AHMEDABAD, NOV 8Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel is off with his intimidating family of 20 -wife, four sons, daughters-in-law, daughter and a whole gaggle of grandchildren to the scenic lake city of Udaipur, 13 of his Cabinet colleagues have caught the first plane or ministerial car out of the city and the rest are either planning their holiday or catching up on cricket on television screens.It is mid-term mood in the Gujarat government, with the capital city of Gandhinagar empty of the rich, the famous and the khadi-clad. Cabinet ministers, ministers of state, principal secretaries, the Municipal Commissioner, businessmen, doctors and even first lady Maliniben Atit are making the most of the four-day break that Diwali brings every year a traditional holiday peculiar to Gujarat.Elsewhere in the city, computers are being garlanded, chopdas worshipped, and business has come to a grinding halt and will start only six days later on Labh Pancham, fifth day of the new year, which begins tomorrow. Amazing, but true. It is hard-nosed, business-minded, buried-in-bahikhata Gujarat that celebrates Diwali so religiously.Traditionally, it is a 10-day affair that started with Vagh Baras on November 4 and will end with Labh Pancham on November 13, says noted Gandhian Prakash Shah. ``While Bestu Baras marks the new year according to the lunar calendar, Labh Pancham is the day when new account books are opened and worshipped for an auspicious start to the next year,'' adds Sanskrit scholar Keka Shastri.Industry Minister Suresh Mehta caught the first plane to Bangalore yesterday; Power Minister Vajubhai Wala is reclining in Rajkot; Jaspal Singh, Minister for Jail and Rural Housing, is in Baroda; Water Supplies Minister Narotam Patel is in Surat; and Small and Medium Irrigation Minister Nitin Patel is in Kadi, all enjoying the hospitality of their home towns.From among the ministers of state, Kaushik Patel, the Power Minister, is one of the few still in the city. ``For two years I have not been outside,'' he says. But he too is planning to make a one-day trip to Sankeshwar with his family. But not before he has caught the results of the India versus New Zealand match on TV.Besides them, Youth and Cultural Affairs Minister Mahendra Trivedi is at his native place of Bhavnagar, Home Minister Harin Pandhya with his famous grin and handlebar moustache is on a mysterious tour of which no details seem to be available, Dilip Patel, Minister for Mines and Minerals, has headed his family-laden car towards home town Karmsad, Urban Development Minister Mangu Patel is in Navsari, Education Minister Anandiben Patel is off with a Mahila Morcha delegation to Madras.Of the businessmen, Sanjay Lalbhai, Managing Director of Arvind Mills, is holidaying in Mumbai, while danseuse Mallika Sarabhai is enjoying a quiet extended weekend with her children in Ahmedabad. City roads are empty, shops are planning to shut from tomorrow. It will be a dead city for the next two days at least
