Pune had a newsy 2011. The doyen of the Kirana gharana, Bharat Ratna Bhimsen Joshi (88) passed away on January 24. With his demise, an entire era in Hindustani classical music came to an end. Thousands of well-wishers thronged his funeral at the Vaikunth crematorium, where the state government accorded him a 21-gun salute.
January also saw the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) send a high-powered team to inspect the controversial Lavasa project.
In March, lady cadet, Shikha Awasthi of the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune became the first lady cadet to be awarded the prestigious ‘sword of honour’.
On July 12, the city observed the 50th anniversary of the floods caused by the breach in the Panshet dam. Several parts of the city were inundated with excess waters from the Mutha river, once on July 19 and then again on September 3, which caused a lot of hardship to the people.
In August, the Pune rural police controversially fired on villagers from Maval taluka killing three, including a woman. The villagers were protesting against a water pipeline being laid from the Pavana dam to the Pimpri-Chinchwad township.
The year also saw anti-corruption crusader, Anna Hazare conduct three fasts, one each in April, August (both in New Delhi) and December (in Mumbai). Interestingly, while the first two fasts evoked an enthusiastic response from the people, the last one in December evoked a lukewarm response in Pune.
In December this year, the annual Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav was rechristened as the Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav in honour of the great Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.
The month also saw the unexpected crash of a Sukhoi 30MkI fighter jet in Wade Bolhai village, 25 km north of Pune. Fortunately, this first Sukhoi crash over Pune saw both pilots eject safely and also cause no fatalities on the ground.
With so much happening in the city, the DNA photo team of Ravindra Joshi, Aniruddha Rajandekar, Naresh Natu and Sanket Deshpande was always at hand to capture the memorable moments for posterity.
(Compiled by Rahul Chandawarkar with inputs from Ratnakar Detke, DNA Research and Archives)
