Saturday, September 24, 2016

Kenya, the Country of Enormous Opportunities

Kenya, the Country of Enormous Opportunities

Kenya, the name of the country derived from Mount Krenyaga, meaning white (snowy) mountain, the second highest mountain after Kilimanjaro. White people couldn't pronounce Krenyaga, therefore called it Kenya.

The British Kenya Colony established in 1895, became independent on 12 December 1963, with a black majority Government of President Jomo Kenyatta. During the freedom struggle, his fourth wife delivered a baby boy on 20 October 1961, whom they named Uhuru, means Independence. He also named the Capital Park and the Highway, Uhuru. He remained as President till his death in 1978. It is a country of 581,309 sqkm; three times to the size of Gujarat and 1/5 size of India, has population of 45 million, less than Gujarat (60 million). It is an Agro economy based country mostly dependent on imports of 85% of it's goods of Industrial products. The GDP of the country is $63 billion ($143 billion PPP), and was ranked 145th in HDI in 2014.

Nairobi one of the most beautiful hill station and capital of Kenya is located on equator at an elevation of 1795 metre above sea level. It has tropical weather. It was HQ of Railway in 1898 to monitor construction of Mombasa to Kishumu rail line.

Kenya has Wild Life National Park at Massaimara (Rift Valley Drive from Nairobi) and Lake Victoria, shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the biggest in Africa and the second largest freshwater lake of the world. Kenya has bigger share of the lake.

Mombasa is the major port of Kenya that handles the major cargo of the East African countries. Mombasa (Manbasa in Arabic) and Mumbai may have similarity in their names, as the Portuguese sailed for trading from Mombasa to Mumbai. Portuguese used to call Mumbai as Bom (good) Bahiya (Dariya-Sea), British called it Bom (good) Bay (sea). Gujarati traders were sailing to the port of Mombasa for centuries and many Gujarati and Kenyan workers were working together at Mombasa port. While lifting or pulling the heavy weight together, the Gujarati used to say loudly, 'Har Har Ambey'. Now 'Harambee' is part of the symbol of their national emblem meaning working together in Unity. But Gujarati people were vegetarian and don't eat beef. However, Kenyan people eat beef, therefore they call cow as 'Noambe'! Swahili, their national language carry many Indian and Gujarati words. To welcome, they say 'Karibu' (karib-come closer). Our Simha (lion) is their Simba. They use the word Chay for tea and Chori for the theft. For saying OK they say Gujarati word 'bhale'. Our sabu (soap) is their sabuni. Water for them is 'peya' (like our pyaoo).

English is their official language and Swahili is the National language. People say that if you know English then you can't learn Swahili in 10 years but if you are English illiterate, you can pick up the Swahili in 3 months. Because once you start communicating in English, people here respond and you lose the opportunity to learn the local language.

It has three rainy seasons. If there is no rain for two months, they call it drought. April-June are the main rainy months. People do have problems of drinking water and irrigation. Maize and wheat are their major crops.

People in general are good, simple, friendly, carry smiling faces; and happy with Ugali (made from maize flour) with Sukuma (leaf vegetable) as staple food. Meat is costly (KSh 400-500/kg), therefore they eat non veg food on the weekends. Fruits and vegetables, particularly the potatoes are tasty. Tur daal and rice of Kenya carry special flavour. Most of the Agro products are organic. And our Chef in Indian Restaurant Chopati in Skyline Mall, Nairobi cooks the tastiest dishes of Indians recipes. As a result, Chopati is the most popular dine out place amongst the Indians.

People in villages live in simple and small houses, made by the women using wood sticks, mud and grass. Some people now build houses using tin sheets roofs. Cows are very important in the life of Kenyan families. With Ugali, Cows are their bread and butter. They slaughter cows (noambe) after the end of their productive life. But bulls numbers are restricted. Their buffalos are wild. Some tried to made them domestic but failed. Many people rear Sheep and Goats too. Donkeys (ponda) are used for carts. If a male doesn't have 10-30 cows or 100-300 sheep or equal money in pocket as dowry to the bride's parents, he can't get a girl of Kenya. Even if one tries love marriage and run away with the girl without paying the dowry, he will not get dowry when he marries his daughter in the society. For son, he has to pay the dowry. It has more girls than boys in marriage age group, therefore, some people keep more wives and carry a family of many children. But the husband is like a mobile van, rotating day wise or week wise amongst the wives, living at different places.

But in cities, living cost is too high. The rent, the house, the land (1 acre/ KSh 50-500m), the goods and services, etc, are very costly, therefore the couple have to go for the job. Per capita average salary of a common working man in city may be around KSh 15,000/month. A lobby attendant in a star hotel may receive KSh 50,000/month.

There are three types of land titles: owned by individuals, owned by communities and owned by the government. Government owns the majority of lands. Community lands are governed by community laws. And government lands are always given on 99 years transferable lease.

Goods are very expensive here, may be five times costlier than India, because 85% of the goods are imported. Government has imposed heavy import duty but it has made the cost more expensive as the local industries are in the initial stage of development. In India, if you make ₹2 out of ₹1 in commerce and industry, in Kenya you can make KSh 6 out of KSh 1. One to ja Six. Better than the Ramlakhan movie song, eji, oji, ... 1 to ja ka 4!

As the aspiration of good life is very high and the goods are expensive in cities, few youths take a short cut of robberies. The foreigners don't feel safe in Nairobi. It is very risky to walk on footpath after the dark. Robbers can attack at traffic junctions. It has tropical weather where no fans and ACs required at home. But security concerns keep the Cars AC on. The compound walls of the houses in the city are very high, and many have barbed wire above it with electric current. The gates are heavy. Hotel gates are like jail gates, have double closers, the gate as well as the crossing. Each visitor has to get down of the car and pass through X-ray and security check at the wicket gate.

For Gujarati, it is second home. Halari (people from Jamnagar) are the main habitant Gujaratis in Kenya. For them their is similarity in word Kanaiyo and Kenya. They have been prospered a lot.

Shri Narendra Raval (Guru), a Brahmin boy was in service of a Saint Harikrishna Maharaj of Bhuj Temple in Gujarat. With metric education he came  to Nairobi in his teenage as a pujari of a temple in 1978. He came in contact with the traders and manufacturers of iron and steel, started his own venture, and now became an Industrial giant, with $0.5 billion turnover a year, flourished in Iron and Cement Industries Sectors under the banner of Devki Group of Industries. He owns two helicopters to travel to his factories. He has house in London.

