FIRST IMPRSSION OF PRECINCT
AREA – GHATLODIYA
Setting out late in the evening, I arrived at chowk (node) to a Chankyapuri flyover and 2 separate roads
(Chankyapuri and maharana pratap).
As I strolled through the maze of this ‘market’ street (Chanakyapuri road), there were vegetable
sellers, grain merchants, eateries, street vendors lining up on the edges of the road. Few of the
vendors almost encroached the road due to which there was an inconvenience for vehicles to pass
through that 8 meters wide road where at a certain point only 3 meters wide corridor was left. The
crowd was coming in and people were trying to manage their way through. I realized that the place
where vendors were standing was a designated parking space. People claiming these functional spaces
as their own with no external objection gave me my first impression of the precinct of people’s getbusy-earning attitude.
Heading away from the node towards SG Highway, I spotted Ghatlodiya, a Gamtal (a neighbourhood
in Ahmedabad) with undeveloped homes which serve to people belonging to the EWS and around 750
m away, Chandoliya railway lines, going parallel to this market street, act as a barrier between
Ghatlodiya and Hari nagar.
In an attempt to get a sense of the scale of buildings on the main road and inner areas, I moved
towards internal roads that led me to gated communities. I found more of low-rise structures as I
weaved through. Most of the fabric is residential and commercial with a mixture of building typologies.
The experience here was contrasting due to the slow movement of vehicles and the reduced crowd.