They have endured the vicissitudes of time

In the nearly seven decades since the turbulent times of British rule and the gaining of Independence, the nation and Pune city, have undergone momentous changes. But there are some landmark local businesses that have rolled with the punches and have adjusted to the demands of a new and changing clientele

By Vicky Pathare & Romil Kothari

The city of Pune has been in existence for centuries and it naturally is home to a number of businesses that date back to the pre-Independence era. From a homely boarding house that serves wholesome meals, craftsmen who work with copper, a shop that sells bicycles, a theatre venue that later switched to screening movies, and dealers in khadi apparel, TGS has picked out establishments that have endured and flourished despite the sweeping changes that have transformed the city and its people almost beyond recognition, and who still look to an uncertain future with undying optimism and resolve

There was a time when Pune was the bicycle capital of Maharashtra
Before the dawn of the automotive age in India, Pune was a city of bicycles. It continued to be so even after the advent of the motor scooter, which was still out of the reach of the majority of people, and there were waiting periods of seven years after booking one. The streets of Pune, most of them narrow, were capable of accommodating the large numbers of cyclists those days, and Pune had the highest number of bicycles in the state.

Kulkarni & Sons Cycle Mart, located in the heart of Pune city, at Appa Balwant Chowk, has been landmark in the area for over nine decades. The shop entrance proudly displays the ‘established in 1926’ tag, and continues to do business in a city that once loved its bicycles, but has moved on. The Kulkarni & Sons Cycle Mart was started before the year 1926 by the late Shankar Balwant Kulkarni, who rented out and repaired cycles. Later, as the business grew, they started selling cycles.

Jagannath alias Baba Kulkarni, 75, the second generation owner of the shop, recalling the glorious days of past said, “During the years 1960 to 1970, there was a time when we even didn’t have time to speak or eat. Every month we used to get orders for 600 to 650 bicycles. Even the government provided two tyres and two tubes per person after showing their ration card. Most of the cycles sold were imported from England, Japan, Russia, Holland and China, costing between Rs five and Rs 25.”

Late Shankar Balwant Kulkarni, father of Jagannath alias Baba Kulkarni

“We want to complete 100 years of the shop, but I am really not sure about its future, as many of the cycle marts in the city have shut down. For decades, we sold ten to 15 cycles a day, but it is hard to sell one cycle a day now. Business was good then. Today we are running into losses, but we run the shop to keep the tradition of the Kulkarni family going,” said Kulkarni.

Shriniwas Kulkarni, 70, younger brother of Baba Kulkarni, who is the only man in the country to complete his PhD thesis titled ‘Impact of bicycle industry on mobility of population with reference to Pune city’, said, “Even in the 1980s, the Kulkarni Cycle Mart did good business throughout the year. On occasions like Dussehra, or Padwa, we used to sell more than 200 cycles on a single day. There were bookings for cycles two months in advance during those days,” Kulkarni recalls.

“After the Panshet floods, the city’s geography changed and this was the time when the use of cycles started dwindling. The residents in the core city areas started moving away and settled in the outskirts and suburbs like Hadapsar, Sarasbaug and Parvati. As a result, distances increased and at that time there was no public transport. Just like Mumbai had a network of local trains, citizens of Pune started depending on motorcycles to move from one place to another. They became popular and every house had one or two two-wheelers,” he said.

The dwindling numbers of cyclists over the last three decades has Kulkarni worried. “People now buy cycles for leisure, as against those days when it was a need,” he says.

As in earlier times, there are a very few or no cycle stands in schools, colleges, institutes. Even if there are, one can see very few cycles there. Most people living in different parts of the city come to Pune city for business or jobs, and go back to their homes in the evening. Most of the people use motorcycles or public transport for travelling, and don’t use cycles,” said Kulkarni.

As the city has prospered, and the middle class could afford to invest in automobiles, the city roads are now clogged with cars and motorised vehicles, leaving no room for the humble bicycle.

There are still signs that hark back to the time when Pune was a cycle city. A new generation of people now invest in cycles for recreational, professional or health purposes, but the age is past when the bicycle was the prime mode of mobility and commuting for the majority of the populace.

There is a demand for copper articles and people do invest in copper

Avinash Wadke is a part of the third generation that is following the profession of forging copper pot

The Tambat community gets its name for their craftsmanship that involves making articles out of copper (tamba in Marathi) such as coins, weapons etc. They hail from Konkan, and arrived in Pune around 400 years ago. It is said that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj himself established 12 balutedaars in Pune, and enabled the Tambat people to make their home in Kasba Peth, which location is known as Tambat Ali. This area was also became home to the Kumbhar community at around the same time.