Shri Ashokbhai Shah, a BCom graduate from MS University, Vadodara, came following his brother with zero capital became one of the biggest entrepreneurs in Nairobi. The President has assigned him a government security guard for 24x7. He started his business of computer in 1998, moved to plastic recycling, built wealth, moved to Dubai but lost all in recession, returned to Nairobi, rebuilt the wealth and now become a real estate developer. He is aiming 1000% profit in his new venture Infinity Industrial Park. 35% space has already been booked and rest will get investors as soon as the project is launched. He has borrowed the idea of Industrial Park from Gujarat and is investing his profit in Gujarat around Vadodara. Their Abacas Pharma is market leader in pharmaceutical business in East Africa. His partner Shri Rajesh Mehta, a PR man making friends in Government, is busy in establishing a Cement Plant in partnership with Sanghi Cement!

Dr Manu Chandaria, the Lion, is another success story.

There are many success stories of Halari Gujarati; Jayendra Malde, Nitin Malde, Sudhakar Pathak (Karibu Travels), Kamal Gupta, etc. In 120,000 Indian population in Kenya, 70% are Gujarati. Their employees, home servants and security are Kenyans. Very good and loyal people, don't look at the females of the family with bad eyes.

Indians maintain very good repo and relations with the President, Ministers and the bureaucracy. Administration is positive for Indians but rejects many PR applications, e.g., the Chefs without diploma/degree of the field or a certification from the Government authority of the country of origin will not get PR.

Gujarati people live in Nairobi in the area named Park Lane. There are other Indians living too. They have their malls, dispensary, schools etc. They prefer British school. Education in Maths and Science is poor. The East Africa Swaminarayan Satsang temple, the first temple outside India in Africa continent was established in Nairobi in 1945. BAPS Swaminarayan had build another beautiful temple in Nairobi in 1999 using Jesslmer Yellow sandstone with a beautiful interior made from intricately carved wood.

To win the trust of the local people, Gujarati traders, industrialists, religious and social organisations spend good money on charity, on health camps, etc. Hindu Council of Kenya is working for the Social services and Cultural promotion. We had been to Hotel Safari to see the local tribal Zulu dance. The hotel was famous for serving meat of many animals. Now the President has imposed a ban on killing and selling or serving meat of the wild animals, therefore, the Chinese and other tourists can enjoy the tastes of Chicken, Ostrich, mutton and beef only. Some of us couldn't tolerate the smell of the roasted meats (barbecue), didn't enjoy the Zulu dance much. The Council is ready to do cultural promotion of these groups with India.

Security of life and properties are the big concerns for Indians. To save the life from killing or serious injuries while traveling, Gujarati people carry extra 50,000 - 100,000 Kshillings in their socks, so that one may pay and get relieved. Recently, month and half ago, a Gujarati trader was murdered in front of his house gate in Mombasa. He was returning from his office carrying KSh 15 million. Two guys were chasing him. As soon as he opened his house gate, the robbers opened fire, the security man of the house ran away, and till he handover the money with him to the robbers, they fired 3 bullets and killed him on the spot. It is risky to travel alone, risky to stop at the traffic signals in nights. In another incident, a boy returned from a mall and entering into his car was assaulted. They broke his shoulder and took away his cell phones and money in the pocket.

Medical services are very expensive. Indore patients have to pay KSh 100,000/day even the disease can be cured by medicines. They grant late discharge to exploit the patients. Agakhan Foundation and MB Shah Hospitals are there but demand for medical tourism to India is very high. There were complaints about the doctors in Ahmedabad regarding their heavy charges of treatment and expensive tests, rolling them around many windows. There was a complaint against Dentist Dr Mayur Shah, who charged ₹750,000 for root canal and building caps of 7 teeth (20 years guarantee) of a Gujarati old lady of Kenya. The caps came out after 7 years. When the son of the mother approached the doctor, he didn't respond.

The present President Uhuru Kenyatta is a son of the first President of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta. Kenya has 41 ethnic tribes, of which the major five groups are: Kikuyu (22%), Luhya (14%), Luo (13%), Kalenjin (12%) and Kamba (11%). Christians 70%, Muslims 15% and others 15%. The President belong to the Kikuyu tribe. He is very popular and has initiated many development works of infrastructure development of the country. He has injected development hunger into the minds of the Kenyans The project of supplying power to all the schools of Kenya is in progress. 60% work is over. They have hydro and geo thermal electricity power generation stations. They use eucalyptus tree as poles to lay the electricity transmission lines to all over the country. It is economical. Recently, the rail and road contracts are won by the Chinese companies and the irrigation projects were granted to Israel. Indian companies lost the business in competitive bidding.

It is Presidential type of Government system like US, where the President is elected directly by the voters and the ministers and the PM are appointed by the President. President is the Commander in Chief of the Arm forces. There are Senators and Members of Parliament. As per the old Constitution, they had eight Provinces, like our States. Now they have introduced new Constitution from 2013 and replaced the provinces by 47 Counties. Each County is headed by the Governor, elected by the people through direct voting. As usual in democracy, they too have problems of elections expenditure to influence voters and there are allegations of mal-practices in elections. In last Presidential elections, it was said that Mr. Raila Odinga (former PM) of the Orange Party, the loser of the election had secured 46% votes and Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta of Jubilee Party had secured only 30% votes, was trailing behind, and suddenly the electronic system of the counting was shutdown. Then, after a day or two, manual counting of votes was conducted and Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta was declared elected. The opposition charged that the winners kept the extra ballot boxes ready with votes inside in favour of Mr. Uhuru and added them with the polled boxes of the Strong Room. The matter was reviewed by the Supreme Court and it had upheld the manual counting and the results. After all, the elected President is the Commander in Chief of the Army. The question is still in the air, how could the votes polled in some polling stations can be higher than the population of those polling stations. Kenya is getting ready for the next Presidential Election in 2017. The ruling Jubilee Party will face the opposition, the Orange Party of Mr. Raila and its alliances. The President is popular and hoping to win the second term and the oppositions are yet to finalise their candidate to face Mr. Uhuru.

Kenya is an interesting destination for the tourists and for the entrepreneurs. Which place on earth is without problem? Some gains some losses. It has potential of growth, good margin of profit, therefore, those who can't compete within Indians market can eye over Kenya. After all entrepreneur means risk taker (with money of others!). Kenya is a beautiful Country of Simple but Smiling People. May be a destination of some more Gujaratis.

Har Har-ambee!

Punamchand
Nairobi
16 September 2016

Kenya, the Country of Enormous Opportunities

Kenya, the Country of Enormous Opportunities

Kenya, the name of the country derived from Mount Krenyaga, meaning white (snowy) mountain, the second highest mountain after Kilimanjaro. White people couldn't pronounce Krenyaga, therefore called it Kenya.

