Friday, July 23, 2010

NYTimes.com: Can Mumbai Cope With a New Landmark?


GREAT HOMES AND DESTINATIONS   | July 23, 2010
Can Mumbai Cope With a New Landmark?
By GAYATRI RANGACHARI SHAH
A local developer has announced plans to build the world's tallest residential tower, a 117-story structure that it hopes will become the worldwide symbol of this rapidly growing metropolis.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

NYTimes.com: 'Nine Lives'


BOOKS   | July 18, 2010
Excerpt:  'Nine Lives'
By WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
"Two hills of blackly gleaming granite, smooth as glass, rise from a thickly wooded landscape of banana plantations and jagged palmyra palms."

NYTimes.com: India Adopts a New Symbol for Its Currency

BUSINESS   | July 16, 2010
India Adopts a New Symbol for Its Currency
By HEATHER TIMMONS
The Indian rupee joined the dollar, the pound, the euro and the yen on Thursday when it got its very own symbol.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Bollywood takes on Adolf Hitler - CSMonitor.com

Bollywood takes on Adolf Hitler - CSMonitor.com

India's new currency symbol puts rupee in the money - CSMonitor.com

India's new currency symbol puts rupee in the money - CSMonitor.com

As wealth rises in India, so do private towns - CSMonitor.com

As wealth rises in India, so do private towns

As more Indians pack into already crowded cities, developers are wooing wealthy urbanites with private towns boasting amenities like gardens, pools, walkable streets, schools, and a golf academy.

A woman holds an umbrella while crossing a street as it rains in Mumbai, June 23. Only three hours away, new towns are being built to cater to the Indian elite.
Rafiq Maqbool/AP
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By Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar, Correspondent / July 16, 2010
Lavasa and Pune, India
In a valley surrounded by seven small hills in western India, a new town is taking shape.
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Its downtown of hotels, a town hall, and Mediterranean-inspired apartments sits beside a manmade lake. Row houses are being built. Uninterrupted power and water are promised – as are top-notch schools, a space education park designed with NASA know-how, and a Nick Faldo Golf Academy.
Lavasa could be the antithesis of today’s Indian cities – a green and orderly space free of the chaos and pollution of, say, Mumbai (Bombay), the sprawling megalopolis only three hours away. Slated to open later this year, it is the most ambitious of a slew of new townships being developed by the private sector, aimed at India’s burgeoning urban elite.
Such private towns advertise not just walkable streets and swish office buildings but also proximity to IT parks and special economic zones, whose professionals they aim to attract.
They also exemplify India’s uneven economic growth. Some townships have taken over farmland. Most keep hawkers and shanties at bay with gates and security guards, yet rely on a local supply of cheap labor – often the farmers who once owned the land. The new townships “are an indicator that the rich in India are increasing rapidly,” says urban development expert Prakash Apte based in Mumbai. But “they’re also a sign of the growing inequality.”

Continue reading this article at -- As wealth rises in India, so do private towns - CSMonitor.com