Our wanderings and perceptions

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 atmosph

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 - Bvumbwe, a huge

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