Toss your soul to the wind

As it goes to call the morning sun,

Scampering in, silent, sometimes softly whispering,

You can’t see it –yet you feel it invigorating,

filling every corner with energy,

Blending the inner scape and the outside.

In one canvas…

Through life…

Expressed through your home..

..The Pune I love

It would be a cliche if I wrote that Pune as a city has changed a fair bit .Like every other place in the world Pune isn't immune to change though it has to be said the city is still retained its hilly charm.The trees probably have lessened to accommodate the multitude of malls springing out of every nook and cranny .Albeit one has to mention Pune has massive amounts of green to it with its ghats, quaint little parks and of course beautiful treetops.
Pune is a city which abounds in hills and forts but malls aren't far behind. Having been there a few months back the fact that malls have sprung up literally everywhere did not fail to surprise me especially if one has been going to Pune for the last twenty years.These malls cater to most sections of society.

As one flies into Pune the first thing that one sees are the ghats .The daunting sight of the ghats leaves one spellbound.The hilly scenery fills us with wonder and excitement.We get a view of nooks and crannies coloured in brown with pockets of green in it.Yeah when I think of Pune the ghats are what I envision first.Having said that one could leave the climbing to experienced mountaineers . A trip to Pune is incomplete without going hill climbing (read: the not so steep ones). Standing atop the hills we get a panoramic view of Pune.

Pune for me I suppose is a home away from home.If I was asked which city do I consider to be my hometown I'd choose Pune and Kolkata.Although I live in Kolkata Pune is never too far away .Perhaps the fact that I've spent most of my holidays there influences this thought process.Spending a insurmountable amount of Durga Pujas in Pune has done this perception no harm what so ever.

The city is also a historian's dream. Being a history student exploring forts such as Shaniwar Wada and other historical sites delighted me to no end. Any aspiring archaeologist can can look around to his or her hearts content as colleges such as Deccan college has a great collection of old ruins and fossils which are a few hundred years old.

Educational institutions like Fergusson College and Pune University are beautiful places to hang out because of the greenery one gets too see there.The grass is invariably lush and the constructions are graceful indeed .It makes for a nice get away. The Film and Television Institute of India is also a establishment of repute. The movies that I got to see there were simply out of the world .The documentaries screened would appeal to all parts of society as they were relevant.Perhaps this is why Pune is known as the Oxford of the East. Foodies would also have a good time here as the city awash with eating joints of all kinds. Indian, Continental ,Chinese you name it.

The truth be told even though one might live thousands of miles away one can't really get away from Pune as the city grows on you .

By
Indrajit - writer

Why I call Pune Home

I am what people would term as a hard core Bombayite . I have spent my formative years there. I now look back with a total sense of disbelief when I think of those split second train timings… that hectic pace to Life where every moment was spent in the fray to get to some place , which though well connected, inevitably took some determined effort and considerable time.

Then I went away to Dubai. Another city with a character all its own. A perfect amalgam of the old world that quaintly co-existed with the enthusiastic fervour of the new and the modern. Then just as it had carried us off to this interesting city of Dubai , kismet turned us around to point us homewards. Since Bombay no longer was 'home' after the passing on of my father, we decided to look to Pune for familial comfort. A lot of our relatives lived in Pune . That and the greenery beckoned to us to make it home.

So one rainy day in July of 2000 , two boys and dog in tow , we hauled ourselves up five flights of stairs along with our rather heavy baggage to our home . No electricity . So no lifts Our very first orientation with the whimsical electricity supply in Pune that invariably got washed out with the slightest hint of rain !!!

Of the next few years I spent time ....getting telephone lines ..then making sure they were working. Getting all my required appliances in place ..then making sure we had the electricity to run them !! If the phone lines were working and the electrical supply uninterrupted ..then I spent time getting corrections to the astronomical bills that were high enough to have given enough talk time and electricity to a small time industry !! During this time I met all sorts of people ..some rude ..some helpful..some concerned ..others nonchalantly carrying on with indifference to rules. Like any other city .

Life has now eased a bit . Quite a bit. The boys are both now strapping young men. Both into their maiden year at being employees ! I now wake up to a black and white wagtail pecking noisily at my window every single morning. Mornings are spent quite often over a leisurely cup of coffee while mildly wondering what different avian species might I be treated to today. Will it be a kingfisher? Or a frog heron ? Or a Bharadwaj? Will that noisy raucous gang of parrots make an appearance today ? Camera and binoculars always handy, the morning sun and the dusk always offer much for the bird watcher.

With an inverter in place , the dark clouds no longer threatened. They along with the rain bring along with them brilliant flashes of a poetical streak that make me wax lyrical as I hear the cool raindrops sizzle on the parched soil of the garden. I hear the old timers creakily commiserate about the non existent winters. To me the gentle sun of a December morning in Pune is comfortingly warm. No shivers and chattering teeth for me. I spend morning looking for good art exhibitions to visit…enthralling music concerts to attend ...an occasional play to watch. . I look on with amusement at the antics of the dahi handi brigade at Gokul Ashtami. With fatalistic resignation I face the music at Ganesh Chaturthi. My maternal instincts are touched when I watch little ones enthusiastically participate in the various cultural presentations made during that time.

Soon it is Navratri and the colorful gaiety heralds the coming of Diwali around the corner with the clicking of the dandiyas by revelers going in circles for the raas. The festive lights of Diwali turn the city into a fairy land at night as the twinkling sparks scurry back and forth feverishly on most windows . And star lanterns dress up a balcony or front yard bathing it in a fond indulgent glow. I hear the azaan and I know it is time for Iftaar. Christmas will be here too...
and one and all will wait eagerly for delicately flavored fruit cake . Then it will be the next year...new certainly ..but with comforts of the familiar ...for Pune is where home is ..where heart is!

By Shubha S Nafrey

More about home

.