So it finally happened. I woke up early—I had a flight to catch. A modest flight with Akasa Air was ready to take me from Delhi to Ahmedabad. I had been told by many friends that Gujarat was not that great and that there was nothing worth seeing.

“It is a fucking dry state—no booze—and Modi and Shah have promoted it heavily through those Amitabh Bachchan ads. I find this dry state very boring,” my dear friend Dulat muttered when I told him that I would be spending the next few weeks in the state that gave the world the great Mahatma.

Gujarat still remains an unexplored enigma for me. “Well, you need a traveller’s eyes when you look at it that way. There are a lot of interesting things to see in the state,” I replied to Dulat, who has become a good friend of mine in recent months.

I found the Ahmedabad airport swanky and very modern—as good as Delhi and Mumbai. It is well lit, and there are signs everywhere to help flyers navigate through. I got a taxi almost immediately, and the luggage and trolley system at the airport is very efficient. You don’t have to wait too long to get your baggage. I was easily whisked out of the airport and, as luck would have it, I got a very friendly driver with whom I struck a deal to take me around the city over the next week.

I booked myself into a Welcome Group hotel, and the first thing I did was hit the pool for a swim. I slipped as I entered the pool and sprained my thigh. I seem to be falling quite a bit—I remember falling off a stair and spraining my ankle in Mayong village. It seems to happen quite often. But being a pothead, it’s part of life; guys like me generally don’t know where they are going or where they are headed. I just feel lucky to be alive. As I get older, I often seem to be a bit off balance.

Today is my first day in the capital city of Gujarat, and it has been a revelation. The city looks like a large metropolis—broad roads, lots of traffic, and fairly tall buildings. The view from my window isn’t much; it’s just a concrete jungle out there. I’m now getting ready to make a travel plan for the next few weeks.