. . . who let the dogs out?

We woke very early to arrive for the Heritage Walk of Ahmedabad. The autorickshaw dropped us outside the gates to Swaminarayan Mandir (temple), as Kavi Dalpatram Chowk (townsquare) was awakening. Vendors setting us vegetable cars, cows wandering, laundry hanging, the sun hitting different parts of the rooftops, the bells and drums of morning worship. As we waited for the tour to begin we could watch below as things came to life.

The photo of the day (which could not be taken) was across the temple as the sunshine fell on the women as they worshipped–in their saris of absolutely every color of the rainbow. Since there were only three of us on the tour—Veena, a woman from Australia, and me—we didn’t cause too much of a disturbance and felt more free to walk through the crowd.

So the tour was through what used to be the walled city and remains 600 distinct pols or gated neighborhoods. Muslim, Hindu, Jain. Each pol is gated with a guard room above, although now some of the gates are down and I didn’t see any guards; but the distinctions remain. Imagine confusing dark 400 year old cobbled streets and worn but stable, carved wooden houses that wind around and twist and turn with hidden passageways and tiny squares. Cows wandered freely except where access was obstructed. People owned their houses and life felt like it hadn’t changed all that much in 400 years, except for the occasional glimpse of TV. People were washing their clothes in the path, beating them on stones, gathering to walk and talk, picking their produce. Many squares had wells and elaborate chabutaras for feeding birds. It was just amazing to walk these streets and see it all and peer in houses and lives. The people we encountered were friendly so as part of a tour, we felt welcomed.

One little street, I was taking probably my last photo because there were trees (not much nature in these neighborhoods) and these boys jumped out and wanted a photo of them. They were playing with the dogs roaming the street and as I was taking the photo the dogs, 3-4 or them attacked me. They were jumping all over me, biting at my clothing, coming around on all sides (that’s why I don’t know how many there were). I was really terrified and the others had passed just around a corner so no one saw me and for a few minutes I felt pretty desperate.

The tour ended in Jama Masjid, a Sunni Muslim mosque—a vast open square for the Friday prayers of 5-10,000 men, women no longer allowed in their secluded spot inside. It was quite the feeling to walk into this open, quiet space.