I recently visited the Blue Nile Café in Pune with my friends. It was such a nostalgic moment when I remembered my days as a Resident Doctor while doing my PG in MD Gynaecology and Obstetrics at BJ Medical College and Sassoon Hospital. We used to visit the Blue Nile Café and the neighbouring Amit-da-dhaba so often. Whenever any of the resident doctors wanted to give a treat on their first caesarian section delivery or conduct a difficult surgery, we would treat the rest of the resident doctors by taking them to Blue Nile. After several years, almost after four decades, I went with my friends recently to revive the experience, and I was astonished to see how it has been transformed into a very posh restaurant from what it was before.
The owner of the Blue Nile Restaurant Mr Taher Jafferi was waiting there to meet us. Incidentally, his son is also an alumnus of Symbiosis he said! When I asked him about the year of initiation of the Blue Nile, he said it’s been here since the early 1960’s, and it had been handed to him as a family legacy. The Iranians came to India many generations ago and made India and Pune their home, so we have many Iranian cafes in and around Pune. Whether it is the Blue Nile restaurant or the Café Naaz in camp, which also belongs to the same family, or the Lucky Bakery, which used to be there on Fergusson College Road. Even today, the most famous, which stands tall in the Deccan Gymkhana Chowk, is the Café Goodluck on Fergusson College Road whose owner is Mr Kasim.
It is so nostalgic again, as just two weeks ago, my father and one of his old students went to Café Goodluck to have lunch and the famous chicken masala. The bun maska chai of Café Goodluck, remains one of the most popular snacks for Punekars even today. Café Goodluck was a place that my parents used to visit when they were doing their MSc and PhD at Pune University, and I was just born then. My parents tell me that they used to carry me in a small cradle and put the cradle on the window sill. My father relived that experience again after eating lunch with one of his first students. He felt so nostalgic that he called me from there.
There are so many such nostalgic moments in one’s life that one wants to relive and experience again. When one travels back in time, one realizes that life was far simpler during those times. The pace was slow and one could enjoy the experiences. I feel each one of us must travel back in time to relive past experiences and enjoy the nostalgia!
It is a beautiful experience, and the happiness that you get is something that one must experience. It helps one connect better with their roots.
Nostalgia indeed is a beautiful and sentimental longing!!