Ahmedabad: A City in the World by Amrita Shah, book review: Riveting account of a key city

The Independent


Shah's book is much more than the story of a city made by Indians



The focus on Indian cities have often borne out the truth of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's insightful observation that when it comes to India the British give the impression that they have authored the country. So books on Indian cities concentrate on the four great cities that were either developed by the British, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, or radically altered, Delhi.



For that reason alone Amrita Shah's biography of Ahmedabad would be welcome. This is a city that bears the imprint of various Indians starting with its founder, the Muslim ruler Ahmed Shah, who gives his name to the city. And of Gandhi, who had his first big Ashram here, on the banks of the Sabarmati, from where he set out on his historic walk to the sea in March 1930, a protest to mark the iniquity of British rule. Right down to the imprint of India's current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who made his mark on the Indian political scene as chief minister of Gujarat (Ahmedabad is the region's most important city and former capital).



But Shah's book is much more than the story of a city made by Indians and told by an Indian. What makes it exceptional is that Shah emerges both as a novelist and a historian as she narrates how the city has developed and changed. And like any novel there is a central character: Miraj, a Muslim.