The British Kenya Colony established in 1895, became independent on 12 December 1963, with a black majority Government of President Jomo Kenyatta. During the freedom struggle, his fourth wife delivered a baby boy on 20 October 1961, whom they named Uhuru, means Independence. He also named the Capital Park and the Highway, Uhuru. He remained as President till his death in 1978. It is a country of 581,309 sqkm; three times to the size of Gujarat and 1/5 size of India, has population of 45 million, less than Gujarat (60 million). It is an Agro economy based country mostly dependent on imports of 85% of it's goods of Industrial products. The GDP of the country is $63 billion ($143 billion PPP), and was ranked 145th in HDI in 2014.

Nairobi one of the most beautiful hill station and capital of Kenya is located on equator at an elevation of 1795 metre above sea level. It has tropical weather. It was HQ of Railway in 1898 to monitor construction of Mombasa to Kishumu rail line.

Kenya has Wild Life National Park at Massaimara (Rift Valley Drive from Nairobi) and Lake Victoria, shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the biggest in Africa and the second largest freshwater lake of the world. Kenya has bigger share of the lake.

Mombasa is the major port of Kenya that handles the major cargo of the East African countries. Mombasa (Manbasa in Arabic) and Mumbai may have similarity in their names, as the Portuguese sailed for trading from Mombasa to Mumbai. Portuguese used to call Mumbai as Bom (good) Bahiya (Dariya-Sea), British called it Bom (good) Bay (sea). Gujarati traders were sailing to the port of Mombasa for centuries and many Gujarati and Kenyan workers were working together at Mombasa port. While lifting or pulling the heavy weight together, the Gujarati used to say loudly, 'Har Har Ambey'. Now 'Harambee' is part of the symbol of their national emblem meaning working together in Unity. But Gujarati people were vegetarian and don't eat beef. However, Kenyan people eat beef, therefore they call cow as 'Noambe'! Swahili, their national language carry many Indian and Gujarati words. To welcome, they say 'Karibu' (karib-come closer). Our Simha (lion) is their Simba. They use the word Chay for tea and Chori for the theft. For saying OK they say Gujarati word 'bhale'. Our sabu (soap) is their sabuni. Water for them is 'peya' (like our pyaoo).

English is their official language and Swahili is the National language. People say that if you know English then you can't learn Swahili in 10 years but if you are English illiterate, you can pick up the Swahili in 3 months. Because once you start communicating in English, people here respond and you lose the opportunity to learn the local language.

It has three rainy seasons. If there is no rain for two months, they call it drought. April-June are the main rainy months. People do have problems of drinking water and irrigation. Maize and wheat are their major crops.

People in general are good, simple, friendly, carry smiling faces; and happy with Ugali (made from maize flour) with Sukuma (leaf vegetable) as staple food. Meat is costly (KSh 400-500/kg), therefore they eat non veg food on the weekends. Fruits and vegetables, particularly the potatoes are tasty. Tur daal and rice of Kenya carry special flavour. Most of the Agro products are organic. And our Chef in Indian Restaurant Chopati in Skyline Mall, Nairobi cooks the tastiest dishes of Indians recipes. As a result, Chopati is the most popular dine out place amongst the Indians.

People in villages live in simple and small houses, made by the women using wood sticks, mud and grass. Some people now build houses using tin sheets roofs. Cows are very important in the life of Kenyan families. With Ugali, Cows are their bread and butter. They slaughter cows (noambe) after the end of their productive life. But bulls numbers are restricted. Their buffalos are wild. Some tried to made them domestic but failed. Many people rear Sheep and Goats too. Donkeys (ponda) are used for carts. If a male doesn't have 10-30 cows or 100-300 sheep or equal money in pocket as dowry to the bride's parents, he can't get a girl of Kenya. Even if one tries love marriage and run away with the girl without paying the dowry, he will not get dowry when he marries his daughter in the society. For son, he has to pay the dowry. It has more girls than boys in marriage age group, therefore, some people keep more wives and carry a family of many children. But the husband is like a mobile van, rotating day wise or week wise amongst the wives, living at different places.

But in cities, living cost is too high. The rent, the house, the land (1 acre/ KSh 50-500m), the goods and services, etc, are very costly, therefore the couple have to go for the job. Per capita average salary of a common working man in city may be around KSh 15,000/month. A lobby attendant in a star hotel may receive KSh 50,000/month.

There are three types of land titles: owned by individuals, owned by communities and owned by the government. Government owns the majority of lands. Community lands are governed by community laws. And government lands are always given on 99 years transferable lease.

Goods are very expensive here, may be five times costlier than India, because 85% of the goods are imported. Government has imposed heavy import duty but it has made the cost more expensive as the local industries are in the initial stage of development. In India, if you make ₹2 out of ₹1 in commerce and industry, in Kenya you can make KSh 6 out of KSh 1. One to ja Six. Better than the Ramlakhan movie song, eji, oji, ... 1 to ja ka 4!

As the aspiration of good life is very high and the goods are expensive in cities, few youths take a short cut of robberies. The foreigners don't feel safe in Nairobi. It is very risky to walk on footpath after the dark. Robbers can attack at traffic junctions. It has tropical weather where no fans and ACs required at home. But security concerns keep the Cars AC on. The compound walls of the houses in the city are very high, and many have barbed wire above it with electric current. The gates are heavy. Hotel gates are like jail gates, have double closers, the gate as well as the crossing. Each visitor has to get down of the car and pass through X-ray and security check at the wicket gate.

For Gujarati, it is second home. Halari (people from Jamnagar) are the main habitant Gujaratis in Kenya. For them their is similarity in word Kanaiyo and Kenya. They have been prospered a lot.

Shri Narendra Raval (Guru), a Brahmin boy was in service of a Saint Harikrishna Maharaj of Bhuj Temple in Gujarat. With metric education he came  to Nairobi in his teenage as a pujari of a temple in 1978. He came in contact with the traders and manufacturers of iron and steel, started his own venture, and now became an Industrial giant, with $0.5 billion turnover a year, flourished in Iron and Cement Industries Sectors under the banner of Devki Group of Industries. He owns two helicopters to travel to his factories. He has house in London.

Shri Ashokbhai Shah, a BCom graduate from MS University, Vadodara, came following his brother with zero capital became one of the biggest entrepreneurs in Nairobi. The President has assigned him a government security guard for 24x7. He started his business of computer in 1998, moved to plastic recycling, built wealth, moved to Dubai but lost all in recession, returned to Nairobi, rebuilt the wealth and now become a real estate developer. He is aiming 1000% profit in his new venture Infinity Industrial Park. 35% space has already been booked and rest will get investors as soon as the project is launched. He has borrowed the idea of Industrial Park from Gujarat and is investing his profit in Gujarat around Vadodara. Their Abacas Pharma is market leader in pharmaceutical business in East Africa. His partner Shri Rajesh Mehta, a PR man making friends in Government, is busy in establishing a Cement Plant in partnership with Sanghi Cement!

