Holiday Activities-I

Hi guys,

I was busy with my exams. Exams were quite difficult. It feels really good to finish the exams.

I’ll register my holiday activities in this post and I’ll be doing the same in the days ahead.

To begin with my exams were over on 14-12-09(Monday).

2012- A marvelous movie

I spent most of Tuesday watching cricket. It was the 1st ODI between India and Sri Lanka. It was a humdinger in which Sri Lanka lost by 3 runs. For the 2nd time in history both teams scored above 400, with the help of aggressive centuries from Sehwag and Dilshan.

After the cricket match, I sat down to watch the movie 2012. Already my friends told that the movie was wonderful, superb… The reviews also suggested the same. So I sat down to watch it with some huge expectations. The movie showed me more than what I anticipated. All those things, the collapse of California, the destruction of other places, volcanoes, Tsunami all seamed realistic. Don’t know how those were done. But one thing I observed along the film, despite the fact that millions of people were dying, our heart goes for the hero and his family to flee the devastation. As a final point they reach the ship that is designed to get away from the end of the world. As usual (as in all movies) in the end, everyone chooses humanity and save others.

A visit to Meenakshi Amman Temple after a long time

On Wednesday, I went to Meenakshi Amman Temple along with mom after a long time. It took 5 minutes to enter the temple after the usual security checks. There was a huge crowd standing for the free darshan. So we decided to buy the special darshan tickets (Rs.15/person). It took 15 minutes to enter the shrine. After worshiping Goddess Amman, we went to Shiva Shrine. It took approximately 10 minutes there. Subsequently after worshipping the remaining Gods we came out. If I go with mom, I’ll never be able to enjoy the art of the temple. She will be in a hurry. On that day also, it was the same with mom. After finishing the worships, mom started to go around the God Pillaiyar in Aadi Street. She will go around that pillaiyar 108 times on new moon days. It will take around 45 minutes. In that time, I went to the temple once again and roamed there for some time.

Then I came out and started watching the pigeons in the temple. They were eye-catching birds. Some had grey-black colors, some had grey-brown and some had green pigments in their neck. Only one pigeon was pure white in color. There were nearly 100 of them. If people came in close proximity they flew to the temple roof. They come back after sometime. 1st only 1 pigeon comes. Then one by one all pigeons come to feed on the grains that people leave for them. When they fly as a group, the beating sound of the wings will be very lovely to hear.

Crowded Market

After coming out of the temple, we went to the nearby Central Market to purchase vegetables. The market street was as usual jam-packed. The main reason was that the heavy vehicles blocked majority of the road, making it hard for the pedestrians to walk. Inside the market the entire way was packed with decayed vegetables and unwanted leaves. We bought Onion, tomato, potato and some more vegetables. The prices of the vegetables had been on a rise due to the monsoons and on that day also it was very high.

Meenakshi Bazaar

After finishing with vegetables, mom started to home and I went to Meenakshi Bazaar to get some DVDs. It’s a dreamland for movie lovers. You can buy all sorts of DVDs, English, Tamil, Hindi movies, songs, Games, etc. But u have to wander around and search patiently for there will be 1000s of movies. But I didn’t go in search of a particular movie. So I just entered a shop and bought two DVDs, The Grudge and Fast and the Furious. In the bazaar, u can also find a great number of electronic shops selling DVD players, Cell phones, USB Flash drives, memory cards, etc at a cheaper price. But the trouble is we can never know whether the product is authentic or not. So we can buy electronic goods there only if someone known to us is there. Otherwise it’s better to buy in a genuine shop, even though the cost may be a little high there.

The Grudge- A Horror movie

That afternoon I watched the movie ‘The Grudge’ with the DVD I bought. It is the English version of the Japanese film ‘Ju On’. The movie is about an American nurse who goes to Japan for work. She finds out some dreadful incidents in a house. The story is as follows,

A Japanese woman keeps on posting love letters to an American professor. When her husband finds out the truth, he murders his wife, son and commits suicide. On that same day the American professor sets out to see who sends him those letters. He is shocked to see all those awful things there. Coming back home he throws himself out from the 6th floor. In Japan they say, “If someone dies with rage or with unfulfilled desires, they start to hunt whoever comes to that house”. So the family who comes after that, the detective investigating that family’s death, the nurse who comes to attend that family and her lover, all die one by one and so ends the movie.

