Pune through my eyes
Today I saw an interesting question from a friend asking whether local buses by PMPML (PMT for us Punekars) exists or not. I thought I will give you a perspective on Pune and how the city has developed over a period of time. Please note that I am not giving a historians account but what I heard from my grandfather and dad.
As everyone knows, Pune city was confined to the Peth areas plus a few extra. My grandfather (appa is what we called him) shifted to Pune from a tiny village called Nandeshwar, in Solapur district, as a child, penniless. He literally worked his way up through sheer hard work. At that time (he was born in 1906 in British India), he used to refer to Shivajinagar as Bhamburda. BTW, land documents even today might find reference to this name. No idea when the name changed but me and my father refer to it with the new name. My family lived in Ravivaar peth and we had our business there too. My father and his siblings grew up in Ravivaar peth. Sometime during the 50's, he must have taken land on Tilak Road (swargate end of tilak road), where he decided to build a bungalow. All his neighbours and acquaintances remarked "kuthe gaava baher rahaycha vichar kartay" (Why do you want to stay outside the city). You will be surprised by this statement because Tilak road and Sadashiv Peth are one of the oldest areas in the city but here is the catch. There were very few people staying beyond Abhinav college chowk. That is where Sadashiv Peth ends and Shukrawar Peth starts. Swargate was like the end of Pune. There were settlements beyond Swargate like Bibwewadi etc but the name says it all. There was no pukka road from Swargate to Mandai. Appa built the house anyway, in multiple stages one floor at a time, so I don't know when exactly the building started and when it ended. In those times, there were only a couple of cars in Pune, of which one belonged to Appa - a black Morris.
A decade later in the 60's, the family was in Tilak road. The entire city used cycles as their way of transportation. Two wheelers had made an entry in the city. Only two girls drove a two wheeler and my dad's sister was one of them. The city was well connected by buses but since the primary way of commuting was cycles, buses would never be crowded. Women and people traveling longer distance would use buses or those who could not afford a cycle. The entire diameter of Pune could be covered in half hour of cycling. Guys went on picnics to Sinhagad fort on cycle and it was quite common.
Times changed. We are now in the 70's. I came on this planet 🌎. Kids used to go to school in auto rickshaws or school buses or PMT buses but the standard norm was that once in standard 5, you have to go to school on a cycle. Since my school was quite near I either used to walk or take a bus. I used to stay in a posh locality (the same bungalow which my Appa built) and people used to envy us for having a huge bungalow on the main road. My father's office was "VERY" far. He used to travel to Aundh and hence used a scooter but he had a colleague who used to cycle from Sahakar nagar to Aundh. A big chunk of people used to travel by office buses to industrial areas of Pimpri, Chinchwad and Bhosari. Others without this facility went by PMT. You had to change the bus at corporation bus stand. The lucky ones (almost 70% people) who did not leave the city for work had a daily commute time of 15-20 minutes max by scooter or cycle. The lifestyle was really relaxed. 9 to 5 job. Leave home at 8:40 and back by 5:20. Come home, freshen up, eat a snack and you could go out for a walk, to the park, exhibition, a relative, a friend or catch a drama or movie (rare). Koregaon park was an area where hippies roamed around.
80's saw a huge immigration cycle. That's when Kothrud area flourished and so did many other suburbs. Villages around Pune were getting added into Pune corporation limits left, right and centre. Zero town planning. The city roads were full of cycles, two wheelers (boom time for two wheelers), rickshaws and cars. It was also a time when flat system was the only thing prevalent. Bungalows were gone.
I have personally used a cycle from my standard 11 right up to my first job. Yes!! I have gone to my first job on a cycle for one month. My graduation year is 1996. After that I switched over to a two wheeler. Cycles in college had become rare during my time. We were 3 students out of 60 in my class who used a cycle in engineering college. In later years those classmates also switched to a two wheeler. My brother had a scooter and we both went to the same college. He was a year senior to me but we went separately :)). We owned a car, a second hand Premiere Padmini. We used to go on a family evening outing to Chatuhshringi temple till 1996. Visit the temple, enjoy the view from top, spend some time near the university fountain. It was right in the middle of the university chowk. Kids used to play in the water. Pashan road had food stalls mainly Chinese food. We used to eat there and then back home. University was the end of Pune. No ICC, no Marriott. We were not aware that villages like Baner, Hinjawadi existed. My first software job was in Koregaon park. The bridge connecting Koregaon park and Kalyani nagar (near Westin) was not existent. There was no Westin hotel and from that point ahread it was a village with farms on both sides of the road. This was year 1998. So this crazy city which you see today became this crazy only after 1998.
