Pune visit

For six days starting from 18-Aug-2019, I went to Pune on an official visit along with friends and colleagues. This blog post captures my impressions about the visit.

The hyperlinks provide useful supplementary information. As usual, I shall avoid using names.

I will say this about the official purpose of our visit: The training that I attended gave me new insights into a familiar topic. The trainer shared professional experiences which aided in a better understanding. To me, this was the biggest take away from the training session.

The rest of this blog post is about the non-official side of the trip ! Since there were several of us, we made two groups staying in two different hotels. In our hotel, we were ten of us. One person among us had lived in Pune earlier. His familiarity with the eateries in the area where our hotel was located was a big advantage for us.

On Sunday afternoon when we arrived in Pune, we ate a simple lunch of misal pav and sabu dana vada. This was a recommendation by our ex-Pune friend and colleague. The food was tasty ; the hot tea served in a glass tumbler was tastier. One of my close friends commented: "The tea is superb. The cook seems to have used only milk with no water at all !"

We went to Shaniwarwada. https://www.punediary.com/html/peths.html describes how various peths or markets were established at different times. Shaniwarwada fort's biggest claim to fame is that it is supposed to be haunted. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/things-to-do/know-why-you-should-avoid-visiting-punes-shaniwarwada-fort-on-full-moon-nights/as63998053.cms narrates the story. The importance of Shaniwarwada is brought out in https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-shaniwarwada-was-centre-of-indian-politics-ninad-bedekar-1618983.

We walked to Dagdu Shet Ganapati. http://www.dagdushethganpati.com/about-temple/ describes the history of the Ganapati idol. Ganapati looked resplendent adorned with glittering jewellery.

By this time, we were ready for tea once more. We headed to Amrutulya. https://m.timesofindia.com/city/pune/brewing-4000-cups-of-milky-chai-a-day/articleshow/63256737.cms shows why the tea is special at this place.

Lakshmi Road is a street meant for shopping. We walked along the road for some time. My friend and I took an auto rickshaw back to the hotel. The speed at which our driver zoomed, my friend remarked: "I think we will reach earlier than the cab !" The cab had left at least ten minutes earlier ! As it happened, we reached later, probably because our driver stopped to fill gas !

Thanks to our ex-Pune friend and colleague, we tasted delicious dinners during the week. One evening, we ate at a place that served Rajasthani cuisine. One humongous plate was enough for two of us ! The dal baati churma tasted yummy ! Followed by the paan, it made for a good evening out !

One highlight for my friend and I was meeting a common friend who used to work with us. The common friend was just as warm and friendly as always, inviting all ten of us to his house for dinner ! We declined, but even those who knew him lesser than my friend and I appreciated his hospitality and warmth.

Instead of going to his house, all of us went to a restaurant that serves Maharashtrian food. The steamed modak and pitlu that we ate there was excellent !

We purchased bhakarwadi and chivda at shops near our hotel. Our ex-Pune friend and colleague was unwell and opted to go home directly.

Six of us stayed for a night in Lonavla. En route, we visited a temple of Sai Baba. There is a nice construction near the temple where food is served to the needy. http://www.shrisaibabasansthanpratishirdi.org/templecomplex.html has more information about the temple.

This was the Jain temple, which we viewed from the cab and visited on the spur of the moment.

This is the view from the top of the Jain temple.

The steps show the cleanliness of the Jain temple.

Driving towards Lonavla, we spotted a temple on a hillock. This is a Jain temple, informed our driver. We went there. This is the Shri Parshwa Pradnyalaya Jain Teerth, a clean structure. All of us enjoyed the calm, silent atmosphere at the temple. There are idols of Jain saints around the main temple. It appears that marble is used in the temple, but I may be mistaken. My friend and I spent a few moments of solitude in this peaceful place.

Our driver took us to Narayangaon next. There is a temple dedicated to Shri Krishna here, but it was closed. We decided to wait for the prasad here as lunch. There is a cattle shed here which contains many healthy cows. The sheen of the cows was good to see.

The cows at Narayangaon look healthy.

In our taxi, my friend played music from Hindi movies released in the '90s. All of us enjoyed the music which brought back memories of years gone by !

We headed towards Karla caves next. 
https://www.maharashtratourism.gov.in/treasures/cave/karla-bhaje-bedse-caves explains the history of Karla caves. Over the years, I find that I have developed an interest in history and the stories of the past. As such, I was curious to see the Karla caves. One has to climb around two hundred steps to reach the caves. The climb is worth the effort: the caves present a sight to behold.

