Pune


Neelkanth Appartment 404 >> << The Train Journey
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Le Meridian - Note 1 (0 miles) Arriving in Pune (0 miles) Meeting Prateek and Yash (0 miles) Zombies at Night (0 miles)
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Arriving in Pune2

Anthony - Wed 27 February 13.00
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So today we finally move to pune. Since we're still a bit jetlagged, we decided to stay up all night and take the 6.45 train. So after three days of India and Mumbai, I've not used any loo paper yet, we've not got any food poisoning yet, but also not been spotted by bollywood.

So in pune, we'll see another india, we're told. Let's see what happens!
At the station we got what we thought were first class tickets, which turned out not to be. Lesson learned: book tickets and seats in advance next time. Nevertheless, we tried our luck and hoped for a spare seat we can upgrade to. Luck was not on our side, and the first class carriages were quickly packed.

The first class is something like a european 1970 compartment with A/C, but its blue interior nevertheless gives it a nice touch. The interconnecting compartments between carriages are squeeking and jumping leathally, but they appear to be safe enough to stay in while we're waiting for a seat to free up.

A guy in an elegant brown blazer identifies himself as the chief ticket inspector, who'd ultimately chuck us out of the train as well, if we didn't find a free seat to upgrade to. Next stop, next stop, he keeps telling us, my hopes are that he'll keep saying that till we arrive.

Atm, we're about 1/3 along the way, and nikesh has already found another admirer of his iPhone ;-) but he'll be interesting to chat to! Next to me in the corridor, there is an old couple of easily 75, an old indian couple as it comes out of a textbook. Amazingly, they are sleeping whilst standing! A skill probably acquired through long practise.

Wandering around, I found myself talking to a guy in another compartment from Nikesh, when they suddenly closed off the connection inbetween. Luckily, this created some more seating space, and now I'm happily seated with some roaches on ground level, on the squeaking and jumping connection between two compartments. Do i feel safe? Well, most likely...

Once we arrived in pune, we did see something more like the india I expected. It's a messy, crowded place full of people and rickshaws. Walking around city center on MG Road (Mahatma Ghandi), we see lots of young people and many seemingly 'modern' women! Unfortunately, Pune is one of the most plluted places i have ever been to, the traffic just spits out tons of sh*t that seems to stay around and not get cleared away...

Also, people here don't seem to stare at us as much, which is possibly due to the fact that they are all used to seeing foreigners regularly. Pune, a university city with like 40'000 foreign students, and many big multinational IT companies, also has the Osho Ashram in the Koregaon Park are, a place you'd better look up in Wikipedia, which is frequented by wealthy white people.

So we settled in at the 'National Hotel' as recommended by our Lonely Planet, a simple hotel situated in an old colonial Farmhouse Just opposite the Pune Station. This would be our home for the next ~2.5 weeks.
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Sat 04 October - Sumedh said delete
Your story seems interesting...how come you landed in Pune any way...would be interesting to meet you... :)
Mon 15 December - Anthony said delete
Hey Sumedh, I'm always happy to meet! Why did we land in Pune? Best explained in person... I stay on SB Road
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Meeting Prateek and Yash

Anthony - Wed 27 February 14.00
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Luckily, we actually have a bit of a contact in Pune, since Prateek aka RAJ, Sid Singh's (friend from Imperial) Cousin is actually studying here.

So on our first night to Pune, we met up with Raj and his friend Yash, two funny and interesting fellows, studying Computer Science at MIT - Maharashtra Institute of Technology.

MIT here is quite nice, it actually has a proper campus and looks like a decent university. They seem to have good facilities, and are much more proper than some of the other places i've seen so far, some of which look like my old school or like farmhouses on farmland.

They took us to a place in ABC Farms to have Shisha, we went there by motorbike, which looked quite nice and was very busy. I had a bit of a bad cough, possibly from the flight to India, which was freezing and uncomfortable, and maybe shouldn't have smoked and enjoyed the Shisha as i did... but you only live once, right?

We talked about all kinds of stuff guys talk about, covered a lot of Software as a Service and Web Applications, education systems, girls, etc. The usual.

Afterwards we had another milkshake at a roadside milkshare store, which was rather amazing! Simple shack, but loads of people queuing. Quality does not need air-condition or fancy interior!
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House hunting

Anthony - Thu 28 February 04.00
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So obviousely, one of the first things for us to do is to get a place.

Now, while we're still in the National Hotel opposite Pune Station, Nick will spend most time in front of the computer and in the internet cafe, while i'll be exposing myself to the dangers of traffic and pollution. Actually, i coughed up some blood the morning after the shisha, probably because of my cough... not a good combination... but i'm all good now.

So househunting is interesting. We first decided to randomly just drive around town to see different areas, and tried to tell a rickshaw driver to just take us to some residential areas in Pune. Obviously, neither of us could explain this in Hindi or Mahrathi, and the driver was unable to understand this in English. So we asked a randomer on the road who just walked by, who turned out to be a property agent. What a coincidence!

So he gave us a couple of areas to look at, which we never got to, because by the time we arrived at the first area, Koreagon Park, it was already dark. Also, the rickshaw driver went around in so many circles that at some point when we thought we were in KP, we just insisted of getting off...

Regardless of that wasted evening and money, the next morning i ventured out to meet that property agent, Mr Lovely or Lovey - actually, i think it's the latter. My German timing clashed with his Indian punctuality, or rather, didn't, unfortunately, but at least, after like an hour's wait, i got to sit on a motorbike to see some places. I won't list all the different places i looked at, but generally, 'nicer' accommodation generally refers to modern western style appartment blocks or housing societies, and f**k me, there are a lot of them. Pune is Booming, just today i read in the papers that it's the 4th fastest growing city in the world (another world's-top, after being one of the most polluted cities as well...).

My quest to find a place went on for several days, i saw big places, small places, expensive places and remote places. Places with Gym and Pool and places with 'Indian Toilets' (u know, those Squatters). I went ot 20km away from town, and saw places in the different centers of Pune. I even considered unfurnished places and got quotes to get a 2BHK (bedroom, hall, kitchen) flat fully (read: rudimentally) furnished. Some places were still half construction site...

In the end, we decided to go for a place with central location, nice landlord, decent rent, and sufficient comfort. I really like it actually!
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Going to Goa2

Anthony - Thu 28 February 10.00
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So beginning of Feburary, we decided to go on a trip to goa, which you can check out separately on EnTrip.

But basically, we've found a place to stay, and get it repainted over the weekend, after which we'll come back from Goa. That'll give it some time for the paint to dry and for us to relax ;-)

Next stop after Goa: Neelkanth Appartment, our home for the near future!
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Wed 28 January - Karan said delete
Hi Nick and Anthony it would be great if we could connect.
Wed 28 January - anthony said delete
Hey Karan, feel free to contact us on us(at)entrip(dot)com!
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