Moving onto the next topic. Pune. New city. Had heard in Bangalore itself that it's a much smaller city. I guess that should be a +ve point only. When I first saw Pune from sky, it appeared to be a well planned city. Then there was a large chunk of hilly area, with houses scattered here & there. So, I thought it's kinda mixed breed city. Once on land, the perception kept changing. The airport was very basic and no-frills airport. Had to walk from the plane to the luggage claim area. There was no ferry bus. There were only two conveyor belts. The whole airport was very small. Once I came out, the autos looked good. Specially the well-covered roofs and nicely colored body. It was apparent that they take care of their vehicles. Once the auto was running towards my destination, the city seemed like any other developing town. It did appear lesser than Bangalore; but not to the level of disappointment.

Once I entered Magarpatta City, I started liking it. The whole area is very well developed and well taken care of. The room allocated to me for two weeks is also very good. I'm wondering if this is the standard room in Pune. i.e. if this is a high end room or is this very common here. Went to a shopping complex near-by in the evening. Things were a little haphazard here. Didn't know or understood where to go to get something to eat or to get a new prepaid connection. Getting familiar to the place will take time. Anyway, somehow located two shops where prepaid connections can be bought. But surprisingly, neither of them knew what the current plan features are.

I came back home and searched the internet. Sadly, none of the operators provide free national SMSs in Pune. :( Reliance probably does but couldn't get a confirmation from anywhere. So, right now, I'm using my Bangalore docomo SIM only; whose tariffs are weird right now. For example, I'm charged 1 paise/sec for the incoming calls but also for outgoing as well. And after the 1st msg of the day is charged 1.50 rs, I'm still getting the 100 free msgs per day. Well, I guess - good for me. If I don't get a SIM with free national SMS, I'll keep the Bangalore DOCOMO active and use it for SMS.

Anyway, it's now been two days in Pune. So far, didn't find anything too great about this city, apart from the 4 FM channels that play hindi music all day long; as against just Radio One in Bangalore. Will have wait and watch. Have lots, lots and lots of things to take care of in these two weeks. Will have to write a whole separate post of that. Watch this space.