Statue of Unity: Part One

by PRANITA June 01, 2024

Statue of Unity: Part One

It was an unplanned weekend outing with my sister. The trains and SOU bookings were done by her; since I don't have expertise I was out. The change for my style of traveling was that the journey was by train and just a day without stay. We packed our handbags and boarded the 10:40 pm Churchgate fast, which was running late, and got off at Borivali station at 11:30 pm. The station was flooded with people and their luggages for it was the Holi weekend!

24th March 2024 midnight to morning

We boarded the Dadar Ekta Nagar Superfast express train at 12:10 am in the AC two tier compartment. We had the upper and lower seats on the side berth. I occupied the lower seat while my sister climbed in the upper one. This was my first time in an interstate train and also the AC compartment. There was a warm blanket and two bedsheets packed in a paper envelope. I spread one of the sheets on the seat and wrapped one inside the blanket, closed the curtain and watched the creek water and the full moon while my train passed over it. I waited to watch my Virar station passing by and then dozed off for rest of the journey. The TC did come to check the tickets, my sister showed it to him. The train halted at Vadodara for quite sometime while I just arose from slumber. Finally I woke up at 7 am and just watched the view outside. The sun was shining too much, after all it's summer. The train reached the Ekta Nagar station at 7:30 am.

Ekta Nagar Railway station

We alighted the train and started searching for the ladies waiting room. Good that we found it just in time, to avoid the queue. We freshened up and left the station premises. There is SOU bus service included in the booked tickets. We boarded the bus and drove towards the statue. There was a pickup point in between. Finally we reached the SOU bus station and alighted at Point 7.

The statue was visible from this distance. We walked out to the main road to have breakfast of maggi and chai, coconut and watermelon. Post breakfast we entered the SOU entry gate at 9 am. It was a lot crowded given the weekend and for the first time I heard a lot of Gujarati words. We passed through the ticket scanning and then bag scanning and entered the premises.

Wall of Unity

We passed by this wall, fountain area with a lot of bushes. Then we strolled in the garden area for sometime as much as we could go close to the statue plaza. It was very sunny and we have to walk a lot. There are washroom and drinking water facilities at regular intervals. We passed by the food court. Good that we had our breakfast outside, the restaurants were in cleaning mode. Then we had to walk on the bridge connecting the viewing point area to the statue plaza. There are travelator on both sides for entry and exit respectively. There is a range of flower bushes adjacent to the travelators. We reached the statue plaza at 9 am.

Statue Plaza

It consists of the museum, way to the viewing gallery and two mini theatres. It starts with the making of the statue process, miniature head of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, miniature model of the whole statue.

We queued up at the Viewing Gallery section before time, hence were asked to come on time. We watched the AV on the life journey of Sardar Patel in one of the mini theatres. Post that we queued up again for the viewing gallery on time.

The Viewing Gallery at Statue of Unity has been designed in a way so that viewers can enjoy the natural surroundings. There are no obstacles or a glass installed on the facade of the viewing gallery. It has been kept open for the simple reason that people can enjoy the experience of watching the natural beauty from such a height. The Observation Deck is situated at the height of about 135 meters near the chest of the Sardar Patel Statue.

Frankly speaking there was not much to see, the water was scarce. It was not a wow moment.

The Statue of Unity is the World’s Tallest Statue, with a height of 182 metres (597 feet). It is located in the state of Gujarat, India, on the Narmada River facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Finally we got back to the statue plaza. The museum showcases the life of Sardar Patel, his contributions to the Freedom Movement against British rule and his role in the merger of princely states.