Introduction; Gujarat 5000 years of history, People & Places

I  am neither  a history  buff  nor  a travel  buff.   However  I  always find myself enticed most  by both of them. It is  said, heritage is the  essential part if the present we live in; and of the future we  built. I  marvel at the immense  repository  of  history through five millenniums, cultures and  traditions,  religions diversity and  knowledge. History in Indian subcontinent  is  invariably associated  with the  parallel track of  history through mythology. Gujarat is the place of power of Lord Krishna who  ruled his kingdom from the port city  of  Dwarka.  Gujarat is also the birth place of  father of the nation of  India, Mahatma Gandhi and  of Pakistan  Muhammad Ali Jinnah ( along with mine  ) along with some of the most leading entrepreneurs  of India like Ambanis, Tata, Azim Premji.  

Here is the picture  from Gandhi Ashram, quoting Mahatma Gandhi: "It is my firm opinion that    no culture has treasures so rich as  ours has.  We  have not  recognized its value . If  we do not follow our culture,  we  would be committing suicide as a people" . I tend to agree with  the statement in essence and at least  second to  the assessment  that  " We  have not  recognized its value".   So I am writing this blog  through the help of photo-essays.  I wish to bring this  relatively  less  known  treasure  to   future travelers to   Gujarat  specially the new generation  born and raised here in US and coming generation to be  born  yet..  

In January 2013,  I  got an opportunity  to  travel to the place where I had  traveled  several times before,  lived  there for many  and most valuable  years of my life  and  also knew more about the tidbits of the history  compare to many other place.  

Gujarat is  the place, I consider   my  first homeland and  the heartland.  I have been also hearing  lots of fuss    about how polished Gujarat has become lately ! Assuming  that I know the pulses of the people and  well-verse with  land, I am  uniquely qualified  to judge it better my self.   I  will try to avoid  giving my opinions  about  political  or other controversial  areas in this blog ( but no guarantee).   So when  my high school friends  invited me to join   a reunion of the class after about four decades  of leaving the school,  I  jumped on the opportunity to  meet, reconnect,  travel  and learn what I  knew  and  what  I did not .  However   I decided  to  attempt  traveling  my homeland with  a  hat of tourist and  lens of an outsider. 

Here is the  current  Overview.  For most of the picture there is a separate   album(s) to cover the  subject. 

Gujarat Overview Slideshow

When I  took the  pictures, I recalled  statement of   the Bollywood  Director Abishesk Kapoor   of new film "Kapiyo che", shot in Gujarat , that  Gujarat as a state has great potential for picturesque locations..   The idea of  Gujarat and pride of in Gujarati  identity is pre-modern. 
ગુજરાતનું   ગૌરવ , ગુજરાતની  અસ્મિતા  ( Glory of Gujarat, Pride of  Gujarat) .   The  glimpses  of the pride can be seen in the   in the 8th century poem Kuvalyamala of Jain Monk  Kdyotansuri in Gurjar-Pratihari Dyanasty , to many modern  days. 

 {Side Note  1:   Today, on 1/26/2013  Indian  Republican day , I  also realized  my sense of belonging  when   12 years back  when  Gujarat has earthquake  and I got involved in the 

Earthquake Relief Fundraising  at my workplace.  I got similar  jolt during this   this trip. 

Most of the pictures are  from  the subset of   6000+ pictures I  took during my short trip of 10 days in January 2013 , but there are few  form past  trip or handful from fellow sojourners who traveled with me  for that segment of the  trip.   I plan to  start posting them  in reverse  chronological  order ,  starting with 2900-2400 BC old,  recent archaeological discovery of  the  Lothal city, part of the  Harappa civilization   to modern  Gujarat   to some  peep at the future Gujarat.   I cover  places and people.  This is no  way an  exhaustive work, leading to  authentic statements , nor I am  a writer.  I  have also  embedded  few personal side notes,  observations, travel tidbits  under   {Side Note  no} notations. The  busy  reader  can skip the side notes. 

Many of the  external references in sites like Wikipedia are no longer current, or the referenced  books are  no longer  available from major retailers in west and east  like Amazon, Crossword  etc.  When  I have found  the  references from scanned archive books, I have added. I also have made  references from  the  half a dozen books I purchased during  my trips  to Gujarat. I have  taken some  relevant photos from these book, specially of the historical archives .

This blog is more a set of   reflections  and  travel logs  of an amateur  traveler,  with some curiosity and  cursory observations, augmented with  the growing  hobby in photography.  Please  use the  listed  references or other sources for  more  detailed and  reliable  information  .

The subset of the albums are posted. The public albums can be seen 
at  http://picasaweb.google.com/TusharInGujarat.   More albums and the  associated  blog entries  will  follow at  this site, tusharinGujarat.blogspot.com.  you may check for the new links at the  right  side bar.  Also  entries may be posted at my facebook  account at  http://www.facebook.com/tusharJshah  and  at  twitter account  @tjshah. 

  ~  Tushar  J  Shah;   01/26/2013.   end of  Side Note  1}