THEY WERE HERE EVEN BEFORE INDEPENDENCE, THEY STILL STAND TALL

A 104-YEAR-OLD ORIENTOLOGY TREASURE TROVE

The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute was founded on July 6, 1917, in the honour of Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarakar, the foremost pioneer of scientific Orientology in India. The institute is involved in research activity in the field of Orientology. It has a huge collection of over 1.4 lakh books, including several rare titles, and 28,000 manuscripts practically covering every aspect of Orientology. The collection covers several languages and scripts, such as Sanskrit, Prakrit, Indian regional languages and classical Asian and European languages.

NEARING 175 YEARS, AND EVOLVING

The Pune Nagar Vachan Mandir was founded on February 7, 1848, and will enter its 175th year in 2022. It is located in Budhwar Peth and thrives as a functioning public library with a collection of over 50,000 books and more than 3,000 registered members. At a time when gadgets and social media are affecting people’s reading habit, surviving as a public library is difficult. But Pune Nagar Vachan Mandir has adapted to the changes and revamped its model to include its presence on the web and deliver books to homes.

127 YEARS ON, THE SHOW GOES ON

Founded in 1894, the Bharat Natya Mandir is one of the very first platforms for experimental theatre in Marathi and hosts some of the most important drama competitions like the Purushottam Karandak, Firodiya Karandak and the Maharashtra government’s drama competition. It also holds a festival of Marathi musicals every year and the footfall continues to soar.

CRADLE OF ENGINEERS, FOR 167 YEARS

College of Engineering Pune, is an autonomous institute in Shivajinagar. Established in 1854 it is one of the oldest engineering colleges in the country. In 1864, it was known as the Poona Civil Engineering College. The name Government College of Engineering, Pune was taken up only in 1911.

BRINGING STARS TO STUDENTS FOR 141 YEARS

New English School on Tilak Road was established in 1880 by Vishnushastri Chipalunkar, Lokmanya Tilak, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and Mahadev Namjoshi. It is the first school in Asia to have an advanced planetarium for students. Beautiful architecture is one of the characteristics of the school that has over 30,000 books in its library. One more unique feature of the school is it arranges special coaching for bicycle riding for students not having the skills to paddle.

(Photographs and text by Mandar Deshpande)