Agashiye Restaurant Ahmedabad and The Calico Museum

On my last night in the hotel I went up to the terrace to the lovely Agashiye Restaurant for a traditional Gujarat meal. There are rules for eating:



1. You normally use your right hand for eating and your left for the water glass or to help yourself from the food placed on your table.



2. You wash your hands both before and after the meal. Squeezing lemon between your fingers before washing removes greasiness and odors.



3. The napkin is not meant for wiping soiled hands during the meal but to wipe them after they are washed.



The first course was a sort of rice cake and a fried sort of dumpling accompanied by two sauces.



After a hand washing the salad course followed with the main course. You eat off a traditional Kansa plate made from five alloys which is supposed to be good for the memory and purifies the blood.

There were frequent refills by attentive waiters. The round tray on the top holds the lemons, sweet dishs, and yogurt.
The waiters keep you supplied with two types of bread for "spooning" your food(two types of roti), vegables, a delicious potato dish, dal (a lentil soup) juice, rice, a yogurt drink, and other foods I had trouble identifying. The menu changes every day.
After the meal you are served homemade ice cream (thankfully with a spoon) . The green paan (beetle leaf) is served along with a range of mukhwas (after mints) and freshly grated cocoanut in an antique box. You add a mix of these to the paan which is intended to clear the palate and also supposedly aids in the digestion. This feast was about $12. A bargain considering the hotel I was in.
The beautiful hotel terrace.

My main purpose in going to Ahmedabad was to visit the Calico Museum. Unfortunately photos are not allowed. This article is exerpted from Hindi Magazine.

One of the finest textile museums in the world, the Calico Museum of Textiles in Ahmedabad was started by the industrialists and design visionaries, Gautam Sarabhai and his sister Gira Sarabhai. They realised the need for a design resource which would inspire and nurture contemporary textile designs at their Calico Mills, one of the oldest textile manufacturers of Ahmedabad. The concept of a museum as a design knowledge resource began in the Forties, when Gira Sarabhai was entrusted with the collection of Indian textiles which form a part of our country's cultural heritage. She selected and curated textiles of a high quality represented in the fabric's construction, ornamentation and vocabulary of colour, form and texture.

Today, the Sarabhai Foundation houses the Calico Museum of Textiles and the Sarabhai Foundation Galleries located on its campus in Shahibag, Ahmedabad. The textile collections are of historic value, comprising court textiles used by the Mughal and Provincial rulers; trade textiles of the 15th to 19th centuries, produced for export markets; regional embroideries of the 19th century, tie-dyed textiles and religious textiles. The collection represents the Indian sensibilities expressed in a very wide spectrum of textile techniques. The galleries also have exhibits on ritual art and sculpture, temple hangings or pichhvais; miniature paintings; South Indian bronzes, Jain art and sculpture, and textile techniques galleries and library. The Foundation also has a shop which sells its publications comprising catalogues, books, gallery notes, cards, posters and reproductions in cloth and paper.

The Foundation has emerged as a leading research institution, unique for its vision and its comprehensive design approach manifest in the architecture and landscape; indigenous display and installation; quality of technical research, and vigorous publication programme. The Museum has sought professional consultancy from qualified art and textile scholars, anthropologists, museum scientists and textile conservators, from India and overseas. The uniqueness of the Museum lies in the Sarabhais' single-minded commitment to quality. This is amply demonstrated by the "design sense" that pervades over all the display systems, architecture, landscaping, curation of textiles and art, research and publications leading to the generation of knowledge.

Both in the concept and design, the Sarabhais have drawn inspiration from Anand Coomaraswamy's insights on Indian culture and the value of experiencing art in a museum. The Textile Techniques Galleries are unique because of the visually rich, encyclopaedic information presented in the Buhler's gallery of classification of textile techniques and Anne Morrell's gallery on embroidery techniques. The description and analysis of techniques is stimulating and informative. The galleries demonstrate the potential that traditional knowledge systems have for inculcating research and innovation and for the education of contemporary textile designers.

The Calico Museum of Textiles is housed in the chowk; a complex of old buildings around a swimming pool was transformed by facades of carved wood and mud construction, typical of traditional Gujarati houses built around a chowk. Inside, the legacy of Indian textiles is unfolded in the exuberant floral and figurative vocabulary of Kalamkaris, embroideries, woven Jamawars and brocaded fabrics, yarn resist dyed textiles and tie-dyed textiles. The old swimming pool is used to display large tents, carpets, costumes and textiles of the Mughal and provincial courts. The traditional knowledge systems of vegetable dyeing, patterning through resist methods, simple and complex weave structures and their resultant textures, the unstitched garments and costume repertoire, all evoke the intensity of the layered textile traditions of 2000 years.

