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Sunday mornings are for the road. The alarm goes off before the city wakes, the 650 rumbles into life, and by the time Ahmedabad is reaching for its first chai, I’m already out on the highway chasing the light. These are five frames from those rides: a few kilometres of open road, a still reservoir, a bridge that changes character every hour, and one unexpected moon.

Sunrise on the highway

Black Royal Enfield 650 parked at the roadside with a helmet on the mirror as the sun rises over a Gujarat highway
The first stop of the morning, just as the sun clears the trees.

There’s a moment on every early ride when the sky turns from grey to gold. I pull over, kill the engine and just watch it happen. No traffic, no noise, only the tick of a cooling engine and a highway glowing orange.

Dharoi Dam, still and quiet

Calm morning water at Dharoi Dam reservoir in north Gujarat with water birds and a line of trees on the horizon
Dharoi reservoir in the soft morning haze, with water birds for company.

Dharoi Dam on the Sabarmati is one of my favourite Sunday runs from Ahmedabad. The roads open up past Himmatnagar, and the reward at the end is this: a vast, quiet sheet of water, birds drifting across it and the hills fading into the haze. Go early; by mid-morning the light goes flat.

Atal Bridge at dusk

Silhouette of Atal Bridge over the Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad with a low sun reflecting on the water
Atal Bridge as a silhouette, the sun rising over the Sabarmati.

Back in the city, the Sabarmati Riverfront is where the ride winds down. Atal Bridge’s kite-inspired steel lattice turns into a pure silhouette when the sun drops behind it, and the river picks up every bit of light.

And after dark

Atal Bridge in Ahmedabad lit in blue and multicolour lights at night, reflected in the Sabarmati river, with a rooftop cafe in the foreground
The same bridge an hour later, lit up and reflected in the river.

Stay an hour longer and it’s a different bridge altogether, washed in blue and colour, mirrored in the water. Grab a rooftop table along the riverfront and you get this view with your dinner.

A red moon over Ahmedabad

Orange-red moon rising over the Ahmedabad skyline at night with streetlights below
A red moon rising over the city on the ride home.

Sometimes the best frame shows up when you’ve already packed the camera away. On the way home, the moon came up low and blood-orange over the rooftops. I stopped in the middle of the ride for this one, and I’m glad I did.

Watch the rides

I turn these Sunday rides into Shorts, Reels and full ride films on my YouTube channel, Roads Rewritten with Alok. Start with the Dharoi Dam ride:

Subscribe at https://www.youtube.com/@roadsrewritten for a new ride every week. Photographs shot on iPhone and edited by me.

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