All about Pune

jivan

Hi all,
This is going to be a long post with things added later as & when I think of things to add to this . Be aware that the city is slightly expensive compared to other cities. The police are usually very co-operative & its supposed to be safe city (as far as women are concerned) :-

Travel :- It is well connected by Rail, Road as well as Airways.
Rail :- The mode preffered by masses for long & semi-long journeys. If one is coming by Rail then the Pune railway station provides lots of amenities. Would post a pic. later.
1.There is an 24 hr restaurant in the premises itself so one can eat there. The food is hot, decent & reasonably priced. If coming at some unearthly hour then couple of hours or so in the restaurant is also not a bad idea. It has a TV & all.
2. There are retiring rooms on the 1st floor on Platform 1 next to the main gate. Again if it's a single white female/women travelling then they could/should use this.
3. There are about 4-5 official entrances/exits from the station. Use the main exit as the no. of touts are much less than the other exit where touts are hanging about (The other exit from where foreigners are usually taken is the parcel exit where one can extract money from them.)
4. There is a pre-paid autorickshaw stand just outside the main exit. It's usually manned by a policeman/policewoman.It's better to take a pre-paid rickshaw. The distance between the station & Koregaon Park (where most of the westerners/foreigners live is around 3 to 3.5 km from station).
The fare of the rickshaw is Rs. 8/- the 1st km. & then Rs. 6/- per km. So one shouldn't have to pay for more than 20-25. After 12 a.m. the fare goes up by 1/4th till 6 a.m. So if coming in between it should be around 40 bucks or something. Also if travelling early morning or unsure the policeman/policewoman does take u'r details with the no. of the rickshaw driver with his details so there's never an issue.
5. There is also 2-3 phone booth for making PCO, STD, ISD calls from Platform 1 for sure. There was some talk of having the same on Platform 2 but not sure.

Roads :- One has 2 options here. One is coming by Volvo & the other private car/taxi. Volvo usually do drop near to a place if requested before. Private taxis should drop you on the door-step.

Airport :- If flying in, then the Lohegaon Airport is where one is dropped. Its actually a military base which doubles up as a civilian airport. Hence international/domestic flights operate only in early mornings & late evenings. Don't know the latest as the last time to send/recieve a friend was about 6 months back. Outside the airport they say something absurd. You can get looted/cheated here quite easily. The best if possible is to have only an backpack/haversack & come outside on the highway. It's also something like 3.5 km from there to Koregaon Park.

Accomodation :- There are all kinds of accomodation available in the city. Koregaon park a single room with shared bathroom should set u back within Rs. 150-225 (off-season)range while if looking for something better should get a good one with kitchen & all for about Rs. 8k for a month or something like this.Prices vary depending on availability & season. A better bet if on budget is to have a room for couple of days & then hunt on one's own. Also Koregaon Park is home to the Osho commune which has its own blend of culture. More European/American casual culture & home to Bhagwan Rajneesh(controversial for his talks on sex,morality,Indian hyprocricy, spirituality). No flames here plz.

Meals :- This is where the city comes in its true colors. There is huge variety/diversity of foods available for a food connosieur to a roadie. One can survive/enjoy on Rs. 5 potato hamburger/Rs. 20 a thali to Rs. 300-400 for a 3-course buffet dinner. There are all sorts of different cuisine on offer right from indian, south-indian, north-indian to mexican, chinese, continental & what have u. Most of the good restaurants are open till 12:00-1:00 a.m.

Travel within the city :- Two options Rickshaw & 2-wheeler. 2-wheeler on rent should be within the Rs. 150-200 with petrol on oneself. There are now lots of ungeared vehicles for women.
3. Buses - but would not recommend for the groping & stuff. Buses are over-aged, over-worked & always full. Also needs some skills to catch a bus & push through. Same while getting down.

