Pune - my first impressions!
Writing about a city isn’t easy, as it often becomes judgemental and often experience based. But I am going to attempt it just to fill up the many empty hours ahead of me.
I had visited the city often as a kid, but this was my first visit after 1999, I think. And the city looked different. While earlier my only objective of a Pune trip was to climb the hill right opposite bua’s house, this visit had little objective per se.
My trip started with rather unexpected autorickshawallahs of the city, their arrogance and indifference was in stark contrast to their brethren in Mumbai, Ahmedabad etc (Delhi would compete with pune in this). But one can’t live without them too, the public transportation system is apparently nothing to be talked about.
The second feature that surprised me was the exceptional weather in the city, I never knew it would be so good; plus the greenery around made Pune a very livable place.
Pune also has its hare of malls, flyovers etc, but somehow the place is still very charming, very relaxed. There are many up-market eateries too, on the lines of Bangalore, but I never saw one. I heard about one Polka Dots in Aundh, and a few more in the same area. Being a foodie, this excites me tremendously.
There seems a lot to be seen and experienced in the city, Osho Ashram being one of them. I never thought of Pune as a destination for tourists (a city tour years back left me wanting for much much more from the city), but I see the place differently now. There are many treks around the city, and I have never done any (apart from the neighbourhood hill on the Range Hill road).
People in the bus took me to be a Marathi Joshi. It’s weird how the localites often feel I am one of them. People in Delhi often think I look and behave like a Delhite, in Kashmir I was taken to be a Kashmiri Muslim, and of course in the hills I easily turn into my real self, a Kumauni.
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| Pune - the cultural capital of Maharashtra |
I had visited the city often as a kid, but this was my first visit after 1999, I think. And the city looked different. While earlier my only objective of a Pune trip was to climb the hill right opposite bua’s house, this visit had little objective per se.
My trip started with rather unexpected autorickshawallahs of the city, their arrogance and indifference was in stark contrast to their brethren in Mumbai, Ahmedabad etc (Delhi would compete with pune in this). But one can’t live without them too, the public transportation system is apparently nothing to be talked about.
The second feature that surprised me was the exceptional weather in the city, I never knew it would be so good; plus the greenery around made Pune a very livable place.
Pune also has its hare of malls, flyovers etc, but somehow the place is still very charming, very relaxed. There are many up-market eateries too, on the lines of Bangalore, but I never saw one. I heard about one Polka Dots in Aundh, and a few more in the same area. Being a foodie, this excites me tremendously.
There seems a lot to be seen and experienced in the city, Osho Ashram being one of them. I never thought of Pune as a destination for tourists (a city tour years back left me wanting for much much more from the city), but I see the place differently now. There are many treks around the city, and I have never done any (apart from the neighbourhood hill on the Range Hill road).
People in the bus took me to be a Marathi Joshi. It’s weird how the localites often feel I am one of them. People in Delhi often think I look and behave like a Delhite, in Kashmir I was taken to be a Kashmiri Muslim, and of course in the hills I easily turn into my real self, a Kumauni.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteBeen a while. How are you?
People always say that the weather in Bangalore and Pune is the same. But I am sure Pune is better, for Bangalore is getting hotter day by day. It used to be a wonderful green city, now it is turning into a concrete jungle.
Well I suppose you blend with the crowd wherever you are that is why I suppose everybody thinks that you are one of them. It is a great feeling. I suppose you unconsciously believe in the saying " When in Rome do as the Romans do", and become like the locals of the places you visit. And I think that is how a true Indian should be.
i was lucky to visit both pune and bangalore within a week and both looked wonderful to me.
ReplyDeletebangalore is too special for me...nothing can replace that place for me, and i simply loved the weather there as well. but yes pune's weather is great too.
hahaha...am not even sure if i am a true indian :) but yes i do feel i belong to this sub-continent...its home :)
Hi Sidartha,
ReplyDeleteYou can not compare the both city at a time, both have their own charm.As you know I had been in Pune for 9 years so I can not tolerate against it but now I am in Bangalore and love its spirit and climate.