The Rajkot Diaries - Day 2

 The sun rises a bit leisurely out here in the western parts so its early light at 645 am which is when Jyo, Chattu and I set out on our walk. The idea was to find that park near the race course and enter it. So off we went past the quaint little street down the hotel road - little fruit shops, a quant hair cut place, sweet shops serving jalebis and stuff, an old Ambassador from that era - and walked to that road and the park.

Nothing Inside

There is no board except that it said something about Rotary Club whatever. The traffic rotary has a shape like a bull. There's a sculpture outside the park which is titled 'Nothing Inside' and an inscription that said that the human mind is full of love for all, the virtues of a clean mind and a loveable heart.

A Gazebo

Inside the park there were well laid out lawns where people played all sorts of games - badminton, cricket, football - in whichever place they could. There were those exercise machines which were being used well by the fitness freaks, loud shouts and grunts by the laughing club and so on. We walked through the park and exited and once outside I asked two girls if this was the Jubilee Garden to which they said it was not - the Jubilee Garden was that way. 'It's the hub of Rajkot,' said the young lady who pointed out the direction.

Another old unused building

Mahatma Gandhi Museum

On the way back we passed our fruit shops, ate breakfast and decided to visit the Mahatma Gandhi Museum which is hardly 10-15 minutes away by walk. It is a solid European structure built over a large area in the middle of the town, next to Jubilee Gardens. Originally called the Alfred School which was started in 1853 (at various times known as Rajkot High School and Mohandas Gandhi High School) it was funded by the Nawab of Junagadh and was the first English school in Saurashtra. Mahatma Gandhi studied here and graduated in 1887 at the age of 18, one of the two students to matriculate in his batch. He then moved to Samaldas College, Bhavnagar before heading off to London to study. In 1017 the school was closed - it has such beautiful classrooms - and converted into the Mahatma Gandhi Museum at a cost of 26 crore. 

Jyo and I walked from the hotel and took the main entrance to the museum. There is a lot of parking there and well maintained lawns and gardens behind the building. Large trees with benches to sit on, very well maintained counters (spick and span). Entry was some 25 bucks (400 for foreign nationals, no restriction on cameras). We pushed the door and went in to a meditation hall where we sat until a guide joined us. Jagruti was well versed with her job, though slightly impatient. A few foreigners were ahead of us probably with an English guide. 

Mahatma Gandhi's Classroom

The ground floor rooms which were 18 in all, covered various aspects of Gandhi's life, chronologically from his birth to his demise. Pictures, audio visual stuff, well designed ways to make it more interactive and interesting, air conditioned rooms. Pictures from his life, videos of the Dandi march..an animated part of the incident in Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. Then we went upstairs and viewed his philosophy, heard his speeches over audio, learned about his spiritual guru Srimad Rajchandra. 

Hot and spicy

We stepped out and found this place which had the best tea. Another joint which was serving phaphda or something which he made absolutely fresh for us with some  papaya salad and some chilly. Refreshed we walked down the road to Watson museum which was inside the Jubilee Gardens. One very nice elderly gentleman took the trouble of showing us the way to the museum and I fell in love with all that's old and nice about life. He has this quiet, smiling, helpful demeanor that I could have easily gone to his house chatting about this and that.

Watson Library

The Watson museum is considered to be one of the oldest museums in the state having opened in 1853 based on Col John Watson's collection and funded by the Jadeja Rajputs who were the rulers of the region at that time. The two floors has many copies of artifacts from Mohenjadaro and Harappa, sculptures, idols, paintings, weapons, clothes and so on. Entry was cheap but they have a camera charge of 100 bucks which needs a form to be filled up that we will not use the pics for commercial purposes and all that. 

We strolled in and viewed all the stuff on display. There were some people from Telangana - some under 17 boys who were participating in a swimming event here. The museum does not take too long because it is contained in those two floors. The entrance is quite impressive though with two lions guarding it.

Satya Vijay Ice Cream

Milk Shake

We headed back to the hotel for a bite and to relax before an evening walk where we hoped to drop in at the cute little Satya Vijay Ice Cream store which looked very inviting. And so we did - and ordered half a milk shake which was rather filling.