Dr Manu Chandaria, the Lion, is another success story.

There are many success stories of Halari Gujarati; Jayendra Malde, Nitin Malde, Sudhakar Pathak (Karibu Travels), Kamal Gupta, etc. In 120,000 Indian population in Kenya, 70% are Gujarati. Their employees, home servants and security are Kenyans. Very good and loyal people, don't look at the females of the family with bad eyes.

Indians maintain very good repo and relations with the President, Ministers and the bureaucracy. Administration is positive for Indians but rejects many PR applications, e.g., the Chefs without diploma/degree of the field or a certification from the Government authority of the country of origin will not get PR.

Gujarati people live in Nairobi in the area named Park Lane. There are other Indians living too. They have their malls, dispensary, schools etc. They prefer British school. Education in Maths and Science is poor. The East Africa Swaminarayan Satsang temple, the first temple outside India in Africa continent was established in Nairobi in 1945. BAPS Swaminarayan had build another beautiful temple in Nairobi in 1999 using Jesslmer Yellow sandstone with a beautiful interior made from intricately carved wood.

To win the trust of the local people, Gujarati traders, industrialists, religious and social organisations spend good money on charity, on health camps, etc. Hindu Council of Kenya is working for the Social services and Cultural promotion. We had been to Hotel Safari to see the local tribal Zulu dance. The hotel was famous for serving meat of many animals. Now the President has imposed a ban on killing and selling or serving meat of the wild animals, therefore, the Chinese and other tourists can enjoy the tastes of Chicken, Ostrich, mutton and beef only. Some of us couldn't tolerate the smell of the roasted meats (barbecue), didn't enjoy the Zulu dance much. The Council is ready to do cultural promotion of these groups with India.

Security of life and properties are the big concerns for Indians. To save the life from killing or serious injuries while traveling, Gujarati people carry extra 50,000 - 100,000 Kshillings in their socks, so that one may pay and get relieved. Recently, month and half ago, a Gujarati trader was murdered in front of his house gate in Mombasa. He was returning from his office carrying KSh 15 million. Two guys were chasing him. As soon as he opened his house gate, the robbers opened fire, the security man of the house ran away, and till he handover the money with him to the robbers, they fired 3 bullets and killed him on the spot. It is risky to travel alone, risky to stop at the traffic signals in nights. In another incident, a boy returned from a mall and entering into his car was assaulted. They broke his shoulder and took away his cell phones and money in the pocket.

Medical services are very expensive. Indore patients have to pay KSh 100,000/day even the disease can be cured by medicines. They grant late discharge to exploit the patients. Agakhan Foundation and MB Shah Hospitals are there but demand for medical tourism to India is very high. There were complaints about the doctors in Ahmedabad regarding their heavy charges of treatment and expensive tests, rolling them around many windows. There was a complaint against Dentist Dr Mayur Shah, who charged ₹750,000 for root canal and building caps of 7 teeth (20 years guarantee) of a Gujarati old lady of Kenya. The caps came out after 7 years. When the son of the mother approached the doctor, he didn't respond.

The present President Uhuru Kenyatta is a son of the first President of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta. Kenya has 41 ethnic tribes, of which the major five groups are: Kikuyu (22%), Luhya (14%), Luo (13%), Kalenjin (12%) and Kamba (11%). Christians 70%, Muslims 15% and others 15%. The President belong to the Kikuyu tribe. He is very popular and has initiated many development works of infrastructure development of the country. He has injected development hunger into the minds of the Kenyans The project of supplying power to all the schools of Kenya is in progress. 60% work is over. They have hydro and geo thermal electricity power generation stations. They use eucalyptus tree as poles to lay the electricity transmission lines to all over the country. It is economical. Recently, the rail and road contracts are won by the Chinese companies and the irrigation projects were granted to Israel. Indian companies lost the business in competitive bidding.

It is Presidential type of Government system like US, where the President is elected directly by the voters and the ministers and the PM are appointed by the President. President is the Commander in Chief of the Arm forces. There are Senators and Members of Parliament. As per the old Constitution, they had eight Provinces, like our States. Now they have introduced new Constitution from 2013 and replaced the provinces by 47 Counties. Each County is headed by the Governor, elected by the people through direct voting. As usual in democracy, they too have problems of elections expenditure to influence voters and there are allegations of mal-practices in elections. In last Presidential elections, it was said that Mr. Raila Odinga (former PM) of the Orange Party, the loser of the election had secured 46% votes and Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta of Jubilee Party had secured only 30% votes, was trailing behind, and suddenly the electronic system of the counting was shutdown. Then, after a day or two, manual counting of votes was conducted and Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta was declared elected. The opposition charged that the winners kept the extra ballot boxes ready with votes inside in favour of Mr. Uhuru and added them with the polled boxes of the Strong Room. The matter was reviewed by the Supreme Court and it had upheld the manual counting and the results. After all, the elected President is the Commander in Chief of the Army. The question is still in the air, how could the votes polled in some polling stations can be higher than the population of those polling stations. Kenya is getting ready for the next Presidential Election in 2017. The ruling Jubilee Party will face the opposition, the Orange Party of Mr. Raila and its alliances. The President is popular and hoping to win the second term and the oppositions are yet to finalise their candidate to face Mr. Uhuru.

Kenya is an interesting destination for the tourists and for the entrepreneurs. Which place on earth is without problem? Some gains some losses. It has potential of growth, good margin of profit, therefore, those who can't compete within Indians market can eye over Kenya. After all entrepreneur means risk taker (with money of others!). Kenya is a beautiful Country of Simple but Smiling People. May be a destination of some more Gujaratis.

Har Har-ambee!

