Looking back at 2017

It is as usual time to look back and share important events of my life in 2017. Year 2017 gave me the privilege to visit a few new countries, joy of meeting people and opportunity to be of help to others.

SHAR and Talakona
New Dell Laptop
Hong Kong
Europe
Dindi
Audi Q3
Online Corporate Training
Beijing
New Version of C Language for Beginners at Amazon
Videos
Blogs
Books Read
Other Important Events

SHAR and Talakona

Pongal vacation is meant to see new places. This time our Bhogi was at Nellore. After Bhogi Fire was done, we played a lot of Volleyball.

Then it was time to visit Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) or Sriharikota High Altitude Range (SHAR) at Sriharikota, Nellore. We (a few families) had the privilege to visit various important places in SHAR. An engineer of SHAR, a relative of our friend, accompanied us and explained importance of each place.

Then we passed through Pulicat Lake and enjoyed the sight of birds in the lake.

The next day we went to Talakona Waterfalls at Chittoor. The moment we reached Talakona we realized we got to be wary of monkeys. It was not the first time we had such experience with monkeys. When we were at Tyda near Aruku and Matheran near Mumbai, we had to be very careful with Monkeys.

We celebrated Padmaja’s birthday at Talakona Cottage and next day visited Waterfalls.

On the way to SHAR

In SHAR

At Talakona Waterfalls

New Dell Laptop

I started using my new Laptop from Jan. I bought Dell Laptop (Inspiron 15 7000 Series) with i7, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD and touch enabled.

I have been using Dell laptop and Desktop for last 3 years. I just get the configuration of my choice in Dell.

Though it is bigger in size (15.6") it weighs less. Though I don't carry my laptop much, it is always good to have a Laptop instead of Desktop.

Hong Kong

In the second week of Feb, me and my friend had been to Hong Kong and Macau. Enjoyed Disney Land, Victoria Peak and Wax museum in Hong Kong.

We wanted to explore Hong Kong on our own, so didn’t take up any tour packages. We commuted using Metros, which we found very economical and easy.

We found a good website (www.klook.com) through which we booked tickets for Disney Land, Victoria Peak and also took their Macau day tour package.

It has been fun to do it ourselves. Of course, it takes a lot of effort to know what to visit, the best way to go to places etc. But at the end we get the feeling you know the place. We commuted just like them and shopped in departmental stores to know their way of life.

As we took tour package for Macau, we didn’t have to worry about anything. We went by ferry in the morning and returned to Hong Kong by night. Saw Macau from Macau tower and realized it was a small place and meant exclusively for Casinos. Not a place for me and my friends as we are not gamblers.

At shopping mall

At Madame Tussauds Wax Museum

At Victoria Peak

In Macau Harbour

Europe

Me and Padmaja visited a few countries in Europe during third week of April.

We had to go to Hyderabad for biometrics. There was good amount of paper work also involved. Though we had been to some countries before, the process for Europe Visa was a little lengthy.

We took Cox & Kings package that starts at Paris and ends at Milan. We were part of a group of 30 members from different parts of India (mostly from North). It was 8 days tour in which we travelled from Paris to Milan by a bus.

We visited Paris in France, Geneva, Leysin and Interlaken in Switzerland, Vaduz in Liechtenstein, Innsbruck in Austria, Rome, Venice and Milan in Italy.

We had a great time with Snow at Jungfrau and Glacier 3000 in Switzerland and Innsbruck in Austria.

Needless to mention Europe was clean. The best part is we had to carry our own luggage and serve ourselves in hotels. Less dependency on others makes the whole process simple and faster.

Disney Land, Paris

Illuminated Eiffel Tower, Paris

At Vatican city when Pope was addressing people

At Colosseum, Rome

At Leysin, Switzerland

Train to Jungfrau

At Florence, Italy

Venice, Italy

Dindi

Vinayaka chavithi is always an important festival. But this time we don’t have this festival as my father passed away last November.