Textiles are displayed on an indigenously developed system of panels. The entire textile is stretched on a wooden panel and preserved by a plastic covering. Panels have been displayed at varying heights, in different planes, or suspended from the ceiling to create a spatial dimension. Panels have been stacked like the leaves of a book, which allow viewing of individual textiles yet economise on space. The textile can be viewed intimately without actually being handled.

Relevant to students of design, art history and architecture besides research scholars of anthropology, textiles and history, the museum has assisted researchers from textile magazines, Indian museum curators, and collaborated with leading research institutions as co-publishers. The museum had organised several appreciation and sensitisation workshops, to help inculcate "ways of seeing" art and culture. The textile design curriculum at the National Institute of Design has drawn important influences from the museum. The Museum as a cultural resource for people to experience and enlarge their perceptions, is a monumental service done by the Sarabhai Foundation of India and the textile world. Every visit to the museum reveals a little more of the universe of Indian textiles.

Ahmedabad India

My hotel has also restored a 200 year old Haveli (old house) in the old section of Ahmedabad. The house has beautiful wood carvings and was entirely made of wood. They have incorporated a gift shop and a beautiful restaurant on the roof. My hotel also supplied a shuttle bus to take you there. Looking up at the second story from the inside patio.

One of the old doors.

A deep well/cistern in the first floor corner.

Looking down at the first floor patio from the second floor.

Looking down at the narrow street. The streets in this area were so narrow that a car couldn't go down them. The shuttle left me off at the corner.

An unrestored Haveli across the street.

The view from the rooftop restaurant. Delicious food.
Unfortunately there was a rain storm during dinner (it was monsoon season) but they have an inside section too.

Another old door. After all this culture it was time for a bit of shopping. I tried the old market area in the old section of town as I had heard this was where I could find the traditional shisha mirrored pieces which the region was noted for.
I found one really nice length of hand blocked cotton.

But most of the goods here were just "glitz" and not really what I was interested in.
This dress was beautiful but it was sequins sewn on the outside not real shishas.

The Trip to Ahmedabad India

After almost a week in Kathmandu it was time to head back to New Delhi India. I stayed one night in a hotel in the backpacker area, checked out the next morning, left my bags at the train station and wandered around town waiting for the evening train to Ahmedabad.

Ok. This was the best banana split I could find. And it was called the All American Banana Split. Really? With no whip cream? And what is all that green stuff?
Children love to have their photos taken and then look at them in the back of your camera.
In the evening I took the deluxe overnight Rajdhani train from New Delhi to Ahmedabad overnight. You met at your car entrance(assuming you go First Class) by a handsome young man in a Raj outfit complete with turban. Later he welcomes you in your car with a rose and candy followed by tea and cookies. Later on he serves dinner and your comfortable bed is made up in your four person A/C compartment complete with lockable door. In the morning its bed tea at day break followed by breakfast (above). This train travels at high speed, around 80 mph, has priority on the tracks and makes very few stops. A delight.
Ok. Here's the big splash out stay of the trip. I rarely ever stay at a place this fancy but I weakened when I found they were giving 30% off in August. So why not have a suite? Right? When you walk in there is a magazine rack on the left with all the current magazines. The rooms were huge!
And plenty of room in the corner for a larger than lifesize photo of a previous occupant.
My bedroom with mosquito netting although I never saw a bug.
A buffet and dining area. Even a corn popper.
The hall toward the kitchen.
The shower stall. The bathroom had several parts including a huge closet with a safe big enough to hold your laptop of course.
And a complete furnished kitchen including microwave. Despite the fact there were two wonderful restaurants within the hotel.
A desk hooked up for your laptop.
Not many hotel rooms are large enough to have a larger than life size picture in the corner.
The front door. A mirror of course to see how tacky you looked compared to the surroundings.
One set of switches for the living room and bedroom. There was another set for the bathroom. Each room had its own air conditioner and ceiling fans of course.
The beautiful hall tiled floor.
Former residents
The real MG
A comfy swing in one of the halls

The front of the hotel. MG built it in 1924 and it covers 40,000 square feet. He lived here with his second wife and children until his death in 1930. Mahatma Gandi was a friend and stayed here when he first arrived from South Africa. The family continued to live here till the 50's when they moved to the newer areas of the city. The house was restored in the 1990's by a grandson into the present hotel.
Yet another courtyard.
My front door. My living room had two sets of doors like this.
A pool in one of the courtyards.
The famous mosque across the street.
The main lounge.
A swing in the corner of the main lounge.
The pool. So what did all this luxury cost me you ask? The grand total...including luxury tax, booking fee and 10% service charge was $142 a night. For India this was a real deal. It is easy to spend $300-500 a night on first class hotels in Delhi for example. And it included breakfast.