Ben Kingsley Was Here

Ahmedabad was the home of the Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu to his friends). It was from his ashram across the river that he began his famous Dandi march in 1930 to protest the salt tax and to win independence for India. We got to visit the ashram today and I must admit that I was a bit disappointed; it doesn’t look like the one in the movie. I suppose, though, that things might have changed over the past 80 years. For instance, I think that the museum dedicated to Gandhi’s life probably was not around back then. Ditto the gift shop. Still, it was actually moving to see the room where Gandhi lived for 10 years while he plotted the overthrow of the British Empire.

You may recall my mentioning that Gujarat is a dry state. It turns out that there is an exception for foreigners, who are permitted to consume alcohol in their hotel rooms. This explains why every hotel contains a fully-stocked liquor store. How convenient. Not quite. In order to purchase alcohol, you first have to get a permit. This process starts by going to the store and showing your passport and filling out a form. You then take the form to the hotel reception desk to get the form stamped by the hotel manager and to get a photocopy of your passport and visa. When you return to the store with these items you must then fill out another (two-page) form. Then you must return to your hotel room and wait. The liquor store manager will then call the liquor control agent who will come to the store and approve the application. When he is satisfied that all is in order, you get the summons to return. The agent then determines that you look like the fella in the passport, fills out some more forms, and the asks for 70 rupees for processing the application. He does not give change. With the permit in hand, you can now buy a single bottle of alcohol. Note that a beer is the same as a liter of vodka. I went for the vodka. So, 40 minutes later I now have a bottle of Smirnoff, but no mixers. The liquor store only sells liquor. Hopefully, Carol will show up shortly with the tonic.

I am including a picture of the Taj Lake Palace Hotel that was taken from our room at the Fateh Prakash Palace Hotel in Udaipur... simply because I really liked Udaipur and our room there. Sigh...

I am also including a picture of our bus. We basically live on this bus so it is a big part of our lives at the moment. It is a good bus. It has no Christine-like personality issues, like the bus on our last trip.