I would like to begin this blog's journey from a personal piece of memory! With my connection with the Greens of Pune ... Merawala Green!
There is something very fascinating about a place that becomes more than a place, a part of your childhood, a patch in the quilt of your life. I have had an inexplicable connect with the Parvati hill since my childhood, and the same is expressed in words in an essay I wrote for the LA Journal essay writing competition on 'A sense of place' held in July 2010. The essay was subsequently published in the LA Journal issue and won the first prize too! (for more on Landscape Journal, visit www.lajournal.in
Copyrighted graphic created by manjusha ukidve/2010. Do not copy without the author's permission
Parvati - The place with hundred steps
The first thing one remembers
about Parvati is climbing the steps - wide and easy at first, turning into high
and narrow challenges towards the top of the hill; and for a breathless child
of eight, unending fun. Parvati was the
place with the steps and the temples, where one went to, as a ritual, on a
visit to grandma's place in Pune. That too, at the break of dawn.
An
exciting climb that would leave one breathless, culminating into a viewing
point from where you could visually embrace the whole city (or so one thought,
at that age) was what Parvati was about. One remembers racing to the top of the
hill, ahead of cousins, counting the steps on the way, making and breaking
records. (Trivial though it may seem now, climbing hundred steps without
pausing to rest was an achievement to beat all other achievements at that age).
The step count would always vary from day to day and from person to person. It would
be many years hence that we would give up figuring out who came closest to the
actual number - hundred and three. Surprisingly, the step counting routine
continues even today, both in form and in spirit. It is with a great feeling of
nostalgia that one sees one’s children doing the same thing with the same
excitement and enthusiasm on a visit to the hill temple. People change, but the
place remains, creating a rich backdrop for experiences and weaving them into
memories.
Standing tall in the midst of the
dense urban fabric, Parvati hill was and is, an inseparable part of every
Punekar’s life. Well known for the Dev deveshwar temple, which is one of the
oldest heritage structures in Pune, it is also one of the most popular public
spaces in the city. A space where history and culture are woven into the rich
spatial fabric, a space where the most mundane activities become ‘experiences’
for the visitor, Parvati possesses a very unique ‘sense of place’.
To most hardcore Punekars, Parvati
is simply the best ‘morning spot’ in Pune. For, it is at this time of the day
that the ‘tekdi’ or hillock is at its best. The fresh breath of dawn, the
chirping of the birds, the cold black stone under your bare feet, the calmness
that pervades the atmosphere two hundred and fifty feet above the city and most
importantly, the people who enliven the space, climbing up and down with
vigour, going through their daily exercise regimen - all create a cheerful
ambiance. The enthusiastic step climber is
rewarded, on reaching the top, with a magnificent panoramic view of Pune. As
one stands on the paved terrace, the whole city arrives on the scene, looking
fresh in the morning air. It is from here that one really comes to know the
city - its rivers and hills, its roads and bridges, its open spaces and
buildings. The concrete and glass facades that are the face of modern Pune,
Mandai (the vegetable market built during the British times) and the Shaniwar
wada, the greatest relic of the Peshwa era that has stood witness to the growth
and prosperity of the city, all make up the view, merging into the urban fabric
of nameless buildings, yet standing out and asserting their identity.
One
remembers the house spotting game that would immediately start all those years
ago, all of us kids trying to locate grandma’s house in the dense jungle of
structures on the other side of the river (compared to the city of today, it
must have been a mere settlement thirty years ago!) And the feeling of
discovery and happiness every time one found it, sitting amongst the greens and
the grays of the city. One wonders now, why it means so much, finding a place
amongst the whole milieu and naming it as ‘your own’. Maybe it is about the
eternal search for oneself, and the realization and confirmation of one’s
identity, or just finding one’s place in the scheme of things.
