The holy month of Adar usually corresponded with the summer post-exam May school vacation. Eighty years ago Udvada had a sizable Parsi population. Devotees, believers in the hamkar (auspicious) roz of Adar would throng to the Iranshah Atash Behram, not to mention the tourists and vacationers who occupied hotels and bungalows to enjoy the weather.
Udvada’s beach was a great attraction as sea erosion was unknown then. Devotees would visit the shore to pray to Ava Ardivisur and to gaze at the spectacle of the setting sun.
Udvada’s beach was a great attraction for visitors
Vendors set up mandaps (stalls), doing thriving business selling ice cream, and cold drinks like Rogers raspberry and lemonade. Coca Cola and Thums Up were nonexistent. Trains brought ice with which to cool the drinks. It was conveyed to the mandaps in huge slabs covered with sawdust and buried in the soil to prolong the life of the fast-melting commodity. Other stalls dotting the shore sold mouth-watering eatables. Palanquin operators provided enjoyable rides.
The end of Adar mah marked the end of the summer vacations, and the wait for the impending monsoons. Devotees and tourists returned to their hometowns carrying with them fond memories of the month spent in Udvada.
In view of the heavy traffic during Adar mah, have accidents occurred there in recent times? The tragic accident that claimed two precious lives a couple of years ago occurred outside Udvada. During the past 80 years I can recall only one accident during Adar mah when two buses collided headlong at a turning point in the road leading from the station to the town. No lives were lost though some people suffered fractures. Dr V. M. MEHER-HOMJI
vispymeherhomji@gmail.com