Pune

Khadakvasala

This is one of the easily accessible picnic spot of Pune. If you travel 14 kms from City Pride, Kothrud, you can get to Khadkvasala. This is a dam with place to sit around and enjoy the view. You can take bath in the river too. There is atleast 2o feet of shallow water in which you can play. But be cautious while walking around and also while taking bath as there are many glass pieces too. And do remember to take a mattress or blanket to sit.

For the kids there is a camel ride too. You can enjoy spicy, hot pao bhajis and other deep fried snacks from the bhajiwalas around.

Have a great picnic.

Directions: Take a straight route from Singhad road
__________________________________________________________________

Balaji Mandir Near Bhor (Pune)

Praised as the Tirupathi temple of pune, this balaji mandir is in Pune-Bangalore highway, around 55 kms from City pride, Kothrud.

When you travel in the highway you get a town called Kapurhol. In the middle of this town you get the main entrance arch on the left side. You travel for a few minutes in this left road and you get the Balaji temple. Though not as big as Tirupathi, the temple premises is huge and cleanly maintained. You get to stand in the que(which gives you the first effect of being in Tirupathi :) ) and worship lord Balaji who stands majestically and beautifully decorated. Lord is surrounded by a praharam with different deities is present.

You get a ladoo for every devotee and a free meal pass. There was a good place to eat and tladoo was delicious. Two ladies wearing gloves were removing particles of spilled ladoo and making the area clean and tidy. Unforutunately we were not able to have the meal. We are sure that also would have been equally delightful.

The temple is surrounded by beautiful mountains of Western Ghats. Guess the place would be more greenish in rainy season.

There is also a Kubera temple, for those who are interested in praying to the god of riches. I was passing every hundial and atlast dropped money in Kubera's. My husband was commenting that I had missed Balaji who needed the money. I commented that I was paying to Kubera directly on behalf of Balaji :) .

Directions: Kothrud City Pride---Singhad Road--Pune Bangalore Highway---Kapurhol(before Bhor)

All the best to you for a great darshan.

__________________________________________________________________
Tamil Sangam in Pune

There is a Tamil Sangam in Pune. Mr. Varadarajan Pelapur, secretary gives an introduction, himself(next paragraph). You can contact him at vrajan09@hotmail.com for enrolling yourself.

Message from Secretary:

I am secretary of Pune City Tamil Sangam, Somwar Peth, Pune. Sangam's membership 156.WE have monthly meetings on First Sunday of the month at 6.30 p.m. Venue : SVU High School,Somwar Peth Pune 411 011. We have 4 social and cultural programs in a year minimum like Tamil New Year Celebrations with either Dramas/plays, Light Musical Program by well known artistsPongal Vizha, Bharatiyar Vizha, Annual Get-together etc.

Membeship Fees : 1.Rs.100/- per couple.Corpus Fund Rs.500/- and Application form Rs.10/-

Kindly let me know if interested in joining Sangam.

Yours faithfuully,

P.R.V.

__________________________________________________________________
Balaji Mandir in Pashan, Pune

You can get the effect of Tirupati Balaji Darshan by a visit to Sri Balaji Mandir(within Pune). Though small, Sri Balaji God is majestically visible, tall and beautifully decorated. Pretty Enchanting. Chakkarathalvar, Hanumar, Rama-Seetha-Lakshmana, Vinayka, Andal, Padmavathi thayar, Narasimhar and Garudalvar are other deities that you can pray here.

And this is a TAMIL TEMPLE. You can always see lot of Tamil People whenever you visit this temple. Some people refer to a Balaji Mandir which is 40kms from Pune. But this is very much within Pune municipal limits.

People new to Pune and specifically those coming fresh to a new state from Tamil Nadu will cherish and enjoy this place. This place has its own mandapam for ceremonies to be conducted.

Address:

Sri Balaji Mandir at Pune, at S. No. 116/11, Pashan Sus Road, Opp. National Institute of Virology, Pashan, Pune - 411 021, within Pune Municipal limits

__________________________________________________________________

Getting Tamil Magazine & Tamil Movie CDs in Pune

One store that we know is Kerala stores, Paud Road, before Banjara Hills, straight opp. to Reliance Fresh.

You can get Tamil Film CDs for rent, Kumudam, Ananda vikatan, Mangayar Malar, Aval Vikatan etc.

Tamil Cinema 75 Live Music Show - DVD

Good south indian snacks, sakthi masala, jaggery are available

__________________________________________________________________

 Learning Spoken Hindi

Are you new to Pune or anywhere in Rest of India, from Tamil Nadu. Are you worried about getting started in Hindi? Are you stuck with many Learn Hindi in X days books. Not to worry. I found a site which teaches Hindi with Audio clips in a simple way. In fact, the learner in this audio classes is a foreigner and hence the take off learns are very simple.

I actually copied these learns into my IPOD and having a good time learning Hindi. I can now freely converse atleast for basic necessities.

The link is http://www.ispeakhindi.com/  
Exercises in Spoken Hindi                
Learn Hindi in 30 days Tthrough English - National Integration Language Series