[mmxylorider]

@Mik : Ravet-Kharadi is no better. Other than the good old NH4 stretch, the other roads are city roads. Maybe if the Aundh/Ravet road is built by then, it might be different.

My advice: Buy/Invest where you can afford. Rent where you want to stay. As Swanand said, try and work out jobs closer to each other.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Mik: Sungard has an office in Aundh. IIRC, they have shifted their entire operations in Aundh facility. Our member @ajay_satpute would be able to give you more ideas on that.
So, if your wife wants to work (or is working) in Sungard, and you are open for any BFSI, then Wakad/Ravet/Aundh areas would be more suitable/ideal for you both.

As mmxylo has said, Ravet to Kharadi is no better. Invest in a place that you like. Once you do come to Pune, just rent out a place in the area where you work.

[heman_369]

I work in Sungard and we have 2 locations. One at Aundh and other at EON SEZ Kharadi. These locations are poles apart and only when you get to know the business unit you are hired, you will know your location. Renting for the initial phase is the best option

[dot]

Noticed an Army truck rear ending a car near a signal during the evening rush hour. Some of the army drivers drive pretty badly, might be influenced by the general Pune traffic etiquette.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Dotty: Not only do some drive badly, most of the times, they do not budge from their lane. I've seen so many army trucks going at 40 in the fast lanes. Even if you want to overtake them, you gotta take the left lane. Maybe, they have fallen into the habit of driving in convoy's at set speeds.

[sajo]

AFAIK, civilian cops cant do anything against army drivers, when they are driving army vehicles.

All that road digging and pipe laying and ped passing is fine. But it affects people in more ways than just traffic woes.
More than a year and a half ago, one fine day, our age old but reliable BSNL landline telephone just died. Fine, we went ahead and logged in a complaint through their complaint number (197) using a neighbour's phone. A couple of days latter, a technician showed up at our home. Lifted the receiver, tapped the instrument a few times, disconnected and connected it again, and a few minutes later declared to my mother, "Madam, the phone line is dead.Need to check". Err...we knew that right? Hence the complaint to begin with.
Anyways, after proudly declaring the results of his extensive investigation, he quickly excused himself and is probably still out there, "checking".
A few days later, all our neighbouring phones went dead as well.

A few months of waiting for the "checker" to get back to us and paying bills for a dead line later, I went to BSNL's Maharshi Karve Exchange on Karve Road. Only to be confronted with a large handwritten "Puneri Paati", which, when translated, meant something like the below :

"Paud Road residents should not bother about their dead telephones due to road works carried out by PMC. We do not know when they would restart. Please do not bug us with incessant questions.If you still have any queries, this is not the right time to ask them."

AFAIK, the road works are complete (sort of), since many days now. No sign of telephone revival yet.
I know of many people who used the BSNL line as their primary business phones as well as their primary business internet connections. All of whom were left in the lurch.
I know my story is being repeated thousands of times all over Paud Road and Baner Road. And God knows where else.

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by sajo

"Paud Road residents should not bother about their dead telephones due to road works carried out by PMC. We do not know when they would restart. Please do not bug us with incessant questions.If you still have any queries, this is not the right time to ask them."

This reminds of a picture i saw recently (i think in DNA or was it on THP ). A "Work In Progress" board has been put up in Baner. Someone has used red paint and written "Forever" under it on the board. Very apt i should say.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Oh, I was only hoping that the current rains do not affect the good ol BSNL lines this time around. For the past couple of years its been the same story. Road work starts just before monsoons, and they eventually break only the telephone lines.

I've always followed this at the Karve Rd office- Go in there, talk to the person in charge. In a very polite manner, tell him/her that the line needs to be fixed pronto as the broadband runs on it, and I have an online exam to give in the next couple of days. I do not know, how many fictitious online exams I may have given, thanks to BSNL and their service. But hey, they've bought that every single time .

[sajo]

Did you guys see the waist high brick structure built bang in the middle of the road opposite Kinara hotel on Paud Road? Accident waiting to happen, for sure.
What is that anyway ? A skylight for the ped-underpass ?

