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Travel from UAE to India: Explore the forgotten mansions of Sidhpur, Gujarat
With its European-style architecture and old-world charm, Sidhpur, a hidden gem in Gujarat, offers a captivating glimpse into a forgotten past
- PUBLISHED: Thu 6 Mar 2025, 5:01 PM UPDATED: Mon 2 Jun 2025, 5:12 PM
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Had we been sucked into a wormhole in space and spat out in Europe? No, we were in Sidhpur, a sleepy unsung town in the roiling mercantile state of Gujarat where we felt teleported to an era, once loved and lost.
Strolling around Sidhpur, we stumbled on a line-up of gorgeous ornate mansions, in neighbourhoods called Bohravads, daubed in Mediterranean colours — ochre, green, blue, salmon-pink, beige... This dusty little town could well have been a movie set that a director and film crew had carelessly forgotten to dismantle. The town had its moments in the sun 200 years ago and then slipped into a sea of yesteryears, where it still seems to flounder.
The chaotic life of a typical Indian town swirls beyond the Bohravads and their carved havelis that might have been plucked out of Europe. Built in neoclassical European, Baroque, Art Nouveau styles with touches of Indian Gothic, the monumental piles are swathed in an almost sullen silence. The row houses seem immersed in memories of a vibrant past when prosperous Dawoodi Bohra traders (a wealthy sect of Shia Muslims) flourished and built them to proclaim their material success to the world. That was between the 1820s and 1930s. The magnificent mansions with elaborate stucco work on the facades, pilasters, ornate trellised balconies and gabled roofs proudly display the owner’s initials within family-crest-like designs.
We focussed our viewfinders on the rich ornamentation of the facades, the intricate designs beneath balconies and windows, and imagined how, at one time, neighbours might have leaned out of their windows to chat with each other.
On our second visit to Sidhpur, nothing had changed… Most of the row houses remained locked and isolated from a world that had forgotten their existence and seemed to be pervaded by an acute sense of loss. There were a few gaping vacant lots where mansions had been flattened by the wrecker’s ball. This is due largely to the fact, that post-independence, members of the community migrated to different parts of India and overseas in search of more lucrative professions.
Yet life and the vibrant present would fizz up in unexpected ways — a young boy stepped out of what seemed like an abandoned mansion and was heading to school, his innocent face radiant with hope for the future. Occasionally, a door would open and the silhouette of a woman in a Bohri ridah (traditional attire) would be etched on the portico, like a wraith from the past who had drifted into an unfamiliar present. The few inhabitants of the Bohravads whom we spotted looked like they were actors in a period movie. A man with a candyfloss-like beard sat perusing a newspaper at a barred window. In a shaft of sunlight, his white, gold-embroidered cap, typical of Bohra male attire, gleamed like a beacon. The present must have its social media moment!
The streets in the Bohravads of Sidhpur are organised in a grid pattern, and the array of narrow, deep homes with their patrician profiles are generally looked after by a caretaker or by a member or two of a family who has made Sidhpur their home. Some fly in annually to burnish their ancestral property. Sebastian Cortes, well-known lifestyle and fashion photographer, who held a multi-city exhibition of photographs in 2014 titled, Sidhpur: Time Present Time Past, responded to our emailed questions about his tryst with Sidhpur: “I think I was struck by the empty feeling you sense as you first arrive, that is quickly accentuated by the beauty and past glory. I have always liked places that history has forgotten and now linger in a state of submission to the effects of time.”
His discrete forays into the stately homes yielded insights into both the vibrant past and the chequered present: “From what I could gather from books and photographs, it was a prosperous town that sought to express its success and worldliness. The inhabitants being traders travelled far and wide and brought back influences, ideas and references, which are all visible.”
We stayed a night and two days in one of the best kept homes in Sidhpur, and collided with frail phantoms of the past. We caressed the polished rose wood panelling; gazed at light fixtures that shone from rich stucco ceilings; admired display units that showcased the family silver and crystal, examined carved marble niches, Italian mosaic tiles, Art Deco writing desks and recessed wall cupboards with painted Belgian glass mirrors that threw back reflections of our awed selves.
Our bare feet sank into soft Persian carpets, on which we sat for morning tea laid out on a low table and leaned back against plump cushions lining the walls. Gilded portraits of the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community looked down at us benevolently.
Light filtered in through numerous windows and sprayed and brightened the interiors. We got glimpses of the outside world as the main door was often left open — a ridah-clad woman hurried past with kids in tow and the lilting cadence of Bohri Gujarati floated in. The central courtyard with a grilled skylight allowed sunlight to pour in. However, the streets of the Bohrawads were largely bereft of life... the decades lying mothballed in shuttered homes.
The empty homes had a fey quality as though fairies and elves still resided within. And therein lies Sidhpur’s lure — unvarnished, unaffected; this is a town that does not dress itself up to showcase its charms to gaping tourists.
A jewel of a mansion with 365 windows in Najampura exuded an aura of former grandeur, a beauty that needs restoration. We stopped by “Paris street” where a row of houses with gabled roofs stood like a watchful guard of honour, protecting a bereaved past.
The Bohrawads’ ageless landscape was in sharp contrast to the noisy life of an Indian town that erupted around it — vendors hawking homeware and carts that tempted the young with hand-churned ice cream and balloons.
We drove back in the evening to our hotel in Ahmedabad, The Diwan’s Bungalow, a 150-year-old property with a classic bone structure that will never age. At night, the past tiptoed in and whispered secrets about the heritage hotel and how stalwarts of India’s freedom struggle had gathered there to chart a path to the country’s freedom.
TRAVEL NOTES:
Trains, buses and taxis ply between Sidhpur and Ahmedabad, 112km away. A few no-frills hotels are strung along the highway outside the town. Sidhpur is a great day’s excursion from Ahmedabad.
Fun Facts
Stay at Diwans Bungalow in Ahmedabad to get the fullness of its appeal and foray to nearby sights like Sidhpur, Patan and Modhera. The heritage hotel has been named after a member of the illustrious Kadri family (a former chief minister of an erstwhile princely state) who built the mansion. The Kadri family has owned the property for 150 years. Wallow in the self-indulgent amenities and the vintage décor, and listen to the sun-warmed stones of the hostelry’s columns and walls even as they speak of its racy past. History cannot be subdued.
If you would like a peek into one of the homes in Sidhpur, contact local guide Insiya Calcuttawala (+91 96240 86310).