Last weekend, I had a chance to travel to Nagpur. This time, it was not for some work I had pending, but just to visit the place where I did my engineering from and relive those good days.

I will not go on about each and every thing about the trip, instead I will just list the places I visited and say what has changed about them

Priyadarshini College of Engineering

1. There are now many different colleges in the same campus, mainly an MBA college, a polytechnic college, among others
2. Some teachers have left, though I saw most of them on Saturday morning. They seem to have prospered and most come on cars instead of lunas/Puchs.
3. Students are now from a slightly better class of society, some of them own cars.
4. The number of buildings has gone up, though it doesn’t feel that cramped
5. The row of tin-shedded buildings housing the small auditorium opposite the Administrative block has been demolished
6. The nescafe shop next to the library has been demolished
7. The row of road-side tea-stalls opposite the college gate has been replaced by a Cafe Coffee Day
8. The IT block has lost its new feeling (when it was constructed) and looks shabbier now

Dharampeth

1. Most of the shops are same, no major changes. Bula’s still stands
2. There’s a new Haldiram building coming up
3. Pyramid has been replaced by Brand Factory, though the inside of the store looks the same as before
4. The custard/shake stall at the first left turn was not there both the days I went there
5. Raskun(j) has closed down
6. Yummy yum has been closed down/replaced by a newer restaurant
7. Some good brands have opened up shop
8. Corn Hub now has 2 outlets (In DP)
9. The In & Out shop at Shanky PP now sells branded apparel.

1. The VCA stadium now has a Subway outlet
2. The CCD is mostly the same
3. Both Liberty/Smruti theaters are the same (at least from outside)
4. Tauby’s is still doing good business
5. Restaurant Nanking is still there
6. Poonam Chambers was mostly deserted, even on Saturday evening
7. The video game parlour in the basement of Poonam chambers is much smaller and completely deserted; the games suck and have no place in 2012
8. The PC cafe coffee day is still there, though there’re much less people

Sitaburdi

1. Burdi is as (if not more) crowded than before
2. There’s a new mall in Burdi, but does not compare to metropolitan city malls; mostly consists of Big Bazaar and the crowd is terrible
3. Landmark (with Westside and Big bazaar) still exists.
4. The jewellery store which opened up in place of Barista was closed
5. Pape Juice corner was closed both the days I went there.
6. There was a new Haldiram joint opening up
7. Paragon Traders still exists
8. 10 Downing street still exists; though the Pasta I ordered was very-very spicy; leading me to suspect that it was Saoji pasta.

Overall/Misc

1. Telangkhedi lake seems deserted
2. The row of chinese/street food stalls opposite the lake have been replaced by swanky (by Nagpur standards) cafes
3. The lake is definitely dirtier, with filth floating around
4. The house where I used to stay has gone from a single floor shabby structure to a 3 floor swanky (again, by Nagpur standards) house
5. The Hot chips next to PP’s garage pub has been closed
6. PP’s garage pub still exists
7. Maitrayi CCD still exists, is doing good business
8. There are a lot more Hot Chips counters around the city
9. The city is still more 2-wheeler friendly than 4-wheelers
10. Fuel rates have gone up significantly, auto-wallahs charge too much
11. The Airport, which underwent a spurt of development/expansion after I left is now stagnant, not much more has been done. There were birds flying around inside the airport
12. The restaurants/pubs are still much cheaper than the ones in metropolitan cities
13. Some women still wear a weird robe over their clothes to protect themselves from the Sun.
14. The Sardarji opposite T-Point hostel is still serving meals to students. Gary (his son) seems to have grown a regular beard and wears a turban now.
15. The movie theaters still show English movies dubbed into Hindi. The wrath of the titans was Mahayudhh – 2

Finally, the heat was unbearable, even in March. The temperature crosses 40 degrees by noon and stays that way till 6PM. The sun is very very hot and I got blisters on my hand riding a bike around in the heat; as well as a headache which lasted till the next day.
While leaving, I asked myself this question “Would I be able to live in Nagpur if I got a job offer here?”; after all, I would be able to afford a much higher standard of living even with the same Salary.
Well the answer is “NO”. Nagpur as a city is nothing spectacular. What made it worth living was the presence of wonderful friends an the student lifestyle we used to lead.
Without them, it is not as much fun.