Punamchand
Nairobi
16 September 2016

Thursday, September 22, 2016

South Africa is in transition phase of Empowerment

South Africa is in Transition Phase of Empowerment

They become free from the racism with the release of Mr. Nelson Mandela from the prison, African Nation Congress won the elections and he became the President of the Country. He declared the country of South Africa free from racism, the country of all, of blacks, of whites, of coloureds. He forgave them all who did wrong with the blacks. The country since then is under the rule of ANC. It is a country, may be 1/3 of the size of India and 6 times size to the State of Gujarat with a population of 55 million, smaller than Gujarat. 80% are Blacks, 8% whites, 3% Indians and rest the ethnics, the natives of South Africa. Even the blacks are also belong to the different parts of the African Continent. In whites, there are mainly Dutch and British. The Dutch ruled here for over 160 years and had families with local people, therefore the coloured generation is also there. There are Germans and other Europeans mostly the Protestants were moved to this land when the Catholics were killing them in mass in 14-15th century. Many moved through the ships those days. They have worked very hard for 500 years to build the Nation and it's infrastructure. The language African is mostly derived from the Dutch language. The blacks came as Slaves/Workers from the neighbouring countries, but as usual like Indian Castes System, and the system the British followed in India, they followed the theory of apartism, in which the whites had developed separate set of places for their living, separate set of places for recreation and entertainment, separate mobility services, separate health and education facilities, etc. Blacks were left out as slaves, workers and were called Bantus. Even today, the racism has gone, but their colonies are separate. Whites, coloureds are going to private hospitals and private schools and the blacks are dependent on government services of health, education and housing.

It is very rich in mines and minerals as they contribute 26% of the GDP of the Nation. If has been governed well in past by the Dutch and British, therefore carry a world class great infrastructure. But at present, unemployment (26%) is their biggest problem. The youths are not illiterate but unskilled, unemployable as they drop out from schools and those study further carry degrees of social sciences. Their life styles are irregular, therefore AIDS, Cancer and knee problems (over weight) are their major concern for health.

There is lot of infighting amongst the ANC people, therefore their political attacks over the President and the counter attacks are the news lines everyday. 8 of the 9 provinces are under the rule of the ANC. But the one, the attraction of the tourists, Cape Town Province is under the rule of the Democratic Alliance, mostly under the commands of the White population. Most of the country white population live in this Province.

The political powers are with the Blacks but the economic powers are with the Whites. The Blacks have been given the seat of government power, the office buildings, the staff, the cars, the authorities, but the economy of the country is ruled by the Whites. Most of the companies, corporates, banks, insurance companies, export-import companies, manufacturers of goods and services; the economic commands are in the hand of the whites. They are placed well in the key positions of the government from where they guide the blacks as Blacks are in learning stage of the administration, governance and policy making.

The whites commands the economy, concentrate more on high end profit area and are enjoying quality of life. Large population of the country the blacks are dependent of Government subsidies and support for health, education and housing. And government resources are the income from the businesses of the whites, therefore, they have to allow the whites to run the economy.

India has centuries old relations with the country. Our land was separated from the eastern border of the South Africa some million years ago, but the two Oceans, Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean are connecting the two lands with water. The warm water of Indian Ocean and the warm hearts of Indian have build the relationship with Africa for centuries. Many sailors from the west coast of India were traveling to the African Continent for centuries. Columbus failed to discover India but Vasco Da Gama could reach India in 1497 following a Gujarati trader, the owner of ship 'Chandan'.  Vasco da Gama had recorded in his diary that upon his arrival at Zanzibar in Africa he saw a docked ship three times bigger than his own. He took an African interpreter to meet the owner of that ship Chandan, a Gujarati trader who used to bring pine wood and teak from India along with spices and take back diamonds to Cochin.

South Africa is the land which gave us the Mahatma, Mahatma Gandhi. Abdulla Cousins, the traders of Porbandar origin in South Africa had commercial dispute, went to the civil court and one of the brothers was in need of a Gujarati lawyer who can read the account books written in Gujarati and explain them to the British Lawyer in English. After became a Barrister from England (two trial), and failed in settling down in Rajkot and Mumbai as lawyer, he, unemployed Mohandas grab the opportunity to travel to South Africa as a legal counsel to Dada Abdulla, reached Durban on 24 May 1893 by SS Safari. While traveling by train to Pretoria, Gandhiji experienced his first taste of racial discrimination, was thrown out of the train at Pietermaritzburg Railway Station. After completing his work of Dada Abdulla, he decided to return to India in 1894. But in his farewell dinner somebody shared him a news about a bill proposed to disfranchise Indians. The farewell dinner was converted into a meeting, drafted a petition and Gandhi decided to extend his stay and to meet with the expense as a befitted barrister to earn living expense £300/month, he registered himself as a lawyer in the Supreme Court of Natal. Simultaneously, he organised Natal Congress in 1894. He visited India in 1896 and gave a press statement about racist practices in South Africa. Therefore, he was attacked physically by the inflamed mob at the dock in 1896, from which Gandhi initiated his weapon of 'self restrain' to fight with the opponents. In Boer war of 1899, he organised Indian Ambulance Cops to support the injured soldiers in the war. After staying for a year in India in 1901, he returned to SA in 1902, started his experiments of self restraints in 1903, celibacy in 1906, organised Phoenix Farm, Inanda, near Durban, and organised his first  'satyagraha' against the black act of compulsory registration of Asians in 1906. It was a centre for formation of Gandhi, communal settlement of Satyagrahis and the HQ of his first news paper 'Indian Opinion'. He launched three Satyagrahas in South Africa and was jailed thrice for a short durations (2 months, 3 months, few days) and each time was released on compromise. At the end, General Smuts had no more heart to fight him. He became the inspiration to many. He returned to India, traveled the country and after the death of Lokmanya Tilak, filled up the gap of leadership in Indian National Congress and lead the nation for freedom fight against British Rule for 27 years (1920-47) and won the freedom of India.

Today, his name is diminishing in South Africa. The Phoenix Farm is owned by a company which has earmarked an acre of land in Gandhi's memory, where, PM Mr. Modi has planted spelling of Peeper and Bark tree during his recent visit in July 2016. The Tolstoy farm has been occupied by the community. The house he lived in, went into fire sometimes ago, lost its importance. The British Government of South Africa avoided promoting him in South Africa so that his Gandhi thoughts of equality don't spread across the country.

Recently, 3 months after the President of India gifted a statue of Gandhi to the University of Ghana, a group of professors and students have started a petition to bring it down. The opposition centres around their belief that Gandhi was "inherently racist" for his depiction of native black Africans as "kaffir" (considered a racial slur in Africa) in his early writings, when he was fighting for the rights of Indians in South Africa.

Johannesburg is the financial capital of the country. But the day ends after 6pm as safety is the main concern for the tourists. The crime rate is high but surprisingly Johannesburg people compare their rate of crimes with the rate of crimes in Cape Town!

The country has sound infrastructure, the growth rate is 0.3%, is happy with the growth rate of 1.3% in the last quarter, but will take some more years to establish itself as sound economy of the East Africa. It's human resource need more skills, more technical education to improve their employability.

From our side, our salute to the Nation, which had given us our father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. And has also got his Mahatma under the influence of non violence weapon of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Nation of South Africa, Mahatma Nelson Mandela.

Salaam South Africa.

