The Ahmedabad Diaries - Day 10 (Morning Heritage Walk)

 We planned the Morning Heritage Walk which is scheduled to start at Swaminarayan Temple, Kalupur, at 8 am. We were asked to report there by 730-745 am. We asked Nitesh if he wanted to join as he is one of the few who is interested in travel, history, culture and stuff like that. plan was to get breakfast at 645 am and head out by 710 am to Swaminarayan temple. We got ourselves a rickshaw and were there by 730.

The Heritage Walk Office

From the Swaminarayan temple

Kavi Dalpat Ram Chowk

There were lots of people hanging about and I wondered if that was the normal size of the crowd there. We were asked to go up to the Heritage Walk office on the first floor navigating a curved staircase which was not the easiest to climb. We found Murtuza, our guide from the other night heritage walk and he signed us in, took the money and asked us to watch the introductory video. It costs 200 bucks a head and 400 if its special which means a breakfast is added in.

View of the house with a section of the crowd

We were asked to check out the temple for some 15 minutes and assemble again for the tour to start. We had been there before so we randomly walked around. The tour guide Vishal showed up and that is when we realised how many people were actually there on the tour - some 30-35 - including a large group from a local college. 

Bird Feeder

Shree Kala Ram Mandir

The pipe to let off gases from the sewage with an indicator

Thankfully they broke up the group into two - one English and another Hindi. No one moved to the Hindi one - perhaps the English guide was cuter! Anyway we followed the Hindi guy and headed off into some of the narrowest lanes one could ever walk through.

Construction of old houses - brick and Burmah wood

Out of the secret passage

It started with the house of poet which was quite a lovely structure. We then followed some gullies and went to the Kalu Ram temple which houses Ram in his vanvaas days before Sita was kidnapped - hence no idol of Hanuman. And then into a pol or a gated community, the explanation of how old sewage lines worked, a gully where house were of four types of architecture - Maratha, Gujrathi, British and something else. Very quaint. 

Dodhia Haveli- converted their house into a homestay

Magnificent house - some lady businesswoman and philanthropist

Then we squeezed through a narrow, secret passage. Walked into another temple, past the Fernandiz Bridge which houses many bookstores, the old Ahmedabad Stock Exchange, Manek Chowk, Badshah ni Hajiro and finally, Jama masjid.

Fernandiz Bridge in the background - known for the bookstores

Ahemdabad Stock Exchange - Old

Jama Masjid

The walk ended at 1015. Nitesh had a meeting so he left. Jyo and I walked the 2 kms to Lucky café and ate maska bun and had pudina chai. I tried a Mysore masala dosa and was surprised at the portion they served. We took a rickshaw back to the hotel. I went to the second hand bookstore and bought a copy of 'Eleven Minutes' by Paulo Coelho. Wonder why I am getting only his books to start the year with.

Teen Darwaza

 Our evening plan of walking the Atal bridge did not happen because of the Flower Show which drew crazy crowds. We gave up our plans and walked back the 3 kms by the riverfront to the hotel.

Day well spent again.

The Pilgrimage - Paulo Coelho

 This is Paulo Coelho's first (or definitely the one before The Alchemist) and was written in 1987 based on his experiences during his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela Now, he undertook this 700 kms pilgrimage because he was seeking initiation into RAM (Regina Agnus Mundi) which he fails. The Master, unhappy with Paulo grabbing the ceremonial sword which he should have refused, tells him to undertake the pilgrimage (on foot from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain) to get his sword after he gains an insight into the simplicity of life. 

Paulo is given a guide for this journey, a much accomplished designer as Paulo finds out later, who goes by the name Petrus. Petrus is also a member of RAM and he guides and teaches techniques to Paulo through the journey. One of the first things he teaches Paulo is that the Road of Tradition and order of RAM is not for a chosen few- its for everyone. One must seek the sword among simple people and the sword will be waiting at the right time, the right day for you. The path to knowledge is open to everyone - it is simple. The path to wisdom must fulfil these three conditions - it must involve agape, must have practical application and must be simple enough to be followed by anyone. Very much like the road they were on.

Through the course of the journey Petrus teaches Paulo several meditations and rituals - Seed exercise, Speed exercise, Cruelty exercise, Messenger ritual, arousal of intuition, blue sphere exercise, buried alive exercise, RAM breathing exercise, shadows exercise, listening exercise and dance exercise.

Through it all Petrus says one must keep moving forward. When we are moving forward towards an objective, one must pay attention to the road. The road teaches us the best way to get there, enriches it. Paying attention to the road he says is like caresses in foreplay in sexual activity which determines the intensity of the orgasm.

