Gujarat has its own language and the makeup of the people are different from other places in India I have been to, as well. Many more Muslim women are seen here. Many more temples are seen, predominantly Hindu. They seem to be everywhere! Little ones, big ones, gaudy ones, pretty obscure ones, where only one person has to get on his knees and poke his head inside to do business, so to speak. On my first night, I went to a very interesting jewelry shop called AB jewelers, in the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The people were amazing who helped me, and the owner just piled on discounts and even took some bangles from another store as credit towards bangles with clasps in them for my daughter! Try getting that sweet deal in the US. During the first day, prior to the abovementioned evening, I went big-time shopping for shawls and a table cloth. Unlike Mumbai and Goa, most of the shawls seen are for cold weather and made of Pashmani or Khadi (wool, cotton). The spelling on the second one is suspect and unfortunately it stands as a very import aspect in India's history. When MK Gandhi, a practicing attorney, became involved in India's independance from foreign greed merchants and imperialists, cotton factories in India were shutting down as cotton was being brought in and sold to manufacturers to make clothing and other goods in India. This was tough on the Indian peoples, especially the lower class whom Ghandi felt a great affinity for and hence became involved in the politics of the people, e.g. the Dandi strikes, salt tariff intervention and marches and speaking to people around the world. His acts of civil disobedience were emulated, and still are, by visionaries and activists throughout history. So, cotton remains important in Gujarat state as Ghandi stayed in an ashram in Ahmedabad, where a historical museum now stands next to the Sabarmati River. See the bottom of this post for a neat slideshow which includes some of the museum. Also, during this visit, some musicians were playing and I included a small clip here.
After a true Gujarat lunch, I went to the Swaminarayan Akshardham in Ghandinagar where there is an amazing temple and what I can only call a cult-based theme park, but inside. For 50 INR, you go inside past many, many dioramas which describe this famous leader of this following and his life. These dioramas and audiovisual stands and short movies are total top notch quality. But the real treat was yet to come. They have a full blown giant movie theatre after 10 or 15 dioramas and 2 smaller theatres where you also see introductory presentations. This movie, lasting about an hour, in Hindi, is Hollywood quality. The music and cinematography was off the hook. Unfortunately, like many religious sites, they don't allow any recording equipment, in fact, they frisk you and make you remove everything from your pockets. They don't let you bring in big purses or bags of any kind. Also, they don't let you bring in cell phones. They are serious about this stuff at this place. Don't even try because they have signs saying they'll fine you 100INR and "escort" you out of the premises. Whoa. Anyway, the movie depicts the early years of Neelkanth Vardi, an 11 year old yogi who walked 12,000 km throughout India, teaching yoga on a pilgrimage which depicts mystic India beautifully. This was worth it, even if you don't speak Hindi!
Also, during this trip, I went to three Jain temples with my new friend Neeta who helped me buy the bangles. Since the company that I was working with knew I was into the religions, they arrange for me to see an ISKCON temple as well! Again, since no photography is allowed inside, I took some pics outside, with my shoes on! Note to whoever goes to temples, wear slip-on shoes!
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