I have no idea if the public transport system has kept up with this explosion.
As everyone knows, Pune city was confined to the Peth areas plus a few extra. My grandfather (appa is what we called him) shifted to Pune from a tiny village called Nandeshwar, in Solapur district, as a child, penniless. He literally worked his way up through sheer hard work. At that time (he was born in 1906 in British India), he used to refer to Shivajinagar as Bhamburda. BTW, land documents even today might find reference to this name. No idea when the name changed but me and my father refer to it with the new name. My family lived in Ravivaar peth and we had our business there too. My father and his siblings grew up in Ravivaar peth. Sometime during the 50's, he must have taken land on Tilak Road (swargate end of tilak road), where he decided to build a bungalow. All his neighbours and acquaintances remarked "kuthe gaava baher rahaycha vichar kartay" (Why do you want to stay outside the city). You will be surprised by this statement because Tilak road and Sadashiv Peth are one of the oldest areas in the city but here is the catch. There were very few people staying beyond Abhinav college chowk. That is where Sadashiv Peth ends and Shukrawar Peth starts. Swargate was like the end of Pune. There were settlements beyond Swargate like Bibwewadi etc but the name says it all. There was no pukka road from Swargate to Mandai. Appa built the house anyway, in multiple stages one floor at a time, so I don't know when exactly the building started and when it ended. In those times, there were only a couple of cars in Pune, of which one belonged to Appa - a black Morris.
A decade later in the 60's, the family was in Tilak road. The entire city used cycles as their way of transportation. Two wheelers had made an entry in the city. Only two girls drove a two wheeler and my dad's sister was one of them. The city was well connected by buses but since the primary way of commuting was cycles, buses would never be crowded. Women and people traveling longer distance would use buses or those who could not afford a cycle. The entire diameter of Pune could be covered in half hour of cycling. Guys went on picnics to Sinhagad fort on cycle and it was quite common.
Times changed. We are now in the 70's. I came on this planet 🌎. Kids used to go to school in auto rickshaws or school buses or PMT buses but the standard norm was that once in standard 5, you have to go to school on a cycle. Since my school was quite near I either used to walk or take a bus. I used to stay in a posh locality (the same bungalow which my Appa built) and people used to envy us for having a huge bungalow on the main road. My father's office was "VERY" far. He used to travel to Aundh and hence used a scooter but he had a colleague who used to cycle from Sahakar nagar to Aundh. A big chunk of people used to travel by office buses to industrial areas of Pimpri, Chinchwad and Bhosari. Others without this facility went by PMT. You had to change the bus at corporation bus stand. The lucky ones (almost 70% people) who did not leave the city for work had a daily commute time of 15-20 minutes max by scooter or cycle. The lifestyle was really relaxed. 9 to 5 job. Leave home at 8:40 and back by 5:20. Come home, freshen up, eat a snack and you could go out for a walk, to the park, exhibition, a relative, a friend or catch a drama or movie (rare). Koregaon park was an area where hippies roamed around.
80's saw a huge immigration cycle. That's when Kothrud area flourished and so did many other suburbs. Villages around Pune were getting added into Pune corporation limits left, right and centre. Zero town planning. The city roads were full of cycles, two wheelers (boom time for two wheelers), rickshaws and cars. It was also a time when flat system was the only thing prevalent. Bungalows were gone.
I have personally used a cycle from my standard 11 right up to my first job. Yes!! I have gone to my first job on a cycle for one month. My graduation year is 1996. After that I switched over to a two wheeler. Cycles in college had become rare during my time. We were 3 students out of 60 in my class who used a cycle in engineering college. In later years those classmates also switched to a two wheeler. My brother had a scooter and we both went to the same college. He was a year senior to me but we went separately :)). We owned a car, a second hand Premiere Padmini. We used to go on a family evening outing to Chatuhshringi temple till 1996. Visit the temple, enjoy the view from top, spend some time near the university fountain. It was right in the middle of the university chowk. Kids used to play in the water. Pashan road had food stalls mainly Chinese food. We used to eat there and then back home. University was the end of Pune. No ICC, no Marriott. We were not aware that villages like Baner, Hinjawadi existed. My first software job was in Koregaon park. The bridge connecting Koregaon park and Kalyani nagar (near Westin) was not existent. There was no Westin hotel and from that point ahread it was a village with farms on both sides of the road. This was year 1998. So this crazy city which you see today became this crazy only after 1998.
I have no idea if the public transport system has kept up with this explosion.
posted by Anagha @ 11:28 PM
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