Pune city at a glance

Hello .. Yesterday (10th June 2012) I alongwith my friends of AFS-II went for a local sight seeing trip of Pune. We really enjoyed a lot during the trip. We were lucky to have a very cheerful person Mr. Rohan Gawade, Assistant Professor, Singhad College of Science, Pune as our friend {cum "Guide"!!!} for the trip. He is a very friendly person and knows the nook and corner of the city. He really made our trip a memorable one. Even the delicious at Asha dining Hall was due to his perfect selection.
Our team consisted of Rohanji , Pabitra da , Rahul , Rohit, Laxmiji , Shivji , Chellapillai , Rana , Saloni , Dishari , Manideepa , Priyanka , Saurav, Rajiv (Could not find them in FB till now) and the Don Sushil. 

We first went to Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park and Research Centre. The best thing about this park is that there is a strict restriction on carrying any sort of plastics, bottles, chocolates, biscuits, chips etc inside the park. If you happen to have a "Lays" or "Bingo", they will keep the packet after handing over to you the valuable chips !!  The visitors were quite disturbed because of this BUT I believe that this is a commendable move to avoid spoiling the environment.

Royal Bengal Tiger:

The park is very well- maintained. It has got a wonderful collection of snakes in its Snake park sub division. Adding to that two leopards, two tigers, a Royal Bengal Tiger are there to greet you !!  Lots of crocodiles, tortoise are there too. The entry fee is Rs. 10/- per head for Indians but Rs. 25/- per head for foreigners !!

After having Lassi in a café opposite to the park we headed towards Parvati temple.  The whole city of Pune is beautifully visible from the view point above the temple. There is a museum inside the temple campus. Entry fee is Rs. 10/- per head. The museum has a good collection of old antique items including swords, guns, cannon balls, palkis, and "vegetable slicers" of olden times. It also has too its credits a wonderful collection of coins of various countries all over the world.

               

Then comes the delicious lunch !! We were in the "Waiting list" at Asha dining hall and had to wait for about half an hour for our turn !! This was because restaurants remain over-crowded on Sundays. The lunch was perfectly fine, consisting of chapatis, "dense" mango juice, rasam, sweet curry, white rice, fried rice, dal, chutney, two -three other curries ..etc. Thanks to Rohanji for the well-selected lunch place..

The photo above is a part of the "Elephant-proof" gate of Shaniwar Wada fort. Built in 1746, it was the seat of the Peshwa rulers of the Maratha Empire until 1818 when the Peshwas surrendered to the British. The fort itself was largely destroyed in 1828 by an unexplained fire, but the surviving structures are now maintained as a tourist site. 

The whole palace is a nice piece of art and architecture. A beautiful drizzle accompanied us as we roamed about in the palace campus.

Our next spot was Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum .

Its a must-visit place. The "without-camera" entry fee is Rs. 20/- per head. It has an appreciable collection of doors of magnificient designs. There are good number of utensils, coins, ornaments, sarees, pagdis, toys, weapons and decorative items. There are three floors in the building and every floor has something worthy to view. I liked most the awesome collection of musical instruments in various designs and shapes (of tortoise, peacock, mermaid etc). I recommend this museum to everyone who visit Pune.

We then hurried to Kasturba Gandhi Memorial (Aga Khan Palace). It is extremely awesome as you can see below :

Aga Khan Palace was used by Britishers as a prison during their rule in India. Kasturba was wife of Mahatama Gandhi. She breathed last here in Aga Khan Palace while she was imprisoned with Mahatama Gandhi by Britishers. In order to pay homage to the great lady, this place was converted into a museum. Ashes of Kasturba Gandhi are still kept here. This place is also known as Gandhi National Museum.

After lots of photo sessions, we proceeded to the final spot of the day Pune Okayam Friendship park. It is located on Sinhagad road. Its design is based on the Korakeun Garden in the city of Okayam in Japan.

The park is very well maintained and so very clean. The guards move about whistling around every now and then to discourage people to walk on the grass, to check flower-pluckers and to warn anybody who does anything to spoil the beauty of the park. There is a small artificial falls in the park which runs into a stoned-stream which circulates all round the park :

Lots of fishes in a small pond in the park:

It was really a wonderful trip. We enjoyed a lot both inside and outside the travel car. Lots of "Antakshari" in"Faati Aawaz" took place inside the car together with "LOL" !! The wonderful trip ends with the final photograph near SET Guest House :