We came back to Pune last night, finally! Must say, we are GLAD to be back...
Chennai was a disappointment, and didn't really come across as a metro. It's as if the winds of economic growth and change somehow bypassed this city... forget Beemers and Mercs on the road, even Skodas and Fiestas were hard to come by. The Amby still rules the road. But more than the lack of swanky malls and cars, the garbage got to me. Chennai must be one of the filthiest cities I have seen recently... it's as if cleaning the city of it's garbage was never defined as a KRA for the city corportation!
Sanam and I spent all of Friday in the room, watching TV and playing monopoly. We just didn't feel like getting out. We did try talk a walk in the area in the late evening, but were really turned out by the lack of footpaths and the filth and dirt on the roads, and came right back!
Saturday was much better... look out for some following posts on Dakshin Chitra, the Crocodile Park (where I wore a live python around my neck and kissed a baby croc) and the cool rock sculptures of Mahabalipuram.
We stayed at the GRT Temple Bay Resort, splurging a cool 12.5K on one night. Again, I must say, I was terribly disappointed. Can you believe the resort making its patrons buy a 20 rupee coupon to play in some stupid games? Can you believe a five star resort without running hot water, leave alone a tub? Even the decor in the room was minimalistic - more like a budget hotel than a five star resort!
The food was good, thankfully - the live band was nice too!
We had some excitement on the way back last night when our flight was asked to circle over the city for 15-20 mins, since a previous flight had struck a dog on the runway...
And yes, Pune city just seemed like the best place on Earth!
3 comments:
Guess you didn't have to travel by auto-rickshaws...cos that itself is an experience worth an independent post!!
Although, I do find Chennai pretty clean compared to Bombay and Kolkata....I think Kolkata must be the dirtiest & most disgusting city I've ever seen in my life!
I can very well imagine ur situation ! We felt the same when we were away from Goa in the last month for almost two weeks. Excitement on the day we leave but after about a week we Goans get homesick or may be "fish sick" ?? We had actually carried with us "khobrel telan bhajille khare bangade" quite enough to last for two weeks.... Can u believe that ??
Lol yes, I am sure I would have had an experience in the autos... the Indica cabs were bad enough for me though!
As far as comparing to Mumbai is concerned... I am not sure I agree. Yes, Mumbai does have it's slums but in general, you can walk on the roads... garbage is picked up... it used to be like Chennai maybe 10 years back...
One good thing came out of this trip - I now love Pune even more and more every day! I have really learnt to appreciate our municipality and politicians!
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