margsgapyear: Missing the Calico Museum and meeting Uday

One of the best textile museum in the world is The Calico Museum, a private museum in Ahmedabad. You can only see it on a tour and they only take 30 at a time so you need to turn up early.

I love maps, especially when I travel. I love orienting myself and then deciding where I want to go and when a landmark or street turns up that you have predicted on your map, it is such a good feeling. (I suspect I love a little bit of control over this very unpredictable world, which is travel)

For, any one who has been to Venice, you will know that maps are useless. What is on the ground doesn’t seem to resemble what is on the map. I tend to head in the general direction I need to go and ask people along the way. Much of India, seems the same.

The tour of the Calico Museum begins at 10.30 and I wanted to be there before 10 to secure a place. I left the hotel just after 8 heading in the general direction of the Calico museum. I thought I’d walk till 9am and then catch an auto rickshaw. I figured I was up and out early so the traffic wasn’t at it’s worst. Because it wasn’t a great distance (6kms) , this should allow tons of time.

I’d asked at the hotel how much I should pay to go to the Calico museum, and the reply was; "50 – 60 rupees. Don’t let them charge you more than 70." Despite not being good at bargaining for goods, I feel I’m pretty good at negotiating fares for taxi’s, rickshaws etc, as long as I know what is a fair price. All the drivers want the work and there are so many out there, that if one wont accept a fair price, the next person will. An extra 20 or 50 cents can make a difference to many people in countries of Asia. I'm happy to pay that, but don't want to be ripped off.

Just before 9am, a rickshaw pulled up in front of me to let someone off – perfect opportunity.

The Auto-rickshaw driver didn’t know the Calico Museum!!!! It’s the most famous textile museum in the world! I showed him the address from my guide book. Like so many addresses in India, it has a suburb and then instructions like “near electricity House, opposite Sidi Saiyed Mosque”. He knew the suburb, so off we went after I negotiated him down from the 150 rupees he initially asked to the 60 rupees I wanted to pay.

We drove for quite some time and asked directions along the way a couple of times. All the time, the traffic was building up, and the associated fumes.

The time came when I’d missed my chance of the tour even if we found out where to go. Damn. We’d pulled over to ask directions and there happened to be a sign to Gandhi’s Ashram which is now a museum of his life, which was also on my list of things to see in Ahmedabad. Oh well, this is India, go with the flow. “Take me to the Ashram”.

The Ashram was great. Seeing where the man lived and reading of his life. A peaceful interlude in a hectic city. Chatted with 2 lovely women who work there when I asked if I could take a photo of them in their beautiful clothes. And another woman smiled and greeted me with “Hello sister” and asked “Where are you from?” I’ve also been greeted with “Hello Mummy”, because of my age which I've come to like.

At Ghandi's Ashram

His room - pretty simple ay?

His and his wife Kasturba's home.

PS. I did get to see the Calico museum a few days later and it is truly amazing.

I’d decided that what I needed was a good map, so the next stop would be the Tourist Information Office. I knew I wouldn’t find it, so having learnt from this mornings excursion, asked the Auto Rickshaw driver who was smiling at me if he knew where it was. He did. Next question – how much to go there? On the hotels suggestion, 50 – 60 rupees was a fair price. His response was 60 rupees. What! Not starting at 180 and going through all the hassle of bargaining. I like the man, the job is yours.

So that’s how I met Uday. Married, father of 3, grandfather of 1.

After the Tourist Info Centre with helpful people but poor maps, we got to talking – he has some English. I had written out pages of the places I would like to go in Ahmedabad. He actually knew my possibly obscure, fair trade textile outlets as well as the usual temples etc I wanted to see. We negotiated a price ($15 for a half day, $30 for a full day) for his services and he acted as a guide as well as a driver.

For the next 6 hours or so we drove around Ahmedabad. And of course he took me to places I had never heard of, the 16^th C Step Well of Adalaj Vav for one. Photos later, this place is incredible.

2 of the Shaking Minarets of Ahmedabad.

Since the last earthquake, you're not allowed to shake them!

The one souvenir from India that I would like is a copper pot like the ones the women used to carry water on their heads. These are handmade and have been replaced by stainless steel, aluminium and probably plastic. I dream of being like India Flint and using it to dye textiles. Ahmedabad is known for utensil and pot making.

I mentioned my desire for the pot and Uday was onto it. In our driving around we called in at a fancy shop selling brass and copper, mostly statues of the various gods and shiny vases etc for tourists. No luck there, possibly the old market. And then we stopped at a shop, selling kitchen and laundry pots, pans, buckets and all kinds of utensils. And from the dust out the back, they brought out my pot in beaten copper! It comes with a smaller size pot too.

This is a locals shop, not usually selling to tourists. The prices was 2100 rupees which is $44.70. It will probably cost me $40 to post it home, but if I wanted to buy this at home, (if I could find it) it would cost close to $500.

Uday on the left and the man who I bought my pots from.

Beautiful fresh veggies everywhere.

Kids want to have their photos taken

Gorgeous young shop assistants in a women's clothing store. I can't get used to being served in clothing shops by young men. I think women are new in this field.