Gujarat From My Eyes

When we talk about Gujarat, what comes to our minds is some things like Jethalal, tasty food, Modiji, sweet people etc etc.

When I went to Gujarat there were many things that I noticed, out of which there were stereotypes about Gujarat and some were things that are difficult to find in erstwhile India, which I am gonna write about in today's post.

1) Diwali -

When we talk about festivals and Gujarat, the scene that comes to our minds is lots of lighting, crackers, big celebration but NO! the reality is different.

In the five day festival of diwali almost whole Gujarat is closed till Saptami and all the shop owners, businessmen, corporate workers are off duty and these people leave big cities for their villages.

Apart from medicals, sweet shops and a few other shops everything else is closed in diwali!

2) CNG -

In these times when the fuel prices have shot up, everyone is searching for some sustainable and cheaper alternative for vehicles. But Gujarat state has already found its way towards usage of a cheaper and sustainable alternative.

I observed that out of all the vehicles, almost 60-80% vehicles ran on CNG. On almost every 5-10 km there is a CNG station. From this we can infer that Gujarat is already on the path to create a sustainable environment.

3) Hospitality -

A thing that all Indians agree on is hospitality of Gujaratis is one of the best, and yes indeed their hospitality in terms of behaviour and food, both are one of the best. One you will sit to eat, the person serving it  will greet you with a smile and while leaving, its my guarantee that you won't leave without a smile on your face.

4) Roads - 

One more thing that I noticed a sudden change between the roads of MH and GJ. The roads, as much as I travelled are fantastic Gujarat are fantastic(including internal roads). Excluding few patches of roads near industrial areas, other roads are like butter. 

However there are too many junctions and crossings on the highway which pose a great threat to drivers as well the people who use them to criss the roads. Most of the people are rough drivers and they follow lane discipline very few times. Having travelled on Vadodara - Ahemdabad expressway, I can tell that it is the best road of Gujarat and one of the few where lane discipline is followed.

These were few things that I felt are different from those in Maharashtra. In the next blog I would be writing about my 4 day trip to Gujarat.

I apologize as this was a very short blog but I hope this was as engaging as my other posts.

Stay Tuned!

Cheers, Neel!