Thursday, August 30, 2007

PUNE-The baby with the candy

This is my first blog after a long break.The break was largly due to some changes in my life.Its almost a month now that I have been to Pune. After IBM decided to allocate me to a new project here it was the time for me to travel once more.
The very first impression of this city was good and bad for me. Good was the fact that the people and the crowd was vibrant and bad was the fact that house rent and autowalas are a real menace here.
This city was primarily a city know for its educational facilities that anything else. The sheer number of colleges and college crowd at every hangout is a testimony of that. The expanding IT sector in India has seen a boom in IT development in Pune. But the growth unlike Bangalore had not been regular. This city is experiencing a sudden IT boom. Its like a baby who has just got a candy. The real estate prices have shot up to an abnormal extent and since the IT crowd is willing to shell out extra money the prices of rental houses have shot through the roof. This has in turn affected the market and the prices of articles have started to climb. This has made it difficult for the student crowd here, a few articles recently in the paper has shown the adverse effect the IT candy is having on common man here. The immediate segment who is out there to make the mullahs are the autowalas. They follow no pay chart of the earth, infact they are out there to rob every penny of your purse, flaunting every rule.
The good weather along with a hospitable native crowd has made this city an attractive location in spite of the few hunches I had talked about earlier. Weather wise Pune should rank just after Bangalore with its moisture laden pleasant weather. One can travel to various places from here in the form of weekend treks and trips. As for me I have just visited GOA so far. I am planning to travel extensively in the coming few months to make sure that I explore this part of the country.
Other than this one thing I have noticed about this place is the young and colorful and vibrant crowd everywhere, it gives a college like feeling whenever I visit any hangout. The night life here is alive and safe compared to any city of the country. The number of nightclubs and restaurants that remains open till late night makes a comprehensive proof of this fact. The college crowd actually makes this city happening than the IT crowd. But the baby has got the candy now and it will be interesting to see how the baby handles the candy of IT boom. I am looking at a long stay in this city and it will be interesting to observe this change I guess
!

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