A record of growth and triumph over disasters

PUNE, Nov 7: The publishers describe this as a coffee table book which is an extensive information store on the city. But the two authors...

PUNE, Nov 7: The publishers describe this as a coffee table book which is an extensive information store on the city. But the two authors who have laboured over their effort for three long years prefer to term this as an attempt by researchers to understand the city’s intricate urban pattern.

Pune – Queen of the Deccan written by Dr Samita Gupta and Dr Jaymala Diddee is perhaps the first book on the urban history of Pune offering an insight into it’s long and chequered past of over three and half centuries. Dr Gupta and Dr Diddee compliment each other very well. If Dr Gupta is a historian, Dr Diddee is a geographer.

“It is interesting to see how towns grow and why they grow. And Pune has been a very exceptional case which has risen from the ashes just when people believed that this was the end,” says Dr Gupta.

Story continues below this ad

“Take the case of the plague in 1896-97 or the terrible famine in the last century. These could have destroyed the city,” Jaymala Diddee pointed out. These events definitely left their imprint on the city’s landscape and helped to evolve a new identity. For instance, the 1961 Panshet floods saw citizens moving out of their wadas in the heart of the city to the surburbs like Kothrud, now a bustling part of the town.

“Not much is known about the city. Even the history books offer scant details,” says Dr Gupta who has a number of friends in the army always inquiring about the roots of the city. She believes that the city mainly owes its existence to the setting up of the Cantonment station here which saw the advent of the railways in Pune and also gave rise to other developments over the passage of time.

Written in a narrative style, the book contains six chapters dealing with various aspects of the city including Peshwai Pune, evolution of Peths, Puneri wadas and industrialisation which came in later. Dr Diddee rues that many of the Peths are losing their identity. Some of the wadas have been listed as heritage sites. “It is sad to see how citizens fail to keep their historical roots alive,” Dr Diddee says hastening to add that it is quite an expensive process. But quite a few citizens in the city are making that extra effort to preserve their wadas. The Raste Wada of course, is a well known name. But there are others like the Shirole Wada, Naik Wada and Natu Wada which are quite well preserved.

The book has around 250 pictures of Pune and around 25 to 30 maps, some of which are quite rare. Most of the pictures come from private collectors and the records from the India office in London. Santosh Bhandare has done the pictures for the book. Published by Elephant Design, a premier design consultancy, the book, priced at Rs. 1,500 will hit the market by the end of November. Both the academicians believe that their effort will interest lay persons and the informed reader. It could also revive the pride of citizens for their city.