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Pune Tithe Kay Une
This city lacks nothing. Pune, called Poona till 1978,
is supposedly the second largest city in
Maharashtra but known the world over as the
“Oxford of the East,” a title Pune wears till date with a lot
of pride. This pride is an integral part of the culture, people,
and their attitude.
This city was also called as the pensioners paradise, the
only reason being that the life here is very relaxed, you will
not see people rushing, they have their own pace and timing
and if you want to survive here you need to get used to it.
But wait…please do not get it wrong. This city has made its
mark globally and was given the name Oxford of the East
by our very own first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. His
love for Pune has a very interesting story, many of you may
be aware but I would like to share it.
There was a massive flood in the year 1961 and when
Jawaharlal Nehru visited the city after the flood, he insisted
to visit his favourite bookstore which was badly affected
due to floods. The International Book Service was
established on January 1, 1931 and was possibly one of
Nehru’s favourite bookstores. In his letters to his daughter
he wrote, “I have sent you names of books, most of them
are new but some are old, which I wanted you to purchase
for me. But you could not get them at usual booksellers.
You might keep a list of those books with you in case they
are now available. In particular, I want you to note down
the name of a good bookshop in Poona which often keeps
books which cannot be obtained elsewhere - The
International Book Depot Deccan Gymkhana, Poona”.
Such was the level of the literature or the readership that
was existing in Pune, due to which there are numerous
bookstores in this city. Pune has always managed to keep its
culture rich due to its historical events but also has been an
educational ground for great institutions like Fergusson
College, Deccan College to name a few where our great
leaders have taken lessons. The city takes pride of the great
student community that has made its presence felt not only
in the corridors of these great institutes but also in the world
that has recognised their work.
Pune is also known as Punyanagari, means City of Virtue.
As per the name, the city depicts high moral standards with
its rich history which goes back to pre-historic times where
manuscripts were found on the banks of the rivers Mula
Mutha. The first girls’ school of India was started in Pune at
Bhide Wada on January 1, 1848. This was a very modern
and courageous move made by Savitribai Phule along with
her friend Fatima Begum.
In days where women were not even allowed to step out of
the house, Savitribai Phule had made this dream come to a
reality though it was a very difficult task, and a lot of
hardships were faced. As she was the first head mistress of a
school on record and while she was dreaming in the day to
educate women, she faced a lot of harassment from the
people as they would throw stones and dirt at her when she
walked to school every day. It was a very progressive
school as subjects like Math and Science were also taught
along with reading and writing. Today we have our new
NEP and we have so many schemes running for the benefit
of the underprivileged students but she had thought about it
more than 170 years back when she tried to give some
stipend to students for the work they did so that she could
control the dropout rate of the students, she also provided
them with meals in the afternoon. Also taught skills so that
students could learn a skill like painting, sculpture stitching
etc. to earn a living. Conducted parent teacher meetings to
spread the awareness of education among parents and how
their role was important in educating their child.
Pune University, which was established in 1949, was
renamed as Savitribai Phule Pune University in August
2014 to pay tribute to the tremendous efforts taken by this
social reformer in the field of education and thinking ahead
of time and contributing to put Pune on a global map for
education excellence.
Today Pune is a well-known educational hub, as it has a
variety of educational courses to offer from every field, be it
science, engineering, medical, art, theatre, film making,
astronomy, and astrophysics to name a few.
Pune is an attraction for students not only from India but
world over due to its perfect blend of modernization and
culture. It has a good green coverage with good
geographical splendour.
Pune city is a part of our soul, it is difficult to describe the
greatness of this city, but I believe to understand it better
you need to be a part of it with heart and soul.
31 | MM 2021 | www.theknowledgereview.com