Walking Parables 2 - Looking for a 17 Year Old Me - FC Road

This week as part of my project to walk every major road of Pune, I covered FC and JM Road. The idea was to revisit my youth and carefree times when one thought wearing a Beret on a night out was a clever idea.

We ( the missus joined me this week) started with breakfast at Vaishali, an old Pune institution started in 1951 as the Madras Health Home. Walker Parab is glad to report that the food is as great as ever inspite of ongoing ownership issues.
Post breakfast we did a complete loop from Vaishali, towards Cafe Good Luck Chowk, JM road, right turn to Shimla Office, back on Ganeshkhind road  - Veer Chaphekar Chowk - FC Road - back at Vaishali for another Mysore Masala Dosa.

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Incidentally this was the same route I took with my grandfather and relatives on 15th August 1995. Let me explain.
We first stopped at Vaishali all those years ago but it was closed. ( Those days a business had to pay staff twice on public holidays). So we went to Pride Hotel on Ganeshkhind road where a Dosa festival was running. Along with Blue Diamond, The Pride was the fanciest place then in town but the fusion Dosas we ordered took forever to turn up so we left and finally went to Khyber on JM Road.

The Dosa at Pride cost 72 Rs ( a fortune then) and my relative left a Rs 50 tip at Khyber. How do I remember the details and the date?

It was the last time I had Chicken /mutton and also because I met Vinod Kambli at Khyber - a superstar of that time with his record breaking dash to the fastest 1000 test runs. He was just leaving after his meal so I rushed out to the parking, slipped in my shaking hand through the driver side window with a paper napkin and a ball pen just as he was starting his black Tata Sierra ( I dont remember the vehicle number).

Maybe it was me or maybe something else - for he was never the same again and played his last test a few months later at the shocking young age of 23 - retiring with the then highest Indian batting average of 54.

Back to the present. As we turned left from the old Archie's store - I noticed a young couple on a motorcycle. I glanced at the Missus a few feet away- a conspirator in million such rides over the years especially in our younger times - when all that our naive minds could think was how wonderful the world is now and how it will remain forever. A time when you are on a motorcyle but riding a Kesari Travel poster cliche- the journey is as much joy as the destination.

There is something about a motorcycle ride which a 4 wheel motor can never provide. Maybe it is that intimacy , the constant touch or maybe it is the opportunity to speak without looking at man or woman.  Once free of that need to sport the right expression, maybe we are better at sharing our thoughts, promises and love. Who knows?
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There is an old urban legend about JM road that keeps being whispered amongst Punekars. The contractor who first made it made it so well that he never got a contract again.

Today's JM road -  right from the curve where it meets FC road till Sancheti hospital continues the legacy and has undergone a beautiful transformation with wide walking boulevards next to Sambhaji park , with cycling tracks, elegant installations, chess tables and spaces for food carts . Balgandharva, one of the city's iconic art centers now seamlessly blends with JM road giving the whole area a very hippy and artsy vibe. The PMC plans to replicate the same model in other major roads with FC road being next. Great job PMC to pull this off! You are much criticized for we Punekar's love criticism , but with limited budgets and unlimited expansion - you still manage to make this city the most livable in the country.

Ugly Truth & a Beautiful Idea for Pune: On the JM road stretch there were chips, pan and other plastic packets right next to the numerous garbage bins like the citizens were out to make some twisted point. Perhaps the municipality should raise a security + nuisance monitoring force of ex serviceman to monitor and heavily fine people who put up posters, dig the roads,  defile public installations, litter, spit, park illegally, or generally be stupid. 2 individuals working eight hour shifts with paramedic training for accidents & emergencies per km should be good for the 400 odd main kms of the city. A 1000 person force can make sure all your great work is maintained for around 10 to 15 crore annually.

We also went by Shimla office, the Google weather app of yesterday for Punekars to get a reading of the weather. At one time, this was the national HQ of IMD - validating in a way the beautiful weather the city is blessed with. From Shimla office to Chaphekar chowk is a busy footpath, the dirtiest  I encountered so far but you can see that at an attempt is being made by PMC to keep it clean- even if the hordes of travelers who catch a bus at the junction are not doing their bit. There is a super clean ladies toilet ( Read more ) on this stretch which I had seen parked in Shaniwarwada as well.

We met Dutta , a Police Belgian Malinois puppy at the Parade ground and he promised that he will grow up to be a big boi and take care of the city in a few months. Opposite the Police Parade ground you will find the SBI Shivajinagar branch and a memorial to the revolutionary Chaphekar brothers - who assassinated the British Plague commissioner apparently at this spot. ( I could be mistaken)

Overall, the loop is a pretty urban area early in the morning before the crowds and the traffic come to kill its character to make it just another crowded urban area.

Read about my walk in Bavdhan

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