Pune - Mixed Experiences

Following the Solapur trip, we took the Hutatma Express in the morning from Solapur station to head to Pune. On the way, (on the train that is), we had breakfast of idli, vada with chutney - a plate of 4 idlis and 1 vada cost INR 50. 

Day 1

By about 11AM we had reached Pune and the hotel I had booked a room in was just a walking distance from the station (Hotel Shivam). We reached the hotel, freshened up and by about 1PM had our lunch at an Udipi restaurant - I think it was called Shree Krishna Palace. 

South Indian Thali cost about 110 per person. Pretty cheap! The thali had rice, dal, matki, sambar, baingan sabji, 3 puris, dahi, pickle as you can see below.

The only thing that irritated us was the weather - it is super duper hot plus the fact that most offices/tourist spots are closed from 1PM to 3/4PM every day! So we had to kill time from about 1.30PM till about 4, hence we decided to do some shopping at Hong Kong Lane near Deccan Gymkhana. 

We took the bus (try asking the bus conductor) or use Google Maps to help you with the bus numbers. The bus came at about 2.15PM and we reached at around 2.45PM.

Hong Kong Lane is famous for shopping - we got a few keychains from there, there was nothing much to do so we walked down to Good Luck Cafe - an old Irani type cafe still in operation. They do not accept card or UPI (take cash). 

We just had some lime soda to help beat the heat and in about half an hour, we decided to go towards Kesari Wada - the heat was too much so we took an auto from here to Kesari Wada in Narayan Peth, about 40 bucks for a 5-7 min ride - the driver refused to use the meter and charged us a flat rate. 

Kesari Wada is located in Narayan Peth and is actually a mansion named after the Marathi newspaper Kesari, which was started by the Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Tilak purchased this wada back in 1905 from Maharaja Sayajirao Gaikwad. Before that, it used to be the residence of Prince Sayajirao Gaikwad III. Very well maintained. (no entry fees) The place is now home to a library with over 50,000 books. There is also a museum showcasing Tilak's personal belongings, including the first Indian national flag he unfurled.  They even have replicas of Tilak's jail cell from his time in Mandalay, Burma, where he was imprisoned for sedition. 

We know that Tilak was instrumental in making Ganesh Chaturthi the festival that it is today. Hence, Kesari Wada also plays a significant role during the festival. They place his idol in a beautiful silver palanquin and carry it in a grand procession. The Kesari Wada Ganapati is especially popular among devotees as the fifth Manacha Ganapati. We also managed to peek into his home nearby, they recreated his bedroom and such. An afternoon well spent.

From here we walked down to VishramBaug Wada which is about a kilometre far. Plenty of shopping all around but the heat literally killed us so we just walked on. 

Vishrambaag Wada used to be the lavish residence of Peshwa Baji Rao II, the last Peshwa of the Maratha confederacy. The wada currently houses a post office, some municipal corporation offices, and a small museum showcasing Maratha artifacts. The museum was curated by the renowned historian Babasaheb Purandare. The renovation/preservation work is ongoing so you are not able to see the whole grandeur. 

The wada was built back in 1807 and cost a whopping Rs 200,000! It served as Baji Rao II's preferred residence, even more so than the famous Shaniwar Wada. He lived there for eleven years until he was defeated in the Third Anglo-Maratha War. After his defeat, the British exiled him, and his wife, Varanasibai, stayed at the wada for a short while before joining him in Bithur.

Apparently in 1821, the British started the Hindoo college within the wada, which eventually became the renowned Poona College. Over time, the wada underwent changes, and unfortunately, the eastern wing was destroyed by fire in 1871. However, in 1930, the Pune municipality stepped in and bought the wada from the Bombay Presidency government. It even served as the municipality's headquarters until 1959. Currently, the Pune Municipal Corporation has taken up the restoration of Vishrambaag Wada under the Heritage Corridor Plan. They're working to preserve the original brickwork, windows, wooden pillars, and motifs and more importantly keeping the traditional Maratha architecture intact, including the iconic red-tiled sloping roof and the courtyard. 

Then we spotted the legendary Chitale Bandhu nearby! How can we not grab some Bhakarwadi! So we did that. 

