Peths of Pune

In the last few months I was in India, I have walked a couple of times clicking pictures through the streets of old Pune, the real or original Pune if I may call it. I usually walked with a couple of my friends and fellow photographers who I really bonded with through this hobby. I came across so many nice people and nice places that it changed the way I looked at my city. I have grown up in a Pune far different than what I saw on these streets. The mean ‘Puneri’ attitude really was not as prominent and all the perceptions and fears I had about the people from the city slowly proved to be wrong to quite an extent. There were no situations where a smile did not ease the tension in the air. A simple smile made me one of them and they returned my gesture with a smile as well.

The attitude of the people is drastically different from the people living in the extended part of the city. Walking through the narrow lanes was initially scary because I had a lot of perceptions about the people that reside there. But after a few walks it really became easy. I felt the fear was just in my head. You have to believe that the person in front of you is a good person and means no harm. That makes our thoughts and minds free from negativity and fear. There is a famous saying where I come from – ‘People are never bad. Situations are’. My experience on the streets just strengthened that for me.

What I miss in Pune as a city, is character. Pune is a city with historic significance and yet there is not much evidence about it. The old buildings – Waadaas, as they are called, are slowly being changed in to modern day buildings. I don’t blame anyone for that. But I wish Pune did have better character as a city. The people on the contrary, are really amazing. They are bound by the innate Puneri attitude, even though they might be diversified by language or religion.

Now it has been almost 6 months that I have been living in Germany and I realize how vibrant and active the culture and life is in India. There are so many unique, colourful and lively places and characters hidden in the small streets of Pune, from daily wage workers to body builders or ‘Pahilwaan’ as they are called. Words fail me when I try to explain what the city feels like, one reason being my lack of vocabulary, but you would have a spend a few weeks walking through these streets and talking with people to understand what I mean.

From the picture I tried to paint about my wonderful city, I would not suggest people to turn tourists and go exploring the city. It is just the way I see it or rather feel it. According to me places are to be experienced and felt and not just visited and looked at. May be for you, you would not see any of the above said things. But you could always go for shopping, if not anything else. I do not have much more to write and would just let my pictures speak.

The pictures are the ones I rejected from my Flickr wall because they do not stand strong as good street photographs, but are not too bad either. You could check my Flickr wall for others.

Also interesting are the pictures of Pune a friend and fellow street photo enthusiast takes. You could check Sanket Garade's flickr account too.

If you are looking for even better photographs of Pune and places around, you could also have a look at my good friend Swapnil Jedhe's website. He is a renowned and brilliant photographer and a great mentor as well.

An upgraded version of this photo essay 'Peths of Pune' can be found on 121clicks.com too.

 Camera: MY OWN Nikon D7000 with Nikorr 35mm and Nikorr 18-55mm