My Pune Trip with Friends
Pune reminds of Mumbai in many ways. Yet it has got its own distinct character and cultural vibes. This city has deep cultural roots and we could experience this culture on our trip to Pune. The 4 day trip to Pune revealed the cultural, historical, and culinary experience of Pune.
The historical monuments, the temples and shrines that sprung in every corner of the city, the street food, and the bazaars were the hotspots that we targeted on this trip to Pune. We couldn't make it to some places though. But that didn't disappoint us in any way. Whatever places we could cover on this Pune tour were enough for our sightseeing and gave us great joy.
Credit goes to Mandar, Shilpa and Nakshi for doing all the necessary research on Pune eateries, sightseeing places, commuting options, and train tickets. It was with their full and unconditional support that our Pune trip became a success.
Introduction
My trip to Pune was the result of a toss-up between three destinations - Mahabaleshwar, Ganapatipule and Pune. We cancelled Mahabaleshwar as it required a long road journey and driving through zig-zag ghat roads. We had visited Ganapatipule before and that also was out of question. So the only option left was Pune. I had visited Pune before, but have almost forgotten the memories. Pune was also preferred as it is a metropolitan city, with great street food culture and historical attractions. Plus, commuting within Pune has many options.
Train tickets were booked and so were the reservations in the hotel. We were traveling with our friends, Mandar, Shilpa and Nakshi. The fun in traveling with friends becomes double if we travel together. We boarded the LTT Chennai Express from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus at 1:15 PM. We hoped to reach Pune on time, but faced the inevitable train delay. Just 5 minutes from Pune Railway Station, the train decided to halt for some unknown reason.
Mandar and family, hungry as they were, cursed the train and its motorman. He approached the ticket collector and complained about the train delay. But his frustration was understandable as we had to spend almost 40 minutes in the train.
Eventually, the train moved from its stagnant position, and we uttered a sigh of relief upon reaching Pune. We were both, hungry and excited at the same time.
Fortunately for us, our hotel, Hotel Shivam, was very close to the station. We had to just walk for some time to reach the hotel. Check-in was done and we had some snacks in the hotel.
Day 1: Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir
We decided to visit Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati on the same day as our arrival in Pune. This was very obvious as this temple is the most famous temple in Pune. This temple was obviously built by a Halwai and so the name of the temple. A quick research confirmed this fact.
We chose the safest and fastest way to reach the temple, and that was none other than the metro. Going on the Pune Metro was the brilliant idea of Nakshi and this also gave us a chance to travel by the metro train. The metro gave us a fair idea of how similar the metro stations are with those of Mumbai. Even going by two metro trains did not bother us and we promptly agreed to this idea of going by the metro.
When we arrived at the temple, we could see the true charm of this temple. Devotees lined up to have a darshan of Lord Ganesh. Fortunately, the queue went quickly and we ended up in front of Dagdusheth Ganpati idol in about 2-3 minutes of arriving at the temple.
The idol was decorated in gold ornaments and looked dazzling in the evening lights. All the gold seemed to radiate in the orange glow. So wonderful was the sculpture of Lord Ganesh that it looked as if he would get up soon and shower the devotees with his divine blessings. The evening aarti was going on in full swing and the environment reverberated with the sound of chants and melodious aarti. All the outside noise of vehicles and honking was shut off by this continuous chorus of aarti. Devotees in the temple and those outside joined in singing the aarti with full religious fervour.
Content by the darshan and prasad, we left the temple and checked in to a pav vada shop. It was named Joshi Vade Wale and was supposed to be very famous in Pune. The vada proved this and they were absolutely tasty. But these small vada pav did not have the capacity to satisfy our hunger and so, we ate at a local restaurant. Though we did not know this restaurant, the food nevertheless was very tasty.
And so, our first day in Pune came to an end. This was the day when a few of our plans went astray. Arriving late in Pune was the first thing that angered us. But that didn't stop us from visiting the Ganpati temple. We had hoped to dine on sandwiches at a famous Ambika Sandwich center. But that didn't happen as we were late and the sandwich shop shut down its shutters early. But the greatest disappointment was when we discovered that Sujata Mastani was also closed on that day. It was obvious that the rickshaw driver had fooled us. Being a local, he ought to have told us that it was closed, but did not do so, and instead drove us all the way to the spot. And when we were disappointed at finding it shut, realized at the game that he had played on us. But we hoped to cover this also in the coming 2 days.
We found a local Ganpati idol, housed in a beautiful shrine, and cursing our ill-luck took solace in the peaceful vibes at the shrine and then headed to our hotel.
