Baroda- After spending 27 yrs of my life I can tell you that this is the best place to live, it has its own plus and minus. Since I was residing here I will take you to the tour of Baroda from a resident’s perspective. This may not be exact travelogue but will give you people enough opportunities to explore Baroda.
Baroda, popularly known as Vadodara because of its abundance of banyan trees once upon a time (not any more though). Baroda today is considered city of education and henceforth ’’Sanskar Nagri (Cultured City)’’
How to reach there:
Baroda is easily accessible by train, road or air. It is roughly 500 kms from Mumbai and 100kms from Ahmedabad.
When to visit:
Vadodara is extremely hot in summer so I advise you to stay away during summer but winter season is the best season particularly September to March and this is the season of festivals.
People:
People are friendly, most of them Gujaratis, who are known for their generous nature and hospitality but City has become attraction of many non Gujaratis from different part of country who have decided to settle permanently mainly because of its vibrant economy, decent population, good education and great festivals. Now a day essentially the crowd is cosmopolitan.
Places to live:
There is abundance of accommodation available which range from cheap to luxurious. I was resident of Baroda so I never had to stay in hotel so can not give much detail.
Places to visit:
In order of preference:
1) EME temple: This temple is maintained by EME (Electrical and Mechanical Engineering) corps of army. This temple is beautiful built of Aluminum only, extremely well maintained with nice surrounding garden. It has very nice idol of Dakshinamurty (Shiva). This place is worth visiting due to its peaceful nature. I have spent many evenings here when I thought I needed to talk to myself.
2) Sayaji Park (Kamatibaug): Located in the heart of city is amazing garden created in the era of Gaekwads, is still the largest park in the city and has multiple attractions which include Zoo, Garden itself, Planetarium, Milk bar (particularly Dahiwada are popular here) and toy train with mini railway station(on the verge of closing down or closed already). Lots of attractions have closed down and I am really sad about it. When I was young zoo was free and we could just spend some of the summer afternoons watching those incredible animals.
There were two merry go rounds near the banks of river in garden. Sadly now a days river is either dry or carry polluted water. Most memorable are Sunday evenings near bandstand in the garden, which is kind of center of the park where on Sunday evenings they play nostalgic hits most of them of RK’s and particularly if it is full moonlight you can really enjoy moments. With increasing population now park seems more crowded than ever but still it is one of the best.
3) Laxmivilas palace: Designed in Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, the palace built by Maharaja Sayajirao 111 in 1890 is till date the residence of the Royal family. Its ornate Darbar Hall has an Italian mosaic floor and walls with mosaic decorations. This Darbar Hall has been place of lots of concerts of great classical music maestros.
4) Ajwa-Nimeta Gardens: This is located near Ajwa Lake which supplies most of the water to Baroda. The garden is based on famous Vrindavan Garden of Mysore and it is good retreat about 30-35 kms from Baroda and also has couple of waterparks near it.
5) M.S. University of Baroda: This itself is an amazing place and shows how much devoted the ruler was towards education. This is the only University in Baroda and is housing various faculties which include Arts, Science, Engineering, Medicine etc.
6) Sri Aurobindo Ashram: This was founded by Maharshi Aurobindo is a center for spiritual activity and is best place to meditate.
7) KirtiMandir: Meaning ’Hall of Fame’, it’s a memorial for the Gaekwad rulers. Designed in the Hindu style, it is a magnificent stone building with domes, terraces, balconies and a central shikhara. It is decorated with murals by the famous Indian artist, Nandlal Bose.
8) Kashi-Vishwanath Temple: This temple is located on Rajmahal road is another place which I love.
Besides these places there are lots of other temples and very beautiful jain derasars in almost each area of the city.
There are so many other places, Baroda is kind of divided between old Baroda which is between 4 gates and was main shopping area for years and I still love it. You have to go there either by two wheeler or walk in because it is always crowded but I like it as many of my memories attached to this place. New shopping area is Alkapuri which houses major shopping complexes and good hotels.
Safety: This is probably the safest city in entire India a girl can drive kinetic after Dandia raas at 3 or 4 am and can reach home safely. This to my knowledge does not happen anywhere in the country except Gujarat. Lots of my non gujju friends told me that they have never seen any other place as safe as Baroda.
Where to eat:
I left Baroda in 1997 for better prospects in USA and visited in 2002 and made a point to come back every year since then. Besides family most important things which I missed was local food and festivals. Barodians love food. There are plenty of Hotels and outlets which are good to satisfy any taste. Few important ones which I like and I am pure vegetarian so sorry for those folks who eat non-veg. I am listing this according to different area but don?t worry you can browse entire city in two hours by rikshaw or two wheeler.
Fatehgunj: Kalyan Restaurant
Sayajiganj: Satkar (very good food)
Dairy Den for icecream
Kalyan across University for Fast Food
Surya: particulary ?Chhole bhathura? around 4 pm during ?high tea?. This dish is particularly amazing and is available as a part of ?high tea? which is time between lunch and dinner, so you have to be there at that time otherwise it is not offered as a part of dinner.
Alkapuri: This is the posh area of City.
Express Hotel with its restaurant has good food
Sans Sizzler (A+++++)
Sandwich stalls outside National Plaza in Alkapuri (yummy...)
Woodlands for South Indian Food
?Sasujee? and ?Amtran? for Gujarati food
Few popular items of Baroda which any one should not miss:
-Solapuri Chevda (can be packed and sent any where and stays good for long time)
-Khaman (You have to eat this to know how tasty it is?)
-Shrikhand (I think now it is available all around India as ?Sugam Shrikhand? but there are many local outlets which sell much better quality)
Festivals: People of Baroda love festivals and enjoy it to its fullest, I will shortly describe two unique ones which I miss most among others.
1) Navaratri: This is happening only here with traditional styles of Garba. From night the city becomes busy with young and old playing garba till morning. I heard that lately City Commissioner decided to stop the Garba earlier around 2 am but in my College days I remember that we used to play garba till morning 5 am. You have to be in Baroda to enjoy this festival. IT IS SIMPLY AMAZING?.AND MY WORDS CAN NOT FULLY DESCRIBE IT.
2) Uttarayan (Kite flying day or Makar Sankranti): You will see curfew like situation on the roads but just look up high in the sky and you will see the sky crowded with kites. People enjoy this festival on their terraces and at night they dance on terrace, eat on terrace and also some of them have fire crackers on terrace. This is celebrated every year on 14th and 15th January and best enjoyed in the older Baroda between 4 gates.
Nightlife: Practically nil