Tathastu Newsletter – January 2023
Our Dear Guests!
A very Happy, Healthy & Wandering New Year to you from a 190 strong TEAM Tathastu!
With Anil Sir being on-the-move to upcoming sites, to shape up all the new ‘Tathastu’ resorts FOR YOU, I am writing to you on his behalf, with unparalleled zeal. Unparalleled because in spite of turning 60 later this year, his continued enthusiasm is contagious!
As promised in the last newsletter, we have opened doors of Tathastu Kanha – The Serenity Retreat on 1st November and every guest who has stayed with us till now has gone back truly happy. One of the best compliments for the Kanha team was that “This one is better than Pench” and this is bound to start a healthy internal competition!! Bookings for Tathastu Tadoba – The Wild Bamboo Resort, is also now open for 1st April onwards. It is coming up well and we are excited to serve you at the best Tiger sighting location of the world with the best facilities in the vicinity!
Ek aur khushi aap sab ke saath share karna hai, because the credit for this goes entirely to you all! Tathastu was awarded the Global Nagpur Award for the Hospitality & Tourism category, 2022. This recognition and your continued patronage will surely encourage us to serve you better in both, ‘facilities’ and ‘Seva Bhaav’. When our MD Sir was asked to speak after receiving the award, his words were “Main sirf shareer (infrastructure) hi bana sakta hu lekin aatma (life) usmein meri team daalti hai”. This definitely made us pledge again that his repeated emphasis on looking after our staff extremely well, must always be maintained.
Anil Sir was a Special Invitee of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation at Indore on the occasion of 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas – 2023 and was asked to share his experience as an investor in Madhya Pradesh for the benefit of the NRIs attending this super MEGA event. His speech received frequent applause and his closing statement “MP is the Best so simply come and Invest” was picked up by the press instantly!
The sightings have remained spectacular throughout the past quarter. Sloth bears, leopards, our dear ‘Bagheera’ and Tigers have captured our guests’ attention and left us wanting more!
Think Wildlife… Think Tathastu… Just Call… and we will take care of it All.
Nupur Agarwala
+91-9823433633
nupur@tathasturesorts.com
HAPPENINGS AT TATHASTU
STARTING EARLY
One of our many significant happenings, was our tie-up with Redwood Edutours of Nagpur. While one of their verticals deal with the nature & wildlife education aspect of children, we are their operational, facility and hospitality partner. The kids they take on these tours are between 10-16 years of age, i.e. mid- and high-school kids, who stay with us for 3-5 days, according to the decided tour tenure. Edutours deals with several schools that have stayed with us, including Bombay International, Chennai International and Ahmedabad International. We have been able to successfully host these schools, and their kids have been very happy to be with us. Safaris have also happened in volumes, as is normal, with such large groups.
We are very happy with this initiative with children, where they are exposed to nature, and we are particularly gratified that we can be instrumental in creating awareness in them and getting them to explore nature, while they are staying here with us.
CORPORATES COME TO THE COUNTRYSIDE
We have also been partnering with corporate companies, one of them being DSP Mutual Funds, and its dynamic, young Executive Vice-President, Aditi Kothari Desai, who is also a Trustee of the Wildlife Conservation Trust, an NGO founded by her renowned, wildlifer father, Hemendra Kothari. Although DSP comes to these sylvan surroundings on business, they are totally in sync with nature and conservation, as they have been profoundly nature-conscious since decades. It was an impeccable experience to host and deliver to such an eye-to-detail guests!
DIVINE DESTINATION
Mid-Dec. saw us hosting the high profile, spiritual leader, “Sri M”, on a 3-day event for his Satsang Foundation. His Satsang Retreat activity with 250 participants was held here with yoga, meditation and other spiritual activities, but no safaris, as their get-together here was of a spiritual nature and not for wildlife viewing.
However, on their concluding day, the Padma Bhushan awardee and our esteemed State guest, “Sri M”, and some of his Foundation members, did go on a safari, and relished breakfast at the breakfast point inside the Park.
While 130 of them stayed with us and the rest at different resorts in Pench, all their activities were held at our resort, including their 4 meals of the day. It was a feather in our cap, therefore, to be successfully able to cater to a yoga and meditation spiritual camp of 250 people and also provide them with all the facilities for 3 days.
CHRISTMAS CALLING!
Christmas was celebrated with the usual fanfare and fervor at the lounge overlooking the lake. This large area was converted to match the occasion, with the creation of a big ginger house, and Christmas tree, a swing decorated with a dummy Santa, while Christmas carols were played softly through the day. There were plum cakes placed in the guests’ rooms, along with festive greeting cards. On the 25th, we received all our guests with a real Santa (one of our employees disguised in a Santa look) giving away chocolates to all our guests, while in the evening we hosted a ‘themed’ dinner for the in-house guests on the main lawn.
RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR!