Day 2 - Pune Sightseeing Tour
This was going to be an exciting day for us as we planned to visit Shaniwar Wada, the famous palace in Pune. I knew that this visit to Shaniwar Wada was going to be fulfill my desire of visiting a monument that I had heard so much of. We caught a rickshaw and reached Shaniwar Wada. We bought the entry ticket and entered the premises.
The first glimpse of Shaniwar Wada was one that made me awe in wonder. There were these two huge bastions that stood there like two giants. They were immense in size and so thick that I could not believe my eyes viewing their colossal structure. This was the iconic Shaniwar Wada structure that I would see in tourist photos. These were the main gate of Shaniwar Wada and we entered through this gate.
Once we stepped inside, we found a sprawling area that was full of landscaped gardens and lawns. There was no other structure other than the one from which we entered. I had researched on Shaniwar Wada before I visited it and learned that there was a massive fire that lasted for 7 days. Most of the structures inside were destroyed in this massive fire. We were seeing all the structures that remained.
The one thing which excited me more than anything was the fact that Shaniwar Wada is a haunted place. Narayanrao, who was the ruling Peshwa at the time, was murdered by his uncle Raghunathrao and aunt Anandibai. Local legends tell of Narayanrao, whose spirit would still seek help from his uncle and would cry for help. According to these legends, they can still hear the cries of Narayanrao, who would cry for help saying "Kaka mala vachva", or Uncle, save me!!
Me, Meghna and Nakshi explored the interior parts of this palace, and climbed stone steps, just to add to the adventure of this place. We had to creep low to prevent banging our heads onto the ceilings. Shaniwar Wada was immensely popular tourist attraction and this was proved by school picnics. Almost 100-150 children had come here on their school picnic and the place was full of their jovial laughter and innocent antics. They would try as hard as they can to obey their teachers. We saw them sit on the grounds and eat their lunch, while others would follow their teachers and visit other parts of the palace.
After this visit to Shaniwar Wada, we visited Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum. This museum has a collection of medieval household items. The collection is of Dr. Dinkar Kelkar, and the museum is named after his son, Raja, who died at a young age. The various exhibits in the museum range from musical instruments, sculptures, pottery, textiles, paintings, weapons, door frames and others. The building had around 3 storeys and all the galleries were spread over these three floors. Today the museum boasts of around 20,000 objects that were collected from all over India. It also included lamps, kitchen utensils, puppets, betel nut crackers and other things.
One interesting section in this museum was the Mastani Mahal. This is a large room, which was recreated from the original Mastani Mahal, which is in Kothrud. The room had a tasteful and elegant setting with multicolored lights and medieval decor.
Our visit was made even more memorable by one small incident. Before entering the museum, Nakshi had petted a small kitten for some time. Then we forget this kitten when we were viewing various exhibits. But, almost suddenly, when we were about to exit the museum, the kitten entered the interior room and meowed to announce its arrival. It was an amusing incident to see a kitten enter the museum and spot us. I got hold of it and picked it up and petted it. Nakshi would go on and cuddle the kitten and leave it back to where it belonged, a local garage shop.
After this visit, it was time for lunch. I had zeroed in on a popular restaurant in Pune, called Krishna Dining. I highly recommended this restaurant, even though the price per person was around Rs.500. The restaurant had only one serving, and that was their Thali. It had a huge assortment of food items, from Farsan, veggies, lentils, breads to sweets, buttermilk and pickles. I was proud of my recommendation, when all of us enjoyed the taste and flavours of the Thali.
Lunch proved to be heavy and we had to return to our hotel and have an afternoon nap. Shilpa would joke about the stairs in the hotel that climbing them would help to digest the food. There were two flights of stairs that we had to climb to reach our rooms in the hotel. These stairs were the only trouble that we faced in our hotel stay in Pune. But who would know that more trouble of the same kind was in store for us!!
Evening came and another famous tourist attraction beckoned us in Pune. It was none other than Saras Baug, the famous garden in Pune. Saras Baug is more or less a park and garden with children's play area and various fun rides. As soon as we reached the garden, we could see the Ganpati temple opposite us. This temple is the star attraction of Saras Baug. We could see the couples and tourists sitting on the grassy slopes of the garden, and made our way to the temple.
We had to climb stairs to reach the temple and we thought the stairs just would follow us wherever we went. But we were in time for the evening aarti. The Sarasbaug Ganpati Temple is just as famous as the other tourist attractions in Pune. The carved pillars and the temple architecture is wonderful to the eyes. The water bodies around the garden and the green lawns makes scenic backdrop to the temple.