Leisure activities :- There are too many places to see/share/know but would restrict to few which I find time just goes by :-

1.There are no. of multiplexes as well as couple of nature reserves around the city itself. There are no. of small hillocks/mountains as Pune is part of the Sahyadris but if alone (for women) then would suggest to come before the sun goes down.

2. Pune University/IUCAA :- http://www.unipune.ernet.in as well as http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/ can give insights about what goes on there. Suffice to say it has a huge botanical garden & a casual atmosphere with lots of green within the premises. The area is spread over something like 30 acres or more. Again, if alone not preferable after sun-down. If want to visit IUCAA then atleast a day or couple of days notice. Actually 28th Feb. would be an open science day (where the public gets to see what goes on/ is happening there.) Also the place is known for having the 1st super computer (Param) in its premises. Would be volunteering there the whole day.

3. Trekking :- If one is interested in trekking then suggest 2 organisations :-
1. Zhep parivar :- http://www.zatang.com/categories/lei...k/trekking.htm
2. Yuvashakti :- www.yuvashakti.org (they don't seem to have the site up but one can see the site from google's cache.
The difference between both of them is Yuvashakti is more targetted towards families & has a more picnic like atmosphere while Zhep tries to be a little raw but has tremendous community participation. Confession :- Last treks with both of them was around 4 yrs. back now do on my own hence no idea how the present is.

4. City/Bhavani Peth/ Shukrawar Peth :- Most of the city is being built European style (atleast that's what most of my European/American friends say, haven't been outside India so can't give an opinion) but these places one can see lots of the Peshwa culture as well as architecture/drawings. One has to see it to form an opinion. Can simply say it's different.

Shopping :- For shopping there are 2 places, namely:-
1. Camp (Main Street) which is around 3 1/2 kms 45 mins from Koregaon park. The fare should be in the 30's. It's being converted into a walking plaza & there are lots of places to shop/see & just enjoy the hustle/bustle of a growing metropolis. The goods are more up-market & are generally 15-20% higher than other places. Some places are highly efficient as well as honest while others just suck. Lots of malls have kicked in with all kinds of things so getting one's needs is not an issue. The good thing is that most of the Jeans/Shirts/T-shirts are of European size so if fat in some places (ass, abdomen, stomach) then u should find u'r thing there. Most of the American/European labels exist. The place for classes. Most of the shops close by 8:30 p.m.

2. Laxmi Road :- This is the old time place. This is where the masses shop. It's more down-to-earth. Fully chaotic with traffic from all sides. Humans, vehicles & animals all share the same road & co-exist patiently. If wanna hear shrill voices with activity all around. One can get good chappals/sandals customized with soft leather (good stuff). Again most of the shops close by 8:30 p.m.

Lastly the dress code :- Around Koregaon Park one can dress anyway one wants but if going to the older part of the city City/Bhawani Peth/Shukrawar Peth atleast for women better if in a salwar-kameez with a chunni overhead. I know I might be sounding like a lame person but my thing why one needs to draw attention to oneself unnecessarily. For guys a kurta with some pants/jeans is o.k. Guys can get away almost with whatever they wear. Worse case - one is a crack head. Again, no flames here plz.

Hopefully somebody finds all this helpful.

P.S. :- Also there is a nice visa extension thing (Pune Commisionerate) where one can apply for extension of visas. A friend of mine got it done about 6 months back. Her experience was good.

jivan

Places to visit in Pune :-
http://home.casema.nl/joph/mxmedia/Poona000.wmv

jivan

The paragliding is good. http://www.trekshare.com/members/sirensongs her photoblog is good.

sirensongs

Thanks for the plug Jivan! Karle caves are very nice; heard that Bhaje is even better.

