Ahmedabad Walks the talk!
From corporate visitors and expatriates to proud locals…
they ‘walk’ to discover the fascinating faces of this historical city,
writes Tanvi Trivedi.
Most Ahmedabadis have a misconception of feeling highly confused
whenever they have tourists! They feel they hardly have anything
to share with them, apart from a few historical places and Gujarati
restaurants!
This misconception was however cleared when the House of
MG’s D-Tours-heritage walk was introduced.
“Ahmedabad has a history that is more than thousand years old,
”says Girish Gupta, Regional Guide, Ministry of Tourism,
Government of India.
“Hence this 80-minute audio synchronised walk is designed to
unfold this magical history. The walk mixes architecture, history
and folklores with insights by famous residents and music for the
adventurous tourist.”
AHMEDABAD WALKS THE TALK!
AHMEDABAD WALKS THE TALK!
Advisor for Heritage Programmes, AMC, Debashish Nayak, who
already conducts a guided heritage walk for AMC feels that the
audio synchronised tour does not require a guide to take a tour of
the city.
So this is one of the first in India. Starting from The House of MG to the Sidi Saiyed Mosque, to the Bhadra Fort, the Gandhi Road, Teen Darwaja and Jumma Masjid the walk ends at the city’s wooden haveli in Lakha Patel ni pol.
Creating similar D-Tours abroad, two Belgians Valery Lippens and Charlie Dupont produced and directed the tour with its interesting instructions, including the footstep rhythm, temple bells and a voiceover guide.
Melding interesting quotes from local residents, the Heritage Walk is an adventure that combines both wit and trivia.
“I’d never realised that there was so much adventure in the walled city of Ahmedabad alone“ the temples, the mosques, the old buildings – its just wonderful as one walks through,”says Shriraj Sagara, a 14 year old student, who finds the old Ahmedabad more exciting. His mother, artist Sharmila Sagara also finds the experience very interesting especially from the rooftop of Bhadra Fort.
“I feel the walk is an entertaining way for the youth to explore their roots in the old city of Ahmedabad,”explains Abhay Mangaldas.
A novel way to rediscover the city of Ahmedabad as you connect your ear headphones to the MP3 player ensures that all the tourist needs to do is put his best foot forward! In response, Ahmedabad emerges from the entrepreneurial haze as an interesting tourist destination!