Daman: that was, this is.

- Ishan Kothari 

As the plan to travel Vapi was made on 24th & 25th Oct, 2015, it was almost sure to visit Daman. We were to be there for one night, so it was to be decided after reaching Vapi to visit Daman. We reached Vapi around 1 pm, leaving Vadodara around 8 am.  After having lunch and some rest, we left for Daman around 4 pm. Daman was only 5 kms from Vapi. Sanjaymama took me and my father on his bike whereas other family members decided to go by car. The ambassadors run here as local mode of transport from Vapi to Daman.

ambassadors: elite but obsolete

Before visiting Daman, my father narrated me in brief about Daman.  He told me that it was a Portuguese colony earlier.  The Portuguese ruled Daman even after the whole country got independence in 1947,  till 1961 . After the Portuguese rule, Daman was made union territory. 

As Daman is a union territory, most of the Gujarati tourists come here for drinking (alcohol), and to rest  but my purpose was totally different. We came here for pure photography.  I was eager to see the fort. We visited  the Jampore beach, too after the fort. There were various government offices in the fort premises.  Actually I felt that we’d a very less time to visit whole daman. But whatever time i got, I utilised it for photography. We had a quality time there. Here  are some of the photographs clicked by me and my father, Biren Kothari.

Entering the Portuguese Age 

somewhere in Daman 

Church is closed but God is open. 

Flag 'March' 

Like father, like son? 

Resting in peace

Maya 'Jaal' 

skeleton of  Goddess 

Sunset at the fort

At Jampore beach 

Well Balanced 

'sea' through

Soft drink and gujarati at Daman: a contrast

*** **** **** 

ઈશાને લીધેલી તસવીરો પછી હવે દમણની મેં લીધેલી થોડી તસવીરો. 

પોર્ચુગીઝ કાળમાં પ્રવેશ

પોર્ચુગીઝ શાસનની સ્મૃતિ 

ભારતમાં ભળ્યાની સ્મૃતિ 

શ્વેતાંબર અને નીલાંબર 

ઈશ્વરની બારી 

શોભે એવું સરકારી કાર્યાલય 

મુકામ પોસ્ટ દમણ 

દરિયા તરફ જતો દરવાજો 

એક હતી હોડી 

મા તે મા, દશેરા પછી એ ખાય દરિયાના વા 

(Photolines: Biren Kothari)

Dwarka: through the lens (2)

-Ishan Kothari 

In my previous post I've posted some of the photos of Dwarka.  Here are some more photographs.

In Dwarka, the beach have  many different types of subjects that one can easily spend a whole day there.

સમુદ્રી મહેમાન 

આગળ દેખાય છે એ મંદીરના અવશેષ નથી

'ભાભા' મથક 

રણની રેતી પરથી દરિયાની રેતી પર 

ઊંંટના માલિક 

ઈયરપ્લગ તો કાનની અંદર હોય! 

'દરિયાઈ લહેરો'નો એક ઉપયોગ 

ધીરે સે જાના ગલિયનમેં 

દિવાલ તોડવા માટે દિવાલ કરતાં મજબૂત હોવું પડે 

ક્યુંકિ પથ્થર ભી કભી ગણેશ થા 

કાઉ કોન્‍ફરન્‍સ 

ડુંગરે ડુંગરે ડાયરા 

સબ લાલ હો જાયેગા, સિવા એક કે! 

કૃષ્ણે નથી ચોર્યાં, ભક્તોએ ચડાવ્યાં છે. 

ચાચાઓં કી ચૌદશ 

In Bet Dwarka, many interesting activities were found which was related with fishing. I found that place very interesting. so I just asked one fishermen if he knew anything about vahali (વહાલી) i.e.whale shark fondly known by this name among the locals . But  they did not know anything about vahali. Instead of vahali they misunderstood it as malik. So they pointed me a man in blue shirt  as their malik (master). I went to the malik. I started talking with him. His name was Abdul but I addressed him as Abdul chacha.  I  asked him if he knew anything about vahali. but his answer was no. This conversation gradually became very interesting. I asked Abdul Chacha if he was afraid  of whales while fishing . He replied that fishing was their life. He further added, 'if we get afraid how will we survive.' He also informed me that even their children do the fishing. He was really a kind hearted gentleman and talked with me very lovingly. He asked me to visit this place again, He promised me to show how to do fishing.  I was pleased meeting this kind hearted person. 

અબ્દુલચાચા સાથે ઈશાન: તસવીરોની સાથે વાતો પણ મહત્ત્વની

છોટી સી મુલાકાત (ઉપરની અને આ તસવીર: બીરેન કોઠારી) 

અબ્દુલચાચાનો અસબાબ 

બેટદ્વારકાનો નજારો 

'ધ શીપરેક' પેઈન્‍ટીંગની યાદ અપાવતો પ્રકાશ 

ચક્રો: જમીન પર ગતિ માટે, પાણીમાં જીવન માટે

જળસમાધિ 

મત્સ્યયોગી 

ઓ સાગર કી લહરોં, હમ ભી આતે હૈં ઠહરો. 

આંખોમાં નહીં, પણ આંખ પર ચડાવેલા કાચમાં ઘૂઘવે દરિયો

Here Haswant mama and his family is seen after performing rituals of dhajaji. I am very thankful to the whole family who provided me the opportunity to visit Dwarka and took great care of us.

દેસાઈ પરિવાર: સબ સાથ સાથ હૈ

(photo lines: Biren Kothari)