Photo Adventures with Curiosity and Learning


February 4, 2011: Off to IIT, Krishnan and Reddy

Getting from Thiruvanmiyur to IIT is a piece of cake once you negoate a price with the auto driver. Before I go anywhere, I ask friends (in this case Raj) about a typical fare from A to B. This is my basis of negotiation. I approached an auto driver and asked the fare - he replied 70 rupees, but Raj indicated 50 rupees. I replied - 50 rupees, he agreed which means that its probably less. However returning to Thiruvanmiyur from IIT, the driver's first offer was 150 rupees. I replied 50 and he said that would get me to Adyar. Since I can walk to Adyar in 10 min, I knew this was nonsense. So as I walked away he dropped the price to 130, then 100. I refused - walked to Kasturba Nagar 3rd Cross St (in about 10 min), found and auto and he wanted 60 rupees. I said 50 and he agreed. So goes the life of using autos in Chennai

Each day starts with a sunrise - and today was no exception - except that the sun was mostly hidden by haze - from the roof of the hotel

feb 04 5802 sunrise

After sunrise and a couple of bananas and a cup of street coffee for breakfast, I wonder the streets and back neighborhoods and try to capture something of wake-up life. Here a mom multiprocessing - texting someone while walking with her daughter

feb 04 5839 mobile phone

The colors of a morning alley

feb 04 5848 colorful alley

The young lady was carrying water - with interesting colors

feb 04 5858 carrying water

These colorful ladies are pumping water

feb 04 5861 pumping water

There are many small shops - dark inside and its tough to get a good image of a dark person in a dark area - Here is one shop keeper. I'm shooting at f/1.8 which gives a nice blurred background and sharp facial features

feb 04 5875 shop man

A morning smile

feb 04 5884 morning smile

Another shop man

feb 04 5885 shop man

Then off to IIT - the IN gate and a morning stretch

feb 04 5979 iitm gate

The IITM fountain without water

feb 04 5997 iitm fountain

One of my two best friends and colleagues - R. Kalyana Krishnan - Computer Science - and soon to retire (March 22). Krishnan is an extremely creative guy having developed a strategy for multi-lingual web sites based on phonics

feb 04 6007 krishnan

With Reddy, now chairman of Applied Mechanics, we walked to his office by way of some butterflies

feb 04 6022 butterfly

I try not to pass up a macro opportunity, even without a proper lens

feb 04 6024 two butterflies

A caterpillar

feb 04 6029 caterpillar

And butterfly

feb 04 6035 butterfly

Another flavor

feb 04 6037 butterfly

From Reddy's office to his home. Archana (the shorter of the two daughers) is preparing puree, one of my favorites. Reddy's wife remembered all my favorite foods and what a lunch we had.

feb 04 6039 reddy family

Turning a puree

feb 04 6043 making puree

Reddy in the action. We had a great lunch and talked with Archana about our Android project - data streaming over a phone circuit. She'll try as a project - since she is in her 5th year of Electronics and Communications

feb 04 6045 reddy making puree

Out the In Gate - where I did battle with the auto driver and gave up.

feb 04 6046 iitm gate

Walking toward Adyar - here is a biriyani man - with a typical Tamil smile

feb 04 6079 street biriyani

His colleague showing up pouring milk for a coffee. Street coffee and tea is made with scalded milk instead of boiling water. I prefer this flavor of coffee - and unfortunately, I have yet to find an Indian airline that servers street coffee or street tea.

feb 04 6082 cooling milk

Portable ironing

feb 04 6091 iron man

A street shop

feb 04 6100 street shop

Another food cart

feb 04 6114 street food

And flower ladies

feb 04 6124 flower ladies

And later - night street food

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

C. Frank Starmer

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