Fergusson College Road, Pune: Some Variables, Other Constants

Originally published on theCulturetrip.com

Fergusson College Road

One of the liveliest streets in Pune, Fergusson College Road is a youngster’s delight. Located centrally in the ever-expanding city of Pune, FC road is home to many of city’s famous restaurants, street food joints and street shopping areas. Proximity to the city’s premier educational institutes (Fergusson college, BMCC, Apte college, COEP) and city’s residential areas has meant that this one-way road is always filled with youngsters, who are always eager to eat, shop and hang-out. Though FC road region has maintained its Puneri identity in a rapidly changing Pune, some things on it have changed beyond recognition.

Hong-Kong Lane

Hong-Kong lane (A narrow lane of crowded and tiny shops connecting FC road with Jangli Maharaj road) was set up in 1961 in a relocation scheme by PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) after floods consumed a handful of shops located elsewhere. Once popular for selling imported goods (especially imports from Hong-Kong), this lane has since diversified selling a variety of commodities like clothing, junk fashion items, cosmetics, jewelry, luggage purses and bags, leather/rubber items and (in the past) even BOOKS.

In 2011, before smartphones had captured the masses, Hong-Kong lane had 3 tiny shops which acted as book and magazine stores. While 2 of these stores sold original and pirated copies of books, the 3rd shop — Tanna book depot, sold only original (new and used) and ran a library of second-hand books. This store even offered 20–30% discounts on the new arrivals which were very rare in the pre Flipkart-Amazon era.

Today, in January 2016, all the above-mentioned bookstores in Hong-Kong are closed permanently. The Tanna book depot contact information is still available online and in Yellow pages (The owner –Mr. Sachin Ajit is still reachable on his mobile) while the bookstore is replaced by “Chandrakant Varieties Shop”. The pirated booksellers have been relegated to the footpath outside the lane as they cannot afford to rent a shop in this lane despite the piracy.

Across the road, the manager of the sophisticated and once famous “Popular book store” sits idle, pulling off a Meg Ryan minus gorgeous hair from “You’ve got mail”. Nowadays his shop remains largely empty even on Sunday evenings too. As book sales have plummeted to an all-time low for retailers (while E-Commerce websites are still managing good sales), the manager puts more blame of his sinking business more on SmartPhones/SocialMedia than E-Commerce.

Proving his point anecdotally are the mobile accessories shops which have come up at the stores abandoned by booksellers in Hong-Kong lane across the street.

Food @ FC Road

Few yards ahead of Popular book store along FC road, Café Goodluck remains unchanged, crowded and filled with the sumptuous aromas of tea, bread and meat. One look at the waiting crowds lets you know that this place has been a part of their lives for years if not decades. Across the signal, further down the street lie the Holy trinity of Puneri — South Indian restaurants, Wadeshwar, Roopali and Vaishali. Generations of Punekars have brunched and dined at these places passing the baton down generations. It’s pretty common to find old men/women chatting over coffee and snacks in these places while their children and grandchildren wait outside in different groups as these loyal crowds have continued thronging these places for decades.

A decade ago a few affordable places like Savera (Snacks + Lunch) or Manmeet (a sweet snack restaurant) were hot favorites amongst the students. These restaurants, now closed, are missed regularly by their loyalists. However, a variety of other food chains like Starbucks and Burger-King have taken roots on the road and kept many options open for the foodie.

The FC Road Identity

While walking along this divider-less and one-way road (one-way since 2009), one can’t help but notice the infectious freedom and liberty in the midst of the at-times exasperating cacophony of energetic masses. Generations of Punekars- students, hawkers, pensioners etc. have collaborated for decades to make this street a mascot for the so-called Oxford of the East. Even in 2015, it is pretty banal to find a Fergusson college student flaunting a sweatshirt which still reads –

“Fergussonians, Down to earth, but still above you all”.

Even though the current generation clearly isn’t interested in books as the earlier millennials were, they share a lot with their predecessors. The almost tangible legacy of Tilak, Agarkar and other co-founders of Deccan education society (Fergusson college) has been kept alive through the masses who have walked on this street in some way or other.

Some things change with time, while others remain constant, getting older and stronger all the time.

By — Gaurav Lele