..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

What do I call Home

When I wanted to buy my own place in a country partially alien to me, I thought back to about two decades back. Having spent only a small part of my early childhood here, I did not know what to expect of the old motherland. But ever since my mind was made up about getting back here, even if it meant a series of unavoidable upheavals, there was little on my mind other than getting a place to call home.

The time I spent here had been all about sunny corridors, running along the said sunny corridors and jumping into tanned arms at the end of sunny corridors. There are bits about being held over basins to brush my teeth, and more rot that festers there but I suppose the sunny corridors bit is entirely about India. I suppose there are a million reasons why I felt the urge to return here. Maybe it was spiritual healing, maybe some isolation, maybe self-discovery. The thing is, chorusing "O Canada!" and having a Canadian citizen status did not quite make me non-Indian.

Then I stepped on a alien homeland! Not that I was not amazed at the change in the people here. Sure, the air is heavily laden with pollution it tags me down with it, and sure, there are a lot more voices and background scores than my sanity had to cope with. Perhaps it bothers me that the people are unreasonably surlier, and more bent on hoodwinking me at every step though they are less discreet than the oil farmers of my land. But, for all my faith in things sorting themselves out, I was unnerved by the cultural shock that awaited me and my accent.

But then I came back.

Pune is not fabulous because it is fabulous. It is fabulous because it works for me. It grew on me, and I am very much in love with what appalled me just a few months ago. Pune is not about a broiling mix of emotional tensions which must erupt on any given day to vent it all in a nice little riot. I know I waited for that bit, but it never came. My friends did help me with my adaptation but I suppose there is only this much that friends can do. I also suppose there is no universal remote to switch myself on or off. There was just a gentle gradient that helped me acclimatize to Pune, and from a feeling of being seasick all day long, I went on to being at one with the world again; which incidentally is what life should be all about.

Now Pune is home, And I am no longer a foreigner to my own motherland. She accepts me as one of her own, and there is no joy greater than being accepted as one being a part of a whole.

Now all I need is a wife.

Nikhil Jay - Writer...Finding himself in Pune...