My Pune Dairy
Author: Dr. K.S. Kang
My younger son had taken admission in three years Masters Course in Music Designing and Recording in one of the premium institutes of the country Film and Television Institute of India (FTTI) at Pune in 2018. Though the duration of this course was three years but due to Covid pandemic it was extended to five years as a result of which he could complete his course at the end of the year 2023. I and my wife decided to visit Pune to attend his final screening that symbolised almost the end of the course. Though I had visited Pune twice earlier also- once in 1998 to attend National Convention of SPIC-MACAY at another legendary educational institute Fergueson College of the town and second time a couple of years later with the nephew of my wife Kuki to explore the avenues of higher education - but it was first visit for my wife. Our seats were booked in the weekly train Udaipur-Mysuru Hamsafar Express and we boarded the train at 11.30 p.m from our home town Chittorgarh on 13-11-2023. Though originally our berths were RAC ( Reserved Against Cancellation) earlier but they got confirmed just a day before the journey commenced. So we boarded the train at the appointed time and occupied our berths and went to sleep almost instantly. Throughout the night train covered the distance through Madhya Pradesh and when we woke up in the morning we were in Gujarat and by 8 a.m we were at Baroda. During the night train had covered the region of Neemuch, Mandsore, Ratlam, Indore and some part of Gujrat. At Baroda we had a mini breakfast of tea and pakoras which were hot and fresh. After going through the stations of Bharuch and Surat train entered Maharashtra state at Palghar. It reached the nearest town to Mumbai- Varsai Road in the afternoon where we had lunch provided by Railways. A salt factory was easily visible through the window of the train that was producing the salt from the sea water.Then train bypassed almost the entire Mumbai to reach Kalyan Junction. From Kalyan junction the journey became very picturesque and enchanting as it passed through the valleys formed by the Western Ghats between Mumbai and Pune. Train nearly crossed half a dozen tunnels through the mountains making this journey more romantic and memorable. This pleasant and beautiful journey in the lap of nature continued till Lonewala that is considered the nearest hill station from Mumbai. The journey from Kalyan to Lonewala was full of beautiful landscapes and breathtaking beauty and greenery of nature visible in every nook and corner. After Lonewala the journey became levelled and sober and after crossing various stations like Khaki( Army Cantonment) and Shivaji Nagar the train reached Pune junction at about 5 O’clock in the evening. My son had come to receive us at the station though he was also not sure about the platform on which train would arrive as there is so much congestion of traffic at Pune junction that even display boards too show the name and number of train and not the platform on which it would arrive till the eleventh hour. So my son stood on the bridge and waited finally for the train to come and then came to the concerned platform.
As my wife got sick so we took auto and reached the campus of FTII where a road divided into two campuses. Western part of it housed hostels, studio’s and Director’s office and residence while the eastern part had faculty quarters and a guest house which was booked in advance by my son for us. It was a reasonably well furnished room having a double bed, two easy chairs, a table and an another chair and of course a wardrobe. After relaxing for some time we went for the dinner with the batch mates of my son. There we came to know about two boys who had lost their parents in their childhood and as their father worked in the institute so the hostellers took the responsibility of looking after them. The batches looked after their needs by collecting and contributing the funds and then passed over the responsibility of looking after them to the succeeding batches. Like this one of the boy had joined the Junior College in Mumbai after clearing the matriculation exams. So the learners of this institute were not only caring about the stray cats and dogs but human beings as well which was quite a noble gesture. After dinner we came back to our room and went to bed.
15-11-2023
Next morning after breakfast in the canteen of the institute we went for a brief visit to my son’s room in the hostel and then went around the campus of the institute. This institute is a film school set up under the auspices of Ministry of Broadcasting & Information and aided by Government of India. It is situated on the precincts of erstwhile Prabhat Film Company, set up in 1930 that gave films till 1960 and then this institute came up after that. Its alumni includes Technicians, Actors, Directors, Cinematographers, Sound Designers, in the film and Television industry of the country. It is member of International Liaision Centre of Schools of Cinema and Technology (CILECT) – an organization of the world’s leading schools of film and television. Though it was established in 1960 and commenced its courses in 1961 but the Television Training Wing, which was earlier functioning in New Delhi, came up in 1974. It offers three years graduate courses in film direction, editing, cinematography and audiography, two year courses in acing and art-direction, an eighteen months course in Computer Graphics and animation, a one year course in feature film script writing, and one year Post Graduate Certificate Course in direction, electronic cinematography video editing and audiography.
As we were going around the campus first of all we went to visit Film Laboratory, Film Library, Department of Screenplay Writing, and Film Editing. Besides visiting the Director’s office, we also went to Sound-Editing Department that was fitted with some of the most modern and state of art equipment used in sound editing. We also saw erstwhile Prabhat Studio from inside with long cranes touching almost the high dome of the building and the sets of hospital, court room, railway station, police station and the like. Our tour of the institute was complete in the couple of hours. After going around the precincts of the institute we went to see the famous historical iconic building of Pune, popularly known as Shaniwar Wada associated with Baji Rao and Mastani. We went to see it by auto that we took from the institute and it was a pleasant surprise that autos of this place were charging by metre Rs 25/- for the first kilometre and then so on.
