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PAGE 39 Dreams PAGE 23

Do you think Pune has the ca-
Q pabilities to be the seventh
metro of the country?
Growing large does not make you a sumo
wrestler! Pune has a much larger population
than Amsterdam or Copenhagen. But Pune is
not a metro in the sense these two examples
are. It has the cosmopolitan population, the
student population, academic institutions,
the culture, the economic base and the popu-
lation to become a world class city, but lacks
the infrastructure, statesmen and facilities.
We claim to have a ‘new airport’ but this is
M FAHIM
cuse. Premier airlines recently cut business
class and one has to go to Mumbai to fly to
Singapore or London. Even economy class has
been thrown out the window in favour of
‘connect’. You can’t attract hi-tech investment
to a city that runs on ‘cattle class’!
Where is the world or even national level
museum, auditorium? Where is the exhibi-
tion ground with sanitation, travel and back-
up facilities? Where is a clean and safe public
swimming pool? The roads to Balewadi were
never completed even after the Youth Games.
Safe drinking water is yet to reach the citi-
zenry. Other than a few starred hotels, malls
metro until it creates statesmen who know
what a metro is and dream for their voters.
Has Pune come out of Mum-
Q bai’s shadow?
We like to blame Pune’s lack of balanced de-
velopment on Mumbai and its ‘shadow’. We
like to blame our problems on a large popu-
lation, that’s an asset not a liability! The peo-
ple of Pune, from labourers to scientists, are
the best in the world and they are building a
city despite the incompetence of the politi-
cians. Mumbai actually feeds Pune, it does not
ing up the market through their ‘property’
sections. Land prices went out of control and
cheap loans helped artificially lower the EMIs
for blown-up prices.
Investors jumped in. They booked apart-
ments for whom there were going to be no
residents. They traded from one to another at
ever higher prices. Thinking the joy ride
would last forever they started using ‘deposits’
on flats to diversify into other profit centres.
The boom is over in real estate, but the
city’s economy is booming. We are not a city
who lives on real estate; real estate lives on
the city.

just the fifth remodelling of an out-dated ex-
and multiplexes, where does one go out in
Pune? There’s essentially no dependable elec-
tric supply. Can a huge village without elec-
tricity be called a metro?
Why does Pune lack in such ba-
Q sic amenities?
To have basic facilities, one needs the modern
development institutions that facilitate de-
velopment. We do not have an urban devel-
opment authority within the present leader-
ship. For reasons best known to themselves,
the many nationally famous leaders for Pune,
simply do not care about Pune! Even small
towns in Andhra Pradesh like Vijayawada
sap it!
We have two Municipal Corporations, nu-
merous cantonments, MIDC Estates, IT Estates,
small towns and SEZs. Each is a closed, self-
ruled system. Pune is one thousand suburbs in
search of a city. None of them are working to-
gether towards a common metropolitan cause.
But our leaders like it this way — each have a
little princely state to do with as they please.
Is the real estate boom really
Q helping the city? Is the boom
real?
Whenever we talk of the real estate industry
we are again looking for villains. We need
How to overcome traffic con-
Q gestion in the city?
We need rapid internal trains both under and
overground, where appropriate. This system
must be linked with a good bus system that
handles smaller regions. People say we don’t
have the densities for a mass public transit sys-
tem. Density follows mass transit, not the
other way around. Urban maturity is a
planned process.
Are we successful in conserv-
Q ing our heritage structures?

You can’t attract hi-tech

investment to a city that
runs on ‘cattle class’
Architect and urban planner Christopher C Benninger speaks to Paula
Ray about his doubts in calling Pune the seventh metro of the country
have urban develop- housing and commercial venues and the de- When I came to Pune in 1976 there were 350
ment authori- velopers are providing them within the rules wadas in the city and one could walk the lanes
ties. Such an au- set out by our politicians and implemented by of the city centre in comfort. It was not the
thority would spread our officials. builders who tore down the wadas; it was the
its planning, systems There was a pent-up need for middle and owners who wanted to reap the high land
and delivery net- upper income housing until about two years values of city centre properties.
works over the entire feudal ago. There was a huge influx of well paid tal- We talk a lot about heritage when we are
Christopher C Benninger system of fiefdoms parceled ent into the city, but this demand pushed up talking about other people’s money, but we do
out amongst our leaders. the prices well beyond the ‘real value’ of the not put public money into heritage, as other
Pune will not become a units. The press catalyzed this process by hyp- countries do!

ask the sexpert DR MAHINDER WATSA
1 I got married two months ago. My
problem is that even after ample
foreplay, I am unable to penetrate. I
Send in your queries to: Ask the Sexpert, Pune Mirror, Times House, FC Road, Pune 411004 or e-mail us at
mahinder.watsa@gmail.com. You can contact Dr Watsa for an appointment on mcwatsa@hotmail.com
tried different positions, but they penis is required so as to penetrate the sexpert? There’s a lot you could learn We wish to have a child soon.
didn’t work. Will using KY Jelly help? vagina. The position should also be cor- from them if you change your mind. After completing the act, a large part of
Also, my erection doesn’t last long rect to facilitate entry. Ejaculation is nec- the seminal discharge naturally flows out
nor is it hard enough. Is that the rea- essary for conception to occur. 2 Whenever my wife and I in- and a small amount goes upwards, to-
son for my problem? I am unable to
You should start masturbating three dulge in intercourse, there’s a wards the tubes of the uterus, one of
ejaculate during sex. I have never
masturbated, but I experience regu- to four times a week, perhaps near her white gel, maybe my semen, that which contains the egg (ovum). Putting a
lar nightfall. I don’t want to visit a vagina, and when you near orgasm, try comes out of her vagina. This hap- pillow under the hips will help and the
doctor. Please help me. to enter. pens in spite of keeping a pillow sperms will be retained longer in the
A certain amount of hardness in the Why the resistance in consulting a under her buttocks. Please help. vagina.