Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

AHMEDABAD: The Moghul great Shah Jahan, who built the greatest monument for love anywhere in the world — the Taj Mahal — had his early training in Ahmedabad. The great builder was inspired by the architectural marvels of Gujarat and honed his skills as a builder in Ahmedabad. Also giving him company was Mumtaz Mahal who stayed with him in Ahmedabad around 1618 when he was serving as governor of Gujarat for his father Emperor Jehangir.

Today, Shahibaug in Ahmedabad is named after him and the present Sardar Patel Smarak was built by him to give employment to locals during a famine. Shah Jahan had not built any monuments before coming to Ahmedabad. Then, he was known as prince Khurram. If historian James Douglas is to be believed, Ahmedabad’s picturesque architecture, which was already two centuries old then, inspired Shah Jahan to erect great architectural marvels later in Agra.

Douglas notes in his book ‘Western India’ published in 1893 that the Moghul king acquired a taste for architecture and cultivated it during his stay in this city. He writes,

“Shah Jahan in Ahmedabad was watching the flecked light as it fall on panement of marble or alabastar; alone and silent , observing, measuring, comparing, digesting, perhaps copying, drinking in all wisdom, deftness of hand, cunning craft and workmanship, beauty of colour, harmony of form."

Shah Jahan, who ruled as an emperor from 1627 to 1658, also got the Azamkhan Sarai built near the Bhadra fort. Taj Mahal, which was completed in 1653, sent Shah Jahan’s earlier construction into oblivion. But a connoisseur like Douglas was quick to recognise the roots of the architectural revolution in India. He paid the ultimate tribute to the city:

“The bud was here: The blossom and fruit to be in Agra? Everything has a beginning, Greece before Rome, Damacus before Cairo, Agra follows Ahmedabad.”

He further wrote:

“Ten of Ahmedabad’s mosques were built before Columbus discovered America...It was here the master builder drank in the elements of his taste which was to display such glorious results elsewhere.”

Weird Facts

84% of a raw apple and 96% of a raw cucumber is water.

90% of those who die from hurricanes die from drowning.

Dogs’ only sweat glands are between their paw pads

Dogs DO have better low-light vision than humans because of a special light-reflecting layer behind their retinas

Cat urine glows under a black-light!

Most lipstick contains fish scales!

The original name for the butterfly was ‘flutterby’!

The world’s termites outweigh the world’s humans 10 to 1!

An average human heart beats over 100,000 times a day!

A flush toilet exists that dates back to 2000 BC.

Alexander the Great was an epileptic.
Ancient drinkers warded off the devil by clinking their cups.

Blonde beards grow faster than darker beards.

Catgut comes from sheep not cats.

Despite the hump, a camel’s spine is straight.

Earth is the only planet not named after a God.

George Washington grew marijuana in his garden.

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

Oak trees do not have acorns until they are fifty years old or older.


Polar bear fur is not white, it’s clear.

Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.

Pearls melt in vinegar.

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

The Chinese ideogram for ‘trouble’ depicts two women living under one roof’.

The ‘Hundred Years War’ lasted 116 years.

The largest eggs in the world are laid by a shark.

There are more than 50,000 earthquakes throughout the world every year!

There are no clocks in Las Vegas casinos.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Funny Stories...

Two little boys, ages 8 and 10, are extremely mischievous. They are always getting into trouble and their parents know all about it. If any mischief occurs in their town, the two boys are probably involved. The boys' mother heard that a preacher in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The preacher agreed, but he asked to see them individually.
So the mother sent the 8 year old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the preacher in the afternoon.
The preacher, a huge man with a booming voice, sat
the younger boy down and asked him sternly,
"Do you know where God is, son?"
The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there
wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open.

So the preacher repeated the
question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God?!"
Again, the boy made no attempt to answer. The preacher
raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, "Where is God?!"
The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him.When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked,
"what happened?"
The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied, "We are in BIG trouble this time.



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("I really LOVED reading next line
again and again")


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GOD is
missing, and they think we did it!!!!!!!!!!
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An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing..

A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?'

The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not.'

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

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A bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.

While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.

The dung was actually thawing him out!

He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.

Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

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A Gujarati, a Madrasi and a Sardar were doing construction work on scaffolding on the 20th floor of a building.

They were having lunch and Gujju opened his lunch box & said, "Dhokla ! If I get dhokla one more
time for lunch, I'm going to jump off this building."

The Madrasi opened his lunch box and exclaimed, "Idli Sam bhar again! If I get idli sambhar one more time I'm going to jump off too."

The sardaar opened his lunch and said, "Parontha again! If I get a parontha one more time, I'm jumping too."


The next day, the Gujju opened his lunch box, saw dhokla, and jumped to his death.

The Madrasi opened his lunch, saw idli sambhar, and jumped, too.

The Sardar opened his lunch, saw the parontha and jumped to his death as well.


At the funeral, Gujju's wife was weeping. She said, "If I'd known how really tired he was of dhokla, I never would have given it to him again!"

The Madrasi's wife also wept and said, "I could have given him dossa! I didn't realize he hated idli sambhar so much."


Everyone turned and stared at the Sardar's wife.

Scroll down for her answer


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The Sardar's wife said,

"Don't look at me..

He makes his own lunch."

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A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.

The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.

When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.

Before she says a word, Bob says, 'I'll give you $800 to drop that towel.'

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.

When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, 'Who was that?'

'It was Bob the next door neighbor,' she replies.

'Great,' the husband says, 'did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?'

Moral of the story
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.