When you are in Ahmedabad and want to pay tribute to the Indian freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel then head to Gandhi Ashram, Sardar Patel National Memorial. These two noted freedom contributors were said to be good friends and you get to know lots of information about them from these places. In this write up let me take you to the Sardar Patel National Memorial which is established in order to honour the significant contribution of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Indian independence movement. This memorial is a popular museum and exhibition centre dedicated to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel based on his life events.This National Memorial is established at Moti Shahi Mahal in Shahi Baugh in Ahmedabad. The palace building is surrounded by beautiful garden named after Sardar Patel & is known as Sardar Open Garden. It also houses an open theatre called Sardar Open Air Theatre. This theatre is used to show short documentary films to its visitors and tourists on various occasions. You can sight peacocks in the garden while monkeys on the trees. After independence this palace building was used as Raj Bhavan for about eighteen years starting from 1960 till 1978. It became the official residence of Governor of the state.There are various sections in the palace to exhibit various items and documents related to Sardar Patel. If we go into the history of the palace then we come to know that it was built dates back in the early seventeenth century. It is said that the construction started in the year 1618 and completed in the year 1622 under the directions of then Governor of Gujarat the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan. But at the time of British control this palace went under them during mid nineteenth century and served as government office. One important fact is that the great Bengali poet and writer Shree Rabindranath Tagore also stayed in this palace at the age of seventeen. There is a section in the museum dedicated to the great poet Tagore. The memorial was established on 7th March 1980 to honour Sardar Patel.Just outside of the palace building you can see the graceful statue of Sardar Patel in black. The memorial contains all the information and items used by Sardar Patel from his biography to his personal belongings. Sardar Patel was born in 1875 in Nadiad and died in 1950 in Mumbai at the age of seventy five years. There is a big hall at the centre of the memorial building and four rooms on the ground floor. The central hall displays various portraits of Sardar Patel, his family members, friends and colleagues during freedom fight. All these portraits are in sequence along with the time period and other descriptions and comments by admirers. Two rooms out of the four are occupied with the personal possessions of Sardar Patel, newspaper cuttings that published accounts & cartoons related to politics. Another room exhibits his phase of life when he was young, his education, legal career, his work as a Home Minister, his contribution and his friendship with Mahatma Gandhi. One room displays the personal belongings of Sardar Patel like his Khadi kurta, jacket, dhoti, shoes, slippers, his European style clothing that he wore when he was young and a flag of India which is quite an attraction here. It was created by the Indian National Congress in the year 1930- 31. A section in the memorial on the ground floor is occupied by the display of controversial Sardar Sarovar Project which includes pictures, graphics, books, statistics, and date of inception of project, the technical details, construction and current functioning information. You get the idea of the closeness of Sardar with Gandhi ji while exploring the memorial.When you climb the stairs, you reach the first floor where a room is dedicated to Rabindranath Tagore as he lived in this room when he was just seventeen years old. This room exhibits several portraits, pictures, paintings and other information on the life and contribution of great Bengali poet and philosopher. There is a large impressive statue of Rabindranath Tagore installed in the main room in his memory. This section is known as Tagore Memorial.Ruchi Mahajan