Bridge Across Troubled Waters!

MAN RAISES AND NATURE RAZES BUT THE HUMAN SPIRIT RISES UP EACH TIME!

Come rain or shine, these 2 colonial siblings – Damao Grande & Damao Pequeno – are inseparable! In fact, the river Daman Ganga is looked upon as a mother embracing her 2 children under the watchful eye of San Jeronimo with his 2 giants and a dog guarding the Gate of the Damão Pequeno fort.

On the 20th of June 2004, Damão Grande & Damão Piqueno reached out their little hands (Damao in Portuguese means ‘Give me your hand!’) once again towards each other at the inaugural function when the newly repaired bridge was thrown open to the public.

The evening air was jubilant with never-ending motorcades, the headlamps turned on and horns blowing non-stop; throngs of people crossed over from both sides with even our colonial cousins from Silvassa and Dadra & Nagar Haveli joining in!

A startling revelation was that the flow of humanity, oblivious to the new bridge, proceeded triumphantly across it without even a pause, right through the streets of Damão meeting fellow Damanese and exchanging pleasantries like it was New Year’s Day!

It is this bonding that the people of Daman have, irrespective of caste or creed, which is unbreakable and has withstood the test of time. After all, everyone has been ‘baptized’ in the waters of the Daman Ganga!

The bridge came down again only 2 months later in August 2004 due to torrential rains and man seems to have given up this time around but nothing seems to ever dampen the spirit of the people of Daman.

Copyright © 2005 Noël Gama
https://noelgama.com