Wherever your treasure is says Petrus, there will be your heart. Never stop dreaming he says. One must continue the good fight - the good fight is one where we fight because our heart asks it of us. Its fought in the name of our dreams. We kill our dreams because we are afraid to fight the good fight. First symptom of giving up the fight are - no time, second is being certain and third is getting comfortable with peace (no adventure). When we kill our dreams we become cruel to others and to ourselves.

To rescue our dreams we must be generous with ourselves - no self punishment at all. Cruelty towards ourselves manifests as - guilt, remorse, indecision and cowardice. Of all the ways we have found to hurt ourselves the worst has been through love. The devil comes as the messenger - accept him as a friend.

Anyone who wants to fight the good fight must look at the world as if its a treasure waiting to be discovered and won.

Petrus tells Paulo about the three types of love Eros, Philos and Agape. Eros is love between two people as we know it. When the flame of Eros stops burning Philos keeps them together. Philos is love in the form of friendship. Agape is all consuming love - contains both Eros and Philos. All of us seek Eros and when Eros turns into Philos we think love is worthless. But it is Philos that leads us to the highest form of love, agape. 

Agape is total love - love that consumes the person who experiences it. Nothing else is important to that person - just love. Agape in its other form is enthusiasm. Everyone of us has the flame of madness burning inside and it is fed by Agape.

In fighting the good fight one must never forget that a threat leads to nothing if its not accepted. While attacking and fleeing is part of the fight, becoming paralysed with fear is not the fight.

Petrus tells Paulo that wisdom has value only if it helps us overcome an obstacle. Paulo's obsession with getting his sword must not be at the cost of not putting it to use. That's when Paulo also realises that he needs to constantly put his sword to test so it does not rust. 

Petrus tells Paulo that the only way to make the right decision is to know what the wrong decision is. You have to examine the other path without fear and without being morbid and the decide. What would be the answer that would be most wrong?

Petrus also tells Paulo that our enemy always represents our weaker side - could be physical pain, a premature sense of victory, a decision to abandon the fight. During the fight we try to protect the weaker side so the enemy strikes at the unguarded side where we have the most confidence. We get defeated because we make the fatal error of letting the enemy choose how the battle will be waged.

Be aware however that the enemy develops us, is part of Agape.

A person's greatest source of strength in trying to defeat the enemy is the present - that is where agape, the will to win through enthusiasm are. 

Petrus tells Paulo that everything is contained in sounds - the past, present and the future. The person who listens to the sounds of the moment is able to make the right decisions.

Towards the end Paulo stumbles upon the secret of the sword - what should I do with the sword? What's the purpose of attaining the sword? 

He discovers that its not a sin to be happy.

In the end Petrus leaves him and Paulo completes the journey, meets his Master who gifts him his sword. Through the entire journey Petrus and Paulo go through a lot of stuff - meeting a witch woman and her dog which attacks Paulo until he gets over his fear, Jordi the priest, climbing waterfalls which puts them in life and death situations and forces them to find a way, going through the sword ritual and failing again, doing all the meditations and rituals that Petrus teaches. And of course drinking some wine and eating some basic food throughout the journey.

...

I still have no idea what this initiation into the order of RAM is but Paulo Coelho seems to have done it. The book as with all his books has these insights which make you think. I liked it. Especially the stuff about the three forms of love. 

I bought this book in this little second hand book collection next to the hotel. It was previously owned by Pallavi. So I guess thanks is due to Pallavi and I hope she gained mush from this book as I did.

The Ahmedabad Diaries - Day 9 (Sunrise at Riverfront, Lucky Cafe and Walk to Manek Chowk)

 Woke up early and headed off to watch the sunrise at the Riverfront while on my walk. Was a lovely dawn though I got my first glimpse of the sun only at 730.

Dawn

At the park

Colors heralding dawn

Bikes - can do this tomorrow

And finally - at 730

Off to the game and post game Jyo and I decided to go to Lucky Cafe where we partook of a maska bun and pudina chai which was brilliant. These guys make the best tea.

Chai vendor

Sugarcane juice vendor

Sauf stuff

Off we went from there to Manek Chowk which is a 2 km walk because Jyo wanted to buy some more imitation jewellery. Bumped into some lady from Malaysia who asked for directions and ended up exchanging numbers.

