TEERTHAYAATRA TO PANCHA DWARAKA - Day 1

 

Om Namoh Narayanaya

TEERTHAYAATRA TO PANCHA DWARAKA

(2nd to 12th Aug 2023)

Author:  Sindhu Satish (Architect & Professor)

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Every inch of my Bhaarat is a Teerthabhumi!

- Swami Vivekananda

DAY 1 - AUG 2nd, 2023

Bengaluru 

The shrill sound of the alarm clock woke me and my husband up instantly. It was 2.00am. We hurriedly pulled ourselves out of the bed to finish bath, quickly got ready and soon were wheeling all our suitcases near the front door by 3.15am. My heart thumped with excitement although saddened a little since Sameeksha (our daughter, studying in II PUC) had to cancel her ticket due to term exams. While I gave her few instructions, Satish raced up to first floor guest room to wake my brother Vasista. He was supposed to drop us in the car to our friend’s place from where with two other families we would be going to Airport.

INDIGO flight 6E586 was scheduled to leave at 6.00am. We were at airport by 4.30am. Since we had both uploaded our flight and personal details into Digi Yatra app, we got into the Kempegowda airport in a hassle-free manner. Of course, we had to wait for others who had to enter through conventional process before checking in. Soon, as we (Satish, me, Ranga, Radhika, Rukmini Maami, Surya Maama, Shree and Balanujan) entered the waiting lobby, post checking in we met Ravi Anna, Vatsala Akka , and their son Dhruv. Eleven of us from Bengaluru. On the flight we all enjoyed methi chapatis rolls smeared with thokku and pickle. Rukmini Maami had made some yummy thokku, Radhika had packed some methi chapatis and pickle. I tried hard to shut my eyes just to catchup some sleep seeing others do so but in vain. Luckily it was only 2 hours flight to Ahmedabad from Bengaluru, and soon we were landing. 

8.15 am sharp we landed at Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Airport at Ahmedabad. As we moved towards belt number 2 to collect our luggage, Ravi Maama stood grinning with his family waiting for us. Delighted, happy greetings were exchanged. They helped us to load our luggage on to the trolleys and soon we were all out trying to locate our bus. It took us almost 45 minutes to collect all our luggage from belt number 2 and to come out. Huddling into the bus we rode off to the hotel by 9.00 am. 

The avenue of trees along the road caught my attention since they looked pretty with lower part of their trunk being painted with brick red colour and white polka dots. At some points where these trees had green wild background they resembled like spotted dears in a lush green forest.

I enjoyed viewing the city streetscape, old houses with lovely balcony, grill designs. All these buildings must have seen their glory days in 70s, 80s. I found the exclusive BRTS lanes very practical and sensible. Perhaps this was possible as the roads were wide all through the city. 

We reached hotel "Cambay Sapphire" at Vishala by 9.40am. As I entered the hotel a musty smell greeted me. It felt like a smallest shake would make the plaster fall off flaking from the walls. As I made my way through stairs to our room assigned in upper floor almost deserted shabby, musty corridors, it the appeared as though the spirit of this hotel was long gone. Pandemic impact on this hotel was obvious and lack of maintenance evident. Two rooms were given immediately to just freshen up before every family got their own. We took a brief break and trouped into the dining hall. Despite the methi paratha roll that I ate during flight I was still very hungry. The catering team were already there and they welcomed us by serving hot Pongal, sambar vada and chutney. We finished breakfast with piping hot coffee. They gave us each a pair of shining stainless steel tumblers that we were to keep it along with our plates (which we carried from home) all the time throughout the yathra. 

It was an open day. This meant we could spend the day at Ahmedabad with our own itinerary. We spent some time discussing all the feasible options of places that we could visit. We decided to start with Kankariya Lake, which is a huge manmade lake in the middle of Ahmedabad. 

Kankariya Lake - Boating

Despite the August heat and sultry weather of Ahmedabad, I enthusiastically entered Kankariya Lake with the others. The Butterfly Park inside was closed, a mini train which went around the entire lake was paused since it was noon and not many people around. Therefore, we decided to take boat and enjoyed the shortest boat ride ever which lasted for only 20 mins. I believe the lake comes alive late in the evening with all lights and people milling around. Most of us were not hungry although it was half past 1.00 pm. We headed towards our next destination Sabarmati Ashram. It was 2.00 pm when we reached the ashram. 

