A trip to Ahmedabad

Just when I was thinking “Here I am in Ahmedabad… doesn’t feel different from Mumbai,” Himesh Reshammiya’s Aashiq banayaa aapne rang loud and clear from a mobile phone at the airport. Mom and I stepped out of the airport only to realize what 9 degrees of temperature could do the human body! By the time we got into the prepaid taxi, my teeth were chattering trying to tell a story of their own. I controlled them and focused on the buildings whizzing past us. It was 8 am, and there was hardly any traffic on the roads.

Then, I spotted a red tractor. And where was this? Just past the cantonment area, not very far from the airport! The tractors reminded me of Karaikal, a quaint little city near Puducherry. Karaikal was home for me when I was 11 years old. And this is where I last saw tractors. A sharp rut-a-tut would announce the arrival of the tractor, and slight tremors would run through the building whenever a tractor would pass by! That was an age when I thought only a powerful earthquake could have such an effect on concrete structures. Now, when a three-wheeled, humble tractor could do that to a building with just a rut-a-tut, naturally, I was amazed, and I would run to the balcony to see this monster!

At the end of the 30-minute taxi drive, we reached my dad’s quarters in Navrangpura. After having very sweet poha for breakfast, I snuggled into the bed. I closed my eyes and heard the melodic call of a cuckoo. I smiled to myself and dozed off. I did hear the cuckoo quite a few times whenever I woke up and began to wonder if it was indeed the cuckoo or a door bell.