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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →In an excerpt from her memoir, former IAS officer Pushpa Sundar remembers Surat through its food, social life, civic problems and riverfront. Her phrase “The Surti is a rangila” reflects a popular image of the city’s residents as sociable people who value good food and good living—not a claim about every Surti or a current survey of the city.
Scroll published the passage on December 26, 2024, as an excerpt from Sundar’s Beyond The Heaven-Born Service: My Journey From The IAS to Philanthropy, credited to Speaking Tiger Books. It is a personal recollection, combining observations from her posting with food writing, local anecdotes and descriptions of the Tapi riverfront. Read the excerpt on Scroll.
What does “The Surti is a rangila” mean?
Sundar writes, “The Surti is labelled a rangila, a dilettante noted for the love of good food, good living, sophistication and culture.” She presents this as a popular characterization. She also describes her own experience: “I found the people of Surat generous, friendly and peace-loving.” These are the memoirist’s impressions, not a description that can be applied to every resident.
What does Sundar remember about Surat?
A prosperous, diverse city
Sundar recalls Surat in 1971 as Gujarat’s richest district, with diamond polishing, zari and textiles among its economic mainstays. Her passage also mentions South Gujarat University, Bohra Muslims, migrant workers and Adivasi communities. These are historical descriptions as she presents them in the memoir excerpt, not independently sourced measures of the city’s economy or population.
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Food, from sweets to winter paunk
Food is central to the passage’s portrait of Surat. Sundar names gharry, a sweet rich in ghee and sugar; khamman and bhoosa, savory foods; and undhiyo, a vegetable curry. She gives particular attention to paunk, roasted tender jowar eaten in winter. In her recollection, a visit to Rander meant watching fresh jowar ears being roasted, then eating the grains with chutney and buttermilk.
The saying “Suratnu jaman ane Kashinu maran”—translated in the excerpt as “Eat in Surat and die in Kashi”—captures the passage’s celebration of Surat’s food. It is presented as a saying in Sundar’s account, not independently established here as a documented historical quotation.
What does the memoir say about Surat’s civic conditions?
Sundar remembers waste being collected and disposed of haphazardly, along with congestion and poor road discipline. She says the 1994 plague prompted residents and authorities to clean up. The excerpt offers this as her recollection; it does not provide outbreak statistics or establish a broader account of the causes and effects.
She conveys the traffic problem with a family anecdote: about ten kilometres from Surat, her husband, Sundar, suggested turning back to Nadiad, while their driver remarked that officers wanted a posting in Surat. The story gives a personal sense of the journey into the city rather than a measured account of traffic.
How does Sundar describe the Tapi and the city’s landmarks?
The family home was in Athwa Lines beside the Tapi, near Hope Bridge and the old castle. Sundar’s descriptions of the river changing color and of the tamarind trees are literary recollections that make this part of the passage a personal landscape, not a present-day guide to the riverfront.
She also recounts a story about the fort and the Collectorate. In the anecdote, two farmers complained that the elevated fort lacked drinking water. An engineer reportedly said that piping water there would be costly and a well would be brackish, after which the office was shifted. Sundar says Collectorate-related offices were at lower ground with piped water; the excerpt does not independently verify the story as settled institutional history.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What does the passage establish—and what does it not?
The excerpt is useful for understanding how one former IAS officer remembers Surat: its food traditions, the people she encountered, civic disorder she witnessed and places that shaped her daily life. Sundar also credits the Ukai Dam and an embankment with the absence of floods during and after her time there. That is her account, not an independently verified explanation of Surat’s flood history.
Because the piece is a memoir excerpt rather than a contemporary survey or official history, its characterizations and anecdotes should be read in that context. It offers a vivid personal portrait of a period in Surat, not a comprehensive or current assessment of the city.
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