Holiday Activities V

Hi Guys,

I’ll continue my holiday activities in this post.

Pongal

14-1-10 (Thursday) was Pongal. It was festive time here. I accompanied mom to the market to buy vegetables the previous day. It was very busy and the mood was great there. Pongal is the festival celebrated to mark the harvest season. People thank the Sun God for the good harvest. Mom kept Pongal in the morning. There was a good lunch in the afternoon.

Green Get Together

In the afternoon, I went to my old school. A Get Together was organized by the alumni association. It was very nice to see my old friends. The main theme of the get-together was ‘Go Green’. There was a short football match (a 20 minute match), mobile photography contest and a 10 minute drawing contest. The prizes were plant saplings in accordance with the theme. We won the football match and hence each one of us got a sapling (It was very difficult carrying it to home. The pot was very heavy). Some old staff members came for the function. A volunteer from each of the batches told about their sweet memories in the school. The function ended well y 5.30 pm. We had some refreshments after the function. Then I was chatting with my friends for a long time. I came back home by 7 pm.

Mattu Pongal

15-1-10 (Friday) was Mattu Pongal. It is celebrated to thank the cattle for their help in the farm. The day went without much of activity. The day also marked the longest solar eclipse in the recent times. It nearly existed for 4 hours. I watched the movie ‘Santosh Subramaniyam” in television that evening. I think it is the 4^th time I watched this film.

Naanayam- A movie with big twists

On 16-1-10 (Saturday) I went to the movie ‘Naanayam’ in a nearby theatre. The theater consists of 2 screens and Avatar was running in the other screen. A large crowd was there for Avatar, particularly there were lots of children. There was some good crowd for Naanayam too.

The movie was nice. It was a Tamil movie with a bit of Hollywood flavor at many places. The hero Prasanna designs a fool proof locker for Trust Bank, Chennai. Due to that it is advertised as the world’s safest bank. Sibiraj blackmails Prasanna and forces him to help rob the bank. Having no other go, Prasanna takes the blueprint of the design and engages himself in danger. The movie is full of twists and turns. Background score and Cinematography are its biggest plus while songs are its minus.

With this I finish off my Holiday activities post. Tomorrow, my classes begin. I’ll soon come up with other interesting posts.

Happy Reading!

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.

Holiday Activities II

Hi Guys,

I’m going to carry on my holiday activities in this post.

In Holiday Activities-I post I described about the events from 15-12-09 to 21-12-09.

22-12-09 (Tuesday) was an uneventful day. That morning I updated my blog. I wasted the rest of the day by watching TV.

Learner’s License Record

23-12-09 (Wednesday) turned out to be a long day. That morning I joined a nearby driving school to learn driving a car and also to obtain the license for the same. In the beginning we need to get LLR (Learner’s License Record) to start driving. I went to RTO (Regional Transport Corporation) along with the driving school’s owner. We reached there by 9.30 am. After filling the form, the owner went inside the office to pay the fees and to finish the formalities. I stayed behind. Waiting outside I started surveying the activities of the people coming to RTO.

It was a busy day. There was a lengthy queue standing to get the forms for both License and LLR. A lot of people came in their two wheelers to get license. Only a handful of people came in their cars to get license. Mostly driving school cars dominated the scene. Other than that there was a mini bus and a lorry. A driver collided his car into the lorry and the car’s front part was damaged heavily.

By 10.30 the owner came back. He had paid Rs.90 for the LLR. After affixing the receipt with the form he sent me inside. There was a long line inside also. Almost 35 people were standing in front of me. By 10.50 the officer went out all of a sudden. He came back after 20 minutes. When he came back there was some confusion, since some people from outside tried to come 1^st. After some heated discussion, the row was again in order. I was called around 11.45. He crosschecked me by asking some details that were in the form. Then I was sent to take photograph. There it took around 30 minutes. After capturing me in the webcam the official procedure was over. I was asked to collect the LLR by 5 pm. My driving school’s owner collected it for me. I came to home by 2 pm.

CADD Center

In my Holiday Activities I blog I mentioned about CADD Quest. I also mentioned that we (I, Dhasthaheer and Vimal Raj) have decided to join AutoCAD there. We joined there on Wednesday. After paying the fees we were told that the course would begin on 28-12-09 (Monday).

Eco Park

After paying fees in the CADD Center, we went to Eco Park. The word eco stands for eco friendly or environment friendly. The Park contained a large area of grassland, decorated trees, beautiful statues, dancing fountain and boat service. The dancing fountain and boat facility will be active only on holidays. The entrance fee was Rs 3. On that day we went there by 4.45 pm. Going there, we learnt that the park’s timing was from 5 pm to 9 pm. So we roamed the adjoining area.

We went inside by 5 pm. We took some photos with Vimal’s Camera. The park was extremely enjoyable. After going round the park we spent some time in the children’s recreational area. By 6 pm, it started to darken and lights were on. The park was glowing in lights. The trees were spiraled with lights. There were large number of flash lights and CFL that worked on Solar Power. There was an artificial palm tree that was shimmering with light. The park was maintained very well. It will be great, if the officials take effort to convert it into a tourist spot.

