* The Inner Child at SILVASSA – Capital of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli

* The Inner Child at SILVASSA – Capital of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli

Do you think it is time for a short getaway from Mumbai?y

Are you looking forward to taking your aged parents for a slow paced holiday?

Then you can decide to go to a union territory that you had learnt about in your geography textbooks.

Yes, so did Sunny Shobha…It was time to go to Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

Sleepy Shobha looked out of the window from her car. She was sulking because she had forgotten her handbag with her phone and her wallet back in Mumbai. Sunny Shobha told her to get work-related matters out of her head. She was looking forward to this tryst with nature.in Silvassa and it was Gods way of asking her to de-addict from the phone. And her parents debit card could always be used for emergencies.

As soon as we crossed the border of Maharashtra and Gujarat, we took the option of getting off the National Highway at Talasri. The Union territory of Nagar Haveli has 68 villages and we entered it from the southern side under an arch that boldly welcomed us to this seemingly rural terrain. As we drove on the Udhwa –Khanvel Road, we realized the contrast between the complex city life and the simple tribal life of the villagers. We drove past the Hindustan Petroleum factory and Sunny Shobha remembered how one of the trainers whom she had mentored years ago, had conducted a safety training workshop at this place.

We kept asking for directions to the Chouda village and some tribal looking strangers seemed indifferent to even bother to answer us. Finally we reached our hotel La Heritage at Khanvel which was overlooking the simple fields of the countryside. It was a good contrast from the hustle and noise of the city that we came from. And it was quite reasonably priced such that my 81 year old fashioned father would not grumble about our extravagance!

 

In the evening we drove on the bridge across the Sakartod river and saw a small dam on one side. We went to the nearby Butterfly park. Sunny Shobha was flitting from one flower to another like a light colourful butterfly. We did manage to see some butterflies and improve our general knowledge about them, however Sleepy Shobha ran to the safety of our car as we were attacked with huge sized mosquitoes instead!

Just opposite the Butterfly park at Khanvel was the colourfully decorated complex of the Nature Education Centre. The Warli paintings on the walls were a welcome sight to us city dwellers. Here we saw artificial replicas of the local wild species. We also read about the wonders of the forests and the natural wildlife in these areas. However the pink coloured observatory tower in the garden seemed to be stand out in the midst of the natural surroundings.

At night we had to visit the Silvassa city for some more discovery. We were also lucky to witness the pooja at the beautiful Swami Narayan temple filled with intricately carved panels. We had our meals at a Kathiawadi restaurant, relishing the local taste and flavour of the vegetarian fare of the region. We were then directed to a private house to buy some authentic tribal costume jewelry which I had not seen in the city markets.

On the next morning we had a very scenic drive on the Khanvel-Dhudhani Road. We drove past many tribal villages. In fact one of the government schools was celebrating their sports day right on the road itself. Restless Sleepy Shobha had to wait patiently along with hundreds of children cheering the racing enthusiasts running on the road! Sunny Shobha said this was proof that we were in a simple tribal area of the country.

Because of the Madhuban dam across the Damanganga river, there is a huge lake formed at Dudhani. We took a tranquil shikara ride across the water to get to the village of Kauncha. We had our leisurly breakfast in the midst of nature at the Himai Van resort. There were 11 young boys just relaxing in front of the television on a weekday morning- so different from the restless stress filled young faces that we see in the cities.  They were so used to normalcy in their lives that when Sunny Shobha gave them new instructions to serve us at the waterfront instead of the restaurant, they got flustered.

We drove past the Satmaliya deer sanctuary and actually spotted a deer from our car itself. Though we were just 1 km away from the Bindrabin Shiva temple, we decided against stopping there. We were more interested in going to the Lion safari park at the Vesona village. We were quite surprised to learn that of the 2 lions in the 20 acre complex, one had just died, and this so called safari in a caged vehicle was just to see one lone lioness that looked down at us with utter boredom. Being a royal Leo personality myself, I would have felt the same way if I was kept alone for many months! We had forgotten our handbag in the safari bus, when we returned about half an hour later, we found it back on the same seat…good that there were hardly any tourists to this place on a weekday!

The drive from Khanvel to Silvassa gave us a glimpse of the immense influence of tribal nature and the simplicity of this Union territory. There was hardly any visible evidence of the Portuguese rule in this area (with the exception of the beautiful ancient church of Our Lady of Piety). When in school we had learnt of the extra time and effort it took to finally get this union territory merged to the Republic of India in 1961.

We visited the Tribal Museum which is managed by the forest authorities and were surprised by the free entry to this amazing place. We could actually touch and feel most of the various items from the collections of masks, utensils, hunting tools and tribal jewelry on display.

We drove past the sprawling Hirwavan gardens which is a treat for nature lovers with its flower beds and waterfalls. We were not nature enthusiasts and decided against entering inside. After two days out of Mumbai, we had to return home to our commitments. So even though we saw a signboard saying that the impressive Vanganga Garden of Dadra was just half a kilometre away, we did not want to go in. Dadra is comparatively small with just three villages. We got out of the archway which now said “Thank you for visiting the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.” I wondered why it was called Haveli, when there was no such Haveli in the region. At least Silvassa was full of ‘silva’ meaning wood! A simple place that brought out my Sunny Shobha personality!

Just after we came out of the union Territory, the contrast in the environment was very visible and my Sleepy Shobha emerged from her hiding. We were suddenly surrounded with many normal looking commercial establishments of modern times. That is when we realized how lucky we were to have a memorable holiday amidst the simplistic natural greenery of Dadra and Nagar Haveli

*(There is an inner child within all of us. One that we were born as - warm and happy, optimistic, capable of serving and loving others, believing in the possibility of extra-ordinary achievements, filled with a kind of inner light, wonderment and positive energy, taking initiative and action...I will call that your Sunny inner child.

And then we are exposed to circumstances and experiences. Depending on the way we react to our situations, a new inner child emerges. One that we create -  cold and sad, pessimistic, capable of being indifferent or hating others,  believing oneself to be trapped within ordinary limits, filled with a kind of inner darkness cynicism and negative energy, lazily whining, not taking action, I will call that your Sleepy inner child.
You have a choice on which inner child you want to encourage in your life - your Sunny inner child or your Sleepy inner child?

I will call my inner child as Sunny Shobha and Sleepy Shobha. Together we will travel around the world).