Rambles around Pune - Dehu and Aalandi

Last weekend, we traveled around Pune's dusty suburbs to see some places of historical and spiritual importance.

Dehu
A quaint village about 25 kms from Pune. We reached there via Chinchwad, Ningadi, Dehu Cantonment. Dehu is famous for its association with Saint Tukaram who was famous for the 'Abhangs' he wrote. He faced several troubles in his life but his steadfast devotion eventually prevailed. Shivaji himself was an ardent follower of Tukaram. Tukaram never died, there is no samadhi there for him at Dehu; he was summoned to heave directly by God Vishnu himself in a Vimana, so the legend goes. The Indranila river nearby was scenic. We skipped going to Bhandara where Tukaram used to spend his time composing Abhangs.

Aalandi
About 15 kms from Dehu is Aalandi, another great place of spiritual importance. Saint Dnyaneshwar lived there and attained samadhi. I saw a movie on his life when i was a child (dubbed into Telugu, of course) at Guntur and was impressed with his achievements.

Overall the stay in Pune was helpful as it helped me sort out issues on all fronts, pick up some Pranayama and do a bit of travel (we also covered some forts, Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani).