An Ahmedabad-based doctor on Saturday released a book titled Welcome to Ahmedabad on the occasion of Ahmedabad's 601st birthday.
The book deals with tourist attractions and past and present of the city. “I'm a huge fan of Ahmedabad. I want people of different states to know about this wonderful city. It has taken me two years to complete this book as I had to cope with my work and write during my leisure time,” said Dr Manek Patel.
The doctor has authored two more books, Ahmedabad Katha and Aa Chhe Ahmedabad - both in Gujarati.
Stating the difference between his earlier books and the present one, Dr Patel said, “Ahmedabad Katha' and 'Aa Chhe Ahmedabad' are all about history of the city, while 'Welcome to Ahmedabad' concerns tourist destinations, history and present of the city. New monuments and destinations in the city have also been touched upon.”
The 180-page book contains 17 categories like religious destinations, institutional destinations (like IIM, MICA, NID etc), eating joints, entertainment zones, heritage sites etc.
“Photographs in the book are followed by description of the places,” Dr Patel added.
The author had originally planned to write the book in Gujarati but keeping in mind the tourists and their language, he wrote it in English. “In near future, I will write this book in Gujarati also so that local people can know about interesting places of Ahmedabad.”
The medical practitioner took to writing after an all India conference of doctors in the city in 1993.
“I had prepared a small booklet for them so that they could
know about Ahmedabad. However, it was not up to the mark. Hence, after the conference, I spent my leisure time in libraries knowing more about city. I also began writing for newspapers and launched the previous two books on Ahmedabad.”
