Victoria Visit

 Academic visit

Victoria park: A hidden gem of Bhavnagar city

Hello everyone, recently we visited on 31 august, 2024 at the Victoria park, a forest which had in the middle of Bhavnagar city. The Department of English has organized an academic visit at Victoria park. Bhavnagar is the only city in Gujarat to have a forest located in the heart of the city. Known as Victoria Park, spread over an estimated 500 acres of land, it is the lungs of the city.

As students of literature we are used to going into any such history, so let’s go into the history of victoria park and get some information. 

In 1890, during the reign of Maharaja Takht Sinhji, Bhavnagar was full of excitement when the Duke of Clarence and Avondale visited the city. People from nearby villages gathered, eager to see the royal guests. A couple of years earlier, on May 24, 1888, Maharaja Takhtsinhji had set aside 450 acres of land to create a public park called Victoria Park. This was a big move to provide relief to the people of Bhavnagar.

The park was planned under the supervision of Proctor Sims, the state engineer of Bhavnagar at the time. The land was enclosed, the tank inside was deepened, and roads were built from different directions to make the park easily accessible. All these developments came at a cost of more than 30,000 rupees, which was a huge amount back then. Maharaja Takht Sinhji named the park in honor of Queen Victoria, making it a significant landmark for the city. It was named after Queen Alexandria Victoria of England, who ruled India at the time of Maharaja Takhtsinhji's reign.

 This was map of victoria park,

This visit as part of The Romanticism unit in our semester 1. Romanticism is also associated with ‘Nature’, and ‘Beauty’. It’s called the Back to Nature movement. This movement began because people were unhappy with the French Revolution of 1789. In American Literature this movement is known as ‘Transcendentalism’.  poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Blake started this movement, focusing on a strong connection to nature. In the U.S., writers like Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, and Whitman shared the same idea. Also we have another unit about Neoclassicism. In both of our units we were doing activities like ‘Nature Walk’ , ‘Creative Writing’ and others.

During our visit we introduced three activities by ma'am, two of them we are already familiar with. and one is surprising for us. First activity was for students to create original drawings inspired from nature.

 

Second activity is students were inspired from nature and writing a poem or creative writing. As like Romantic poets Wordworth and Coleridge.

 The third one is, A Mind Game: Discovering Your Ikigai

One of our mind-game activities focused on the Japanese concept of ikigai, as explored in the book Ikigai by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles. This activity aimed to help participants find their life's 

purpose by identifying the intersection of four key elements:

• What you love: Your passions and interests

• What you're good at: Your skills and talents

• What the world needs: How your contributions can benefit others

• What you can be rewarded for: How your efforts can be recognized or compensated

By understanding these elements, participants could gain valuable insights into their mental well-being and happiness, ultimately leading to a more fulfilling life.     

Gujarati never come back from anywhere without Garba. We had a fantastic experience on this visit. Also we request you if you are from bhavnagar to visit victoria park and enjoy its nature.