Living in daman

Romancing the LAID-BACK indo-PortuGUese lifestYLE of daman

There's more to Daman than mixing drinks!🍹

Like mixing business with pleasure, and work with leisure, mixing comes easily in a place with a multicultural, multiracial and multilingual heritage.

I was born in Damão—in the government-run hospital 🏥 in Praça (Fort Area), to be precise—and I’ve lived here all my life; in all three areas: 

• Damão Pequeno (Small Daman) till age seven

• Damão Praça (Fort Area) most of my life 

• Damão Grande (Big Daman) 25 years 

I went to one school, at O L of Fatima Convent; one college at the Government Arts & Science College; and worked all my 30 years in HR, in one company, at one location.

I asked fellow Damanenses across the globe to list the best things about Daman and after adding my own, compiled a top 10 list in order of popularity...

  1. The Indo-Portuguese culture
  2. The beautiful Portuguese churches, chapels, crosses and grottos
  3. The unique Portuguese gilded wood carvings in the churches and chapels 
  4. The majestic Portuguese forts
  5. Drug-free beaches
  6. The Luso-Damanense sense of humour—Bocage’s legacy 😂 
  7. Exemplary communal harmony
  8. Great weather
  9. Abundant water-supply and cent per cent electrification
  10. Organic farm produce

But as a people person, I'd say Damão's exemplary Communal Harmony is the Big Daddy of everything Damanense—for it has not just withstood the test of time, like the cold stone monuments, but far more importantly…

Damão's communal harmony has withstood the test of ever-changing tides—for the last 450 years. 

Today, Daman has a lot on offer—for everyone:

For the traveler 🧳 
• Budget travel—you can get to Daman from the two nearest cities—Mumbai and Surat—by rail 🚊 
• Cheap hotels for the budget traveler 🏨 
• Good hotels and resorts by the Arabian Sea 🌊 
• Nice restaurants—Indian & Continental cuisine 🍽️ 
• Cheap eating places—roadside shacks are my favourite! 🍖 
• Lots of bars to do the ‘Viva’🍻 thing!
• Lots of local festivals and fairs 🎡 
• Cheap beach accommodations 🏖️ and camping sites ⛺️ 
• Hospitable locals 👋 
 
For the entrepreneur🧑‍💼 
• Business opportunities abound as the town is still growing 📊 
• Facilities for setting up industries 🏭 
• Cheap labour, though mostly migrant 👷 
• Good infrastructure 
• Near Vapi railway station 🚉 
• Close to the Golden Corridor (NH No. 8) 🛣️ 
• No power shortage ⚡️ 
• Few power failures 
• Good investment opportunities in real estate 🏘️ 

For Students 👩‍🎓 
• A number of schools, including English medium schools 🏫 
• A government college 🏫 
• A government polytechnic 🏫 
• An ITI offering certificates in various trades 👷‍♀️ 
• Professional colleges in fields such as medicine, 👩‍⚕️ dentistry, 🦷 engineering, computer science, pharmacy, nursing, etc. in the UT.

For job-seekers 🧑‍💼
• Ample employment opportunities in the industrial estates of  Somnath, Kachigam and Bhimpore 🏭 
• In government service 👮‍♀️ 
• In hotels, resorts and restaurants 🏨 
• In private hospitals and clinics 🏥 
 
For retirees 🧓 
• Temp jobs in factories 🏭 
• Part-time jobs in the hospitality sector 🏨 
• Teaching 🏫 
• In security agencies 👮‍♂️ 
• Front office/Secretarial support 🖥️ 

For Digital Nomads 💻 
Follow the leader! I now live the life of a digital nomad, albeit in my own backyard.

Here's to a great experience—whether you're on budget travel or not, short or extended stay, or, here forever. 🥂*

*I almost forgot... alcohol is amongst the cheapest in India 🤭