Pune

Pune grew from villages on the Mutha recorded from the 8th century, but its history turns on the Marathas. Shivaji spent part of his childhood here in the Lal Mahal while his mother Jijabai administered the family's lands, and after the Maratha empire passed in practice to its prime ministers, the Peshwas, the city became the seat of power in western India. Bajirao I built Shaniwar Wada in 1732, and through the 18th century Pune was the capital of a confederacy whose armies reached across northern India. Defeat at Panipat in 1761 weakened it, and the British took the city after the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818.

Under British rule Pune became the monsoon capital of the Bombay Presidency, with a large cantonment east of the old town and a hot-weather seat of government. It also became a centre of Indian intellectual life. Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule opened a school for girls here in 1848 and campaigned against caste oppression; Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, political rivals with very different methods, both worked from Pune, and Tilak turned the domestic worship of Ganesh into a public festival in the 1890s to build a nationalist movement. Fergusson College, founded in 1885, drew students from across the presidency.

Gandhi and his wife Kasturba were interned in the Aga Khan Palace after the Quit India resolution of 1942, and Kasturba died there. After independence the city industrialised, with car and engineering plants at Pimpri-Chinchwad from the 1950s and, from the 1990s, a software industry centred on Hinjawadi. Growth has been rapid ever since, spreading the built-up area far beyond the old peths.

Pune calls itself the cultural capital of Maharashtra, and the claim rests on Marathi literature, theatre and classical music. The city has a long tradition of experimental Marathi drama and a knowledgeable concert audience: the Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav each December, named for two great singers of the Kirana gharana, is among the most respected Hindustani music festivals in India. Bhimsen Joshi lived and performed here for decades.

Ganesh Chaturthi shapes the year. For ten days in the late monsoon the peths fill with pandals put up by neighbourhood mandals, some of which have been doing it since Tilak's time, and the immersion procession on the final day moves through the old city for many hours. In June or July the palkhis of Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram pass through on their way to Pandharpur, with warkari pilgrims in white caps and tulsi pots singing abhangs.

Education gives the city its other character. Colleges, research institutes and coaching classes draw students from across India and, increasingly, from Africa, Iran and central Asia, which is why Pune is sometimes called the Oxford of the East. The result is a mix of conservative Marathi households, a cosmopolitan student and technology population, and an old cantonment society of Parsi, Christian and Sindhi families, held together by cricket, cafés and an unusual level of civic argument.

About 3.1 million people lived in the city at the 2011 census and several million more in the metropolitan region, which includes the industrial twin city of Pimpri-Chinchwad; the built-up area has grown quickly since. The economy rests on information technology, engineering and car manufacturing — Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Mercedes-Benz all build vehicles in or near the city — along with education, defence establishments and a large services sector.

Where people live has shifted outward. The peths remain crowded with old wada houses converted into flats and shops, while most families have moved to apartment blocks in Kothrud, Baner, Wakad, Viman Nagar and the townships beyond the ring roads, commuting by two-wheeler or car. Migration from across Maharashtra and the rest of India has changed the linguistic mix, and rents in the technology corridors are high by Indian standards.

Mornings begin early, with walkers on Parvati Hill and in the gardens and queues at misal and poha counters; offices and campuses empty into the evening traffic; weekends take families to the forts, dams and hill towns in the Ghats. The persistent problems are traffic and air quality, water supply in dry years, flooding along the rivers during heavy monsoon releases, and the strain that rapid building has put on the city's roads and drainage.

Pune eats Maharashtrian food with a strong plateau accent. Misal pav is the local emblem: sprouted moth beans in a hot, oily curry called kat, topped with crunchy farsan, chopped onion and coriander, with bread rolls and a glass of buttermilk to cool it. Vada pav, the potato fritter in a bun, is eaten standing at carts all day, and poha, flattened rice steamed with turmeric and mustard seed, is the usual breakfast. Sabudana khichdi of tapioca pearls with peanuts and green chilli is a fasting dish eaten year-round.

The thali is the everyday meal — bhakri of jowar or bajra millet or wheat chapati, a vegetable, dal, rice and a pickle — while Kolhapuri and Malvani restaurants supply the fiery mutton curries, tambda and pandhra rassa, and coastal fish for those who eat meat. Sunday lunch in many Marathi homes means puran poli, flatbread stuffed with sweetened lentils and eaten with ghee.

Pune specialities include mastani, a very thick milkshake crowned with ice cream, and the sweet-and-spicy bhakarwadi, a rolled, fried spiral of gram flour that the city's sweet shops sell by the kilo. Chitale-style bakarwadi, chikki from Lonavala and pedhas are the standard gifts to take home. Old Irani cafés in Camp serve bun maska and chai, students eat their way along Fergusson College Road, and Koregaon Park has the widest choice of restaurants and bars in the city.