Heritage,
to me the word itself says it all. We inherit from our ancestors and that
always remain close to our heart, throughout the ages of our life giving rise
to a “Heritage”.
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| Route Map: Heritage Walk |
The
Heritage Walk of Ahmedabad is conducted by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation
with NGO, CRUTA Foundation like most Indian cities, has a long history and
strong architectural and urban character. The AMC has been, since 19th Nov1997-
as a part of World Heritage Week - conducting this Heritage Walk of Ahmedabad as
a part of its cherished project "Getting the City to the People”. The
Heritage Walk of Ahmedabad is a guided walk of two and a half hours. This daily
affair by the AMC is extremely well designed in guidance and co-operation with
CRUTA and Swaminarayan Trust, being led by a group of young volunteers. There
is also a half hour special slide show running through pages of the city's
history unfolding back its birth from a 10th century AD ancient site known as
Ashaval to the present walled city re-founded during the period of Ahmedshah
and onwards. The two hour walk takes you on a discovery of a city steeped
in tradition, history, wonderful Indo-Islamic architecture and lots more. The
walk brings you close to the soul of a city which has a rich textile heritage,
intricately designed places of worship, wooden carved houses of pol and lots
more. The walk begins from the serene Swaminarayan Mandir in Kalupur and ends
in the magnificent Jumma Masjids, covering in between the numerous pols,
havelis and chabaturas (bird-feeders), secret passages, ornamental facades and
workplaces of artisans.
Our
walk effectively anchored by our volunteer Mr Nirav Panchal, proceeded from
Kavi Dalpatram Chowk - which housed the great 19th century Gujarati poet
Dalpatram - in Lambeshwar ni Pol. The century old Kala Ramji Mandir in
the Haja Patel in pol with a unique idol of Lord Rams in dark colour gives an
innate sense of devotion. A
special feature of Ahmedabad is the plan of the old city, comprising numerous
pols, self contained neighborhoods, sheltering large numbers of people,
traversed by narrow streets, usually terminating in squares with community
wells and chabutaras for feeding birds. The walk moving through Doshiwada ni
Pol, Zaveri Vad to Chaumukhji ni Pol saw ornate temples with their fascinating
wooden carvings hidden under plain exteriors camouflaged beneath the aura of
Mughal rule, and lanes punctuated with intriguing chabutras (bird feeders). We also
witnessed a high pole which according to Nirav indicated the direction of the
flow of underground sewage line that was flowing beneath it. The entire walled
city was well planned according to the “Vastushastra” as the houses had their entrance
in east-west directions and the lanes were in north-south direction. This also
proved a scientific theory that due to such architectural construction the
lanes didn’t receive direct sunlight and the houses could utilize the flow of
wind maintaining warmth during different seasons. The walk ends at the
Jumma Masjid which was built in 1423 by emperor Ahmed Shah who built this city.
After this heritage walk I fell in love with this
city and its heritage. The walled city offered me so much that I was unable to
notice in past six years while I was roaming through the same streets, may be
mind set mattered. The city seemed beautiful in the morning silent and peaceful
without any rush of traffic just a group of volunteers roaming around,
exploring and the city itself seemed happy in sharing its age long experiences with
us. We did enter a couple of houses to see the architectural heritage, amidst
of the owners of houses busy with their routines, and not a slightest sign of
antipathy on their face for you intruding their privacy giving me a live
example of our motto “Atithi Devo Bhavah” (Guest become God). A onetime must
visit for every individual living in the city, at least one can spare two hours
from their busy schedule. I would love to go through it again and again eagerly
waiting for the next opportunity.
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