It is here, with the city spread
out in front, that one first connects with the past, tracing the route from
Shaniwar wada to Parvati in one’s mind - the route that the Peshwas and their
Sardars would have covered on horseback in the times past, on their way to the
hill that held a key position in their military and political strategy. It is
along this route that the Peshwa women, decked in their traditional finery,
would have been carried in ‘palkhis’ to visit the hilltop temple. It is from
here that the Peshwa would have watched the battle of Khadki, here at the
foothills that the Angres and the Scindias, Sardars of the Maratha Empire would
have camped, when they visited the city with their armies. It is here that the
young Shrimant Nanasaheb Peshwa would have brought the ‘khadawas’ (footwear)
of his mentor Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj,
as a mark of reverence and respect, after the latter’s demise. It is here, that
he would have spent the last years of his life mourning the loss of a brother
and a son in the battle of Panipat, a battle that changed the course of Maratha
history. The temples and the museum at the top of the hill stand witness to
that glorious period of the Maratha rule and recount tales of lives led and
lost. Standing in the temple enclave one almost feels like a voyeur, looking at
the scenes of the past through the windows of the present. A whole world comes
alive in front of the mind’s eye, generating a feeling of awe and pride, putting
you above your own self, and at the same time humbling you with the grandeur of
the past.
Time stretches further back, as
one admires the ‘Dashavtara’ paintings on the wall near the temple of Lord
Vishnu, a little distance away from the main temple. One remembers being seated
in the paved court of the temple and told tales of the ten avatars of lord
Vishnu, - the same tales that are retold today to the next generation. The rich
thread of Indian mythology woven into the folds of the architectural fabric makes
the physical space much more than what it is.
Parvati
is a place which is a ‘setting’ and ‘an object in the setting’ both at the same
time – a place from where you can see, and a place itself to be seen. You can
see almost all of the old city, and a little
beyond that, from the ‘sajja’ (balcony) and the top of the stone walls. And
wherever you may be in Pune, you could always fix your spatial coordinates by
looking out for the temple on the hill. Whatever the time and the place, the
hill would always occupy an important place in the physical and the socio
cultural backdrop of the growing metropolis.
Parvati is a place that is much
more than the sum of its parts. It is a whole sequential experience, with
something for each one who visits its precincts - something to see, something
to do, something to remember. For the kids, it means freedom to run berserk, in
an environment parents find ‘safe’, a space that offers challenge and
excitement and a boundless possibility of exploration. A place where you can
challenge yourself to conquer the hill, and then run down recklessly,
experiencing the changing rhythm of the steps as you go down, reveling in the
momentum of your feet that refuse to stop till the last step is reached, and
watching the people on the steps and the cows on the slopes climb up in slow
motion. It is a place to play hide and seek, a place to taste adventure walking
atop the high walls, a place to see the little birds and insects go on about
their daily lives under the trees that dot the hill slopes. For the fitness
conscious, it is a healthy way to begin the day, a habit that holds on even in
their ripe old age. (Pune boasts of septuagenarians who ‘do’ the steps a record
number of times a day, inspiring others to follow.) For youngsters and families,
it is a place to socialize, meet friends, and spend time far away from the
maddening crowd that the city has become today. It is a place where you can be
‘alone’ without being ‘lonely’, a place where you can literally be above the
urban din and just sit and stare at the life spread out before you. A place
where you can ponder, reflect, contemplate in peace or just ‘be’. Many a
Punekar has come back refreshed in mind and body after spending a quiet evening
on the hill.
After
all, what does it take for a space to become a place?
A
space that connects with and responds to its surroundings becomes a ‘place’
related to its immediate physical setting. Like Parvati, that dominates its
context by being an important marker in space and time - by being physically
‘in the midst of’ and yet ‘above’ the urban sprawl, by belonging to the past
and the present both at the same time.
A
space that becomes a setting for daily activities and turns them into events is
remembered as a ‘place’. For many who visit Parvati, climbing the steps every
morning is more of an opportunity to meet contemporaries, share experiences and
find comfort in each other’s company, than a daily regimen of exercise. It is
the fulfillment of a socio psychological need, made possible by the harmonious
built environs.
A
space that feeds not just the senses, but the spirit succeeds as a place. It is
not just the views within and without, or the smells and sounds of nature, or
the refreshing air that make Parvati an interesting experience. The spirit of
the place is born out of its relationship with the past and its relevance to
the present coexisting parallel in space and time.
A
space that bonds with people, Parvati has, for many years now ‘been there’ for
those who frequent it. Companion to the loner, confidante in sorrow and in joy,
silent witness to many a relationship, the hill temple has been a faithful
friend to many.
A
space that inspires feelings and emotions like Parvati does – adventure,
freedom, excitement, comfort, security, peace, pride, reverence and admiration,
becomes a setting for a plethora of experiences. And experiences, when they
become personal, turn into memories.
It
is this potential of creating stories, experiences and memories that turns
spaces into ‘places’, that makes Parvati the place it is – the place with
hundred steps.