[Swanand Inamdar]

By the looks of it, yes. Seems to be a skylight. Why? Who the hell knows why!

[selfdrive]

Maybe its a fire escape thingy. Though it would be implemented more when that underpass is flooded. Considering its location, I would be surprised if it doesnt get flooded

[mmxylorider]

I haven't seen it but it could be some sort of a forced air ventilation system.

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by sajo

Did you guys see the waist high brick structure built bang in the middle of the road opposite Kinara hotel on Paud Road? Accident waiting to happen, for sure.
What is that anyway ? A skylight for the ped-underpass ?

Now this is news to me and embarrassing that i don't know about it, considering i stay so close to the place. I have stopped going to Kinara junction nowadays. Take any alternate available route to join Paud Road. I get irritated/angry/frustrated when i see the mess there and the colossal waste of tax payers money.

But i am going to check out this unique structure this weekend.


EDIT: By the way guys i understand that its again raining heavily in the city today. So i guess traffic jams would be the order of the day. @Selfdrive - i hope you are not caught in that. Here in Hinjewadi village did not see any rains when i was out of my cubby hole about a couple of hours back.

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by sajo

More than a year and a half ago, one fine day, our age old but reliable BSNL landline telephone just died.

AFAIK, the road works are complete (sort of), since many days now. No sign of telephone revival yet.

Are you saying that your phone is dead for 1.5 years? And you are paying bills for the same too?
As far as I know, there is some provision wherein you should not be paying bills for those days/ months on which the phone is out of service. I have come across some incidents where people have paid partial bills since the phone was out of order for a week or so.

My experience with BSNL in Pune has been positive so far. Yes. The service is a bit slow. When our phone line died a few days ago, my wife had to go and complain to Yerwada exchange. Within one hour, a technician came and fixed the issue - some wire had come off in the building. Then after a couple of days the phone was dead again - but broadband was working. Tried with another instrument, and that didn't work either. The next day, my wife saw the same technician from BSNL near our building and called him. He checked the wires inside the house and apparently some connections in another room had come off (maybe due to my kid playing around there). Fixed in a couple of minutes again. So, very prompt service of late!

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

Now this is news to me and embarrassing that i don't know about it, considering i stay so close to the place. I have stopped going to Kinara junction nowadays.

EDIT: By the way guys i understand that its again raining heavily in the city today. So i guess traffic jams would be the order of the day. @Selfdrive - i hope you are not caught in that. Here in Hinjewadi village did not see any rains when i was out of my cubby hole about a couple of hours back.

yep, I saw that structure yesterday on my way back home. It is bang in the middle of two lanes on the road (whenever it will be fully operational) going towards Rambag colony/ Nal stop side. It has too many bricks/ no concrete to be a pillar for a flyover. I think I will put up a small board there asking 'what is this?'

As for yesterday, you asked for it Amit!

Rains yesterday meant most parts were flooded. Fortunately I was on my bike as I had to run some errands in the morning. Which only meant that I saw more parts of town than I would on a normal day. RTO side was jammed so I took off through Somwar peth/ Raviwar peth/ shaniwarwada and tried to take the riverside road. That was flooded, so I returned to PMC and tried to go to JM road which was jampacked with no movement. so took Apte road and returned to Garware bridge with a feeble attempt to go to Karve road which didnt have an inch of space. so went into Prabhat road from the lane near Cafe Goodluck.

Now there is a lane coming from Bhandarkar road that meets Prabhat road (via Balbheem temple). This particular chowk was being treated like 4 one way streets merging there. After a few minutes of waiting, I had enough so parked my bike sideways in the wrong side of my street so that no more vehicles could go up and block the traffic further. I dont know how cops maintain their sanity. I swear I felt like hitting a few people for their stupidity. It worked till I was there and finally vehicles started appearing from the other direction. This meant that the chowk had cleared a bit. So I left towards the usual mess of SNDT/ Nal stop. Whereon it was not that bad. Total time taken around 55 mins from Bund garden to Kothrud depot.

Note to self: if you are stuck on Karve road dont try to take the inner roads towards Deccan. you can get delayed for longer!