Pune (India)

.../> I started travelling to Pune in 2005, when my company decided to undertake some of it's work out there - I should point out that we are one of the lucky companies that hasn't lost jobs in the UK as a result of this, but expanded into India. I now have a team working out there for me and make regular trips and so have come to know and love the place.

Pune is in the Indian state of Maharashtra, the capital of which is Mumbai (formely ...
...that runs from Mumbai to Pune (approx 75 miles away). To give you some idea of the state of the roads a trip from Mumbai airport to Pune takes approx 3 hours!). There is also a small airport in Pune, although the flights into and out of here are very infrequent and quite often it's quicker to take the 3 hour journey by car than sit around in the airport waiting for a flight to Pune - no international flights from the UK fly directly into Pune, so ... more

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie recently caused a stir when filming in an Indian city called Pune. Having been there on a number of occasions with work I thought I'd give you an insight into the place and the wonderful experiences it has to offer.

I started travelling to Pune in 2005, when my company decided to undertake some of it's work out there - I should point out that we are one of the lucky companies that hasn't lost jobs in the UK as a result of this, but expanded into India. I now have a team working out there for me and make regular trips and so have come to know and love the place.

Pune is in the Indian state of Maharashtra, the capital of which is Mumbai (formely Bombay). It is on the Western side of India (although not coastal) and is the 7th largest city in India. Transport to and from the city is not brilliant it has to be said, although the local state government are making improvements to the Expressway that runs from Mumbai to Pune (approx 75 miles away). To give you some idea of the state of the roads a trip from Mumbai airport to Pune takes approx 3 hours!). There is also a small airport in Pune, although the flights into and out of here are very infrequent and quite often it's quicker to take the 3 hour journey by car than sit around in the airport waiting for a flight to Pune - no international flights from the UK fly directly into Pune, so you have to fly into Mumbai first and for an international airport it's not somewhere you really want to spend a lot of time. There are 2 main routes I have used to get to Mumbai. British Airways direct flight from Heathrow to Mumbai (approx 10 hours flight) and Emirates from Manchester to Mumbai, connecting in Dubai (times vary depending on how long you're waiting in Dubai - although it is a very nice airport. Other airlines that I know offer flights into Mumbai are BMI and an Indian airline called Jet (also direct). I'm sure a few searches on the net will reveal a few more by various routes.

The very first time I travelled to India was a complete culture shock for me. I arrived at Mumbai airport around 1am in the morning and was told that a driver would be waiting to take me down to Pune - By the time I had my bags etc it was nearly 2am and I walked outside (none passengers are not allowed inside the airport building) to just a mass of faces - literally hundreds of people waiting all holding up signs. After finding my driver we set off, firstly travelling through Mumbai itself and then onto the expressway. The sites in Mumbai were enough to make the hardest of hearts start to crack. Absolute poverty, shanty houses and piles of rubbish all around the streets. This was clearly visible even at that time of the night, with young children begging on the street and knocking on the car window everytime you stopped. I have to say I started to breath a sigh of relief as we reached the city limits and got onto the expressway - little did I know. Now I'm a bit of an adrenalin junkie, but this scared the living daylights out of me. The expressway (please don't be fooled by it's name) runs through vast amounts of countryside with no lighting what-so-ever. OK not too bad you might think. Well it's also riddled with pot holes for your driver to dodge - and he does with some verosity - as well as the lorries who insist on travelling through the night at approx 20-30 miles an hour with no lights on - so the first time you know about them is about 30 seconds before you're about to hit them (because the car headlights are about as good as the sidelights in the UK). After several near misses and some very nearly brown trousers I arrived in Pune and promptly went to bed and slept for nearly a full day. It only took me about 4 days to recover from the shock!

OK journey over, what does Pune have to offer. Well it's a vibrant city, is one of the main filming centres in India and has some of the best colleges and universities the country has to offer. In fact one part of the city is all colleges. Pune is not what you would call a typical tourist place, but if you are open to seeing a piece of the 'real' India and travel with an open mind it has so much to give back. Like many cities in India the poverty is heart wrenching. Outside the hotel I stay in (Le Meridian) is a sort of a dual carriageway, with a bridge crossing it to the railway station. There is a support for the bridge in the central reservation and a family with 2 young children live within the legs of that support. Bad you may think, but they think themselves lucky, because they have a roof over their head (the bridge). Many more families just sleep on the kerbs where ever they can find a space. The one thing I will say really surprised me was that for the number of homeless people there was very little begging, apart from in a few isolated parts of the city where they knew there would be non-locals. Unfortunately you do have to be very hard and not give into there pleas. I do find that a firm no and they leave you alone (A-gay-jow in Indian). In fact speaking an Indian phrase seems to catch some of them so off guard they'd run away! If you really feel the need to give something back to the country, then my suggestion would be to do as I did. There are a large number of orphanages around the place, who are trying to do something about the homeless - I didn't give money, because you can never be sure it will get where it's supposed to - I did however go to the local market and buy £10 worth of rice - which I was told would feed them for nearly a month!

