Rajkot

The sight of a herd of camels craning their necks to reach out to the few leaves left atop a withered tree greets you on the outskirts of Rajkot in Saurashtra, Gujarat. A chhakda (cross between a tricycle-rickshaw and a cart with a capacity of 10) carrying 30 passengers tries to make its way through cattle on the Ahmedabad-Rajkot state highway even as turbaned men in white kedia (frock-like kurtas) and dhotis sip juice from beer mugs at a stall nearby. But that's just the outskirts. Come into the city and the skyline changes. It certainly is no match for Mumbai or Ahmedabad, but when it comes to malls and corporate houses, Rajkot can beat even Vadodara.

Capital gains Rajkot, founded by Thakur Saheb Vibhaji Ajoji Jadeja of the Jadeja clan and Raju Sandhi in 1612 AD, became the capital of the State of Saurashtra, headed by Chief Minister U N Dhebar after Independence. Rajkot was merged into the newly-created Gujarat State when it was separated from the bilingual Bombay State on May 1, 1960. Rajkot was named after its co-founder, Raju Sandhi.

Mahatma's domain The stone edifice of the Mohandas Gandhi Vidyalaya stands tall amidst the other structures along Jawahar Road, Rajkot. Parrots hide in crevices along the school's arched walkways that are lined with classrooms. This is where the Mahatma struggled hard to earn his grades. Ashubhai Chauhan, an office-bearer says, "This school, built in 1866 by the Nawab of Junagadh in the memory of the Duke of Edinburgh, used to be known as Alfred High School. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi studied here from 1880 to 1887. He appeared for the matriculation exams in November 1887 from the Bombay University and attained a second class. At that time, this was the only English-medium school in Saurashtra. We still have a collection of some of the examination papers written by Bapuji."
On a wall in the principal's office is a board that lists some of the illustrious alumni besides Gandhi, U N Dhebar (First CM of Saurashtra), cricketer D D Parsana, Dr Tribhovandas Shah (first doctor in Saurashtra) and Kesavlal Sanghani (first engineer in Saurashtra).
Gandhi had spent early years of his life in Rajkot when his father was the Diwan of the King of Rajkot. Behind the school is Gandhi's ancestral home-turned-museum Kaba Gandhi No Delo managed by the Gandhi Smruti Trust that still displays some of Gandhi's possessions.

Feeding the cows
A group of four cows saunter in through the gate of an huge 80-year-old house at around 7 am. Most city slickers would look at them in disgust and even shoo them away, the lady of the house carries two trays and puts them down before them. The cows chew on a mix of atta and gur as they survey the surroundings. The woman then puts a tilak on their heads and the cows walk away. Surprisingly, this isn't out of the ordinary. These weren't just a bunch of lazy cows, Sadhnaben, the woman of the household said. "They come in every morning to our door and we feed them. They've been doing this for years. It's auspicious for us that they stop at our home."

Temple town Most Rajkotians are deeply religious and predominantly vegetarian. While Swaminarayan Temple on the Kalawad Road and Ramkrishna Ashram are magnificent structures, there are others such as Mai Mandir and many Mahadeva temples that are not typical sites for sightseeing but see a throng of devotees.

Colonial legacy The British East India Company had founded the Saurashtra agency in Rajkot to moderate all princely states in the region. The regional headquarters and residency of this agency was at Kothi Compound. The British constructed many impressive colonial buildings and educational institutions, such as Connaught Hall and The Rajkumar College. The Jubilee Garden is a large, open park area in the center of the city featuring many monuments to colonial time. The Lang Library and the G T Sheth Library have a collection of thousands of documents and books on Rajkot and Saurashtra's history.

On the rocks! Now, don't get this wrong. Consumption of alcohol is prohibited in Gujarat, but the 'ice' is not. That explains why you see people waiting outside Satya Vijay Patel Ice Cream Parlour at Race Course Road at 2 am. There's good variety here - around 20 different flavours. And for those who don't fancy the run-of-the-mill stuff, there's always the option of having a kala khatta sorbetto-like mix at the Ram Aur Shyam Golawala near Ashapura Temple, says resident Falguni Hathi who adds that a visit to Rajkot is incomplete without savouring its frozen delights.

Tid-bits for travellers: 1. Rajkot is the place to buy really silver jewellery, so do carry enough cash on you when you're out shopping.
2. Water's too precious here. Most houses get water supply only for 20 minutes every alternate day. So please don't waste any. Also, you shouldn't be surprised if you're served only half a glass of water at a restaurant. Kids here survive on just two to three glasses a day. Opt for chhaas, it's available everywhere.
3. Mind what you eat and how much you eat if you are invited for dinner to a local resident's place. There's no way they listen to a 'no' or 'enough', so be well-prepared for that.
4. Summers are really hot so the best time to visit Rajkot is any time between November and February.


Pics: Eisha Sarkar
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/eisha.sarkar/Rajkot#

The story was published in the print edition of Mumbai Mirror on April 1. To read the story online, click here