Kirkee-II

continued from Kirkee-I

3:00 PM, 3^rd Feb 2010.

I checked from the care-taker of CQA (M) about the Agha Khan Palace, Dugruseth Halwai Ganesh Temple and Shanibarwada Palace and set out.

I called up Sushmita. O yes she is a Sen.

“Tumi tumtum koreo jete paro!!’.You can take tumtum

What is this tumtum all about?

They are six-seated auto rickshaws. One more big difference is that in other autos they use scooter’s handle but here they have big steering in tumtums. The view of tumtum reminded me the big10-seater autos which were among Delhi’s main attractions many years ago.

I didn’t think of tumtums but instead I took a metred auto. In Calcutta we don’t have any such autos. In Bhubaneswar autos do have meters are there but as vestigial appendages. In Mumbai and Bangalore they are present and used. Pune falls in that group.

The equation of fare is:

                          Total Amount = (Metered Reading X 7) – 3

It took twenty to twenty-five minutes for me to reach Yerwada, where the Palace is located. The fare was 53 rupees.

Agha Khan Palace is a marvellous white architecture surrounded by large trees with nice landscaping and lush green lawn everywhere. God knows what prompted the Agha khan to built a palace and donate it to the British only to keep our Mahatma confined after he called for Quit India Movement in 1942.This is where Kasturba died on Mahashivratri of 1944.

I later learnt that Agha Khan III built the palace with the intention to be a source of employment for the famine-struck villagers in the surrounding areas. Later his son donated it to the Government of India in 1969 in memory of MK Gandhi.

The place was not crowded and few foreign tourists were there.

The compound of the palace reminded me of our Central Park in Kolkata. Couples took every corner behind the bushes. A lone security personnel was whistling if he spots any nuisance in a place associated with Bapu. I found his whistling seldom stops, whenever he turns on one side someone starts snogging on the other. A nice cat-and-mouse game was on.

The ticket was as usual Rs.5 as in case of other monuments belonging to the Archaeological Survey of India.

The palace is a multi-storeyed building one but only the ground floor is open to the public. The palace had a good collection of items used by the Mahatma. They include charka, cutlery, bed, mattress, earthen wares, mala, chappals, letters etc. A small amount of Gandhi's ashes are kept here as well. His room along with the adjacent bathroom is maintained just as they were. In this room Kasturba died. There are several paintings depicting his life but some are damaged.

What surprised me was the bathroom attached to the room in which Mahatma and his wife stayed. It was very spacious about 20ft by 30ft. It was tiled, had modern bath tub, commode, and basin and yes a geyser. Mahatma is said to have lead a very simple life then how came his bathroom be so luxurious? This idea baffled me a lot. May be it was in a palace. I can’t comment on his other places of stay like Sewagram, Sabarmati as I haven’t visited them.

This is what I learnt while on visit to the museum:

Here Gandhiji and his wife were interned in 1942 after declaration of the ‘Quit India’ resolution. He was accompanied by Miraben, Shri Pyarelal Nayar, Smt. Sarojini Naidu, Dr. Shushila Nayar and his personal secretary Shri Mahadevbhai Desai.

Here are some of the milestones in Mahatma’s life at Aga Khan Palace.
- 10th August 1942 Gandhiji and his colleagues where brought here from Bombay
- 15th August 1942 his personal secretary and long time-aid Shri Mahadevbhai Desai dies of heart attack
- 22nd February 1944 Kasturba breathed her last after prolonged illness.
- 6th May 1944 Gandhiji and his colleagues were released from Aga Khan Palace because of his failing health and necessary surgery

A corridor followed by a walkway leads to a closed place. There is also a board, on which it is mentioned “This path was taken by Mahatma during Ba’s funeral.”

The Samadhi of Shri Mahadevbhai Desai and Kasturba are in a closed ground below the actual level of the palace. Charles Correa later built the samadhis. They are octagonal white marbled structure. They were typical Hindu memorial with a tulsi plant in each.

My next destination was Shanibarwada and Dugruseth Temple. Both are situated near Manpa (Mahanagar Palika) but across the river. The Shanibadwada fort looks classic from outside with a big cavalry statue of the Peshwa in the compound. But inside just the foundation of the majestic palace is there. Here I think some hidden vigilant cameras are absolute need. Not for security purpose but for voyeurs’ pleasure.

Shanibadwada was a wooden palace which is said to have been razed by fire.

Dugruseth Halwai Ganesh Temple is situated few hundred metres from the fort. It looks like a simple temple ,the idol can be seen from the main road.

Inside? It seemed to me that it is one of the most prosperous temples of the country. Inside the structure is silvered along with huge a chandelier at the centre of the temple’s ceiling. What caught my eyes was the pure gold ornament of Shri Ganapati.

7PM, 4^th Feb 2010.Hinjewadi.

One after the other Buses are passing by. God knows which one to take.

Jophy (Jophy Joy) suggested,” Aundh tak bus le na.”

In Infosys Jophy’s creation Channel[j] or J-Toonz are quite famous.

Sushmita Sen said” Wakad”

I came via Parihar.

Sanket is not reachable.

I need to go to Khadki Railway Station.

Boarded a tumtum.

Right opposite to me sat a girl who was speaking in Bengali in her hands free.

And her eyes were glowing simultaneously which suggested that she was planning some mischief.

“Haan,” she whispered in her phone “ shonibaar din jabo Monday-Tuesday leave nilam.”

“Take a hotel near the Pune station and spend the day here and there, I will come by the evening. Raat ta ek sathe katiye pordin Kamseth hoye,Lonavala chole jabo.Sekhane ami ghor book kore rekhechi”

“Muuahh!!”

“ Na ekhane keu Bangla bojhe na!”

I went on listening to her plans which she was explaining in my native vernacular.

She also got down at Auand with me.

“Excuse me?” I called her.

I was cautious, as I didn’t wanted her to listen to my offbeat Hindi which is always studded with gems of Bengali words.

  “How to go the Khadki Bazaar?”

“Bus number 11 or 153”

Back at Torna.

I went towards the window to see the cemetery. Nothing was visible.

Dinner arrived when I was browsing the news channels on TV.

Rahul Gandhi will be on 1-day Mumbai visit. Balasaheb has called him the Prince Of Italy.

All channels were babbling the same story.

In one channel I found weather updates. Pune has recorded max. 29 deg and min 17deg.

I was much interested whether Delhi will have fog covered morning the next day because my return flight to Calcutta was via Delhi. I was not interested whether my flight will land in Delhi but whether I will be able to see the magnificent top-view of the Qutab Minar just before landing at IGI Airport. 


                                                                                                                                                                                                      to be continued