Urban legends

A few industrialists and elderly citizens of Ahmedabad met recently over dinner. The purpose of the rendezvous was to discuss if anything co...

A few industrialists and elderly citizens of Ahmedabad met recently over dinner. The purpose of the rendezvous was to discuss if anything could be done to give Ahmedabad a new identity. With riots in 2002 and earthquake a year earlier, the industrialists felt the city’s image needed attention.

A survey by a weekly magazine in which Gujarat or Ahmedabad did not figure anywhere in the first five under any category became the focal point of the discussion initially. But all voices trailed off when it came to suggesting something new and positive that the city could be identified with and promoted. The conversation inevitably drifted to Ahmedabad’s past glory. Through the ’60s and ’70s, it was known as the Manchester of India with over 100 textile mills. Modernisation in the early ’80s sounded the death knell for the textile units which started closing. An elderly citizen nostalgically recalled the last major unit, the Kaiser-E-Hind mill, which did not recover after it was heavily damaged in the earthquake.

Gandhiji’s Sabarmati Ashram became a centre of attraction during the ’80s. It also marked the period when khadi became popular and the local industry received a big boast. But that was almost two decades ago. Gandhiji’s Ashram can be part of a tourist’s itinerary but it cannot inspire anything new now that can be associated with Ahmedabad again. Ashram Road, for that matter, has ceased to be the commercial hub it was in the ’80s and early ’90s.

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Mrinalini and Mallika Sarabhai and their association with the city were mentioned. Could they be counted upon to help? Somebody pointed out that even Mallika Sarabhai faced a lot of criticism for organising a peace meeting at Gandhi Ashram last year. The matter was dropped there itself.

One industrialist said even IIM, Ahmedabad, does not inspire awe these days; everyone was concerned that this year students of IIM, Bangalore, got better placements. There were murmurs that the city hasn’t thrown up a celebrity for a decade. Geet Sethi is passe. Parthiv Patel has a long way to go.

There was a suggestion that the city can be promoted for its numerous multiplexes, which drew a guffaw. Some wrong reasons for which the city is gaining distinction were also thrown up. It has the highest number of two-wheelers and pollution levels are the highest among the metros. The foundations of the famed cooperative bank movement has been shaken with banks going bust every so often.

The meeting ended abruptly because there was nothing much to discuss and they seemed to have run out of ideas. Ahmedabad rested on past glory for long, until the post-Godhra riots gave it an image it is now trying to shrug off. A year after the riots, the city is struggling for a new identity.