selecting to walk 8 km rather than riding in a motor vehicle was one of the best decisions i took during my travel through pune. this walk through busy roads of the city and cement paved path specifically for bicycles gave an unhurried exposure to varied people as well. though for 1 hour on this path, i didnt come across even a single cyclist. the footpath nearby was not clean enough and all the walkers had hijacked this cycle path.
there were manual laborers on the road side, who typically asked 'whats the time now'.. they must be thinking of their next break.
there were immigrant families who had set up their temporary shelter on roadsides with kids running around and baggages and few things to sell as well.
there were many ganpati mandals with their 10 day pendols - as the festival had just begun in full fervour a day before. there were couple of creeks / river, where people were washing clothes and taking bath - even though plastic bags and hoards of flowers floated lifelessly around, those people continued with their vibrant activities.
at the beginning of this walk, initially my legs, body and mind protested against this alien idea of such a long walk; but once they got moving, didn't have any problems at all.
during this walk, whenever i reached cross roads, i asked people for direction towards my destination, but people would invariably point me towards bus stand or autoriksha stand. some even told me, you will have to take a bus or auto to that place (and thus motivating me more to walk ;)
but i must admit, puneikars were all very helpful in giving directions and information.
also, during my stay at pune, met and chatted with lots of people and through their shared ideas, this 'snowball' of a trip gained momentum, even though the future plans are still vague.. but, lets go one step at a time..
1 comment:
Glad:-)
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