Hello Guides ,
I am Prathamesh from Pune , India. Also a proud Punekar (resident of Pune) . Being a local guide for me is fun as well as challenging according to me. Let me tell you why it is challenging before that, talking about my city . Pune is considered as one of the Biggest Educational Hubs in India due to numerous educational institutes in the city. Due to which a very young and diverse crowd is attracted to the city for education purposes.
Also it is a misconception of people in many places of Maharashtra state that people of Pune are very rude and that they rarely help any unknown or new person in the city. So I took this trolling as a challenge and decided to prove the facts wrong about my city and help people by being a local guide for them.
As being a student myself I knew what are the needs of a student when he/she is new to any city. So before becoming a local guide , I used to personally tell my friends about the good places to eat such as Mess ( Meals) also the better and cheaper laundry services and would try to spread the word in my network. While travelling through the city bus in Pune I came across many people from students to 60+ Aged people asking for help and directions, I was always eager to help such people. I would like to share one incident I faced while having my daily commute through the city bus . Once 45-50+ aged Man was sitting next to me and was trying to contact his son who was studying in one of famous Engineering Colleges in Pune.I started the conversation and asked him why was he tensed , he told me that he had came all the way long from Jalgaon to Pune for his Son’s Convocation Ceremony. He was a farmer I could just say just by looking at him as Indian farmers have their unique identity. So he was happy for his son’s graduation and he also mentioned that this was the first time he had visited Pune. So I thought of helping this man to reach his son’s college as he had to change the bus for around 2 times to reach his final destination. So I took him to the College and called his son that his father is waiting for him at the College Entrance gate. Looking at both their happy and proud faces made my day and motivated me to keep helping people.
Secondly, Pune is famously known and trolled for its instructional/sign boards written in its traditional marathi language also known as “Puneri Patya”.
Source: Internet
This picture is from one of the exhibitions of such Puneri patya.
Translated version: One plate of Misal ( a popular spicy dish in Pune) should not be shared as one by two else Rs 10 extra will be charged.
Usually people in Pune hate saying or telling the same repeated thing to each and everyone hence they prefer saying it by such sign/instructional boards called as puneri patya. So this was also a challenge for me as many people used to get ambiguous information though they are clearly explainable enough, from such boards due to which they get frustrated and used to blame punekars and its culture. So I decided to deal with this challenge through a local guide program by contributing my reviews on the internet and avoiding ambiguity.
There is a largenumber of people visiting Pune for some or the other purpose. Also my motive was not only to help non pune residents but also my to help my Puneker’s as well.
One day from my friend i gotta know about this Google Local Guide Program explaining to me about the point system and everything. Rather than points and levels of this program the purpose of the program inspired me a lot to contribute to Google Maps. The feeling that ‘People referring my photos and reviews’ through Google Maps blew my mind and hence I decided to contribute through Google Local Guide Program.I started contributing as and when possible also Google Maps never forgets to remind me wherever I have been visited and to add reviews about that particular place.
I also gotta know that my reviews are helping many business services like new restaurants and stores. Once looking at the positive impact of my review on one of the restaurants , the restaurant manager offered me a complimentary drink when I visited next time to the restaurant by identifying through google profile photos. This was an amazing and surprising experience for me till date.
So Google Local Guide platform was a large platform for me to help new people visiting my beautiful city. Also letting everyone know that Punekars do help and are very kind and humble towards everyone just we have our own way of saying things like the sign boards and helping.
Thank You and Happy Guiding !
is indeed an antidote to the obscure nature of Punekars.
