Pune tithe Kharach kay une

Pune, to me, is the best city to live in this whole world. Its weather is awesome. Its not too big, so you can reach from one corner to other in at the most 45 mins when there is no traffic. The advantages are endless. However, what makes pune special is its people. Punekars have some unique and extremely odd habits that usually people from other places dont have. Say what you want, the Puneri sense of humour is something which is very unexpected.

Some of the peculiar things that have been noted about Punekar(I hate to call puneites- kasla ghaan vatata) is his reluctance to work in the afternoon.1-4 all shops will be closed, and closed with proud boards displaying shop will be closed as its time for lunch and sleep! There is a famous joke about this- once a shop (Specifically Chitales sweet shop(Nothing against you Inder and Nikhil- but thats how the joke goes) ) catches fire in the afternoon. The fire brigade comes to quell the fire, and the shop owner simply tells the fire fighters-" its time for lunch, please come back when the shop opens at 4!"

Then there is another weird habit of removing air from the tyres of vehicles parked in front of a gate. Punekars are extremely rude when it comes to parking issues. Offenders vehicles are often carried out by the Chor-gaadi (thief car - the Police truck). However it can be easily got back without any psychological trauma. at the most it costs 100 rupees. Id got back mine saying I only had 20 rupees with me! Ameya Abhyanar told the police he had parked his bike in the police station so it wont be picked, and got off for nothing! Anyway- police are tolerable. The worst people to handle in parking situations are those whose front gates get blocked. Dozens of old vadaas and buildings in the old part of the city proudly declare that "Air will be removed if vehicle is parked in front of the gate". A bolder person in Sadashiv Peth (my hub and hideout) proudly declared, "This is Sadashiv Peth- Puncturing offending vehicles is a routine job done here".
I was of the opinion that that view is restricted only to Sadashiv Peth. Howver, I saw the same approach taken by a woman whose car was blocked due to parked scooters on,of all the places, TEKDI. She was definitely short tempered. Hurling abuse at stupid morons "moorkha mula" who cannot park properly, she promptly went ahead and released all the air from the tyres of 4 bikes! The poor fellows must have had a hard time going down from the tekdi! nevertheless I could not stop laughing!



Then there is this craze of writing witty, sarcastic, snide and derogatory quotes pointing fingers at others which is the cherry on the cake. I guess no one else writes such one liners and witty insult lines better than Punekars- that too in shuddha marathi.  for those who want to see what kind of stuff is written, please click here or here. I wont write more. Im going crazy just reading some of those boards and notices!!

Pune is really a one of its kind city. The attitude people have here are unmatched. The love for the city itself is unparalleled. The love for traffic rules does not exist. Just a few things that makes Pune- Pune!