Life, Lust & LaVaSa

The sea is only beautiful if there's a shore. Life is like the sea. There'll be a direction to follow even if you sail more than one day or one life... the promise of a new land is your guide, because you know that the sea is a huge world that's beautiful only if there's a shore.
Patricky Field, as quoted in Beautiful if there's a shore (2008) song by Patricky Field

I'm in love with Lavasa. My wife & kids say they have never seen me in love with anyone like I love Lavasa. It was love at first sight. Now, the staff there agrees too! Almost every weekend, they look at me with wide eyes, treat me with kid-gloves and wonder what does doctor see in the Construction Sites? Ekaant is my base & I love exploring the nooks & corners of the growing city.

Lavasa is India's first hill station since Independence. It is being developed by HCC India near Pune. It is spread over 12,500 acres (51 km2) of land and is scheduled to be completed by 2021. The first phase (Dasave) is scheduled to become operational by June 2009. It will be a self-equipped city developed on the principles of New Urbanism.The city is planned to strike a balance between urban living and preservation of the environment. The master plan by HOK envisages a township in harmony with nature where nature begins at the doorstep. This master plan won both the Award for Excellence 2005, given by the Congress for the New Urbanism (USA) and the American Society of Landscape Architects Award—2005. The concept of a hill town dates from British colonial times and describes locations where British administrators went during the Indian tropical summer, prominent examples being Shimla, Kulu, and Ooty. It is just 210 minutes from home in Mumbai & this drive takes you to another world. The monsoons in Western India are the best time to visit the Sahyadris & with the Lavabahn (the equivalent of the German Autobahn) rolled out three years ago by HCC from Pirangut to Lavasa, driving in the rains on the Lavabahn is pure Lust!

Lust is any intense desire or craving for gratification and excitement. Lust can mean strictly sexual lust, although it is also common to speak of a "lust for men", "lust for blood" (bloodlust), or a "lust for power" (or other goals), and to "lust for love" - Wikipedia

The Greek word which translates as lust is epithymia (επιθυμια), which is also translated into English as "to covet". The word 'lust' originally had no negative connotation, but it has developed a connotation of sexual sin. We must add "Lust For Lavasa" to the Wikipedia annals. A few weekends ago, I decided to add to my solitude at Ekaant & introduce my Dad to Lavasa. My Dad convinced my daughter to accompany us. It was a beautiful weekend with Monsoon madness interrupted by the changing colors of the sky over the Mose valley. The clouds as I had promised them walked into our rooms & wafted into our nostrils. If you have never tasted a water-rich cloud, take in the fragrance at Ekaant on the upper level rooms. You open the 8 feet glass doors & the clouds come dancing in. The rains had scrubbed the place clean. This time the staff had some ugly tarpaulin & plastic curtains strapped down obliterating the view to the Warasgaon lake. Their argument was the rain lashes into the bedrooms if we leave them open. I convinced the FOM, Subashis Dutta that he was cutting off my Oxygen with the strapped down curtains. I spent most of Saturday evening walking around in the open - getting wet like I was having an anatabuse reaction! Early next morning, his staff got the curtains off & I got a new lease of life on this Wet Sunday.

I invited my Dad for a personal recce of the Valley city and told him how the lake was not yet full, but would be overflowing by our Independence day if the rains keep coming down like this. We decided not to go back on Sunday evening - Akanksha (my daughter) vetoed going back on Sunday evening. I was the happiest man at Ekaant! We decided to checkout at 5am on Monday so we could all be at our places of work by 9am Monday.

I am convinced that this will be the most beautiful amalgam of man & nature that India has ever seen in half a decade. as Indians, we should be proud of our brethren who had the vision.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
-Unknown

Mad Cow Fears Keep Euro Sperm Out of the USA

Health officials in the US have placed a ban on imports of sperm from European men to protect Americans from the human form of mad cow disease. Stores of European sperm are now running out, causing problems for women wishing to use them.
Before the ban, the use of sperm from Nordic donors in particular had grown in popularity. Companies such as California Cryobank in Los Angeles and Cryos International in New York City imported sperm from Denmark for which there was a huge demand, largely due to the donors' blue eyes, blond hair, and their tendency to be tall and well educated.
Since the ban, put in place in May 2005 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), sperm banks are no longer allowed to import sperm from Europe for fear it might spread the fatal and incurable human form of mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt-Jaokb disease (CJD). The ban was one of a number of restrictions the US government put in place after the spread of mad cow
disease in Europe in the late 1990s. Other measures included banning people who lived in the UK for more than three months between 1980 and 1996 from giving blood. The disease, in rare cases, is spread from cow to human by eating meat from infected animals, and has also been known to spread from using contaminated surgical equipment and transplanted tissue, such as corneas. There are, however, no known cases of infection from sperm and scientists say that, although it is theoretically possible, the risk is insignificant.
Soon, the last few vials of European sperm imported before the embargo will be gone. Many women, who used this sperm before and now wish to have another baby using the same donor, are having to pay thousands of pounds to travel to Europe for insemination. Other women are travelling to Canada or Mexico, or even haggling with other women who have leftover vials. In response to the uproar, Nordic Cryobank has filed a petition asking the FDA to lift the restrictions.