And i marched on,
left-right-left, i marched on.
My head turned with every foot i took,
right-left-right, it scanned for stories untold.

Yesterday, it was a fort.
Today, a bustling city of sorts.
Here and there stood tall,
ruins that could tell us all.
Stories of all sort, lessons foretold!

It isn’t easy to say goodbye, especially when you know that you might never meet again! Painfully, i said goodbye to Amritavarshini Vaav. Walking forward towards the heart of Amdavad, i turned back again, to say goodbye to Pacnchkuwa Darwaja.

The crowd at the cycling market didn’t notice our sad goodbyes, traveller moved ahead and stones that told history stayed there…waiting for the next traveller.

Gandhi road gave me a deja vu of being there before, or was it the resemblance of this market with that in Chandini Chowk, Delhi? I passed Pada Pol. Pol is usually a cluster of families, generally of the same caste or trade living in a narrow street. They speak of yester years town planning. Read more about Pol: The mysteries of pol. They sustained over two centuries and knelt down before the crazy urbanisation of Amdavad, but is still considered as a key for development: Residential Cluster, Ahmedabad: Housing based on traditional Pols

If one closely observe the buildings on either side of Gandhi Road, you will see some standing tall, oddly constructed compared to the surroundings! They are last of the few buildings left from what i assume is the first steps of urbanisation.

Then beautifully carved verandas adorned the buildings. If you read the article i shared  earlier (The mysteries of Pol), one can understand how carefully they then constructed buildings. Buildings then had space for pigeons & squirrels to dwell peacefully and gave shade for people passing through the lanes below. With time, people forgot the importance in co-existence of humans with nature!

A beautiful temple, the queue outside a dhokla shop, the tasty dhokla, the small winding staircase, the tiny shop with a gramophone larger than its entrance…all told stories.

I listened to them and walked on, till i reached the entrance of another heritage site, a mosque (pic below). Will introduce you to the mosque in my next travel note, till then, keep travelling folks.

This post is in continuation to Chalo Patang Udaane – in search of Amdavad (II)

Read the next travel note in this series here: Chalo Patang Udaane – in search of Amdavad (IV) at Jami Masjid