Hill station Lavasa made to order

Positioned as India&rsquos first purpose-built hill station, Lavasa lies about 32km east of &lsquoChandni Chowk&rsquo junction at Pune, turning towards Paud and Pirangut from the Mumbai-Bangalore Highway. However, unlike roads to other hill stations, this state highway is excellent and well-signposted all the way. The drive from the outskirts of Pune onwards, past dams and lush cultivation before entering the mountain and then reaching the lake, is extremely enjoyable, and if you don&rsquot have your own wheels, then riding the bus or hiring a taxi will be certainly worth the effort. Unless, of course, you can afford a helicopter.

&nbspThe centrepiece at Lavasa has to be the lake around which the township is planned. As of now there are no watersports activities, barring workboats and a few small skiffs and dinghies, but much is promised. Lake-front cottages are on show, as are villas set back into the mountainside, and a couple of big hotels are coming up. Your correspondent is trying to work out how he can organise permissions to place a canoe or small sailboat, to start with, though taking a larger whaler or cutter out under sail is an even better idea. There are very few &mdash if any &mdash huge fresh waterbodies of this sort near large cities that provide such an opportunity.

So you can check out the properties if you are a looker-buyer. Or you can go for a get-away-from-it-all kind of break. Weekends are booked months in advance, weekdays attract the conference and seminar crowd, so be aware that this is hardly a walk-in kind of option, and if the place is full, you may well be turned away from the gate politely by very efficient looking guards. Noisy and rowdy holidaymakers are also not encouraged.

The only place to stay at Lavasa as of now is Ekaant &mdash The Retreat ( 020-25171675/76, www.lavasa.com). Set far away from the hustle and bustle of the work going on down below, it affords a brilliant view of the complete project, and provides ample solitude once the work stops in the evening. Half of the 20 rooms are on the ground level (please aim for the ones on the first floor, the top-deck leading out is wonderful). The garden is strewn with brilliant petunias, and there is a small putting hole at one corner.

What about food There is an attached restaurant with a buffet &mdash and yet another wonderful view. Service is very helpful, quality of food excellent &mdash and this is one simple fact &mdash the basil used for the pasta we had at lunchtime was divine and all the veggies fresh.

Destinations like Lavasa are destined to become &lsquosuccessful&rsquo. That makes for a different kind of holiday, too, which also has its place. A bit like saying, oh, look at Manali today, it is such a mess, we went there in 1972, and met Kabir Bedi trekking there. Lavasa today is like that, but planned to grow in an organised way &mdash the first building up and running is the Town Hall. And, yes, they get very upset if you throw plastic around.