There is plenty of stuff to do in Ahmedabad if you care to venture around. After paying my respects to my Fire Temple, I went straight to Sabarmati Ashram. Located on the banks of river Sabarmati, this was Mahatma Gandhi's first ashram that he built to promote social welfare and propagate ahimsa. There's a lot of text to be read here as part of the exhibition halls and very little artefacts or paraphernalia that Gandhiji had used. But it is still a very peaceful place to be. The place is very well maintained, but I wish more of his original things or clothes or equipments were there for us to learn more about his way of life. The chakras are there including the latest one (which looks very different than the traditional one we see in pictures) that he used before he passed away.
Before stopping for lunch, I spent some time Sidi Sayyed mosque. There are several mosques in and around Ahmedabad and some of them look quite beautiful, but what's special about Sidi Sayyed mosque is its intricately carved jaali work or lattice work windows. That is a must-see. I was especially intrigued by the Tree of Life lattice work, which later on became the symbol of IIM Ahmedabad.
Lunch was at Honest restaurant. Their pav-bhaji was awesome and it came highly recommended to me by a friend. In Ahmedabad, pav bhaji is called bhaji-pav. The texture was reasonably thick; I like my pav-bhajis to be on the thicker side rather than the gravy sort we're used to having in Mumbai. Also, in Ahmedabad I learnt that if you order cold drinks with your lunch, you get the drinks served after your meal. In Mumbai, they pop open the bottle right away and then serve you the meal. But the pav bhaji was delicious and I hesitate to say, amongst the best I've ever had.A short detour and two hours later, I was back at the airpot and headed for home sweet home.
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