FOND MEMORIES OF OUR NDA DAYS

POONA TO PUNE !!!

It was then called "Poona".

Easy going,cycle dominated,had efficient bus service,clean,non-fan & non-geyser cantonment .

Army School of PT (ASPT)was the Eastern edge while Kirkee was a suburb and Shivaji Nagar the western edge.

Mulla river had flowing clean water and Bund Gardens were a pleasure to visit.

Every one walked on the Main Street(MG road) and parking was no issue at all,and buses moved through at fixed frequency as did quaint old well kept cars owned by Bawas(Parsis).

"DQ" provided the best Biryani & keema-paratha, George's had great Nan's, Indian Coffee House the best south Indian snax & coffee.

Dorabjees was the hub signature Biryani, a cafe in the complex served the best cutlets and Faluda.

Dorabjees was great for shopping, forerunner of Malls .

For entertainment , it was Westend Cinema that had arm chair lounging seats in the balcony all for one rupee fifty paise and screened English movies 365 days a year and the interval had soda fountain, Sosyo & wafers .

Empire Cinema was a scaled down vesion of Westend, screened English movies and was further west of Dorabjees.

For Hindi movies you went to Naaz a little shady and mawali !

Kayanis bakers famous for Shrewsbury biscuits were as good but more personal than today.

Everyone seemed to know everyone. The East street side was more Ghati (rustic) where Punjab & Sindh served the best brain curry & nan.

Also Bhavnagri sweets was close at hand.

East Street had three libraries from where we hired out comics-Lone Ranger, Archie's, classics and commando for ten paise for three days.

We also hired out cycles for ten paise an hour. That hour got us to go from MG road to Empress Garden, Bund Garden and Apollo Cafe on the banks of Mula.

Crossing the river was out of bounds for Bishops.

In about two rupees fifty paise we went out on liberty ( sanctioned visit to town for hostellers) saw a movie had a treat at DQ or Indian coffee house ,loaned a couple of comics and did some cycling !

Today one can't park on the MG Road, Westend is gone,DQ is shady auto rikshaw restaurant, coffee house,libraries and cycle shops all gone.

Mazorin, Poona Hosiery, Rover Sports, Atlantic Store and Budani waferwalla are all that remains of the older haunts.

No Three Aces,no Kamlings(a favourite of late Shammi Kapoor) and no Uddipi.

Burger king, Macdonalds and many newer ones have now flourished.

Where oh where has Poona gone.

The stroll from East street to Empire Cinema and back, window shopping all the way up and down was the thrill of Saturday evening liberty outing.

Poona gave way to Pune.

In Pune you can't survive without an air conditioner; today, garbage and traffic is unending.

Congestion and pollution the price of affluence.

Long live Poona!  though down in our memory lane.

*******   END   *******