THE AWAITED JOURNEY [PART 1 : VOLUME I]

 

 {STATUE OF UNITY}

"Round of Applause to every Indian citizen who helped and gave shape to this heritage monument and represented the Value of Unity" 

October 2018, when this beautiful piece of art was prepared and officially announced for visitation, and the first look of this statue was on every single news channel, it was amazing to see this 182 m long statue and every inch of the statue was really attracting me to watch this monument with my own eyes. This monument is a tribute to our First Deputy Prime Minister as well as the First Home Minister of Independent India and an Independent Activist SARDAR VALLABH BHAI PATEL [also called the Iron Man of India] on his 143rd birthday anniversary. 

Who with his firm determination, could transform such imperialism into today's unified India. Thus, this Great statue is called The "STATUE OF UNITY". Situated in Kevadia, Gujarat (known as Railway station Ekta Nagar). 

When this Statue was being telecasted on TV, I was too curious to see our nation's pride. Many months passed by, but this sculpture was still creating a great impact on people's minds. I decided to watch this statue in 2019 as I recalled. But still, for some reason, I couldn't go and visit this place. The biggest thing I hate about it is whenever I can't visit someplace, social media will keep showing me more videos and photos so that my craving for it would be 2x more for it. 

After some months, when I couldn't visit this place it got scribbled into my list of places to visit. This is when I thought to launch this series so that I can share my events and happenings while I am on my Awaited journeys. 

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October 12th, 2022,

When I was so bored of my life with the same routine same hours of studies, same books, same people around me. I needed a freaking change in my life but I couldn't.. In such an instance, my parents asked me to search for some places so that our family could visit for a week. As they asked me to do so I got very much excited because for me it has been a long time since I traveled. I gave many suggestions to my parents excitingly and got to know the fun fact about it, that parents already shortlisted 2 options and asking me was pretty much a gesture to ask their older son... and more fun fact, they asked me to choose between that two options they shortlisted and before I choose from that option they already decided our journey for it. 

In short, it was a piece of information to proceed that we are going out of town for a holiday on Diwali and your option won't be applicable for it so save your time and get done with the bookings!

Luckily, that option was the same destination I was going to choose... so it pretty much worked my way and, as usual, I got excited and got done with all the bookings my next day.

On 23rd September, that was the first day of Diwali, we headed off to Ahmedabad, Gujarat... by my personal favorite Train Mumbai-Ahmedabad {Double Decker Express}, I was happy, I couldn't stop myself thinking about how the destination(Statue Of Unity) would be? What will be the experience of almost 3 hours of road trip from Ahmedabad to Kevadia? 

Finally, we reached Ahmedabad, I don't know what is my bond with Gujarat state even if I am not a Gujarati person I always like to visit this place and have a kind of relaxing vibe from this place and of course, the food... although now that I think of  Food, maybe that's the reason I could vibe to Gujarat...

On the 26th of September morning, we started our road trip towards Kevadia. A long ride, personally, I like road trips but as we were 7 people in one car it was just not easy to have a comfortable ride that too for more than 3 hours, we managed and I really framed each and every viewpoint, recollected that Statue's height and its surrounding which I saw on TV. My mind was intensely filled with excitement, the monument image, the food, the gallery view, and many more. 

When we were almost 15 km away from the destination we saw a slight or you can say a blurry look of that monument, I calmed myself down by saying... "At last, here it is..."

Sometime around 10:30 am, we reached at Ekta Nagar Parking lot (which is approximately 3/4 km away from the Statue of Unity main gate), where we were supposed to park our cars and continue  the rest of our journey through the management service buses (Or you may prefer the E rikshaws available and I am proud to say that each and every rikshaw was driven and totally handed over to the Ladies drivers.)  But unfortunately, the people who visited that monument were more than expected so... we had to travel on the local buses which were arranged by the management of the Statue, and proceeded towards the main gate. As we reached the main gate we saw the pretty huge and beautifully carved sculpture... It really gave me goosebumps and caught me thinking about how they carved that piece so finely. It was an elegant piece of art and it gave me such respect for the artist and workers who gave shape to that masterpiece.

