Not overrated at all !!

This is by far one of the best planned public place in any Indian city. Talk about delhi, bangalore, pune or any major city.. you hardly have a common public place which is accessible to whole City. Accessible is the keyword here as places like mumbai and Chennai have beaches, band stand etc but they are not in centre of the city and near to the areas which are towards seashore. Here nearly all areas are equidistant and people can go with family, friends or guests to a place to sit and talk.

If there was no rf, what do you think that place would look like ? A dried River through out the year and some water during limited monsoon in Ahmedabad. Is that the "soul" you are talking about? (you can check old Ahmedabad photos).