WE now live in a brave new world it seemsswarms of people headed to Escapade, nearly one hour away from the city centre, this weekend, to devour curries made without transfats, beverages made without sweeteners and desserts served without sugar! And not to mention a bevy of models hired specially to hand out saplings. Although ‘organic’ in India is equated to expensive, Divya Singaravelu and her childhood friends are making fresh healthy options accessible at rock bottom prices! Whether it’s mercury in fish, pesticides on fruit, carcinogens in fried food, traces of nut, or the diets that variously rule carbohydrates, protein, fat, salt, sugar and dairy as off-limits, food, it appears, is the new poison! But Divya simplifies it, “Organic food is like regular food - it consists of veggies and meats as your normal diet. But with this venture, we are giving people an avenue to make a choice." The lady who wears many hats, including that of a business consultant and a TV presenter shares, “Thanks to my folks, I did my MBA, but I have always believed in doing something for the environment.” The hospitality venture on the OMR is tucked away in a tiny village called Okkayampet, off Thoraipakkam and the only signs of urbanisation from the spot are branding signage of Tata Consultancy that is a stones throw from the 3.5 acre property surrounded by a lake. Divya who is spending all her time on making green viable said “I am delighted to have roped in Nalini Chidambaram, Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty and leading personalities in the city to believe in this concept and I have their patronage and support.” Must have been expensive I ask? “Yes, it was steep but then the ideology catching on is my aim. I am more interested in changing mindsets and also giving people the choice at no extra cost. And we have great suppliers and we want to demystify organic food for people,” she says.
“I am nervous about expansion but in the pipeline are a juice bar, lounges, children’s play area, boating in the lake and even a drive-in service,” she shares.
“We’ve never had a place where we can go park our cars, order some healthy food and read a book. There is no place where we can go spend sometime outside the house in track pants. We want to give people a place to enjoy the tranquil experience with nature surrounding them,” says the lady who celebrates the coming together of her childhood friends whom she calls Team Escapade. Vivek and Karthik, the friendly members of the team, were delighted as they showed us around the property. Although hospitality is new to them, they truly outshined most other places of repute in terms of service, quality of food and ambience.
The young and charming girl has tied up with an organisation to come out with her own line of organic clothes besides setting up a website called www.
greenforthought.com which will help her champion the cause in the city and beyond.