No matter how much I try, I can't praise this place enough! Our Native Village has turned out to be one of the most fascinating experiences I've ever had. And it's all down to one man. That gentleman in green, who is C B Ramkumar the owner of this outstanding establishment. He says he coined the term "Passional" which refers to "passionate people who have no professional qualifications or relevant experience but have become experts in a sector".
CB (as he says his friends from university like to call him... since I'm in university and I'm also a friend now, I think he wouldn't mind if I exercise that liberty!) left behind a life experience of over two decades in the corporate world to start something he had no idea about. He credits certain life events in his case that have led to him to this journey and "the experiment" he calls Our Native Village. We wish him all the luck and success in making this ambitious project become a model for sustainable hotels!
So.... what was the gang up to today?? Well, we started off by having a long meeting consolidating the findings of our research and had a real productive session today in between CB's presentation. It's important to have these team meetings at regular intervals because sometimes it may become very easy to lose focus and track of what you've come here to achieve. Today, the team did a brilliant job of getting together to pitch in their ideas in a common forum and now we believe we've set the tone for the rest of next week!
Now that we got the work stuff out of the way, it was time for us to turn our attention to the simple things in life (just follow Tingting on your right!). Below, you can see Maria and Arpita trying their hand at flying a kite with Samarth and Savinay looking on. Wade was making the most of it as well (go UVic profs!) taking in the steam (notice the gas powered pressure cooker as the inlet for the steam! My grandmother would be scandalized to see a cooking utensil being used this way!)
That's Manju in the picture helping Samarth with the kite. Manju is one of the employees at Our Native Village and has been a gem helping us out and catering to all our needs!
This was a kid using a stick to get the tire rolling. Again, it's just amazing that something so simple can be enjoyed so thoroughly!
Pottery Experts
An Expert in General!The girls really enjoyed themselves on this trip!
While Samarth worked his way hard and reaped the results (Look at the concentration in the picture on your left! If only the same were true of all of us when it came to grades!)
One of the highlights of this trip! These were tribals from the nearby area who performed with traditional drums and acrobats. At the end of it there was all of us at the Village and some of the other guests dancing to their beats and taking it in turns to beat the drums (case in point with Tingting below!) A truly awesome spectacle!
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