Blantyre (Malawi) 1 - A new experience

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 being moved out of the plane and placed on it. Just outside this small enclosure was the reception area and we were out of the airport,the quickest ever.

Our pick-up cab driven by driver Paanji, took us through a 15 minutes drive to our accommodation at Kabula road. This was a deserted road and kept us wondering if were are on the safer side. We were to stay in a guest house, belonging to the British era. The building which served as an embassy office cum the Ambassador's house that time. Still staying strong it screams of old age. We checked in as the only occupant of the wonderful guest house called House 5. The staff was kind enough and welcomed us with continental breakfast.

With this kick starts our Blantyre visit. Staying tuned to this uterly different experience to embark us..

Comments

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

Pudhumanai Pugudhal (house warming)

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

Gandikota trip - Day 2 - Belum Caves

The second day at Gandikota was again a rainy onw with heavy thunders the previous night. Seeing sunrise was ruled out but we set out at 7AM after a quick refreshment. Most of the shops were shut due to power cuts since it's been raining continuously since last night, managed to get mini cup chai for Rs.10 and went to the right of the fort where we could see a different view of the creek. The air-conditioned tent accommodations are also here. Also, adventure sports happen here. The place was shabby due to overnight rains and the tourists had littered the place completely with bottles, glass pieces and food items. This happens in most of the tourist places, unless the visitors take the responsibility to keep the place clean, government cannot help maintaining. As we went through the restaurants nearby, no food was available due to lack of power. So we decided to drive to Jammalamadugu for breakfast. Within 20 mins we reached Jammalamadugu, it was a beautiful morning owing to weathe

Our wanderings and perceptions

Search This Blog