PUN - EH ?

I wake up to the peaceful quiet of a Sunday morning. The one day I’ve been waiting for so eagerly all week. Sundays, I suddenly realize, have so often been undervalued, especially when you work from dawn to dusk six days a week. No bus to hurry for, nor the 1 mile trek early morning, enduring the weight of your eyelids, struggling to keep your pace while half the world is fast asleep. You forget the fear of meddlesome co-workers; minions of evil waiting to bungle your ingeniously knit plans on the first opportunity. You begin the day in a state of beguiling, even though ephemeral, bliss. Eudaemonia.

Pune. The Chicago of India’s western plateau (yes, it’s windy too). A city known for its lifestyle, splendour and luxury cars (which have so tenaciously occupied my thoughts of late). A metallurgical and materials engineer who would otherwise have been stuck at a secluded steel plant in a corner of nowhere, would be fortunate beyond expectations to pursue his/her career in one of the country’s finest places to live in.

Luckily for me, (if I might yet confer myself the esteemed degree of an engineer) my stars have guided me to this charismatic city – abuzz with life and activity. Towering, intimidating buildings, vehicles plying all day along busy roads, the asphalt level and free of undulations. No wonder a stranger in his early days is lured by everything that meets the eye. The evening sky mirrors the fantastic synergy between clouds and the sun, a sight that every nature enthusiast would want to capture on film and tuck away somewhere safe to be preserved forever. Perhaps the only thing lacking is the north Indian cuisine. But as goes the proverb: ‘Where there is a will, there is a way’; there is nothing beyond reach, and ‘the whole world conspires to get to you what you desire for’.

Add to this a spacious apartment, a motorbike, and four ‘idiots’ all set to explore the possibilities and mysteries of this paradise of a city. Isn’t it what we set out for from Roorkee in the first place, the town we’re obliged to spend four precious years of our college life – devoid of the charm of a BMW, the heights of skyscrapers and the glimmer of night lights? I wouldn’t be surprised if one would want to join the millions living in this city as its citizens. But I guess I’d rather be content with the fresh air of the countryside, the aroma of morning dew on soft, lush green grass, and the musical sound of a gushing stream nearby. Then again, there are other things that might make this impossible – for one, I am an engineer.