Week 45 /2025
4th to 10th Nov (Tuesday to Monday)
Very late for weekly notes but never say never. I’ll write short but will not skip the ritual.
Tuesday was at office.
Wednesday was a holiday for Gurunanak Jayanti. We went for the Ahmedabad Heritage Walk for the first time. Woke up at 6:30 and reached the venue at 7:20. Nidhi and I both enjoyed the walk. I was surprised by the variety of construction and architecture styles Ahmedabad has acquired from different cultures and communities. Pol, Indo-European, Indo-Chinese, Persian, Arabic - very interesting stuff. We started our walk from Swaminarayan Mandir and ended at Juma Masjid. We also had breakfast at the 100-year-old Chandravilas restaurant. On this weekday early morning, many foreign tourists joined us. I wish more young people would join this walk to make new connections with the city.
While coming back from the heritage walk on Activa, we got caught by traffic police. I shouldn’t write this publicly but I don’t have a driving license. I tried getting it but because of my left eye vision problem/medical condition, RTO is not issuing the license. I know driving, I can pass the technical test, but this medical condition is not letting me get the thing. I tried going through an agent but that also didn’t work. Nidhi also needs to apply for a license yet. Because she lived in different cities for short periods of time, she didn’t get a chance to apply and get this done. Police took a 2k fine for not having a license. We didn’t argue with him. We were feeling very very sad but it is ok. Now Nidhi is taking this seriously and going to apply for the license soon.
I took work from home on Thursday. My health was not ok - back pain + I was feeling a little bit feverish. Also, I wanted to help Nidhi with some of her work. So did my office work + all the other stuff. We had a counseling call with N.
Friday I went to office.
Saturday evening, Nidhi, 3 of my office colleagues, and I went for ‘Shabad Parikrama’ - a bhajan/folk songs baithak by Hardik Dave. It was amazing. I know almost 90% of the songs he played because we attended his last baithak a few months back. Also, I attended Navshakti Navratri and have followed him online. I really like his effort to make it a more authentic venture, growing towards a community/collective of people. Right now people might join just to enjoy the music and make an Insta reel about it, but slowly it will touch someone and they will slow down a little bit and engage themselves with the shabad.
I really enjoyed the live music composition part with piano, cello, and violin. Amazing improvisation.
Sunday we went for lunch at Khodiyar Kathiyawadi restaurant. We got a nice Kathiyawadi variety. We had Rajvadi dhokli and baby onion stuffed sabji. It was nice but heavy. It was ok to experiment once in a while.
Monday Nidhi started going to CEE’s preschool Planet Discovery. She is going to volunteer for some time, and if it works out, she will join there as a full-time job. She needs to leave by 8am, so we asked our cook didi to come at 7am so we both can get lunch ready and take it with us. She will also wash the utensils, so we get some more free time after a tiring/happening day with children.
Overall, a good busy week. The coming weekend will be busy too. Ahmedabad International Book Festival 2025 is starting - we might go for volunteering at the Eklavya Publication stall. But we both have full-time work now, so it will be very difficult. Also, Abhivyakti city art project is starting, so lots of music, theater, dance, and art performances. Some friends are going to perform a play at the festival, so they might come to stay at home. I have made a list of plays I am going to watch - especially children’s plays by Gillo Theater Company, one very interesting Gujarati sci-fi play, and more.