The soul of Ahmedabad lives in the Walled City that lies east of the Sabarmati. Till recently, people born and brought up in the western part of the mega city that Ahmedabad has become, found it hard to believe this.
For them, the old city, with its traffic congestion, lack of planning and chaotic commerce, was not the place to live in. But that perception is now changing.
I am as authentic an Amdavadi as you will get. I was born and brought up in a centuries-old Pol in the Raipur area of the old city. Even today, when western Ahmedabad has emerged as the hip place to live in, I cannot think of life outside the Walled City without the comforting company of my friends and well-wishers in my Pol.
My family and I have never lived alone. To live in a place (or an apartment block) where not even my neighbours know me or my family members, is a nightmare I do not want to experience. One of the blessings of life in old Ahmedabad is that everybody instinctively believes in ‘pahelo sago padoshi’ — i.e., your neighbour is your first relative.
Life in the old city essentially is the life lived in its Pols where, what to talk of human beings, even stray dogs and cattle are cared for. No one in the Pols — human being or animal — goes to sleep hungry. I remember that time in my Pol when a stray bitch gave birth to many puppies and the women of the Pol took it upon themselves to look after them. Even today, residents of the Pols feed and help destitute people almost every day.
A childhood spent in the Pols of the Walled City is a lucky childhood and I am no exception to this.
Children born and brought up here become friends for life, bound to each other by mutual understanding and trust. There is no institutionalised tradition behind this but it is not uncommon to find boys and girls of one Pol getting married to partners in other Pols of the old city. A Pol in Sarangpur, for instance, is known for such marriages.
And when people fight in the Pols of the old city, they fight differently (or sit it seems to me). Everybody knows each other’s strengths and weaknesses here and perhaps this is why when two people quarrel, neighbours step in to calm down everybody.
The neighbours also rise to the defence of a fellow resident when an outsider behaves offensively.
