Visit to Nagpur

Inscribed by Hariharan

Had been to Nagpur this weekend and was it Nostalgic or what !? “Now what is Nagpur got to with Nostalgia ?”, you may wonder … Ok lemme tell you … Nagpur is where I have spent my formative years of my life … 10th Standard onwards till finishing my Engineering … Everything from my first crush to all the successes and failures in between happened there … Had to show the place to Janani … She is all impressed I am sure.

Highlights of my visit to Nagpur …

• City has developed like crazy: Lots of more Shopping Malls, Buildings, Apartments etc … it was getting difficult to recognize places there
• Visit to my Engineering college (Priyadarshini college of Engineering and Architecture): The college looks gorgeous with the majestic main gate (one of the biggest I have seen). The new IT Building looks like one of the buildings you normally see abroad (huge pillars and large doors etc) … People of my batch would remember the “water body” that was part of the initial college plan. You would not believe the college is now complete with an actual water body, proper landcaping, trees and greenary all over. There are couple of new buildings and overall it was awe inspiring
• Sad news on the college front – Dr. (Mrs) R V Deshpande (or Deshpande madam as we called her !!) .. our Engineering Mathematics professor, passed away after fighting cancer for about 2 years. May her soul rest in peace.
• On the way back from college, I saw our regular hangout the Pakodewala @ trimurti nagar … unfortunately was closed
• City Roads seem to have taken a bit of a beating and needs some repair. When I had left Nagpur, they were in much better shape and the roads are something that the city should be proud of so its sad that there are maintenance issues. I hope the authorities take the necessary action soon to get it back in shape.
• Visited my junior college SFS College in Seminary Hills … The drive to the college was as usual breathtaking with all the greenery and the hilly roads. Also took a drive to the Parsi Agiyari on Seminary hills .. it’s a good view from there … I used to go there when I was in junior college … Also visited the deer park and the nearby gardens. The road from the SFS College passing by the cemetery and to the Japanese Garden is now closed … Don’t know for what reason. But that used to be a good road to go into.
• Visited the Balaji Temple on the hills … it has also changed drastically with the new enterance Gopuram and the new temples under construction. Got a good darshan there. Got back some old memoriesAlso visited the Telankhedi Mandir … no changes there except that the Samosa wala is now a big guy with a big shop and all that .. he used to be a small shop then … :) …
• Passed by the Telankhedi lake and then went to the Ambazari lake and the garden beside the lake … learnt that boating has now stopped for the last 2 years … it was a nice view nonetheless
• Saw some more temples that were close to my (late) Mother’s heart. I used to take her there often. (Sai Mandir on Wardha road, the Hanuman Mandir @ Ramnagar Chowk and South Indian Temple – Sarveshwara Devalaya Temple in Ramnagar)
• Lunch @ Haldiram Thaat Baat, Breakfast @ Gokul Vrundavan and Chaat @ Bajajnagar Thelawala … Awsome …
• Drive by Dharampeth main road was awesome .. Softcell is no longer there … :( … Sudama Theatre is now better after the renovation … Saw Kameney there … (I didn’t like it !!!)
• Saw the house that I used to stay in … met my old landlord uncle … And met my Nagpur Music teacher … It was nice meeting her after a long time.

That is a lot for activities for a day … How I miss not taking my camera … :( .. So I have no photos to share with you all …

I left the places with a feeling of Nostalgia. Nagpur brought back sweet memories of the time that I spent at there … it will always be a pleasure to visit the place anytime … Hope there is something like a get together that can be arranged with all friends back in Nagpur for a visit … A distant dream … Lets hope …