I didn't take me too long to get a feel for the area. There were very obvious landmarks and such, only that the city seems to continue on and on.
A couple days in I felt up to walking through the red-light district. Mid-day, I told the auto driver the location, memorized the direction, and upon arriving was greeted by basically what I'd just left. There are sections to the city and such, each I'm sure with it's unique qualities, only it wasn't what I'd expected. I'm not really sure what I'd expected from a red-light district, more open I guess.
So I wandered around for some time until seeing a cluster of young women obviously waiting for something. It was probably about 3oclock by now and, as I understand the routine, they'd probably not been awake for more than a couple hours or so. My naivete was helpful in that I could plunge into the place but it wasn't long until I was being semi-swarmed by prostitutes grabbing and touching my arms and propositions. The alley wasn't too long, a couple hundred yards, and luckily fairly wide. And being early in the day the experience was not as discomforting as it could have been. One of the girls, older, probably mid 20s, was obviously strung out. The experience was obviously sad and terribly eye-opening.
I tried to find that alley again the next day but could not.
A couple days in Christina and I were encouraged to make a day trip to Mumbai whereupon we would meet up with one of the lawyers for Freedom Firm and his wife.
Link to pictures: Pune pictures
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Trip to Pune: part 1
A fellow volunteer, Christina Cameron, and I left Ooty for Pune on October 1. It was my first substantive trip in India and I soon discovered that there are some really beautiful spots near Ooty that hopefully I will be able to visit someday. The first part was by auto and was four hours to Mysore.
Late Thursday night, 10ish, we bored a train from Mysore to...I don't remember, basically north. Pune is a couple hours east of Mumbai and all that is west-central India. So after spending a restless night, though it's hard to complain given that we did have A/C and a bunk, we arrived at ?. From ? we took a bus to Kohlapur and from there a bus to another ?. And finally a nice bus from ? to Pune. It sounds not so great but it really wasn't so bad. It was nice to see the countryside. Unfortunately I'm not a very intelligent packer and having to bring my computer in addition to cameras was a bit nerve wracking and tiring.
In Pune, Poo-nah, the weather is hotter though it was fall and really quite nice. Warm with a slightly cool breeze. The city is far larger than Ooty at around 3 million people. The Christian presence is not what it is in Ooty though I never felt uncomfortable more just that I stood out, which is obvious.
We were booked rooms at a YMCA. Expensive and insect ridden, the rooms weren't terrible only the best of available options. Pune in many ways was the India I thought I'd be going to. I took the days to walk through the streets, and my lunches at McDonalds. Being so much larger Pune did have some of the Western conveniences I have missed. No beef, but still, pepperoni pizza from a Pizza Hut, chicken from a KFC and nuggets from McDonalds. If people had constantly been staring at me I could have believed I was home, almost.
Link to pictures: Pune pictures
Late Thursday night, 10ish, we bored a train from Mysore to...I don't remember, basically north. Pune is a couple hours east of Mumbai and all that is west-central India. So after spending a restless night, though it's hard to complain given that we did have A/C and a bunk, we arrived at ?. From ? we took a bus to Kohlapur and from there a bus to another ?. And finally a nice bus from ? to Pune. It sounds not so great but it really wasn't so bad. It was nice to see the countryside. Unfortunately I'm not a very intelligent packer and having to bring my computer in addition to cameras was a bit nerve wracking and tiring.
In Pune, Poo-nah, the weather is hotter though it was fall and really quite nice. Warm with a slightly cool breeze. The city is far larger than Ooty at around 3 million people. The Christian presence is not what it is in Ooty though I never felt uncomfortable more just that I stood out, which is obvious.
We were booked rooms at a YMCA. Expensive and insect ridden, the rooms weren't terrible only the best of available options. Pune in many ways was the India I thought I'd be going to. I took the days to walk through the streets, and my lunches at McDonalds. Being so much larger Pune did have some of the Western conveniences I have missed. No beef, but still, pepperoni pizza from a Pizza Hut, chicken from a KFC and nuggets from McDonalds. If people had constantly been staring at me I could have believed I was home, almost.
Link to pictures: Pune pictures
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