We came into Madras (now Chennai) by boat from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and walked around the waterfront which doesn't look like any other waterfront for a big city. There are a few piers but many boats are anchored off shore or run up on the beach. In a vegetarian country, not many boats are for fishing but asking what they did got vague answers.
Only a bit later I found out that many are smugglers bringing in items from Ceylon or meeting larger boats off shore to avoid the heavy taxes on many items. I tried to get the feeling of the place with color shots but I think the b & w ones look more like the real place.
I took a roll of 36 pictures in Madras and don't really remember why I took this particular picture. However, when I was able to develop the roll and print a contact sheet, I loved the way the man in the foreground stood out against the fleet of rafts and other activity and no, he isn't texting anyone.