pune city & university area

yesterday, rajnikant took me out to tour pune city. this time, we hit the "real" center of pune, which means the mahatma gandhi road in particular (referred to as MG road by the locals). here, you find many shops, restaurants, and even bars that sell alcohol. we entered one of these joints, which had somewhat of a dodgy atmosphere to it, and i was to get to enjoy my first beer since i have left germany (king fisher strong, i.e. 8% alcohol, 650ml bottle for just 150 rupees).

we then discussed a little bit the indian customs regarding alcohol consumption. being hindu, rajnikant could not have a beer since it was a religious holiday. but he admitted that not everybody always observes the "religious standard". neither can you buy alcohol in a regular supermarket nor can you order a bottle of beer in a restaurant. bars like the one we paid a visit to need a specific concession to serve alcoholic beverages (rajnikant's estimate amounted to about 5 million rupees for such a concession). it was not long until the entire bar was packed with drinking people. whiskey, gin, everything you can possibly think of. and there were not only foreigners drinking, mind you.

the evening out made something very clear to me: going out here will not be as relaxing as it would be in any bigger city in europe or the us. you might leave a bar and find a little girl playing with her even younger sibling in the street, literally covered with dirt. while you are contemplating how these differences can coexist in such astonishing peace, a screaming rickshaw almost hits you. you jump onto the sidewalk where a small boy insists on giving your shoes a shine. trying to shake him off, you almost bump into a cow rubbing it's back against a street lamp. a little condensed description but you get my point.

this slide show contains both pictures of pune city yesterday and a few day-light shots of the area where i live and work:

today, i checked out the pune university area. this area spans 1,6 square kilometers and mainly consists of forest; the buildings seem scattered all over the place. unbelievable that this university combines 46 academic departments, about 118 recognized research institutes, and 269 affiliated colleges offering graduate and under-graduate courses. have a look at the following slide show and you will admit that this does not resemble a university in the european sense at all:

next weekend, i will go see a part of pune called "koregaon park" which, according to my travel guide, harbours the more upscale places of pune.

so long,
ti-bob