Hidden Stories of Ahmedabad

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Interwoven © 2023 by A Sara, Pankti Gala, Vidit Jain is licensed under CC BY 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/ Typeset in Neue Haas Grotesk & Seismic Latin Variable Publishers Note: This book is part of the systems design module conducted at NID, Ahmedabad, India

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Our project started with an inquiry on spaces and places.

Are those two different? Do they converge at some point and time? When does a space become a place?

When the four corners of the studio were restricting us to think, we set out to explore different places in the city of Ahmedabad; going beyond our biases with an open mind, letting the flexibility inform the direction of the project.

The stark differences, historical

richness and the conflicted boundaries of Ahmedabad opened the Pandora’s box, leading to the chapters. We intended to see, observe and understand the visible - invisible, evident - implied patterns and relationships that are rooted in different places.

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Gandhi Vaas

Hollywood Basti

a densely populated slum known for its challenging living conditions and limited access to basic amenities

aka Hollywood Basti, is home to Marwari community with households engaging in indigenous Ganesh idol making is the Dharavi of Ahmedabad

Ram Rahim Nag Juhapura located on Ahmedabad’s outskirts and is also known as India’s largest muslim ghetto referred to as Mini Pakistan

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Citizen Nagar

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lies in the foothills Pirana Garbage h temporary camp w ended being a perm slum for muslim fa displaced in 2002

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Unfolding the stories from the hidden worlds and the lives we often fail to notice in Ahmedabad- a city of many boundaries. a slum known as the ‘ oasis of peace’ -- home to a mixed demographic population of hindus and muslims

s of the hill, a which manent amilies riots

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Hollywood Basti or Gulbai Tekra?

13th Sept. 23

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A week before Ganesh Chathurthi, we went to hollywood basti.

The rickshaw dropped us at Gulbai Tekra. The five of us walked by the street filled with Ganesh idols of all scale, color and avatar. We looked around to find someone to talk to while consuming the visually heavy scene there. I overheard someone saying that they might be here for photography. It’s a great place for that, yes! But it made me think how desensitized they are towards people coming in and clicking pictures. Migrants from Rajasthan, these people have

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faced a lot of problems like acute shortage of food or water to sustain them and their kids. They have been here since five generations now solely with the purpose to sustain themselves. They came and settled here because they saw an opportunity and the availability of the basti land. When asked if they would go back to their homelands, they said that at least these places give us a living.

Now, Gulbai Tekra is renowned for its indigenous Ganpati Idol making.

It was interesting to know the parody of the name to this place

being called “Hollywood Basti”. We got varied answers and reasonings for the same.

They see Hollywood culture as dirty and don’t want to be associated with it. Most of the local inhabitants laughed sarcastically at the remark of Hollywood Basti. They don’t want to be called by that name. They prefer Gulbai Tekra instead.

“People throw trash here and make it like Hollywood, you know?”

They see themselves as puppets of the Government, elite class and well off communities. Are they just actors for the other half of the society?

for work. They greeted us and told us to sit. We asked them about the history of the place. They told there was an old woman called Gulbai whose land was this. She saw a few temporary houses and huts being built here by their ancestors and gifted the land to them for living.

The people of Gulbai Tekra, the Sarpanch of the place went to Gujarat to fight a case in High Court for their basic needs being met, which went on for 20 years which in the end resulted in AMC (Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation) building a seven storey building to accommodate

the people under the Slum Redevelopment Scheme.

At present, they face problems holistically. Yes, really. Food, water, sewage, space, water clogging and the list goes on. The water comes only 2 hours early in the morning, that too only towards the outer side of the place. The people living inside have to walk and get utensils filled up. There are common toilets and no proper sewage. Every morning on the main road side, the gutter overflows. It smells bad and becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes. This worsens during monsoon season.

“People think we are actors of real people that’s why maybe...”

“It is a narrow road and we celebrate festivals with full DJs and all.”

Either way, they prefer calling the place “Gulbai Tekra ‘’. I felt nice listening to their stance.

We walked through the narrow streets inwards, finding people to talk to. There was an old woman sitting on the “charpoy.” I spoke to them in Gujarati and that instantly built a lot of trust and gave us an entry to the place. There were only women there, the men had gone Socially Sustainable Boundaries

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A talk with Social Activist: Hosefa Ujjaini Buniyaad 14th Sept. 23

We were interested in conflicted boundaries and borders in the city of Ahmedabad. We started looking in the socio- cultural past of the state.

