Our Daman Trip

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Our Daman Trip

For the past four years we were planning to visit Daman, where my brother-in-law has a guest-house of his company and where we were assured of a red-carpet welcome. However, something or the other always interfered with our plans.

Somehow, we were able to thwart the designs of those interfering Fates this year and just about managed to visit Daman after only one cancellation.

I believe as we were going there for ‘Ganpati’, the ‘trouble-shooter’ God (Vighnaharta) removed all the obstacles from our path and made it happen.

Thus 2nd September found us winging (no, this can’t be the correct word. It must be ‘tyring’) our way towards Daman.

Daman is just 193 Km from Mumbai and the 4-lane highway is quite good, apart from a few bad patches.
As we left the Mumbai suburbs behind, the scenery gradually changed from concrete jungle to real, tropical jungle of the coastal variety. The rice fields were interspersed with groves of mango, coconut and chikoo. The tall, dark Casuarinas, planted as a wind-break, laced the sea-shore.

Especially at one place, the rain-clouds had cascaded down the valleys, and the hills showed dark bluish through the mist.

End of the Monsoon is the best period to traverse this road.

At a point we turned off the highway and crossed a railway-line on our way to Moti Daman.

Moti Daman is just ‘Large’ Daman as against Nani Daman (‘Small’ Daman). It has nothing to do with ‘moti’ i.e. Pearls. However, it used to be a haven for gold-smugglers in recent past.

However, a smuggling of alcoholic bottles still takes place across the Gujarat border because Gujarat is still a ‘dry’ state. Daman is a Union Territory and hence no restrictions on alcohol.

(I had written ‘liquor’ for ‘alcoholic’, but then the Messrs. Merriam and Webster came down heavily on me and informed me that it is ‘a liquid substance; a usually distilled rather than fermented alcoholic beverage’. Now, I am not at all sure that the bottles that cross the Gujarat border contain the distilled variety only, so I used the words ‘alcoholic bottles’. But I am not very happy about the choice of words as it invoked a vision of tipsy bottles drunkenly dancing a merry waltz.

Anyway, let it be.

Merriam and Webster also corrected the spelling of ‘Messrs.’ Which I had messed about as ‘Messers’. They are rather strict about such things.)

The proximity of the ‘dry’ state also explains why it is such a highly touristy place with resorts dotting the seashore of Devka beach. After all, the beaches of Daman are nothing to write home about, especially when you have seen the pristine white-sand beaches of South India. Actually, the black mud-flats of Daman exposed during the low time are an eyesore.

The Damanganga River separates the two Damans, Moti and Nani. A pedestrian bridge connects the two Damans.

We celebrated the ‘pratisthapana’ of the Ganpati with great pomp and élan and then we were free to roam about Daman.

The two Portuguese forts that dominate the two shores of Damanganga as it empties into the Arabian Sea strongly bring Goan ambience to mind. This is hardly surprising since all the erstwhile Portuguese colonies must have common architectural elements in their design.

The lighthouse still acts as a beacon to the fishing boats.

Many forts in India are crumbling due to negligence, but Daman forts are being maintained by Portuguese Government even after ‘liberation’.

A teenage memory has just floated to the surface of my mind with this word ‘liberation’.

I was going with my Dad to our estate at Sulge near Belgaum, my native place. At one point, the road to Sulge was barricaded and the police did not allow us to proceed to our own bungalow. I was young and could not understand how they could lawfully prevent us from going on that road.

My teenage angst vaporized when Dad explained to me that during military operations civilian rights are suspended and the Military can ‘commandeer’ any civilian’s property.

He also correctly surmised that Goa will be liberated in a matter of a few days, so when the news broke, it did not surprise us.

We were happy, but also sad that the Indian Military had practically ruined our bungalow by cooking indoors.

I suppose it was a small sacrifice to pay for the liberation of Goa.

Follow the links below if you want to know more about Daman.

http://www.daman.nic.in/
http://www.travelmadeeasy.in/daman.htm

There is an unintentional ‘trick’ photo of a flying object among the photos. Readers are invited to explain whether it is a helicopter or a mosquito and if the later, why it did not get enlarged out of all proportion.

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Photos

Fishing boats
The fort of Nani Daman and the beautiful church are seen across from the river

The Church
The church onside the fort of Moti Daman

Fort-street
The main street inside the fort of Moti Daman

Wooden interior
Wooden interior of a Portuguese house, now a hotel

The Pergola Garden
The stone monument was erected in memory of the Portuguese soldiers who lost their lives in the 'uprising' of Dadra-Nagarhaveli, which was also a Portuguese colony. The people of Dadra-Nagarhaveli 'liberated' themselves in 1954.

The Resort
The lovely Mirasol resort

Comments

[ghanshaym]

Mount Abu Abode of gods
I had went thrw ur experience and ur preview. have u ever been to mount abu. it is one of those some pristine destinations on the earth which are blessed with all the colors of nature. ecotourism, village tourism, camping on jungles and horse safari are some of the worth trying activities. i am sure you will be amazed by this for more details follow the link http://www.mountabuhotels.in/ regards ghanshuu

[Mount_Abu]

Yes, indeed
Yes, ghanshuu , Mount Abu is indeed a gr8 place to visit, I visit Mount Abu every year, the best place to get DIRECT HOTEL PHONE numbers and save money from Travel-agent commissions is the government website: www.MountAbu.Com Thanks Jay Patel

[Vikas]

wrong information
hello jay, your stated site is not a Government web site. it ia a private site.

[jay patel]

mountabu
idonot know its private or govt but information is best and with direct contact nos.that the best