Our wanderings and perceptions

In today's fast moving competitive world we have no time to even stop and look around us. A deluge of selfish tasks keeps us secluded from the outside world. Very few come down to fight for common cause and not many willing to participate in legal proceedings benefiting society. We need to go out of way sometimes for betterment of mankind. Our country has numerous social activists who are the above said few. Dont we need more people to join them at least on a part time basis? Every citizen of this country need to join hands with these like minded people for the betterment of our society and the greater India. Recently two of such citizens from our very own Chennai caught our attention for their selfless work.  Are we not capable of planning our work and provide enough time to the society? Arun Krishnamurthy who runs his own firm and does election analysis is an activist for restoring lakes.  Environmentalist Foundation of India is the NGO which does thi...

Lake Malawi trip becomes the culmination of our places of visits in and around Blantyre. One cannot leave this country before making the trip to this UNESCO's world heritage site. It is around 365 miles long. Sun & sand At 5 AM from Blantyre we left via Chichiri - Limbe and drove through Zomba - Liwonde to reach  Mangochi by 8:30 AM. Few kilometers to Mangochi we could see the Shire river to the right, it leaves the lake and drains in lake Malombe. The lake is clear, deep watered and appears as a beach in the Monkey bay located in Mangochi district. Temperature is high here compared to Blantyre. Lake view Like the ECR in Chennai where the resorts facade the beach the Malawi lake can be seen through the resorts here. We entered one such resort called the Sun & Sand providing accommodation and dining facility. Lake Behind the resort we can see the lake Malawi as beach with a giant mass of rock behind looking like a small island in the beach. The at...

Trip to Blantyre will not be fulfilled until we visit 'St. Micheal and All Angel's church' and the 'Mandala House' is what we were told. So just set forth to witness the magnificent structures. Stopped by at the Shri Hindu temple before going in search of the above two. Its a small temple just opposite to FMB bank in Mt.Soche. Lord Vinayaka here blesses the visiting devotees. During Hindu festivals all are treated to good Indian food here it seems. Mandala House This is Malawi's national monument also called as Old Manager's house. It is the oldest building in Blantyre having been built in 1882 with dried grass,bricks and mud. This was built for the Managers of African lakes corporation to stay. Later became a bank too. Now it houses - La Caverna Art Gallery in the ground floor. Malawian handcrafts are displayed here for sales. 'Society of Malawian library and archive' with a vast collection of Malawi books and journals of the 19th century...

Our beloved city is now in the UNESCO creative cities list for its outstanding contribution to music! https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/events/64-cities-join-unesco-creative-cities-network Congrats Chennai! May the Carnatic season coming up next month take us to another level is ecstasy.. 😀😀😀

 On a new weekend we set out to explore Mount Mulanje which is the highest peak in this area. Being the end of summer, the temperature was soaring.  Trekking to the peak is estimated to be done in 2 to 3 days by hikers. So as commoners we decided to just make a visit. From Blantyre it took around 2 hours to reach the foot hills of Mulanje. From Blantyre we took the route towards Chichiri, this seems to be a upmarket area housing shopping malls including giants like shoprite and spar. After crossing this we drove towards Limbe then Thyolo district which is full of tea plantations. Unlike in India where tea plantations are on slopes only. Through out the drive your eyes will drink in the natural scenic beauty. The far away hillocks and green plains are just mystic. At the same time the roads built some fifteen years ago are still good and ensures a smooth  drive. In spite of the warm weather you enjoy the drive with a mild breeze. We also cross the market - Bv...

Society : While being rich and abundant in nature, this country's poor financial status pulls it down. Education beyond schooling remains a luxury so most of them end up as laborers after completing school or even before, if their parents cannot afford. Politics plays with people's sentiment, blood sucking or witch hunting rumours spread like wild fire and affects the innocents. Women are still not treated equal to men but they are the ones who take up the family responsibility. They are working women and take care of the domestic chores as well. Men are trained not to do any domestic work and are less burdened in many families. Each of them can take only one 8 hours per day job and stick to those job until they are asked to leave. Even when the work can be completed before the stipulated 8 hours in a day they are expected to still hang around. The language spoken widely is Chichewa. Most spoken languages here do not have a script of its own, being written using English alph...

