Ahmedabad - Notes

Often described as the Manchester of the east, Ahmedabad is a crowded, busy and polluted town but still has a lot of charm and some interesting sights. It is also one of the friendliest of the large cities.
Not many tourists go to Ahmedabad and of those who do, most are there primarily to visit Gandhi's ashram on the banks of the river Sabarmati (which is still run as an ashram but also houses an excellent exhibition on his life and struggle). There are however many other fascinating sights in and around Ahmedabad which make it worth staying for several days. The small Sidi Sayid mosque which sits on a roundabout in the middle of the worst bit of the city's chaotic road network has some of the most beautiful filigree stone carving (jali) I've ever seen. Also worth a visit, though not shown here is the Calico museum owned by the Sarabhai Foundation - even if you're not interested in textiles it's a fascinating collection housed in a spectacular building. Sarkhej is a village about 16km from Ahmedabad which contains some superb Indo-Saracenic buildings set around a large rectangular tank.

Almost exactly a year after I took these photos Gujerat was hit by a devastating earth-quake. My heart goes out to all the people who suffered from that terrible event.