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
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
The colors of a morning alley
The young lady was carrying water - with interesting colors
These colorful ladies are 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
A morning smile
Another shop man
Then off to IIT - the IN gate and a morning stretch
The IITM fountain without water
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
With Reddy, now chairman of Applied Mechanics, we walked to his office by way of some butterflies
I try not to pass up a macro opportunity, even without a proper lens
A caterpillar
And butterfly
Another flavor
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.
Turning a 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
Out the In Gate - where I did battle with the auto driver and gave up.
Walking toward Adyar - here is a biriyani man - with a typical Tamil smile
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.
Portable ironing
A street shop
Another food cart
And flower ladies
And later - night street food
C. Frank Starmer