Diu

Population 44,100
I spent 2 nights and three days here.

Dui is an overnight bus journey from Ahmedabad, because it’s a Union Territory alcohol is legal, so it is a popular weekend getaway for NID students coming from the ‘dry’ state of Gujarat. Dui used to be a Portuguese enclave until 1961 when the Indian army took over, it is made up of 5 villages and one central town. The architecture is very beautiful due to the Portuguese influence, there is amazing Catholic cathedral in the center of the town and narrow winding streets which direct you to the piazzas. This was my first ‘tourist’ destination and the thing which struck me most about the area was how clean the streets were and the amazing colours, everything was so incredibly coloured- the buildings, the boats, the crazy bins and the people, as with most places I’ve come across in India the locals were lovely, so friendly and helpful. My experience there was that of the typical student- hanging out in the pool, drinking and scooting around the town on mopeds, there was not a whole lot of sight seeing happening, though there was lots of fun to be had. We went with a bunch of friends from NID, it was our first truly bonding experience- cementing the newly formed friendships.

From the begining

Ahmedabad

Population 3,694,900
This is my base for three and half months.

A city known for:-

*It’s a amazing Muslim architecture which dates back to medieval India.
*(For Architecture buffs)In the 1950′s it was a hot bed of activity in the International Architecture scene, it hosts buildings designed by the likes of Le Corbusier.
*In 1961 NID (National Institute of Design, where I am currently on an exchange studying Industrial Design) was founded under the guidance of Charles and Ray Eames- internationally acclaimed designers.
*The Calico museum, one of the richest collections of textiles in the world.
*I’m told it is the world’s capital for ice-cream (though I’ve not come across anything in my reading up of the city to back this claim, but I have tasted the ice-cream and I have to say it’s pretty incredible).
*Gandhi settled here in 1915 on returning from South Africa. He established the Gandhi ashram which was a hub for his non-violent struggle for India’s Freedom/liberation from British occupation. The ashram is still going strong today and homes the NGO Manav Sadhna one of the many NGO’s working out of Ahmedabad to help the slum people.

I’m going to back track on my stay a bit…

As a tourist my first month or so in Ahmedabad was very low key. Maybe I was suffering from culture shock, or maybe I was just too preoccupied settling into NID to explore the city, whatever the case, most of the sights I saw were from the safety of an auto. In retrospect I’ve come to the conclusion that my initial impression of the city was one of dirt and poverty and I was tentative about discovering it for myself. Having now spent some time here my opinion has changed, but I will get to that in a later post.