A “Fresh” trip to Pune

We were scheduled to visit some Reliance Fresh stores and the Distribution Center in Pune. We agreed to meet at Vashi at 7 in the morning with a promise from Harish that we’ll leave on time(and with complete knowledge that we’re never going to leave before 8!)

Bhairavi’s parents we kind enough to give us a life to Vashi in the morning. Michelle and I met her at Dadar and we picked up Snehal at Sion.

Sudhansu was the only person there with the others ambling along later. We finally left at around 7:45 a.m. The drive to Pune was lovely. There was fresh air, scenic beauty of the country side gone green spotted with waterfalls and clouds that we had to drive through. We made a quick stop over a little before Lonavala for tea and then drove straight to Pune.

We reached the outskirts of Pune to realise that the DC plan was cancelled and that the guys did not know for sure where the Pune offices were even located!

Anyway, we ended up driving through Pune city and took in a lot of the military sights, etc.

When we finally reached the office at Kondwa we were starving and lunch was the need of the hour. We sat done to a lovely vegetarian spread which we wolfed down.

By around 1:15, our guide arrived to take us to the stores.

(Sudanshu, Snehal, Bhairavi & Michelle)

Since this was the first time any of us were visiting a store set up by the company we worked for it made for an interesting tour. We browsed through the main store and also had a peek into the back room where we saw first hand the back end activities.

By the time we reached store number 3 our patience had waned but we still managed to visit RPG’s Spencer and ITC’s Choupal stores and make a comparison to the Reliance Fresh stores.

By the time we headed out of Pune on to NH4 it was around 5:30p.m. and if we had any plans on getting back to Mumbai at a reasonable hour we were going to have to make a quick dash for it. We stopped about half an hour before Lonavala to fill our rumbling tummies and canceled plans to have dinner in Lonavala much to the disappointment of a few people.

The driver made good time and we were back in Vashi by 9.30. A bunch of us took the train home. Had some dessert when I got back and hit the bed.

All in all it was a good day. An educational trip coupled with the lovely weather we had in Pune made the journey worth it.

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