Again a first experience of Pune will always stick in my mind here, and one that I feel I must share with you! I always like to find my bearings and so on the first day there (I awoke about 4pm) decided to go for a walk and see what was around. The first thing that hits you when you walk outside is the amount of noise (Indians drive with their hand permanently on the horn - in fact they have an MOT every 16 years and apart from the emmissions test, I'm sure a working horn is the only other pre-requisite), this is shortly followed by the smell. The air is very poluted and you have a constant tickle at the back of your throat and running nose from your body trying to expell all the polutants it's trapped. Not wanting to stray too far from the beaten track, so to speak, without a local 'guide' I walked down the main road my hotel was on - eventually reaching a large commercial shopping centre called Pune Central, that wouldn't look out of place in the UK. After a pleasant walk around I decided to head back. Now please bear in mind that this is one of the main roads in Pune, not 5 mins after leaving the shopping centre did I encounter an elderly woman (guess in her 60's) who stepped into the gutter of the road, hitched up her robes and proceeded to leave a number 2 on the side of the road!!! On re-calling my story to some of my colleagues in the office on the Monday I was informed it was a common occurance.

Right, back to Pune. This is very much an up and coming city, with many companies locating staff here. Companies that I encountered included Norwich Union, Axa, Prudential, Avia, Venturer (call centre for many companies such as Next) and HSBC. As a tourist destination the sort of places you might like to visit in the city are;
Shopping - The main shopping area of Pune is called MG road. This has many shops selling both local goods, and things that may appeal to tourists - as it does appeal to tourists however there do seem to be quite a few beggars around here. The bottom end of the road seems to have the more appealing shops such as Bombay Stores, Wonderland and an amazing indoor bizar, where bartering is definately the name of the game. There are also a number of new shopping centres springing up around Pune, such as the Pune Central I mentioned earlier. As for prices, by UK standards its very cheap. Also a trip to the market where all the locals buy their goods is an absolute must - it really is a maze, and you should go with a local that knows the area, but this will give you a real insight to the Indian way of life.

Sites to see - Aga Khan's palace - not quite up to Taj Mahal standards but still worth a visit. A very famous retreat called the Osho commune, which is renowned for helping cure addictions of all varieties - look it up! A snake park and various temples. Outside of the city limits there are also some must sees - in my opinion. Pune has a river running through the centre of it (which incidentley is used by a lot of the locals for washing their clothes - you can just see them in my photo), that is served by 2 feeder rivers further up. These feed into a couple of very large damns, which provide the entire drinking water supply for Pune - not that impressive you may think, but when you consider that the only time Pune sees rain is in the monsoon season (July to Late August/mid September) and then no more, these really are vast - like looking at oceans at times. They are also out of the city limits so the air is clean and fresh - a welcome relief. Also worth a visit are the buddhist caves that have been dug out of the mountain side by hand - see the picture attached.

Activities - The horse racing season runs from August through to the end of the year and is surprisingly European. This is a great day out and well worth paying to go into the members enclosure - you have to dress a smartly (shirt and tie for the gents), but you never know who you might meet - I ended up sitting next to the head of state for Maharshtra. You also get waiter service with your drinks and food and all this for about £3.50! One piece of advice though - don't take your mobile phone. They are taking off you as you walk in to prevent fixing and betting scams etc. Another experience I'll never forget was playing golf - now for such a dry country I was amazed who lush and green the golf course was. Prices are reasonable - £9 paid for 18 holes, club hire, a caddy (who played off a handicap of 3 - which for you non-golfers is excellent and something I can only dream of) and a ball watcher. What's a ball watcher I hear you say - well here's the spooky bit - he stands down the fairway, roughly where you should land, as you're taking your shot and spots the ball as it lands - should you go into the water he wades in and fetches it for you and if you go in the rough he will find your ball and ensure there are no snakes around!! If you're there for a while, then a trip down to Goa isn't out of the question. Internal flights from Pune are about £25 to £40, taking 45 mins, and if you travel at the right time of the year you can get hotel accomodation down there very cheap (for some reason they charge in American dollars but about $20 a night (£11 at current exchange rates).

