I live in a Gaon

After I recently moved back to Pune, my sister came to visit. She used to get frustrated with the autoricks cause whenever she wanted to come back to Baner, the ricks will try to fleece you stating that Baner Gaon is too far off etc. etc.

I used to be amused.

No longer.

Baner is a Gaon. Lets take stock.
- no roads : check
- unscheduled powercuts : check
- bad mobile (airtel is my service provider) coverage : check
- bad or no drainage : check.
- no road sense : check.

Slowly but surely, the frustration is coming to the fore. Below is a pic from my mobile, showing the state of the road. This road is the main Baner road, and the building on the left is my office. The road is supposed to be the main thoroughfare for the Youth games, leading to the stadium on the outskirts of the city. Can somone point out the road please ?

The traffic jam is due to the bad state of the old road (you need a 4x4 rather than a car to travel here). The new road is still being built - but you cannot travel on it. With the rains here, the weather is fantastic, but there is not much you can be happy about when even to enjoy the weather, you travel is limited.

I first read about town planning when i was in school. It was about the Harrappan Culture, and how their roads had proper drainage etc. History is supposed to be a record of the past that you learn from and develop yourself further. But here, it seems people do not even go through the essentials of city planning. Its road planning all wrong - or as you should not be doing it. Some Salient points :
- The roads are first of all, not there !
- The roads become broad at points and then suddenly narrow down, leading to choke points.
- There are no sidewalks. So, people walk on the roads.
- There are no parking places, so people park on the roads.
- There are no drains at the side, so all the water is on the roads.

What a complete mess !