On the way - Part 2

Traveling is boring for some and it is all the more so when its a daily routine - namely going to work.
 Continuing with the journey . . . . . .  there is a broken culvert that we pass daily and the activity over there is any body’s guess. As the water over here is fresh and flowing, you get to see a lot of activity.

It could be a driver, who after having a bath washes his auto rickshaw

Or it could be someone cleaning his scooter  

Sometimes the vehicles carrying the green leafy vegetables make a stop over to wash their bunch of palak and methi (spinach and fenugreek), or it could be a physically challenged  man  who after having a bath , washes his clothes and hangs them out  to dry.

The National War Memorial has undergone a face lift recently.

It is a pleasant sight to see the well manicured lawns with the names  of the soldiers neatly listed down

The flag staff too has been changed to a longer one with a bigger flag. On the way back from work we get to see the flag being lowered with reverence. A procedure followed religiously before sunset.

Next to this War Memorial is a clock tower which rings at every hour. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the ring of the Big Ben when I was passing this  tower exactly at 18:00 hrs.

Those who want to know a little more about the Big Ben and its history, have a look at this video here.  Some interesting facts are given there. 

Every city in India with a military establishment has an RSI and Pune is one of them.

There is this institute “Botanical Survey of India” with  huge trees and a good mansion inside (from the British era). One day I must make it a point to visit and explore this place.

Pune has two rivers and I cross them six times in a day - thrice in the morning and thrice in the evening. In case you are wondering about it, here is a rough layout of how the river winds itself through the city.

The  Fitzgerald  bridge (commonly known as the Yerwada bridge or bund garden bridge) was wide and strong and it had a bund close to it. Its interesting to know that this bund was financed by Sir Jamsetji Jeejeebhoy and was named as Jamsetji Bund. It was created in 1853 to provide water for the poorer citizens of the city.

picture source

The above picture shows the bund. It was clicked by an unknown photographer way back in 1870

Now the bund has been demolished to create new bridges on either side.The Fitzgerald bridge still stands with a deserted look. There is a move to make it a walking plaza.  I tried to click a picture from the same point and you can see the new bridge in place of the bund.

Many Bollywood pictures were shot on this bund including the famous song sequence “aaja aayi bahaar…” from the movie Raajkumar starring  Shammi Kapoor and Sadhana.

From the bridge you can see the Tarakeshwar mandir on the hillock.

Below the bridge you can see a make shift dhobi ghat. It has been there for years, maybe due to the easy access to running water.

 Before we move on from the Bund Garden Bridge, lets have a look at how it looked in 1917. Here is a picture I came across which says: 

Poona, India. 1917. Members of the 1^st Australian Wireless Signal Squadron, Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, relax in the gardens while on leave. They were possibly members of the Squadron Headquarters (HQS) or ‘A’ Station. 

You can see the Fitzgerald bridge behind.

Along the curved road to the Bombay Sappers you get to see a temple and a durgah co-existing with each other.

The view from inside the Kaila Chamunda mata mandir is great and one can see the flowing Mulla river from the window.

When ever there is a festivity in the Hajrat Shahdaval Baba Durgah you can see extra stalls coming up outside with some colourful items for sale.

It’s a common sight to see the young recruits crossing the road at the Bombay Sappers (which was earlier known as the BEG) This edifice (made with coloured tiles) looks great from far.

I was just counting the number of pictures in this post and I think it has crossed my self imposed rule of “keep it short and sweet”

So will be continuing the journey in part 3