The Indian Nomad

I am born and brought up in North India but am living in Pune for last four years. This is the place I call home. I love eating out and on various occasions people keep asking me about my favorite eating places in Pune or where they can find Best Punjabi or best Biryani in town. So I thought let’s make a list of my favorite places to eat in Pune so that it can be a reference to someone searing for some good food options. Before starting my list, I am making few confessions to help you understand how I made the list. Let me clear you that it totally depends on my taste. People taste differs and it can happen that you don’t like a place where I love to eat. It’s also not correct to say that I have eaten at all places in Pune and then I am making a list out of that. I am not a fan in eating at those five star restaurants and only visit them when it is sponsored by someone else. I will not include any chain restaurants or places which I think is not Puneri. I am a teeto...

Front side of Dargah The quest for untold and unusual places had brought us to a small village near Pune. The village called Shivapur is known for an unusual Dargah of a 15 th century saint named Qamar ali darvesh. Someone from the twitter world had shared an image about the place and from there only I came to know about the story behind it. Till then, I was not aware about this fascinating story. So, Shivapur has a Dargah of a saint named Qamar ali darvesh and apart from that Dargah it has a large stone in its complex. The story goes like this that whenever eleven people will try to lift the stone by their index finger shouting the name of Qamar ali darvesh. They would be able to lift the stone above their head and if there are more or less people trying the same thing they won’t be able to lift it up. A man trying to lift it all alone I don’t believe in these kinds of stories and decided to check that out. We reached Shivapur and easily found the Dargah. The...

No matter who we are and from where we come from, one thing that connects us is an inexplicable fear of the dark because deep inside we all know in the dark lies the mysterious, the unknown, the super natural. Ours is a land where the tales of paranormal floats like water. We wanted to explore the dark and unravel the stories behind the unexplained that whether these tales are real or just legends. While talking to locals, we came to know about two places in Pune which are believed to be haunted and we tried to know the story behind it. There are many buildings and places of the bygone era which give the city a unique texture but these old places gave birth to legends which some believe are haunted. Many believe When the city goes to sleep in night, something comes alive. Our first destination was a 1858 hotel called Napier. It is located few yards from the most happening places of the city, M.G.Road. People say after mid night many incidents have been reported of a white...

Around 50 kilometers from Pune, aloof  in the middle of Paddy fields and Ghats, a small road head towards a hill top where one of the oldest Buddhist caves are located. These shrines came into existence  within the period of 2 nd century BC to 2 nd century AD. The place,definitely made for prayers by Buddhist monks  corroborated by Stupa kind of structure in its main hall.Not very far away and dated around  the same time,are the caves  of more celebrated  Ajanta and Ellora. We climbed  around 500 steps before reaching the cave site. Karla and Bhaje are situated on different hill tops but the kind of architecture and model does replicate. There are around 16 caves out of which cave 8 is main hall and only accessible to visitors. It is believed these caves are of Mahayana Buddhism. The Caves used to act as Buddhist monastery. There are pillars on both sides of the hall and a stupa is present at the end of hall. On some pillars,eng...

We are so busy and engaged in our daily lives that we are getting drifted from our family and friends. People in yesteryears held a stronger bond with their friends and there are few landmark places in Pune which bears testimony of the life we have left behind I am talking about the culture of Irani cafes and restaurant which is facing the brunt of modernity and finding it difficult to thrive in this changing times. The slowness and calmness of such cafes are not in sync with the fast and busy world. That’s why a major chunk of this iconic break-fast joints have put down there shutters and only few remain continuing their legacy. Here is my list of the last remaining four cafes and restaurants so that people can still enjoy the innocence of Bun-Muska and Irani chai over much hyped Starbucks. ·          Café Goodluck Perhaps, it is Pune’s most iconic Café. Every Punekar including Narayan murthy and Sharad Pawar were regular to the p...

Relationship between Monsoon and Western Ghats is quite special. It is one of the first region of our country where monsoon hits after the scorching summer. As a result, many getaways have come up over the years in the Sahyadri. I am listing out my 5 favorite weekend getaways in Western Ghats which you should try this monsoon.                                                 Lonavala/ Khandala         There is a reason why Aamir khan asked Rani Mukherjee to come to Khandala. This small town on Mumbai-Pune highway is the most famous weekend getaway and you can feel its beauty only by being there.                                                               Matheran   ...