Day 3: Obstacles Show Up

4. Ahmedabad

“Ahmedabad! What can I say…. It’s something else…” – An Architect from Ahmedabad, on Ahmedabad

“Let’s hope the city finds me again” – SF, on the above quote

“Ugh…” – Oneiro, on Ahmedabad

39 hours in Sleeper Class can make one dirty. Sulabh Shauchalaya called us. My first ever visit to one of the greatest humanitarian contributions to the Indian public. After the ritual, as I think back, it would be my last visit, you know, in my 26 years of bathroom visiting experience; I haven’t seen a worse place of bath.

The task was simple. Put the backpacks in the cloakroom. It should take less than 5 minutes. But no! Obstacle should show up. It takes almost an hour. The young and energetic, person behind the counter points out that we haven’t locked our backpacks. “Is mein taala nahin hai!”. 25 minutes later after locking it up, he says, “bees minat lagenge” for no reason at all!.

We decide to visit Gandhi Ashram. A huge procession of men displaying their six packs is going on, on the streets of Ahmedabad witnessing which is the whole of Ahmedabad. Or so we thought. We don’t know what is happening and apprehensive to ask someone. There’s Rapid Action Force and Police all over. Communal disharmony is the first thing that comes to our mind. (It was Lord Krishna’s Rath Yatra, as we later found out. It created so much filth and no autos), leaving us with no option but to walk. We lost another hour here, thanks to the obstacle. We walk for 2-3 kms and find a vacant auto, who agreed to take us there. We get in along with a policeman and two more friends of the auto driver.

Sabarmati Ashram, I think, is not known to too many people in Gujarat. The auto fellow took us to a hotel called Gandhi Ashram. (What hath this country gone to? Oh God! Forgive them, its not their mistake! They just don’t know). We tell him Gandhi Ashram is on the opposite side, a little further.

Gandhi Ashram is a cool and serene place. Memorabilia of Mahatma Gandhi, his letters in his own handwriting, photos, the house he lived, and things like that. We sat by Sabarmati and felt like spending the whole day there. But Akshardham called us.

After having a good gujju thali at a restaurant run by Gujarat Tourism (opposite to Gandhi Ashram), we waited for mode of transport to Akshardham. There are lots of jeeps available. You just have to wait and stop them. Stopping the jeeps is a trick which only people of Ahmedabad can do. Rocket Science.

5. Gandhinagar

“Who is this generosity for?” O on Gandhinagar

“Ok, we have wide roads, good weather, nice buildings, greenery around, our task is to get people here” – O & SF on what could be a possible direction of talk by the designer of the city - Gandhinagar

“Lets build Akshardham here!” – O & SF on what could be a possible suggestion by the designer’s deputy

And so went we, to Akshardham. Nothing in the jeep ride was ground breaking, the only heart shattering moment arrived at the end of our journey, at Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, right in front of Akshardham temple and my face, full of joy, when the driver turned at us and said “Aaj tho Akshardham bandh hai!”!!

Dear reader, please make a note of this. This is extremely important in your visit to Ahmedabad at any point in your life. AKSHARDHAM TEMPLE IS CLOSED ON MONDAYS. We went away, appreciating the wide roads of Gandhinagar, which were constructed for nobody to travel. The whole of Gandhinagar looked to be designed on a ‘whim’. No traffic, no people, no nothing, but generously designed wide roads, green lawns, clean pavements and blah.

Over dinner, we transferred all the pics to the thumb drive, from the cameras and talked about this and that with the architect from Ahmedabad. As if the obstacles during the day weren’t enough, the train which we were supposed to take, to reach Bhuj, was delayed by an hour! Obstacles, Obstacles, Obstacles!

So we sat, not on a bench, not on the chair, but on the platform, right on the platform, reading, waiting until the train to Bhuj came.