So we decided to go for a short trip. We (me, Padmaja and kids) went to Sterling Resort at Dindi, which is by river Godavari near Rajahmundry. It was just an exclusive family trip. We navigated all through using Google navigation.

We see Uber drivers doing it, we especially saw how our Bus driver in Europe trip depended on Google navigation completely.

So, it was our time to try it and we could navigate with success (at times with some help from locals).

No wonder banks of Godavari are known for greenery. We could see plenty of it.

On the way to Dindi

At Sterling Resort, Dindi

Enjoying Table Tennis with kids

Audi Q3

I have been thinking of changing my Honda City for a few years. Had enough of a sedan, so wanted to go for a cross-over. Eventually chose Audi Q3 for brand and looks. I am neither obsessed with cars nor indifferent to cars. I feel blessed to drive a Car. Period.

I have been using White cars for a while. This time we chose to go for a different color. Red is attractive, but we already have red Honda Brio, so we opted for blue.

I drove Audi Q3 out of showroom on 30th Sep (Dasara).

Online Corporate Training

This year many of my courses are available online as well. But what is special is a complete online corporate training for a company in Chennai.

With good internet speed and online training software, online training is a very practical alternative to classroom training.

I love classroom training as I get to personally interact with them. However, live online training is next best alternative as students can post queries and feel they are part of the class (though not physically).

Beijing

I and my friend visited Beijing, China in third week of October. No, our goal was not shopping. We just wanted to visit and feel China.

Again we did all by ourselves – no package tour. We always stay in hotel that is walking distance to metro station. This time it is right opposite Beijing Railway station.

Language was not an issue in Hong Kong, but was a small issue in Beijing. Even in KFC and McDonalds, we didn’t find people who could speak English.

We could successfully handle metros (subways) with the help of maps and took KLook.com city tour and China Wall tour with English guide.

Eventually did some shopping at Pearl Market, where you have to bargain very hard. In fact you get for 10% of the price they first mention. We read about that market in Internet and we were well prepared to do so.

At Lama Temple, Beijing

At Temple of Heaven, Beijing

Enjoying commuting in Subway (Metro)

On Great Wall of China

At Forbidden City, Beijing

In Beijing Zoo

New version of C Language for Beginners at Amazon

I have modified my book – C Language for Beginners – in Amazon to text book format to make it look more like a text book.

The problem with normal kindle version is; programs may not be displayed in the format readers would like to see. So I converted the whole book to text book format as Amazon provides text book format as well.

I describe my C book as no-nonsense C Language book as it covers exactly what as a beginner one would need to know. If you are interested, please visit Amazon to buy Kindle version.

Books Read - Mission Accomplished

Set a target of 15 books and completed the target. Some of them are fictions. After completing some I felt it was a waste of time. Never mind. It was fun to read fiction, though waste of time. Read some really interesting books like Thank you for being late, Book of Joy and When breath becomes air.

Overall it has been a satisfactory year in terms of books.

Blogs

Here are blogs posted by me in this year in all categories. I feel I must share my knowledge more by posting more blogs.

Videos

The following are the videos I uploaded to YouTube in this year. The video about how to use Code Blocks has touched 38,000 Views. It is encouraging me to post more videos. I admit, I haven't done enough in this year. Will catch up in the next year.

Other Important Events

The following are other important events of my life in 2017.

Almost all courses are offered online in this year
Upgraded my knowledge of Java to Java 9
Angular has been the focus all through the year. The more I work the more I enjoy
Started using iPhone 7 Plus
Pranav won 2nd prize in Master Orator competition conducted by Narayana School for his topic - Is India ready for currency less economy?
Had a wonderful trip to Araku in the month of November with all family members
Went to Leonia Holistic Destination at Hyderabad during Christmas break and had a great time there. Played PaintBall and experienced Go Karting

Pranav with Master Orator prize

At Araku

Go Kart at Leonia, Hyderabad

Teams in Paintball game