I happen to visit Gujarat a few days back in February to attend a family wedding. It gave me a chance to explore the culture, customs, traditions, and way of living in Gujarat. It wasn’t my first visit to the state yet the observations were noteworthy.
The wedding destination was Nadiad, a relatively decent-sized city in the Kheda district. In my school days, I heard and read about the district as it included Anand, known for AMUL. But considering the potential and importance of the Anand, off-late Anand is now categorized as a separate district. This place is just 15 km from Nadiad. So, Kheda district now excludes Anand.
After living in Madhya Pradesh which is relatively a big state with cities and towns located at quite a considerable distance, I was amused to know that Nadiad is just 15 km away from Anand and 56 km from Ahmedabad. The statue of unity, the tallest statue in the world is 150 km and another prominent city of the state, Baroda was 63 kms.
A search of nearby places left me wondering about the places I could visit in a short trip. But going to an altogether another place.
The language
We started off by train and I could get that feeling of the state just by looking around the co-passengers. The people conversed in Gujarati with each other. Gujarati, a sweet-sounding language spoken by almost everyone in the state.
I was amused to see all shop names, boards in Gujarati and tried reading it all. Reading them accurately boasted my confidence 😊
Profession
The people at large choose business as a profession. They have business acumen and are hard-working. A young Gujarati who inherits a business intends to continue the business and add another to it. They are progressive and work with ethics. The community is known for its fairness in dealing and clear intentions.
Although, the bare minimum service class exists but a vast majority of the population who choose to live in India or abroad opt business. The state is a manufacturing hub in many sectors. Be it cloth, pharma, ceramics or the oil refinery (owned by Reliance Industries). The state is a major contributor in the country’s GDP.
Purchasing power
The purchasing power of people there is higher than in most of the states of India. The state ranks 4th or 5th after Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka and Telangana.
They enjoy almost all the luxuries of life living in even district places or towns. You can find people adorning all known accessories and clothing brands. All this makes one feel as if you are in some metro/ tier 1 city.
The Kheda district boasts of having an NRI in almost every household. The youngsters either move to study, pursue higher education or directly set up a business. But they do set up a business.
Infrastructure
I found Nadiad boasting of gas pipeline connections, which you cannot imagine in city from MP, UP or other states at least in a city of similar size.
The state has an astounding nearly 24-hour electricity supply to almost all urban and rural households.
But there was a dearth of some good roads and cleanliness drives (as I live in Indore, the cleanest city).
Festivities
The wedding customs and festivities were quite the same but with garba to grace the occasion!
I could see people catching the beat within a fraction of a second to kick start garba and all doing gracefully wearing saree (in seedha palla) along withhair bun.
I must admit, Gujaratis are just superb at garba just as Punjabis at Bhangra! The finesse they have, the moves, steps are simply outstanding. You just can’t immaculate them!
During all the wedding ceremonies, there were 4 drummers or dholwalas The dhol accompanied by manjire made me spellbound with the numerous rhythmic beats. Those folks were thoroughly trained thanks to garba which makes them play dhol and their dedication. I was glad to see them wear local traditional attire not once but couple of times.
Safety
Interacting with family members from various states I noted that Gujarat is supposedly a safer state with low crime rate. There are two prime reasons to it.
One, the per capita income is high making it less likely for people to get into illegal practices and get some quick money.
Secondly, liquor is banned in the state. Making people sane enough on roads while driving and in general per se. There could be more reasons to it like strong law enforcement as well.
Agriculture
The place is barely 45 km from Nadiad. We hired a cab and managed to attend an aarti there. En route, we saw numerous tobacco fields. It reminded me of one of the Geography lessons in school that Gujarat is one of the leading tobacco-producing states of India.
Gujarat produces more such varieties in vegetation and crops but we managed to catch a glimpse only in a small belt of it. The state is a leading producer of cotton, groundnuts, jowar, bajra, maize, tur,
Climate
As expected, the state welcomed us with warm afternoons in February with cool nights. The state remains warm weather throughout the year with mild winters limed to small periods.
The weather was warm enough to make me long for ‘chaas’ or buttermilk during lunch as the temperature touched 33 degrees!
Thanks to the catering service, they kept serving and we continued enjoying the chaas more than sumptuous meals.
Cuisine
Any wedding is accompanied by a huge spread of menu and I was lucky enough to get the taste of the best caterers in the town.
Our breakfasts were filled with khaman, Veg pakoras with sweet chutneys. Lunch and delectable dinners with dishes like mohanthal, lapsi, surati undhiya, basundi and so on.
All in all, we enjoyed Gujarati and North Indian dishes. What satiated me most was the chaas (buttermilk) in lunch as the day temperature touched 33 degrees.
After eating sumptuous, heavy meals for 2 days I was delighted to have the gujarati phulkas or chapati as a respite. It is thinner than the chapatis served in other states making it easy to eat.
Bhandhani
Tour souvenirs are a must. So I managed a quick, short trip to the local market of Nadiad and bought some bandhani dress materials and sarees. This was of course withsome help from relatives who made me reach the right shop and did some bargaining.
I was satisfied to the fullest after shopping with a bargain deal!
Religious Sites
Gujarat has a long list of religious sites for people of various faiths. These include Somnath, Dwarka, Palitana, and Dakor to name a few.
After numerous discussions with localities, our relatives and a failed plan to the Statue of Unity, we decided to visit Dakorji. Our religious inclination, close proximity and intent to visit some new place made us finalise on Dakorji, a famous Lord Krishna’s temple. It is better known as Ranchhod Rai’s temple.
There is an interesting story behind the establishment of this religious site. It is believed Lord Krishna came along here with his ardent follower Budhana and stayed here ever thereafter. A local visitor told that Lord Krishna’s idol in Dwarka has no eyes or is not visible but instead has it in Dakor. And out of 8 pahar(parts) of a day, for 7 pahar the lord stays here and for 1 pahar, he is in Dwarka.
A visit to Chardham remains incomplete without visit to Dakor and Dakor visit is incomplete with paying obeisance to Godess Laxmi, a temple close to Rachchod Rai’s temple.
For food lovers, Dakor has Gota served right near the temple. It is a fried besan rolled balls served with curd with a unique taste. Worth a try.
A trip to Dakorji on the last day made our trip complete.
We sought blessing and thanked for the time spent there. For me, visiting a temple was like an icing on the cake!
It was a pleasant stay, a new experience filled with fun, frolic, food and prayer.
Bol banke Bihari lal ki..….Jai!!
