Flavourful Pune

Last weekend I packed my bags and prepared myself for a journey through time. I was headed to a city which had acted as the backdrop for one of the liveliest and most exuberant phases of my life.

Pune has always been my favourite city, second only to Bhopal which also brings back truckloads of memories. Omnipresent groups of college kids hovering around timeless neighbourhoods and streets are reminiscent of times when I was one of them- hard-pressed for money but with a rich cache of time.

Zipping past various familiar landmarks in Pune, the exhaustion owing to an unexpectedly long flight slowly vapourised as I was transported back to simpler times of studenthood. The rundown Gunjan Talkies, Yerwada bridge- still standing tall over a dried up Mula Mutha river, Koregaon park teeming with dreadlocked, pot smoking hippies – were just the beginning. The next 48 hours were to bring me face to face with many many more old haunts.

The first stop was Vohuman Café- a typical Parsi all day breakfast joint which used to be our favourite as it served delectable cheese omelettes and fresh, home made buns slathered with oodles of delicious Amul butter at very affordable prices. I found the tiny café parked just where it used to be amidst buildings soaring heavenwards. The old marble top round tables and the brown wrought iron chairs were the same, the cat which we suspected slept in between the loaves of warm bread was still there albeit a little fatter and the board with the menu neatly stenciled on it  was still hanging proudly on the wall.

What surprised me the most were the prices which were also the same as they used to be 13 years ago. Recently acquired ‘burrrp’ certificates declaring the cheese omelettes as the best, shared the wall space. However, the old Parsi uncle who used to man the billing counter seemed to have been replaced by his younger son. Reading the dismay writ large on my face the son quickly reassured me that his father was still alive and kicking.

How many Sunday mornings had I spent here with long lost friends laughing at uncle’s hilarious versions of Hindi expletives, how many classes had I bunked to sit here and relish cups of sweet, milky chai with equally jobless classmates, how many times had we landed here in the wee hours of the day after having sneaked out of the hostel for an all night party! The vows of eternal friendship that were taken over cream plate and toast and the dreams shared over masala bhurji and bournvita came rushing back to me as I devoured my regular order of single cheese omelette and bun butter with chai.

Tearing myself from the coziness that had engulfed me, I bade farewell to Vohuman Café and caught up with a dear friend who was willing to relive old memories with me. We drove through the Cantonment catching glimpses of our hostel and the rundown eateries which were once our source for many unhygienic, yet tasty quick bites. As we hit Koregaon Park, we encountered street vendors selling Osho chappals-jute chappals in a multitude of colours and styles. The original velvet strap now accentuated with beads, sequins and similar fancy add ons.

A vacant spot where the two decade old German Bakery once stood scared me as it emphasized the vulnerability of Indian cities as well as life’s uncertainty. Images of the wooden benches which lined the edges of the erstwhile edifice, thick slices of chocolate cake priced at what seemed to be an  exorbitant Rs 40 and the eclectic mix of people from all over the world who crowded the bakery all day long played in front of me like a slideshow.

Pune is the city for food lovers. Chocolate cheese sandwiches at A1 Sandwich cart and Kapila’s double chicken kathi rolls, paranthas at Nandu’s and Chaitanya, Custard Apple milk shake at Fantasy juice bar and Special Chicken Biryani at Blue Nile, a dessert called Fruit funny at Good Luck Café followed by a tall glass of cold coffee at the road side ‘tapri’ in Deep Bangla Chowk……..you can take a pick from a variety of options. So, if you are a foodie and plan to visit Pune, it would be a good idea to start fasting a few days in advance to brace your stomach for all the action that it will inadvertently face. A good appetite and guts of steel are all you need and Pune would metamorphose into heaven right in front of your eyes.

Preeti Sharma is an MBA from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies and dabbles with creative writing. As she stepped into the hectic and mundane routine of corporate life, her writing became her  stress buster. Her insatiable wanderlust and need for change prompt her to travel as much as possible.