There are some things which you cannot explain. Love is one of those. No matter how much I crib, I love Pune to the core. This is a city that accepted me some three and a half years ago when I had no clue about my life (not that I have today either), a city where I found love, life and laughter (quite in that order too!), a place where I found friends for lifetime, joy in little things. Pune has been the crux of my life and aptly so. So when I’m given a chance, I can’t stop raving about Pune and as a tribute to this city, here I am with a list of 101 things you must do, when you stay here. Give Pune a chance. It made my life better, may the luck shine on you as well!
1) Find yourself friends like I did. Pune is no fun without your friends.
2) Take as many auto-rides as you can. You’ll crib about the rates, the attitude of the drivers but it’s worth every penny and more! It’s simply magical.
3) Sing Indian classical film songs loudly and hoarsely during the auto-rides, especially when passing by busy streets.
4) Play cards on Law College Road Barista.
5) Smoke at ‘the Wall’.
6) Sleep at 6 in the morning; wake up when you feel like.
7) Spend countless hours at a coffee shop of your choice (I recommend Barista), studying, spending time with your companions or doing nothing.
8) Watch the sun rise in Khadakwasla dam.
9) Watch Durga Pooja celebration at Congress Bhawan and Koregaon Park, lane no.7.
10) Pass by Prabhat Road after ten in night and smell the fragrance in the air.
11) Travel to places like Lonavla by train, walk miles from the station to drink a cup of tea from a particular tapri and back, and catch the next local back to Pune.
12) Trek up Singhgad Fort.
13) Shut yourself away from the world, stock up food/booze/fag and spend a day doing abstract things like reading Fyodor Doestovski’s White Nights from cover to cover or watching vernacular movies at length.
14) Walk down to places like High Spirits, Hard Rock Café, not drink and walk back.
15) Walk miles with friends, yet hire an auto for a 2 minute distance.
16) Go to crossword/landmark and spend an entire day reading.
17) Convert into a fabOHOLIC! (For those who didn’t get it, be a fab India patron).
18) Have Coffee Stop’s cold coffee at midnight (they close down by 11 30 now!).
19) Live in a space of your own, like a flat or a row-house.
20) Bike-ride on the Mumbai-Bangalore Expressway over a 100 km/hr.
21) Fight with the auto-drivers over the fare.
22) Watch every movie seated first row from the screen.
23) Travel to Mumbai by road.
24) Book a cab to Kashid, spend a leisurely day away from the world.
25) Cad B ice-cream at Kamla Nehru Park.
26) Walk on law college road at 4 in the morning.
27) Sit at om super market.
28) U have the toughest paper the next day,yet dnt study the entire nyt.
29) Spend lazy afternoons in kamla Nehru park.
30) Go mall hopping.
31) Watch people play cricket in law college cricket ground.
32) Take a train from pune to any place where you pass by the chambal ghati. It’s a journey worth every penny.
33) Go jogging early morning, in the busiest of streets like S.B. Road, law college road, bhandarkar n F.C. Rod.
34) Travel by the PMPML buses.
35) Force the auto guy to take wrong routes, get caught by the traffic police and pay the fine.
36) Stand in the long, seemingly unending and absolutely irritating queues outside the ATMs.
37) Go to far off places like Camp and Koregaon to eat the food of your choice.
38) Walk when there is an auto strike but don’t pay excess fare.
39) Visit the temples, the gurudwaras, the churches and the mosques.
40) Discover new routes to same destination.
41) Play in the Mulla river water.
42) Experience the fun of Water sports at Panshet.
43) Have the audacity to live the last week of month with last 100 Rs in pocket and no balance in the cell.
44) Stand up for yourself and the city during a disturbance like Feb,08 and the more recent swine flu.
45) Watch horror movies all night and get scary dreams.
46) Install a T.V. and the cable at home just to watch IPL.
47) Night outs!
48) Eat at Veer da Dhaba at midnight.
49) Walk a couple of miles at midnight to fetch coke from e-square and in order to eat anda-bhurji opposite jaayka in S.B. Road.
50) For a class of 8 30, reach at 9 30, get the attendance and rush back home to catch up on the sleep you had to forego.
51) Have the ‘Chaat’ at Canal Road and Manmeet.
52) Be a regular at places like Subway, Foodiez etc.etc.
53) Survive solely on junk food.
54) Never, ever make your own notes but be smart enough to get the best ones photocopied well in advance.
55) Stay in Pune for a festival or two. The city is at its best.
56) Enjoy the craze of Ganpati Festival.
57) Watch the moon from your balcony and while the entire night just like that.
58) Get wet in the Pune rains.
59) Join the best and the most expensive gym, only to end up watching TV all the time.
60) Go shopping at Tulsibaug.
61) Dream big, join IMS and CareerForum etc. only to never go there.
62) Surprise the people who mean the most to you and see the glimmer in their eyes.
63) Go to Pune station 2 have anda bhurji, chaai etc. at the oddest of hours.
64) Walk someone home.
65) Take odd trips alone!
66) Listen to the same song in loop at home when you are down.
67) Go to Essel World/Water Kingdom.
68) Trek up Hanuman Tekri.
69) Be an Airtel customer. It’s a lot cheaper to connect through this and comes in handy during the ‘recession’ week of the month.
70) Play chess at Barista.
71) Own a bike, car anything(preferably a bike).
72) If and when you have to buy books, buy from Appa Balwant Chauk. They have the cheapest rates.
