My first visit to Pune turned out to be super swell - with me wanting more out of the lovely city. Dashed off pretty early to grab the train from Andheri to cST. It took me a while to spot the obscure platform on Andheri Station from where CST-bound trains leave.

Boarded the Deccan Queen at 1700hrs from CST. The train departed at a sharp 1710hrs. The ride to Pune was fun - especially the part when she crosses Lonavala. The place is simply gorgeous and you'd be gaping at the greens even if you were crossing the place everyday. Its got hajaar tiny waterfalls all along the route and quite a few tunnels. Man, the ride was brilliant. I quite liked the Deccan Queen as well. The have a Pantry car, complete with dining tables and chairs and sipping a hot cuppa in a train moving through heaven, was actually worth the while. And best of all, she got us there 10mins. before time.

Pune Station was mostly chaos. The bus-stop was across. Pune's buses are some sort of midget variety, compared to Mumbai's BEST. And they look cute. It wasn't too tough finding the one that'd get me to Paale's office, near the famous Chaturshingi Temple. Paale was my senior at College. He can be listed among the few reasons to stick around in Engineering. The guy has not changed much. His humour and spontaneity are intact, and so were the huge gaps in his teeth.

We drove down to E-Square Cinemas and got our tickets for Sarkar - 2355 show. Their Foodcourt had everything edible on the Menu, but both us were game for sabji, dal, roti and Lassi. So that's how it was.

Sarkar was quite interesting. Having watched 'The Godfather' made me draw parallels. But the Indian element made it amusing. I particularly liked Veerendra Saxena, Sarkar's right-hand man. The guy looks cut-out for the role with the shaven head. And he intimidates to perfection. I don't know how they thought of smashing a man's groin using a dumb-bell. And then filming it.

The other chappy I've begun to admire is Abhishek Bachchan. The 'Maine Bhaiyya ko maar daala' scene was executed to perfection. Have been a big fan of his since Yuva happened.

We headed to Koregaon Park after that as Paale was raving about the Barista outlet there. But it was closed, so we headed home. To be toasted to Glenfiddich. On the rocks. The weekend was made.