Blogs from Pune, Maharashtra, India, Asia - page 6

Upon our arrival to Pune with Nikhil we were greeted by his dad at the train station and he took us to his and Nikil’s mom apartment. It was so nice not to be in a hotel but a very warm and welcoming home! We first had a delicious Indian tea with milk followed by a delicious traditional south Indian breakfast (idli, sambar, dosai, tomato and coconut chutney). A well deserved post breakfast nap followed! Before we met up with our friend Deepthi, her husband Mithun and sun Surya, we went with Nikhil to the mall to try…Indian McDonalds (still spicy and mostly vegetarian) and take some cash out of the ATM. We also had the chance to see our first historical sight – Aga Khan Palace. Aga Khan Palace was built in the year 1892 ... read more

Ello ello, so where did we leave off? Aaaah I remember, t’was our last night in Zainabad and we were having a phat party with the akaash ganga kids & much fun music. We have been missing Zainabad very much; the area is beautiful, the wildlife stunning, and the people are lovely, especially our akaash ganga family, who me and kids have been thinking about a lot…..I also miss having a bike at my disposal(even if it was an ancient hero Honda), to scoot around the village with the kids; one on the front, one on the back, in true Indian style! Was even giving the kids motorbike lessons(don’t worry, I was on the bike too!); Akashi got the hang of accelerating steadily, but Shivum was a lot more dangerous at first, zooming the thing forward ... read more

Yesterday, I visited ganpati mandals with my cousin sister. We went by auto-rickshaw in evening till appa balwant chowk & from there we roamed around the city on foot till shani paar(to avoid the traffic jams..). We saw various ganpati mandals, their decorations, huge pandals, fountains, electric light decorations, flower decorations………it was very divine and spiritual experience to visit these Places. The Ganesh Murtis here are very beautiful and elegant..Just so attractive, we can’t take off our eyes of them….. The ganesh utsav is celebrated with enthusiasm and zeal in pune. Every Mandal works hard towards displaying splendid decorations. The atmosphere is very enhanting with all that “Dhatad Tatad” music which makes you shake, gorgeous colorful rangolis, smell of “dhups” and lot of mythological scenes designed by the mandals and the tasty Prasad of “modaks” and ... read more

Our first full day on the MUWCI (Mahindra United World College of India) campus was a great one! Today is a day when we saw the importance of careful planning. We opened the day with Nandita Deostahle of MUWCI giving is an overview of the entire UWC system, and some of the history of MUWCI itself. The UWC system is now up to 13 campuses worldwide with a new campus about to open in the Netherlands. It was founded after World War two to try to prevent future such conflicts. Most campuses just offer 11th and 12th grades, but a few were K-12 schools when they became UWC schools. MUWCI was founded in 1997 and it enrolls 200 students each year in 11th and 12th grades, usually from 60-70 countries and nationalities. It has a 175 ... read more

Travel from Mumbai to Pune. Today started with a pack up and move out from the Marigold Hotel to the MUWCI (Mahindra United World College) Campus in Pune. Driving out of Mumbai, you realize why it is most populus city on earth, the high rises go on for seemingly ever. Then the landscape changed to moutains as we climbed the Dacan plateau. With many open waterfalls, and lush vegetation during the rainy season, the landscape reminds me very much of costa rica and other tropical locations. We planned for a 3.5 hour bus ride that actually took 5. Along the way we stopped at a rest stop, and learned that we were not the only ones having a get-away from Mumbai. We arrrived to a great lunch and a warm welcome from teh Muwci staff and ... read more