Photo Adventures with Curiosity and Learning


It is very easy to make friends in Chennai and over the years we have found many that welcomed us into a part of their life. Here are a few.

Here is Raj, who started Christ the Rock Ministries 11 years ago when I was teaching at IIT-Madras.

Here is his small church

A street tailor. Each morning when I walked to the Internet Cafe - I passed this street tailor. He always had a smile. Then one day, I fell and tore my jeans. He repaired them, with his hands and his smile.

Here is Kumar, the manager of the M.A.M. computers Internet Cafe. He has become a wonderful friend - opening early for me. On the left is Suthakar who has a nice coffee waiting. The cost for high speed Internet is Rs 20/hour - very reasonable, and with the friendly folks here, it is a perfect place to manage your Internet affairs.

I often visit the shops at the Park Sheraton - where my friends, Hari, Shah and Stephan (Pradeep) have small shops. Hari was the first to invite me into his circle and manages the Boss Creations shop. Hari is a wonderful tailor with a very talented team. He has met the requirements for making my wife, Ellen, happy. This indeed is the highest recommendation. Shah manages the Kashmiri shop (Oriental Traditions Pvt Ltd) next to Hari's shop. He is quiet, pleasant and taught me the pleasures of Kashmiri tea (boiling water, cardamom seeds, cinnamon, saffon and honey (and maybe a few cloves). (See for another Kashmir tea recipe) Great for curing a cold. Pradeep (Stephan) is the manager of the leather shop (HiDesign) on the left as you enter the arcade from TTK road. In fact all three shops are on the left side.

Here is Shah (left) and and on the left, Pardeep and Hari.

Hari's team (left), Rafi and Raju make this a warm and friendly family. on the right is Pradeep and Rafi. If you visit in the late afternoon, you might find them sitting on the floor in the back of Hari's shop having a small dinner. If you hang around long enough, they might even invite you to join their circle. They know all the best places that prepare takeout Indian food. We shared a very tasty egg parotha that had mutton inside perhaps similar to this recipe!!!

Of course, every family much have a child and in this case, Monty (or Monkey, or Monty-Monkey) is a 10 year old bundle of boundless energy speaking Tamil, Hindi and English with reckless abandon. Here are a couple of photos of this bundle of energy with his dad (Stephan or Pradeep) on the left and with his dad, Rafi and his tongue on the right.

For my "last supper" Pradeep and Hari prepared some special alu (potato) with parota and roti - here Raju, Rafi and Pradeep are clearly enjoying our lunch

Of course, the best way to make friends is at a wedding!!! There is a band - top draw attention to the event (left) and then a decorated vehicle for transporting the new bride and groom (right)

And with the car are all the beautiful ladies carrying fruits and whatever.

Suseela and friends. Suseela and her girls, Radha and Devi helped us during our year (1993-1994) in Madras - and became part of our family. Devi is now married and carrying, while Radha has returned to school for additional technical training. This was a serious family and unfamiliar with education and the options provided by education. Radha got the message - and we are very pleased to be part of this family!

Kids from Suseela's group and her relative, Subramanian

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

C. Frank Starmer

-