“Bring back the Pune I once loved”

Says actress Sunali Kulkarni

It’s ironical that exactly eight days before Dr Narendra Dabholkar was killed in broad daylight I was at a function with him where I said, “Pune isn’t a city where murders are planned”. I was speaking in context of the film Maaficha Sakshidaar based on a series of killings that had rocked Pune in the early seventies. A week later, I was shocked to hear that the activist who I had worked with for the past 16 years was killed in this very city that I was so proud of. It’s made me believe that Pune, the city I grew up and studied in, has changed so much. There’s a fear psychosis that has set in, Punekars don’t feel safe anymore. At one time, it used to be addressed with several lofty epithets— the Oxford of the East or the cultural and academic capital of Maharashtra. Today, there is a big racket run by fake godmen and even the well educated fall into the trap. It was the city where Bal Gangadhar Tilak started the Ganeshutsav to bring people together and encourage them to recognise their collective strength; a city that was home to researchers and scholars who promoted discussions and debate. It’s in this very city that a rational voice was silenced with guns. As a student of Fergusson College, we girls would hop on to our bikes and ride back home after theatre rehearsals and shows even at midnight. Our parents would be up waiting for us but there was never a fear that something might go wrong on the roads. Today, I’d never advise any woman to travel alone in the city at night. Pune was a city of simplicity with deeply rooted cultural values and great emphasis on education. Now, we judge by appearances so a sense of pretence has set in. We no longer care about the next person; the close social fabric is disintegrating, which in turn, is leading to crimes and fear. Pune was known for its middle class who was strong and fearless. That strength is now turning into helplessness. It’s unfortunate that the city of Tilak is also the city that silenced Dabholkar’s voice. Sonali Kulkarni is a film and theatre actress. As told to