Days 4 and 5, Ahmedabad: Just going on

When I took a decision to live away from the rest of my family by going to Ahmedabad a full week ahead of my MRCPCH exams, I probably thought that this would be the right way to immerse myself in studies and come out at the exams fully prepared. Instead, the days that have passed have been the usual: I have not been able to study in a single-minded way. The hotel that I am staying in has been good. The proprietor and his family have gone out of their way to make my stay comfortable. Mr. Jignesh Sharma has literally bent backwards to please me. A couple of negatives have been that their internet service has not been on par all the days. In between, there were many occasions when the net failed completely. To be fair, however, they responded every single time and got technical people to come and rectify the fault every time. Since yesterday, their internet has been working perfectly. 

While I went to a non-veg restaurant opposite the roza a few days ago, and then again today morning to have my breakfast, the other meals have all been in the hotel. Being a Punjabi kitchen, the options for lunch and dinner are limited to a thali consisting of tandoori roti with 2 vegetables, dal and jeera rice on most occasions; once or twice, I tried to break the mould and ordered differently. They made khichdi and kadhi with zeera aloo yesterday afternoon for lunch. They did this only for me. In the evening, I ordered a grilled vegetable sandwich, which turned out to be good. The only other demand I keep making on them is to have 5-6 cups of tea all through the day, the last one being at night. And they have always obliged, never complained. Indeed, the management and staff at Lalji's hotel need to be complimented for being so cooperative and nice. 

Ahmedabad is under a chill nowadays, and mornings are cold. In my room, I have seldom needed even a fan, let alone an air-conditioned environment. The location of the hotel is a bit odd, as there are no major shops, restaurants or facilities nearby. In the mornings and through the day, there are many hawkers on carts selling diverse food items from breakfasts, non-vegetarian meals and tea, to south-Indian idli sambar and Gujarati poha. I had poha for breakfast yesterday, and it was pretty warm and good. Other than this one occasion, I have avoided street food so far.

The burning Chinese lanterns on Uttarayan are not unique to Ahmedabad. I was informed that similar burning lanterns are now commonplace in Vadodra, Surat and many other cities in Gujarat. My daughter informed me that similar lanterns are also available to launch at Marine Drive in Mumbai. Although these lanterns are a great sight, they have led to fires all over Ahmedabad. The local newspaper has documented 30 places where fires caused damage to homes and shops in the city this year!

The final evening stretches out before me as I look at my books and worry about what more I can revise. Two meals, one night, 4 cups of tea and a night of sleep divide me from the exam that I will go for tomorrow afternoon. Whether it will be a triumph or not is to be seen. However, this experience is certainly something I am not going to forget for a long, long time to come. Thank you, dear reader, for reading this entry.

To those who came to this entry casually, may I urge you to read a few more entries before this one first, so that you will be able to understand what exam I am giving, and so on. If you should like what I have written, do feel free to sign up for updates on this blog.

Day 3, Ahmedabad II: A very busy evening filled with fun

Readers will recall that I had ended my previous entry on the promise of the expected arrival of my Ahmedabadi friend Dr. Paresh Shah to pick me up. Imagine my pleasant surprise when he arrived exactly at four p.m. in his Honda car! He informed me that he took out his car only on holidays like this one. This was not a City or an Accord or even a Jazz. It was a mid-sized car and it was great! He has a diesel version. He had made up his mind to take me on a tour around Ahmedabad, and so, off we went. We visited several sectors of the new as well as the old city - going to the Siddi mosque, Ashram Road, Navrangpura, Kalupur, Delhi Darwaza, Teen Darwaza, etc before we finally reached his in-laws' house located inside a row-house complex. He took me straight up to the terrace of the 2-storey bungalow. Here, nearly 12-15 adults were all enjoying themselves with kites and "manja". These were all relatives of either Dr. Paresh or his wife, who turned out to be an affable person with a beaming smile and a welcoming presence. I was introduced to his daughter as well as to his 2 sisters-in-law, his brother-in-law, his other relations and so on. Everyone was busy, and I spent the next few hours watching them fly kites, or the Chinese balloons ("tukkals" in Gujarati street-side language) - the latter lit by wax tablets under them, and flying of their own accord once their insides were full of hot air, and eventually, also flying my own kite and my own tukkal. 

By half-past-seven, Dr. Paresh and I descended to the living room on the ground floor, and then we waited while one of the hosts went to fetch a parcel of bhaji pav. When he returned, we went into the house from the outside verandah where we had sat for the previous half an hour, and then partook of the nice dinner of home-made undhiyu,bhaji and butter pav bhaji, with accompaniments of jalebi and soft drinks. At half past eight, he got up and beckoned me to follow him to his car. Once we had reached there, we travelled back to Laljis hotel where I retired for the night.

I have taken several pictures of the intense fun I had, and will post them soon into the blog entries. Busy with exam studies, as you know. 

Today, I spent my morning either studying or laxing around. Only two days away, my exam seems to have taken over a new purpose in my mind. It is no longer about being ready to be grilled over the coals on my clinical knowledge. I am more scared about whether I will ever be able to finish my studies ...

Day 3, Ahmedabad - I: A lazy morning on Uttarayan day

Today is Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan. The sun's north-bound journey (just an optical illusion as one looks at the sun's apparent movement in the space above us from Earth) has begun. Days will continue to be longer, as winter retreats, spring will be upon us, and summer is not too far away. I woke up a bit late, then went to the Bohra roza of the various past religious heads of our community whose graves are located about a kilometer away from Lalji hotel where I am staying. The most famous of those leaders is Syedna Qutbuddin, but there are over half a dozen older heads of our community whose graves are also located in Ahmedabad within the same grounds. 

The long walk to the burial grounds gave me an opportunity to stretch myself after a long gap of over 12 days. In fact, I had stopped walking since a week before I left Saudi Arabia to travel to India, so make that over 2 weeks! Just opposite the graveyard are located many small restaurants, and I had my first non-vegetarian meal after 4 days at one of these. It was a heavy breakfast of minced lamb meat (kheema) with 2 half-fried eggs thrown over it and very well-made thin chapatis, followed by tea. Thereafter, it was the same long walk back to my hotel, where, as I write now, I am gearing to a day filled with studies. In the evening, I may go to the Sabarmati river front to watch the locals fly kites and then watch the public display of fireworks, something that I have heard the locals talk about with a lot of happy anticipation.

Will write more about the evening festivities in my next entry.