Nairobi 3 - Shopping

After a day of cooking and eating to a heart full made a visit to a near by mall - Diamond plaza. This houses all types of shops and also eateries with chat items. Here again one can see many Idians around you. On the ground floor outside the shops locals have their products spread out in open which range from bags made of jute, beaded jewelry and traditional mats. Had to bargain for sometime to buy these items. Quarter and variety was good.

Elephant carving

Elephants in queue

There were lot of carved animal miniatures in variours colors. One would love to buy all products had made by these talented people.

Beaded bowl

Pot carving

Masaai beads are used not only in jewelry but colourful bowls, plates and various miniatures too.

Kazuri beads

Also on sales were numerous basket bags in attractive colors just to be bought and taken home.

Plastic bags are banned in Kenya so one has to carry their own bags for purchases. Here is the vegetable and provisions bag, showing traditional and talent.

Shopping basket

This short trip to the mall not only gave an idea of masai products but also how many Kenyans here are native Indians while we tend to regard them as Indians too. Inside the mall there are Indian cloth shops making like Spencer plaza. And like a gimmick you forget that you are in a foreign land. Got to recollect the Kenyan officer at the airport giving you visa to their country. :)

More to explore in the coming days..

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Mannargudi - Day 2

On the next day at Mannargudi, we had an early start. After having tea through room service we left to the Rajagopalaswamy temple. The temple gopuram can be seen at a large distance as the from the space was allocated for parking. Early morning we could see only 2 cars before us. After paying the parking fee we went inside the temple. Due to the maintenance work we were devoid of enjoying the beauty of the temple gopurams. We got to see the temple's famous elephant - Sengamalam as soon as we got in. This temple is called as south Dwaraka, there is small Krishna statue inside which we can worship by taking in our hands. The main deity Lord Vasudevaperumal is seen here along with his cow. Next to his the baby Krishna idol which can we worshipped by devotees for their special prayers. We had a good darshan of the Perumal. Had theertham, jadaari and then walked towards the Goddess. The consort of Lord Rajagopalaswamy is Goddess Sengamala Thaayar. We had a very peaceful...

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Aadi koozh vaarthal

Aadi koozh vaarthal is a religious occasion for most Tamil house holds. In the month of Aadi raagi koozh is served to all thirsty people around the neighborhood. Koozh is prepared and offered to Amman followed by the distribution. While offering koozh there are also other heathly eatables included in the Padayal. The koozh preparation starts a day earlier. Rice is cooked first and raagi flour mixed in water is added to it and cooked till ragi gives a glazed look to the koozh. This is then left over night to ferment. The next day water is added to the koozh to get a drinking consistency. To this we add finely chopped onions as topping and curd to give that cooling effect. Once the koozh is all set we go about the padayal to the almighty Amman. Aadi, the Tamil month solely dedicated to Amman is for celebrating her and her kindness to her devotees. So we first offer the koozh to her in the Padayal followed by white rice and other items. The USP of Aadi koozh is that...

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