Ahmedabad: Dust, History, and a Whole Lot of Thalis
okay, so i’m back from india. specifically, ahmedabad. wow. just…wow. it’s a place. a lot of a place. i’m still sorting through the sensory overload, honestly. i feel like i need a week just to unpack everything i saw and smelled and tasted. and the dust. oh god, the dust. it gets everywhere.
first things first, let’s get the geography out of the way because apparently, it’s important. it’s in Gujarat, western India, right on the Sabarmati River. coordinates are 23°02′N 72°35′E, give or take. it’s flat, sandy, and apparently in seismic zone-III, which is… reassuring? not really. they’ve got high wind risk too, apparently. someone told me that the river often dries up in the summer, which doesn’t sound ideal.
and the history! it’s dense. founded in 1411 by Sultan Ahmed Shah, it was a big deal under Muslim rule, then the Mughals came along, and then it became the “Manchester of India” because of textiles. apparently, it was Gujarat’s capital for a bit, then they moved it. now it’s all about IT and commerce and skyscrapers. it’s a weird mix of old and new, you know? like, you’ll be walking down a street with a modern mall and then suddenly you’re in this ancient, winding alleyway with tiny shops and people just…living.
there’s this whole thing with “pols,” which are these traditional clustered housing things. apparently, they house thousands of people. i didn’t really get to explore them as much as i wanted to, but i did see some, and they were fascinating. like, little self-contained neighborhoods within the city.
and the food! okay, the food was amazing. i ate so much. it’s all about Gujarati vegetarian cuisine. dhokla, fafda, thepla, undhiyu, khandvi… i don’t even know what half of those are, but they were delicious. i had a thali almost every day. seriously, go for the thalis. you won’t regret it. i didn’t find any specific reviews about the food in the area, but everyone i talked to raved about it.
i just checked and it’s 25.02°C there right now, feels like 24.88°C, pressure is 1016, humidity is 50%. hope you like that kind of thing. summers are apparently up to 50°C, though. yikes. winters are better, apparently, october to march.
and the landmarks! sabarmati ashram, where gandhi lived. kankaria lake, which has a zoo and an aquarium and a museum designed by le corbusier. the old city on the east bank with all the bazaars and temples and mosques. and bridges! ellis bridge and nehru bridge. it’s a lot to take in.
if you get bored, mumbai is about 440 km north, and delhi and rajasthan are within driving distance. gandhinagar, the state capital, is nearby too.
okay, a few things to be aware of. the pollution is a thing, especially with the textile waste in the sabarmati. and the climate extremes. and the congestion. but honestly, it’s all part of the experience, right? it’s not a perfectly polished tourist destination, and that’s what i liked about it. it felt…real.
it’s india’s seventh-largest urban area, apparently. who knew?
i’m exhausted just thinking about it all. i need a nap. and maybe another thali.
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