Transport around Pune has to be by Rickshaw or Tut tuts as a lot of the westerners seem to call them (this is the bit that got Brad and Angelina into trouble) - these are basically three wheeler motorbikes (Vespas etc) with a roof on. They are a very cheap way of getting around and excellent fun - one word of warning though - the drivers do have a tendancy to try and rip you off - this applies to the more affluent Indians as much as tourists. Always insist on the fair going on the meter (to operate legally they must have a working meter) and if not agree the price up front - you should never be paying more than about 100 ruppees (£1.25) for any trip within the city and the vast majority of trips should be around 40 ruppees (50p). Of course if you don't mind paying a bit extra, and have the nerve, you can always offer to pay the price their asking on the condition that they let you drive it - as I did on night after coming out of a local watering hole called TDS. It should also be pointed out that traffic in India is nothing like it is here - hopefully you've had some insite from my journey down! The roads are not of a very good standard and at times resemble nothing more than dirt tracks. The only traffic law that I managed to observe was that you use your horn for everything. Lane discipline is none existent and for all those films you've watched of America with people weaving in and out - they have nothing on India. Oh - they do have traffic lights which seem to be obeyed but it really is the funniest site - everyone pulls up into the tiniest space they can find at the front of the queue (and there is loads of traffic - you can hold a conversation with the person in the Rickshaw at the side of you as your driving down the road - if you can hear each other over the horns that is. Sorry traffic lights - yes, there is then a timer counting down to let you know when it's going to turn to green - as it nears zero you hear a revving of engines and then the wacky races are off - everyone trying to get the same bit of space at the front. The vast majority of traffic in Pune tends to be either Rickshaws or Motorcyles/Mopeds - aparently we've got it wrong in the UK - Mopeds are designed to carry full families of 5 or 6. Cars are few and far between, but you do see the buses travelling around. Other modes of transport you may see on the streets are elephants and I even saw a camel. Don't be surprised to see the roads being shared by free roaming cows and goats either, which have the ultimate priority and are given free right of passage.

The nightlife is very varied. If you like your clubs, then the best one is in the hotel Le Meridian, called Scream - it attracts locals from all around and seems to be the hip and happening place for the in-crowd. Having said that I had some of my best nights in a local bar (although open until you drop) called Ten Downing Street (or TDS as the locals call it). It takes some finding and is actually in the middle of a shopping centre (which is obviously shut when you go there) and you travel up several flights of stairs (or you can use the lift) to reach it. Absolute classic has to be the toilets names Maggies (for ladies) and Majors (for Gents). There are plenty more if you ask around and new ones springing up all the time. Others worth a mention are Thousand Oaks, Fire and Ice. There's also a great rock bar underneath Wonderland on MG road, that I can't for the life of me remember the name of, but what a night out, even if it does fell very seedy when you first walk in. As for eating out there are the traditional Indian restaurants - you really do have to be careful though cos the water isn't safe to drink if you're not used to it (always stick to bottled) and you don't know how the food has been prepared. Ones I can recommend are Kwality and Great Punjab. There's also Pizza Huts, Pizza Express, Chinese, McDonalds, KFC, Subways if you're wary of the local food. These are also much cheaper than you'd expect in the UK. Couple of examples where I took some of my staff out as a treat - Pizza Hut at lunch for 8 people £5. Evening meal at Kwality - 3 courses with all drinks included for 17 people - £45.

In terms of places to stay, Indian hotels vary greatly. Ones that may appeal to westerners are Le Meridian 5* (in my opinion the best) Sun and Sand 4* (claims to be 5* but really isn't) Taj Blue Diamond 5* ( bit smaller than Meridian but people I know who've stayed there say it's excellent) and finally Aurora Towers 4* right at the start of MG Road.

Other things you may want to know about Pune;
Health wise do not drink the water - use bottled at all times, even for brushing your teeth. Jabs that you'll need are Typhoid, Diptheria, Tetanus, Hepatitus A (and B if you're likely to be there for any length of time). My doctor also gave me a Meningitus jab, but I'm led to believe this isn't essential for one off trips. You really should also be taking Malaria preventions, although Pune is quite high above sea level and doesn't tend to suffer from it too badly and I've never even been bitten on any of my trips (that's just given it the kiss of death!). The language spoken is generally English - India has that many dialects and people from all over the country so they all speak English. Currency is the Ruppee (80 INR to the £ at the time of writing). Tipping is generally expected in most places, but 100 ruppees (£1.20) is thought to be too much by the locals that live there. The people really are amazing. None of them can do enough for you - become upset if they believe they haven't given you 100% satisfaction and despite having very little in the way of material things do you rarely hear anyone complaining. These are people that really could teach us in the western world a great deal. My encounters with them has certainly changed my outlook on life and to be frank my children have become sick and tired of me telling them how lucky they really are. Maybe one day, when I think they're strong enough to cope with the sites, will I take them to see it for themselves.

India is an amazing country, with fantastic people, but you really do have to be strong at times to prevent you from breaking down. Pune isn't your typical holiday destination but well worth the visit to experience the real India that is a growing economy and looks set to become part of our future with more and more companies locating offices there. Go visit.............. 

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