Insights in to an Indian melting pot: Gujarat State

I have been enjoying learning more about the Gujarat region of India. Northwest of Mumbai and south of the Indus River and Pakistan, Gujarat enjoys an expanding economy. As more and more of the region benefits from economic globalization, we start to see a Gujarati presence on social networking websites such as Flickr. Get a taste of this new landscape by searching Flickr for "Gandhinagar," or visit the website for Infocity, Gandhinagar.

In the post-independence period, India had the challenge of creating capital cities that didn't celebrate authority and imperialism, but rather allowed for the growth of democratic values. Professor Ravi Kalia of City College, CUNY has recently published a book called that explores the difficulties that Gujarat State faced in designing its new regional capital Gandhinagar, responding to local cultures in the modernist architectural idiom. You may be interested in seeing a video lecture where he discusses these perspectives.

Photo bloggers such as Japan Pathak have been quite patriotic in sharing insights into this region through the internet. While the region is very hot and dry, during the rainy season we can also see flooding, as demonstrated in this photo posted on Flickr.


Sabarmati river flood in Ahmedabad - My one of the best click during flood 2006
Originally uploaded by japan pathak.

You may also be interested in checking out gujju rap's meditation on the modernist and traditionalist pulls that one finds in this region.