In 1983, forty years and a fortnight ago, I arrived in Pune Station from Madras (now Chennai) with a suitcase (a soft luggage from VIP) and a small shoulder bag. My brother in law Venkatesh picked me up from the station and we took a local train to a distant suburb called Begdewadi. We alighted from the local and my BIL went in search of a rickshaw, could not find one. So we began trekking to his place. On a late March day, it was still cold (at least for me who just travelled from Chennai). I was done with college and travelled to Pune to find a job. Little did I realise that Pune would be the city I would live for next twenty years and fall in love with the city so much, I still call Pune, the best city to live in India. 

Begdewadi was not a suburb. For want of better word I said a distant suburb. It just had an army barrack and ordnance depot. The place was frozen in 1940s when the army used the place in WW II. The novelty of the place wore out in couple of days and I began to wonder if I had taken the right decision. My sister Vasanthy and my BIL motivated me to stay back. I got a job in a Paper Mill (Pudumjee Pulp and Paper) which eventually formed my career in Paper and Speciality Paper Chemicals.

Jayakanth had moved to Bombay a year before and soon he joined me in Pune. We lived first couple of years with my sister, got a place in the city and moved out. And thus began the  best part of our bachelorhood.  We moved out of Pune twenty years back after spending twenty years in the city (a third of our lives). 

Over the years we made many trips to Pune , but there were always short trips. One day I called JK and told him let’s visit Pune and revisit all the places we used to hang around. We went there in February of 2023 and Mohan joined us a day later. We borrowed our BIL’s scooter and started the rewind in Begdewadi, where it all began.

JK and Yours Truly in 1984. Photo Courtesy – Renuka Photo Archives. 

We drove to Talegaon where our first adventure on a Motor Cycle happened. You can get the story here: A Sunday, A Yezdi and An Adventure (To all those Yezdi lovers). We tasted Vada Pav (a trip to Pune can’t begin without having one) and drove to Begdewadi.

The station looked exactly as it did 40 years ago courtesy Army which has not allowed any development in the area.

Next we tried to locate the place I first moved in and with some difficulty we found the place. The houses are shuttered. An army man informed that they don’t allow any civilians to live in the area now.

The First House

Dhon La Bara – The Title at last:

As we were driving back to the city, JK spotted a banana cart and stopped. He has a story of the first words he listened to when he arrived in Bombay circa 1982. The words are ‘Dhon la Bara’ – दोन ला बारा in Marathi. These words were echoing across the city in every bazaar and in the carts outside all suburban stations in Mumbai. The words meant Twelve bananas for Rupees Two. JK asked the vendor what is the price now and he said satla Bara means 60 Rs for 12 Bananas a thirty fold increase increase in price over forty years.

We just made a back of the hand calculation. In the early eighties average monthly salary when you entered the job market (informal sector) was 500 Rs. This has gone up to 15,000 Rs a month a thirty fold increase, same as the banana price. Not bad.

From Dhon la Bara to Saat la Bara – दोन ला बारा हुन साठ ला बारा

Defence Cinema – First Hindi Lessons

I have mentioned many times over the years that we learnt the Hindi Language only after we landed in Pune. Hindi films accelerated the process of the learning process. There was a small cinema in Dehu Road where JK and I went every other week to see a Hindi movie. Most of the dialogues for the movies we watched were written by Kadar Khan. It was there we learnt those famous dialogues like, “Aaj Mere Pas Property Hai, Bank Balance Hai, Gadi hai, bungalow hai – Tumara Pas Kya Hai?” “Mere Pas Man Hai” Rougly translated – “Today I have Property, Bank Balance, Bungalow and Car. What do you have? This was from a smuggler to his brother who is a Police Officer. And the brother replies, “Mere Pas Maa Hai.” – “I have mother with me.”

Recalling this, we stopped at the Defence Cinema. The cinema has been revamped and looked great. But they have restricted the entry to only Army personnel and their families now.

