Hot & Mystic Gujarat - Vadodara (Baroda)

Before I start my Baroda (Vadodara) travelogue, I must thank TIFR, Mumbai which made it possible for me to have such good friends like Sudhanva and Himadri. I must also thank IUCAA, Pune which made the reunion possible last December which cemented our friendship which if nothing goes wrong will be a long lasting one.
In Ahmedabad I had mixed pleasure with business. In Baroda, it was only pleasure and no business. I was to roam around in this historic city and taste its famous cuisines. We started from the famed Maharaja Sayajirao University in short MSU. If anybody sees the university buildings especially the Arts faculty building, he would never think it to be a college building. It is nothing short of a palace. The area the university encompasses is enormous and has campuses strewn across the city. It is the brain child of Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaekwad III and has produced prodigies like M. F. Hussain and Sam Pitroda. The whole city was totally reformed by the great king and you can find his imprint on every nook and corner of the city. Truly it is known as Sayaji Nagari. The city is also called the Sanskari Nagari of Gujarat (Cultural capital). I generally take a few days to like a city. But with Baroda it was love at first sight. And the way Sudhanva explained Sayaji’s works; I have become a great fan of him as well.
From the palatial University we went to Sudhanva’s house. I had a brunch there and then went to Pratapnagar station to catch the train to Dabhoi, Himadi’s hometown. In the station itself I met her parents. The train was late (First time in many days!!!) and we were a little late in reaching Dabhoi. Dabhoi was the biggest narrow gauge railway station in Asia before the broad gauge made foray into the lifeline of Dabhoi. The town immediately made me miss Tumsar. It is an ancient city and is guarded by 4 bhagols (gates). I visited three of them namely Vadodari Gate, Hira Gate and Mahudi Gate. All of them are rich architectural heritages but Hira gate is the most exquisitely carved gate. Story goes that the architect, Hiradhar fell in love with a royal maiden and as a punishment was buried alive in the very walls of the gate he built. The gate is named in his honour. (Is Neelkamal, Raj Kumar’s film, inspired from here???).
I had a fantastic Gujarati dinner at Himadri’s house. There was the usual Sabji-Roti along with Aamras (Yummy!!! The taste still remains) and Idra (A form of Gujarati Idli). We had a walk outside and had an ice-dish. I and his brother, Nakul, slept in the terrace. It was the first time in my life and the experience was exhilarating. Open air AC is better than any artificial one ever produced my humans. I had a peaceful sleep and was woken up by Nakul at 7. Another disaster occured after my arrival. Their 15 year old refrigerator stopped working that day itself!!! Was I a panauti or something??? Himadri showed me around the town of Dabhoi and then we had the Dabhoi famous Bhajiyas. We left for Baroda soon after. I was unfortunate for not being able to travel in the rickety GSRTC buses.
We started from Irfan Pathan’s old house near Mandvi. From there on we moved to Nyay Mandir, the district and sessions court. It’s another spectacular specimen Sayajirao’s vision. It is the grandest court I have ever seen in person. Opposite to it is one of the biggest markets of Baroda. Here we started our cuisine testing spree. We started with Pyarelal’s Kachouri. To me it was total Bhel with a Kachouri base. After that we had cold-drink in Samrat. Here cold-drink means milk shake laced with ice-cream. Opposite to the market is the Sursagar Lake which has a huge Shiva statue in middle of it. From there we went to Kathiyawadi Khadki for having our lunch. Although a foodie myself, I couldn’t eat properly due to the immense heat. So, we had to leave our half-eaten lunch there itself.
We left for Kamati Baug (Sayaji Baug) which is near the station and adjoining MSU. It is another contribution of Sayaji to the city of Baroda. The park has a small zoo, a mini train (The song Chakke pe chakka from Shammi Kapoor’s movie Brahmachari was shoot here), an aquarium and the Baroda museum. A monkey did give us a torrid time in between our relaxation time. Due to lack of time I couldn’t visit the museum. Also quite a few food items remained un-tasted for now especially different types of soda in Ahmedabad, Chorafadi and Papdi no Lot in Baroda. Also couldn’t take Duliram’s pendes (pedha). The area is full of interesting facts. There is this guy Ketan who is an Mcom but sells tea near Dairy Den circle in front of MSU (He is quite famous there!!!). There is a clock which has a small garden as its dial in Sayaji Baug. And now the most intriguing one. There are at least 6-7 Jagdish sweet marts in a stretch of half a kilometre on a single road of which only one is good!!!
Himadri left at about 4 PM and then I went into the station to wait for the train. The train was little late. The journey was uneventful and we reached Pune early in the morning. By tomorrow evening, I will leave for home leaving Pune behind at least for now. It is worthy to note that we three have met twice after leaving TIFR. Hope something will make us meet again. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Thanks Himadri, Sudhanva and their relatives for this excited stay in Gujarat. A year ago, I had never thought about going to Gujarat in person but here I am missing those 4 exciting days of stay and keeping my fingers crossed to get another chance to go to Gujarat and hope I get to stay for a longer period this time around.