Sample this -- Bata Chowk, Parihar Chowk, 7 Loves Chowk, Om Supermarket Chowk, Goodluck Chowk. The one thing common with all of the above is that they are either shops or hotels after which chowks in the city have been named. Although these are just a few examples out of several well-known and many other obscure intersections in Pune, it's a well-entrenched trend.

"When I started this shop in 1987, there was not much traffic and very few residential buildings. After 2 pm in the afternoon, not even a bicycle could be seen on the roads," says Devram Parihar, owner of the famous Parihar Sweets in Aundh, after which Parihar Chowk is named. He says it was when he began helping out in Ganpati and Independence Day celebrations in the area that people recognised his efforts. "In 1988, a year after I started the shop, this intersection was named Parihar Chowk," says Parihar, a native of Pali in Rajasthan.

A similar story is narrated by Narayan Dabi of Om Supermarket in Model Colony. He says it was the year 1972 when he started out and very few shops existed in the area. "People here began to identify the nearby area with my shop. It's been a long journey, almost 37 years now, since I set up shop here," reminisces Dabi. Other famous landmarks in Pune are the Goodluck Chowk near Deccan Gymkhana, 7 Loves Chowk near Shankar Seth Road and Bata Chowk on M G Road. "This hotel was set up on Oct 1, 1971. At that time, the junction was known simply as Dhole Patil Chowk. It's only during the course of the last 10 years that it's become popularly known as 7 Loves Chowk," informs Bhushan Rao, manager of 7 Loves Hotel. The busy intersection is now uniformly known as the 7 Loves Chowk, not just in the neighbouring areas but across Pune.

Another famous junction is the Bata Chowk on M G Road. It is a well-known pointer and one that has been around for more than 70 years now. As B R Vyas, manager of the outlet informs, "This shop was established in 1930 and was the first in the area; other commercial establishments followed suit much later. That's one of the main reasons why this intersection is famous as the Bata Chowk. I guess the name has just stuck now and become a part of life in Pune." Although there are several Bata shops in the city, none is as well-known as the one on M G Road; also, none of them have become popular enough to have a junction named after them.