Gandhinagar

Gandhinagar is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west-central point of the economic corridor between Mumbai the financial capital of India, and Delhi the political capital of India.

The city lies on the West Bank of the Sabarmati River, about 545 km north of Mumbai and 901 km southwest of Delhi. The Akshardham temple is located in Gandhinagar. There was a determination to form Gandhinagar, a purely Indian enterprise, partly because the state of Gujarat was the birthplace of Gandhi. For this reason, the design was done by two Indian town planners: HK Mewada and Prakash M Apte, who had apprenticed with Le Corbusier in Chandigarh.

HISTORY OF GANDHINAGAR

The history of Gandhinagar states that the town established around 1960. When the state of Mumbai divided into two separate states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, this city got its own identity. And since then Mumbai became a neighborhood of Maharashtra and Gandhinagar became a neighborhood of Gujarat as a state. Replacing Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar emerged as the new capital for the state of Gujarat as the situation demanded a new capital city.

Gandhinagar's history boasts of its status as a city that held great importance during the struggle for the nation's independence. Mahatma Gandhi belonged to the present place. Thus, the historical background of Gandhinagar proves the purpose that a lot of national movements planned to realize the nation's freedom started from Gandhinagar.

The History of Gandhinagar also states that the political plans of the country and the state were to form the town of Gandhinagar, an Indian enterprise. The reason behind such a thought was to offer the town a more prominent identity on the national and international level because of the birthplace of Gandhi.

ARCHITECTURAL PLAN OF THE CITY

Chief architect HK Mewada, educated at Cornell University, and his assistant Prakash Apte planned this new capital city. Gandhinagar streets have numbers and names starting with letters of the Gujarati alphabet. 

The city was developed in four phases:

First: By 1970, the infrastructure of the city was complete. Till 1980, the city was famous as 'Gandhian city.'Since the city was based on Gandhi's principles and concepts.

Second: Between 1980 and 1990, the plan was of low pollution, hence famous as 'Unpolluted City.' 

Third: After the plantation of many trees, the city became 'Green City' after 1990.

Fourth: Gujarat's CM, Narendra Modi proposed a triple focus: it should use solar energy, it should be cosmopolitan, and it should be green. 

COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN GANDHINAGAR

Gandhinagar recently been the victim of a terrible trend of communal violence that has plagued Gujarat within the previous couple of years. Two gunmen entered the Hindu Akshardham temple on September 26, 2002, in Gandhinagar and commenced firing indiscriminately at worshipers. After a 13-hour siege, National watchman commandos were ready to remove the gunman. Still, with 30 deaths, nearly 100 Hindu devotees were wounded by that time, including eleven women and children. Letters found within the pockets of the attackers revealed that they belonged to the Tehrik-e-Kasas ("Movement for Revenge"). Probably the goal was to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed in communal riots a couple of years earlier in Gujarat.

CLIMATE OF THE CITY

Gandhinagar features a tropical wet and dry climate with three main seasons: summer, monsoon, and winter. The climate is usually hot and dry outside of the monsoon season. From March to June, the weather is hot to severely hot and the maximum temperature stays within the range of 36 to 42 °C and the minimum within the range of 19 to 27 °C. 

The atmosphere during December to February is pleasant in the winter days and quite chilling at night. The average minimum temperature is 14 °C and the maximum temperature is around 29 °C (84 °F). And the climate is extremely dry. In addition, from mid-June to mid-September the southwest monsoon brings a damp climate. Further, the average annual rainfall is around 803.4 mm.

CRAFTSMEN'S VILLAGE

Set behind the Sabarmati river and famous for its Bandhani Sarees, hundreds of tourists and shoppers visit the Craftsman Village in Gandhinagar every day. In addition, they hand print the sarees and dresses and decorate them with wooden printing blocks in vivacious colors. The skilled craftsmen work carefully on the clothes available here and are quite economical too.

FESTIVALS CELEBRATED AT GANDHINAGAR

The Navratri festival is dedicated to the worship of Goddess Durga. And is widely famous for many happiness and keenness in Gandhinagar. During the Navaratri festival, various forms of the Goddess are worshipped. The state of Gujarat is famous for the Navratri celebrations during the month of September - October. The last day of the Navratri Festival is Dusshera. Which is one of the main festivals in the Hindu faith. There are various places where people get together and celebrate the festival, like Navratri Pandaals by various clubs like Lion's club. The people of Gandhinagar wear traditional outfits and perform folk dances, and also enjoy Gujarati cuisines.

The Vautha Fair Gandhinagar may be a lovely fair held per annum in Gandhinagar (60 kilometers from Gandhinagar). People believe that Kartikey, the son of Lord Shiva, had visited this location. And hence, this fair is widely famous on the Kartik Poornima, the complete moon night of Karthik month.