Week o4

The Horns of Ahmedabad (24th March)

Although dead tired, I couldn’t fall asleep until after midnight…The creative sounds coming from the car and truck horns kept grasp on my consciousness and some even made me smile. Almost falling into slumber, I heard a horn so portentous and deep that I thought that a ship was pulling in just bellow my hotel room. And then, already dreaming, I distinctively heard a truck that boasted a horn just like the Nokia ringing tune on my cell. That clever truck driver passed the street three times…a strange background to the ensuing dreams…

Things to do

In my dreams, I realise that I had forgotten about the exam of some subject, therefore rendering my degree unattainable. The subject is usually Descriptive Geometry and the scenario is me arriving at the classroom, where all the other students are well into the exam. being completely unprepared, I panick. When I wake up, I take a few seconds to recollect that I have already finished my degree and am an architect. Maybe the message of this dream is something like: wake up and smell the coffee! – There’s work to. Or it could be: relax and consider all the things you have already achieved…don’t pressure yourself so much. Either way, I took a late breakfast at the Riverfront and there’s no work to be done here in Ahmedabad anyways.
After buying my ticket out of here, I had lunch at the Raj Kamal and went for the tour of the Calico museum. Feeling oppressed with the heat, I returned to the Riverfront, refreshed before dinner and retired early. At four a.m., I got up to take the Bhuj express towards Vapi.

Too long in Daman (25th March)

"Stay into the house of a Portuguese lord at prices you can afford" is the motto of the Marina hotel, at small Daman, where I engage a room. The place is quite neat…but having declared myself a Portuguese citizen at the reception, I didn’t have much of a chance bargaining down the daily fee. Somehow, I was still kind of part of the old aristocracy of the place. After lunch, I visited the fort of St. Jerome and then retired early. I fell asleep after watching some old Tamil talkies…those were the days Indians girls could really shake it!

Big Daman (26th March)

The place known as Moti Daman, or big Daman, is home to about fifty families and at least an equal number of government headquarters and offices. The whole administration of the Union territory of Diu, Daman and Nagar-Avelly appears to be seated here…all around are old ambassador government cars, lazy policemen and then a few school children also. The rest is ruins and a horticulture garden (Government of India, for sure) where I got some chikoos for a gift. The place is a kind of an Indo-portuguese Chandighar…with a 17th cent. backdrop. Most of the old Portuguese buildings have been reused and only the new secretariat palace spoils the scenery.

The Public Prosecutor of Daman (27th March)

Is called Orlando Miranda and sits just next to the court’s sessions hall, in a building maintaining its Portuguese origins. After devising a way to allow me to photograph the building with the tacit permission of the judge, he took me in his government jeep all the way to Silvassa, where he had some business to attend. I took the opportunity to confirm that Silvassa is a characterless place, with a few buildings of Portuguese origin caught in the middle of the mess. Still, lunch was pleasant at the local veg place and the tribal museum was worth the free entry.

(29th March)

Jesus Sai Baba and the profit.

Jesus Sai Baba and the profit
Mumbai, mirchis and pan
I’ve never been to Mahim
I stayed too long in Daman

Jesus Sai Baba and the profit
Jesus Sai Baba and the profit

Jesus Sai Baba and the profit
A side-tracked train in the night
They sit together at the dashboard
They guide me all through the night.