__________________
"Why do people go to India to find themselves? India is where you go to lose yourself."
Feringhee: The India Diaries

jivan

yup, actually if one wants then to do some light trailing/trekking then one can make lonavla/khandala a base & then go. There are too many options there from a day-trek to something which can happen over days. Again it comes in its own during the monsoons. Try visiting Karla & bhaje during monsoons & having hot hooot bhajias + chai. They're hot as in temperature as well as hot as in spicy. I had many riotious experiences here. There are some beautiful beautiful waterfalls & rainbows can be caught if lucky. There are times when u come across these places where u're half in the rain & half not. It's all hilly area & absolutely magical.

jivan

Time to add something :-
Couple of sites
1. www.punescoop.com
2. www.punecity.com
I'm sure there's a plethora of something like these but these are ones which I know of
For somebody new to pune check out http://www.punecity.com/ourcity/info...punespeak.html to get to know the city better.
Also see http://www.egovpmc.com to see some sort of e-governance in action.

jivan

Will be u'r guide to pune if u have even one of these books in good condition (1st hand, 2nd hand, 3rd hand are all o.k. the only condition being they're proper, no broken sheets)

1. ´SHANTARAM´by Gregory Roberts
2. John irvings 'the fourth hand'
3. The Death of Vishnu - Manil Suri
4. The House of Blue Mangoes - David Davidar
5. A House in Pondicherry - Lee Langley
6. Maximum City - Suketu Mehta
7. 'A Journey into Occupied Tibet' by Adrian Abbotts
8. Paulo Coelho's book called 'Pilgrimage'
9. Ani Pachen`s 'Sorrow Mountain'
10. 'The Alchemy of Desire" by Tarun J. Tejpal
11. 'Shalimar the Clown' by Salman Rushdie
12. 'Satanic Verses' by Salman Rushdie
13. "A Fine Balance."
14. "Sindh Revisited" by Christopher Ondaatje
15. "the ending of time" J Krishnamurty, David Bohm
16. "Disappointment With God"
17. "Where is God When It Hurts"
18. "Delhi" by Khushwant Singh

Edit :19. "LOTR" or/and "The Hobbit" by J.R.Tolkeins.

These are all compiled from the http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=21653 & it's strictly a barter thing. I don't know what the moderators think of the post but happy with whatever they think is the best.

amyl

thot it wud be appropriate to share something here....because this place i had been to last weekend is near Pune...

so this was last weekend when i had an ambitious plan of roller balding down the Khambatki ghat in the late afternoon and then head to Bhatgar to camp and chill out on saturday night.....it was a wonderful trip...short and very nice. but am trying hard to take one thing out of my head after this outing...but seems like it will persist until my next trip there.....
i carried the wrong pair of skates with me to the ghat!!! heck! and screwed up the adventure plan....ended up carrying a different heavy pair for no reason.....if not a misadventure it was a missed-adventure

anyways..there is always next time.

so this place i had been to is about 60KMs from Pune..can b easily biked/driven. no info about other means i have. go toward Satara on the NH4 and after more than say 40KMs take a right to Bhor. ppl will help on the way to find this place...its quite famous...this dam was completed between 1913 to 1928.


having set off late due to some reasons we reached at the dam at dusk..it was such a lovely evening...cool breeze, sound of the waves playing a melodious tune...nice!


the night was even better.......soothing breeze, a crescent about to set behind the mountains and the reflection in the water....and to add to this ambience .. Smirnoff....... tried Mountain Dew with vodka for the first time...did not get my fav. Spirte there....but it tasted good!

we had to really be very polite with the watchman there to allow us camp right on the dam... so we did and were glad!

luckily did not get any hangover and got off early to have pleasant feeling out in the fresh air, yellow sunshine, and that persistent waves tune...

the dam wall..... (donot forward this link to the watchman there )


and now time for the most exciting thing i always do at places like these.....a dip there simply cud not be resisted.

aaaah!!!! lets get in...........thats skinny amyl there just too glad to be there...

way in....

it was a nice trip... had lovely sunshine, cool breeze, so close to the city and away from dirt and all...that wud be my quick escape henceforth.. will pay a visit in the monsoon as well...it wud be beautiful there.

