AHMEDABAD

As I had read in some books, gujarathis were always known to me as good bijiness people. It was fun to observe the business too. The yatra was also to give an interview to learn business.

A ride to the grocery shop once in a week is a routine affair for my parents to get all vegetables and palavyanjanangal. Things were different in ahmedabad. The person who wakes you up is the Fruit wallah who shouts “ Appal wallah, Orange wallah, kela wallah…….”a pause and then…”with xtra energy charged”..ankur wallah, mosambi wallah………”That  song rocks your ears for about half an hour.Then comes the kachara wallah, doothwallah,sabjiwallah….Delivery at home..

The streets are always filled with people which may be due to the reason that gujarathis seldom stay indoors if they are free. Either you can see them sitting in front of the house and chatting or sitting in the roadsides.. The government  also seems aware of this fact and has put up concrete benches all along the road near KK nagar char rastha..

Lots of food shops everywhere which you seldom(I haven’t) see without business happening. The scenes at the beverages outlets are seen at a Pani puri wallah in the ahmdavadi evenings..But gujarati pani puri consumers are not as disciplined as the keralite drinkers.. Those people do crowd around that man like a swarm of flies which usually happens during a small accident at the road sides in kerala.

The journey to Nirma was the very next day. It was a long journey in auto with my uncle. The rickshaw wallah put on the meter. He asked not a penny more than the meter reading of 80 unlike our great meter less rickshaw wallahs…The return journey was again smooth with the person not fighting with me and talking with respect . Had it happened in kerala, I would have given him a tip of 10.

Next day I went to my uncle’s house. I asked my cousin brother for a walk at night after dinner and he suggested a ride through the city. I took the bike after some time and started riding.. Vastrapur lake, an artificial lake which was constructed after rehabilitation of the slums resided there is what I understood. IIM Ahmedabad was near and we headed to the dream destination of any CAT aspirant. 11 45pm was a bad time to go to iima but as the college won’t sleep  I felt like its day time. Saw it from the front and drove back. A funny thing that happened was he took a wrong shortcut and we went away from the right path. At last we had to drive back to the same road we took to return to the place.  This happened because he studied at anand and uncle’s family went to surat for 2 years from Ahmedabad due to their transfers. Although he stayed in that place for 17 long years he couldn’t understand the roads since the fly overs built on the roads were such in number and the roads were widened a lot.. And I drove into one fly over and took a toll on the 12 pm drive. Developmental hazards.

Next day we had a temple visit and the drive back to kk nagar. Driving is not as easy as it is in kerala. Rashness is so common that people won’t stop to call bad words at the fellow who did it wrong.

Drive-in is a cinema theatre but not a multiplex or an ac theatre.  The idea that we see in the festivals in temples screening on open ground. But what’s different? People can drive into the ground in their cars, spread the sheets you brought from home or take out the chairs you brought. You can sit near your vehicle. There are bumps on which you can park the car so everyone can see clearly.  Speakers with size of a small stick are installed in between each parking spaces. A different experience it was.

Pandit deendayal petroleum university was my next destination which was a university that had constructed buildings and excellent to see. The interview finished by noon. The sun was too hot. I saw a new Mercedes benz car being brought in a truck hopefully for some exhibition to the campus.

BRTS(Bus Rapid Transport System)-  A system which encourages public transport system. I saw it all along my journeys. The 2 middle lanes next to the divider in usual system is converted to another way. It exclusively carries a particular group of Public buses called BRTS buses. When the CEOs in Audis and bmws are stuck in the heavy traffic of amdavad the BRTS passengers will fly through the road. No other vehicle enters that way. Bus stops dedicated for these buses are in middle of the road. Its comparable to delhi and Bangalore metros since the ticket is taken before the journey. Info about the next bus arrival timing(which is exactly how many minutes left) and the destination flashes through the electronic display. 

Kangeriya lake was the place we visited in BRTS. A lake which is now modified and made a tourist spot with many rides, boating, laser show etc. Cost is too high inside for the rides.

Overall I had some good time at gujarath and got admission to deendayal and nirma too. Hope gujarath will make my life a splendid one…..