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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Anjaneyar Temple - Gerugambakkam, Porur

Very recently we came to know about the Anjaneyar temple built by actor Arjun is at Gerugambakkam. On a Sunday evening we drove towards this place. We need to detour from the Kundrathur main road to reach this temple and from then on we need to face a rough and patchy road. In just 5 minutes one can reach the temple. A small residential street leads to the temple. Very near it one could see few small stalls mushroomed up to sell pooja items. The vehicles have to be parked in the street near the temple gates. First is the corridor were few trees are seen. On taking left is the entrance to the temple and you can see the Lord Anjaneyar much ahead. Here too are few trees uniformly spaced out. There is a coconut farm adjacent to this temple. There is a shelter above Lord Anjaneyar, but for that it is a open air temple. Facing Lord Anjaneyar and to the left and right corner are two shrines - one for Lord Ganesh and the other for Lord Anjaneyar's - Lord Rama, Lord Lakshmana and Goddess

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கல்யாணத்தை பண்ணிப்பார், வீட்டை கட்டிப்பார் says an age old Tamil saying denoting the tedious nature of both as duties. The house warming ceremony denotes the culmination of building a house and entering into it for living. In a typical Tamil house hold, buying or building a new house is a pride and a dream. Building a house involves lot of rituals. First comes the 'Adikal naattu', laying the foundation stone. On an auspicious day, Just before the sunrise Bhoomi Pooja is done and the first stones are layed by the family and the builders involved. All present are given Prasad or sweets from the Pooja. This marks the kick start of the house building project. Once the building skeleton comes up with walls built and rooms differentiated there comes a time to fix the frame and threshold of the doors. This requires Vaasakaal Pooja to bring up the Vaasal. A team of married ladies in odd numbers form the main part of this ceremony. Navaratnas are buried below the Vaasal and e

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Our wanderings and perceptions

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