The family house in a pol in Khadia, Ahmedabad's old city, from the 1890s until it was sold in 1984. Carved wooden balconies, a courtyard, a door studded with brass, and a family of five generations who lived in it — never all at once, but nearly. Ba was born in the room above the door.
What it was like
The pol shut its gate at night and opened it at dawn. The chabutro outside — a little tower for feeding birds — was filled with grain every morning by whoever woke first, which in Ba's childhood was always her grandmother.
Who lived there
Five generations of Mehtas, from about 1895
Ba and her nine cousins, until each of them married
The pigeons, continuously
What happened to it
Sold in 1984, when the last of the family moved to the newer part of the city. Nikhil went back in 2010 and the new owners let him stand on the balcony. The carving has been restored and is, he says, better than it ever was, which he resents.