“Sir, this is Minal, our new receptionist and this is Sujata, she is in charge of our tent accommodation.”I was being introduced to latest recruits at “ADVENTUREPLUS by Mr. Ghorpade our park GM. What followed was an exchange of pleasantries but in English. It was hard to believe that these young village lasses with all smiles on their face are hailing from nearby villages from Bhor Taluka can speak English t with a diction. Hmmm, it was only a decade ago to find any one conversing in English here was like finding a needle in haystack, The only people who would converse in English used to be MBBS doctors who were outsiders to the place. The complete absence of English in this part of Maharashtra (true for any part of rural India with a possible exception of South India) was the fact of life. The situation then for a city bred person like me-very much used to converse in English was tough. But the positive fallout of this situation was that I learnt to speak Marathi fluently including some swear words (very handy at times). Now my readers may be musing what connection is there between these local girls, English, Bhor n ADVENTUREPLUS? Patience please, these English words coming from village girls in particular who never went to an English medium school speak a lot for their resolve to overcome the English lingo handicap n accept such challenging jobs in hospitality business speak volumes for the modern Indian female species in general to run the race normally used to be the preserve of Indian males. For the urban India this may not be a big deal but in an agrarian society, such ‘minor’ achievements are like winning Olympic medals. Can’t think of smaller formats like commonwealth games, (any way no self respecting and honest Indian would want to associate with it)

To take our story further, It was only two years back, I embarked on developing the project ADVENTUREPLUS. To describe the journey to its final destination (is it?) as difficult would be an understatement by all standards, after all hundred acres of land is no small matter. Ashutosh who had soon joined me proved not only my man Friday but became a pivotal part of ADVENTUREPLUS. Yes it is here the connection of ADVENTUREPLUS with these two belles from nearby villages hard to find on the country’s map comes in open-they are the latest but not the last to join the TEAM ADVENTUREPLUS which has swollen to 50 + strong since opening in Feb this year and in keeping with our Mission Statement of providing the meaningful employment through rural tourism to the rural folks and stem the tide of unemployed rural youth towards the cities. And finally if the heading ‘Yeoli Live’ rhymes with ‘Peepli Live’, it is absolutely accidental. I don’t know whether Peepli exists or not in reality but Yeoli does, Adventureplus is located in the village Yeoli, Taluka bhor, district Pune.

Prakash Khatiwala
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