CELEBRATIONS -- 12:
WELCOMING 2017 AT TAJ SAVOY OOTY
BY P S SUNDAR
Three aspects stood out at the 2017 New Year
eve celebrations at Taj Savoy Hotel, Ooty – adaptability to India’s new
economy, eco-friendly theme through bread and salad display and employee
families’ inclusiveness in celebrations.
Since the demonetisation of some currencies
on November 8, 2016, business has not been usual for all sectors including the
hospitality and sufferings worsened with cash-crunch followed by excessive monitoring
of bank accounts by tax authorities.
Hotels are known to work on less cash (though not totally cashless!)
systems but ‘travel less’ attitude of people definitely hits their
business. To that extent, managements
passed through uncertainties in deciding on New Year celebrations.
It was, therefore, refreshing that tourists and residents welcomed 2017
with enthusiasm in the Nilgiris on December 31, 2016 night. Churches were tastefully illuminated and
Christians attended midnight mass braving biting cold as temperature nosedived
to 5 degrees Celsius in Coonoor and Ooty. Hotels threw up dance and dining
facilities to tourists who included foreigners.
“Although
our business has always been card-oriented, demonetisation and cash crunch
caused lot of uncertainties last one month as people, including foreigners
refrained from travelling and cancelled bookings. However, tourist inflow peaked just before
New Year making the celebrations a big hit”, P Vibhakar, General Manager Taj
Savoy Ooty told me.
To
make the event memorable, Vibhakar’s team put up a well-organised music and dancing
get-together under the protected cover of colourful shamiana with DJ and
MC.
The team members ensured the comfort
of the guests, mostly tourists from other parts of the country and staying at
Savoy.
There was red-hot raw fire
oven-tray to keep the enclosure warm.
The
facade and the heritage buildings’ edges were tastefully illuminated to bring
cheerful light to all in the New Year.
There
were many games and competitions for which prizes were liberally given which
included free stay at many Taj hotels.
All – elders, men, women and children – had something to keep themselves
engaged while welcoming 2017.
Vibhakar
is known to promote employee interests by projecting their contributions and
taking a ‘supportive platform’ role. He
exhibited another dimension to this by inviting the families of departmental
heads to join the New Year celebrations creating an-inclusive ambience for
those who can. The family members who
attended were thrilled to see the happenings themselves resulting in a greater
appreciation of the work done by their own kith as employee of Savoy. They
joined in wishing other employees and guests ‘a very happy 2017’.
Vibhakar’s
another landmark for the occasion came in the form of theme-oriented
feast. “Wilfred is a third-generation
baker chef from Ooty. So, we used him to
develop an exhibition of bread verities for this celebration. We chose eco-friendliness as the theme for
our bread salad display”, he told me.
“We
prepared the breads with hand-made shapes of sun, moon, earth, river and forms
of nature”, Savoy Executive Chef Nisi Kant Panigrahi said.
“There
are as many as 20 varieties of bread in display here – rum and resin, regular
focassia, panini, ginger bread, garlic, oregano, rosemary and olive, lavash,
water melon seeds, white and blue sesame, regular bread sticks, sesame bread
sticks, bread rolls, ginger and thyme, cumin, whole wheat, multigrain,
sugar-bread, butter-bread and oats”, he detailed.
The
salad display also evoked keen interest among visitors. “We have created a ‘Nilgiri Vegetable
market’ for eco-friendly and garden-fresh salad experience”, Chef Nisi Kant
told me.
“On
display here are 15 varieties of salads and they have been split into 10
vegetarian and 5 non-vegetarian preparations.
We provide a unique experience with 10 varieties of dressings – Spanish,
mustard, Mexican , Thousand Islands, Brazilian, Oriental garlic, Indian tamarind,
Singapore milk cream, Honey lemon and Honey chilli”, he detailed.
The
dinner spread itself was exhaustive.
“Overall, six starters, five varieties of cheese, two soups, 8
vegetarian, 5 non-vegetarian, 6 rice accompaniments and 8 desserts besides the
bread and salad displays mark our New Year eve dinner”, Nisi Kant said.
And,
when the clock struck 12 .. after the 10 second count-down, “Happy New Year”
rent the air all over Savoy. Everyone
was seen wishing every other, creating an overall satisfaction among the guests
and concomitantly marking the success for Vibhakar’s team in organising yet
another grand show ..
HAPPY
AND PROSPEROUS 2017 !!
(response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)
“She is a housewife
belonging to Badaga, the predominant community of Nilgiris, and we are committed, as part of our
corporate social reasonability, to support Badaga women with opportunity to
popularise their traditional cuisine”, Taj Savoy General Manager P Vibhakar told
Express.
“She is a housewife
belonging to Badaga, the predominant community of Nilgiris, and we are committed, as part of our
corporate social reasonability, to support Badaga women with opportunity to
popularise their traditional cuisine”, Taj Savoy General Manager P Vibhakar told
Express.