We had a glass of Kokum Sharbat here and then we walked down to Dagdu Sheth Mandir, had darshan of Bappa. It was slightly crowded but managed to get darshan. 

It was about 5PM and we decided to call it a day. We thought we could walk back, it was about 2.6km to the hotel, tried to get an Ola or something but failed. Then a nice auto rickshaw driver who I was able to flag down, accepted to run the meter took us back. It is pretty rare to get some decent rickshaws in Pune (as per my experience), not everyone on Ola complies to your request, they ask for a flat rate or just plainly refuse to take you anywhere. 

One good thing I found was, they accepted payments by UPI, half the time I wouldn't have change on me, so this was a blessing. 

We had a very unconventional dinner at a nearby hotel - we ate paneer pakoda, sabudana vada and finished it with some drinks like jaljeera and lassi to beat the heat. 

We refilled hot water everywhere we went/had access to hot water. We didn't spend money on buying mineral water (I find it a waste of money, too much plastic too). We carried 2 bottles and refilled as we went. 

We slept in early (by about 9PM) so we could start the next day early, trying to beat the sun!

Day 2

We started the day early - got ready by 830AM and headed to the same Udipi restaurant and had some breakfast of idli and vada, downed a cup of tea as well. 

Had to literally bargain with an auto driver to take us to Shaniwar Wada. We reached exactly at 9.30AM when they open it up for the public. So thankfully, the sun was not as fierce and nor was there crowd. Beautiful place it would have been had it not been burned down. 

We spent a good 1-1.5 hours here and walked down to Lal Mahal. We crossed Kasba Peth ganpati temple thinking it was closed (which it was not). 

Lal Mahal is also undergoing restoration work so only the ground floor is accessible for tourists. This place is where Shivaji Maharaj is said to have spent his childhood. When Shaniwar Wada was being built, soil and stones from Lal Mahal were brought in and used for the construction for good luck. What a beautiful gesture. 

Following this, we again started walking, soaking in the Pune weather, atmosphere, sights, and sounds. We grabbed a glass of watermelon juice on the way and also managed to get a glimpse of Dagdu Sheth Halwai Bappa once again. 

We walked down further, made another pitstop at Chitale Bandhu, grabbed some more bhakarwadi, stopped by an ice cream store to taste some Vadilal icecream. 

Following this, we walked towards Kelkar Museum. Entry fees is 100 rupees for adults and 30 for children below 12. 

We spent another 1 - 1.5 hours here - there was just way too many artifacts from the different sections of history, mostly from 19th century though, there were some from earlier. Must visit for children.

After this, hunger set in, and we walked down further to find some Puneri food. 

However, we couldn't find any proper one so settled for some pav bhaji and kokum sherbet before heading to Shinde Chhatri. 

Unfortunately, after travelling so far, we could only manage to take a picture from outside since restoration work was going on. It was about 230PM in the afternoon. We walked back to a bus stop and waited for about 25 mins for an electric bus which took us towards the National War Memorial. Since the next bus was taking too long to come by, we took a rickshaw to the Memorial and we reached there by about 3.45PM. 

By about 4PM, the memorial opened and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly in this place. So beautifully maintained, no crowd, we literally had the place to ourselves. We even tried our hands at some paintball shooting!

Finishing this, we started walking back to our hotel - about 2km but decided to take a rickshaw. We reached the hotel, freshened up and then again took the bus to Kasba Peth to have darshan of the Ganpati which was installed by Jijamata, the mother of Shivaji Maharaj. Such a cute looking Ganpati. 

Just opposite to the temple is Sudama Bhel! 

We had some mouth watering bhel puri, SPDP (sev puri dahi puri - typical puneri language) and some cold coffee (we saw this on every menu we came across, so first time chalo try kar liya).

We took the bus back to the hotel and had some lassi on the way back, (yes crazy!), packed our stuff to return to Bombay the next morning on Pragati Express in the Vistadome coach. 

The interiors are like this... we had a nice time as we went through the tunnels on the way to Bombay. 

In total, our Pune trip was a mixed bag - filled with flavour, smells, sights and super sultry, sweaty too. Would love to go back and explore more probably in the winter months.