Tooth Mountain Farms, Hatnoli, Karjat
Jottings on site during a cloudy but pleasant afternoon after a gorgeous lunch
Just over a month ago, on February 6, the nation mourned the passing of legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar. She was 92 years young! A true legend and star of the fast depleting national treasures, her loss is extremely painful for followers of classical retro right from the 60s to the late 90s.
Lata Didi’s loss is perhaps another page turned over in India’s determined yet culturally rich growing years of the past 6 odd-decades. Incidentally a person whom I chanced upon at Tooth Mountain Farms vouched for the cavernous void that the country is reeling with at present. I was delighted and hugely privileged to meet RJ Gaurav of Radio City FM who was visiting Tooth Mountain Farms resort with his family.
My colleague Indranil and I had an engrossing tete-a-tete with RJ Gaurav, a hugely popular star in radio and an extremely humble and sensitive human being. We spoke of how our generation is blessed to be straddling between times of iconic legends who have shaped India’s post independence cinemascope cultural wealth that displayed sublime maturity and the next generation which is running from God knows where and running to God knows where!
“As long as the youngsters know that they need to pause and take a moment to recoup energies, it is fine”, muses RJ Gaurav. “Most times we don’t even know if we need to and should pause and reminisce”, he says. The stressful and breakneck speed of life seems to have dulled our senses, and as he says, “Indifference and pain seems to have become a fallback antidote to stress”.
He seemed contended at the understated chic resort where sounds of nature fused with the Bollywoodesque sounds of a train calling out from a distance. Simple but wholesome food, enthusiastic service and a setting that befits calls to sooth body and soul are ingredients, he says that any Mumbaikar would be delighted to find at a short drive away. Chirping birds, “Lockdown” and “Carbon” the two pet dogs, “Badal”, the ranch horse and koi and catfish give company to visitors at the resort.
RJ Gaurav is perhaps the ‘Last of the Mohicans’ promoting vintage retro in radio in India today. Having made Mumbai his home 15 years ago, he advocates the need for busybody Mumbaikars to recharge their energies as they go about hurtling towards fulfilling their wants. “It is important to take time out otherwise time will take you out”, he quips.
As the Nightingale sang for the movie ‘Dil apna aur preet parai’: “Ajib Dastan hai yeh, kahan shuru kahan khatam, yeh manzilen hain kaunsi, na woh samajh sake na hum”! (It’s strange and unknown where we are coming from and where we are going”)
Let’s hope we soon realize the value of quality time spent with our near and dear ones, and more importantly with ourselves!
Sunny Sriram. Restaurant & Foodservice Pundit, Set on a passionate mission to make hospitality businesses truly enrich lives. sunnysriram@arrowconsult.in; +91 97695 45955
