Dr B N Suresh, Director of ISRO?s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Thiruvananthapuram, has been elected by consensus as the Chairman of Science and Technology (S&T) Sub-committee of United Nations Committee On Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS) for the current year. He was the nominee of Asian Group of countries for the coveted post. Dr Suresh was elected to the post at the beginning of the 43rd Session of the S&T Sub-committee, which commenced at the Vienna International Centre, Austria, for its annual meeting on February 20, 2006. This is the first time that a technical expert from a developing country has been elected as the Chairman of the S&T Sub-committee since its inception in the early 1960?s.

The S&T Sub-committee of UN-COPUOS, which is attended by 69 member states and other international professional organisations, focuses on the international co-operation in the field of Space, with specific reference to space science and technologies and their applications.

Dr BN Suresh, who is the Director of ISRO?s largest Centre, VSSC, has been leading the Indian delegation to the S&T Sub-Committee of UN-COPUOS for the past three years. He has made significant contribution to the development of launch vehicle technology and played a key role in a number of bi-lateral co-operation agreements between ISRO and other space agencies.

Dr Suresh?s election was facilitated by the efforts of Ambassador and permanent representative of India to UN Vienna, Dr Sheel Kant Sharma in close consultation with Dr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space, and Ministry of External Affairs. Dr Suresh?s election is an important recognition for ISRO?s outstanding achievements in development of space science and technology and their applications to benefit the society.

Mumbai, February 15, 2006? "Fun?funny? surprisingly soft centered and gorgeous‘? is how Simi Garewal describes Bollywood‘s gorgeous new sensation... Priyanka Chopra, as she returns with another exciting episode of her popular chat show- ‘Rendezvous with Simi Garewal‘. Make sure you don‘t miss this sizzling rendezvous on Sunday, February 19th at 9:30 p.m on Star World as Priyanka talks about her take on life before Bollywood, romance and heartbreaks, her hidden talent? and of course Abhishek Bachchan!

Excerpts from the interview:

What us your idea of romance?
Priyanka: Mills and Boon!

Mills and Boon???? Oh come on! (Laughs)
Priyanka: I know? but I‘m the mushiest and I fall for the cheesiest lines in the world!

Are you concerned about what people think of you?
Priyanka: Yes, I always have been, in my life, that they must think I am right and my image must be right, but now I have just reached a point where I think it doesn‘t matter.

Were you ever nervous or insecure about how you looked?
Priyanka: Oh yes! I have the lowest self-esteem in the world. I think I still do! Yeah! I‘m really bad at compliments. I can‘t take them somehow. I get nervous and shy around people. I am quite an introvert. My favorite childhood story was the ugly duckling. Just like her, I hoped I‘ll grow up into this swan.

Have you got used to media gossip?
Priyanka: You can never get used to that! That‘s something as much as people say, you need to get used to because it‘s part of your job. First of all, I don‘t think its part of my job to feed gossip-mongers. Second of all, I just ignore it now. (laughs)

If the price of success is love, can you do without it?
Priyanka: Right now.. at this point.. I‘d go for work. Because I think I‘m too mature and too young to know for sure.. that this is it! But I believe in love so much that I know it will happen to me someday where I won‘t see beyond the person and then I‘ll just give it up!

Do you have any fears in your life?
Priyanka: Well! Stupid fears! But beyond that? Failure! I much rather die successful.. in anything?in terms of a relationship.. in terms of work.. in terms of being a person.. anything! I just want to be good at whatever I take up otherwise, I much rather not!

So this Sunday don‘t miss Priyanka Chopra on Rendezvous with Simi Garewal on Star World, Feb 19th at 9.30 p.m.

MUMBAI, 15 FEBRUARY 2006: Bollywood sensation and TVS Scooty Pep+s brand ambassador, Preity Zinta today gifted Pooja Badola from Dehradun with a unique Scooty Pep for winning the nationwide "‘Make Your Splash" Contest at a brief ceremony held here.

The design and colour of the Scooty Pep was custom made as per the ‘winning entry‘ submitted by Pooja during the contest. The contest, which was conducted at Cafe Coffee Day outlets across India required the participants to either colour or design their own Scooty. The contest had received an overwhelming response of over 10,000 entries and Pooja was chosen for her creativity and artistic skills.

Priety Zinta, who with her youthfulness, style and contemporary looks exemplifies the brand attributes of TVS Scooty PEP, along with well known artist Nupur Kundu and the winner Pooja Badola then used their skills on a canvas to create the colours for the new age woman and Scooty Pep+, which is the medium to freedom and mobility for thousands of women across the country.

The painting will be put up for sale by TVS Motor Company for a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/ . The proceeds from the sale will be donated to Akanksha Foundation for the vocational training of 20 lesser privileged girl students of Akanksha.

TVS Scooty has the rare distinction of crossing the one million mark in sales, a significant landmark in the scooterette category. TVS Motor Company is the first Indian two wheeler manufacturer to have reached the milestone for a scooterette. TVS Scooty Pep was awarded the "Best Transportation Design Excellence Awards 2004" by Business World and the Scooty Pep+ "‘*Scooter of the Year" Overdrive Awards 2006.

Eye catchy Ad‘s, music videos, films, the power to grab your attention, create a world of imagination, beauty and extraordinary visuals with quality that‘s unbeatable. How does all this happen? Who does all this? What do they use to create imagination and ideas? So, many questions. Ever thought of the hard work and mystery behind all the glamour and effects? Lets look at what happens behind the scenes and where it all starts.

Well?Post-Production is where it all happens. Visual effects and lots more that adds to creative ideas and make an impact on our thoughts and minds. The technicality behind every creative input comes through technology developed to give life to every idea.

The SYSTEM:

It‘s very important to understand the tools that we are using to create thoughts and ideas. We talk about "SMOKE" a high end editing software that is a combination of Editing and Visual effects tools. Smoke, a product of one of the worlds leading software development companies for media and entertainment AutoDesk-Discreet? is a resolution independent, non linear digital editing system for both video and film production that offers a level of efficiency previously unknown in the traditional editing suite.

Smoke, is very well developed and designed to handle projects from short format work such as commercials, promos and show openings to long format documentaries, episodic work and corporate videos ranging from low resolution to high definition films. It offers the option of multi track, multi layered timeline based system in which visual effects can directly be done on the timeline.

It provides effects like text overlay, rotoscope and retouching of the clips and enhancing the quality and look and feel of the video clips. Smoke is a true finishing tool providing extremely robust creative toolset when combined with the right talent and creativity. Smoke gives the freedom of directly importing your rough edits from any editing suite into smoke as it is and give various effects like colour correction, chroma keying, add text effects, advanced dissolves, wipes and lots more hence called as an online editing system resulting in quick decision making with high percentage of accuracy from the viewers angle.

SMOKE in India:

With approximately more than 200 smoke machines in India, the market still demands more smoke machines hence the demand for professionally trained smoke operators. This is also due to the ever-growing demand and competition in the quality of films, advertisements, music videos etc. With the growth of out sourced work coming into India, the demand for smoke has gone up since the desired quality can be achieved and efficiency can be maintained.

SMOKE training:

Zee Institute of Media Arts an educational division of the Zee Network is offering training in Smoke. This course is open to industry professionals with experience in editing/visual effects and students with knowledge of compositing/ editing basics. ZIMA is India‘s first AutoDesk? certified SMOKE training center with certified trainer from AutoDesk?.

For more information on training in Smoke please visit our website www.zimainstitue.com or call us at 91-22-2630 2937/8.