Student Foodie - IMDR Days

A decade ago, a young guy landed in the city of Pune from Varanasi, North India to complete his
you-know-what MBA studies. Fell in love with the city, the freedom it offered and pace it lived by- faster than a town, catchable as compared to Big Mumbai.
As a student of IMDR, and staying in FC Hostel, it presented a problem never faced before by him- to eat, and that too, by his own choice. ! You see, having lived off "ghar ka khana" for 22 years and when eating out used to be a memorable/special occassion, or better still, rare occasions, it was a singulary unique issue.So, it began.. the adventure of experimenting with foods, restaurants, cuisines..and of course, with a limited student budget, I was not in a position to be too frisky with my wallet.

You have to remember a few things here :
1. I am talking about Pune that it was 10 years ago.
2. I was a student and a bachelor

Let me give you some prime examples of this scenario, to give an idea of the era I am talking
about.
1. Manmeet, Chaitanya, CCD, Barista did not exist on FC Road
2. There was no road dividers on FC Road
3. Mobiles were stictly no-no for students, unaffordable.
4. Rahul was one of the best movie halls around
5. Alka and Vijay Talkies tickets costed Rs. 20.
6. Lucky was a place where you could have chicken at 2:00 am in the morning.
7. Rs. 50 was sufficient a decent non veg meal, for a student.
8. The monthly tiffin costed Rs. 350.
9. Jaws used to have Rock bands performing live.
10. Aundh was a far-off village, no one had heard about Wakad, Baner could not be located, Pashan was secluded, Chandni Chowk was noiseless place, KalyaniNagar was outskirts and Magarpatta did not exist.

So, if you find yourself smiling and shaking your head in agreement, while going through the above list, you belong to the dinosaur age of Pune. !
And, if you find yourself shaking you head in disbelief, you dont know what Pune was and what it has become. Now, someone can point out something which is older than what I have mentioned and how better it was then. Of course, he can. But then, this is my blog and this is what I can talk about.
I guess this gets repeated with each generation, although the cycle of "those-were-the-days" are becoming shorter, the pace at which Pune is crumbling.

Anyway, enough rambling. This is a foodie blog. So will talk about food and eating out, although in a time-warp manner, a flash-back to student days, 10 years ago.

More to follow.. keep checking..