Punamchand
16 September 2016
Johannesburg, SA.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Massaimara the Jewel of Kenya in Savanna Grass Land

Massaimara the Jewel of Kenya in Savana Grass Land

Massaimara is a National Park (1800 sqm) of Kenya located on the southwest of the Country, famous for the migration of the herbivores animals. It is in continuation of it's sister park Serengeti of Tanzania. It is an area of Massai tribe and a river Mara, therefore, named Massaimara. Mara means spotted too.

It is a heaven for Herbivores animals: the Zebras, the Gazelles (Thomson and Grand), wildebeests, etc, in thousands come to Massaimara in June-July and return to Sarangeti in September-October. They migrate for green grass. March-April are the monsoon months, therefore, when the grass become green in Massaimara, they arrive and stay for three months. And as soon as the Serengeti Park have rains they migrate. These animals stay for 9 months in Serengeti and 3 months in Massaimara. Watching them over crossing the river Mara from different spots and saving themselves from the big crocodiles of the river are the major attractions for the tourists to watch during the migration season.

The park has thousands of Zebras. Thousands have migrated but hundreds were still on migration route. They are the donkeys, the donkeys with stripes, called Muliya Punda locally. They look beautiful as if the donkeys are ready for the Carnival. Imagine the nature, like our finger prints, the stripes of the Zebras are unique and don't match with each other. They live in herds and are monitored and guided by the group leader. If one member of the group is in trouble, they stop and wait for him. But if it is lost to the predator, they move.

Deers are the dears. The antipopes are in hundreds. Thomson the 'tommie' is small but the most beautiful gazelle with black striped golden brown colour, bounding leaps and continuously moving tail. Most of them have been migrated but few were left behind. Similar to them but bigger and more shiny brown coat without the strip but milky white rump, the Grand Gazelles were looking gorgeous. The males of both the gazelles were looking more handsome with their horns. Topi deers are peculiar. When others are sleeping, one of them become a watch topi, will stand on little top position and keep watching the dangers. If there is danger, it will wake the sleeping topis up and then they run for life. There are Water bucks, dark brown in colour, generally live near the water. The Elands the healthiest animal, look strong and beautiful but very shy, always run away when see the tourist vehicles. There are hetbeests, red bucks and Impala. The Wildebeests are famous for migration, we could see some, the left behind.

There are many Elephants in the Park. We could see more than hundred. They live in joint family, where the elders are respected. Female, called mama (mother) leads the family. Family live with the mother. The male is for security. When the old dies, the young takes over. They have good memory power. They have Infra sound communications, communicate and understand each other messages from the distance. Their life expectancy is 65 years. They die of malnutrition and starvation! As herbivores, they have to eat and grind a lot. They go through six sets of large, brick-like teeth that grow in at the back of their mouths and slowly move to the front as they are worn down. The teeth then fall out and are replaced by fresh ones. When an elephant's final set of teeth falls out, the elephant slowly dies of malnutrition or starvation. Old dies and the young takes over.

One can identify the males and females from the face. The male has round head and the female has angular head. While flapping their big ears, they control body temperature and cooling of the blood. After drinking water, they make mud through their legs and then spray over the body to maintain the cooling of the body. Their skins have many rinkles because of the dehydration of the body.

We saw hundreds of Wild buffalos. They are considered to be the strongest and dangerous animals as they may charge any time. United together they can fight with the lions. The males guard the hude. Male horns are joined together and stout. Female horns are apart and soft. People tried to make it domestic but couldn't train and failed.

Giraffes are unique, live in herds. With long neck and legs, they are always ready to give poses. Like Camel, Giraffe, while walking, move both legs on the same side of the body at the same time (both right legs, then both left legs). Other animals moving their legs in order left hind leg, left front, right hind, right front. One can identify the male and female Giraffe from the Ossicones (horns). The male ossicones are set apart and have round ball on top. Female have two cross ossicones introvert and the top round balls are smaller in size. Blacks are the aged one, as their skin become darker with ageing. They walk in steps line, keeping a right distance, so that when their is danger, they can run without obstructing each other.

The park has 200+ lions. It is called 'Simba' in local language. We could see total 18 lions during the tour. As enough food is there, Lions of Kenya found lazy. They eat and sleep, sleep for 16 hours a day. They look little lighter in colour compared to our Asiatic Geer lions. The colour of the abdominal skin is milky white. We saw a couple in mating. They sleep, wake up, mate for few seconds and again go to sleep. The cycles may go on many times during the period of mating. We couldn't see the kill, but at one spot, a Zebra was stranded, and may a wild animal was in the ditch and across the ditch many zebras were watching and waiting for their member to return.

At one spot we saw a group of 6 lions, of which 4 were resting and two grown up Cubs were watching around. And in the cordon of these six lions, a female egipcian gees was walking with her thee chicks fearlessly.

Tanzanian Cheetah, the major predator of the tommies, are now endangered specie. One of our group could see two tommies facing the cheetah with direct eye contact, as if communicating that we have seen you and you now can't catch us. The cheetah had to return. Their numbers are diminishing. They have problems of breeding and rearing the animals. Hyenas, Lions kill their Cubs. Mother Chitah lives a solitary life. The Cubs leave the mother. God knows, she must be the tough mother! Males live together in a group of two or three.

There are many Hippos in Mara river, living in groups. Their skin is sensitive to sun light, therefore, they live in water during the day time and move in the grass land for grazing in nights. 7.30 pm to 6.30 am is generally their time to move into the area for food. It was 1.30 pm. As tourists, we were not allowed to move out of the vehicle, therefore we had our lunch in the vehicle. But side by, river Mara was flowing, and the Hippos in water were, some resting, some moving; and a big crocodile was sleeping on the bank, and in the cooling wind of the nature, we have enjoyed our picnic lunch. We dined with Hippos!

There are spotted hyenas, the second highest predator after the lions. They are scavengers, normally eat the flesh of the animals killed by lions. But if need be, they form a group and can kill an animal. As they don't know hunting, they strand the animal, bite and eat it alive.

The Warthogs (pig family) of Savanna are different. One can see a couple of Warthog with their 2-3 cubs. As soon as the vehicle passes by, they run away fast, keeping their tail up. They are called the 'Kenyan Express'. We enjoyed the run of the Kenyan express many times.

We could see Vultures, Marabou (scavenger) Stokes, Ostriches, go away birds, Liela pristed rola, and many other species of beautiful birds. We could see many other animals; baboons, monkeys, jackal, mongooses, serval cat spotted like Cheetah, Impala, etc. The Park is very rich in flora and fauna.

Nature is great, maintaining the Eco system. Herbivores are eating whole day, have less sleep and live under the fear of attacks from the Carnivores. The Carnivores eat one time in a week and sleep for 16 hours a day. Herbivores are in plenty, will multiply though hunt. But some of the Carnivores become endangered species. Because they have problems of breeding and safety of their Cubs from other wild animals.

