Volume 1 : Issue 2
ISSN: 2454-9495
PUNE: WHERE THE MODERN AND THE TRADITIONAL MEET
As one who has lived in Pune for the last thirty years, growing from a young student to a senior professional, originally a migrant from Assam, it is exciting to go down the memory lane of nostalgia, and delve into my pocket of experience to reflect upon the city’s transformation. What held the core of the city then? What holds the core of this city today?
Pune, July 1985:
My train halts at the Pune Railway Station. I disembark. An apprehensive student aspiring to enrol in the prestigious University of Poona (now Savitribai Phule Pune University) for a Master’s programme. The regular hustle-bustle in a railway station, minus people purposefully brushing against a young girl or ogling from a corner. One feels safe to walk out and stand below the imposing ‘big clock’ at the entrance. I breathe in the refreshing cool breeze, look around to soak into my first impression of a city I longed to study and hoped to live in. The drizzle, that turns into a heavy shower, followed by bright sunlight. Late, I go on to learn that this contributes to the famous Pune weather.
The Oxford of the East.
The Cultural Capital of Maharashtra.
A Pensioner’s Paradise.
Epithets for the city I had heard before I left my hometown in faraway Assam.
Equipped with my first impression of the city, I move on even more confidently and convinced of my decision, I hail an auto-rickshaw. No fuss. No objections. I get into the rickshaw, the driver puts the meter down and awaits instructions. “Poona University,” I say. “Pune Vidyapeeth,” he acknowledges in Marathi.
Language holds the key to a city’s culture and if I had to assimilate and understand the place and its people, knowing the language would make me blend well with the eco-system.
As we pass through the city, the auto-rickshaw driver gives me an unofficial guided tour, by now understanding that it’s my first day in the city. I try to remember some spots, knowing I will visit all of those during the course of my stay, but anxious to reach the ‘Vidyapeeth’. I enter the English department Head’s office when he says, “Walk right in. We are here for you.” That’s my introduction to the Oxford of the East. ‘Where knowledge is without fear’!
My initiation to the city and its people began, each experience highlighting the essence of this city. Local cuisine, theatre, lecture series, festivals and walking around the city.
Two-wheelers ruled the roads. Auto-rickshaws were at the rickshaw stands. Most often, you would see the rickshaw driver reading a Marathi newspaper, more often than not, ‘Kesari’ founded in 1881 by prominent leader of the Indian independence movement Lokmanya Bal Gandadhar Tilak. The printing press from where it continues to be published in Narayan Peth is a city landmark. Roadside newspaper kiosks with a bench for people to sit and read the newspaper free of charge, any time of the day, is something one rarely sees in cities.
Social and political consciousness is deeply ingrained in the pulse of this city. The traditional Wadas (houses with a courtyard) and the Peths (localities in the city – many named after the days of the week) dot the inner city speaking of its rich historical heritage of the Maratha-Peshwa times. Laxmi Road pulsates with its commercial activities.
Strains of music by the legendary Bhimsen Joshi float through. A couple hurriedly walking past through the roads could just as well be rushing to catch the best of Marathi theatre in Bharat Natya Mandir or the Balgandharva Rang Mandir. The vibrant Marathi culture, a sense of pride in being part of the Peshwai legacy, seep into you through the obvious as well as in many subtle ways. This is the place to be during the revered Ganesh Festival . While Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated by every Maharashtrian, the celebrations were brought out to a public platform by Tilak to raise social and political issues to fight against the Colonial rule. The tradition continues with the public pandals projecting contemporary socio-political-cultural issues.
This is still the 1980s. As I move towards the western part of the city. The western suburb of the city – Kothrud –is one of the fastest growing suburbs of Asia. With its first flyover in the city and a few high rise buildings that began raising its authority on the city skyline, it held on to the strong Maharashtrian culture.
I go around Nana Peth to see the city’s largest mosque and then cross the ‘Sangam bridge’ over the confluence of the Mula-Mutha rivers that cross the city to reach, what I am told, is the more up-market, modern, multi-lingual cosmopolitan part of Pune. I cross the M G Road (almost every Indian city boasts of one!), the Red Synagogue, The Chabad House, The Fire Temple, the Churches, Gurudwara, the Osho Ashram. The historical Aga Khan Palace where the Mahatma was interned and Kasturba’s Samadhi lay; and the Yerwada Central Jail where the Poona Pact between Ambedkar and Gandhi signed, also stand historical evidence in a city that was witness to several independence movement activities . Although the Sangam seems to divide the city into two distinct cultural identities yet it holds the two together.
By now, with local friends, I begin to explore the city and comprehend its nuances. The Bombay-Pune highway dotted with manufacturing industries, the educational and research centres of repute, the many cultural conversations, robust student theatre competitions, the never-to-miss Sawai Gandharva music festival, the social uplift activities or plain voluntary work for social good. There is something for everybody. Something to cater to every desire or need. The impeccable weather makes it a perfect Pensioner’s Paradise.
Pune, May 2015: Quite a bit has changed, yet nothing has changed!
Over the years Pune responded proactively to a liberalised economy and globalisation. The education and research canvas grew even further accommodating more students from all parts of India and foreign shores. The strong manufacturing hub, while sustaining itself, also saw the city emerge as an information technology centre to reckon with. The fringe villages merged with city areas. Rapid urbanisation was evident across the expanse of the city and beyond.
Along with growth, came its obvious perils. As a naturalist and journalist Shriram Shinde puts it: Loss of green cover on a large scale has put wildlife in trouble. Heavy excavation has led to birds and animals losing their natural habitat. Vulture colonies have disappeared. And most importantly, a major impact because of air, noise and water pollution.
Journalist Manasi Saraf Joshi, endorses Shinde’s views to add, “Unplanned infrastructural growth has not only affected the cities old and beautiful looks but also has affected its climate to a great extent even though it is better than many urban areas.”
“ I miss my old Pune where one could just climb the hills and run down to safety,” Archana Dighe, says. Ruma Hazarika vouches for Pune’s climate saying it is still better than most places and a city safer than any other, making it attractive for people to reside in.
“The concrete and chaos has taken over the serenity of the city,” says Hridoy Deka, a film studies student of the country’s premier Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.
Despite the expected impact of haphazard urbanisation, increased population growth and a need for innovative ways to tackle this phenomena, Pune retains its strong cultural roots. As senior professional Amitabh Mathur puts it, “Pune has expanded and grown in all ways. It still retains its old world and small city charm, where you run into old friends and known people in restaurants, book shops and cinemas. What the city really needs is to leverage its intellectual capital to build world class infrastructure and facilities.” For Hrishikesh Joshi, Pune remains “intense and stylish.”
If Pune has been known as the Oxford of the East, it savours its march on the educational map. The annual Sawai Gandharva Classical Music Festival that began in 1953 continues to attract generations where you find students and youngsters thronging the venue. The student theatre festival Purushottam Karandak, that began over 50 years ago, even today launches among the best theatre persons bringing in newer thoughts responding to contemporary issues. The Vasant Vyakhyanmala , the Spring Lecture series started in 1875, retains its original idea of transmitting knowledge through lectures and discourse on subjects from diverse fields like culture, society, science, law, health, literature, finance, law, education, youth and history.
A tremendous sense of pride and belonging to Pune’s rich heritage passes on from one generation to the next. The city accommodates and assimilates newer trends with the old. What emerges is the co-existence of many minds functioning in a cohesive non-intrusive manner.
While transformation is an inevitable part of growth in any city, it is this intensity and depth of a culture that strongly holds the city of Pune together at its core.