Have been exploring Pune with my friend and guide these past few weeks – he knows some really charming places in Pune and has been dragging me there, willing and unwilling to open my eyes to the charms of the city – it’s his eternal quest to make me admit that Pune is better than Bbay. It isn’t, but yes, I’m beginning to admit it’s not a hell-hole either! Two stubborn Librans locking horns on this one!
Last week I was introduced to the charms of a Tekdi, just off Law college road – a short climb upto a mid-way vantage point near a temple (there’s no shortage of those in Pune) from where you can see the city spread out below you, and then a walk through some brush and trees up to a stone quarry, that made me think of Mount Vesuvius and the buried city of Pompeii – my friend of course disagreed and said the crater is too small for my line of imagination, preferring his own version of a fantastic land from the LOTR and some weird creatures scampering around unseen to the human eye. We didn’t quite see eye to eye on this either – so it was yet another horn-locking session! :-)
It was dusk by the time we started back, so we were treated to a most romantic sight – as the sun set and the night crept over the city slowly enveloping Pune in its velvety folds, the city’s lights slowly start twinkling in the growing dusk. I am totally in love with that place – can’t decide which is better, the tekdi or that watch-tower in a crater at the University…
I guess it’s time to concede a point – Round 1 goes to you my dear friend. But I haven’t abandoned the battle field yet. Wait till you see Bombay through my eyes and watch it if it doesn’t hit you with all its glory and that completely unique culture that can be best described as a palimpsest. Watching the sun set behind the Gateway of India, as you come in from Elephanta Islands, is a sight to behold and guaranteed to deliver a hard blow to your solar plexus. Top it off with a walk down Marine drive, hop into a cab towards Malabar Hill and watch the Queen’s Necklace twinkling back at you – you don’t need any inducement to drown in the sheer magic of the moment! :-)
Speaking of fantastic lands, I just posted my review of Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories on Literary Mosaic. Go read the book people!
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15 comments:
hmmm...ma chere it is not as much about the beauty of the body but the beauty of the spirit that i am trying to make you see. the spirit of pune - liberated, quaint, cultured and mordern.
the pune where the orthodox, traditional gandhian punekar has made home for the ultra-mordern, radical student community from outside.
the pune where film students and drama critics sit next to IT geeks in the cofee houses.
the pune where an oriental institute of research and the world's largets software storage company's India dev center are in the same lane.
i want you to see all this and more...thats the beauty of pune. with no competition to it :)
I am sure they are both wonderful cities in their own light.
Yes, it's a fantastic book!
isn't it too hot to be climbing tekdis?
besides the point. anyways, i love pune, but in small doses. Though maybe I should try living there, instead of just a week here and there...
But, this goes to your friend...
"the pune where film students and drama critics sit next to IT geeks in the cofee houses."
Really?
how strange - do all ure sweetest memories of bbay revolve around "town"?
;-) touche?
Rahul, you is such the bitchy one naa
lol @phal. he's not very rong is he??
n anon...me never been 2 pune but ur description sure makes it look verrrryyyyy enticing and fascinating.
hey me packin off to pune in may for my PG. hope to see al those luvly places.
n yes mumbai not only abt the townside. chk out up north..it has its own charm. :)
Phal
yes really they do. come over and see...or rather, feel it. :)
monsieur ou madamoiselle anon, u r sucessfully luring ppl to come to pune. bombay ain't that bad either that is if u ignore the exhausting train journeys'n traffic jams,beggars, eunuchs, ppl shittin in near the tracks in the bushes( WORST PART IS I CAN STILL SEE THEM) etc etc .in fact no city in idia is bad.
rahul - lol.
geetanjali- juhu n madh n marve are equally nice places.
i mean india
My oh my - run away to your fav city for a few days and come back to see such a wonderful conversation has been going on in your backyard...
Incidentally, Rahul, Phal, Aparna, Elixir - I guess I blog more abt South Bbay because the other places and memories seem too personal and am very very miserly in sharing them. Plus South Bbay to me, is what Bbay is all about - it all started frm there and then kept spreading out till today even Mira Road which seemed like a god-forsaken village absorbed into the city to accomodate it's growing population vibrates with the very quintessential spirit of BBay.
Was there just this weekend - yep, Colaba, Fort, Churchgate, Bandra, Carter Road and Mira Road - all in the course of one day, and loved every single second of it - including that crazy crowded train at midnight, so crowded that the guys with us had to form a protective circle around me and my friend! ;-)
More on that soon - and promise to start waxing eloquent on other parts of Bbay too - yaar after all I'm no born-n-bred townie, apun bhi to good ol' Versova ka niwasi hai. Jaan abhi bhi wahin latki hui hai :-)
As for you my frnd who chooses to lurk in anonymity - :-) Results of round 2 are awaited! Muhahaha!
PS Rahul - I kinda agree with Phal :-P
Loosen your purse strings when it comes to memories related to Andheri(w). I would very much love to hear about it. To me, for 22 years, it was the centre of the world. Period! Now, I am a little left of center :-)
Lets not make it a Bombay V/S Pune lets make it a Bombay and Pune situation. Bombay is it's own and Pune is it's own as Geetanjalli you've clearly put into perspective. As our friend anonymous said Pune is 'liberated, quaint, cultured and modern' giving it a unique place in the ranks of Indian Cities . Well we all know Bombay is also Unique.
In years to years to come I'm sure she'll take her place among the likes of New York,Paris,Rome and their likes.
Anon, I plan to. Very, very soon. Any city looks different once you have relatives there. Maybe I'll make it a secret visit...
Akshay's you're such a diplomat. So very cute.
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