This was my second visit to Ashram after a decade. Last visit was with my students from architecture school. Elated to be there again for two reasons, it was the month of August, Independence Day was just a week later which lifted my heart with patriotic spirits and secondly this month in our podcast “Kannada Pusthaka Parichaya” we were reviewing works of few Kannada authors who wrote about freedom fighters. I had recorded a review on “Ananda Matt” which tells about the birth of Bankimchandra’s “Vande Mataram”, our National Song 

Located on the banks of river Sabarmati the ashram has an ambience that is almost peace and tranquillity in building form. It has a Museum and Hriday Kunj, the residence of Mahatma Gandhi (from 1917–1930). Located between a prison and a cemetery, Gandhi believed that a Satyagrahi is likely to end his life either in prison or in a cemetery and this was the reason he chose this place to stay. We got to know that Seth Mangaldas, an Industrialist had given the seed money for the planning of this Ashram. It is also known as Gandhi Ashram, Harijan Ashram, Satyagraha Ashram. This is also the place from where Gandhi began his Dandi March.

Gandhi Memorial Museum

Built as a tribute to Sabarmati Ashram and designed by one of India’s renowned master architects Charles Correa, Gandhi Memorial Museum attracts many visitors.Completed in 1963, the museum is dedicated to preserving and showcasing the life and legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, during his stay in the Ashram from 1917 to 1930. The museum houses a rich collection of Gandhiji’s personal items, including books, letters, and photographs, and serves as a testimony to his life and ideals. Some important ones include excellent captures of Gandhiji's Satyagraha, Dandi march 12th March 1930, Gandhiji's invitation to Tagore for Sahitya Parishat, Gandhiji's letters, Ashram activities, interesting timeline of Sabarmati ashram from 1915 to 1930, Swadeshi and swaraj movements, founding of Gujarat Vidyapith, educational experiments, Letters to Mohan Charlie, Sarojini Naidu. Some interesting intriguing questions and answers of Kasthurba and Gandhiji...as he lovingly calls her Ba....asserts that he finds only her bravery enduring as years pass. Her quest to fight for Nation’s freedom... advocates strongly to boycott of foreign clothes...and that women are stronger adn have common sense...can understand the language of sorrow. etc, all undoubtedly evoking patriotic feeling so strong as we can almost comprehend the time before independent India.

ARCHITECTURE: The museum’s design embodies the spirit of swadeshi, which describes Gandhiji’s philosophy of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. The architecture is characterized by its modest scale, using traditional building materials such as brick piers, stone floors, and tiled roofs to create a contemporary and traditional space. The museum uses a simple but delicately detailed column and beam structure. Load-bearing brick columns support concrete channels, which also support the wooden roof. The foundation is made of concrete and is raised a foot from the ground. 

To reflect the simplicity of Gandhiji’s life and the incremental nature of a living institution, the architect used modular units 6 meters by 6 meters of reinforced cement concrete connecting open and covered spaces, allowing for eventual expansion. Correa’s subtle changes in the enclosure allow for variety in the module’s lighting, temperature, and visual permeability.

Gandhi Memorial Museum

By the time we were through with Ashrama, the sharp sting of hunger pierced all of us. I was now so hungry that I could wolf down anything edible put on table. Maha (Mahalakshmi) suggested that we could go to Nini’s kitchen since it is the closest and that food there was excellent. Well, by the time we reached it was 3.45pm well past lunch time. Luck evaded all of us since we had to wait eternally before our ordered dishes were served adding irritation to our already grumbling stomach.  Pleasantly done interiors and AC kept me occupied for a while but soon peaking hunger and the endless wait made me restless. However, when the dishes arrived it tasted so delicious that all the anger melted in my mouth. Finishing lunch at teatime we realised that we are now too late to visit Adalaj vav and so decided to do some shopping. Some of us decided to go to GURJARI to buy authentic Gujarathi traditional sarees while the others went elsewhere for shopping. We managed to hire three rikshaws. We told one of the rikshaw guy the place and others to follow him. To our surprise this guy parked right in front of Gujari street grinning he said “elloh madam agaye”. I didn’t know whether to laugh or get upset. Instead of the “Gurjari “which is a Govt Store for authentic sarees, this street usually sold seconds. I then tried to make him understand that it was a wrong place but somehow, he refused to take us to the other place. Right then it started to drizzle. He was arguing and asked for exorbitant charge almost double the meter to take us to this new place. We were going bonkers and getting wet in the rain. I guessed he simply did not know that place. Meanwhile, Vatsala akka quickly checked google map and told us that it was just round the corner, less than half a kilometre. We decided to walk. What would be just 10 mins walk on a normal day it took us nearly 30 mins for we had to stop taking shelter couple of times as it started to rain heavily. 

We returned to the hotel by 8.00 pm. Since we had extremely late lunch none of us were hungry but tired and sleepy. However, since dinner was ready, and caterers were waiting to serve we decided to have little besides, we were to receive the next day’s schedule by Balaji Maama (Tour Organizer) we dragged ourselves into the dining hall half sleepy. I was pleasantly surprised to see many elderly couples from Chennai who were to join us for Dwarka Yathra the next day already eating dinner.  We were instructed to assemble at 5.00 am for coffee and later at 6.00 am to leave to our first destination Dakor.

Day 2 : To be continued ... click here