The heritage walk of Ahmedabad organized by the municipal corporation had an unusual participant on Saturday; the great granddaughter of Seth Mangaldas Girdhardhas, one of Ahmedabad’s foremost businessmen and philanthropists of the early 20th century.

Dressed in jeans and T-shirt, his great grand-daughter, Ruhani Parekh, looked like any other tourist and registered for the heritage walk from the Kalupur Swaminarayan temple along with the dozen-odd other participants on Saturday morning.

Tour guide Bhailal Panchal was taken aback when he realised who Ruhani was is during a chat. “This the first time in my 10 years as tourist guide that I came across such a tourist,” he said. Mangaldas Girdhardas is remembered today by the stately mansion he built in 1924 opposite the Sidi Saiyed mosque and the town hall which he funded. His mansion, now converted into a heritage hotel by his great grandson Abhay Mangaldas, is a landmark of the city.

Ruhani, who was accompanied by a photographer friend, walked leisurely through the pols. “My great grandfather once lived in one such pol,” she said. Mangaldas is said to have begun as a storekeeper in a textile mill and became its owner in a decade.

Ruhani, who left Ahmedabad in 1994 as a 16-year-old and is now settled in the US, told this correspondent during the heritage walk that this was the first time she was visiting a pol. “I was surprised to see random people eagerly talking to the tourists and extending the hospitality of their homes to strangers,” she said.

She remembers living in a house built over 50 years ago by her grandfather, the late Seth Surendra Mangaldas. “For all these years we enjoyed living in a joint family and the house always bustled with activity. Today, the house has been sold and coming back felt weird because now I have to visit three houses to meet my near and dear ones… earlier I just went home.”

Read more – The Times of India