Old quarters of Nani Daman

To my surprise, a walk in the old quarters of Nani Daman is what no one talks about. Probably all tourists are busy exploring the bigger monuments missing out on the daily life and old heritage buildings that lie unnoticed and ignored in the bylanes of Nani Daman. On my last day in Daman, when I had seen all the forts and churches, I decided to pick up my camera and take a walk in the residential areas. I purposefully ignored the main roads and walked into the narrow lanes near the taxi stand and main market of Nani Daman.

The streets were deserted and peaceful with few children playing around, and sleepy old men and women sitting in their courtyards. Life seemed laid back, lazy and pleasant. Remnants of Portuguese and Parsi buildings lay scattered everywhere. Few were decently maintained by their owners who still lived in them, while many were left abandoned with broken window glasses and a courtyard full of weeds. The houses still had old pastel colours on them in shades of ochre, pink, blue and green that has gradually been chipping off under the influence of sun, rain, and salty sea winds. The red tiled and thatched roofs of these houses were a stark contrast in the foreground of high rise yet ugly modern buildings that have come up in recent years. The ministry of tourism has plans to start a heritage walk in these lanes which might result in restoration of many of these old houses. But that plan seems far from being fulfilled.