The Wadke brothers are among the oldest coppersmiths of Tambat Ali. Vishnu Haribhau Wadke used to make copper utensils in the 1940s. His son Maruti inherited and continued with the family business. His sons Avinash and Rajendra are the third generation of Wadkes who currently carry on with the coppersmith profession.

Times have changed and so also has the coppersmith business undergone huge transformation. “Time changes everything. Earlier, the whole process was manual, so we were able to make just about two utensils a day. Around 25 years ago, new machines and techniques were introduced, which has resulted in the whole process taking less time and effort. Now we are able to make 12 utensils in a day,” says Rajendra. “In earlier times, people would come to us to order a new utensil or repair an old one. Now we get orders from dealers, and we don’t have individual customers.”

Today a coppersmith’s work is much easier, and the physical effort is much less compared to when it was all done manually, which also called for a huge amount of skill. In comparison, using machinery to make the copper pots and vessels is far less demanding physically. Almost all the work is done on the machine, from removing the impurities from the metal, to polishing the vessels. The only manual work required now is hammering the copper vessel to make it sturdier, or to give it a design and shape.

“Our family has earned a living from the coppersmith profession for generations. The market scenario keeps changing, and besides gold and silver, there is a constant demand for copper articles, and people also invest in copper goods. I can’t say whether the next generation will continue with the family business and tradition. My son, for instance, is pursuing a course in engineering, and is aiming for a career in that line. The world now offers infinite career options and opportunities for youngsters. Meanwhile, we will continue to carry on our line of work as coppersmiths.”

From a house of plays to a popular Hindi and Marathi movies venue

Vilas Tapre showing a century-old film reel of a movie shown at Vasant Talkies

The British passed the Dramatic Performances Act in 1876, to curb the use of theatre by Indians as an instrument of protest against colonial rule.

The roots of modern Indian theatre go back to the days of British rule in India.

Modern Indian theatre developed during the period of colonial rule under the British Empire, from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. From the latter half of the 19th century, theatres in India experienced a resurgence. After India gained Independence in 1947, theatres spread throughout India as one of the prime sources of entertainment.

Vasant Talkies near Shaniwar Wada was built by in the year 1907 by the late Martand Narayan Tapre, a jeweller by profession. The theatre was named ‘Kirloskar Natyagruh’ by Tapre, as it was dream of his friend Annasaheb Kirloskar to build a theatre, but he was unable to do so. The theatre with a rich heritage going back 109 years provided a platform for Marathi theatre artists such as Bal Gandharva and others.

Vasant Talkies at Budhwar Peth standing proud since 1907

“Those days the initial and natural form of expression of the patriotism of the intelligentsia was through plays and literature in the regional languages. Modern Indian literature and plays developed everywhere in association with the reform movements. It was then taken over by the new patriotic mood when a large number of patriotic plays, poems and songs were made and played all over the country and also in the Vasant Talkies,” said Vilas Damodar Tapre, who is the fourth generation descendant of Martand Narayan Tapre.

“Later, in the year 1935, the theatre name was changed from Kirloskar Natyagruh to Vasant Talkies, and the plays were stopped completely and replaced with Hindi and Marathi movies. The theatre’s three-floor structure was reduced to two floors resulting into the diminishing capacity to 450. The theatre has gone through many ups and downs, but it is still standing proudly in the heart of the city,” he said.

Till the year 1990, it was a golden period for the single screen venues, but after the city got multiplex cinemas, the single screen cinemas started fading out. Single screen cinemas that were once thronged by audience in large numbers are struggling due to many reasons. Some have already closed their doors since they suffered heavy losses.

Remembering the movie made by the Tapre family, named ‘Bhagyarekha’, Vilas said, “My father the late Damodar Tapre had made the movie in the year 1947–1948, about single parent unmarried mother, which was a unique topic those days. The famous actress Shanta Apte played the lead role as the mother. The movie had five songs and a bhajan in it. I have even converted the movie to DVD format and preserved it,” he said.

Serving homely and wholesome food to its faithful customers for nine decades

New Poona Boarding House is famous for its long list of loyal customers;

There were few eateries in Poona (as Pune was called then) in the pre-Independence era. People did not have money, and what little they had was not be splurged on restaurant meals, or going to dining halls or hotels. The British rulers though were fond of going out for dinner, but they would only go to a select and exclusive kind of restaurants that would cater to their tastes.

Gururaj Ramakrishna Udpikar, came to Poona from Udupi in Karnataka. He started the New Poona Boarding House at Sadashiv Peth, on November 5, 1925. This was a decade after the launch of start Sir Parshurambhau (SP) College in 1915, which brought students from outside of town to the city. These outsiders needed lodging and boarding, and this resulted in the setting up of restaurants and eateries. “My grandfather saw that there was a need for boarding houses that would provide meals at affordable rates for these outsiders. That is when he thought of starting New Poona Boarding House,” recounts Suhas Udpikar, Gururaj’s grandson, who now runs the boarding house, and takes pride in preserving the homely and wholesome tradition of food that is served at the eatery.

