Daman

Daman was a Portuguese colony until the mid-sixties. It may explain why people can purchase alcohol in Daman but are prohibited from taking it to Gujarat (a dry state). I did see quite a few bars and liquor stores but hardly saw anyone drinking or drunk on the streets. There was a commotion in front of one of the liquor stores which seemed to be about a Muslim man confronting the owner about the evils of liquor and the hereafter. Since my Gujarati is non-existent (sorry dad) I may be mistaken or maybe somewhat hopeful about what transpired.

Daman is made up of two Islands and if you look really close you can see the lingering colonial heritage. For the most part, Daman was not what I expected. I spent some time walking through the streets of the ‘small’ Island, took a ferry to the walled ‘big’ Island and went back to my hotel to watch cricket. Thankfully the cricket was amazing. The West Indies beat the Australians. For once in recent matches, Brian Lara proved to me why he is my second favorite person from Trinidad (well not really that close to you Michelle, a very distant second for sure).


On the beach of ‘small’ Daman I saw kids playing alongside open sewer pipes that spewed raw sewerage onto the beach. People sat on the banks seemingly unperturbed as the kids chased each other and enjoyed themselves. My heart sunk to see the scenes of people and animals all mixed into the sewer mayhem that gripped everything on that beach.


I have seen open sewers in Mexico on both coasts. And I have read that the waters around the Florida Keys are all infested with e-coli. What will be left of our earth if we keep polluting so senselessly? I know my boy Pedro (PDP) will have answers for me when next we meet in Portland.


Until then I will struggle to come to terms with senseless polluting. To be fair most of the blame must be directed at the government. Where is the planning that must accompany any area where people live and work? But individuals are hardly to be left out of the equation. The women in this picture hardly blinked an eye as she just tossed buckets of trash onto the beach. This is insane. And, please save me from any commentary that will question my loyalty and motive for critiquing this aspect of life in India.


I eventually turned my attention to the stray dogs that were running all around the kids and the sewerage. All over India, even on campus at JNU, you find beautiful dogs on the edge of their lives. The hardest part is to see puppies playing while knowing that they are unlikely to survive for too long.


I stood and watched this tired mother feed her hungry pups for the longest time. She hardly even paid attention to my close peering. I will remember this picture with hope. I choose to believe that we are required to care for animals as part of our humanity. No struggle for justice anywhere is complete without attention to the security and dignity of all animal life. I wonder what Wendy is doing now? She lived the first five months of her life at the SPCA in Kimberley. We adopted her just days before she was scheduled to be sent up there. Now I can't imagine what life without her would be like.

I left Daman for Mumbai from Vapi. I took a train that seemed to be filled with people festive in mood. It was after all the weekend before Diwali and many travelers were on their way to join their families. I sat in the general boarding area even though I had a second class ticket. The breeze felt good and the big man next to me said “its better to be here than in there.” I don’t know if he was right but I arrived in Mumbai five hours later feeling that it would of all been the same anyway.