Ode to physics

Rap along

Good old Einstein is popping up in places you would least expect him to, for instance, bang in the middle of rap lyrics. A 22-year-old rapper from London, DJ Vader, has ended up composing a song to the wonders of Einstein’s theory of relativity. The story of the song’s genesis is even more interesting. DJ Vader noticed how time flew by whenever he was in the company of his girlfriend. It reminded him of Einstein’s comments on the relative nature of time, and the lyrics grew out of this. But the initial reception wasn’t too encouraging. When his girlfriend heard him sing it, she laughed on his face. But things have changed since then. Now, the Institute of Physics has adopted it to popularise Einstein’s theories among the young generation and show how they touch our lives daily. Say “Yo man!” to that.

Enter, the wagon

Move over, Shah Rukh Khan & Co. Taarzan is here. And what’s more, Bollywood’s latest freewheeling hero who could possibly give the studs a run for their money is, well, a car! Producer Govardhan Tanwani’s upcoming action-thriller Taarzan — The Wonder Car features this Rs 2-crore gizmo, fashioned by auto wizard Dilip Chhabria of DC Design over a period of nine months. It does just about everything our chocolate-boys brigade is capable of doing, and much more. It swims, crosses fires, fights villains and even indulges in an occasional flight. The idea, says Tanwani, came from a Harry Potter flick, and the film — to be directed by Abbas-Mustan — aims to attract more children to the theatres. So when the mean machine takes its position under the spotlight, would the crew say “Shot 1, tech 1?”

Lissome lisa ray is back, and how. The Kasoor girl bagged the role of a widow in Deepa Mehta’s River Moon, for which she had to shave off her lovely tresses. But Lisa doesn’t seem to mind, considering she’s headed for a comeback. Hair goes!

Sweat to fret over

If you’re into doping, beware. A new drug-testing kit is ready to hit the market in Britain — and it can hound you out by just getting a sample of your sweat. The Drugwipe kit has a fleece strip which can locate tiny amount of drugs in human sweat. The process is so easy that a person won’t even have the faintest idea that he is being tested. Many feel that it will go a long way in preventing drug abuse in schools. The pot of woe brimmeth over...

An Indian spin

Swinging hero

Fasten your seat belts, guys. The webbed wonder from New York is ready to drop into aamchi Mumbai. You’ll soon see Spiderman swinging from the Gateway of India, if a plan hatched by Marvel Comics works out. And the name won’t be Peter Parker either. It’ll be Pavitr Prabhakar, a puny teenager who will jump over two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws, to tackle the evil Rakshasa, a reincarnation of the Green Goblin. In the first ‘transcreation’ of its kind, he gets his powers from a holy man and not a spider bite. Now, will he speak Marathi too?

 

AWARD OF THE WEEK

Goes to 29-year-old Koshy Eapen from Kottayam, who was awarded the London University’s Excellence and Achievement Award 2004. Eapen, a doctor by profession, is currently doing an MSc at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.