Shaji's apartment

This is the apartment where Shaji's family lives. Of course, Shaji lives with me most of the week. He spends Sunday's at home. This building is directly across the alley from Shaji's church that I attended on Sunday. The picture doesn't capture the smell of the open sewage ditch running along the alley.



This is Shaji's wife. She is expecting. You're almost seeing the entire apartment. I'm standing in the doorway to take the picture. It is a one room apartment with a divider that separates the kitchen. That is the only bed behind Shaji. From the bed, you can reach the refrigerator and TV.



This is Shaji's beautiful little girl, Jaquline. She is wearing her best Sunday dress. She is one year old. 1st year birthdays are a big event in India. Shaji showed me the photo album of Jaquline's 1st birthday. All the relatives came, the whole church celebrated.

City Life

One of my co-workers in the States commented on how beautiful the city of Chennai is. I tried to give a different perspective with these pictures, but the pictures still do not convey how dirty and poor the the city is. These pictures were taken within walking distance of my apartment.

Behind all the shops that line the roads are the back alleys where people live. I haven't ventured down these alleys. It feels like I would be walking into their living rooms uninvited.

This person was pulling trash out of the bin, not putting it in.

Care to guess what type of carcass is hanging in this shop?

Pentecostal Church - Pastor Paul Raj

Sunday I attended church with Shaji. He attends a Pentecostal church, Apostolic Christian Assembly. The church is about 45 mins from the apartment. It is right next to Shaji's house.
Because I was there, Pastor Paul Raj delivered his sermon in English and his son, Ebenezer (Ebe), translated to Tamil.


Earlier in the week, Shaji invited his pastor, Paul Raj to the apartment. To his right is his son Ebe. To the left is his nephew Edwin. Ebe has a masters in Medical Sociology. He is wants to go abroad for theological training. Edwin just inherited several small manufacturing businesses when his father past last year.

Mahabalipuram

Saturday, I took a day trip to Mahabalipuram. Mahabalipuram is located approx. 70 Km south of Chennai. Getting there is quite an adventure. The absence of traffic lanes and rules in the city is nerve racking, but outside the city where your speed is not so constrained by traffic, driving is scary. The road to Mahabalipuram is a two lane road that is clogged with buses and two wheelers. When you want to pass, you honk your horn, straddle the middle line, and expect on-coming traffic to move over.
The primary attraction at Mahabalipuram is the temple shown above. Read more about it at
http://www.mahabalipuram.co.in/index.php.

Mahabalipuram is on the beach. I didn't take pictures, but the the town is filled with tourist shops selling rock carvings, trinkets, etc.



These rock carvings are just 1/4 mile inland from the temple.

This picture is not zoomed in, these monkeys let me get within touching distance. There were several other monkeys playing in the trees, but they did not hold still for photos.