The city is a paradox. In the words of one of the young business icons of the city, Sulajja Firodia Motwani (Kinetic Motors), the city has all the bustling energy of an upcoming hub, and yet it has not lost it's quaint homely feel. When I visited the city for the first few times, with friends or alone for work, I didn't get a chance to explroe the place much, but I did enjoy the weather. And when I got the chance to spend my two years at B-school at this 'Oxford of the East', I was exhilerated at the thought of spending time away from home on campus.
The place was known as the pensioners' paradise earlier, nestled cosily on a plateau in the Deccan range, with a comfortabe hill-stationesque climate. The landscape is a combination or rocky, undulating terrain and green tops. It is a thrill to go outdoors anywhere in and around the city. The curving roads make for a good ride, the drivers' experience ranging from a 50 kph breezy drive to a 100 kph thrill ride around the sloping hillocks. There is always a trip that can be planned, for 4 hours to a stay over an extended weekend. One will always find avenues.
For the metropolitan raised junkies and the likes, the city has an eclectic mix of fine dining restaurants, pubs and specialty food junctions. No place seems prohibitively distant - if you are staying in a convenient locality. The commercial area of Koregaon Park with it's dozens of firangs near the Osho Park, or the old CBD of MG Road with it's Parsee and Muslim eateries, to the college hangout of FC Road, everyone finds a place to cosy up to. And the rains, so very unpredictable. :)
It's a place where I met an amazing bunch of people. People from diverse backgrounds and hailing from just as varied geographies. Symbiosis was true to it's name - a melting pot of people from across the world. No matter how I fare in the corporate world, or how bitter I get as life unfolds, I will always remember the place with a huge smile on my face. The memories of the first few days here are just as distinct as the final tumultuous times. I met someone who I loved at this place and enjoyed a brief period of bliss, taking walks along beautiful treelined streets, sitting at vacant bus-stops or just sipping away a cuppa coffee at the nearest Barista. The work-cum-play group at B-school was party to numerous presentations over which we fought and squabbled like chicken, last minute presentations, staying up for nights (albeit very few) and the lunches at the NCC canteen. Working late nights in the Council room, attending and making phone calls, the regular frustration because of laptops not logging on to the Wi-fi, begging for attendance, late night calls, parties at Kiva Lounge.
Sometimes these memories hurt, for they won't come back. There might not even be the chance. People will have drifted apart, words never exchanged. Unfulfilled dreams will always bite.
But it made me what I am
......or what I could not be.
The place was known as the pensioners' paradise earlier, nestled cosily on a plateau in the Deccan range, with a comfortabe hill-stationesque climate. The landscape is a combination or rocky, undulating terrain and green tops. It is a thrill to go outdoors anywhere in and around the city. The curving roads make for a good ride, the drivers' experience ranging from a 50 kph breezy drive to a 100 kph thrill ride around the sloping hillocks. There is always a trip that can be planned, for 4 hours to a stay over an extended weekend. One will always find avenues.
For the metropolitan raised junkies and the likes, the city has an eclectic mix of fine dining restaurants, pubs and specialty food junctions. No place seems prohibitively distant - if you are staying in a convenient locality. The commercial area of Koregaon Park with it's dozens of firangs near the Osho Park, or the old CBD of MG Road with it's Parsee and Muslim eateries, to the college hangout of FC Road, everyone finds a place to cosy up to. And the rains, so very unpredictable. :)
It's a place where I met an amazing bunch of people. People from diverse backgrounds and hailing from just as varied geographies. Symbiosis was true to it's name - a melting pot of people from across the world. No matter how I fare in the corporate world, or how bitter I get as life unfolds, I will always remember the place with a huge smile on my face. The memories of the first few days here are just as distinct as the final tumultuous times. I met someone who I loved at this place and enjoyed a brief period of bliss, taking walks along beautiful treelined streets, sitting at vacant bus-stops or just sipping away a cuppa coffee at the nearest Barista. The work-cum-play group at B-school was party to numerous presentations over which we fought and squabbled like chicken, last minute presentations, staying up for nights (albeit very few) and the lunches at the NCC canteen. Working late nights in the Council room, attending and making phone calls, the regular frustration because of laptops not logging on to the Wi-fi, begging for attendance, late night calls, parties at Kiva Lounge.
Sometimes these memories hurt, for they won't come back. There might not even be the chance. People will have drifted apart, words never exchanged. Unfulfilled dreams will always bite.
But it made me what I am
......or what I could not be.
1 comment:
hi kunal,
its great to see u back.am busy with my internship.a few months more n am a qualified doc!anyways,i hope life's good at ur end.keep writing.
stay happy.bless u
Neha p
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