KAYANI BAKERY

On East Street is a red shutter for a door, behind which is a modest white and cream room, stained with time, and always crowded from opening to closing time. It was in 1955 when brothers Hormuz and Khodayar Irani introduced Pune to their delicious recipes. To get your hands on their items, expect to queue for at least 20 minutes on any afternoon of a weekday, and maybe over an hour on weekends. It functions more as a takeaway.

While you will be spoilt for choice, don’t leave without a packet of buttery Shrewsbury biscuits (`320 per kilogram) and ginger biscuits (`320 per kilogram). Their cakes ooze rich flavours as well, especially the mawa cake (`20 per cake). Open: 7.30am-1pm and 3.30pm-8pm; tel +91 20 2636 0517. of urgency in the crowds, people are in a perpetual rush and haggling is a way of life. Utensils, brightly coloured saris, metal lamps, items for pujas or religious rituals, ready-to-eat cut fruits, copper and brass idols, shoes, artificial flowers, toys for toddlers, imitation jewellery, local snacks — the list of items available at Tulsi Baug is endless. The smaller vendors have carts lining the streets and the bigger retailers have set shop in cubby holes. Add to this incessant beaping from two-wheelers.

Why must you visit? Because this is the essence of a typical Indian lifestyle. The locals find everything they need in these alleyways. And as a visitor it is impossible to leave without bagfuls of colourful bric-a-brac.

Deep inside the market is a wellsized wooden temple from the 18th century — Ram Mandir. To reach here, one must cross-over a short wooden doorway that leads to an open space where dilapidated homes are stacked in two storey structures around the temple. The temple isn’t in the best form, but one can still enjoy intricate carvings on the wooden pillars and teakwood, lotus-shaped ceiling. Part of the temple extends to a 140 feet tall stone building. Dancing deities are carved into the walls, and the funnel shaped roof is a gold-plated finial. Shiv Darshan Road, Arnyeshwar, Sant Nagar; open daily: 12:30pm-9:30pm.