Pune is the second largest city in the state of Maharashtra with a population of 4.5 million. It is widely considered the cultural capital of Marati-speaking Maharashtrians. Pune has a reputation for its several esteemed colleges and educational institutions for this reason it is called the Oxford of the East. It has a very strong presence in the automobile sector. It is now home to many software and IT companies.
Saturday morning I left at 7’0 clock to pune. I thought of getting into the train in Andheri to go to Dadar where I could get another train to pune. I searched for the ticket counter and finally got it .The person there guided me as on which platform I could probably get into the train. I reached the station 45 mins before scheduled departure. The train arrived at 8.30 am . it was Udhyan express which was on its way to Bangalore through pune. I finally found the general compartment where I could get in. The compartment seemed to be empty and I boarded into it. I came to know that it was ladies compartment only when a lady screamed at me. My God… My heart stopped for a while thinking what would happen if a police man catches me there. With in no time I got out of the train and managed to find another compartment with tightly packed people. It looked as if people from all over the world are on the way to pune. I some how managed to get into the train. BANG ON!!!!. The train full of people jammed to each other was the horrible scene and that would scare anyone getting into the general compartment for the first time. Here I was, getting off in a hope to get comfortable space to rest my ass. It was a hell for 4 hrs and a sigh with relief when I reached pune.
I reached pune by 12pm. It was very hot and sweat dropping down my body with stinking smell that I carried with the people in the train. There was no way to get cleaned as I dint get any spare dress for myself. One of my friends me to meet that day. I waited probably for an hour before she arrived to the station. Then we took an auto and went to Chaitanya restaurant, Suth road. Pune auto drivers are exploitative and callous (new comes please don’t get into auto). They demand so much that she started screaming on him and there started fuss between those 2 people which ended up after some time. I was very hungry as I had nothing in the morning except one Mumbai special vada pav. She got some special Punjabi dish (parata) and it was so big that I managed to eat only 3/4th of it. Then we had lassi and planned to go for a movie, but it was already late and landing up into movie theatre would have made delay in reaching my friend chottu’s (chandru) place. So we finally decided to go to Magarpatta city.
Magarpatta City is a modern township on the outskirts of Pune. From a distance, it resembles any other modern township that has sprung up around Bangalore or Hyderabad. It consists of the essential element of modern Indian urban life – a mini golf course, an artificial lake, a cyber city with buildings in gleaming glass and multi-storied residential buildings.
We spent some time in park under the tree. It was already 4.30pm, by that time I thought of leaving so that I can reach my friends place before the clouds get darken. But she insisted me to come to her flat and meet some of her friends. Even It was bit tired so thought of having a cup of tea with her. Soon after that she took me to her apartment which is in the same city. We entered the huge apartment with 8 floors in it. When I entered the balcony of the house It was like a dream seeing the whole magarpatta city at one glance with EDS building right in front of the apartment at a distance of half a kilometer with gleaming glasses that captures all the buildings surrounding it. It was like a place where I always dreamt of settling down in life; the city with all comforts in a small radius. I was totally lost there.
I met her friends who work in the same company. While having tea we chatted for some time. I left her flat by 6pm. I called my friend and got the route map to his place. It was 8pm when I reached Pasan (place where my friend chottu is put up). He is my friend from Bangalore working in pune. It’s been long time I met him when he had been to Bangalore 2 yrs back. I spent that night in his room.
One strange feedback I got from two of my friends is that “ it seems I have become uncommunicative ”- mean to say I don't talk that much probably as I used to speak before. They told me that I used to speak in a merry way…always making fun, teasing and all those have vanished to some extent. I told them that next time I will be back with my original character.
Next morning I called up my friend Rajesh and asked him to meet me in some place somewhere near to the place where I stayed as I was unaware of the other places in the city. I left chottu’s room by 12pm and got into the bus where my friend told he would meet me. I reached there at 12.45pm and met him in the bus stand. We both then went to Ghandarv hotel (one of the good hotels in pune). The ambiance in that hotel is one of warmth and charm. We had roti and shrekand sweet. Tasting that food I came to know why all my friends have put up a massive weight after being shifted to pune. Food was delicious and savory. I kept on licking my hands though I got a finger bowl to wash my hands. Then he took me to one of the famous temple in Mumbai called “Dagdusheth Ganapathi Temple”
The Shrimant Dagdusheth established this temple in the year 1893 and has thus been in the service of devotees since 108 years. It was in 1893 when Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak gave a public form to the celebration of the festival of Ganpati and made it a genuinely people's festival. Ganesh festival is one of the auspicious occasions in pune.
Then we went to see a fort where 2nd battle of Panipat was fought. There was nothing much to see inside the fort. It was already 4pm and I told Rajesh to drop me till pune station where I can get a bus to Mumbai. Finally I started my journey back to Mumbai on Sunday at 4.30 pm. The best way to come to Mumbai from Pune is by bus. There’s a bus every 15 mins and if you take the deluxe buses (which cost 200 bucks). The journey on the express way was as always fast and luxurious, thanks to the great infrastructure.
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