going back to pune has been on my mind for months now.. no, years. since the day I left pune in nov 06, i hv always wanted to go back and spend time there. I had grown so attached to the city, more so coz of the great and memorable times I had been thru.

its taken a long long wait that I finally managed to make it to pune again, that too with sheer chance rather than anything else. I landed back from HK on sat night, was in class during the day and had to take the evening flight to mumbai.. I had some idea that I could be headed to pune on wed but my mind was more to attend class on wed evening. I just hoped that it wasnt a choice between the two as i would be torn in making the decision.

finally it was on monday evening that i got the call that we would be leaving for pune on tue early morning instead of wed morning.. I was thrilled. suddenly , the tiredness of travel just went away , the sleep deprived swollen eyes came alive and i just couldnt stop smiling. I even jumped in joy repeatedly for the next 1/2 hr as ankur saw me wondering what on earth was I upto. He didnt have much idea in terms of what i was excited about but then neither was I. I was just tooo happy to get a chance to go there again. I still dont know why was I so happy as there wasnt any great reason left to be there .

I woke up early to get ready, check out and get on the taxi on time but instead had to wait for more than an hour as sidd was delayed. I dozed off waiting for him at the lobby. it was raining outside and it looked as if it would rain for a while and then stop later on. or as we would head out the rain would ease out and the weather would be great and dry on the way..

it kept on raining all throughout the journey, it had been more than a year since i was on that road again from mumbai to pune. it had always been in a volvo bus, waiting for the long distance and travel to get over. time used to pass so slowly and i used to get increasingly impatient and restless to reach pune. nothing of that sort happened this time.

i was so calm and cool as i enjoyed the long drive.. i so much wanted to get into the driving seat and hit 120-140kmph on the highway but sidd cut down all such hopes and dreams. maybem i will do something like that when i get a chance some day.

we stopped at some place to have a snack and i was remembering my earlier trips and the same thing. i couldnt help relating my to my earlier trips, the excitement , the wait and all that but this time round i was quite unreactive and unemotional. i was just too hungry and sleepy to think of anything like that ! ! !

it just kept on raining as we got stuck in a jam at some place. site of terrible accident. the hills looked great with the clouds around them.. it was beautiful . would be great to have some one next to you and drive all along the way listening to music and singing together in the rain.. hmm.. worth trying out..

we reached pune after getting the directions from the client. for me it was like a great home coming. i was so happy as I remembered the roads, tried to remember places which seemed familiar but i couldnt place them right. The meeting was fine. exchanged notes with the client. I told him about my wanting to visit pune after a long time and now I would hope they would get me a chance to come again and again.

after the meeting we went to the nearby place to have a bite. I didnt want to eat anything but then some old thots struck me and I had a pao bhaaji and orange juice without sugar. just like I used to have during the IBridge days. and some how the taste of the pao bhaaji in pune is different from any other place that I have had. no kidding !

after the debate of whether to stay in pune or go back to mumbai was simplified by the news of the rain clogging roads and causing jams and other probs. I called up my bhaiya and bhabhi and told them I would be at their place to stay. I would finally get a chance to meet both of them together ! and meet my bro after more than 8 1/2 yrs. thats how distributed and spread out our small family is. really really spread out are we :)

I got dropped at FC road right in front of the deccan hotel where I had stayed earlier. I took snaps of the hotel board, vaishali, the choco shop and the flowers shop there. the CCD, the ice cream shop.. so many fond memories. Every reason to smile and believe that it wasnt a dream and was true :)

I then took an auto to goto some of the place i had been to earlier. I bought my food stuffs from kayani bakery. 2 honey raisin cakes, 2 choco walnut cakes, 10 mawa cakes and 2 kgs of shrewsberry biscuits. I just had to buy all them and more. wanted to goto some more places and buy the lakshmi narayan chewda and bakarewaadi. but that got left out, maybe some other time.

the time spent at bhaiya-bhabhi's place and meeting keez after a long time was so relaxing. keez n me walked from her place to the coffee house and back in the rain. I really enjoy walking in the rain and didnt even ask her if she was fine or not with it. but she didnt complain and made sure I got at auto to go home. really really sweet of her to do so. thats how I celebrated my 5th yr.

i had a really tough time at the airport. while the airport has become much better than before. the taxi/auto stand it just the same as earlier. the construction is complete but still the cleaning up needs to be done. it just kept on raining. I just kept on delaying my going inside. just wanted to stand out side in the rain and get wet. and it was just not surprising when the flight got delayed by an hr or so. so typical of pune.

hope to be back in pune soon to meet friends I missed out on and the food which I need to get. next time around will pick up much much more than what I had this time


more later..