Sleepless in Lavasa

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.  ~Kahlil Gibran

I'm in love with the kingdom of Lavasa. For those of you who are Face-booking, please do join our group- "In Love with Lavasa". My Dad & I drove down this bright sunny winter day , past Urvade, Lavarde to Lavasa. As usual, we had a breakfast break on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway - they serve the best Vada-Paos in the district! After this pit-stop, it was an hours drive straight up to Lavasa. I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is boundless. Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful.  Everything is simply happy.  Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance.  Look at the flowers - for no reason.  It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.

As I drove up the Lavabahn, I was dreaming of starting an Art Gallery for the township. Art would blend in beautifully with the environment, the ambience, the stylish landscaping, the royal promenade, the manicured lawns, the eco-friendly slopes of the villas & the people who have made Lavasa their home. And then we cruised past the Lavasa Dwaar & we were in another world. Art gallery?  Who needs it?  Look up at the swirling silver-lined clouds in the magnificent blue sky or at the silently blazing stars at midnight.  How could indoor art be any more masterfully created than God's museum of nature?  George Wherry's words resonated in my mind: "Truly it may be said that the outside of a mountain is good for the inside of a man."  ~George Wherry, Alpine Notes and the Climbing Foot, 1896

The mountain slopes, the hill-sides, the grazing meadows were changing colors. Although we don't have a "Fall" in this part of the world, the colors typically reminded me of the east coast of North America bathed in its majestic colors of the Fall. Rust colored bushes with fields of yellow ochre shrubs skirted with lush green vegetation at the periphery was the scenery that a landscape artist dreams of. This time around we decided to hit the Nature trail sculpted out of the Sahyadris by the landscape team. The trail begins right outside the driveway of Ekaant and meanders through the forest going upwards for a 1000 yards & then follows the butterfly route. You could take the long route and walk for three hours exploring the natural habitat of the butterflies, or for the not so fit, the trail can be shortened to just an hour.

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches
Today, tomorrow and beyond.
~Irish Blessing

He's lived 13 years of his prime youth in Ireland & still loves the Guiness and his grateful for the Irish Blessings! My dad was hesitant initially to go up the rough trail (hes 79!); I convinced him to come with me for the short nature-walk & he thoroughly enjoyed the wild flowers, the wind in his hair, the smell of wild grass & the skyful of butterflies. The flowers change every couple of months. Im not a botanist; cannot identify the genus, but December had an amazing display of wild flowers and the landscape team's babies! Look at the photos & I'm sure you will fall in love with Lavasa too!!

The flower is the poetry of reproduction.  It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.  ~Jean Giraudoux