An Early Morning Walk On The Streets Of Old City of Pune

Taking photographs on the streets of old city of Pune in the early morning was on my bucket list for a long time. Ever since Covid-19 lock-downs began, I was thinking about taking my camera and hit the streets. I do not define myself as a street photographer or cityscape photographer. But, I do like to take photos on the streets once in a while. I wanted to take photos on old city of Pune before it gets choked up. Which can be a better situation than a foggy winter dawn? I got the opportunity after waiting for at least an year. So here is the photo blog.

My primary focus was to capture the stillness, calmness and grayish shades of the old city of Pune. Of course I never meant to take black and white photos but you get my point! I guess I had a hidden desire to see how Old city of Pune looked before 2021 too! Another interesting part is the street lights piercing through the dark and the fog. I planned to cover Shanipar, Mandai and Tulshibaug area during this walk. Please take a look at following map to understand the locations.

Obviously my first stop was Shanipar. I reached they by auto and immediately started looking around. It was not a surprise to see that this chowk or square looked amazingly different at the dawn. It was cold and foggy. The streets were almost empty. A perfect beginning I must say. I began taking photos. Btw for those who don’t know about the Shanipar, it’s combination of two words Shani – The god, son of Lord Sun and Par – A small porch built around a tree or a temple. It’s not difficult to guess now why the place is called Shanipar!

When I took the camera and walked a few steps away from the front gate of the temple, an old man (we call them Ajoba or grandfather in my native language) walked in the frame. My initial intention was to take a wide angle photo of the temple but I think it turned to be a better photo than I thought.

Then it was evident that, I turned around and took photo of the empty street behind me. It looked ghostly silent and empty!

Immediately I walked towards the square and took a shot at the square facing towards Bajirao Road, Vishrambaug Wada. There was a time in the history of Pune where this area was a place where Peshwa’s used to rest.

Be mindful that, I have added some filters on the photo to my liking for fun. I hope you will forgive if any filter doesn’t fit your taste 🙂

I moved on and started my little stroll towards Mandai. The first “Object” I saw was a moped of a milkman on the empty street. I loved the isolation of it on the empty street. It had surroundings of old buildings and background of some construction / infrastructure work. I captured a range of colours in this picture. It was still cold and foggy.

And exactly on the opposite side of this moped a Auto rickshaw was parked. Owner was cleaning it. It was a good opportunity for me to try out different angles. The owner was kind enough to allow me walk around the rickshaw while he continued the cleaning.

This photography experiment uplifted my morale. This was the moment where I thought “I’ve made the right decision to come out of home at this moment of the day”. At this moment I started enjoying myself. I left the auto rickshaw behind and started walking towards Mandai again. Now I will present the same photo with different philosophy of editing. Please let me know which is your favourite one. I personally liked the grainy one but, I will keep this decision with readers.

Not only the look street was somewhat surreal in some sense but also empty with full of life around even in the dark. For next few minutes I clicked around trying to find some interesting subjects. Here are a few of them.

For a moment I thought I looked a bit weird and out of place at that moment and the place. But, who cares? I was taking photographs. After a 50-60 ft of walk I cam across an alley. It deserved at least a couple of clicks. I had taken a similar photo in the past in other side of the city. The yellow tinge of lights and other covering materials enhanced the grungy (is it a word?!) feeling. The buildings and curve looked good in the frame.

And I continued walking on the footpath. More carts covered with flex material. It gave a glimpse of “how an empty store looks when storekeeper goes home?”

Just another photo of the road facing back towards Shanipar

Just a few steps and I was at the corner from where Mandai’s structure becomes visible. It was amazing to see that there was almost no one around it. Usually, you won’t find a place to stand during the day time. This place is noisy, crowdy and clumsy. But at that time it looked like a painting! Honestly, it looked like a painting to me. The bluish red tinge on the sky behind it enhanced the stone structure.

The hawkers carts enhanced the foreground for these frames. I took another photo and applied a kind of filters that made them look like poster.

Another grainy photo. Actually it was a parked cart. For a moment I thought it’s a good frame. I will let you decide whether it’s a good frame or not?

