As our bus was moving up Kevadiya road in no time a huge statue known as, tallest statue in the world appeared, giving me goosebumps.
On the backdrop of calm Narmada river surrounded by mountains and lush greenery, there stood the majestic statue of Sri Sardar Vallabhai Patel.
He served as prime minister of India from 1947 to 1950 who was a barrister and played a key role in Independence of India. He was called as Sardar meaning chief.
Statue of unity is a colossal statue that is 182m tall facing Sardar Sarovar dam.
The project was first decided in 2010, which commenced in 2013 and was inagurated in 2018. Clad in dhoti, wearing sandals this statue is made out of bronze.
There are five zones around this statue- The statue exhibition area, museum, garden and the ride up the statue.
Though we booked tickets online, as per our hotel guidance we went to the ticket counter to check our ticket position. Our ticket had five things to do, due to lack to time and being a two day travel we planned the following things to do.
-Using the bus that takes you to the statue, we decided to walk as much as we could inside the premises. The roads are huge, pathways are beautifully decorated, there are boards, hoardings telling the right direction, all you need is a pair of walking shoes and love for walking.
-The view of the statue is breathtaking, surrounded by ranges of western ghats, flow of calm Narmada river. Holding the railings, I actually didn’t know for how long I stood experiencing the lovely nature. This view is known as selfie point, but the challenge was trying to click yourself covering the statue. I even tried a Panaromic view, filling the hills, river and the statue.
-There is a huge museum on the statue premises, which is a must to visit. There is a miniature statue of Sardar Vallabhai Patelji, along with lot of sections explaining his life, things he used and his movements. There are photos in black and white, while you could find lot of electronic boards explaining what each section is about. There are lot of photos showing his association with Gandhiji and earned the title Iron man of India.
-From the museum we took the lift up way towards the statue. A round room welcomes us, which is covered with lot of grills and railings giving you full view of the flow of Narmada river. The light blue river, popularly known as Reva, Narbada origins from Narmada kund in Anuppur district. A big river which flows 161kms long in Gujarati. In Sanskrit this river is known as Giver of pleasure. A lady clad in uniform told us, we are standing 160m high on the chest portion of the statue. She gave us full insight about the statue.
-We walked up the stairs very near the statue. I tried craning my neck as long as I could, I did feel giddy and creepy all through my spine making me ask, “How could they build this tall?”.Walking around the place gave me yet another view of the smooth, lovely river.
-From here we took an auto to cactus butterfly garden which is on the other side of the statue, to say exactly all through the ride I saw backside of the statue. Before going into the garden, let me share about the auto. It is electrically operated, driven by women that unless it is fully raised climbing up the road is tough. A kind of Tuk Tuk model, with two open windows on both sides, where drivers seat is fully open.
-Crossing 30mts we reached the garden. Here too we booked tickets online, where showing the mobile we just got into the garden. Variety of cactus welcomes me. A small round plant, with inneumerable thorns gaping we got into the greenhouse which has variety cactus. The best one I loved was, small cactus in bright red color. Behind the garden is the Narmada river, where you could stand gazing amidst bees buzzing and sparrows walking beside.
With this our trip ended, we got back and rode towards Ankaleshwar to catch our train to Mumbai.
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Though a short trip we did amid just arriving omicron, was not only refreshing but very very rejuvenating for the weather was lovely, chill blended with warm mornings, making my weekend trip memorable.
