Laxmi Road

Last evening we ventured into the heart of Pune, the city center, Laxmi Road. You can find anything at all on Laxmi Road. We specifically went there looking for inexpensive (by US standards) gold for the guys to take home to their wives. I was just along for the ride and to shake my head when they picked up something too gaudy. What an incredible place, this Laxmi Road. It is bustling with old-world business. Hundreds of tiny store fronts, some of which are barely a few paces deep, full to overflowing (some literally!) with fabric, tools, automobile parts, jewelry, food, fresh produce, photocopies, electronics, stationary, anything and everything that you would ever need. Ritesh informed us that on the weekends, you can not even walk down the road, it is so crowded with thousands of Pune residents doing their shopping. This is the city market, far from the more Westernized areas where malls and shopping centers are springing up. Not far from Laxmi Road, we pass the old fort which marks a famous battle in Pune early in the 19th century.

After our adventures in the city market, we were invited to dine with Ritesh's family who live in Pune. We stopped at their flat where his mom provided platters of sweets for us. Delicious! Then off to Mainland China for some Chinese food, Indian style... YUM! I do love Indian food, but it was good to have something different for dinner tonight.

Even though the jet lag has not been bad, I am completely unaccustomed to eating dinner as late as is typical in Pune. Whether eating out or eating in, most evening meals don't begin before 8p and often as late as 10p. That is awfully late for this girl! One thing I realized yesterday is there are a lot of hours between lunch at 1p and dinner at 9p. I was STARVING to the point of feeling queasy and nauseous by the time we finally sat down to dinner. I won't make that mistake again - I'm carrying American snacks with me from now on.