I took some photo standing near the entrance. Look at the symmetry of the structure of the mandai. I took some more photos with similar angle but I will post them later since, I took them later in the time. Colors were different and the effect too. Btw the clock is broken, always shows 4 o’clock!

Another filter effect for the entrance

Then I entered in the mandai. Tungsten bulb lighting, amber wash over the surroundings gave a lot to work with. Another interesting aspect of photography in mandai is a unique combination of structures and systematic placements, colors. I was fortunate that I was able to watch it with a certain amount of stillness and darkness. I think I took some really good photos. Posting some of them below in the gallery.

I moved inside the mandai for some time. And then I stumbled upon a frame which was unexpected. While walking around inside mandai, I was expecting anything but a formation of the frame where I will find a statue or Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj just put on a platform. The statue was facing in exactly opposite direction from the vegetable seller on the opposite side of the platform. For a moment I thought the King is having the seller’s back. In marathi we have a better way of describing this.. “पाठीराखा” . A पाठीराखा is not merely someone who has your back but also is someone who gives you motivation to live your life despite of hardships. During the Covid times people have really suffered a lot. FOr a moment I though Maharaj is having our back.. our पाठीराखा! Here are photos of this composition.

Then I decided to move out since there was an entire area to be photographed yet! No here are some photos from outside of the mandai but now since the time passed, the light was different. And now I framed them differently. This includes photos of the same entrance of the mandai which I posted above.

Honestly, Pune looked a lot different that day. Maybe because, I never visited old city before in such time. Pune looks beautiful. I moved my direction towards Lord Shri Ram Temple in Tulsibaug.

A lot of people don’t know about this temple. Please do visit this temple whenever you’ll visit Pune. It is a wonderful experience to be inside that architecture. I hope my photos will give some glimpses of the older times of Pune. I chose to take these photos in greyscale (black and white), greyish tones and gave them gloomy look, to get the perspective as I wanted. For a moment you will realize that this part of the city found a time machine to remain in some older era.

Not only was it a serene experience but also a very quiet one. Never in my life I saw this place so quiet. Almost as if the whole temple and surroundings still sleeping. That morning blues feeling was in the air. I must confess that at times it gave an awkward feeling since I was the only one walking around with camera, looking at the things in different angles.

Not many people may now it but there is also a Hanuman temple on the other side of the Ram Temple. This door takes you to the backside of the Tulsibaug. It was still foggy, gloomy, slow and dull. Perfect condition for me to take a couple of snaps.

These roads open on the road that stretches between Shrimant Dagadusheth Ganpati Temple and Mandai. This is the place of flower shops. One can buy daily usage flowers here. Fog and flowers! I took that chance and snapped a couple of times to grab the frames.

The spirit was high but the time was less. I started walking towards Laxmi Road and then walk back towards Shanipar through Bajirao Road. But this walk also gave opportunities to take some nice pics of the roads, architecture and buildings.

It was nothing but a mere chance that I found a person walking on the road in a perfect frame. He looked like he is matter of fact. But, that’s how the life is, right? Just matter of fact. I walked at least a couple of steps behind him to fit him in a frame. Finally, I got the frame I wanted!

My trip was coming to an end. It was around 8 am. I had been on my feet constantly taking photos, looking for frames, subjects and motifs. Tiresome but rewarding. I turned left and started walking on the Laxmi Road towards Ganpati Chowk. An old building near Guruji Talim Ganpati Temple. The building is dangerously old and fragile. Not only I found the road empty and a person nearby to grab some interesting frames. The filters also help me bringing out the “old” feelings out of these frames.

Final few steps on the Bajirao Road towards Shanipar (The starting point). I took some more photos. In these photos there is a photo of a small temple just near the entrance of the Tulsibaug but, usually the place is so much conjusted that many won’t even realize that there is a temple near to our feet.

I want to end this really looooong photo-blog by photo of a handcart parked outside a store. I think it summarizes the time better than anything else.

I hope you liked my blog as well as photography! Please let me know your views and comments. Also, if you liked this experiment please do share.

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