Daman, the name may be alien to many of us, except the ones with an interest in places, people, precisely Geography.
Geography, being one of my favourite subjects, along with English and Maths, the names of the Union Territories and their capitals taught by our great Social Studies Madam, Ms. Lilly Bedford Solomon in a commanding voice, nearly four decades back at the elite St.Ignatius' Convent Higher School, Palayamkottai , the Oxford of South India still resonates in my memory. May her tribes live long !
Daman, one sentence I know, earlier about the place is that it is the capital of the Union Territory, Daman and Diu, earlier occupied by the Portuguese. Daman, not read about often in the headlines of our state newspapers, though, located in our country, the name goes into a state of oblivion like the thousands of cities and towns of our country.
It is ironical that frequent occasions occur to us to get first hand and direct information about some of the countries and cities from conversations with some friends and relatives living in cities across the globe, be it USA, UK, the Gulf, Australia, News Zealand etc. Within our country such known people live either in the Metropolitan or some other big cities, outside our state. Rarely do we get a chance to come across people from many parts of India.
So, a couple of months back,on knowing that a Professor from Daman was going to be the External Examiner for the Viva Voce for awarding the doctorate degree to my niece, excited was I to meet him, as he is basically from Tamil Nadu.
The Professor, as obvious was not only a man of high academic credentials but also very humble. With his hard work and dedication, he has made a long way from a town near Coimbatore to the Union Territory of Daman, as a faculty in the Govt. College of Arts and Science by passing the UPSC examinations. A giant leap indeed through education and hard work !
Getting a chance to chat with him for an hour during lunch was liberal education of the highest order!
Geography, being one of my favourite subjects, along with English and Maths, the names of the Union Territories and their capitals taught by our great Social Studies Madam, Ms. Lilly Bedford Solomon in a commanding voice, nearly four decades back at the elite St.Ignatius' Convent Higher School, Palayamkottai , the Oxford of South India still resonates in my memory. May her tribes live long !
Daman, one sentence I know, earlier about the place is that it is the capital of the Union Territory, Daman and Diu, earlier occupied by the Portuguese. Daman, not read about often in the headlines of our state newspapers, though, located in our country, the name goes into a state of oblivion like the thousands of cities and towns of our country.
It is ironical that frequent occasions occur to us to get first hand and direct information about some of the countries and cities from conversations with some friends and relatives living in cities across the globe, be it USA, UK, the Gulf, Australia, News Zealand etc. Within our country such known people live either in the Metropolitan or some other big cities, outside our state. Rarely do we get a chance to come across people from many parts of India.
So, a couple of months back,on knowing that a Professor from Daman was going to be the External Examiner for the Viva Voce for awarding the doctorate degree to my niece, excited was I to meet him, as he is basically from Tamil Nadu.
The Professor, as obvious was not only a man of high academic credentials but also very humble. With his hard work and dedication, he has made a long way from a town near Coimbatore to the Union Territory of Daman, as a faculty in the Govt. College of Arts and Science by passing the UPSC examinations. A giant leap indeed through education and hard work !
Getting a chance to chat with him for an hour during lunch was liberal education of the highest order!
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