Back to form again.

After all that disappointment, on the second day... Day 3 was superb. Nikhil walked in wearing a bright superman dress. The day started with the now standard "Computer Maadodu" (in short, hitting random keys on the keyboard). Must be the digital variant of Alchemy. The hope is that some magic combination might just produce what one desires. I am reminded of the the story where we calculate the time it takes for a thousand monkeys to create Shakespere by typing randomly. In fact I asked him, who taught him this concept of "Computer Maadodu"... "Ajja"(Grandpa). Oh so this workoholic soul that was haunting this kids neurons was much older than 20 to 30 years :-)))). I am sure Grandpa loves the kid and he only tried to maximize the curiosity of the kid. Once you know the problem, the fix is easy. But I decided not to preach "Computer maadodu!=hitting random keys" but decided that, I will make him realize "Hitting relevant keys" is more interesting than hitting random keys on the keyboard."

I opened Wordpad, turned Capslock ON and asked him to type ABCD. He said I want to make balloons(Draw Filled Ellipses in Paintbrush). I said, "If you type ABCD, I will help you draw the balloons." He agreed. Now I dont need to bribe him with chockolates... The computer is the bribe in itself ;-). He would choose some random character and say, Now will type K. and out came "KKKKKKKK".... then came "MMMMMM".... So I decided more control was needed. So I asked him to find A, pess once. If more than one A appeared... I showed him how to hit back space to remove it. So gradually he went forward. he had some problem with UVWXYZ but overall I accomplised more than I thought.

Now it was time for his reward. 'Paintbrush'... "Balloon Maadbeku". I was still concerned that his small hand struggling to grasp and click the mouse. And there was a scroll wheel which destracted him further. To my surprise, he struck a deal with me. You draw, I will tell you what to do ... Ah outsourcing at its best... how ingenious. Now I was his computer, he had to instruct me every step. So he specified the color and where to daw the "Balloons". So I did as per his instructions. Soon we had a screen full of colorful balloons. And hey pretending to be a computer, I had indeed turned into one I guess... He did not ask me to save the file and I forgot to save it. This masterpiece by our little Picaso has evaporated into thin air... lost for ever... thanks to the stupidity of Sudarshan, the computer.


Then he tried to instruct me how to draw a tank. I was not sure what he was trying to tell me. But mostly failed at the attempt ;-) Yet some masterpiece was born... all I know is that it has water inside coz I drew some dashes there. My camera is not around to capture the moment. But you should have seen him slapping his forehead in frustration...

Then he asked me to create a new sheet. asked me to draw 2 horizontal lines. Then join them vertically. His wish was my command. Now he said "Train Bidsu"... draw a train here. I drew a rectangle. Then he made me draw windows. He made me draw each rectangle one at a time. I thought of copy pasting... but hey I am the computer... So I only obey orders... So the thing went on and on... He also instructed the drawing of the wheels and the train was ready. Some day he will learn the concept of the loop and then will say...

For i = 1 to 10 
    Sudarshan draw bogie.
    For j = 1 to 3
        Sudarshan draw window
    For k = 1 to 2
        Sudarshan draw wheel  

For now he needs to instruct, one command at a time... Anyway, what is the hurry.

He asked me to draw a signal and color it red and green. Then came the bouncer... Make the train move from here very fast. Suddenly realised, that he is now in the shoes of my manager ;-). I don't know... move it.... I want it to move fast. But if it was management... I would have cried... Until you buy me an animation software it wont move... Afterall this is paintbrush... don't you realise it is impossible to do animations here. But here... "Move it was a command". What was I to do. I said the train is confused coz red and green lights were on... I do know how to deal with management don't I ;-). He commanded the red light to be erased. Nothing happened... the train won't move.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. So I selected the whole train with the selection tool and dragged it forward and brought it back. He then complained that the train was bouncing back from the other side and he wanted a new train each time. So I had to drag it outside and bring it back again from the other side. Ah. At last the master piece is ready. A lot of lines & wheels etc were damaged in transit ;-) But hey who cares about accuracy. All that matters is the memories. So I preserved the image as is...

He then picked up a spoilt webcam that was lying around and asked what it was. I said it was a camera. He tried to open it... then asked where was the opening... to put the film in... I said it would connect to the computer. He seemed reluctant to agree... And it looked so different from his expectations. I told him my brother had another digital camera that looked like a camera and when he comes back, he could see it.

He asked me the name of the (other Anna) my partner and I said it was Arun Kumar. When he came back, he asked him his name... He said Arun. Nikhil immediately reacted... No it is "Arun Kumar". We all burst into laughter. Arun asked him when he had told his name... So the response was, you told me yesterday... Arun was scratching his head :-)))) Then I told him it was me who told him and we all burst into laughter again.

He realised it was time to leave the computer so he walked into the other room, picked up a chair climbed on it and switched on all the switches so that the computer would turn on. Ah the old algorithm works again. He really knows how to start the computer. But this time it was out of necessity not a demo. By that time his mom came and took him away. This session was too good. I am happy again.