Once a dilapidated Theatre, it’s renovated and an air cooled cinema today.

A Walk Down the M G Road

The only attraction Pune had in those days was MG Road, if you discount the movie theatres. It had shops and eateries and the most famous Bhudani Wafers where you could buy fresh chips and walk down the street. It’s a place you met your friends. All youngsters hung around MG Road. Mohan informed us before we left for Pune for the nostalgia trip, he would join us for the walk in MG Road.

MG Road was also the place where I landed my first job in Pune. It was a transport company.

Outside the office, where I landed my First Job

The other attraction in those days in MG Road was the dairy ABC Forms. The owner learnt the dairy business in Denmark and setup a small shop in Pune. They served real cheese and the famous drink Lemsi which was basically a lemon flavoured lassi.

True to his words Mohan joined us for the MG Road walk. We bought some wafers at Bhudani the shop has grown many folds now. Walked to ABC forms and lassi.

A selfie at ABC Forms.

MG Road is perhaps one of the only business districts which has not changed over the yers. The popular reason people quote is, “The Parsis who own most of the shops don’t want to sell them to commercial builders though get astronomical offers. True or not, I hope this stays that way.

And so we walked and walked soaking the changes the city has gone through over the years and the things that have not changed one bit during the period. JK and I visited the automobile spares market in Nanapet. JK used to visit this market every day for about six months to get the Yezdi in good repair.

I also had dinner with Mr Lobo and his wife Catherine. Mr Lobo hired me in Pudumjee and was my boss. He was the one who taught us discipline and work ethics. He was so tough, we, the staff in the laboratory would look forward to Christmas every year when he used to take couple of weeks off. We would celebrate his absence as if we had just won the lottery.. Over the years he has become a friend and mentor. He was also the first who taught me the difference between ‘need’ and ‘want‘ and also simple approach to problem solving.

Over the dinner we recalled the good old days in Pune which was traffic free actually it was also traffic lights free city. What would have taken Mr. Lobo half an hour drive to arrive at the restaurant almost took him two hours in traffic. I told him that I still believed Pune is one of the best cities to live in India.

I always maintained that Pune is perhaps the best city in India. My reasons were quite simple. It was a small city which had all the big city infrastructure. An airport (though very small in those days), good engineering and medical schools (COEP and Sassoon Medical College) not to miss our Armed Forces Medical College, dozens of good schools, hospitals, hotels and restaurants. Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu was close second. Both cities had sweet potable water as well, not the million ppm hardens in water you get in most cities in India. Pune has developed massively over the years but if you can get a place in the city, it still is a great city. You can rickshaw to all the places and the drivers are so good they will come by meter whether it is 20 Rs distance or a 200 Rs distance.

For me it was a kind of Ram Rajya. I was amazed to see my house owner’s daughter riding home in her Vespa scooter at mid night when I used to come back from my 2nd shift which ended at 11 PM in the night. When my BIL arrived in Pune in the seventies he would not even lock his bicycle anywhere in the city.

To our surprise we found out most of them still hold good, though people lock their bikes and bicycles. It still has the small city charm even after IT industry has transformed the place.

We also spent some quality time with my sister Vasanthy and BIL Venkatesh. Mohan came up with the idea of recreating siblings Childhood photo and we did this after some efforts (mainly Mohan’s).

Siblings in CIRCA 1973 and 2023.

As I sat to write this blog, I asked JK, ‘If arriving with just a bag in 1983 to driving a bike across South India in 1993, Romancing the RX-100 – A Southern Odyssey -1993. Part -1., is this the decade that earmarked fastest progress in our lives.’

He replied in his typical corporate lingo:

“Never thought of this.

I would think, given the context and the times of those days, that’s a pretty good progress.”

Pune has a very special place in my heart. It was the place Jayakanth my brother became a friend and took part in all the (mis)adventures in life. My sister Vasanthy and BIL Venkatesh became guardians and angels in our lives. I think I need l not look for more reasons.