Day 13, Pune [Sunday 16th December 2007]
Previous day: Day 12, Pune [Saturday 15th December 2007]
Next day: Day 14, Pune [Monday 17th December 2007]
We're having hot water delivered in buckets as the geyser isn't working in our chalet.
For breakfast we have idli sambar, wada and coconut chutney. We walk up the road towards Kalgaon Park. This is the up and coming part of town, and everywhere there are advertising billboards promising an elite address in one new housing compound or another - be the envy of your friends! There are shopping nalls, too, and many more in the process of being built. The architecture is "business park futurist" - lots of odd geomotry and glass fibre fins, presumably hung on a standard concrete and steel frame.
We go into Fabindia, an organic cotton fashion outlet with a sideline in oarganic chutneys and immunity boosting ayurvedic tablets. It's a pretty cool place to get all your ethnic Indian clothes at once without the hassle of bargaining down at the market. Plus you can try stuff on. I get a couple of short kurtas and some pyjama style pants. Kate tries out some kurtas and churidars - trousers which ruffle up tightly around your ankles - but isn't sure if she likes them. We go into a mall which, inevitably, is the same as any mall anywhere. This one has four guys on the bottom floor singing cheap versions of early rock 'n' roll songs to a backing track. I buy some pants. The people shopping in here are a world away from the people we see around our hotel and the station. All the boys are wearing the international uniform of the comfortably well off teenager - layered t-shirts and distressed jeans. The girls are all in skinny jeans and tight tops or short skirts. The difference is striking, and it's the first time we've really seen this emerging demographic up close.
By now we're nearing the infamous sex guru Osho's meditation resort, and as a result all normal Indian life seems to have been removd from the streets. It's been replaced with a single cafe selling cakes, sandwiches, chicken kiev and spaghetti bolognese. Around the corner we find another one, Malaka Spice, which is a sort of poncey, multiethnic cafe for the middle classes. When we visit the mineral water on the table is orm pure Himalayan rainfall, but that doesn't matter to the clientèle who are all busy downing jugs of Kingfisher beer and pouring wine down their necks like it's runing out. We get some noodles and a cucumber salad, which comes to Rs. 380!
We walk through Osho's gardens, which are open free to the public twice a day. They're lush and gorgeous, much nicer than the Botanical Gardens, presumably on account of all the money Osho's been able to lavish on them. The sight of the red robed inmates from the Meditation Centre makes me cringe. They loiter self consciously, sneakers oddly sticking out beneath the flowing garment.
We head back and while away the evening reading the papers. Summary: they're Bollywood obsessed; the Indian political system is useless; party lines are arbitrary and most politicians act in self-interest; the government is made up of a coalition of 20 parties.
We have dinner at a rough, dark dhaba near the hotel. It's our first meal without cutlery of any sort. We wash our hands but I suspect we may have been better off not doing so. We definitely didn't use the filthy towel hanging up by the sink. We have dal, chana masala and paratha, which the guy brings in from the tawa outside in his hands. The paratha just keep on coming until we say stop. The whole meal for both of us costs Rs. 44.
Afterwards we read through the matrimonial section of the classifieds. One ad, found in the "Disabled / Handicapped" section, reads "Applications accepted for girl, 5' 8", with BSc Engineering, good family. Eyesight weak." Poor girl. Disconcertingly the classifieds are also grouped by caste, as well as by region and gender. But, equally encouragingly, many ads specify "caste no bar".
Next day: Day 14, Pune [Monday 17th December 2007]
Previous day: Day 12, Pune [Saturday 15th December 2007]