The 2002 riots caught our attention and we started investigating further into the trailing consequences which it had brought, staining the parchment of religious harmony in the state. We encountered an article on this web platform called “Compassion Contagion” about an organization headed by a social Activist. Buniyaad works towards the revival of the lost religious and social harmony in Ahmedabad.

Coincidently our batchmates from Exhibition design got the contact of Hozefa. We were thrilled to meet

him and get first hand information about his experience and journey.

It was on the 14th that we went to Mirzapur and met Hosefa Ujjaini. We had quite an insightful discussion about the politics of religion prevalent in the state.

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Buniyaad works for community harmony between Adivasi, Dalit, OBC, Hindu and Muslim communities in Ahmedabad.

He talked about initiatives like the “Community Kitchen”set up during the COVID time by and for the migrants labourers who were severely affect by the restriction imposed during lockdown during the pandemic times. The

programme was headed by an IIM graduate - Aizas. There were involvement of marginalized communities of Saraspur, Gomtipur, Bapunagar, Rakshyaal and Daani limrha.

Then we talked about Youth Groups and spaces to energize, empower the young open minds of the new generation and planting the seed of activism and social change in them.

Citizen Nagar A large chunk of the conversation turned towards Citizen Nagar, the hopelessness, fear and fury of struggles associated with the place.

They were refugees of war- affected by the 2002 riots, they had come in search of a safe place, a place they could stay, feel secure, but it turned out to be an even scarier alternative.

There is Ahmedabad’s one of the biggest garbage heap- Pirana just next to the place, contributing to the lifelessness and poor living conditions of the area. According to government rules and policies any residential place should be at least 30 km away from the city.

The garbage not being enough, the place is right next to chemical

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Industries which discharge toxins and chemicals which gets mixed up with the water supply filling the area with streams of poison. The condition becomes even worse during monsoon when the area is flooded contaminating the sewage and potable water supply.

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Juhapura Parwaaz

13th & 15th Sept. 23

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It was the 15th of September, friday, we were in the exhibition design studio, the 5 of us, thinking what to ask the Parwaaz women? It was a mixed feeling of excitement and nervousness.

Jaii got a call. They had arrived.

It was rejuvenating to see their gleaming eyes. This visit had given them a license to come to a place where Muslims are often afraid to enter. In a few moments we were sitting together, discussing and getting to know a side of the world that our privilege had hidden from us.

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Parwaaz is an NGO working closely with the young Muslim women residing in the ghetto of Juhapura.

Their central aim is to bring Women community leadership, set up employment opportunities and provide counseling services.

The discussion started with the role of Parwaaz in uplifting the community members and went deeper into the social divide and neglection.

Even small things like a cricket match would spark and instigate the divide. The Hindu kid would often

say “Tu toh Pakistan ko he support karega na!”, “Pakistan match jeet lega” The lady spoke with a voice that had endured scars of resentment “Non basti area mein hai toh darr lagta hai…” Some people can’t even think of living outside. “Do you think we’ll get a house in paldi?

We talked around how education and awareness can change the mindset of people. How it can widen the perception, to which she replies with a statement that was particularly shocking.

“Bus route nahi denge- you won’t adapt here” - This is what the Principal of a school says when a community resident’s parents tried to put their child in a school outside Juhapura.

The discussion continued and made us reflect, realize and get to know more about the bitter realities encompassing the social and religious fabric of this state. How the riots had left an indelible mark, a scar that the residents have no alternative but to live with. It is quite paradoxical. A city that calls itself the “heritage city” has injustices, discrimination woven into its very fabric.

went to Juhapura. A member of Parwaaz guided us and showed us around. It was interesting to see how the place character morphed as the demographic changed and slowly the expression of the place transformed. There were more green houses, shawarma stalls and women wearing the traditional black outfits and men with turbans.

and how the area was (and is still) regarded as “a place of fear” We then sat with a group of residents in the interior settlement area and talked about their perception of Juhapura. We inquired what they like/dislike? How their social status and identity influences their daily living? Are there any parks in the area?

Along the road that divides the so called - Hindu and muslim settlements, we could see fear in the place character. There were remnants of the riot, burnt abandoned houses; the ruins of the past. They talked about the riots

On Saturday, the next day we

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Manav Sadhna 25th-26th Sept. 23

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The organization works around Gandhian philosophy of “Love all, Serve all.” Their ideology says “God is in every human, serving them is true Sadhna.”

Their focus is to transform underprivileged communities through a range of programmes and initiatives. The initiatives range from giving immediate access [basic necessities] to creating generational impacts.