The massai tribe people are very simple and loving, carry smile over their faces. They wear bright coloured clothes, mostly red and yellow and wear lot of ornaments made of local articles. They make nice wooden handicrafts of mahogany and hapony woods. Some can understand and speak English to sale their products. It is a National Park, therefore no human population is allowed to stay in the Park area. People live in villages outside of the park. However, the herbivores wild animals damage their crops, therefore, they are dependent on Cows rearing. The families are big. Jeff, the hotel chef are 41 brothers and sisters. His father has 3 wives. The elders give blessings to have more children, therefore, they implement the wish of their parents! Average 8-9 children is very common in many families in Kenya.

There is an airport, must be the most economical Airport of the world. A dish, an antenna, a ticket window, a small cottage for the waiting passages, a toilet unit and a run way made from hard moram. Aircrafts come and go at an interval of half an hour, hour, depending upon the flow of tourists traveling by air from Nairobi to Massaimara.

The route from Nairobi to Massaimara is a road journey of 6 hours; 3 hours on tar road and 3 hours on metal road. One can pay Kshilling 20,000 (one way) and fly, but will miss the beauty of the scenery and views of the route of the Rift Valley drive. Some portion of the road was built by the Italian prisoners of WW-II. Tanzania was with Itali. British fought war with Italy to get Tanzania. It is Great North Road, where one can see traffic of trucks from Mumbasa to neighboring countries of East Africa; Yuganda, Ruanda, etc.

The tourists vehicles/Landcruisers have wireless Radio linked with the radios of other tourists vehicle. They spot the animals and communicate to each other so that the tourists can see the maximum number of animals. The landcruisers are openable from the top. Each vehicle has binocular and some beverages to facilitate the tourists. They maintain utmost discipline and follow the rules in words and spirit.  As the driver has the limitation to drive and see around, and the tourists can see farther distance from the top, the tour is made interesting by using local words. Tourists will say 'Simama' to stop and 'Twende' to move the vehicle. Fransis was our driver, saw us many animals and birds within the time constraints. He was experienced and very good at English and Swahili.

The Hotel Sun Africa offers star facilities to the tourists. It has comfortable hut rooms, good ambience, good reception and serves good food. It has good free wifi connectivity and restricted hours power supply through generator. Karibu (welcome) Travel Jeep and the company of it's  driver Fransis as guide made our trip memorable. Hakuna Matata (No Problem!)

Though restful, attractive with it's rich flora and fauna; we have to leave the place and to say Shante Shana (thank you) and 'Koheri' (good bye) Massaimara, Koheri Kenya. Next time, they will again welcome us saying 'Jambo' (Hello).

Punamchand
18 September 2016
Massaimara

Monday, September 12, 2016

Robben Island, a pilgrimage to freedom

Robben Island, a pilgrimage to freedom

Dutch rule the South Africa for 160 years. The population consist of 80% blacks, 8% whites, 3% Indians and rest the ethnic and coloured. Life the Dutch and Whites, the blacks have also moved here from other parts of the continent. As large part of the country is dessert but it is very rich in minerals like plutonium, gold, iron ore, coal, etc. 27% of the income of the country comes from the mining. 80% gold of the world is produced here.

Dutch were the first foreigners, established their trade colonies and then became the ruler for 160 years before being replaced by the British.

Robben island situated some 12 Kms away from the Table Bay was a Dutch Prison. The hardcore criminals were moved to the island in jail. Later it was used as hospital for the people suffering from leprosy and mental illness. Leprosy was considered a contagious disease, therefore the couples were kept in separation to prevent the birth of new generation carrying the disease. They were kept away from the society to die on the island.

The place was used as a military base during the Second World War.

The criminals and political prisoners were kept in the jail of the island. There is a lime stone quori inside, where the prisoners were working with primitive equipments or breaking the stones by hand. But this place become the school for the freedom fighters. Each one to teach one. They were working in the quori and looking at the Table Mountain with a hope that one day they will get freedom from the racism. The resting Cave become their meeting place where most of the the Constitutional provisions were discussed. Due to working without safety equipments, many prisoners were suffered from the eyes and lungs disease. The father of South Africa Nation, Mr. Nelson Mandela (Prisoner 466/64) was one of the political prisoner over here. He stayed in this jail for 18 years of his stay of 28 years in jail. He lost his tears gland while working in such a harsh condition for many years. His jail room is only 6'x6', where he lived with a rough sleeping mattress, one plate, one bowl, one spoon and a bucket to use as toilet.

The prisoners were allowed to take bath twice in a week, on Wednesday and Saturday. They were allowed to wash their clothes once in a week. Their was discrimination in treating and serving the prisoners. They were divided into Coloureds and Bantas. The blacks/bantas were given bad treatment, more punishment and bad food. The whites were served with rice, bread, jam and the Blacks with bad food porridge. There was a Hindu prisoner, Billy Nair (69/64) sentenced for 20 years (26/2/64 to 27/2/84) for a crime of Subotasie.

He lead the path of equality, freedom from racism from this land. His wrote his famous book "Long walk to Freedom" from this place. The Stones in front of the lime quori is a symbol of peace and unity of the country. On the day of freedom from the jail, they all assembled here, Me. Mandela lifted one stone and came forward and put on the land with respect. All other did the same and symbolise them the unity and peace of the country.

What was the greatness of this man? He forgave all and made South Africa free from racism. He didn't act against the whites who have torchered them. They made South Africa a Rainbow nation. No more blacks, no more whites. No Africans, no bontas, no indian. They are free and one .

Mr. Mandela was released from the jail in 1990. Others political prisoners were released in 1991. The criminal prisoners were shifted to other jails in 1994. And then the place has been converted into a Museum. It has been declared as World Heritage site in 1999. And the guides are the Ex Political Prisoners!

Punamchand
Cape Town
12 September 2016

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Cape Town the Mother City of South Africa

Cape Town the Mother City of South Africa

Spread over 2445 square kilometres area, it is the second most populous urban area of South Africa, with a population of 3.7 million and popularly known as the mother city of South Africa. It is a tourist friendly and Windy City where one can experience all the four seasons in a day.

Dutch people had established their first colony in Cape Town. It was known as Cape of Storms, the Cape of Good Hope, a milestone to establish trade with the Far East. Because on half way to India, the Dutch voyagers used to receive fresh food, fresh water and fresh manpower (slaves) from this place. The Signal Mountain was used for firing cannon against the enemies coming towards the bay as well as alerting the army at the bay to defend the establishment.

