It's been almost three weeks since I've shifted from Mumbai to Pune. It's definitely not a cultural shock or any type of shock for me. Coming from a big metropolitan city like Mumbai to a relatively smaller city like Pune may take sometime for a person to adjust. For someone who is used to the fast paced life of Mumbai. It's not that Pune life is slow, but it's not as fast as compared to what I'm used to in Mumbai. Thankfully it's not as laid back as I felt when I was visiting cousin in Hyderabad/Secundrabad.
But there are things that really perplexes you. Being one of the fastest growing city in the country (not sure in the world), and having some of the well known IT firms and elearning company, the city's infrastructure is pretty bad. In Mumbai it's better to use public mode of transportation like the trains and buses if you don't want to get caught up in traffic jams and get to place on time. But in Pune that's absent. There are buses but they seem so ancient, even more ancient than the state transportation buses. It's pretty scary to travel in any of them. And more over you can't exactly read the bus number or where the bus is going, the destination is written in Marathi so it's going to take time for someone like me who is not proficient in the language to read it (I pity the ones that don't know the language). Moreover the roads are not very good here and not properly lit. So at night I wonder whether if I should concentrate at looking below at the road to avoid stepping into ditches and muck, or should I look out for the on coming traffic. It's not like Mumbai road's are any better. I think they have the most number and biggest potholes in the world. But moreover people in Pune seem to lack traffic sense. They don't honk their horn to ask you to get out of the way. And if they need to take a turn at the signal, instead of being in the lane nearest to the turn, they expect to turn from middle of the road. Moreover there are instances of people driving on the other side of the divider. So you need to lookout for them when you are crossing, especially when you are crossing the road.
I guess any Puneite reading this would surely argue with me that I am only looking at the bad points. Hmmmm, there are loads of things I know I can appreciate about this city. The most important thing being is that the cost of living (as I've been told, though not fully experienced) is pretty low as compared to Mumbai. Though people may complain about the pollution level in Pune I don't think it's as high as that in Mumbai. They would need to come to
Andheri, especially the Andheri-Kurla stretch and MIDC. I know I have a pleasant walk every morning coming to work. It's doesn't even matter of the walk is around a 30 minutes walk, as long as I don't sweat. There is whole lot of greenery that I enjoy everyday during my walk to work as well as when having lunch from my canteen on the terrace of the office. It's a beautiful site as there are not many sky rises and you can see the hills and the trees and the beautiful skies. But what I like of Pune is that there is something about the city, that I can't exactly put in words. There is this charm about the city. It's like an old world meeting the new world (much like walking through Fort Mumbai minus the traffic and commotion of the people). And yes there a whole interesting place that you can visit. Historical forts to trek to and many other place to visit. This whole thing makes Pune pretty interesting. And not forgetting Kayani's, famous for its biscuits and stuff.
Well this weekend is going be the first weekend that I am not going anywhere out of Pune. So surely going to take the time to familiarise myself with the city, or at least the area where I stay. Who knows over time my view of the city would change, for the better or the worst.
But there are things that really perplexes you. Being one of the fastest growing city in the country (not sure in the world), and having some of the well known IT firms and elearning company, the city's infrastructure is pretty bad. In Mumbai it's better to use public mode of transportation like the trains and buses if you don't want to get caught up in traffic jams and get to place on time. But in Pune that's absent. There are buses but they seem so ancient, even more ancient than the state transportation buses. It's pretty scary to travel in any of them. And more over you can't exactly read the bus number or where the bus is going, the destination is written in Marathi so it's going to take time for someone like me who is not proficient in the language to read it (I pity the ones that don't know the language). Moreover the roads are not very good here and not properly lit. So at night I wonder whether if I should concentrate at looking below at the road to avoid stepping into ditches and muck, or should I look out for the on coming traffic. It's not like Mumbai road's are any better. I think they have the most number and biggest potholes in the world. But moreover people in Pune seem to lack traffic sense. They don't honk their horn to ask you to get out of the way. And if they need to take a turn at the signal, instead of being in the lane nearest to the turn, they expect to turn from middle of the road. Moreover there are instances of people driving on the other side of the divider. So you need to lookout for them when you are crossing, especially when you are crossing the road.
I guess any Puneite reading this would surely argue with me that I am only looking at the bad points. Hmmmm, there are loads of things I know I can appreciate about this city. The most important thing being is that the cost of living (as I've been told, though not fully experienced) is pretty low as compared to Mumbai. Though people may complain about the pollution level in Pune I don't think it's as high as that in Mumbai. They would need to come to
Andheri, especially the Andheri-Kurla stretch and MIDC. I know I have a pleasant walk every morning coming to work. It's doesn't even matter of the walk is around a 30 minutes walk, as long as I don't sweat. There is whole lot of greenery that I enjoy everyday during my walk to work as well as when having lunch from my canteen on the terrace of the office. It's a beautiful site as there are not many sky rises and you can see the hills and the trees and the beautiful skies. But what I like of Pune is that there is something about the city, that I can't exactly put in words. There is this charm about the city. It's like an old world meeting the new world (much like walking through Fort Mumbai minus the traffic and commotion of the people). And yes there a whole interesting place that you can visit. Historical forts to trek to and many other place to visit. This whole thing makes Pune pretty interesting. And not forgetting Kayani's, famous for its biscuits and stuff.Well this weekend is going be the first weekend that I am not going anywhere out of Pune. So surely going to take the time to familiarise myself with the city, or at least the area where I stay. Who knows over time my view of the city would change, for the better or the worst.
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