India. May 2023

Date 7 May 2023
Photographs 59

India. May 2023

© OpenStreetMap contributors
India. May 2023

A trip to India is always an encounter with incredible scale, where ancient traditions and crazy urban chaos intertwine into a single tapestry. This contrast feels especially sharp along the route between Ahmedabad and Mumbai—two giants of the western coast, each setting its own rhythm for this massive country.

Ahmedabad, located in the heart of Gujarat, welcomes you with the restrained elegance of its historical heritage and an extraordinary entrepreneurial energy. It is a city with deep architectural roots, ranging from intricately carved mosques and stepwells to bold modern designs. Yet behind the facade of ancient history lies the economic pulse of the region, tied closely to modern industrial titans. This is the home base of Gautam Adani’s empire—a man whose influence on modern India’s infrastructure, energy, and logistics is hard to overstate. The Adani Group conglomerate has become a core framework of the national economy, controlling ports, airports, coal terminals, and green energy plants, effectively shaping the pace and scale of India’s economic surge.

Moving from Ahmedabad to Mumbai is a leap from an industrial hub straight into the boiling cauldron of the country’s financial and cultural capital. Mumbai greets you with heavy ocean air, majestic Victorian architecture, black-and-yellow taxis weaving through endless traffic, and the unceasing roar of street life. Here, where massive colonial facades stand alongside construction sites and high-rises, and the waterfront dissolves into sea haze, you clearly grasp the complex layers of today’s India—a country rapidly transforming right before your eyes.