After preparing for a couple days before all the students arrived, the South Asian students presented on their cultures for the international students. You can read more here, and see a few student interviews here, beginning with Olga!
Monica
Mohammad
Rohini
Kultwisiso
Shilpi
We get warm and sweet welcome from Sauhard team. They just showed the taste of Ahmedbad’s rich heritage and culture. They explained about Ahmedabad’s rich resources. They explained about Families, Gandhi ashrams, Institutions, Economy, Freedom fighters(Gandhi, Sardar vallabhai Patel,Morarji Ranchhodji Desai.)
One thing I get to know by them is Top food restaurants in the world like McDonalds, Subway, Pizzahut, Dominos changed their menu by deleting all non-veg food items. Only introducing Veg food items in Ahmedabad giving respect to Jain religion (Jains believe that all living beings, from plants to animals to bacteria, have souls they don’t eat non-veg.)
We are all explained about festivals and type of food they eat.we did traditional Garba dance. The food items are so delicious. Chikki is so good that I can’t take that taste off my mouth.
We learned about Ahmedabad’s history. First it was ruled by Chalukyas, Mughals and then by Britishers. Ahmed Shah found Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad has many Mosques, Temples, churches and many Ashrams which have traditional art work on it.
I am so happy that we are in Ahmedabad, Which is first City in India considered as heritage site by UNESCO.
Arriving to the train station was something special to me. As a kid, I would imagine myself as a train conductor but growing up, I never actually rode a train. So when I was able to get inside of the train and found out that it also had beds, I was thrilled. Also, a lot of people complained that the bathrooms were dirty but when I entered one around 4am and found out it was a squatter, I was so excited because I really wanted to try one out. The whole train ride was enjoyable. 10 out of 10 would ride the train again.
Once we got settled in at our hotel at Ahmedabad, I was very grateful for heat and glad to be able to not deal with Mumbai’s relentless rain. Once we split up between our groups, we were able to gain some knowledge on the history and culture of Ahmedabad. For example, I learned that it used to be a walled city but today, only several gates are still standing. I also learned about kite battles, Gandhi, and the education system here in Ahmedabad. Also, I found it very interesting how the state of Gujarat focuses on a vegetarian diet which I can’t imagine myself doing because I need meat in my digestive system. Overall, learning more about Ahmedabad and it’s ways has been very enjoyable because it was the first time we been able to get deep into history.
The beginning of the day, I was too tired because I had traveled from Mumbai to Ahmedabad and in the morning I had reached here. The weather is very hot here and it made me feel very tired and uneasy. The weather of Ahmedabad is totally different from Mumbai, so in the morning I had took my breakfast with our groups. Then we all went to the conference hall. It was all good and we had been divided into 3 separate groups . I had learn many things about Ahmedabad like their culture, little bit Gujarati language, festival, economy sector, heritage, religion,food etc. I love the style of their dressing dance food friendliness and the unity they show us. I really enjoyed a lot by eating Chikki and karo. Chikki and karo are use to eat during Utharayan festival. I love everything about Ahmedabad and hope I’ll learn many more things about Ahmedabad while I’m here.