hey here is one last snap dedicated....to Mike.....a cow!! it was peacefully sitting there sunbathing outside our breakfast place near the dam.

before i drop sleep on the keyboard i better sign off now...

cheers,
Amyl

__________________
a'mar kono chinta nei

anilkhare

boy,

its an amazing place you'll did we should co ordinate and do more of such trips, as i know of other guys and gals who would join in, they will finish off your vodka before u can taste it, so u will have good company there.Mr. skinny lizard would love trying to spot women from that height.. ( dil pe mat le yaar

anil

jivan

There's something about women-water-nudity isn't it (naughty face). Anyway amyl, are u talking about the koyna dam or the lesser known dhom dam. There's actually about 10 smaller dams around koyna with dhom being the other big one. It's one of the most irrigated places with pipes & all. Lot of development happening in 80's & about. Nice pictures though.... If in pune, drop me a mail perhaps we can have a chai/beer whatever's u'r poison.

EDIT : Would say it's a dam-full area. The places to see are the whole of Konkan, Vidharba during the rains & the rest of Maharashtra any-time.

amyl

o yea for sure!! that place is a place to be for a quick break from the city life. well of course we can co -ordinate on that and have something like this again.

well jivan that is at Bhor... find the place in this map

http://deepabhi.tripod.com/images/pune.jpg

it is not the Koyna backwater area...

here is the backwater u r thinking of... on my way to Vasota after that arduous real jungle trail there...


this is yet another place to be.... that water body is just sooo big.....i heard that the Koyna Dam wall is around 80KMs from this point....
YEAH! this is yet another swimming place for me.....with so thick jungle around in the foto above its really scary here.....i dared not enter the waters here.... but swam near the village there..in ppl's sight so that they might find me in case i am being a prey of the waters or some creature in the water

will surely see ya in pune someday.. tho coming up this wednesday but tied up... may be next time. i want to go to Osho Commune...we will go there

dani

jivan, I'll surely drop you one of these when I pass by in october

@anil: can you please translate 'dil pe mat le'? tnx

jivan

wow Good morning/evening to all,
amyl: thanx for the map but would be interesting to know from where u got the map? Been to Vasota 2-3 times as well as Koyna. The picture bought some good memories back.The jungle is sure nice & if u know some local guy then can have the best time. Even Goa has some very thick forest as well as MP.
I've trouble finding which place u went on the map. Was it the Bhatghar Lake on Bhor or somewhere else? You haven't made circle or something that could tell whereabouts exactly or something.
On the travelling note, one can always use the ST (State Transport) buses, the cheap man's travels to travel around these places. Some of the ST's are also Volvo's or Asiad's (luxury buses) but need to find out at the ST corner. There is a yearly booklet which is in Marathi which is sold for Rs. 50/- or something which can be made use of. It tells of all the buses plying to & fro from different places in Maharashtra. Be aware that the booklet is always in a shortage & hence black-marketting happens.
dani: 'dil pe mat le yaar' means don't take it to the heart, it's an dialogue which became famous when it was used in a popular movie the whole dialogue is A certified & as women also frequent the forum it would be inappropriate to tell the whole thing.

amyl

o yea thats bharghar lake... that the nearest lake u will see near Bhor in the map.....u guessed it right.

that map i found on my friend's website http://deepabhi.tripod.com/
u will also see it in the Kapadiya's trek book.. acutally i discovered this lake in the same book just a couple of hours before i left for it.. wanted to find some camping site near Khambatki ghat and found this. felt good to find such a nice place.

jivan

I had been bhatgar lake, there were some good eco-conservation projects happening in that area AFAI remember. Did u go for that or something else altogether?

On the ongoing things, if u're coming at night either take the pre-paid taxis or one of the taxis at the stand rather than doing something stupid. Read the post at the indian rupee trick & then make u'r own decision.