This is a forest area in Chikwawa district which is the in southern region of Malawi. Like the other forest areas in Africa this also comes under the African Parks. African Parks is an NGO which has taken over most of the wildlife reserves in Africa and protects animals from falling prey to poaching.  It is responsible for the rehabilitation and long term management of the national parks working in partnership with government and local communities. Majete is a 70,000 hectare of forest land. It took a 1.5 hour drive from Blantyre to reach Majete. We have to drive down the mountain region of Blantyre into the valley to get into a village area which leads to the wildlife reserve. Our vision on the mountain path was blocked by heavy hue. Two check posts were to be crossed during this drive. One of the check post is near the local market where vegetables for sale were grouped in bunches. The path towards Majete is a sandy road and mostly deserted. Since its the summer season  ...

On a Saturday morning we flew to Lilongwe the capital of Malawi. Blantyre being our destination we had to complete the visa formalities here before taking the flight to Blantyre. Due to the short transit time we were chased by the airport and airline authorities through the via entry, check in and flight on-boarding to Blantyre. Once inside the flight we were pleasantly surprised to have a co-passenger whose face resembled Indian. On getting familiar, came know this person belongs to Malawi with roots in India. Should be surprised with Indian faces in foreign land, we promised. By the time we spoke about India and Malawi out flight was ready for landing. The flight bound to Cape Town dropped the Blantyre passengers on the way in about 40 minutes from Lilongwe. Blantyre airport - now this is how an airport looked, 20 years ago.. The flight screeched to landing and tax-ing to halt was rough. The airport had a small conveyor belt and one can see their check-in baggage's ...

Another week in Nairobi and more interactions later still fascinated about this place. Two Rivers - a recently come up largest mall in the city was our place of visit on the eve of Diwali. After a very detailed security check we were let into the mall. This gives ample options to shop (with offers), dine and for entertainment. The huge super market is stocked with items across the world. Highlights being - huge refrigerators with frozen large pizzas, live counters of meat and fish, varieties of honey in glass pots, all types of Indian pickles and plus size bread packets. You will never miss any item that you have left back in India; was happy to see Medimix products, which we know since our childhood days. After we go around the shops in the mall we pushed out to the ground floor open area were numerous stalls were put up, mostly in Indian flavor. These stalls were either selling Indian clothes and decorative article for Diwali occasion or food items. While window shopping on...

Nairobi national park was in all  the top most places to visit lists. We were informed that it would be a 3 hour trip and we have to be there early to see the animals. On a Sunday morning we were up by 5:30 am. Daniel was waiting in the cab to take us. We reached the park by 7am, as it is very much within the city limits. But unlike our crocodile park this is a forest area. As the city grew this forest area got confined but still exists, thanks to the ecologists. The entrance fee is split into separate fee for vehicle, driver and each of the visitors. The payment was to be done through m-pesa or card, cash is not accepted. Its surprising to see m-pesa such a hit here while going cashless is not welcomed back home. Just near the entrance we saw the tribal people in their traditional red blanket. There was also safari walk available if you choose to. We drove-in in our cab. After getting in just few meters were covered with trees. Beyond that it was open grass land were ...

Over the weekend at was the time to make a visit to the vegetable market. As veggies and fruits seem to be priced high at the near by super markets a weekly trip to the market proves to be a saver. Crossed the main area of Nairobi on the drive towards the market. Got further glimpses of the city and its huge buildings. This market is at a distance of about kms from the main area. All vegetables are available just like what one would witness back in India. It was fun to hear a Kenyan shopkeeper call out vegetable names in Tamil. No wonder there were many Indian shoppers around. Greens very fresh and inviting. Fruits too were available in abundance. Due to ban on plastic bags, all these had to carried on a large hand made bag. Bargaining happens here too. Headed straight to super market to full fill the provisions demands as well. It was huge and stocked up with huge variety of items. Name it and it's available as long your wallet can afford. You can't help cal...

The handicrafts of Kenya are in sale through the Masai market. Group of artisans along with their hand work set up this sales at different places each day around Nairobi. You would want to buy everything that is showcased. Each product is a testamen to their wonderful talent. Colors are so fantastic and the mix and match of it makes you awestruck. We happen to go to the Masai market at city hall. A huge ground made available that day of the week. Went around first to decide what to buy. It was one difficult choice as the work of art is so fantastic. Main items were - masai beads and kazuri beads jewelry, beaded bowls and articles,  basket bags, masks, batik art wall hangings, footwears in black sole and colourful straps, wooden articles,  animal miniatures in ebony and soapnut, traditional blankets and stoles. Bargaining is required to buy each item. At one point you need to give in to the artisans as they are fight it out to sell their art. Since most of the...