwazulu-Natal) and a social rhetoric on the state of affairs as regards to scare water supply, electricity, education and medical facilities in rural South Africa. Overall a good cinematic experience however definitely not mind-blowing.

Shwaas -

Much pixels (and indeed newsprint) have been spared dissecting and analyzing Shwaas. So when I saw it again at PIFF I indirectly compared it to the previous two and here are a few observations. Shwaas tries to create the glorious cinematic experience (read cinematography) which the other two films do effortlessly. The village scenes are amazing but the hospital and the city sequences lose the plot as far as visual appeal is considered. Also the film gets caught in the battle between mainstream cinema and art house productions. The 'suspense' is extremely flimsy and the film somehow does not quite match up with the other two. However this does not mean that it does not compare at all with the other two. It has come very close as far as the story, acting, direction is concerned. It loses on the technical front and probably the issue taken up might not appeal to US voters as AIDS and the Afghanistan war might. Anyway all the three films were a treat to watch and I enjoyed my wonderful journey (9 am home -> 9:20 AM INOX -> 11-4 E^2) through these Oscar nominated films.

Indian cinema has some way to go before it can match up to it's wealthier counterpart's, but if a Marathi film can do so much then Hindi cinema should be able to do much better. Till then - Hare Rama Hare Kisna!

My name is Na - Kiss Na

After a long arduous journey we finally reached the promised land(read row f seat 5) at a very convenient 11:30 pm to watch Kisna - Ghai's latest magnum opus. And what I have heard of Jaani Dushman, this movie should give it a run for it's money. Watch out Mithun - Ghai's here.

Overheard: What was the lady(Isha Sharvani) doing on the trees for half the film - Just hanging around.

PS: Watch out for reviews of Page 3, Black Friday - and an overview of PIFF in coming times.

'Iske badle me Woh'

'Delegates' are requested to note the following changes in the film schedules -


'Beautiful by Day' will be shifted from 11 am to 9pm.

'Swimming Pool' will be replaced by 'The Bathtub'

'Fire' will be replaced by 'Water'

'Hungarian Rhapsody' will be replaced by 'Swedish Parody'

'Run Lola Run' will be replaced by 'I Ran'

'Officers' room' will be replaced by 'The Magic Broom'

'The Straight Path' will be replaced by 'Hera Pheri'


'Delegates' are also requested to note cancellation in screening of the film 'Procrastination' due to delays in the arrival of the film, and 'I will survive' due to the tragic passing away of the film's Chinese director Mae Togaya.


We at Purely Insipid Formula Films(PIFF) would like to thank all or delegates for their kind co-operation in making this event a big success. Delegated are also requested to note that next year 'we' will be replaced by WCCBFF
(We Cheated the Censor Board Film Festival). Till then, Chao.

Cheers,
Abhishek

PS: All of the above is inspired from the replacement of Howrah Bridge by China Gate and the notice being place at E^2 while the movie was being screened at NFAI.

PIFF - Scene One Take One

I don't know if the organizers had planned this or whether it accident that King Lear and Ran both featured on the same day within a few hours of each other. Now it was pure chance that i watched the two movies. The original King Lear being a Russian version the main beauty of dialogue was lost, Shakespearen plots being exemplified by their wonderful imagery apart from the compelling storyline. Siddharth suggested that i watch Run, a french-japanese film (directed by Akiro Kurosawa who Nikhil told me was a brilliant director). Anyway i couldn't help notice the similarity it had to King Lear. Later it turns out the film is a Japanese adaptation of the same and King Lear's daughters are replaced by 3 sons. Even a few scenes where they carries the dead bodies of Cordelia and King Lear,the role of the Knave, the scnene where he picks grass in a field among others have been adapted.
However just for the record i thought both the films were pretty boring and to see the same thing twice - My first film VISA USA saved the day.

PS: Why was Ran - a Japanese adaptation, shot in Japan, with Japanese actors in French ?
Cheers,

"Na.am badalale ki ka.am sudharat naa.hi "


Pu.La.Deshpande - in Pestankaka

A Question of Fun Art.8

Gaston Glock


Gaston Glock - is the founder of Glock GmbH, the makers of handguns recommended by 90% of the US police force. The standard 18 round,24-ounce, 500 $ gun became so popular with the US police authorities, that when it came on the market in 1985 - it was snapped up by the dozens. The police forces were already combating growing terrorism, violence and petty robberies during that time and were eager to keep pace with the better-equipped, well-armed criminals. It's main competitor, the heavier and more complex .45 caliber Smith & Wesson was more expensive, and bulkier. Also since most of the mere 34 parts (except the carbon steel barrel) were made of a polymer, the gun had lesser recoil and was therefore much easier to handle. It soon became extremely popular with major police forces across he States including NYPD, US Special Forces, The FBI and other major anti-terrorist squads all around the world.