Again to college

A seminar was conducted by civil department on Friday and some 10 of us were called to work for it on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday we had works like CD writing, arranging the bags and decorating the seminar hall. For most of the day we had no works. We were playing Carom for most of the afternoon. On Friday also we had no works for most of the time. We had to receive the guests, distribute Tea; snacks in the morning break, and then take charge of the lunch session so that things went on smoothly. The lunch was arranged well with a budget of Rs.110/ person. But some confusion took place. The lunch time mentioned was 1.15 pm. But all guests came by 12.45 pm itself. So we had to compel the catering people to arrange things swiftly. In the evening session too, the tea break was mentioned as 4 pm, but guests came by 4.30 pm only, within which all the refreshments and tea lost the flavor. On the whole the day was fine and it was a nice experience for us.

On Friday, the 2nd ODI took place. India lost in the last over by 3 wickets after scoring 301 with a radiant century from Dhoni.

CADD Quest 2010

On Saturday morning I along with Vimal Raj and Dhasthaheer went to write the CADD Quest scholarship exam conducted by CADD center each year. The CADD center was nearby Vimal’s house in China Chockikulam. I didn’t exactly know his house. So he told me to come near Eco Park. I went by cycle from my home. It’s almost 5-6 km from my home and it took me 20 minutes to reach there. At one juncture I didn’t know the exact way to Eco Park, so I asked a pedestrian and he guided me in the wrong way. Finally I reached his home. We went to attend the test as Dhas told he will come quite later. There were 50 questions. The questions were separated into English, Abbreviation, Technology, Science, Events, etc.

Avatar- An Amazing Film

After the CADD Quest we went to the movie Avatar at Ambiga Theater. I reserved the tickets the previous day for all 3 of us. The tickets were priced at Rs.60/Rs.50. I bought the Rs.50 tickets. It was good that I booked tickets, for there was a long queue there. I met my school friend Anand there. Also something interesting must be told here. I came back home after the CADD quest. Dhas stayed at Vimal’s home. For the film, Vimal and Dhas had come in doubles. Don’t know how Vimal managed to pedal the cycle for 5 km with Dhas at the back! I can’t forget the way those two guys entered the theater!

The film was splendid. It’s a human-alien conflict. Humans enter the planet Pandora to suck the wealth from them. The Navi creatures live along with nature. The hero is made to get into them, by changing his DNA, i.e. he takes the avatar of Navi Creatures. Finally he likes them, supports them and helps them to win the humans. The graphics were incredible. The whole set of creatures; bioluminescent plants in Pandora are mesmerizing. Only after watching the whole movie, I realized that I should have gone for the 3D version.

CADD Quest- Results

The next day (Sunday) I learnt that I scored 39, Vimal scored 33, and Dhas scored 27 out of 50 in the CADD Quest exams. The manager of the CADD Centre, China Chockikulam was interested in collecting a gigantic sum from us. We told that we wanted to do AutoCAD, but he insisted us to do a lot of other courses. He offered AutoCAD at Rs.6000. We then went to CADD centre, KK Nagar. There the manager was a woman. She spoke softly, listening to our needs. She offered the same course at Rs. 5000 and more importantly she didn’t insist us to join other courses. So we have decided to join there.

Planting a new Sapling

Yesterday (Monday) morning, I went to the nearby plant nursery and bought a sapling known as ‘Thanga Arali’. It bears yellow colored flowers. The saplings were priced at Rs.35 and Rs.50. I bought the smaller one. After coming back home, I dug a hole to plant the sapling. It was hard digging a hole, since the ground was solid. After digging the hole, we put in some fertile soil and then planted the sapling. It was nice to planting.

Yesterday the 3rd ODI took place. India beat Sri Lanka easily by 7 wickets, thanks to Sachin and Jadeja. Now India leads the series 2-1.