All measures are based on the people’s participation and evolvenent according to the needs of the community. After multiple discussions and interactions we as

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design researchers started seeing and making connections with the existing narratives in different places of Ahmedabad. We could see it as worn out holes in the city’s social fabric which these people were stitching and reviving.

We understood the system they had built to bring upliftment and harmony in different communities.

Talk with the founder: Virenbhai

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We had an informal chat with Viren Bhai, the founder of Manav Sadhna.

He was talking about government schools at his time. He told with a smile,“The worker’s and the politician’s son went to the same school and that made the difference…” This mixed representation made sure that the quality of education was maintained.

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Gandhivaas Manav Mitra 26th Sept. 23

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Off we went in a car to the Manav Mitra Center which was located somewhere in the heart of GandhiVaas.

The lanes were narrow so we left the car behind and walked. It was 11a.m. in the morning and the sun was up. As we walked we saw adults sitting in the tree shades, and so were dogs and cows and almost every house had a basket kept outside to keep the vegetable waste for the cows to eat.

We reached the center. Under a large shade, first came a temple and then an entry to a large open space

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in the center where we saw all the children sit in neat rows. [picture] We were told to remove our shoes and as we did that, girls rushed to put a red tika on our forehead and gave us heart shaped batches with “HOPE”, “LOVE”....written on it!

While the food was getting served, they sang poems and songs in unison. They ate their food and stood in a line to wash their own plates. It felt so good to see that cause that’s something of a very great learning at every scale haha.

Beautiful. The teacher told us that this was ‘Before School Programme’

wherein the kids are introduced to various topics and extra-curricular activities so they dont fall back on these areas as compared to private school goers. The condition of the government schools is not so plausible. They try to reduce the gap here. Coming back, the kids washed their dishes and were rushing out to go to their homes to get ready for school. I caught one kid haha.

He looked mischievous. He had that sparkle in his eyes. He said his name was Prince. He said he lost

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his mother when he was younger.

He says he comes to the center, goes to school, returns home and works on his assignment, talks to his grandparents, uses the phone for recreation and then sleeps around 9pm. That’s his schedule. I didn’t ask much. I needed some time to process it and as I saw around, I felt like every child might have their own unique story. As I was thinking, he went on to say that he wants to grow up and become an Engineer.

I smiled. He had a plastic bag in his

hand which had his books. That’s more than half the kids there. No proper school bags but the drive to go to school :) We left with a heavy heart and a lot of questions. Questions not about them, but about ourselves.

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Ram Rahim Nagar Manav Gulzaar 26th Sept. 23

Our initial visit to Manav Sadhna and the conversation with Viren Bhai, led us to dicover a hindu muslim center of Manav Gulzar. We didn’t know it was just 2 kms from our college untill we booked a cab as autos are not really welcomed on the riverfront road. We got off to a slum beside the polished road stretches where we looked for a gate to enter. Manav Gulzar’s center was high enough to spot as it stood out from the other shacks. And yes, we found our entrance.

We were welcomed by an interesting and unusual sight of

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a Hanuman temple and a dargah standing cheek-by-jowl in the heart of the school of Manv Gulzar-- the first indicator of visual unity in the place. This made us question the history of the name itself, as the name was reflecting the identity of the place.

After the 1969 riots, the slumdwellers decided to keep away anti-social elements and came together to form a welfare society called Ram-Rahim Nagar.The year was 1974, and the men behind this initiative were the late Ghazi Bhai and the late Kashi Maharaj.

They were security guards at a textile mill. They finalised the name - Ram-Rahim - as a tribute to the coexistance of the darga and the mandir.

After their “morning prayer of all religion”, we had a conversation with Jayesh and Bharat in a room which looked like an office in the center.

Manav gulzar works primarily in the domain of Education, Health, Employment, Sports, Child & Youth Development and Food & Nutrition.

They focus on quality education as they see children as the gateway to the upliftment of the people.

Jayesh was also showing us a

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beautiful polymer clay idol of Krishna and radha made by Sohil, an 8th standard muslim boy who usually makes it for his neighbors.

Days of Ram Rahim Nagar end with aarthi and namaz happening together at 7 pm. When everything burnt in communal frenzy, harmony reigned supreme in this slum. Their shared occupation of Patang ka dhandaGas cylinder vendors, rickshaw drivers, cloth factory in Dani Limra and poverty as their shared enemy make the place homogeneous in some way.

Our curiosity led us to the interiors of the slum as we noticed Indian

flags on almost every dwellings.

When we enquired about this humble sight they said ‘’Ham

bharathiy hai, dharm jathi ka bhed bhav nahi karthe hai”

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