As we headed ahead we saw a huge line, the number of visitors was more than 1 lakh... Seriously the whole lot of excitement in my heart vanished by watching the visitor line extend to 1 km from the main gate and my family including my grandmother waited for more than 1 hour to just get past through ticket checking line, and more lines inside the main gate for security checking which was more frustrating.

I was really frustrated because of the mismanagement, people were pushing each other to get entry through the main gate, people standing in line for more than 2 hours yelling at other people who were barging into the lines cutting the line, and moving ahead... it was all messed up, the enthusiasm of the visitors to see that monument was on whole another level and as it was Diwali Vacation going on the crowd was 10 times more than usual. 

In between this mess, my mom was also included, watching someone cutting the line and getting into the main gate before her made her soo furious, she first started yelling at the people who were cutting the line, even though those people weren't listening to her and got in, she got more violent she started scolding the army dressed security officers for their nuisance management and that scolding continued until we got inside for our security checking, there she yelled at every management person standing in front of her for their mismanagement. It was fun to watch but at the same time frustrating.

In this case, people were helping each other to form a perfect line so that no one could cut the line and fit into it, sharing each snack they carried helping each other out helping the senior citizens and babies so that they can wait in shadow, that kind of unity was unintentionally carried by the visitors and was perfect for that monuments tribute. Thousands of people standing in line helped each other survive that frustrating line without caring about religion or caste, coordinating and being hospitable to each other.

 As we moved from that line we entered the surrounding of the statue I saw the gem for which I travelled here the 182 meters humongous statue of SARDAR VALLABHBHAI PATEL. 

An enchanting view to watch, on the left-hand side across the river you can see the 3D crafted letters (Written STATUE OF UNITY), as the monuments are built on the riverfront of the Narmada, you would see the stunning view of the Narmada River and in between you would see the statue standing with pride representing the SIGN OF UNITY.

The Statue of Unity has 5 zones from its base to the level of Patel's shins the first zone which has 3 levels including the exhibition area, lower balcony, and Rooftop.

The First zone also contains a memorial garden and museum, the Second zone reaches up to Patel's thighs, Third extends up to the gallery viewpoint at a height of 153 m

The fourth zone is the maintenance area while the final zone is the head and shoulder of the statue

Unfortunately, we couldn't visit the gallery view due to the excess of visitors we couldn't get any slot bookings.

Below the statue, they have created a huge inspirational and exotic museum having many historical and inspirational facts about Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The museum contains small sections namely:

MUSEUM

Section of Species Found In Kevadia Region

1) A human-size monument crafted the same as the Original Statue of Unity

2) Led screen mentioning "Make In India".

3) 3 to 4 small Theatre explaining the historical facts about "Iron Man of India".

4) Most interesting and My favorite section is "Make A Pledge".

I PLEDGE TO HELP THE LESS PRIVILEGED CHILDREN WITH EDUCATION, TO MAKE MY INDIA AN EDUCATED NATION 

{My family members also took a pledge}

5) History of Bardoli Satyagraha / Jail Dairies... {and many more}:

Privy Council

India after Division 

It was interesting to see the view from the shin of Patel's Statue of Sardar Sarovar Dam as well as the surroundings of Kevadia, the full monument was well crafted with bronze plates as well as concrete.

View of SARDAR SAROVAR DAM

View from the Shin of Patel's Statue

The Statue of Unity really represents that the Unity is standing and will stand straight in the future though. It is a great tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for their determination to transform imperialism into today's unified India. I am glad, to be a part of this Unity.

Overall, the experience of visiting this place was not as quiet as I expected...Yeah!! I wanted to stay at this place till evening and enjoy watching the statue in peace as well as attend the laser show in the evening, but we couldn't visit this place nicely due to the crowd rush and lack of management. But to see this monument with my own eyes is only the thing I traveled for and I am satisfied with that, maybe next time we could do it more properly but for now my Awaited journey was not as good I expected or planned.

Sometimes, things don't go as you plan no matter what you do for it no matter how excited you get or what you sacrifice for it, and this  Awaited journey was one example of it, but it is not necessary that every journey we do would be good. Some journeys teach us a lesson some journeys are not quite as good as this one but still, I was able to watch the monument I dreamed of, and at last, it was in front of me.

Although one place from my checklist got crossed, My Awaited journeys will still continue... no matter how bad or good they are I will complete my checklist and share my future Awaited journeys with you.