Moon and Venus on Bhadra Fort

Cafe with the tree inside

Having bought our stuff we walked back to Lucky cafe where Jyo had another round of maska bun and chai and I tried my hand at a vada pav which was pretty distant from the vada pavs I had eaten. We did try to eat stuff in the restaurant next door which had a tree growing through it but he said we could get all that we wanted in Lucky cafe and shooed us off.

Plan to head to the Morning Heritage walk tomorrow. 730 reporting time!

The Ahmedabad Diaries - Day 8 (Auto World Vintage Car Museum)

 On the way back from Lothal we decided to peep into the Vintage Car Museum without too much expectations. Turns out that it is almost a 100 years old. Pranlal Bhogilal started the Auto World Museum in his private estate in Dastan in 1927 and earned a Guinness Book of World Records listing in 1987 as the owner of the world's largest private museum. Of the 204 cars he collected, 104 are in Ahmedabad. Pranlal passed away in 2011.

In the collection are a car that was used in the movie Gandhi, the first ever Maybach ever made. Rare cars from Rolls Royce, Bentley, Cadillac, Mercedes, Jaguar, Sunbeam, Buick, Packard, Citroen - names we just read about in novels or seen in movies suddenly came alive.

Entry ticket is 100 bucks and we can pay another 100 to take pics. I took pics of almost every car. Frankly it is overwhelming to see so many cars, so many models, from 1900s onwards. I saw a Herald like the one we used to have, a Contessa as well.

I loved it. For any car enthusiast this is absolutely worth making a trip to Ahmedabad just for this. I used to draw car models when I was young, collect those mini cars, loved those models. These looked like them - I wish they had miniature models, I would have bought a few.

The Ahmedabad Diaries - Day 8 (Lothal)

 We took a cab to Lothal which is a 4000 year old Harappan Port Town - part of the Harappan Civilisation. The ASI leaflet describes it as an ancient mound - the literal meaning of the word 'Lothal' is 'place of the Dead'. The structural remains of this Harappan town which were excavated in 1952-62 period by one Dr S R Rao date back to circa 2500-1900 BC.

Well - the dockyard behind

Can see the brick wall in the water

Lothal is about 80 kms from Ahmedabad on the road to Rajkot which is mostly nice until you turn off into the state roads which take another 25 kms. Our taxi driver Nigam was an affable chap who apparently got recently married - a love marriage he said, and an inter caste one. He moonlights as a taxi driver but does one call center job for a few months every summer. He discontinued his Civil Engineering diploma and lives in the hope of a nice job - maybe in the construction industry. he lamented that he is from the forward caste and has no reservation and that in the many attempts at becoming an SI he did not pass. Anyway he said, if there are any jobs I could let him know. It's not as maudlin as it sounds because he is actually a cheerful and professional chap.

Warehouse

Another perspective

The last part is not very good as it is still being laid. You park, there's no entry fee, and all you get is an advise not to touch the monuments or the cordoned off stuff. The entire site is not very big, at least the part we get to see, maybe spread over a couple of acres at best. 

The biggest sights on site are the dock which comes immediately to the right, a brick wall constructed to carry out water flow designed scientifically to withstand the water thrust. Also apparently it has a unique water locking device. To the naked eye we saw a pool of water, no channel, the brick wall shows under water. Since there is no guide we have no idea what's what. A guide would really help - even an audio guide.

Acropolis

Acropolis

Next up is the next biggest attraction which is the warehouse which comes to the left which stands on a high platform. Again as per the ASI leaflet there were 64 cubical blocks of mud brick built on the platform for providing wooden canopy to protect the cargo etc. What we see are a few walls or foundations made of bricks, designed and built well so we know that they  knew what they were doing.

Lower Town

Further up is the main part of the mound, the highest part, which is the Citadel also called the Acropolis, where the royals lived. Below that is the part they called the Lower Town where the artisans apparently lived. One can see the well laid out drainages and water wells and walls. Beside the Citadel is a small bead factory and further to the left of the Lower Town is the cemetery where they found skeletons in graves - single and double.

The Harappans were actively involved in trade with Persia and other middle eastern places and its overseas trade involved semi precious stone beads, copper, ivory, shell and cotton goods with West Asia. Objects like a seal of Persian Gulf origin, terracotta figurines of a Gorilla and a Mummy indicate a strong overseas contact.

The bottom pic is an artist's representation of how the town must have been

Then came frequent floods in 1900 BC and the Harappans abandoned the town in around 1700 BC.

Someone selling beads - Dude, really!

Interesting guavas - bought some

There is supposedly a museum which is not functional. So what you get is what you see. Anyway, I enjoyed the day out at Lothal.