Its half past midnight here in Daman, the whole house is sleeping, including the dog and here I am posting to the page. Its really been a fun past few days. My cousin Kartik (dad’s eldest sister’s son) has a very decent computer here with a very reasonable internet connection so before I start ranting go check out all the new pictures, 101 to be exact, at photos.keyurp.com. Its been super painful uploading them, but at the same time its been worth it. Also its given me the opportunity to empty my camera. I’ve got all the photos till now burned onto a CD.
So yea Daman has been a great joy. This is where I took the very first vacation of my life as a wee child of maybe 3-4 months. Ever since then I have been coming here to my foi’s place during summer vacations. To come back here completes the picture of coming home. All the food and conversations and memories and now my cousin Kartik has his own kid, so I’ve got my very own nephew to play with, not to mention the adorable british cocker spaniel. Also while here I took a trip to our family temple of Ram bhagvan in a little village north of here called Kharwasa, its close to Surat. Here as part of a ritual I am to pay homage to the the maharaja of the temple who then gives me a beaded necklace called a ‘kanthi’ and my own mantra which cannot be written down and cannot be told to anyone. Its all part of growing up and accepting my place as the eldest heir to my grandfather’s family. Hopefully my kaka’s (dad’s youngest brother) son will come and go through this same ritual when hes older and understands whats going on. My family has apparently been worshipping at the Ram temple in Kharwasa since it was founded.
I also visited Valsad which is where my father’s family is from and thus where I am from for all intents and purposes. Everything is so much more industrialized and obviously there are just a ton more people, the place has almost entirely lost its village like feel. None the less its very soothing to return to one’s place of origin. I spent one of the most memorable summer’s of my life with my Bha and Didi in Valsad. Coming back just refreshed all those memories.
The day I came to Daman was the same day I returned in the very early morning hours from Mahabaleshwar. The trip to Mahabaleshwar was to say the least amazingly memorable. Since its the monsoon season and Mahabaleshwar is 4500 feet up we were literally walking in clouds the entire time, of course because of who I am and who I was with the skies did clear up to afford us some excellent views. When Nirav and I went radio antennae tower climbing I had the water in the air forming drops directally on my hair and glasses it was just an amazing experience. This is all going on as I am rebonding with friends from a time long gone. Maulik is my older brother by a month and we grew up together until I left India. Kalpesh and Jagesh are both my school friends. Nirav is Pramod uncle’s son, thus damn near a brother and Gaurav is my masi’s (mom’s sister) son thus also a brother. So with company like this in a location like Mahabaleshwar you can’t really go wrong. I doubt I will forget the political discussion we had the one night we did sleep there. Also the motion sickness inducing ride down the hills the night we left is also not going to be forgotten easily. I didn’t throw up but I’m quite sure Maulik threw up for both of us.
Tomorrow morning I’ll head back to Bombay via some fast train or the other, which by the way is a really fun way to travel. Then tomorrow night will be spent in Bombay and by Thursday afternoon Gaurav and I will be on Kovalam beach drinking coconut milk from coconuts and counting the clouds go by.
So until next time…enjoy the photos!
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