Ahmedabad- a city of fading colours!
Urbun history vi Jay soni- 3002
The first impression of this city; be it the old city, or the new city, is the traffic, noise, honks,
harsh sun, and heat. A journey from the new city to the old city, one would feel this even
stronger. We all realize that india is getting westernized more and more, similarly, old city is
getting influenced by the west (new city). This implies a huge impact on the quality of life of
people.
One would find almost all the public squares dead as occupied by parking. Evening chai
at kitli opening to a public square, happens on these parked vehicles, as there is no space to
sit… out of such an experience, while walking on the grounds of relief road, the contant search
was to get ‘relief’! to discover a space, an ambience that allows a transition back to the old city
streets, to the old traditions, and the values!
Finally, rattan pol was the answer. Suddenly, my view finder found a thousand colourful
frames on its main commercial spine. The entire stretch hijacks you with all kinds of colours it
can offer! Signages, fabrics displayed in a typical pattern, mannequins, colourful artifacts, etc…
sharing the same platform with a thousand pedestrians, and honking vehicles at the same time.
But one would find it difficult to get bothered by these as one is all the time occupied in
enjoying the colours that the main spine offers.
At one’s surprise, suddenly the moment one steps to the inener streets, zooooop!
Colours, gone!; noise, gone! The streets become very subtle, calm, quiet and dull in colours.
The only transition one is allowed is the threshold.
This experience captured by my view finder, has been clicked as this one image that
represents ahmedabad.