PUNE...I LOVE YOU!!

When I came to know that I had to travel to Pune for official work I was elated beyond definition. It would be a homecoming of sorts. Pune is the city which I would always call home.

After a seminar in Mumbai, I leave the next morning in a cab. As I pass the ghats of Lonavala and Khandala, like a mother calling out to her child Pune outstretched its arms to me. Emotions began ringing inside - a feeling of nostalgia, elation and joy to the point of ecstasy enveloped me. As the cab crossed the Toll Expressway and reached Wakad I was like a child who got his/her first toy. I was giggling inside as the cab passed through Baner, University Circle, passed by E-Square past Shivaji Nagar and as we passed by the famous ‘Le Meridien’ hotel I knew I was in the safe arms of Pune.

On reaching my hotel in Koregaon Park, I stepped out of the AC air I was breathing and stood in the driveway just when a cool breeze of Puneri air brushed past me. I took a deep breath and a smile broke out. I really was in Pune!!

I then proceeded for my meetings of the day in Baner Road and Aundh. After that, for nostalgia’s sake I took a trip to NIBM Road from where we had left for Bangalore exactly 6 months ago. I missed the wide roads, open spaces and airy home (so airy it changes the definition of airiness) so much in the crowded alley in Bangalore that we live in that I really made it a point to re-visit them all…and how!

In the evening, out of all the possible things I could do to enjoy myself I wanted to do nothing….just take a stroll in Koregaon Park Main Road. Seeing the Osho Ashram, German Bakery, Prem’s restaurant (where I have been to several times…for some unknown reason)…it was revisiting of old memories.

The end of this trip turned out disappointing as I left from Pune airport. For the emerging city that Pune is, it just doesn’t have an airport befitting its stature. It is no more than a sophisticated bus stand. SpiceJet has a separate boarding area away from the boarding areas of other airlines (situated upstairs). The toilets were locked from outside and there was only one eatery catering to the morning rush of Pune passengers serving limited (maybe even stale) stuff. In short, the one hour spare time I got (which I got thanks to the heavy luggage I was carrying…which is a separate story in itself) was spent just waiting for the departure call.

Pune has given me many things – my first convocation ceremony, my first job, my first salary, my first days as a married man, my first car (Oh yes…I wanna buy many more!), my first genuine friend and on the flip-side many other firsts like my first bike accident, my first resignation letter, my first (out of innumerable other) fight with an auto-rickshaw driver. For all of these, and above all lots and lots of memories which I’ll cherish forever, Pune holds the most special place in my heart.

I’ll sign this post off by just saying Pune…I LOVE YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART! Please keep calling me again and again for I just can’t get enough of you…