However, this incredible success story had its twists and turns. The story begins in Glock's country of birth - Austria. He was engaged in producing plastic grenade shells and also manufacturing plastic curtain-rod rings. He happened to overhear a certain comment by a few officers in the Austrian army about the inadequacy of their guns. Immediately Glock offered to make them one. They laughed away at him, but that made him even more determined to complete his mission. He got down to work in his basement every night and built the gun from scratch. Probably his greatest advantage was his total ignorance about gun making and his relative knowledge of polymer science. He built one of the simplest, lightest semi-automatics around. A mere 34 part Glock became so popular, than in 1983 he received an order for 25,000 guns. A man so determined, that he tested his prototypes with his left hand so that if his gun blew up - he could still draw blueprints with his right hand - was finally on the road to success. Two years later, eager to expand and attracted by nearby Luxembourg as a tax haven Glock met a certain Charles Ewert by chance - a man who was to change his life - and almost end it. Ewert, claiming he had international contacts se up many phony companies to which a large part of Glock's earnings were diverted. He opened various offices in Hong Kong and most importantly was responsible for Glock Inc. Glock's US subsidiary - it's most important company. Glock once said to his family that if anything happened to him they should go to Ewert.

Then one day Glock received a phone call from an employee Ewert had fired - telling him that there was something fishy about the way Ewert was operating. Glock immediately dismissed the idea as a clear case of a disgruntled employee's ire against his former employer. However just to put his mind to rest, he called a meeting with Ewert in Luxembourg. That's when - at Ewert's suggestion he stopped to have a look at a car parked near the road. A masked man leaped from behind and struck him with a rubber hammer. Ewert ran away from the scene. Glock struggling for his life managed to summon all his energy and hit back at the man - who later collapsed in a heap at the powerful man's blow. It was later discovered that the man was a French relation of Ewert. Ewert was later charged with attempted murder, and allegations of large misappropriation of funds and fraud. His case is still in the courts in Luxembourg but if found guilty he could face upto 30 years imprisonment.

They say 'You don't mess with Gaston Glock'. Now in his 70s Glock GmbH is still very much a one-man company. His son says that at the company he is his 'father's slave'. He is also known to be extremely private, one of his favourite pastimes being flying his Cessna wherever he travels. He had fought vehemently against the gun protection act that Clinton proposed, as it would have adversely affected his business. He has also fought against the frequent use of 'Glock' by rappers as he fears it will become a generic term for handguns.

Certainly having a violent and indeed colourful story a lot of Gaston Glock's past is shrouded in mystery. His incredible fight for his life on that fateful day in Luxembourg, his hugely public spat with Charles Ewert and the countless court lawsuits by him and indeed against him stand testimony to that. But one thing seems sure - until this man is at the helm, Glock GmbH will always be at the top of the list when it comes to choosing a handgun.

Some links

Glock webite
Glock FAQ
Frank Boosman's Blog

X - Am
I know it's that time of the year when most of you would be saying X-Mas rather than exam, but p(c?)IET decided to have exams postponed, so here i am - not going to Mood I - and sitting at home just saying to myself - you must study sometime,

Till i am free of this moral obligation,

Cheers,
Abhishek

Public Notice

issued by : (as per aai rules) My parents

We hereby proclaim that our son is an adult (atleast by law) and we are not responsible for any future misconduct on his part. And by the way - happy b'day.

PS:Abhishek says : atleast i can be a member of inquizitive now(i.e. without faking your age)
Cheers,

Children

I peeped out of my window
To see an alarming thing
Two extremely charged-up children
Were very fiercely fighting

My heart pained, On seeing
This very alarming thing
To see such young noble children fighting
Is not a heart-warming thing.

Shouting and screaming,
Seemingly out of their wits!
They seemed to be tearing,
Each other to bits

I couldn’t bear the trauma
And shut my painful window,
I thought I hadn’t seen it
The fighting, and the power show

Next day on my walk,
And what do I see
The two same children
Playing together with glee

I looked at the heavens
And flashed an inward smile
I applauded Him on making , children
In such a beautiful style !

A 7th Std. Abhishek

Baithe Baithe kya kare,
Karna hai kuch kaam,
EEE ke circuit suljhaye
Ya Taylor/McLaurin ko kare salaam !

Cheers,

Blogroll

Some long awaited additions to the roll,
Nikhil K , Siddharth Dani, Kunal T. and ex-PIET quizzing don Arka
Cheers,

A Question of Fun             Art.7

Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882 - 1945) is popularly known as the rocket man. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1882 he was always fascinated with everything pyrotechnic. Sticks of TNT, explosives, or small firecrackers or rockets fascinated him as much, as today's kids love their PS2s. He schooled at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and later became a professor at Clark University, teaching physics, for nearly 29 years.

