Days 6 to 8 – Ahmedabad city
Day 6,7,8 – Friday to Sunday 01/11/2013 – 03/11/2013
This is a combined post of our few days in the city of joy and food, our experience and reviews about attractions in and near Ahmedabad.
When I have a host in a city, I tend to leave the worry of finding city attractions and places to visit. It’s one of the benefits of having a friend in an unknown city. But how dare I call Ahmedabad an unknown city. I speak Gujarati (state language) fluently and know my way around the city.
Jitu Bhai had planned for us to visit Gandhi Ashram, Sardar Patel Smarak on Friday AM. We left in the morning at 9 am and took a rickshaw there. Outside of Mumbai, an advice – please negotiate with Rickshaw wallahs. They rarely operate via the meter and charge exorbitantly for tourists.
Gandhi Ashram – Mahatma Gandhi started his historic Dandi March from this Ashram. His calm demeanor and projection of non violence led India to its freedom.
Gandhi
Next up was Sardar Patel Smarak, another freedom fighter and a great personality. The entire museum was recently renovated and opened by our Hon. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 29th Oct 2013. As we walk into the museum, we could smell the fresh paint.
Sardar Patel museum
I have always been impressed outside India with the museums. They preserve even the smallest thing in a glass case hoping to preserve it for centuries while in India, we seem to value less. I was quite surprised when the newly renovated Sardar Patel museum had many things preserved well. CCTV cameras were seen everywhere and security was top notch.
It’s noon on Friday and we take the rickshaw back home for lunch. Home made food was ready for us and we ate with other family members. It’s November but the weather is still quite hot, we decide to stay indoors in the afternoon hoping to go to Kankaria lake in the evening.
It’s 5 pm and we decide to take the BRTS to Kankaria lake. Ahmedabad BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit system) is awesome. They have a dedicated line wherever they operate which means that buses don’t face traffic. Some buses are air conditioned with the intention to convert the whole fleet into an air conditioned one. We were three of us, accompanied by Jainita (our host) to Kankaria lake. It’s a 10 km distance and the bus covered it in 25 minutes which is very impressive from Indian standards given the evening traffic.
Kankaria Lake has been converted into an amazing tourist spot. There are so many attractions that you can easily spend a day there. Some of the key attractions we did
1. Ahmedabad Eye (Balloon ride)
2. Mini golf – the first in Ahmedabad and possibly Gujarat
3. Train ride across entire Kankaria
4. Segway ride (Yes, Ahmedabad has a Segway and the experience is awesome…)
Balloon ride
Kankaria Lake
Segway ride – Khyati
Segway Ride – Paras
After spending a few good hours here, we left for dinner at Uncle Sam’s Pizza. They serve unlimited food for a fixed price. We ate 12 different varieties of Jain salad. For the non Jain items, there were 42 varieties of salad. Exemplary display of food. We ate to our heart’s content and called it a night for Friday.
It’s Saturday and I am itching to ride a car or a bike. Every household in Ahmedabad has a few scooters and I asked my friend if I could ride theirs. They were like – the road sense in Ahmedabad is quite bad (should I say worse) but I wanted to give it a try.
In the morning, we visited Sabarmati Riverfront for a walk. The whole riverfront has been renovated with parks, trees have been planted along the road and you can see the beautiful sunrise.
Sunrise on Sabarmati riverfront
It’s Saturday noon and Jitu Bhai took us for lunch at a posh restaurant – 650. Ahmedabad is famous for its food. In the afternoon, I picked Rahul’s Activa (bike) and we left for Science city. It’s a big museum built on acres of land between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. We were there till evening and we had a really good time.
Piece of advice – While driving on our way back, it was dark and in Ahmedabad, we see people driving on the wrong side of the road so their flash light flashes in your eye rendering you helpless. I found it difficult to drive in the night time.
Sunday was Diwali and my friend’s office had Diwali Pujan planned for the day and they invited us to join them. We gladly accepted and became a part of their lives. The pujan (prayer meeting) set for the new financial year went smoothly. We were served Ice cream in the afternoon. Ice cream is served as Ahmedabad’s speciality and to welcome guests or to celebrate any occasion, people eat ice cream. I found it quite amusing.
It was our last day in Ahmedabad and Jitu Bhai had some plans for afternoon as well. He took us more sight seeing. We went to see Siddi Sayyed ni Jhadi (very intricate carvings) though we could see it only from a distance.
carvings
Next was Adalaj ni vav (it’s a step well) that’s still maintained in its original form. Most step wells in India are khandit (in broken form). Due to the heavy rains this year, the step well was filled with water and we could not go till the very bottom.
Adalaj step well
It’s Sunday evening and we see Jainita decorating a lovely Rangoli. It’s a tradition in every household that they light their house and design a lovely Rangoli. We felt lovely.
Rangoli
Finally, it was time to bid adieu to Ahmedabad and the fun times we shared with our host family. Jitu Bhai dropped us at the rail station.
It’s 10 pm Sunday evening and we await the Ahmedabad Udaipur Express.
Thanks once again for reading and please drop your comments.
Best,
Paras