Now, Thats Why We Call Pune A ‘Peeceful’ City

Image used is for representation only

Yes, as always, this one from yours truly is also about Pune and its unique flavour!

The good thing about this city is that no one cares a damn about anything! Each of one of us have our own lives to deal with. Why in the world would anything else matter anyway huh?

So when we drive, we swerve like those jogging cars at a theme park but we sure know to drive well. Ask my great two- and three-wheeler buddies and they will explain in explicit detail. Mind you, most of these guys have practised on Formula 1 test tracks. In fact the ARAI has a track such which I suspect has been taken over by these amazing chaps who train themselves to be wind up creatures that zigzag around you at a feverish pace.

Driving manuals suggest overtaking from the right and that’s exactly what they do here. Overtake from “their” right . Different matter that it translates to our ‘left’.

To be honest all this is passé in comparison to the ‘The Great Puneri Pee’  decorating our walls across the length and breadth of the city.

The good thing about walls and boundaries is that no matter how much you ‘pee’ , the wall doesn’t complain.

In our country we use highly absorbent bricks that are designed and baked to absorb half the city’s ‘pee’. You have to hand it to us. We are ingenious enough to create the problem and arrive at the solution all at one go. I honestly think it’s time the serial ‘pee brigade’ is given modified chastity belts. Maybe one of our corporates can accommodate this as part of their CSR budgets. Believe me, this will be far more impactful than creating gardens and mobile toilets that are more decorated outside then within.

And then, there is the eternal spittoon; The road, the sidewalk, the wall, the lift, and even the mall basin; If you’ve ever witnessed the projectile ability of our brethren in this city you would know their capacity to hit the intended target from a 20-feet distance.

It’s almost as though they are training for the Olympics but firing from the wrong cylinder! And if you’re lucky, you can actually witness this in ‘slo-mo’ travelling alongside a vehicle piloted by someone who is proficient in launching this ochre missile. Mind you, no Surf Excel works on this.

But, yes, all this is fine too. We have larger things to worry about, isn’t it?

Potholes the size of the Grand Canyon, power that is as stable as the bull in Spain and the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities. Yes, moves are being made but at this pace and the famous red tape its going to take years before there is a solution, if at all.

It’s about time my fellow citizens move to give that ambulance right of way rather than attempting to follow it in a valiant attempt to break through traffic.

It’s about time we bring back civic sense from our overseas trips; Gloating about them on social media isn’t what we need. We need lessons from each of our travails. This is the biggest souvenir we can give our own.

Yet, Pune is a state of mind with a distinct flavour. Its about evolution. It just happens to you.

Come to Pune. You’ll love it!

~~

#All views expressed in this article are those of the author and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.

Jaisurya Das