Ahmedabad: City with a PastA biography of Ahmedabad from a winner of the Sahitya Akademi award There are many legends around the founding of Ahmedabad. One has it that some time in 1411 AD, a dog was looking for easy prey on the banks of the Sabarmati when a hare attacked him and drove him away. Sultan Ahmed Shah witnessed the scene and, impressed by the hare's spirit, decided to build a city right there.Now, six hundred years later, Ahmedabad is a city at the intersection of the old and the new. Centuries-old dargahs and havelis stand alongside high-rises and glitzy shopping malls. Once known for its textile mills, it is now one of the world's fastest developing cities. But while the fortifications of the walled city crumbled long ago, divisions between its varied groups have come to the fore, pulling them apart.Esther David, a member of Ahmedabad's small Bene Israel Jewish community, is a storehouse of city stories. In Ahmedabad: City with a Past, she takes the reader on an intimate rickshaw ride through a city full of life and wondrous contradictions. |
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Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation ancestral house animals artisans auto-bhais autorickshaw bakeries Bazaar Bhatiyar Gully birds biryani biscuits Bridge built centre Chandravilas chicken chickpea chikoo city of Ahmedabad colourful communal riots dargah Delhi Gate Delhi Gate house devotees dhokla dining table Diwali door dressed eating favourite festival flowers Gandhi Ashram Ganesha garden glass green Gujarati Gujarati food Hanuman Hindu housing societies India jalebis Juhapura khakhras Khattu kitchen kites known Laxmi Nivas lived look Mahatma malls Maneck Chowk Manecknath mango masala Meenaben mill mosque mukhvas Muslim Navratri night non-vegetarian old city owners paan painted palace photographs pickle plastic Ramattar Rani No Hajiro rice river front road Sabarmati Sabarmati river saint samosas Saraniyas saris Sarkhej Roza Shahibaug shops silver snacks Sparky stray dogs Sultan Ahmed Shah tazias Teen Darwaza temple textile thali traditional trees Vadodara Vasna vegetable vegetarian walled city west Ahmedabad women