Pune Diaries - Day 1

After scheduling and rescheduling and series of mails later we decided to head for Pune on the weekend starting 18th May 2007(a non Grand Prix weekend).

Sacks packed and tickets booked, Giraffe (Pramoth) and me were all set to leave for quaint city of Pune. The time set to meet was 5:30 PM at the mystifying ST stand opposite imposing, pristine and notorious Vandana Cinema at Thane. Giraffe must have lumbered in as the clock stuck the half hour and me as usual was lagging behind trundling along in our very own polluting agent called the Auto Rickshaw.

The Rat (who else? Me) was lugging along 10 Kg sack that Nilesh had ..err..forgotten in the city and Amol had passed it on to the Rat under the shroud of a diminutive hand bag. As the Rat and Giraffe met conversation ebbed toward the days gone by. Giraffe exploited the 10 Kg sack to catch up on the exercise which he had skipped earlier. Our bus…err…trundled in. The white and green Asiad bus inundated all over probably effects of aging (these buses are way past their prime). Hats off to M.S.R.T.C that they keep these beasts ambulating.

The journey was pleasant with Sahyadri waving her unkempt hair in the southwestern winds and parching summer not enough to mess the verdant landscape. Series of tunnels dot the silky roads that serpentine along the mountainous terrains ever climbing and ever extending. Sun was shying away in the horizon as the sodium vapour lamps took over. Rat and Giraffe as usual surmised back to the pizza parties and Mahabaleshwar trip of the days of the yore. A few of our ex-managers might have definitely got hiccups that night.

10:30 PM Pune City beckoned. As we hailed, another pollutant, to hurl ourselves towards Viman Nagar,through the tangled roads of Pune, the weather was titillating and the slight breeze that soothed all nerves. Nilesh aka Mickey Mouse (both are endowed with similar cheeks) awaited us at his colony. Mickey Mouse has not changed over the years – I must admit he had pruned up – his hairstyle might have undergone an inconsequential tweak but largely unaffected and yes loves to be with friends.

Cozy and comfortable in a house, we relished over culinary artwork carefully concocted by Shilpa (I am tempted to use Minnie Mouse). In the balcony outside, as we ex-roomies tided over the days gone by – Beeper stories ,DVD player stories(ok these stories entail another blog by themselves) – an owl circled overhead penetratingly looking out for a snack. The air in Pune during the evenings and nights levitates the spirits as it encumbers your body with its coolness. But, alas, it levitates the mosquitoes in to a renewed sense of potency as well!!

Back in to the cozy comforts of concrete walls and it was time to hit the bed, but not before it took some time for the Giraffe to soak in the brutal reality that no matter where he goes his feet would always hang over the edge of the bed!!