Tekdi

Gaurav writes that the tekdis in Pune form an integral part of many Punekars lives and contribute in some measure to their development. I could not agree more. For me too, the tekdis are much more than just the lungs of Pune.
My first tekdi experience was in school. Loyola High school is at the foothills of vetal tekdi and for P.E., we had a specific cross country route that we followed. The black rock – white rock – four poles – father’s garden – truck road and back to school route is, for me, as I am sure for many other Loyolites, as familiar today as it was then. The high point always was the short distance that we had to run around the fringe of St. Josephs Girls School to reach Loyola. We might be gasping for air but we wouldn’t forsake that chance to impress the girls with one final dash of speed. Not that we ever caught their eye, but we did manage to get some of the nuns to give us their typical, and apparently much practiced ‘accusatory’ look. That final dash once got me the fourth place in one inter-school cross country race. I’ve always wondered at that result. I’m stocky in built and have been told repeatedly over a fairly long sport career that I have ‘sprinter’ legs. So doing well in that cross country race did much in my mind to prove Freud right, everything boils down to sex.
After school, I lost touch with the tekdis for a while. I rediscovered the hills in my first year of senior college and formed a nice little tekdi gang that met every morning at hanuman mandir. There were six of us but the group revolved around the eccentric Harshavardhan Dixit. He took the initiative and effort to get everyone to meet socially and before we knew it, we were inseparable. Those were good times. We did a lot of things together and had loads of fun. From that group, only Ganesh remains as one of my closest buddies. The girls (Mansi and Ananya) have married and settled abroad, last heard, Harsha was working for Siyaram in Pune and Chaitya was teaching tennis at the Pune ILS Law College courts.
Whenever I am in Pune, I make it a point to go to the tekdis as often as possible. Not only is this excellent physical exercise, all the peasant memories and fond experiences come through from a suppressed subconscious and actually have a cathartic effect on me.
To keep a track of what is happening at the Pune tekdis, click here.