This trip unfortunately originated out of a tragedy - the devastating Gujarat Earthquake in 2001.
We were in MICA then and on Jan 26th we were rudely awaken by the earthquake, which measure 7.9 on the richter scale. Thankfully there was no damage in the institute neither was anyone there harmed. So after quickly checking the well-being of our family members in other cities and letting them know that we are fine too, we were all ready to get back into our normal routines.
But wait we cannot do that as the infrastructure slowly collapsed - phone lines went down (so did the internet), none of our 'visiting' profs would visit anymore, getting in food to the campus was becoming a problem etc etc. And finally the institute was shut down for a week !!
Now, here we were with one week of windfall vaccations with nothing to do. That was when Div & I decided that we could go to Diu for a few days. One it is the closest destination and two since all sorts of communication channels are down there is no way our parents would know ;)
So thus started our first trip together. .. for those who dont know, Diu is a small island at the southernmost tip of Gujarat in West of India. It was another Portugese colony in India like Goa & Daman.
This was a long time ago, 6 years to be precise, so I dont remember a lot of details. But I remember getting onto a bus from Ahmedabad to Diu for a 10 hour journey and reaching Diu early morning. We walked around looking for a suitable and cheap place to stay but finally stayed at Hoka near Nagoa beach, the usual favourite with MICAns. Its a nice resort with no frills but provides you with clean rooms.
Now we did not own a camera then, so all pics here are from internet or friends.
Due to Diu's proximity to Gujarat most tourists here are weekend revellers from the Gujju-land. But the main reason for this place to be a favourite is that Gujarat is a dry state (selling alcohol is illegal) whereas Diu not only has lot of alcohol, it is very cheap too :) Thus most people here come to get drunk, so true to the tradition, we too started our day with some beer.
We then hired a two wheeler and ventured out exploring beaches. Since the weather was still slightly cold & the water chilly, there was no way of entering the waters. So we hopped from one beach to the other absorbing the sun, sand & sea. I dont remember the names of beaches but I remember going to NaGoa beach and to another rocky beach where we saw jelly fish. This is being my first 'proper' visit to a beach (if u exclude my trip to Marina beach with my parents when I was 10), I was stunned by the beauty of it.
Since venturing into waters was not much of an option, we turned our attention to the seafood & beer. And if I remember right we were not disappointed !
Like I said, we did not own a camera at that point in time and thus we have no pictures of this trip. But while we were strolling down one of the beaches, we were approached by a tourist photographer. He said he would click our picture & mail it to us for 20 Rs. Now neither of us believed him but we agreed to take the risk. And actually forgot about this as soon as we were back. But there it was in our mailbox a week later !!!
Anyways back to the trip, the second day we went to see the Diu fort. Now this is a magnifient monument - one it is so huge that it is a city in itself and is protected with steep cliffs on three sides. We spent around half a day exploring this fort and if you are a history buff like Div , then you should spend time here too. The fort has an amazing number of underground escape tunnels, cannons lining the walls and cannon balls lying around.
Then we headed back to Ahmedabad, with couple of bottles of alcohol stashed away in our bags for our friends back in the hostel. But on the way the bus was stopped for a surprise check by the police. Now we were sweating at the prospect of being caught and arrested!! Though we knew we could probably get away by bribing the policeman (and maybe giving him our bottles too) but we were scared - what if we had encountered the only honest policeman in the IPS !. But since I looked innocent enough the policemen decided to not check our bags and we survived it :))
We were in MICA then and on Jan 26th we were rudely awaken by the earthquake, which measure 7.9 on the richter scale. Thankfully there was no damage in the institute neither was anyone there harmed. So after quickly checking the well-being of our family members in other cities and letting them know that we are fine too, we were all ready to get back into our normal routines.
But wait we cannot do that as the infrastructure slowly collapsed - phone lines went down (so did the internet), none of our 'visiting' profs would visit anymore, getting in food to the campus was becoming a problem etc etc. And finally the institute was shut down for a week !!
Now, here we were with one week of windfall vaccations with nothing to do. That was when Div & I decided that we could go to Diu for a few days. One it is the closest destination and two since all sorts of communication channels are down there is no way our parents would know ;)
So thus started our first trip together. .. for those who dont know, Diu is a small island at the southernmost tip of Gujarat in West of India. It was another Portugese colony in India like Goa & Daman.
This was a long time ago, 6 years to be precise, so I dont remember a lot of details. But I remember getting onto a bus from Ahmedabad to Diu for a 10 hour journey and reaching Diu early morning. We walked around looking for a suitable and cheap place to stay but finally stayed at Hoka near Nagoa beach, the usual favourite with MICAns. Its a nice resort with no frills but provides you with clean rooms.
Now we did not own a camera then, so all pics here are from internet or friends.
Due to Diu's proximity to Gujarat most tourists here are weekend revellers from the Gujju-land. But the main reason for this place to be a favourite is that Gujarat is a dry state (selling alcohol is illegal) whereas Diu not only has lot of alcohol, it is very cheap too :) Thus most people here come to get drunk, so true to the tradition, we too started our day with some beer.
We then hired a two wheeler and ventured out exploring beaches. Since the weather was still slightly cold & the water chilly, there was no way of entering the waters. So we hopped from one beach to the other absorbing the sun, sand & sea. I dont remember the names of beaches but I remember going to NaGoa beach and to another rocky beach where we saw jelly fish. This is being my first 'proper' visit to a beach (if u exclude my trip to Marina beach with my parents when I was 10), I was stunned by the beauty of it.
Since venturing into waters was not much of an option, we turned our attention to the seafood & beer. And if I remember right we were not disappointed !
Like I said, we did not own a camera at that point in time and thus we have no pictures of this trip. But while we were strolling down one of the beaches, we were approached by a tourist photographer. He said he would click our picture & mail it to us for 20 Rs. Now neither of us believed him but we agreed to take the risk. And actually forgot about this as soon as we were back. But there it was in our mailbox a week later !!!
Anyways back to the trip, the second day we went to see the Diu fort. Now this is a magnifient monument - one it is so huge that it is a city in itself and is protected with steep cliffs on three sides. We spent around half a day exploring this fort and if you are a history buff like Div , then you should spend time here too. The fort has an amazing number of underground escape tunnels, cannons lining the walls and cannon balls lying around.
Then we headed back to Ahmedabad, with couple of bottles of alcohol stashed away in our bags for our friends back in the hostel. But on the way the bus was stopped for a surprise check by the police. Now we were sweating at the prospect of being caught and arrested!! Though we knew we could probably get away by bribing the policeman (and maybe giving him our bottles too) but we were scared - what if we had encountered the only honest policeman in the IPS !. But since I looked innocent enough the policemen decided to not check our bags and we survived it :))
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