But British were the wiser traders. Their chain of establishment never change their goal of business interests and sustain with the single line of commands and decision making system. It didn't change with the change of the moods of the Kings. They first removed the Dutch supremacy over the area and then established the rule of British Law over the land for many years. After independence from the British colonial rule, the democracy has opened equal opportunities for all. However, as usual, heavy expenditure on elections and corruption in administration are the two major complaints of democracy persist over here like other democratic countries.

There are many places to visit in Cape Town. The Table Mountain is flat like a table and with clouds over it, looks like a table cover over the table, the table top. The Lion Head is an inactive lava mountain, looks like the upper part of a lion. Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean meet here. The meeting place of warm and cold water. The Atlantic Ocean is very cool and doesn't attract swimmers but the bay is beautiful. It has been divided into three parts: the wagons zone, cold storage zone and the Victoria Water Point. Victoria Water Point is the major spot of tourists attraction as people go here for walking, boating, shopping and eating. The City is generally safe and the hotels provide cab services at an hourly interval to drop and pick up till 11.30 PM. The long street is the busiest street for the youths to enjoy night life in weekends.

The city is maintained clean. The Country is ruled by the African National Congress, but the Cape Town Province is under the rule of the opposition party the Democratic Alliance. There are 9 Provinces of the Country, 5 under the rule of ANC and 4 under the rule of DA. As Johannesburg is the financial capital and centre economic activities of SA, Cape Town is the legislature capital and a tourist destination of the Country. It is a seat of the Parliament. Though rule by the coloured, the white population, small in number but placed well in government, trades and commerce. The tax structure is aligned with the incomes. Higher caped people pay high taxes. Tourism provides income to the government and to the traders of goods and services, and employment opportunities to the locals. Our Driver Noor, a young man of Malaysia (father side) and Indian (mother side) origin, studied upto Metric, did his diploma in Draftsmanship, worked with an architect for sometime but fed up soon with the table job, moved out and joined the tourism sector as driver, where he travels a lot, see many places, meet and interact with many people and earn better than the table job of a draftsman.

Drop outs in education is one of the major challenges of the administration. They have made a rule that all the registered shops can keep minimum metric passed staff only. This is to push the students to complete education upto metric level at least. However, the dropouts work at the unregistered stores and corners and earn the minimum wages. After 1994, when the city was opened up for the coloured population, lot of slums colonies have been developed around the harbour area. The local government build beautiful houses for the slum dwellers with rooftop solar power system and other facilities but as usual the slum dwellers occupy the houses, stay for a month or two and then rent them out or sale to the third parties and return to the slums again. Meantime, new slum dwellers arrive into the city.

The city has been developed horizontally. No sky scraper buildings around. It is widely spread, clean and free from footpaths environments.

We had good sleep after an Indian supper in the hotel 'Jewels of India' and good morning with continental breakfast at the Southern Sun Hotel in Cape Town. The atmosphere is cloudy and windy and we may be riding a boat to sail around the cape point, the cape agulhas and the meeting point of Indian and South African hearts, the meeting of Indian and Atlantic Oceans, the meeting of warmth (green) and cold (blue) water. Millions of years ago our lands were separated from this corner and we had sailed through the water of Indian Ocean towards Himalayas. Later, the sailors of Gujarat and west coast had established trade linked with this place and shown a way to India to Vasco da Gama, the history of India changed. Coloured we have been further coloured with the principles of rule of law, principles of natural justice, equality, liberty and justice.

Do visit Cape Town, the Mother City of South Africa.

Punamchand
Cape Town
10 September 2016

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Rudraksha the Natural Pacemaker

Rudraksha the Natural Pacemaker 

India is a country where you will find women wearing Gold ornaments. There are many options for women to follow fashion in terms of clothing, ornaments, beautifying, styling, etc. But men have limited choice of wearing trousers, jeans, shirts, t-shirts and now the kotis. On ornaments side, Men are generally happy with a ring on the finger. But when you look at the Babas, Sadhus, public personalities, elderly people, etc, thousands of people in India wear Rudraksha Mala. 

Generally the seeds (Rudraksha) of tree Eliocarpus Genitrus are panchmukhi but the ekmukhi is the costliest. As people in general believe in Spirituality, it is consider good for positivity as it upscales the spiritual life. Some people say that the benefits may vary with the number of faces over the Rudraksha. Some will bring prosperity and some will make you Sadhu living the Sansara.

But do you know, it carries health benefits. It is a Natural Pace Maker regulates the pulse rate and heart movement. The voltage necessary to run the heart, if lowering with ageing, Rudraksha Mala support the heart. It balances the Ida (cold, left breathe) and Pingala (hot, right breathe) and increase the Susumna cycles, useful for meditation and Samadhi. It is bringing positivity in thought process therefore increases the span of peace of the mind that in turn improves quality of living. 

Rudraksha Mala is generally made of 108 beads and one meru (guru bead). As people do mantra japa for spirituality, it is easy for them to count the numbers by multiplying it with number of malas, so that the daily routine and regularity are maintained. Number 108 is very important in India. 12 Zodiac Signs multiplied with 9 planets makes it 108. 27 Nakshatras multiplied with 4 directions makes it 108. In Smudra Manthan, 54 devas on one side and 54 Asuras on other side, (make it 108), churning the Ocean of Milk with the rod of Mandar mountain, pulling the Vasuki serpent back and forth to produce the elixir of immortality. In Kundalini Sadhana of subtle body, the electric serpent is charged and lifted upward (Prana-life force, vital energy) from  Muladhar (root chakra) to Shahstrar (crown chakra) using the nerve pairs of the spine, passing through the wheels of life. Sex is the downfall of the Prana and the journey of wheels is the rise of the Prana. 

All of us are energy balls and living in the Ocean of Consciousness. As the environment is full and charged with the positive and negative waves, the people, place, bed, surroundings, company, etc, can disturb our mind and create impact over our subtle body. Those who are traveling more must have noticed the difference in the level of peace and quality of sleep with change of places. Rudraksha makes it neutral. 

We are the bundles of thoughts. Over the years, some of us have cultivated positivity and some have cultivated negativity. And accordingly, we carry the vibrations and aura around us, that may match or mismatch with other individuals. Therefore we develop likes and dislikes for different individuals. 

A peaceful mind can read the environment and thought process of other individuals easily. Thousands of people are moving around and with the increase pace of life, restless we are, how could judge the right and positive persons around us? Rudraksha makes it easy. If one holds a Rudraksha tied with a thread (like a pendulum) few inches above the head of an individual, it will rotate clockwise if the guy is positive and rotate anti-clockwise if he/she is negative. 

Hope you will not try over your spouse? Lol

Punamchand
1 September 2016
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