The Riverside Classic: Fill & Download for Free

Pune is that shade of blue the salt gets when you squeeze a lemon over varan bhaat.If life gives you lemons, squeeze them over varan bhaat.Pune is the selling out of tickets at both Sunburn and Savai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav.Pune is the Diwali mornings in Sarasbaug, both the classical music and the selfies taken after it.Pune is that Chitale Bandhu shop proudly closed between 1 and 4 pm, on the grand occasion of ‘afternoon’.Pune is the children sitting on their fathers’ shoulders on Lakshmi road in drizzling rain, to see the wari.Pune is the airborne gulal in the Ganpati festival.Pune is its soft, mild drizzle that keeps sprinkling for six hours, and a fleecy 10 degrees celsius on the riverside road at 6 am.Pune is Katakirr’s Misal Pav.Pune is also the clubs in KP. Realising that is like learning that the pandit ji at your brother’s wedding moonlights as a bouncer.Pune is a rich aging tapestry of culture bordered in new, shiny thread.What’s not to love?

Well I can’t mention her name because she’s still living - but let’s call her Sue.She came from a large family. They were sugar cane farmers in North Queensland. They were not filthy rich but comfortable. She was an average-to good achiever, not top of the class at anything. She had blonde hair, a great smile, and a fantastic tan, but she wasn’t a classical beauty. She was sporty but not so gifted that she broke any records or captained any teams. In short, she was slightly better than average.Unbeknownst to us all, her mother had serious mental health issues and Sue was an abused child. She was often locked in a cupboard all night as a punishment for some perceived wrong. She was a well-behaved girl and unlikely to have done anything seriously wrong.She left school at 16 to do office work. She married and had children. Her husband was violent so she left him. She took the kids and, with her marital settlement, put a deposit on two houses: one to live in and one to rent. She scraped together a third deposit and then a fourth. You can see what happened. She ended up a millionaire.She now owns and manages her own huge motel on the riverside of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia.I take my hat off to her. I always liked her, but the thought that she was smart did not ever cross my mind.Well done Sue if you should ever read this. I bow my head to you.

This one comes from Prague.I was traveling alone in Prague and was staying at a hotel in the city center. I would walk around the city in the day, spend time watching the operas and music concerts in the evening, have my dinner somewhere and return back to the room in the night.All this, with a secret desire of wanting to see the city in the night, something I just didn’t dare to do, by myself.However, I knew that I just had to. The city looked magnificent in the day and yet, it was swarming with tourists. I wanted to experience the city without anyone around - something that just wasn't possible in the day!Lucky for me, I met a very interesting person 2 days before leaving the city!I expressed my desire to see the city in the night and he volunteered to show me around!The day before I was supposed to take an early morning flight to France, we met in the night at Charles Bridge. He was sweet enough to bring a bottle of wine to share.We enjoyed our wine and started walking around the city. We walked on the river trail and I loved the silence and fresh air.After a while, we sat on the bank of Vltava river and spoke about our different lives. He came from Poland and was pursuing his doctorate in history, which was a brilliant stroke of luck as he was full of stories about the history of places we were walking around! Shortly after, he was going to move to Vienna. He was curious to know about the history of India, my life as a lawyer here and traveling alone.When it started getting cold, he had an extra jacket. When it started raining a bit, he had an umbrella! The man came all prepared!We spoke about relationships, love, cultural differences, kindness, reading, books, languages and our mutual love for classical music. We also spoke a lot about Prague, a city he loved and wished to move to, and a city that I had come to adore!We spoke about a place he wanted to take me to, but it would have been about 9 km walk in the forest. It was already past midnight and I had a flight to catch at 8 am.We decided to stay by the riverside a while longer and then resume our walk back. This is a photo I took while sitting on the bank of Vltava.(You can see many more of the photos I clicked on my Instagram)We resumed our walk in the old town and stopped to buy last minute souvenirs in a shop that was open 24*7. With the help of my Polish friend (whom I trusted to know about Vodka!), I finally succeeded to buy some Czech Vodka for my partner. He walked me back till my hotel, we clicked a photo for memory and parted ways.I have no idea if I will meet him again in life or not. I hope to, of course!But sitting by the river, under an umbrella, watching the stars and talking about life with a total stranger - definitely counts as among the most memorable incidents.