The Fast and the Furious

24-12-09 (Thursday) was a pleasant day. I updated some of the photos we took in Eco Park to my Orkut Profile. I found that the photos we took during the night time were very poor. So I mailed my relative who is interested in photography asking for some tips.

In the afternoon, I sat to watch the movie The Fast and the Furious, with the DVD I bought the preceding week. It was a fantastic movie. A group of car racers steal electronic equipments, when the electronic equipments are being carried in a truck. Brian O’ Connor, a police officer joins the street racers to find out the group. He saves Domenic Toretto, the leader of the street racing gang from cops. He gets along with him. He finds that Domenic is also the person who steals the goods. What happens next is the climax. The movie has a lot of car races. The movie reminded me of the film ‘Dhoom’ in which John Abraham and his friends use bikes to steal money and Abhisekh Bachan is the cop there.

India won the ODI series against Sri Lanka. India won easily chasing 315 with beautiful centuries from Gambhir and Kohli.

Christmas

25-12-09 (Friday) was Christmas. Though it is not celebrated greatly in India, the season brings festive atmosphere. There were lot of ads in paper conveying offers to their products for the Christmas and New Year. There were some special shows in the TV too.

Understanding my Camera

I got some tips for the night photography. This led me to a new mission ‘Understanding my Camera’. I took the manuals and read the different features. I have tried the different modes long before. Then, I thought there was no vast difference between the modes. Now, I discovered the mistake I did. I had tested the modes with the same objects. But the modes are to be used for different circumstances. For example, Landscape mode is suitable for Natural scenes, Night Snapshot is suitable for Night scenes and Portrait is suitable for indoor scenes.

I also understood about the Photographic Triangle. Photographic Triangle stands for ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed. Indirectly all these things have power over the amount to light entering the lens. To know more about these terms and to know more about photography visit

http://photo.net

A List of events

26-12-09 (Saturday) started badly. I got early by 6.15 am and it was very boring before breakfast. The day also marked the 5^th year of the outrageous Tsunami attack in India (also in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the surrounding countries). After that I went to CADD center. Though we were told to come by Monday, we were not told the exact time. So we went to enquire about the timings. We were told that we will be informed later.

That evening, I went out with dad to get Passport size photos for me. After getting the photos, dad said that he wanted to get some older songs in CDs. So we went to Keestu Khanam, a CD/DVD shop which is located at Goripalyam. There dad started to browse the CDs. I started to look around the shop. Suddenly insects started to come into the shop. Troubled with them, I came out. Dad came out after buying 2 CDs that contained 50 songs each. They were in MP3 format.

Dad told that he will teach me to withdraw money from ATM centers using Debit cards. When we went inside the ATM center the machine was smiling ‘ATM Offline. Come After Sometime’. We went to another ATM center. It was not very difficult for me, as I had already learnt it from my brother.

A Sorrowful Sunday

27-12-09 (Sunday) had some miserable events. The 5^th ODI between India and Sri Lanka was played in Delhi. Sri Lanka batted first. After facing 23 overs, complaints rose that the pitch was very poor. After some discussions the match was abandoned.

I watched TV most of the time. My school friend Anand called me by 10.45 pm. He told that Naveen (another school friend) met with an accident. He has kept his hand in the side window of the bus. A bus crossing on the opposite side has crashed with this bus. His hand was damaged in this incident. He was admitted in the hospital and I was informed that a plate was kept in his hand. Be careful, when u r travelling in a bus.

CAD Classes

28-12-09 (Monday) started smoothly. It was holiday for dad since it was Moharam. We started attending the AutoCAD classes on that day. Our trainer was a very young person. Actually I thought he was a student. He was very handsome. He was wearing blue jean and a white shirt. He had a French beard and a stud in one ear. But his classes were fantastic. He explained everything clearly. He was a very friendly guy.

I downloaded some tutorial for Solidworks software from the net. The site was

http://www/cadcim.com/students/students.htm

Here u can download tutorials for all versions of AutoCAD, Solidworks, Pro-E, Catia, Ansys, etc.

1^st Driving Class

29-12-09 (Tuesday) contained many nice events. When I woke up, I found that my phone had some 10 messages all conveying New Year wishes.

I started with my 1^st driving classes. I drove for approximately 20 minutes. I can’t exactly portray my 1^st day driving. But I’ll keep u updated as the days roll on. CAD classes went on well. He taught us about the work area and about drawing basic things like lines, circle.

With this I complete my Holiday Activities II. I will carry on my activities in Holiday Activities III.

Also, we come to the end of 2009, which has had many happy and sorrowful events for each of us. With those memories in mind, let’s move to 2010. Let’s hope 2010 will be better than 2009.

Happy New Year 2010!!!!!!!

Happy Reading!

P.S:

1.       AutoCAD classes and CAD classes mean one and the same in my blog.

2.       In ‘Understanding my camera’, I’ve mentioned different modes. Those modes r present in my camera (Canon A550). It may be different in your camera. Refer your manual.

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.