અલગારી રખડપટ્ટી : when the Place remains with the Memories, and not the Person
"So, Goa is postponed, and your Diu trip is cancelled. What now?"
"If nothing, then I can go to Ahmedabad."
"Oh! And who's gonna come with you?"
"No one. I don't want anybody; I want a solo trip, and you're never gonna allow me. So, here, I'm giving it a try and then you'll get used to it. It's my first solo trip, and it will be fun. You stop worrying."
"You're gonna go in this summer!"
"Summer never bothers me if I'm up to my activities!'
7th May, 2016, and I started my journey of four days. Yes, Ahmedabad, my hometown, is only a hundred km from here. And yet I haven't visited it as a traveller. So, this was the time!
Day 1 : 7th May, 2016
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| 5th National Ahmedabad Book Fair |
Around 3 o' clock, I reached there and did my chai-nasta. It was the last day of 5th national Ahmedabad book fair, and I was fully energized to explore my Ahmedabad. I got a Two Wheeler, switched on my mobile and tried to search for my ways with the help of Google Maps (Yeah, I must have remembered the roads, but Ahmedabad is different. Yeah, complex!) My first bad experience of the first day - when I was a bit away from the Sardar Bridge near Paldi, and I tried to take help of a Rickshaw man. Map was showing to go to right, and he showed me left. I have heard it from people that sometimes Google Maps is wrong and you have to ask people. So this time, I tried to trust him. I turned left, and there was no bridge, and instantly my instinct forced me to believe the Maps and go straight to the right one. So, I took a U-turn and went on following the Google maps. Then, there I passed the bridge and finally went to the book fair. The 5th National Ahmedabad Book Fair was too cool. It was like half of the Ahmedabad is interested in reading and was gathered there. I liked one thing there, this 'Vanche Amdavad' fair had three halls for books and other halls for programmes and speeches from famous writers (unlike other government programmes, the hall was pleasantly air-conditioned; yes, summer in Ahmedabad is scorching hot) that was contained in an enormous space near the riverfront. It was impeccably designed and nurtured loads of books; so it became one of my favourite places too. I had plans of visiting a museum and a restaurant, but didn't get much time as I was too busy rubbing the pages of my favourite books to my fingers. I spent 25-30 minutes on riverfront. Took pictures, and then just stayed there on the riverfront calmly. I was so happy after buying the E. A. Poe collection that I almost forgot about the dinner and stayed there for long, enjoying the sound of running water in the burning summer.
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| E. A. Poe collection, that night, and riverfront! |
At late night, I met my cousin. He is a talkative person. Besides, I had remained quiet for the whole day, so we talked incessantly. That day I recognised the importance of my being social. I realised that I missed talking to people. There, I understood that these noises which I missed were actually peaceful to my inner soul.
Day 2 : 8th May, 2016
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| Good Morning! :D |
That day my cousin was quite excited to buy some books. So he insisted to get me a bike ride, so that he can join me to Gandhi Road to buy some books. That road was used to be a whole new world of books, but now it's in so bad a condition that we can't even get a book we desire. So, unlike I'd planned for buying more books from Gandhi Road and less from the fair, the reality contradicted my plans. After buying those books, we, my cousin and I went to Commerce 6 Roads and took cold coffee coco and momos. (Yeah, I prefer Vadodara's momos though.)
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| Ellis Bridge |
We came back to our home in Ahmedabad, and I thought of my dinner at Vishalla restaurant. Well, Vishalla is a bit costly but I wanted a life time experience, and still I hadn't had any time to go there, enjoy, and come back in time. So, I searched for other cool restaurants of Ahmedabad and got really impressed by Agashiye restaurant and The Green House restaurant. Both were in the same building known as The House of MG, situated in front of Sidi Saiyadni Jali. But well, at the end, my mom phoned me, “It’s okay that you want to eat in that restaurant. But to go there specially is wrong. લોકો શું કહેશે! (What people will say!) You can change your plans and go there for your dinner only if you do not come to your place and go there directly after your tour." So, I had to postpone my dinner to the next night. Even in that solo trip, people affected me!
