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| My favourite tea kadai. |
Kadai (கடை), for those who don't know Tamil, simply means a 'shop' or a 'stall'. My student life lasted ten years, the first five of which were spent in a university in Hyderabad, doing my undergrad and postgrad studies, and the next five were spent in a reasonably well known (atleast among nerds) institute in Chennai. The tougher five of those ten years were in Chennai, as I needed to work twice as hard as I did in college, and the atmosphere there was a tad lonely. Thanks to a very close friend from the neighbouring journalism institute, I came across this tea kadai run by a very sweet Malayali uncle, and his two cooks. Ever since my second year in Chennai began, I used to go there every evening for that one cup of tea, and biscuits, to just relieve myself of the academic stress. Very soon, I developed an attachment to that kadai. Enjoyed my little conversations with the cooks, and sometimes with the uncle. I miss Chennai a lot, but of all, I miss this kadai the most. So on one of these days, when I was feeling very nostalgic, I decided to draw a sketch of this little shop (from a photo I took of the place). In the sketch is one of the cooks, and a customer who after a hard day at work, came to have some tea (or pick up a smoke), while probably waiting for his food at a hotel nearby.
