14.

Vapi, a little industrial town sandwiched between Gujarat and Maharashtra, greets you with the acrid odour of industrial exhaust. This happens to be perhaps Vapi’s only unfortunate problem (though the beer-guzzling adversaries of Gujarat’s dry status might disagree). It’s a city like most of India’s small cities, though better planned by those standards. Characterized by small streets, chaotic traffic with more than its share of two-wheelers, and a bustle that is accompanied by a laid-back tenor, Vapi has very small-town feel to it, though better-planned compared to most of India’s other small cities.

A bridge separates old Vapi with the ‘new Vapi’, where commerce thrives. Vapi is a front-runner in the GUjarat government’s plans for industrialization of the state. The newer part of town is more prosperous, green and has a fresh look to it. The one apartment complex I had the opportunity to visit compared to any housing complex in Bombay when it came to facilities.

Vapi is a lovely place for a child to grow up in. There is a multiculturalism, though a Gujarati essence thrives. In my cousin’s building, the elevators are turned off during non-peak hours to conserve electricity. That’s apparently how conservative Gujaratis are when it comes to money! Every facility a kid could need, with the friendly neighbourhood that, for some reason, is the property of the small city rather than the big ones, makes Vapi a very pleasant environment. Except, of course, for that unfortunate smoke.