Ahmedabad: Remains of a city – prologue

Here we are, too foreign for the home, too foreign for here, neither enough for both.-  Ijeoma Umebinyuo

 

Window art of Sidi Saiyyed Mosque

Today I was coming from the fish market of old Ahmedabad, and suddenly I realized how long I have been living here ! Seven years of my late twenties !. That is a long period of considering one’s quality life span. This is the city where we, me and my partner Swapna, started our lives together. This is the city where our son Milan Azad was conceived. And I have completed my doctoral study from here. Its true beyond doubt that this city means a lot to me. When I was crossing the underpass near Gandhi bridge, it occurred to me “why not writing the experiences of this city ? “.

I am not so great in exploring new places. So obviously I haven’t  seen even 30% of Ahmedabad. So I cant give a complete description of the entire city.  During the ride from that underpass to my quarters near IIM, many incidents and places occurred to me which will be worth sharing. But when I sad down to write something my brain started elimination round. Many of them felt too personal experiences, which sometime I feel its pointless to share. Fear of incompleteness and monotonous  descriptions overpowered my enthusiasm of writing. Thus I decided to write this prologue. Honestly, I dont know what I am going to write. It may so happen that I might leave it after two or three articles.

Now, how do I proceed?As of now I have decided to do it in a random fashion. First I thought I will tell my experience in a time ordered manner. But later that felt to be too monotonic. Another question is that in what perspective I will describe it. Gujrat and Ahmedabad has great importance and relevance in Indian politics with its  notorious history of riots. Certainly this was my first concern while coming to Ahmedabad. I am not going to be too political in the description. However, I don’t think I can be completely apolitical throughout.

So here is the plan. I wish to write some of my experiences and fun and discoveries of Ahmedabad which is essentially what remains when you leave the place. Many of them, I wish, will be relatable to you. Essentially it might be a diary of memories about the city.

# most of the pictures that I share are my random shots. I will be mentioning otherwise