I am here in Pune,
- a city very
less denser than Chennai,
- roads
designed to ferry traffic for the next 5 years or more,
- a weather,
in which people like to holiday,
- mixed
culture, where you feel you belong to the crowd here,
- happy young
working population,
- time for
the family, even for the working couples,
- long
daylight, to enjoy the extended evenings,
- community
living - flats, flats and only flats,
- retired old
men and women, who gossip from 6am to 11pm,
- even the
outskirts of the city is well developed,
- more
military campuses and their smart officers,
- buses which
never stop in the bus stops,
- buses which
stop, stop only for few seconds,
- autos which
stop 200m away from the place where you stood and waved your hand,
- crowd who
shops at star bazaar and big bazaar at 9 am sunday morning
Another thing which caught my attention -
"White shirt with polka dots"
The girls who ride two wheeler here have a uniform
- "white shirt with polka dots". The colour of the dots vary from
girl to girl, but rarely identifiable. An 'undeclared' uniform, but 90% of the
girls adhere to - very amazing! Generally, it is difficult to lay some rules
and follow, and here all girls follow the two wheeler dress code! They don't
wear helmets though! Even few female pillion riders wear this shirt. Why is
that, this is popular among girls here? I am yet to find an answer.
Next interesting occasion was the Palkhi
to Pandharpur. Around 4 lakh people walk around 400 km during the journey split
into two groups - Sant Tukaram palkhi and Sant Dhyaneshwar Palkhi. They recite
prayers and sing songs on their way. During their journey, other people offer
food and snacks to them. There are sometimes, strong fights while collecting
food and snacks. Some groups, take along with them a set of people to cook food
and feed them. The cooks and the food items are transported by vehicles and
these vehicles run slowing along with the people who are walking. Traffic is
blocked at different places during these days. I had an opportunity to see
around the city, when i was travelling with my colleagues to office, during one
of these days, since our normal travel route was blocked.
Hmm, I need to know a lot more about this place!
