Returning to Future

Pune 2004 :

I came to Pune for the first time in 2004 , to join a job with Infosys . Then it was a sleepy city and hinjwadi software park seemed in some distant village . Many of the software professionals stayed in Aundh but still Aundh retained all the charm of a village , minimum shops and most of them were food joints , optimal traffic giving people enough space to walk on the road in complete leisure without caring about the pollution or the rush, some travel operators at parihar chowk ensuring that all the Mumbaikars could go home on weekends living parihar chowk more desrted . Ours was a small team , we used to reach home at around 5:30 and then start calling each other , by 6 PM all would gather near food world and hang around for couple of hours chatting about every thing in the world ( ofcourse topmost agenda being which movie to watch on weekend). Post dinner it used to be a small walk and again little gossip sessions on some of the stairs of any sony world on the main road.

Pune looked like a normal city which has grown at good pace and people can enjoy life , Hinjwadi phase 1 was a village with only few companies there. there was nothing between wakad square and hinjwadi and the fly over on the express highway was at very early stage.

in 2009:
With these kind of memories I always wanted a job in Pune , thought it will be cool to go back in the same atmosphere.
Luckily I got 2 job offers and both in Pune. for initial few days I was given a guest house in Bavdhan , this was a place which I never explored in old days , now it looks well developed with lots of residential complexes and reminds me of old Aundh . After two days I shifted to Aundh , in fact I was so confident about this place that did not even bother to check the flat before shifting , heard the address and confirmed my acceptance over phone.

Aundh today is over populated and over polluted , in last few days I have never seen any beautiful face ( because all of them are wrapped in veils to save their fairness from the highly toxic pollution ). Each inch of empty space is turned into commercial properties so much so that now even BPOs and software firms have their offices on Parihar chowk. Some small shops are still in place but most of them are replaced by large show rooms ( majority being apparel show rooms which include Lee, Wrangler , Denim etc.). The high volume and its heavy dependence on IT can be indicated from the fact that now there are direct tumtums from Aundh to Hinjwadi which was simply not imaginable in 2004. Many of my colleague prefer to commute by these 6 seaters rather than the company bus. Now Hinjwadi has also turned into a concrete jungle with more garden restaurents , residential flats , fancy pubs and bars if that is not enough than a multiplex cum shopping complex and a J W Marriot hotel will be coming up soon.

Now most of the times in peak hours you will be stuck in a traffic jam between wakad and Hinjwadi which can talk more then half hour. These changes definitely ensure that it is no longer a place for old man and not even for young man. Development to an extent that it all charm of Pune has been lost and life has become more mechanical , no place to hang with freinds , no more foot path space to take post dinner walks , one will not even find a small garden , all are gone thanks to the real estate boom.

I miss old Aundh but I know that I have returned in future which is supposed to give a better life ?








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