Gandhi Ashram / Sabarmati Ashram

Gandhi Ashram also known as Sabarmati Ashram, or Harijan Ashram, or Satyagraha Ashram is located at Bank of Rivers in the Sabarmati of Ahmedabad. It is one of the residences place of Mahatma Gandhi who lived there for about twelve years along with his wife Kasturba Gandhi.

It was the base from where Gandhi led the Dandi march. Which Is also known as the Salt Satyagraha on 12 March 1930. In recognition of the significant influence that this march had on the Indian independence movement the Indian government has established the ashram as a national monument.

History

Gandhi’s ashram was established on 25 May 1915 at the Bunglow of his friend Jivanlal Desai’s Kocharab Bungalow. At that time the ashram was called the Satyagraha Ashram. Gandhiji wanted to carry out various activities such as farming and animal husbandry, in addition to other pursuits which called for the need of a much larger area of usable land. On 17 June 1917, the ashram was relocated to an area of thirty-six acres on the banks of the river Sabarmati, and it came to be known as the Sabarmati Ashram.

Gandhiji believed that this is one of the ancient ashram sites of Dadhichi Rishi who had donated his bones for a righteous war. Gandhiji’s main ashram lies in Naimisharanya, near Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

Address

Ghandhi Ashram, Hridaya Kunj, Old Wadaj, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380027

Kankaria Lake

Kankaria Lake, formerly known as Hauj-e-Qutb. It was been completed during the period of Sultan Qutb-ud-Din Ahmad Shah II. A lakefront is developed around it, which has many public attractions such as a zoo, toy train, kids city, tethered balloon ride, water rides, water park, food stalls, and entertainment facilities. The lakefront was restructured in 2008. Kankaria Carnival is a week-long festival held here from 25th to 31st December. Many cultural, art, and social activities are organised during the carnival.

Attractions

Kankaria Zoo

Kankaria Zoo, officially Kamla Nehru Zoological Garden, was established by Rueben David in 1951 spread over 21 acres. It was rated the best zoo in Asia in 1974. They are 450 mammals, 2,000 birds, 140 reptiles in a 31-acre zoo. It houses wild animals like tigers, lions, python, anaconda, snakes, elephants, albino (white) animals like the rhesus monkey, spotted deer, white blackbuck, chinkara, elephant, emu, jungle babbler, bush-quail and common palm civet. Kankaria Zoo has also bred of rare species like pythons, crocodiles, bearcats and wild asses. Reuben David was awarded Padma Shri in 1974 for it.

Balvatika

It is a children’s park named after Jawaharlal Nehru. Balvatika has a boat house, playroom, butterfly and weapon displays, mirror house, toy house and planetarium. Presently most part of the park is under renovation.

Amusement Park

Netherlands based company installed five rides in the amusement park in 2014. It includes the Boomerang Roller Coaster, the Flipping Arm, the Torching Tower, Disk ‘O’ pendulum and the merry-go-round. It will also have a kids play zone for computer games.

Kids City

Kids City is a miniature world designed for kids. It is spread in 4240 sq.metre area having 18 activity centres including banks, fire station, science lab, radio station, police station, court room and prison, dental as well as medical hospital, theatre, BRTS, heritage gallery, town governance, IT centre, News room, ice-cream factory, etc. AMC had applied for copyrights and patents on the individual games in the premises, the unique point system, Virmo (Virtual Money) and the design of the different venues in games.

Toy Trains

A train named Atal Express (Named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his birthday 25 December 2008) was imported from London, the train circles the lake on a 2.3 km track at a speed of 10 km/h. The train has the capacity to carry 150 passengers, including 36 adults. The train is manufactured by Severn Lamb. During the first 11 months of introducing the train, it attracted nearly a million visitors. After the success of this train, another train was also started which named Swarnim Jayanti Express. All trains on the railway, and hence the railway itself, are 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge.

Balloon Safari

Ahmedabad Eye is a tethered balloon ride set up near Kankaria Lake after renovation. The tethered balloon complex spread over 3000 square yard, is divided into four sections including a restaurant, tethered balloon, heritage exhibit and an exhibition displaying the making of the Ahmedabad Eye. SKYZ is a balloon themed restaurant located at the Ahmedabad Eye complex. It is managed by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Rainforest theme restaurant is also there.

Address

Kankaria, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380002