River walk and Urban Sketchers

Took part in a River walk last week conducted by Jeevitnadi, and it was good that I did it. I mean, it's been almost five decades since I have been in Pune but knew very little about the rivers of Pune. So it took some time for me to digest the fact that the river Mutha was a crore years old.  Madam Shailaja (who conducted the walk) casually pointed to a rock next to the river and said that those rocks were about 6.5 crore years old, the age of Sahyadris. (Basalt formation period)

Talking about Mutha, it is supposed to be older than the rivers originating from the Himalayas, as Sahyadiri is older than the Himalaya. Another fact that I did not know was that the Mutha joins Krishna river and finally flows into the Bay of Bengal (due to the topography of India)

For those who want to know the origin, the Mutha starts from a small village named Vegare (not far from Lavasa)

While the river walk was going on, some of the members of the Urban sketchers joined in and were listening as well as sketching.

While others were sketching the Siddheshwar temple which happened to be the point of common interest for both.

Above sketch by Shirish Deshpande Fossils of elephants and Aurochs were found on the banks of Mutha. Auroch is a type of large wild cattle (now extinct)  and was the ancestor of the present domestic cattle.

The mandatory group picture

Coming back to the river walk, while we were moving around I could get a very bad stench and the water was looking really black while I tried to click some pictures of the birds.

Madam Shailaja mentioned that this river had been once rich with flora and fauna. For example, the Pied Kingfisher (कवड्या in Marathi) is known to hover over the water and with a quick dive catch its fish. But with the present state of water being murky and turbid the pied kingfisher is no longer seen on this river

The same is the case with the River Turn ( नदी सूरय  in Marathi) This species has been uplisted to Near Threatened on the basis that increasing human disturbance and dam construction projects are expected to drive a moderately rapid population decline over the next three generations.

To quote one more example is the Pheasant tailed Jacana (कमलपक्षी in Marathi). They are seen on floating vegetation and the nest is usually on a leaf which floats, (mostly lotus leaf).  In the absence of such vegetation, this bird is no more seen on the Mutha banks.

The River Tern creating a figure of '7' "Always a treat watching these hunt over the Panshet Dam in Pune" says Anupam who painted this.

The rivers were well taken care of during the previous era. The Kumbharves dam built during the Peshwe era marked the boundary of the then Pune. Later rebuilt by the British, it still stands under the Dengale bridge at Kumbharvada

One way to create awareness is to encourage others to attend these river walks. I have made a short one minute video of the walk I had. There are some proposals in the pipeline, like this present state near the Shivaji bridge to be transformed into an activity area without disturbing the ecological balance.

Like the saying goes, "we have not inherited this world from our parents, we have borrowed it from our children" ..

The root bridge

I just stood there in awe looking at that root bridge. A classic example of the symbiotic relation between humans and nature. 

This bridge is about 180 years old and it is over the Thylong river.  It is worth mentioning here that the four major clans, Khongsar, Khongthohrem, Khongliar and the Nohwet village had a major role to play in the creation of this living root bridge.  You have to go down about 450 steps from the road level to reach the bridge.  

The entry fee to visit the bridge is only ten rupees and it is managed by the Dorbar Shnong Nohwet.  

I noticed that there were volunteers from the village who kept a watch on the bridge. You can walk across the bridge but stopping or taking selfies on the bridge is not allowed. You can see one of the tourists being adamant about clicking a selfie inspite of the volunteer telling him to get off the bridge.    

As seen all over the North East, there are dust bins provided at every possible corner.  

This sign board talks about the dos and donts. 

Looking at it from a different angle, you can see the tree is supporting itself as well as the bridge.

Sustainable living architecture that will live for generations to come.

Walking around the river bed I had a closer look at the life around the river. This guy was waiting for his lunch 

While walking down the steps I heard a lot of chirping sound and finally located one of them. Can’t believe that this little one could create such a racket. 

Clicked one more picture from further down the river.

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