Apno Amdavad

Thanks to the conferences and sceintific meets I get to see many new places. This time I had a chance to visit Ahmmedabad for Young Astronomers Meet at the Physical Research Lab. 'Amdavad' as it is called in the local language is the cultural and financial capital of the state of Gujrat. Two of my good friends Priyanka and Hershal are at ahmedabad. Priyanka has joined PRL for PHD this year and Hershal has home in ahmedabad.

I only had four days to explore ahmedabad. On the first day Priyanka suggested that we should see the Adalaj Vav 'Stepwell'. These kind of wells are all over gujrat. They were built in ancient times to provide water and cool shelter to travellers along the trade routes. The Adalaj stepwell was built by Rani Roopba in 1499.

There is an interesting historical story behind this. To read more follow the link

http://india.mapsofindia.com/monuments/adlaj-vav.html

Next day was my birthday and also the first day of the meet. After the meet we did some shopping and went for a dinner at a nice restro suggested by Hershal. We had a wonderful time time together and relived old moments.
It was decided that we would go for the heritage walk around the old city of Amdavad the following day. The heritage walk is an initiatve of the Ahmedabad Muncipal Corporation and is a nice way to go around the ancient wall city of Ahmedabad. This was my first ever planned heritage walk. We were shown a slide show which contained both old and new pictures of the old city and the presenter told about the history of the place.

The legend says that when Sultan Ahmed Shah was camping on the banks of the river, he was surprised to see some rabbits which were being chased by his hounds, turned around in defence and confronting their attackers. Sultan's spiritual advisor explained that it was the character of the land that it inspired courage to timid rabbits and advised the Sultan that the site would be auspicious for his new capital. And this is how the city became the capital of Sultan's regim. City was also named Ahmedabad after the name of Sultan Ahmed Shah.

We started the tour at around 08:00 am and finished around 10:00. It was a 1.5km walk starting from the Swaminarayan temple and ending at the Jama masjid. It included places like 'pols' - old residential places, temples, the old stock exchange building, rani ni haziro- tomb, badshah ni haziro,etc. Later we visited the Siddi Saiyad ni jali- famous for carved windows.

The rest of the day was spent in attending the meet. Later in the evening Priyanka and I visited the Gobinddham Gurudwara.

The next day was the day of my departure. After the meet got over I went around PRL to click some pictures of birds and Peacocks which are in plenty in ahmedabad. Later we went to a popular hangout place of the Amdavadis 'The Kankaria lake' through the newly commenced BRTS (Bus Rapid Transport System). It is a very well executed transport system in Ahmedabad. Kankaria lake is a nice place to hang out in the evenings with a beautiful walkway along the lake, with food joints, amusement park, a zoo, and a toy train that is called 'Atal Express' ! We left the place around 7:00 as I had to catch a train at 10:00.

I must say that I liked Ahmedabad very much. Its a nice city with a good transport system ( Rickshawallas seldom cheat you!!), good food, friendly people, and a rich history. I will love to come back and visit the rest of the places in Gujrat. Hope you like the pictures.

Jai Shree Krishna..