Ahmedabad, Gujerat
Ahmedabad is the largest city in Gujarat and like all Indian cities it is stupidly busy, hugely noisy and akin to bedlam everywhere you look. Not so many cows here, probably because it is so busy, however, we did see one on the slip road of the fancy new 3 lane motorway on the way to the city.
It made us laugh as there was a large sign by the motorway (with pictures) saying, ‘No tractors, No tuk tuks and No bikes’ . As you looked past the sign there was this big brown cow just standing there taking in the speeding traffic just the other side of the concrete boundary. I wish I’d have been fast enough with my camera to capture it.
What is Ahmedabad known for apart from its size? Gandhi and his wife lived here for many years in a small cottage on the side of the river. Here he laid the foundations for Independence and the Ashram that is here today to which thousands of people visit to get a better idea of the man he was.
We also visited the Jama Mosque and a Jain Temple too. Not forgetting our quick stop at the Adalaj Stepwell. Finally we went to the Calico Museum. That was a story in itself.
Our first visit of the day was to the Jamal Mosque. It doesn’t look like anything from the outside, just a set of steps and a doorway but inside it’s huge.
The pillars were square at the base, apart from two
There were small arched windows all along the back wall which looked out onto people’s houses, each one had been hand carved out of solid stone. They were so beautiful.
Women are consigned to behind even more stone windows above the main mosque floor.
The workmanship of the stone masons is amazing, outside there are panels which are all different.
The trouble with Jain Temples is that you’re not allowed to take any photos inside.
Next on the list was the Adalaj Stepwell built in the mod 1400’s. This one is very different to the one we’d seen a few weeks ago, and was built more as a meeting place with lots of columns holding up a large building were people could sit and meet up.
It’s built over seven storeys and the main well is built in an octagonal shape. It’s said that it is 6° cooler at the bottom than at the top and you can really feel the difference as you descend.
On our last night we went on a river boat trip in the evening.
The boat trip was lovely and the food was good too 👍
By now our friend, who had been with us for nearly a month, flew home leaving us to continue to the foothills of the Himalayas on our own.
I almost forgot to tell you about the Calico Museum, the tickets had been booked by our tour company as you can’t just turn up at the door!! Tours are at set times and if you are late you can’t join in! On arrival we were told we couldn’t bring in any handbags, so we had to leave them in the car. Then we were told no phones or cameras were allowed either. They were confiscated at the gate. We were all frisked with a device to make sure no one had anything electronic on them (like e-cigarettes or lighters).
Then we were told to take a seat on a low wall and wait. 15 mins later this strange looking woman arrived wearing the type of mask we all wore during Covid. She was so poorly dressed I thought she was a cleaner! (apologies to all cleaners out there)
She didn’t introduce herself just barked at us to follow her. She marched us through the gardens (which were lovely, with a small stream, pond and beds full of highly scented flowering shrubs which were gorgeous). We arrived in what looked like a cult de sac of old wooden Havelis, with white whitewashed lower levels and highly decorative carved wooden frontages on the top two levels (think Tudor style). We walked though a huge wooden door and we’re told to take off our shoes.
Her voice was so deep, it was more like a man’s and when she spoke, she growled in a monotone. She showed us round room after room of beautiful material. All behind either glass or plastic, lit very badly by spot lights that were at just the right angle to shine directly in your eyes. We couldn’t really understand what she said most of the time, especially with her mask.
The whole 2 hour tour was very frustrating and not really that informative. Most of the pieces of cloth we’d seen were absolutely beautiful but if you hung back to get a closer look one of her henchwomen/ helpers would switch off the lights and shoo you on!!
The whole thing was quite bizarre. At one point I whispered to my friend Jenny, “Do you think if I pretended to faint, would they let us leave early?”. She said she’d had the same idea but figured our guide would just force us to go on, come what may.
I’ve never been so glad to get out of a place, the whole time was so uncomfortable, with people getting shouted at for sitting down or touching things, it made you feel like they were doing us a favour just for letting us in! Anyway, we can laugh about it now.