New Poona Boarding House would serve typical homely Maharashtrian food to such customers, and charge them Rs 12 a month.

“During the British era, many freedom fighters used to eat here. So there used to be frequent raids at our boarding house by the British to capture the freedom fighters. As the city continued to develop, so did out clientele and more and more people came to our eatery to partake of our homely food. We have never compromised on the quality of food, and we have strived to serve our customers the same kind of healthy and wholesome food that my grandfather built his reputation on. My grandfather used to cook the food himself, and always made sure that our meals had the quality of home-cooked food. Even today we do not cook food at our home, as everyone in my family eats here,” said Suhas.

Recalling past times, Suhas said, “During the 1965 Indo-Pak war, there was a shortage of ammunition. So the ammunition factory workers were working round the clock, and they couldn’t even go home for their meals. We used to deliver tiffins to them,” said Suhas.

Suhas Udpikar

New Poona Boarding House has been and continues to be a homely and friendly place, where individual customers are greeted by their names. And such genuine warmth and hospitality has always meant that the boarding house has its regular, faithful flock of customers, who treat it like a home away from home.

Times though are hard and with the changing tastes, it takes lot of effort to ensure and serve quality food to the customers at rock bottom prices. Then there are the daily, practical things to take care of, such as the workers needed to run the boarding house, and managing the budget as prices of commodities continue to rise.

There is also competition in the form of other restaurants and food delivery services, that cater to a variety of tastes, and offer new and western-oriented cuisines. But the New Poona Boarding House USP is its home-cooked food, and Suhas knows that this is what he has to preserve.

Suhas’ son is a doctor, and there is no one else Suhas can hand over the legacy of New Poona Boarding House to. But until he is there at its helm, the boarding house will continue to flourish and prosper.

Khadi, more than just a fabric, it was a potent catalyst of India’s freedom struggle

City’s Oldest khadi shop ‘Gandhi Khadi Bhandar’ at Kunte Chowk

In India, Khadi is far more than just cloth, it is the movement started by Father of the Nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The fabric of the freedom struggle, and a potent weapon of the Swadeshi movement, Mahatma Gandhi used khadi as a means of self-employment and self-reliance, and also urged the boycott of the use of cloth manufactured industrially in Britain, in the 1920s.

The charkha used to spin out threads of khadi cloth, used to be a symbol of India’s poverty and backwardness. But the Mahatma transformed it into a symbol of self-reliance and non-violence. The freedom struggle revolved around the use of khādī fabric and the ban of foreign-made cloth.

The late Chandulal Gandhi established Gandhi Khadi Bhandar on Laxmi Road, in 1942, which went a long way in boosting sales of the home-made fabric in the city. Chandulal was a nature lover and had a great fondness for khadi. The business is currently looked after by the second generation of the Gandhi family, Anand Gandhi and his younger son Dr Harshad Gandhi. They are aiming to expand the business further, after setting up a branch of the bhandar at Karve Road a couple of years ago.

Anand Gandhi

“Till date we have maintained the high standard of the store. Though the hand-woven fabric tends to have defects, the fabrics of Gandhi Khadi Bhandar are all selected after painstaking scrutiny and quality checks. As a result, you will not find any defects in the fabric we deal in,” said Anand.

Gandhi Khadi Bhandar fabrics are and have been imported from Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, since the inception of the business. There are thousands of varieties, including Khadi Wool, Khadi Cotton, Khadi Silk and Printed Khadi. The prices of khadi fabrics range from Rs 80 to Rs 1100 per metre. Cotton khadi is the cheapest, while silk khadi is the most expensive variety.

“Khadi offers a comfort level which is far greater than of other fabrics. Nowadays khadi is in great demand by youngsters, and college students are very keen on printed khadi. Khadi is not just the choice of older people now. Modi jackets are in great demand, it is the apparel people choose to wear at special functions like marriages, parties, cultural programmes etc,” said Anand.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to Indians to buy khadi and promote the khadi culture. He has urged people to buy khadi in large quantities, individually and in groups, for their own selves and for their families, to help the people who depend on the khadi cottage industry for their livelihood.

Asked if the PM’s urging has boosted the sale of khadi, Anand said, “Yes the sale of khadi has been boosted by more than 30 per cent after Modiji urged people to go in for khadi. Khadi has found wide acceptance in society, and shoppers come along with their families to buy khadi garments.”

Originally published on The Golden Sparrow