Joe Speak

Dubai – One of the most happening cities in the world, very vibrant yet mellow, very radiant yet sleepy. Like the sides of a coin, Dubai has two faces – one that encompasses all that is modern and other that embraces the traditional. I landed in Dubai hardly a week back, and I am already missing my home. But then every body misses it I presume. The hot, arid and sandy conditions are sure to degrade some, at the same time the glitter and pompous city life draws others like fire flies. Some escape unscathed while others get grounded. Some come here for a better life, some just for the fun of it. The first thing that strikes you is the heat. The heat here is so permeating and all encompassing which kills the soul and mind. One might as well like the heat, because it follows you all the way around, and reminds you every day that you are in the middle of a desert. I am yet to see most of Dubai , but I feel there are surprises in store for me. There are so many places to explor...

MY FIRST MODEL AIRCRAFT F lying the Beech Craft baron, Lear Jet or the Bombardier CRJ700 was not enough for me, I decided to get into the building a flying machine. Though I use the demo version of a popular flight simulator for my flying lessons, there are skeptics – of course mislead, misinformed and narrow minded – who insists that anything you play on a computer needs to be a video game. I have time and again explained the nuances involved in flying an aircraft, most importantly a jet in the class of CRJ700, to these terrestrials, but in all counts have miserably failed. I took videos of difficult landings, take offs, stall-spins, and acrobatics I performed to convince these bipeds. But alas! Their adamant stand of the simulator being just another video game always prevailed. This was when I decided seriously to get into aero modeling business, though I would admit that the thought has always been there, in the back of my mind, waiting for a trigger. As the ...

Derailed! Derailed, but chugging along, no particular destination in mind. Our country is chugging along, totally losing its direction and its purpose. The great vision of men who fought and gave their lives for the freedom of this great country is getting blurred and blurred.  Rampant corruption- pernicious and permeating, starting from the great echelons of power to the lowest clog in the machinery of the government, undisciplined people, chaotic traffic system, interstate rivalry and strife, people killing each other in the name of religion, the caste system, racism, and discrimination based on ethnicity truly characterizes the modern India.  The outer shell, the shell that the politicians, the religious leaders, me and you want to project is that of prosperity, industrialization, military power, suave and savvy. But the cancer, that carves the inside hollow, day by day is being so easily covered up, so easily forgotten, that the danger of this great civilization being b...

2012 – The New Year dawned on us 13 days late. The entire world was celebrating the feast and the joy of the new year on 31 st December and we might have been the only exception in the whole beautiful world. It is a very good feeling to know that you are different from the mass, you might stick out like a sore thumb, but still you will stick out. We guys decided to celebrate our new year a little late – 13 days late in the beautiful state of Goa, the tiny state bordering the Arabian sea. We had great many plans, and we had two days. We charted carefully the best beaches in North Goa, the best in the south. We had in mind the Se Cathedral, the Old Goa, the forts, the pubs and the vibrant night life of Panaji. We landed in Goa on an evening and decided to head out to Colva beach as it was the nearest to the railway station. We checked into a small but good hotel. That night we had a candle light dinner out on the beach. It was one of the most memorable experiences that we had - the coo...

High veldts and deep jungles, a righteous but rogue Afrikaner, gold and diamond mines, accidental love and high octane action very well captured in the back drops of the Dark Continent . This summarizes the works of one my favourite author – Wilbur Smith. Though I use the common Library for borrowing novels, I bought a copy of “Those in Peril” – the latest novel by Wilbur Smith from an online book store. I was a little excited on the prospect of reading his new novel. I had in mind the vivid African landscapes, the hapless men pitted against fate and the hunting, soldiering, and chivalrous Afrikaner hero with some of his black and faithful side kicks. The story began on a ship. The fast paced story line from “As hungry as the sea” flashed through my mind. But as I read on and on, I realized with a sinking feeling that this was not what I expected. The story was a loosely put together one with a wealthy oil magnate’s daughter being captured by the Somalian pirates, and the head of th...

In Greek hólos means whole and grafē means writing or drawing and hence the word Holography. The holographic technique is exactly what its etymology implies – making of the whole image.  In simple words holographic technique allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later to be reproduced so that the image of the object is recreated at exactly the same reference relative to the recording medium. This invention was made in 1947, by a Hungarian – British Physicist Dennis Gabor, He later on went on to win the Nobel for this discovery in 1971. The invention of laser made holography a happening technology. There are different kinds of Holographic techniques. These techniques vary in the method of recording the image, and also in the later reproduction of that image. Some of the relatively popular holographic techniques are Transmission holography, Rainbow transmission holography, Denisyuk holography, Specular Holography and Lenticular Holography. Holography uses ...

And we are again on the road, this time again to Munnar, a place called Kolakkumalai – we have heard that one of the world’s highest tea plantations are here, and also the world’s highest B.O.P tea factory – hardly thirty kilometers drive from Munnar through Suryanelli. We start early from Muvattupuzha, a sleepy little town ninety kilometers west of Munnar. We have a Bajaj Avenger and a Honda Dazzler. Four young men starting on an exciting journey, as care free as it gets, not even checking whether the motorbikes are filled up, rucksack containing the Bermudas and the beach shirts to welcome the rain – the most welcome and anticipated guest that sure should give us frequent visits through out our journey. On the way we have our breakfast from a restaurant, hardly big enough to seat 10 people, and oddly but ironically named The Taj. We indulge ourselves in the selfless and homely affectations and delicacies of the proprietor. After gulping down the scalding and strong tea, we kick s...