Life at Pune - 15 day Report

Finally after much deliberations and passive period of confusion and indecisiveness; the decesion to move to Pune was made in quite a haste in a matter of a week of my release from Genpact. I booked my tickets to Pune just a couple of hours before the departure; such was the level of apprehension and internal resistance for the move. The resistance was very high and probably the move should do good to me.
I moved to Pune on 16th April on sunny and hot morning when Pune and the country per se was in a middle of a heat wave and mercury levels scorched beyond 40 degrees with ease. The first impression was "Man how did I end up in this Furnace" The place was fuming with little or no vegetation with hard rock boulders and dusty black soil clad by roads adding to the woos of the badly laid infra structure of a city which is growing at a rapid pace much too much for the comfort of the local infrastructure pace and pace. The place of my work is at Hinjewadi which is on the far north end of the city where if one has to take out a 5-year back map, this place would not even exist. The roads are yet to be laid and expanded fully, and the place is connected by small satellite villages(Aundh, Sus, Baner, Pashan etc...) on the way which are rapidlyto become part of Greater Pune.
Public transport is a big problem here. Bus service is ok types but the quality of the buses are pretty substandard by major South Indian cities standard. Auto ricks and taxi are a loot here; worse than the Autowalas of Chennai. They squeeze in the maximum moolah out of the unsuspecting passenger who falls an unnatural and unintended victim to his vims. If one has a non-maharatra registered vehicle then the public servants - police turn against the poor guy who just moved in to make the maximum in bribing.
Finding a house here is another big sober story; the place is run by a mafia of Real estate agents and brokers; who are there to make the maximum of the money and rents and cost of the residential facilities are being artificially pushed up alomost on a weekly basis.
Night life I felt is pretty much limited in myt part of the city atleast. Travelling in night is not advised in these remote pockets. Apart from this interstate travel has been another headache; bus agents charge amounts well beyond the rates of 2nd AC fares and sometimes more than 1st AC during weekends. People are genuinely denied tickets in state run transports like the APTDC or the APSRTC buses for a lack of margin they make on selling Private operators buses creating an artificial scarcity of seats. Bad the travellers like us are the most who suffer.
Yaa one thing I like is I get to eat an occasional Vada Pav or Dabelli on the roadside but yes sometimes I miss my Dosa, Idly with Proper Sambhar and chutney. Early days for me to comment for me as too many things running around and lot to stabilise and settle down. Looks like this yeart will also have its bit of action and dynamism.
For now I am accessing internet through a netcafe as I m not wired in at Pune so will take sometime to hook-in and have more of blogging. Have a few certifications to complete this week; and haven't touched the same for over a few months now. Anyways until then chao...