73) Go to the most expensive of hospitals even when you have a trivial cough.
74) Eat road-side food, fall sick, crib, and vow never to eat there again, recover, only to eat there again.
75) Play street cricket.
76) If you drink, visit places like Apache.
77) Watch football matches at Toons.
78) Visit wonder funkey.
79) An evening at 3D destination.
80) If you are into clubbing, visit all the clubs on the nights when couple entry is free. Don’t worry about a partner, you will find many at the entrance looking for one.
81) Work or get an internship. Pune is a fab place to work.
82) Take frequent bike trips to places like Lonavla at 3 in the night(this one is specially for guys).
83) Experience random and abstract photography.
84) Navigate the city during Sant Gyaneshwar’s Paduka festival.
85) Sway to the beats of the Nashik Dhol.
86) Visit ABC Farms.
87) Sit on the footpaths and have a cup of tea/coffee. It’s a student’s prerogative here.
88) Specially wake up in the morning to have breakfast at places like Goodluck or in Karve Road.
89) Wander around the city. There’s so much to see.
90) If you are a history buff, visit places like Aga Khan Palace and Shanivarwaada.
91) Frequently visit DagruSheth Halwai Ganpati in Laxmi Road.
92) Go for evening walks in Range Hills.
93) Find out places/areas where you can get the cheapest and most durable stuff.
94) Discover the romantic in you.
95) Learn to live without electricity. Pune faces acute power crunch at times.
96) Live near a hyper-market. Half the times you will remember to buy a thing only exactly when you need it.
97) Shop! Splurge! If not here, then where?
98) Learn to play pool.
99) Live everyday here to the fullest. You won’t get the same life elsewhere.
100) Discover the innate potential you have.
101) Find that perfect companion to do all this with!
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sahi hai yaar..u reminded me of the SICSR days...kya sahi tha yaar...i really miss those days..:)
ReplyDeleteIt’s the people and friends not the place, right? Imagine those years in some XYZ place with same friends … Pune can always be replaced by that XYZ. Out of these 101 more than 80 things will remain same… Isn’t it? If you are in north India you can replace Kashid with Ganges in morning 4 AM. Street side dhabas, nightouts and crazy things are always fun… I am not saying Pune is bad :) all I am saying is point 101 is most important. what about these (I tried them more than once):
ReplyDelete‘4 movies in a night, first cup of tea from chaiwaala in morning, two lectures and one novel in a week… follow this schedule for one semester’
‘late night show… then a long drive on highway come back at 6 AM in morning and go for toughest paper’s endsem exam at 8 AM’
‘Order a cup of milk in a beer bar’
‘Drive 20 kms to CCD at 2:30 AM and come back at sunrise, there is one in Pune which opens all the night’
‘Sit all night in a Dhaba, make immediate plan to go some 100 kms away from pune… let some of your friends drink as much as they want, then discuss about their previous affairs :)’
‘When someone is asking for a lift, go till next signal turn around and come back to ask… look at the surprised face’
‘Walk miles at midnight at places with no street lights look at the sky’
‘Spend a whole night at diveagar beach on full moon night’
‘On a rainy day go miles on bike without a raincoat’
‘Look at a girl in makeup at e-sq/Inox (any such place) and make your face like you saw something scary’
‘go out with friends every Friday night to any restaurant stay there till they ask you to leave’
‘after eating at a expensive restaurant, make an impression that you don’t have any money’
'bargain to a street vendor for 1 rupee'
… list is long. Some other time :)
for awesome feeling:
'teach kids in some orphanage, take them out for icecream' nothing can match that.
Typical Punekar !!!
ReplyDeletePassionately polite n Powerful Picture of Pune
brilliantly n lucidly carved out da true essence of pune..
ReplyDeletekudos girl!!!keep rockin!!!
If anyone asks me what Pune gave me till today and what I owe to it, I think there would have never been a description better than yours! The way you play with words and intertwine your emotions reflecting their strength and place in your heart is commendable!
ReplyDelete5 Stars!
Hmmm..too sum it all up, Pune is quite a revelation! aint it?!
ReplyDeleteby the by...apart from appreciating your post..
ReplyDeleteI have to take a moment and applaud your anonymous friend too... he/She basically completes it! :P
yup..he does..
ReplyDeleten he cuz i knw whu he is
i like his more thn mine
Hey Nupur.. when leaving Pune is just 20 days away, I read this post of yours..Seems a lot has to still be accomplished.. lots..
ReplyDeleteBut very well written.. am really impressed.. makes me go nostalgic as well ...
hey hector,
ReplyDeletesorry for ths real late reply
u must have already left pune, but remember it in ur heart..that will be a fitting ode 2 dis city of dreams
thanks=) coming from you at a time when i find pune almost boring.. I have renewed enthusiasm to explore just a little more=)
ReplyDeletehi everybody, u spent your grad life here so definitely this city will make indelible impression in your hearts, but what u suggest for those who are new comers
ReplyDelete@Varsha, why u r feeling bore in this vivacious city , get first friends then start exploration, u will start enjoying, i have just entered here from gurgaon, and searching what to do in pune, this blog is really very helpful,written in its purest,innocent sense of love dat u find in mother nature....Thank u friends for valuable posts
ReplyDelete3d destination is closed.. :P and typical puneri manus doesn't spend money like that!
ReplyDeleteI also came across a nice post which is informative, and precise on things to do in pune -
ReplyDeletehttp://shekup.blogspot.in/2013/12/pune.html