Walking through old Pune

Finally I get to go on a walking tour of the old town.

Met my guide at Shaniwar wada yet I have already been here so we moved on.

Statue of Baji Rao I who ruled this area in the 1700s.

Tour guide quickly learned that I like crafts so she lead me to the coppersmiths area.

Crafters of various types surrounded the palace in old days and many remain there today.

From here we entered several tiny alleyways poking around, mainly following our ears, for any crafters at work.

Lovely old copper container for heating water. Wood charcoal burns inside and the ash is collected below. Ash is used to clean copper and also in ceramics.

A crafter dings up the surface.

He is working to complete a set of pots, seen in the background, that a daughter would receive from her mother when she gets married.

Crafter assembling copper pieces into pots.

Tools used in copper sculpture.

I asked about this hole, in a clothes washing area, yet the guide had not seen this in other parts of town. A teenage girl explained it was used for shaping the bottom of copper pots.

Lovely doors.

Small recessed area would have housed an oil lamp in the old days.

Vegetables in a small market area.

Young girl shows me the henna drawings on her hands.

Wish I asked her name.

Today is friendship day so people were extra welcoming.

The 13th is Rakhi, brother and sister day. Sisters will tie a bracelet on their brother's arm and wish him long life. In return he will protect her and give her a gift.

Muslim market selling meat prepared according to the Islamic halal methods.

All the meat, fish and egg vendors are muslim.

A woman let me to photograph her earrings.

Delicious eggplants for sale on a lovely cart.

Pune is surrounded by farms so the produce here is always fresh, even if the variety is rather limited.

It is the limited variety of vegetables that lead to the creative and spicy cooking methods.

The 300 to 400 year old buildings will fall apart unless they get better maintenance.

Dagdu Seth Ganapati, the most important temple in Pune. Millions will come in about a month from now for a 10 day long celebration of Ganesha.

Ganesha.

Many small temples throughout the old town. In old times, having so many temples prevented the Muslims from controlling access to them.

An ox pulls a cart delivering ice.

The vendor chips off the amount of ice you need.

Vishrambaug wada now houses a post office, old maps and land registrations (after the British burned the old ones), and a gift shop run by women supporting the tribal artists.

Market is considered lightly populated at this time.

My tour guide, Daya Sudama (dayasudama@yahoo.com 9881236916) is a licenses tour guide. She is outstanding. Book her directly for a wonderful walking (or driving of you must) tour.

Associated with the upcoming Ganisha festival are these doll torsos. You would buy a head, torso and dress.

Daya kept regretting not having her camera. Haven't you seen everything?

"This is India. You never know what to expect and you can never see it all."

Another temple. I visited several, each associated with different gods.

Daya says the driving tours are far more popular yet the walking tours are more rewardable. I told her if she had me on a driving tour I'd be asking to stop every two minutes to let me out.

Signs outside a spice shop promoting what they have.

I bought some cardamom pods, the queen of spices.

Building housing a large produce market. Only vegetables are allowed to be sold here. No meat, fish, eggs or other animal products.

Piles of chillies!

Bamboo baskets being made and sold.

A street scene. I am getting better at crossing the street yet my primary tactic is still to hide behind someone else, using them as a shield of sorts.

Asked the driver to stop so I could explore the ceramics area. Next time it would be nice to walk through the potters area.

Lunch at Flags restaurant featuring items from around the world. I selected Lebanese food and fresh watermelon juice.