Red earth believes strongly in nurturing, training, giving skillsets & employment to the indigenous community around us. It is today, what it is, primarily because of the people who man it. Our people are the custodians of the land and its life. They are the true owners of Red Earth. Providing skills-based on aptitude, creative training and finally empowering our people, was the original focus. Today this has become our priority. A lot of what we do today has its base in the original priority & from there it’s been organic growth.
Red Earth Kabini was our maiden venture. Our Mother’s property. It is here that all our ideologies were tried & tested. After perfecting them, we replicated these ideas in 3 of our subsequent properties in Wayanad in Kerala. Tadoba in Maharashtra. Gokarna in Karnataka. There are so many in this entire process, who have made a remarkable difference to us with their personalities, their unique gifts & absolute commitment.
Listed are a few from our Kabini property:
Swamy is from the neighboring village of Hosmalla. He joined us as a security guard in 2012. Swamy showed a lot of interest to learn & grow. He would initially speak in broken English to the guests, a few words at first. Later his confidence grew & with it his vocabulary.
Swamy was keen to take guests on walks and village visits. He was proud to show & explain his rural community. From their farming to dairy, fishing to simple cooking. We then decided to send him for a certified naturalist program, which he completed with ease. He worked as our naturalist and also our principal liaison man with the Government officials. Today we are proud to promote him as Manager and we hope to see him grow further.
Zakir : Joined us as a helper from Orissa in our kitchens in 2011. He is one of our earliest employees. Zakir had always keenly watched his seniors at work & learned to be versatile. He is now a Master Chef, adept at satisfying the taste buds of guests from varied backgrounds & needs.
Siddalinga The Baker: Popularly called ‘Bakery’ by all on the property, he learned his skills from fluffy cheese muffins to creamy pies, from Mrs. Ravi and Youtube, which was translated by Swamy or his young 8-year-old son. Siddalinga is now our Master Baker and a true artist of our kitchens, unassuming and humble.
Prakash: Prakash started as a security of our main gate. A Proud father of two girls whom he sends to an English medium school, Prakash is always willing to learn a new skill and earn a living to support his family. He is our resort tailor and stitches most of the clothing on-site as well. Prakash also learnt to be a trained magician by simply watching Arjun the Barman perform his bag of tricks. Today he thrills kids with his shows and has slowly moved up to be a naturalist as well. Prakash can mimic most bird sounds with ease. During the Lockdown he built himself a small shop in his village, popularly referred to as ‘The Mall of Prakash’.
Devaraj the coracle man who found his lady love on the other side of the river. Coracles are basket boats made of bamboo and underlined with buffalo skin to make it waterproof. These were introduced by the Welsh into different parts of Vietnam, Indonesia & some parts of India.
These boats are ideal for fishing. Unlike boats that vertically cut through the water, these round thin-crusted coracles hardly skim or disturb the waters. It takes a certain skill to oar these coracles that go in a circular motion.
One sunset, after taking his last guest, Devaraj left his coracle on the shore, with the life jackets & oar underneath. A large storm whisked the gear out into the deep waters & they disappeared. Devaraj was aghast & the next morning he took his brother’s coracle out into the backwaters, searching for the lost possession. The winds took him across onto a shore where a young grey-eyed beauty was washing clothes. She eyed him from under her pretty lashes and our boatman was mesmerized. Today they are proud parents of grey-eyed children who love the waters and life within.
Sivan & Parvati are brother & sister who look alike. Sivashankar has been our accounts man from our early days. He has the unique skill of speaking all languages in the same format as his mother tongue Malayalam. Sivan is also our in-house Purohit. And every special day from Independence to Vinayaka Chaturthi, intense poojas have the staff enthralled. We believe it is for the tasty prasadam that all of us diligently attend his long poojas.
Sivan is also accomplished in Kerala cuisine, whipping up the most delicious pal ada pradaman & Theeyal. His heart is on his sleeve & is very sensitive to all our needs. Sivan’s young, bright daughter Gopika would spend every holiday at Red Earth, helping us in Guest Relations, Front office and even cleaning up her dad’s office. Today we are proud to see Gopika excel as a young enthusiastic student of Hospitality in the prestigious college of St.Philomena’s in Mysore.
Parvati or Chechi as she is popularly known, had a thriving little Kerala restaurant for 25 years, in the town of Antharasanthe 5 km away from the resort. All traffic from Kerala to Mysore would stop at her table for a hot meal on Banana leaves & the latest in village news. Chechi today heads our South Indian Kitchen & her repertoire includes Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Iyer & Andhra cuisine.
Kala: Our Spa therapist Kala, comes from Mettukuppam on the fringes of the Nagarhole forest. His knowledge of Medicinal herbs & stories of wildlife, amaze us.
Somanna: Prajwal is from Kodagu and has been with us as a young lad, managing our Kerala, Tadoba & Gokarna property and now our Kabini property. His calm and jovial demeanor has always made our guests feel at home. Prajwal has many skills, but for certain driving is not top of the list. He will be known in the annals of Red Earth’s history, to be the one & only man to ride into a herd of wild boar on our main road. Prajwal’s parents we hear have got him several vehicles from 2 tyres to 4. And none seem to have survived. We have all pledged to teach him rowing & perhaps he will row himself to Kodagu and back henceforth without trampling wild boar in the water.