We reached the monument which was a fortification of the city of Pune. It was built in 1732 as a great seat of the Peshwas of the Maratha empire until 1818. Following the rise of Maratha empire the palace became the centre of Indian politics during 18th century. This fort was destroyed in 1828 by an unexplained fire that raged for seven days continuously. It was seven storey building housing the Capital of the Peshwas. It was made of stone. After the completion of the first floor people of Satara complained to Chattrapati Sahuji that a stone structure can only be built by an emperor and not by one of his Prime Ministers or Peshwas. Hence, the rest of the building was made of bricks. So the whole structure is built partly of stones and partly of bricks. Ninety years later British artillery assaulted it and razed the top six storeys to the ground leaving only the stone base that could not be destroyed by artillery fire. In 1758 nearly one thousand people were living in the premises. In 1773 Narayan Rao who was the fifth ruling Peshwa in power then was murdered by Guards on the orders of his uncle Raghunath Rao and his aunt Anandi Bai. In June 1818 Peshwa Baji Rao II abdicated throne of Pune to Sir John Malcolm of the British East India Company and went into political exile to Bithoor near Kanpur. The same year a great fire started inside the palace that raged for seven days and reduced everything in the palace to ashes except heavy granite ramparts, strong teak gateways and deep fondations and ruins of the building within the fort. On entering this structure my wife was dismayed at seeing only walls, rampart and a garden with a fountain in the centre as the only remains of the grand place that it once was. After taking a few snaps we went to a nearby hotel to have our lunch outside Shaniwar-Wada. After taking lunch we returned back to the institute well in time to attend the final screening o the short film produced by the class fellows of my son’s class fellows at one of the theatres of the institute. After the screening we took dinner and returned back to our room to retire for the night.
16-11-2023
Next morning we went to the market to have breakfast of local delicacies like Misal Pav and the legendary Bada-Pav. After breakfast we took an auto and went to meet the son of a family friend who was living in Pune with his family. His father was my father-in law’s colleague and friend, who has also retired as Executive Engineer from Department of Irrigation, Government of Rajasthan. His name was Rohit Joshi and my wife has already contacted him on phone to know about his address. My son hired an Ola Auto for us that took us to our destination. It was a pleasant afternoon well spent with a small family of intellectually and academically vibrant beings. Both Mr.Rohit and his wife were avid readers and they were well read people specially in the field of English Literature. I had a pleasant experience of discussing various authors ranging from Charles Dickens to Salman Rushdie. Their daughter was also interested in literature and she was brilliant a short story author in English language but due to some reasons she had taken admission in B.A (Hons.) Economics in a college affiliated to Delhi University. Even their son, who was studying in eighth standard had interesting hobbies like numismatics. He showed us various coins collected by him from various eras of different countries. My wife too promised him to give him coins whenever he came to visit his grandparents, who lived at Bhilwara in Rajasthan. He had another equally interesting hobby of rearing turtles and he placed a small turtle on the palm of my wife. After taking a delicious and homely lunch at their residence we came back to institute by autorickshaw. We have been taking meals either at canteen or in the market hotels so we were fed up of street and hotel food. So this lunch was a great relief to us as it was nutritious, healthy, tasty and above all a home made meal. We reached the institute well in time to watch the final presentation in the form of a short movie that was made by a team that included my son too as a sound and music director. It was a science fiction in Marathi language with English subtitles. We watched the movie in the first show that was specially screened for parents, and the faculty member of the institute which was followed by two more shows for the learners of the institute. Our son had briefed us about the theme of the movie otherwise it would not have been easy for us to make it out its true sense. Title of this film was Aligning with Forty Degrees East. On the completion of the successful screening everybody congratulated the team including my son as it marked officially the successful completion of course at the institute. We had a pleasant surprise visit by one of the faculty member of the institute who had taught my son the nuances of music designing in the institute. He had been a famous sound director who had worked with the famous Director Mani Kaul of Jaipur. He had joined institute as a faculty to ensure stability in his personal life so as to ensure proper education for his child. After taking dinner we went to bed early as we had to catch the train for home early next morning. It was unfortunate that my main aim of the visit to go to NDA at Khadavasla could not be realised in this visit. So I had no option but to leave it to the almighty who may perhaps fulfil it in some point of time in future.
17-11-23
We woke up early in the morning and reached early at the railway station of Pune Junction so as to ensure that we don’t miss our train. Due to congestion of traffic though the name and number of the train was being displayed but the the number of platform on which it would arrive was not being displayed. So we waited outside the station and had a cup of tea while the platform no was displayed on the digital board. Using auto escalators, as we had luggage, we reached the specified platform to board the train. Train was almost on time and after a journey of 15 hours we reached our home town Chittorgarh in Rajasthan along with my wife and son.
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