Nothing new to report for this week. The program brought in some government officials who talked to us about the bombing but it was nothing that we had not heard, and they sometimes sent mixed messages. I don’t know if it was the language barrier or something lost in translation, but they were telling us not to worry and to go about our business as usual, while also telling us to not go to crowded areas. Another funny piece of advice was don’t travel but the safest way to travel is by airplane. As far as I’m concerned nothing has changed in my daily routine.
On Friday Brynna, Naani, and I went to Ahmedabad to visit some of my family. My dad’s cousin lives there and my dad’s sister was also in Ahmedabad for a few weeks. It was nice to be among family, and be in a home, which I feel like I haven’t been in for a long time. My dad’s best friend ended up marrying my dad’s cousin, so it’s funny to hear all the old stories. According to the stories my dad was the instigator of every party and every wild thing they did… not so much anymore (what happened dad?).
When we first got to Ahmedabad we saw yellow and green rickshaws, which is different from the black and yellow rickshaws we are used to in Pune. Amit told us that they run on natural gas, and that they have really made a difference in the pollution levels in Ahmedabad. I would really like to know why this initiative hasn’t reached Pune yet, because it is smoggy and really polluted here compared to Ahmedabad. On Friday night we went to see my great grandfathers house, and it’s the house that my dad lived in when he was in India. It’s called the Africa House and it’s pretty cool, from the outside at least. The outside is painted all different colors, and they named it the Africa House because everyone grew up in Kenya. No one lives there now and it is some disrepair, but it would cool if someone in the family bought it back and fixed it up (hint hint family!). Saturday we saw the Gandhi Ashram, and did some shopping (as always). We also went and saw a step well Dada Hari Wav, which was cool. It got significantly colder as you walked down and the walls were beautifully carved. On Sunday morning we did a heritage walk through the old parts of Ahmedabad. The neighborhoods, called pols, were all separated by a gate and there were sometimes secret walkways between them. Most of the houses were supported by these intricately carved wooden beams, and I have seen maybe one building like that in Pune. It is interesting because Ahmedabad seems like it has been able to keep the older housing and integrate it with the new. In Pune all the buildings look the same and they are not old or pretty in any way. All in all it was a great weekend, and we agreed that we like Ahmedabad a lot better than Pune. It seemed a lot cleaner, breathing wise, still had a lot of the old city in tact, and seemed a lot more hip than Pune. We are thinking of transferring to Gujarat University!!!
This week will be another short one, and on Thursday morning I am off to Jaipur to see my mom! Then it’s Holi on Sunday!!! For those of you who don’t know about Holi, you basically have a huge water, and colored powder fight- don’t worry pictures will be taken and they will be great!!! Holi signifies the start of summer (which I am totally looking forward too…) and there are other meanings behind it but I can’t remember. I’ll look it up and post it later.
Elephant carvings on the step well
Africa House
The three S's are the initials for my grandfather, great grandmother, and great grandfather
Plaque outside the house- not my grandfathers name though!
Peace
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