Daman Meets Daman                                        -09 APR 2018 
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       While getting snapped yesterday against the Neon sign-board ‘DAMAN’, that ogles prominently at the harbor entrance of our UT embedded on South Gujarat coast, my wife couldn’t resist quipping ‘That’s Daman against Daman’…My childhood flashed past me with that quizzical statement from Meena. When I was born, Grandma named me ‘Rippu-Daman’ and I was hailed as ‘Daman’  by all paternal Uncles-Aunts and cousins.

       Last Saturday, Anuj rang us up at about 4pm from his Lower Parel-Redfm office with an offer for a Comedy Show at Vapi at 7:30 pm, 150 kms north of Borivali. He asked us to leave by 5 pm to R/V him at 5.45 pm at Vasai enroute to our destination for the two hr show, and return back by mid night. We jumped at his invite, picked him up, drove the smooth Highway to reach the Auditorium in time. When Anuj presented the entry tickets, the man at the counter told him that the show was for the next day. Pointing at the tickets he grinned, ‘Look, its printed 8^th Apr’. Anuj paled, ‘Shit, its tomorrow’….Mine and Meena’s response ‘So what, koi gal ni, we’ll watch it tomorrow’…. Lets go to Wardroom (Offrs Mess), Coast Guard Air station Daman 13 kms due west of Vapi… They’d certainly entertain us, as I had been commissioning crew of the premium Air Squadron CGAS-700 at Calcutta, some 35 yrs ago .The only problem was we were not carrying overnight kit with us… Nevertheless enroute to Daman, we collected essential toiletry items and carried some packed dinner…. The mess Secy was most cordial to allot us No-1 accommodation.

       Next morning, after a sumptuous breakfast of Masala Dosas, we went around site-seeing Daman’s attractive locales including the fortified Light-house and Jampore Beach….Daman is famous for its Bars and free flowing liquor. Gujjus flock the place day and night for quenching their thirst ….  Daman, Ladies and gentlemen  is bifurcated into Nani-Daman and Moti-Daman, meaning Small and Large (definitely not the peg measures) respectively….While we were on drive for sight seeing Anuj, quipped ‘Papa, Daman toh meri Nani aur Moti ne apas mein hi baant lee hai’ (Meena’s pet name is Moti). I replied with a tongue in cheek comment, ‘ Beta, Yeh toh Maa – Beti ki apsi mili bhagat hai, is mein mera koi dosh nahi’   

        In the evening we enjoyed the show by  standup comedian Biswa Kalyan Rath, an Oriya boy who has made Mumbai his Home. You can glance at his style of humour at Youtube. He is an IIT grad from KGP. I did enjoy his style of intelligent comedy.

        But there was much more ‘Three Idiots’ style humour at stake at No-1 Coast Guard Officers Mess, by the three Idiots who landed up sans any overnight kit and retired for the night in the 3 towels, provided by the Mess, which they improvised as their lungis….Watch the Lungi Dance, that they performed next morning.