Gandhinagar- My Haven and Heaven

I lived in Koba village of Gandhinagar for more than 2 years, in the campus of an Institute/University. It was no less than a sanctuary. One side was the dry river-bed of Sabarmati. One could stand and stare at the place for hours together and breathe joy and peace. There was peace because there was distance from confusion n noise.

Every-day, I had to drive those first 4kms. to reach the main road. This 4km road was lined with three major educational institutes of India, including the Institute of Hotel Management. This is the other side of Gandhinagar, actually. This road connects to the Sardar Vallabhabhai Patel International Airport, a quick connect in 15-20 minutes (from Bhaijipura).

Moving a little further, towards Gandhinagar town, one finds City Pulse, the first multiplex of the city. City Pulse is a place to be at, every weekend. The live music band in the open campus, CPIFT (City Pulse Institute of Film and Televisison), three silver-screens, one video screen(25 seater) and one (Pandit Nandan Mehta) Auditorium. I have watched many a classics (English, Hindi, Bangla) displayed on projector in this auditorium, besides every Friday release.

When I used to go to the town, it was a feeling of sheer luxury driving on those roads. They were clean. The number of trees that lined the roads outnumbered the people on roads. There were no traffic-policemen. (The first traffic Policeman was appointed at gha zero somewhere in 2011).

Though Gandhinagar is the capital city you would not find the urbanization n development kill the rustic-touch and the hold on culture and tradition. In my home, at nights, I could hear the sound of steps of dancing foots of vagabonds on the real Gujarati and sometimes Rajasthani folk music.

It’s an organized city laced with all facilities. The roads run parallel named Ka, Kha, Ga, Gha, Cha, Chha roads. (These are named after the Hindi alphabets) Each road has the streets cutting across the cross-road circles- zero, one two, therefore named Gha zero, Gha one, Gha two and so on..

The city’s zero point can be recognized at Gha Zero, which connects to Ahmedabad via SG Hghway (Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Hw). One can cover a distance of 25 kms in 35 minutes safely. At Gha Zero, one finds The INFOCITY, having its own Infocity Resort, a huge IT hub (with giants like TCS having more than thousand employees), sporting the brands like Bellezza, Koutons, Woodland, Adidas, Bata, Pizzahut, and other branded/non-branded shops n food-joints and branch offices of SBI and IDBI (I am sure I am missing out many more names), all in one place. This huge hub is surrounded by two more Educational institutes which also include‘THE’ NID (National Institute of Design). The evenings were rollicking with the young crowd from all over India who had come to work or study. Lot of them in-fact stayed in the Infocity’s residential apartments.

Then, there was another place I visited frequently, Sector 21. It’s a shopping place. One could find the cloth-merchants here, the jewelers, the tailors, the local vendors, the vegetable market (an up-town organized one) etc.

Little further to Gandhinagar is Akshardham, a temple and a picnic place as well.

The city stretches far and wide. It was so organized that the green would remain preserved for very long. There is enough space for people and trees to stay and stick to each-other.

One place that I liked being at was the Karai-Dam (It’s not proper Gandhinagar though). Only a person who has been to this place would know what bliss one feels there.

P.S. There is so much more I could’ve written but the Modi-land is so beautiful that my description in words would never do enough justice to the reality. I would want to write more about its people next time.