There were portraits and the lineage portraits of Maratha rulers in the temple premises. We participated in the aarti and then started to mull over which place to go for our evening dinner. There was another temple which we wanted to visit and it was close distance from Sarasbaug Ganpati temple. But there was a bridge that we had to cross and stairs to climb. Tired as we were, we just decided to head for dinner.
Today was our lucky day in Pune in many aspects. We had started our day with Shaniwar Wada and done sightseeing all day long, save for our brief nap in the afternoon. Sarasbaug was our third tourist attraction of the day and we could not have asked for more.
The thrills of the day had not ended yet. What we missed on our first day of Pune, we covered today. Sujata Mastani, the famous ice cream parlour in Pune was open. We were drawn to it as flies to jaggery. We headed straight to the parlour and saw the Ganpati shrine that was adjacent to the parlour open its door. After darshan at the shrine, we slurped on the ice cream. Sujata Mastani is famous place to relish their most famous ice cream. They have a unique product and it is made of milk shake and ice cream scoop on top. They have a variety of flavours and all of them are just as delicious.
All our tiredness and fatigue left us as soon as the cold ice cream entered our stomachs. It was one of the most refreshing things that we did in Pune. It was most satisfying experience to sit on the benches and slurping on the frozen dessert.
After having ice cream, we decided to visit another place that we had missed on our first day - Ambika Sandwich. They are famous for their unique sandwiches. We found the place packed with eager and hungry people trying to get their favorite sandwich. After going through the menu, I decided to have their Puneri Veg Sandwich. It had three levels of breads, filled with their choicest of sauces and veggies.
The day had more in store for us. After packing our sandwiches, we went on a little bit of shopping spree. I had not anticipated this and was in a bit of a surprise on the sheer energy that these women had when the name 'shopping' was spelt. They did not waste any time in choosing the garment and dress that they wanted. Shopping, was for them, gave them the much-needed break from the humdrum ways of life.
The day finally came to an end, and we ended up in our hotel, all tired, but content on the adventures of the day. After chomping on the sandwiches and gulping down our soda, we hit bed and prepared to relax our bodies and mind.
Mandar and family came up to our hotel room and spend some time with us. We started to plan our our next day of our Pune visit. On top of our list was the Shree Balaji Temple. The temple was a huge hit with tourists. The temple was a replica of the famous Tirupati Balaji Temple in Tirumala town of Andhra Pradesh. But there was a huge block in visiting the temple and that was the distance and cost. The temple was almost 45 km from our hotel and it would cost us Rs.1400 one way to the temple by rickshaw.
After around half an hour of scratching our brains over the idea of visiting the temple, we decided it was not worth it. We were all tired and exhausted from the day's sightseeing. All this took a toll on us and this also contributed to our decision. We gossiped and talked about our experiences of the day and this was the tonic that made us refreshed. Mandar took this opportunity and brought fruit juices for everybody. The juice infused new energy into our tired bodies.
After they left we decided to call it a day and soon were fast asleep.
Day 3 - Phoenix Marketcity and shopping
As with our last two days, we had breakfast which was complimentary offering by the hotel. They were generous enough to bring me sugar-free tea and coffee. After having breakfast we decided to go to Phoenix Market City. That way, we would be free from the sun's heat and get a place to sit and not go about walking in the sun.
The rickshaw driver was a friendly chap and would tell us about the various tourist attractions in Pune. I was feeling under the weather and had to drink ORS drink to keep up the hydration level. When we reached Phoenix Marketcity, I decided to visit Crossword Book store and my friends decided to explore the mall on their own.
After browsing through the books, I finally bought one book and then headed back to where Meghna and the others were seated. We had lunch and went back to our hotel for some sleep.
In the evening we went to shop around in a local market. The market called Mahatma Phule Mandai, was not just another market. It is famous as the largest retail and vegetable market in Pune. The market was buzzing with people and shopkeepers. It was a lively experience to shop in this market.
After around 1-2 hours of shopping, we went to yet another famous eatery, and this time it was Chaat time!! Manmohan Chaat proved to justify its hype and fame. The taste of freshly made papdi chaat was a refreshing one. Every bite of this chaat titillated the taste buds. I then tried dahi samosa chaat and it also was juicy and tasty. I must thank Shilpa for this as she arranged for the last minute demand for an extra masala puri for me and having recommended this chaat eatery.
Day 4 - Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park & Wildlife Research Center
We had reached our final day in Pune. And our final tourist attraction was the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park & Wildlife Research Center. We had planned to visit this wildlife park the previous day, but were disappointed as it was closed on that day. But having an extra day proved beneficial for us, as it would give us an extra day to visit this zoo.
