India vs. Pakistan, Part 2

After the end of the game, the celebration took to the streets. View more (low quality) images here.

India vs. Pakistan, Part 1

India and Pakistan squared off in a semifinal cricket match to see who would proceed to the World Cup. India emerged victorious and will proceed to face Sri Lanka in the final game, to take place in Mumbai on Saturday. View more images here.

Pune, Maharasthra, India - Revisited

I visited a new building coming up in Pune and took some photos of the changing landscape around it from the 8th floor. The breakneck speed at which new developments are being built in the city is unbelievable, and appears to be more or less haphazard. Click the photo above for a larger version.

Lavasa, Part 4

We took a look at one of the extremely suburban-y looking sample homes in Lavasa. This house is in the first of the five towns being built, known as Dasve. The town already has an operational hospital, despite the fact that very few people live here yet. A convention center is also under construction. It reminded me of a countrified version of Levittown.

Lavasa, Part 3

This is Dasve, the first of the five towns being built at Lavasa. The river, dry until the monsoons, runs through it which empties out into the lake.

Lavasa, Part 2

It was bizarre to drive around a town that looked a lot like Disneyland with no rides. With restaurants, hotels, and playgrounds, it was an idyllic looking city-in-progress, but the lack of people and the abundance of amenities made it a little creepy. The government has put a hold on all new construction because of environmental concerns, while the HCC claims the government has "magnified minor environmental issues."

Lavasa, Part 1

Lavasa is a new planned city being built near Pune by the HCC (Hindustan Construction Company.) To get to the development, you have to drive through winding roads on a mountain. After passing the official gated entrance, there are incredible views of the city, and the street suddenly becomes extremely well paved. The road from Mumbai is littered with billboards selling Lavasa as an ideal place to retire or buy a vacation home.

It's being touted by the builders as an "eco-friendly" town set amidst "7 hills and 60 kms of lakefront," that is going to be almost "1/4th the size of Mumbai." The development has run into some issues recently due to environmental concerns, and construction has temporarily been stopped. At the information center, there was a tremendous emphasis on the influence"new urbanism" on the design of the city. I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel a little like India was giving up on the cities it's had for thousands of years and moving out to the mountains to try again.

Navi Mumbai Airport

This is the site of the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport, which will cost a total of $700 to $900 million dollars, and will cover approximately 4 square miles. As is to be expected with a project of this size, many issues have come up; the people who lived on the land have been paid market rates for their properties and have been told to leave, and many are unhappy with the compensation they received. Additionally, the site contains mangroves, which are a critical and irreplaceable part of the areas ecology--- the removal of which can have serious consequences.

The Family Office

This office has been in my family for about 40 years. In the 1970's my grandfather purchased a store in Mumbai's then new World Trade Center, initially using it as a small cake shop called Mongini's. At that time Cuffe Parade was a relatively new area, and a lack of pedestrian use of the area made the cake shop not all that successful. About 30 years ago it was retrofitted as an office space. Named Pearl Enterprises after my grandmother's nickname Pearl, it's now the office for three separate family operations.

Astrology

The Jantar Mantar sites around India (see here and here) served primarily astrological functions. I recently had the opportunity to go to a prominent astrologer who took my name, date of birth, time of birth and location of birth, and gave me a 20 page booklet of information regarding my future, filled with charts and figures. Some choice findings about myself: