Preserve Of The Peshwas

Jerry Pinto July 03, 2000 00:00 IST Preserve Of The Peshwas -0001-11-30T00:00:00+05:53

The problem with your backyard is that you don't pay too much attention to it. It's there, it isn't going away and there's always going to be another occasion to see it.

And since Pune is in Mumbai's backyard, the Average Mumbaikar (AM) almost never sees the city that was once the proud capital of Peshwa power, the most significant city on the Deccan plateau. AM arrives there too late to buy Shrewsbury biscuits from Kayani's (they're over at some unearthly hour in the morning) and says, "Damn! Next time." AM leaves that evening because you can get back before the last pub closes in Mumbai and thinks as the auto hurtles past the eighth century Pataleshwar temple, "Damn! Next time."

Which is why Pune, Queen of the Deccan is a book you can enjoy even if Pune has always been in your backyard and even if it has not. You can visit the Pataleshwar temple, the Moraya Gosavi Mandir and ghats, the peths and the wadas, the Aga Khan palace, the Camp and never leave your seat on the Deccan Queen.

For Pune was an interesting city, cursed with an...