Day 3 : 9th May, 2016
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| Zen Cafe & Amdavad ni Gufao |
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| Juma Mosque |
As per my plans, first I went to Lal Darwaja by rickshaw and bought a મનપસંદ ticket with what we can meander to any place in Ahmedabad for the whole day in the city buses. So, from Lal Darwaja, I went to Gujarat University and from there, went to Amdavad ni Gufao, Navrangpura by rickshaw. It was closed on Monday, but I liked the view of those caves when I saw through the closed glass door. I ate garlic breads, a sandwich and drank a glass of ice tea there at Zen cafe (FRIENDLY ADVISE: Do not eat its sandwich). Then I went to Kankariya. It was closed but I didn't mind as I've seen it many times. From there, I went near Sidi Saiyadni Jali, and visited Ahmed Shah's Mosque , also known as Shahi Jam-e-Masjid or Juni Juma Masjid. It was quiet there in that oldest mosque of Ahmedabad. After clicking loads of photos and staying there for a while, dinnertime approached and so I went to Sidi Saiyad ni Jali, and then to The House of MG. I was eager to eat in the Agashiye restaurant, as it's enjoying to eat on the terrace in the summer evening. But as there was a fixed Gujarati thali-dish which was expensive, containing a lot of Gujarati food items, and I was not even able to eat that much after the evening snacks, I remained at the ground floor, in The Green House restaurant, where I ate Mung-Bhindi (okra) subji, chapatis, and bhaji-paav. Dinner was delicious! And then, I enjoyed a cup of badam shake at Prem-Mevad Lari-Shop on the Relief Road. It was an amusing day.
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| The Green House Restaurant |
Day 4 : 10th May, 2016
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| Tagore Hall |
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| Gandhi Ashram |
The day, when my Google Maps app denied me to help, like two or three times I forgot my bus stops and had to walk a bit from another stops. I visited a Kites' Museum known as City Museum in the Paldi, and the Tagore Hall. (Where I was afraid, honestly, as it was a deserted place.) Then I went to Gandhi Ashram, Sabarmati. And then visited Adalajni Vaav (Adalaj step-well). Coming back to home, from the Sarangpur bus stand, I asked for my stop 'Mariambibi mosque' and bus cabin uncle said, "Bus no. 142 or 147". There came 147 numbered bus, and he said, "Yes, go. It's your bus." I knew the road from the Sarangpur bridge. But then the bus went to ‘Patel Mills’ and I got that Mariambibi Mosque would not come by that way. I tried to wait, but then I decided to ask the bus driver and he said, "Beta, this bus is 147, not 77. It will stop here in Gomtipur, not on your stoppage. You can get a rickshaw from here." And I felt good that I knew the road from there. Otherwise, waiting in the bus would have led me to nowhere. (Yeah, after wandering this much in Ahmedabad I still can’t remember the roads and all.)
My trip ended. But how I trust people and how much I trust people; when I should not be alone and where; what is the real noise and what is the real peace - that's what I got to know from this trip. What the real adventure is - that's what I got this time. When people were asking me somewhere, "Excuse me, where's Maninagar?" and I had explained them by Google Maps and my memories, I was becoming a citizen of my favourite city. And when I had no ideas, I was becoming a traveller of this new city! The real taste of food, the importance of water in this summer, the time spent with my own self, and the sleep that accepted me for the nights, were not new for me, but were obviously making me alive day by day...
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| Adalaj Step-well |
The first solo trip to Ahmedabad, my hometown, was miraculous. After living there for years, I was still a stranger in this city. The city, which is a Mumbai of our Gujarat, busy day and night, was that lively in the present that I wasn't even able to find my lost childhood in its streets!