Welcome to Maha!

So dear Aarbee is in Pune. It’s been quite an experience so far, and I don’t know where to start from. Whether I should write about the pleasant weather first, or the superbly disgusting institute that I thought I might want to join, or the equally superb fest they had thanks to the likes of Arup Ghosh from ITC, Bhaskar Das from TOI, Pushpinder Singh from Saints and Warriors, or Dr Vidya Shankar Aiyar from CNN-IBN. Whoa! Each one of them, and many more are such stars!! It was an honour to be part of the audience that they addressed. I could also write about the fact that there’s no place to ‘visit’ in this city, except of course the Sinhagarh Fort which is 70 kms out of the main city. There’s also a shopping complex called Connaught Place. There are no men peeing on the streets. There are two small rivers that meet here, and they’re no cleaner than the Yamuna. Marathi looks unbelievably like Hindi, and only after reading the entire word or sentence do you realise that it’s not Hindi. There is a market that is a miniature Chandni Chowk. The roads are either single lane, or four lane. Irrespective of that, there are no rules that people follow…a typical small city. But yes, there are a few areas which give the feel of the chic status that Pune has. Seriously, I didn’t expect the city to be the way it is. I thought it would be more like Chandigarh or something (the tier two city kinda image). But it has this old world feel to it. Hardly any urbane things around. But the funny thing is that it’s the few known brands’ hoardings and posters that make me feel comfortable in this unknown place. I guess that’s thanks to the generation I belong to. 🙂

There has been nothing to click. What a waste! But oh, the most exciting pictures are from my first ever flight. Now that was an experience in itself. God, there’s suddenly so much to write. I guess once I get back to Delhi, I’ll have quite a few posts to make.

A not so exciting thing is the phone bill I’ll have to pay once I get back. Crazy roaming charges!!

A very nice thing is that my back is feeling very good here. Not sure if that’s because of the medicines, or the break from severe cold, or the fact that I have a proper routine here and don’t laze around all day and sit in bad postures. Whatever it is, I’m feeling good.

I think now I should make a move. My hour in the cafe is almost over. Gotta go back to that shit institute one last time in the afternoon.

See you from Delhi next time! Tada!!