New to Ahmedabad we decided to go sight seeing, and after a little research decided on Adalaj Vav (step well), 20kms from Ahmedabad. We did a little search on this Vav and came to know that it’s not just an architectural marvel but also has historical importance. It was interesting to know that these vav’s -which literally mean “well” in Gujrati- were built as retreats for travelers and date back to the 15th century. This particular vav though has an interesting story to tell. The Adalaj Vav was built by Rubda Devi in memory of her dead husband, as a ploy to abate Sultan Begara’s –her husband’s killer’s-marriage proposal. She was to marry him once the construction was completed; but she dragged the work for 20 long years and finally jumped from the balcony of the well meeting her watery death. Locals believe she sacrificed herself to save her honor and to appease the jal devi, who is believed to be responsible for the perpetual flow of water even today.
Very excited to see this intriguing place, we set out on a breezy Sunday afternoon.
Once there we marveled at the architecture, noted the missing canopy and the octagonal landing. We decided to go down to the well only to be shocked by its abysmal state.The temperature did get cooler as we went down but there was such a strong stench of human excrement that is was impossible to stay and see the well let alone marvel at the architecture.
It is in such a sorry state that it is impossible to appreciate the fine architecture or the legend behind it. When one visits the Vav the urge is to run away from it rather than to visit it more frequently. There was a delegation of foreign nationals on tour of Ahmedabad the same day we visited; needless to say they could not stand even 5 minutes in the Vav.
The question is who is responsible for such hara kiri? Is it just the government who is passive about national heritage and preserving such historic sights? Is it the miscreants from among us -The aam admi- who goes about defecating in public places? Or is it people like you and me who go visit such places take pretty pictures but do precious little to improve the situation?
well..in my view all this sorry state of the place just depicts how "better off" are we in preserving these royal standings.
ReplyDeletesuch marvels could only have been maintained properly by the one who made it ONLY.. coz anyways we are on a path of depletion..
loved the contrasting scenario..
All of us are responsibel together. The Gor-ment as well the citizens.. sad state as it often winds to a Catch-22 situation.
ReplyDeleteBtw you write well, should have started writing a lot earlier.
Hey Aditi,
ReplyDeleteHappened to read through this blog of your's and it sort of prompted me to kind of sideline through the debate about who is really responsible.
Government or Us really can't be answered here, till we go down to the root of the entire thing. If we are trying to solve the problem of saying that "Lets get our National Heritage Clean", its not going to solve the issue. It would be a half baked effort by everyone.
What it boils down to is our social responsibility to ourself and to everyone on our basic daily routines as well. How we behave everyday would sooner or later reap the benefits in our heritage places as well.
I happened to see some placards that my mom made for her school. These were being used by the teachers to teach them the basic dwellings of every day life. It spoke about getting up, cleaning your bed, cleaning your room, your house, your surrounding.
But if you see us here, we speak highly about keeping the "National Heritage" clean, but would have drove a km or so, and thrown a packet of eaten chips and the fancy cafe cup out of the car window to an empty road.
We are never going to love to be keeping "National Heritage" clean, if we can't make it happen in our daily life. And I don't think it requires a national campaign like Aamir Khan's proclaiming about giving awards to some random folks for good deeds done. It comes from the basics again... how are we really utilising the things taught in our kindergarten days?? Or are we loosing it when we come out..
Anyhow, I ain't sure if it makes sense.. though Just my 2 bit of thoughts... :) Might just be rubbish cause I had to make my presence felt ;)
@Udai: have been meaning to write for a long time now, somehow didnt get to it, but working on the newsletter here for one of the events at IIM finally got me going :) :)
ReplyDelete@Shouvik: totally agree...
ReplyDelete