What tools did our ancestors use to transform the hill and create this magnificent stupa?

The weather was cloudy as we entered the caves. I have one word to describe the sensation I experienced as I stepped in : awe inspiring ! Forty one pillars are present in a long hall. Some places like Belur, Halebid and now Karla caves make me wonder what kind of people lived in the past ! What does it take : 1.) To conceptualise such a structure ; 2.) To plan it ; 3.) To manage the development of such structures (I wanted to use "construction" but the word is too prosaic and mundane !) and 4.) To have the faith and the commitment to come every day and chip away at stone painstakingly ?

The height and grandeur of Karla caves left me awestruck.

The inscription on the left is probably the Brahmi script. The one on the right appears like the old Kannada script to my eyes.

The toil and sweat of many generations of people has gone into the Karla caves. It had started raining heavily. We stayed put in the caves. A local person offered to share his knowledge and show us less known sights in the caves. He provided good insight: The pillars in Karla caves all have been "sponsored", in a sense. People have donated the pillars. The names of the donors have been carved in Brahmi script. Some of the pillars have carvings of animals. One of them has what appears to resemble the Sphinx ! Is it possible that there were trade links between Egypt and Karla caves ?! It appears unlikely but who knows, maybe it did happen. There is a painting of the Buddha in vegetable dyes at the top of one of the pillars.

It was thanks to a guide that we observed this painting of the Buddha in yellow vegetable dyes on a pillar, still intact after a millennium !

Is that an Egyptian sphinx on top of the pillar? Our guide said so, but it is mind-boggling to imagine that someone from Egypt would be responsible for a pillar in Karla caves.

The horizontal rows in the stupa represent different aspects of life. Our guide said that a part of Buddha's body is located here.

Our next stop was Bushi dam. The view from the dam is a good sight. However, I skipped visiting it as it meant wading through knee deep water. When my friend and others returned, he said: "You have not missed much. The number of people there is a lot. The view is good, but it is not at all clean."

An overcast evening and the Lonavla lake proved to be a good combination for this picture taken on the move.

It was evening when we entered Lonavla. The town has some of the characteristics of hill stations. There is one main road, lots of scenic curving roads and greenery that refreshed my eyes and lungs ! We ate vada pav and drank tea at a small shop.

The next morning, we went to Khandala. During the previous evening, I heard a peacock's call. I thought that it would be good to go for a walk in the morning. So, just after I got up, I went for a solitary walk. I noticed sprawling bungalows along the main road. There was mist that morning as well. I walked for 30 minutes, soaking in the greenery, the silence and the mild sunrise.

The misty morning can be seen here, to some extent.

The highway was empty and silent during my morning walk.

Lonavla is full of elegant houses like this one.

The video here shows a brook gurgling below the road. The sound was calming and refreshing at the same time !
 
We set out to Khandala, which we reached very quickly ! The rains have made the hills green. It was nice to see the hills draped in a carpet of green !

Khandala was draped in green.

In the centre a waterfall can be seen.

Our next stop was Koraigad fort ! However, we just could not locate it. The website https://www.punetrekkers.com/korigad-fort suggests that the GPS based map misguided us. We were frustrated as we spent almost an hour trying to locate the place. We gave up and headed back towards Lonavla.

It started raining at this point. We had plans to visit a lake. Since it was pouring heavily, we decided against going there. We stopped at a restaurant. In the rain, the hot and crispy onion pakoras and tea were particularly tempting. We headed back to Pune.

Our lunch was at the same restaurant in Pune where we relished the tea on the first day. Some last minute shopping was completed. Then it was time to head back to the airport - and home !

I have downplayed the frustration caused by our cab driver because the pleasant experiences and memories overshadow the bitter ones. My friend and I had to raise our voices against our cab driver's lack of knowledge of the places to visit. Instead, I have highlighted fonder memories: The taste of the tea on the first day, the greenery in Lonavla and Khandala and the majesty of the Karla caves are what I choose to remember now. Above all, this was an opportunity to bond with friends and colleagues outside the work environment. There was one evening when the TV was on mute and we simply talked with each other, until 2 a.m. the next morning ! I believe that I know my friends and colleagues somewhat better now ! Apart from the novelty of the place, it is for the camaraderie which has now developed between us that makes the Pune visit special.