At that time it was believed that propelling anything in space was technically impossible because there was no air to push against. However Goddard in his paper titled "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes" was able to prove that if you built a big enough rocket, with enough power then it would be possible to reach the moon. He was much ridiculed for his efforts in the media and was even quoted in the papers as "Professor Goddard, lacked the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." after he proposed the idea of space propulsion. Enraged, Goddard intensified his efforts to prove the editors wrong and went into a shell of his own private research from which he never fully recovered because it wasn't until after his demise that his technologies were proved to be correct and could be applied practically.

Goddard proved first that space flight was possible even with the absence of air. Later he realized that if he had any chance of reaching space, gun powders and other such chemical concoctions would have to be replaced by much more powerful fuels. He conceived the use of Liquid fuel like hydrogen which when mixed with liquid oxygen to act as a propellant fuel for the rockets. In fact this is the technology that still powers today's rockets. Thirdly he realized that a single stage rocket would be impossible to get in space and conceived multistage rockets. He was awarded patents for his ideas of liquid propellants and multistage rockets in 1914. Probably during this period the only commercial success that he had was the development of the "Bazooka" done for U.S. Army Signal Corps and Ordinance Department, in the Magnetic Lab (now Skull Tomb) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, at Clark University, and later at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California. By 1917 he started receiving financial assistance to sustain his work from the Smithsonian Institution. Later he was to receive a lot of research funds due to the efforts of Charles Lindbergh. It was during the 1920's and the 30's that he did the bulk of his work. Much ridicule came his way, as his failed rocket experiments were difficult to hide from public eye, as they had to be performed in the open. This is probably best highlighted by this hilarious headline in a local paper " MOON ROCKET MISSES TARGET BY 238,799 1/2 MILES."

However his first major breakthrough came in 1926 when Goddard successfully launched a 10-ft rocket he called Nell from his aunt Effie's farm. That flight which lasted for 2.5 seconds launching the rocket at 60 M.P.H. was as historic in the history of modern rocketry as the Wright brothers' 12 sec flight at Kitty Hawk. That 41ft climb was the first stepping stone in Goddard's flight to success. Though in the initial stages his work went largely unnoticed in America, The German Rocket Society, formed in 1927 took considerable interest in his work. His work basically outlined what was to be the famous German V-2 ballistic missile. He indigenously developed all the technology required for flight including liquid propellant driven pumps, steering units, and gyroscopic control. It was in the month of March 1937 that he achieved an altitude of 9000 feet that was to be his highest flight. Even in World War II, Goddard services were used by the U.S. Navy to the development of practical jet assisted takeoff (JATO) and liquid propellant rocket motors capable of variable thrust. He died on August 10,1945, four days after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan.

Robert.H.Goddard was a man who had both the creative genius to think beyond the obvious and the technical brilliance to bring these wonderful ideas into reality. He not only thought of what was then considered impossible, but also carried on with his research in the face of much public humiliation and ultimately succeeded. All the honour that he got, though belated, was richly deserved. The Congress issued a Gold medal in his name in 1959 and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland was named after him.

From that cloud of smoke from a powder rocket fired in the basement of the physics building in Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1907 as a kid, to the first 2.5 second flight on that the afternoon of March 16 in 1926, to the dizzying height of 9000 feet he achieved in 1937 Goddard's journey was truly remarkable. His genius is an inspiration for all engineers in today's 'Space Age' that would have been quite impossible without the creative genius called Robert.H.Goddard.

Additional Info :
NASA entry
TIME magazine

Cheers,
Abhishek

Snippets of PIET

My first month at PIET has been quite hectic, thus contributing to the neglect of this blog. However my teachers have taken over the content creation for this article. Here are a few masterstrokes.

Deshpande V.L.
* Now I will take attendance, pls. say 'Yes Sir' or 'No Sir'

* Please students, don't perform mischief, don't perform mischief. Last year 10 boys were expelled for performing mischief - out of which five were girls.

'Director' Ghatol

* I don't say PIET is the best college. There are colleges like IITs and there are other colleges. PIET is somewhere in between. But students we have something that no college in the world has, (long pause...) The Mula river!

Our Maths Teacher - Mrs. Kavishwar

* How can you say that 'x' is negative. If it had been '-x' then it would have been negative.

Our Physics Sir - Mr. Kamble

* Now students for extra knowledge on the subject of semiconductors, please write down the name of the website -
www.google.com


Such is the wonderful life at PIET - never missed FC esp. with regard to the teachers.

Cheers,
Abhishek