Diego Graffi says "I like the spirit of Pune"

Pune:

Diego Graffi, the managing director and CEO of Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd, has been living in the city for two years and as much as he has come to embrace it, he says it has embraced him as well.

The Italian loves everything about Pune except that he feels a dedicated airport, even if only for better domestic connectivity, will serve the city well. “When we have to go to another city for meetings, we have to plan a day in advance or come back a day later because of the restricted flight timings in Pune. Even for leisure trips to places such as Goa, a weekend getaway spills over to a day more.”

For now, much of his flight trips happen from Mumbai. He rues the long travel to and from the Mumbai airport.

Graffi moved to Pune two years ago and chose to stay in an apartment complex in the Magarpatta township for its proximity to his workplace and also because of easy access to all modern amenities.

His acceptance of the city and country is evident in the Hindi ringtone that plays as his phone rings midway through the conversation. Paneer is another thing he has grown fond of. In restaurants here, he prefers to have authentic Indian food over mixed Italian food.

“I like the city. I have been to Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, but I like the spirit of Pune. It is a lively city as many youngsters stay here. It is also a good place for business. If I have to select one city to live in India, Pune is definitely one of them,” he says.

“I particularly like how people are open here. It is easy for Europeans to deal with Indians as the mentality and approach to life is very similar. It is easy to start talking about business and leisure with people here. Even in the club where I play tennis, they treat me like an Indian and that is really nice,” he says.

Pune in particular, Graffi observes, is a relatively ‘safe world city’. “I have observed that young girls go out in the evening and it seems like a safe city. It is not so easy in some other cities in the world,” he says.

For Graffi, Pune just got easier as time passed by. Figuratively, he got used to the traffic rules and multiple ‘invisible’ speed-breakers on the roads. He is elated that his travel time is cut short by a new bridge connecting Magarpatta to Koregaon Park Annexe. “The bridge has changed my life. It saves me a good 15 minutes one-way,” he says.

The Italian automaker’s India chief does indulge in a bit of riding and driving on weekends. He prefers to ride a bike than drive a car. “When I drive here, my wife keeps looking at me as my driving is different here from Italy. I like to drive here, just that you have to be more aware. It is more crowded but the average speed is very low. In Italy, no lane-cutting happens but the speed is high,” he says.

For Graffi, the summers in Pune are more manageable than monsoons. He says he is still getting used to it and people’s perspective here about rains. “For Indians, rain is good weather, for us it is bad. My Indian friends find rains romantic but I still do not love it. On the brighter side, Lonavla looks beautiful when it rains,” he says.

The maker of Vespa and Aprillia two-wheelers also has a word of advice for Puneites, some of whom have protested the helmet mandate. “Helmets are compulsory whatever the speed and distance. In 99.9% of the time nothing will happen, but the 0.1% can be dangerous,” he says.