We’re back!
It’s been a semester’s work till date, leading the fray, and the onus
appears to have possessed me with the power of a profound spell.
A big shout out from your seemingly overbearing bunch of monocled
This is, by far, the more desirable duty I could have asked for. But,
aristocrats (not really) who bring out the college newsletter every
then, I couldn’t be more biased, could I?
month or so.
Issue one - now that it’s finished, I’ve got to send it over to the printer
We are at loggerheads at every juncture of our lives, if you care to
and get back to the everyday, mundane stuff like tending to
contemplate. The idea of conserving the past while opening new
assignments and eating in the mess. Truth be told, this might sound a
avenues to the future is a tricky one to implement in real life. We’ve
bit pretentious or resemble a culture show. But, looking at it now, I’m
been told not to mention the dhobi strike in this issue (especially in this
tempted to skip that meal and give the issue another read. As funny as
context). But, we will, because you know it fits the bill really well.
it may sound.
Euphemisms aside, the past is truly fascinating (refer to page 6, we
have something for those of you with brains that dwell in the past); it Well, back to some good ol’ paper fight (not the sort where you use
is to be treasured and passed on with care.
balled-up bits of paper). I believe we have left you with enough food
for thought in these pages, lest you should be bothered to get this far
Random excerpt from a slightly deranged man’s words:
through my silly banter. Surely?
“One minute, you were using a typewriter, and then - bam! - you had a laptop.
As you may have noticed, these pages are getting rather packed with
One minute, you were posting your letters in a post-box. And then you were
stories we want you to be informed about. The News. The Academia.
sending emails. One minute, you were recording an episode of Downtown Abbey on
Pilani. The strike (yikes). There’s a lot more we’d like to interest you
a video-cassette recorder. Because you'd set the control wrong. And then you were
with. Of late, we’ve been introduced to something called the Internet,
using Sky+.”
which lets you store and read enormous aggregates of information.
(Jeremy Clarkson on TG.com)
Not to mention, we find it truly hard to wrap our heads around the
Yes, the immortal appeal of antique artefacts and all that. For once, let notion of reading text from something other than printed paper, but
us not lament the loss of our past or debate our obligations to it. have been reliably told that it is best we make our presence felt
Instead, we shall celebrate the fact that we’ve had an eventful one ‘online.’ To that end, the digital version of our paper and its contents,
if you may call it so, will start doing the rounds. Very soon.
(refer slightly below). This is our commitment to the future. Sort of.
****
IG, Angad, Pranita,
Spriha, Siddhant, Tanya;
Ajay Ramya, Debolina,
Kruti, Neel, Nithya,
Passey, Prateek, Ritvik,
Sahil D, Sahil K, Shalaka,
Shashank, Shruti, Steffie,
Viraj;
Ananth, Anish, Archit,
Madhusudan, Pratik,
Rahul, Rusheen, Soumya,
Srishti, Tanay, Tanmayee,
Vijay;
Akhilesh, Danish,
Deeksha, Devina, Gayatri,
Lasya, Manesh, Sanket,
Shubham, Vaishnavi,
Venu, Vishal, Yimkum;
Niharika, Pranav, Prayaag,
Rishabh, Saylee, Sibesh.
Heads up. They call it a website.
WE TURN BACK THE DIAL TO THIS VERY MONTH, DIG THROUGH OUR ARCHIVES TO BRING YOU SLICES FROM BITS’s PAST
BACKGROUND CHECK
Since it is apparent that the mental
facilities of the buffalo have deviated
considerably from true North, it would be
well if the Authorities catch it, and deal
with it severely - regardless of its age or
sex.
- Harish Mathur
The BITS Beat is the first student
publication of BITS Pilani, the predecessor
of The Fine Print and Cactus Flower alike.
The first edition came out in print in
August 3, 1964, packing its pages with fine
specimens of journalistic and literary
prowess from the students. We take the MORE ABOUT Mr. WENDEL
pleasure of bringing you some of that zest
and gusto from the writings by BITSians of Back in the days, you could see him in the
café silently sipping a cup of (black) coffee,
yore.
with a book in his hand (which may be
BLAST FROM THE PAST anything between French fiction to
BULL FIGHT (January 1965)
Chinese philosophy). He was often seen
dragging his bicycle to a high spot from
The crash programme, stimulated by the
where he can board it. His was probably
English Department with a view to
the most illuminated brain in the campus,
improve the knowledge of English in
and his house was a fountain for the
Pilani,
has
resulted
in
grave
inquisitive, an edifice of accumulated arts
repercussions.
and literature, and a museum for the
A local buffalo having inadvertently curious onlooker. He was Lothar Wendel,
benefitted from the Department’s efforts who taught German and French in our
and acquired a rudimentary knowledge of institute.
the English language, was wandering
along the Connaught Road, when its bleary Prof. 'Wendel was born in 1905 at Tauras;
eyes perceived the form of Mr. Wendel son of the Mayor. He was a professional
cycling sedately up the road. As Mr. journalist and used to write in Freach,
Wendel passed the buffalo, he (as we are German, Italian and English journals. The
reliably told) absent-mindedly muttered, turning point of his life came in 1942
“Yes, yes, yes.” To the buffalo, this was when,