Holiday Activities IV

Hi guys,

 Let me continue from Friday, the 8^th Jan 2010.

Breaking the Keyboard

There was no driving class today since the driver was on leave.

In the evening, I went to the CAD class. We were drawing a diagram of pipe vice in the practice session.

Suddenly there was a heavy sound behind me. I turned quickly and saw that Vimal’s keyboard and drawer had fallen on the floor since he was attempting to pull it beyond the limit. Luckily for him, no one noticed it. When we went there the next day someone had fixed it.

How hard it is to search an Address

9-1-10 (Saturday) was a pleasant day. The climate was more enjoyable than usual. My webcam was not working properly for the past few days I noted down the service center’s address from the bill. It was near my home (app. 1.5 km). But I didn’t know the exact location. When I went there I was baffled since all the roads were named as Cross streets (the service center was in the 9^th cross street). Since they were not in a proper order, even the shopkeepers in that area were not able to guide me. Finally, when I thought of giving up, I found.  It was the very 1^st street.

The way I found it out was interesting. While I was asking a shop keeper where the 9^th Cross Street was, he told me that the next streets were 17^th and 16^th streets and so 9^th Cross Street would be at the other end. Frustrated, I turned my head to find a sign board that read ‘9th North Cross Street’. However the service centre was closed.

A visit to Bala Kumar’s home

On 10-1-10 (Sunday), I went to my friend Bala Kumar’s home in the morning. This was my first visit to his home. His home is very close to Thirumalai Nayak Palace.

I went to his house by bus and there was heavy traffic. I haven’t been through that route much and so I was amazed by the way the shops had grown in number in this stretch. Many new buildings were also coming up, including the Madurai’s version of Citi Center, a celebrated shopping Mall in Chennai.

There was a huge crowd in the Palace. Though I have been living in Madurai from my childhood, I’ve never visited this Palace. The palace was built by the king Thirumalai Nayak in the 17^th century. What exists today is only a part of the palace. The original structure is said to be 4 times bigger than now. The palace is known for its big pillars. A light and sound show is organized every evening. I decided that I must go there someday.

After spending a good time in his house, I came home in the afternoon.

‘District 13’- An action packed movie

On 11-1-10 (Monday), I attended the driving and CAD classes. That night I sat down to watch the movie District 13. It is the English translation of the French film Banlieue 13. It is a colony in the suburbs of Paris where social crimes increase and hence police bans the area. The hero Leito along with Damien, an undercover police officer fights Taho, the gang lord of B 13. The action sequences were amazing. I heard that the film had no stunts or computer graphics. Many Tamil movies have copied the fight sequences.

I wish all of you a very happy and sweet pongal!!!

Happy Reading!!!

Holiday Activities III

Hi guys,

I have registered my holiday proceedings up to 30-12-09 in my very last post. In this post I’ll prolong my activities.

Fever spoiling the New Year’s Mood

31-12-09 (Thursday) was New Year’s Eve. But I was suffering from heavy cold. There were lot of New Year wishes sent through SMS and mail. Greeting messages were reduced than the preceding days, since most of the mobile operators charged 50 ps or more for sending a message on both New Year’s Eve and New Year.

For the past three or four years, I used to be awake for the birth of New Year. But this time, I slept earlier as the cold was causing me a lot of problems. I realized certain guys may call in the midnight and hence I changed my phone’s profile to silent mode. The next day, I saw that there were two missed calls.

Driving classes went on well. The steering control was much enhanced than the previous day. CAD classes went on well.

New Year Celebrations

1-1-10 (Friday) was the New Year. It was quite eventless as I had terrible cold then too. I received some phone call on that day wishing a Happy New Year. I also called up some of my friends and wished them the same. There were no driving and CAD classes.

I exhausted most of the day watching TV. There were lots of special events telecasted in different channels for the New Year. Some channels focused on last year’s best things like Top 10 songs, Top 10 movies and so on. But to me they were not fitting lists. The movies produced by the respective channels dominated the lists. I watched a special ‘Neeya Naana’ in Vijay TV, which was based on horoscope. To know about the future events in 2010, 5 celebrated astrologers were called. But all the 5 were poles apart, making it a comedy show.

Other than that New Year means Resolutions for lot of people. But I do not take any resolutions. I have seen people taking resolutions and giving up within a week. The problem is they try to change dramatically from the present. It should be slow and steady.

How to disturb a class

2-1-10 (Saturday) began quite badly. My throat began to trouble me. So, I didn’t attend the early morning driving class (It was scheduled at 6 am).

We went to CAD classes as usual that evening. The class was going on very captivatingly. The staff was taking classes on ‘How to draw circles?’ Out of the blue, some music started to roll out. Everyone was edgy to see the source of music. The music turned out to be the song ‘Un parvayil Paithiamanen’. It was then that we found Vimal’s handset was full of life. He took the phone very casually out of his pocket and cut the call. He must have switched off his phone or at least he must have acted instantly.

Vimal’s pranks in CAD classes are continuing still now (read the last paragraph).

Misplaced Class

3-1-10 (Sunday) was a better day for me. My cold started falling down. Saturdays and Sundays are actually holidays for us in CADD centre (since we are in week batches). But our staff forgot that and he asked us to come. There was no problem on Saturday, but on Sunday when he was taking classes for us, another batch of students came. So we had to discontinue our class for that day.

‘Intelligent’ Vimal

The following week was a routine week with no very special events. But some attention-grabbing events occurred in the CAD classes.

Our trainee was taking classes about drawing an arc 9 (I don’t remember the exact day). The command used is ‘arc’. The style of arc that can be drawn from this option is ‘3 point arc’. But there are 9 other types of arc, which can be selected from the menu bar. Vimal suddenly asked, “Sir is there command for all these types of arcs”. He replied, “There are commands, but those are quite complex. If I give it now, you will get confused. I’ll give it later”. Vimal said, “Sir it is very difficult for me to use the mouse. Key board will be much convenient”. Sir countered, “For a person like you, there is an editor in AutoCAD using which you can type the commands and the drawing will directly appear” (actually I thought he was making fun, but there is an editor really). Everyone started to laugh.

Another day Sir was taking class about some toolbar. He was using AutoCAD 2007 to explain, but our syllabus is for AutoCAD 2010. Most of the features will be same, but certain additional tools will be provided. He told that in 2007 version only 4 tabs are given, but in 2010 version another additional tab will be there and he told that it will be very easy to use. Vimal started smiling idiotically. Sir said, “Ivaru sirikaradha partha puriyale pola iruke. Fine, I’ll explain the concept”. I and Dhas were frustrated. I told, “Sir, ivan elame panni parthuthu theriyalenu solvan”. Vimal started replying but Sir asked, “Oh, ivaru than unga classla intelligent payana”. Dhas instantly said “Correct –a sonninga sir”.

At least then we thought his troubles would trim down. But they are increasing every day.

 My driving skills are honing each day. Today (7-12-10: Thursday) was the better of all drives.

I’ll keep you updated about my holiday activities in the successive posts.

Happy Reading!

P.S: I typed this post on 7-1-10 itself. But I’m posting it now.