Ancient Sanskrit name of the Pune was ‘Punyapattanam’. Meaning in English is ‘Place of Auspicious Deeds’. Renamed as ‘Punewadi’ in 750 AD when Rashtrakut Dynasty started ruling this hamlet.
Pune became an important gateway during the rule of Shivaji because The Great Maratha King chose Raigad as capital and hills of this region was hide out of Guerilla fighters. Most of the guerilla operations of Marathas against Mughals planned and executed from the forts located on the hills of Syhadri Ranges.
This city with about 2000 years old history is on the banks of Mula-Mutha Rivers. Pune city is dived in many parts by the rivers and several bridges connect parts of the city.
In modern India, this city has grown in all facet and very few cities are comparable with Pune. Let us look at the features of the city.
Education -
This place has become paradise for students due to the growth of educational institutes covering all fields. Collage of Engineering, Fergusson Collage, National Defence Academy, Deccan Collage, Brihan Maharashtra Commerce Collage, SP Collage, Film and Television Institute of India, Symbiosis, Armed Force Medical Collage, Armed Force Engineering Collage are famous for their distinctiveness. Software is new found enthusiasm and there are hundreds of small and big institutes. This city can impart basic training and education on most of the subjects.
Institutes of national importance, DRDO, NCL, ERDO, and Department of Meteorology and many others are operating from this city. I like to call this vibrant city as ‘City of Knowledge’. Link - https://go.to/pune
Health Care
Armed Force Medical Collage, BJ Medical Collage, Tilak Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Institute of urologist, Dhanuman Shate Homeopathy Medical Collage are some of the famous institutes.
Among the hospitals Ruby Hall Clinic, Dinanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Regional Mental Hospital, Poona Hospital, Lokmanya Hospital are known for their services.
Please note that specialized medical treatment e.g. bypass surgery is cheaper than that of Bombay and as per information, it is trustworthy.
Industry
Pune is the seventh industrialized metro in India. Many industrial areas have grown around the city. Big industrial houses like Kirloskar, Bajaj, Garware, Finolex, Rathis etc are operating from this city. Automobile giant Telco has its manufacturing establishment at Pimpri. There are hundreds of small and big industries in and around Pune.
Link - https://cs.unc.edu/~raskar/pune/companies.html
Transportation
It is a City of Two Wheeler. Its narrow roads are two wheelers friendly and moving around the city on two-wheelers is the most convenient mode. In absence of a bike, auto rickshaw is convenient. For driving, you have to have patience and tolerance in addition to license, skill and car with a good break.
City Bus service may be one of the worst in this country. Never rely on this service of Municipality Corporation.
Pune is well connected to rest of the country by road and rail. Only major metros are connected by air.
Hotel & Food
For accommodation, choice is very wide like most of the Indian metros. Low cost lodges to Five Star Hotels are available to suit any budget. Advance booking is not very essential but I will recommend doing so for newcomer.
Plenty of restaurants are available to serve you Indian dishes. For continental food outlets are limited. Roopali, Vaishali and Savera on FC road are popular for vegetarian food. Bars are open until midnight. My favorite joints are Pune Coffee House and Khyber at Deccan.
Like to mention about the Sweet Marts of Kaka Haluai & Chitle Bandhu. You locate their shops at important places of Pune. One should try their varieties.
Shopping
Markets of Deccan, Laxmi Road and Camp areas are having good showrooms. There are well-maintained showrooms for cloths and jewelries in Laxmi Road.
People, Culture and Sports
People of Pune region are as friendly as other part of the state. This soft-spoken Punites are loved to be called as Puneri.
Very strong cultural background made this city as the Nerve Center of Maharashtrian Culture. Pune was active during freedom fighting of India and nurtured many great personalities like Lokmanya Tilak, Sane Guruji, Chapekar Brothers. Other prominent personalities like PU Deshpande, GD Madgulakar, CV Joshi, Chandu Boarde are from this city.
There are many auditoriums and galleries in the city to host cultural activities.
There are reasonably good stadiums. Chatrapati Shivaji Stadium hosted National Game of 2000. Pune Marathon is one the big event organized every year and players from overseas are participating in this event. A motorcycle event of Pune is also becoming very popular.
Is this the birthplace of Badminton of modern day? For more information, refer following websites.
https://hickoksports.com/history/badmintn.shtml#history
https://mozcom.com/~arielf/sport/history.html
https://lubbinton.tripod.com/english/history.htm
Sight seeing – A list of important places
Shaniwarwada - Peshwa Bajirao-I built this primary symbol of Pune’s cultural heritage in 1736.
Aga Khan Palace - Renamed as Kasturba Gandhi Smriti Mandir where wife of Mahatma Gandhi died. This wonderful piece of Architecture is a Palace of historical importance where Mahatma Gandhi with some his followers were imprisoned during Quit India movement in 1942.
Chatushrungi Mandir - Dedicated to goddess Durga is on the hillock off the Senapati Bapat road is visited by devoties mainly during Navratri.
Parvati Temple – Located on the hill of the south Pune is a temple of Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Lord Karthikeya and his brother Lord Ganesha. You can witness view of Pune city from this place.
Khunya Murlidhar - Temple of Lord Radhakrishna is in Sadashiv Peth. This temple is famous for the beautiful marble idol of the lord.
Durgadevi Mandir is in Pimpri. According to local people, remind you of Famous Vaishnodevi Mandir of J&K.
Lal Deval is actually a Synagogue is made of red bricks and stones is in the heart of the city.
Snake Park - A Must to See Place for animal lovers. Other than different types of snakes, this park is also home of other animals, reptiles and birds. Attached Katraj Lake is popular for boating.
Other attraction for tourist as well as locals are Saras Baug, Bund garden, Pashan Lake, Vishrambaug Wada, Peshwe Udyan, Osho Ashram, Pataleshwar temple, Appu Ghar at Pimpri (not very exciting).
So friends, now like me you too have ample of reasons or excuses to make a trip to Pune during the weekend. Those who are coming from distant places may include in the itinerary nearby places like Ajanta & Ellora, Mahabaleshwar, Sirdi, Nashik if not Mumbai.
Wish you a memorable visit to Pune.
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