Rebounding from Setbacks! #SiblingDiaries #6

This post is a continuation of my travel series “Beauties of Mumbai & Ahmedabad”.

I hope you’ve read my previous post, if not please find the link at the end of the post.

Our first day in Ahmedabad started off on a bad note….Half of the day turning into a fiasco. Still with a wavering hope left, we went with the flow. We headed towards “Adalaj Step well”, also called as “Adalaj Ni Vav” in Gujarati. “Step well” or “Stair Well” is called “Vav” and it is situated in the village called “Adalaj”, so the name “Adalaj Ni Vav”.

Adalaj Ni Vav:

Brief History-

As legend says, the construction was initially started under the reign of King Rana Veer Singh, who was later killed in a war which was waged by Muslim king Mahmud Begada. As Mahmud Begada was smitten by the beauty of Rani Roopba (widow of King Rana Veer Singh), he proposed a marriage. She agreed with a condition that he needs to complete the construction of the stepwell first, to which he agreed and finished it but later Rani Roopba ended her life jumping into the same well as she wanted to be truthful to her husband.

Adalaj village is approx. 18km away from Ahmedabad, it roughly took us 45 min to reach there as we were self-driving and also being new to the place we took help of locals to reach there. If not that, it should not take more than half an hour. It opens at 8am and closes by 6:30 – 7:00pm. There was no entry fee, it was open to all.

As we entered, the structure left me in Awww…! It was obviously made of stone and the carvings seemed like a beautiful piece of art. The whole structure represents Indo-Islamic architectural style. Each pillar was in perfect symmetry but still when you stand facing the structure with-in, it creates an optical illusion…

It is a 5 stories structure, which starts from floor 1 and leads to other floors which are in downwards direction from 1^st floor and as per my knowledge it also has a rear entrance, which was closed.

I am a great admirer of Art and Architecture and when I visit a place of historic significance; my heart fills with joy and I try to explore and cover every significant aspect of that place! Deepthi is already aware of this interest of mine but her friends on the other hand were not, obviously!

It was not more than 15 min since we started exploring the place and they already wanted to leave. We both wanted to spend some more time there but they were not interested as art was not something they admire or understand! As we all were travelling in same vehicle, there wasn’t much left for us to argue with them and had to leave from there in another 10-15 min. It was a great disappointment for me and as we moved ahead it felt like my heart was still at “Adalaj Ni Vav”.  Here are some of the pictures I captures in that short span…

We headed back to the city from there and had “Vada pav and Dabeli” for lunch at a road side stall and proceeded to “Amdavad Ni Gufa”.

Amdavad Ni Gufa:

Brief History-

“Amdavad Ni Gufa” is an underground art gallery designed by the architect Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi, it exhibits works of the Indian artist Maqbool Fida Husain. It represents a unique juxtaposition of architecture and art.

Image Source

The art was abstract and modern, which is not something I need to discuss as everyone is already aware of M.F.Hussain’s artwork.

Deepthi and I enjoyed the representation of art which was modern but it was not the same with our co-travellers. They were done with seeing everything in less than 5 min and were ready to leave. This time I was quite adamant that I need more time to explore and made sure that they waited until I was done!

Art Gallery:

As we came out of the underground structure and noticed there was another art gallery adjacent to it and seemed like an art exhibit was being held in that gallery. Naturally, being art enthusiasts’ we both headed towards it and just then Deepthi’s friends were coming out of the gallery. To know about what is on the exhibit, Deepthi asked them what was it about?  And how is it?

“It’s just Bullshit” was the reply we got! But still we wanted to have a look and asked them to wait for a while and went ahead. As we entered the gallery and witnessed what was on display, simultaneously, only one phrase popped out, which was “How can one call such an amazing art just bullshit?”

It was a themed exhibit based on environmental issues and was an “Emboss and Deboss Artwork”. We were so immersed in appreciating those art pieces that it did not even strike us to take couple of pictures! Even the minute details were clearly visible and personally I loved it, one can do nothing but understand the effort artist has put in creating those stunning art pieces, which those fools (Forgive me for my language but I cannot use any other word apart from that) dismissed as “just Bullshit”. I do want to stress that; I get it, not everyone can appreciate art but that does not give anyone right to disrespect them. It takes years of hard work and many personal sacrifices to create such work! If one cannot appreciate it, at least show some sense by not disrespect it.

At that very moment I decided to go solo from next day so that I need not tolerate them at least for most of the day!

Auto World Vintage Car Museum:

Brief History-
Auto World Vintage Car Museum is a private collection of vintage car enthusiast Pranlal Bhogilal which is open to public. You could also drive one of those vintage beauties for a 3.5 km stretch by paying an amount of around INR 600! Rolls Royce, Bentley, Maybach, Jaguar, Cadillac, Austin, Chrysler, Lincoln, Ford, Mercedes and many more brands are in display here.

“Vintage Car Museum” was nearly 20km away from “Amdavad ni Gufa”. It was 6pm and traffic was at its peak, took us 45 min to reach there. We quickly paid for the entry ticket (Rs 50/person) and a special ticket (Rs 100) was issued for carrying camera. There were some stunning vintage cars for display. It was huge and it could have easily had more than 200 vehicles in display! Need I say more about the vintage cars? The pictures below sums up everything…!

Back to Hotel….

After spending an hour there, we headed back to our hotel tired and hungry! Initial plan was to explore local cuisine but it was already late by the time we were back, so we both settled for food from the same Punjabi dabha, where we had dinner the previous night; Food was delicious though!

While Deepthi’s friends headed out to have their dinner at Mc’D (which was close to the hotel), I told her my plan of going solo from the next day as I couldn’t tolerate their behavior anymore. It was then I came to know that, even Deepthi was equally frustrated and was not enjoying their company, so we both decided to explore together (Alone but together!) and we made it clear to them as well!

Deepthi had a workshop to attend the next day (26^th Nov, 2016), which was at 3 Pm. Hence, we made a plan for the next day; which was to cover “Hathi Singh Jain Temple”, “Dada Hari ni Vav” and “Sabarmati Ashram” in the first half of the day and I had a surprise for Deepthi once she returned from the workshop in the evening…which I will be talking about in my next post. Stay tuned guys!

Until next time…                                                                     

Ciao                                                         

You can read the previous posts here:
Trivial Adventure #SiblingDiaries Part1
Peaceful Morning #SiblingDiaries Part2
Celestial Vibes #SiblingDiaries Part3                         
Impeccable Structure #SiblingDiaries Part4
Troublesome First Day #SiblingDiaries Part5

I AM TAKING MY ALEXA RANK TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH #MYFRIENDALEXA VIA BLOGCHATTER.

Connect with me on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest