Pune, India

I’m currently working in Pune, India and will be here for three weeks. Since arriving on the 3rd, it’s been quite interesting to observe the people, culture and daily life here. I was looking forward to this trip though not the long journey to get here, which took about 28 hours and two long layovers in Hong Kong and Bangalore. Since the moment the hotel car came to pick me up at the airport, I was eager to see for myself what it is really like in India.

Pune is considered a small city when compared to Mumbai or New Delhi, though it’s population is about 3.4 million. It is a developing city with a growing number of IT development centers. But mostly it is a city of extreme contrasts. Driving past neighborhoods of tin shacks, I arrived at the Taj Blue Diamond, a rather posh hotel. Everywhere I go it’s quite common to see extreme poverty next to some swanky hotel, restaurant or shopping mall.

The traffic is very chaotic, but somehow people here know how to maneuver through it without getting hit. Four-wheelers and two-wheelers weave in and out of lanes while dodging pedestrians crossing the street in between vehicles and auto rickshaws that look like black beetles swarming the roadways. The bigger streets have lane markings though no one stays within them and the honking never ends.

I’ve taken a number of photos, but I’ve been quite busy so it’s been hard to find time to edit and post. However, I’ve finally been able to post some to my Flickr stream and I’ll also be posting to my photo blog that I’ve just launched.