As soon as we reached the park, we bought the tickets and boarded the mini train. This train would go around the park and show us the enclosures of various animals. We saw the white tiger, leopard, black bear, bison, snakes, deer, among others. As it was noon time, most creatures were deep inside their dwellings, and this made us really strain our eyes to view them. We could not see the leopard, lion, and others. But anyway, the visit to this park was a joyful experience.
After this visit, we headed to the popular misal place called Katakirr Misal. The misal here is authentic and they serve extra rassa. The misal proved to be very tasty and the rassa came in three level of spiciness and this was a new experience for us.
After that we went to another famous eatery, and this was Garden Vadapav. The vadapav was shaped like a flat pancake and was not the usual spherical shape. The taste was refreshing and very flavourful, and true to all the hype and fame.
We now headed to the famous Kayani Bakery, the famous bakery for which Pune is famous for. There was a long queue outside the bakery, but our turn came pretty fast. We purchased our baked products and headed back to our hotel.
The place where all these eateries were situated was one with many vintage houses and Parsi locality. It is popularly called as the Pune Camp area. We saw the tall tower of the Ohel David Synagogue, its red structure, towering before our eyes. I later learnt that this was a historical synagogue and was a heritage structure in Pune. On my opposite side was the Victorian building of Albert Edward Institute Library. It was a 143 year old building that made me wonder at the cultural heritage of Pune.
Our Pune visit in short
People
According to me, the people of Pune are hospitable and polite. Though, you will most certainly bump into a rickshaw driver who is rude to you. Whenever I asked for directions or get to know the tourist destinations, then these rickshaw drivers were obliged and suggested to me dozen such places.
Street Food
Pune did not disappoint us at all when it came to street food. All the food places, restaurants, and eateries served us the most tasty street food dishes. All the street food research done by Mandar, Shilpa and Nakshi proved to be absolutely true to their word. Manmohan Chat, Ambika Sandwich, Sujata Mastani were excellent in every way.
Enigma about the word 'Mastani'
I found it very surprising to see various restaurant and food places had the word Mastani in it. I also found Mastani to be joined in Sujata Mastani. Apparently, after some research, I found out that Mastani was the wife of Peshwa Baji Rao. Her father, Maharaja Chhatrasal of Bundelkhand, gifted her to Baji Rao, after he helped him win a battle. She was known to be a skilled warrior and dancer. The city of Pune still remembers her by her name and her legacy by naming the various shops, restaurants, and other places by her name.
Heritage places/ monuments
Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir was true to its name, one of the best places we visited in Pune. We were at time for the evening aarti and participated in this grand occasion. The chorus and chanting of prayers and aarti was such that it reverberated in my ears long after we had left the temple.
These did disappoint us. For example, Shaniwar Wada just had the huge and giant gate to pass through and we had our hopes very high. But once we were inside, all our hopes were dashed to pieces. It happened that in the olden days, a huge fire took place in Shaniwar Wada and raged for about 7 days. In this fire, majority of the buildings were reduced to ash and there was no remains of any such buildings. We felt that this was not worth visiting. But I, nevertheless, was thrilled to visit Shaniwar Wada, and get to know of its historical and cultural importance in the tourism of Pune.
Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum tickets were too pricey, but we anyhow wanted to visit it. So we had to pay for the tickets. The museum had a huge collection of daily-use objects, musical instruments, puppets, garments, kitchen utensils, and all these were from 16th to 18th centuries. I loved the collection and to me, this was a museum worth visiting.
Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park & Wildlife Research Center was a bit of disappointment. As we had visited the zoo in the afternoon, the animals were deep inside their enclosures and could not be seen. We missed them, but consoled ourselves at the few that we could view.
Saras Baug had too many steps to climb and this was one problem that we had to face. The nearby temple was also such that it could be reached by crossing a bridge and climbing staircases. We could not visit the other temple and had to skip it altogether just because of these steps. But the main temple at Sarasbaug was a joyful and fulfilling experience.
Commuting within Pune
Commuting in Pune was a mixed experience for us. We could get auto rickshaws and metro in Pune easily. But in auto rickshaws there is a lot of confusion about Uber and local rickshaw fares. To me, there was a constant clash between these fares and we had to argue and shout at them for these confusion. But metro was such a relief for us when reaching places.
Hotel stay
The hotel that we stayed in was very good in accommodating us. The only complain about the hotel was that there were two flight of stairs to climb. It became too tiring to climb them, especially, when we had just returned after a long day of sightseeing and shopping. But apart from that the rooms, bathroom, breakfast were excellent. The AC in our rooms was working and they had given tea/ coffee makers so that we could make them at our will. The rooms were neat and tidy and were spectacularly clean. Room service was also good and no complains to that.
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