For the New Year celebrations, another of our lawns was appropriately converted. On 31st Dec. there was a carnival. Gifts, games and live food-counters kept everyone busy through the day. On New Year’s eve was held the gala dinner for the in-house guests at the banquet hall, with music and dance, for which a stage was especially erected. The evening came to an end with music by our in-house crooner, Achintya Burman.
| Litters Delivered By Patdev Tigress | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| YEAR | NO. OF CUBS | DIED | SURVIVED |
| 2014 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 2016 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2018 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2020 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2022 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| TOTAL | 20 | 1 | 19 |
NATURE MATTERS
Patdev tigress takes over now as a Super Mom!
T4, better known as Patdev, has given birth to a total of 20 cubs till date. The latest litter is now about 2 months old, sprightly and playful, and being sighted quite often, with their mother.
Like-mother-like-daughter, incidentally, Patdev, born in 2010, is the daughter of legendary supermom ‘Collarwali’, who gave birth to 29 cubs in 8 litters over a span of 11 years, globally recognized and renowned as the holder of the world record for highest birth and cub survival rates, dying finally at 17 years of age in June 2022. Raising cubs in the wild is no easy feat and to reach anywhere close to Mataram or Collarwali’s record, is an achievement in itself. May Patdev be blessed with many more successful years of motherhood and become a worthy successor to her mother.
SUCCESS STORY
Suneeth Tatineni and Chaitanya Ayinapudi,
Co-founders of the Hyderabad-based startup Caro Water, have come out with India’s first water box service.“We noticed we were using at least 24 one-litre water bottles during a single journey. All these bottles have to be dumped and there’s no way to check if they are being recycled properly… imagine how many of them are being used by people across the country!”
This, and the refill and hygiene issues with plastic water-cans where these water cans are refilled 200-300 times, pushed these two former IT and software professionals to set up Caro Water. Research studies conducted across the world, have also found the presence of micro-plastics, a major health hazard, in drinking water bottles, so they thought, why can’t we get a single-use (water) box that could solve this problem?”
Caro Water’s boxes use corrugated paper and the ‘BIB’ (bag in box), system, where a spout is surrounded by a corrugated carton box. They come with a built-in tap, like a water dispenser. These tamper-proof water boxes are recyclable, and use 85% less plastic as compared to the usual water cans. A consumer orders a Caro Water box, uses it, and the startup then takes these boxes back for responsible recycling. For every box returned, consumers get credit points that can be used for future transactions through the Caro Water app, which is available on both Android and IOS. The app delivery system is helpful since consumers don’t have to call them repeatedly to get their boxes delivered.
These boxes are also completely free of BPA, or bisphenol A, an industrial chemical used to make certain plastics and resins. The water is sourced groundwater which goes through a proper purification process — it is treated, enriched with copper and added minerals and nutrients. Today, people are more attracted to eco-friendly options. Single-use plastic has to be handled properly and that is their main motto: reducing plastic waste. Single-use plastic has become a major threat to the environment since, though it is recyclable, a large portion of it is not recycled and ends up in landfills or in the environment.
DId You Know?
- Female ferrets die if they do not mate once they go into heat as the high quantities of oestrogen produced result in Aplastic Anaemia, caused by the damage sustained by the bone marrow and blood cells.
- Only half a Dolphin’s brain sleeps at a time as they have to hold their breath for an exceptionally long time, as they do have to come up for air from time to time. Hence, the brain needs to retain enough motor control to occasionally go up to the surface and breathe. Dolphins also sleep with one eye open at all times.
- Armadillos can catch leprosy; leprosy is one of the few that actually can as it is able to infect both humans and, for some reason, Armadillos.
Pi(c)k of the Quarter!
Team Intro
Ananta Ghosh, F&B Manager
Joined Tathastu in 2018, and in these four years he has come to be in love as much with nature as he is with the resort! Hailing from Murshidabad in Bengal, this 32-year-old diploma-holder in Hotel Management, started with a Welcome Heritage Hotel in Jabalpur, and thereafter through stints in Daman and Mumbai, came to be nestled out here in a forest resort for the first time, after all the urban stints. It was very different here, to start with. Of course, he was uncomfortable as even his family of wife and son who could be of some comfort to him, were left behind in the home town. However, over time, he’s grown to love it here so much, this has become like a second home to him.
Today, you would find Ananta stooping over insects at all odd angles and hours, for hours on end, for he has built up a hobby and deep passion for macro-photography on his mobile, which he has fitted with an external lens for the purpose. He is now a name to reckon with in macro-photography, having won several awards in this genre, with one of his photos also having made it to National Geographic. Indeed, what could be better than a forest resort to develop such a passion!? It’s a treasure house of insects, fulfilling his dedication to this art!
While photography fulfils his passion here, he feels fully satiated professionally too. He’s very happy that “the management of Tathastu, especially Anil Sir, treats each and every staff member like a family member. I really enjoy my work here!” gushes Ananta.
