‘Conserving Mother Nature by Empowering Rural India’ has become the guiding principle of Toshali Group since its inception three decades ago when the terminologies ‘Green Resort’ and ‘Sustainable Tourism’ were hardly heard in the tourism industry. Since the founders of Toshali Resorts International were deep rooted in the culturally rich rural India, it became obvious to pursue a business model whose main objective was the overall growth of the society.
Promoting eco-tourism and off-beat destinations since 1985, Toshali has consolidated its presence in the rural hinterlands across India where the corporate has reached-out to the local villagers making them a partner in the sustainable growth of the community. Be it the alpine forests of Shillon Bagh valley in Shimla or the Balukhanda Reserve Forest on the Konark Marine Drive or the Simlipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha, Toshali has garnered an impeccable track-record of promoting sustainable tourism by financially empowering the villagers (directly or indirectly) thereby helping them to earn livelihood along with engaging them in conserving the Nature as well as their local culture.
It all started with a vision, way back in 1982, to convert the 33 acres of uncultivable and brackish soil at the Konark Marine Drive near Puri into a world-class ethnic village resort in a lush green surrounding thereby promoting the concept of eco-tourism among global travellers. Though the temple town of Puri had been attracting religious travellers for centuries, neither Odisha nor Puri was on the global tourism map. Apart from Lord Jagannath Temple, Puri was also blessed with an abundance of natural beauties such as pristine beaches, the world renowned Chilika lake and a rich cultural heritage of crafts, music, monuments & dances. But there was no organised effort by the Government to find out means of economic prosperity for the downtrodden by promoting tourism and culture of the region. Despite the lack of basic infrastructure like electricity, water and road as well policy support from the government, Toshali Group took up the arduous task of developing Odisha’s first four-star resort on the Puri-Konark Marine Drive.
Inspired by ancient architecture
At the very onset, it was decided to extensively use the locally available raw material and craftsmanship for the construction of the beach resort with a blend of ethnicity and eco sensitivity. In 1982, T Banambar Patra, Founder and Managing Director, T K International (which owns Toshali Resorts International), organised a national level competition among architects to come forward with their design for one of India’s foremost green resorts having world-class amenities. The tastefully decorated 107 airconditioned rooms including 50 private freestanding Deluxe Cottages, nine Deluxe Villas and four Executive Villas, three conference halls, restaurant and other facilities in a lush green surrounding of 33 acres are influenced by the Lingaraj Temple architecture.
The design of each cottage, villa and executive villa is inspired by a diagram of ‘YANTRA’ used in the ancient architecture of Odisha with the concept of “Squares within Squares” thereby creating an interesting pattern of shapes. While locally available laterite stones were used for the walls, the roof was made in RCC to protect the property from cyclones. Villagers of nearby areas contributed immensely in the construction. Away from the clamouring of the outside world, a modern green resort in a village set up was created with a unique portrayal of ethnic Odia culture through decorative murals of tribal Saora art, patta-painting, Jhoti or Chita in rice-paste depicting various floral patterns, deities etc on the walls with the help of traditional artists from the Raghurajpur heritage village. Interiors of the resort was aesthetically decorated with traditional crafts made of terracotta, wood, red-stone, bamboo, metal work, tasar silk and appliqué all procured from local artisans and craftsman, hence helping them to earn livelihood. Out of the entire resort area, seven acres are dedicated to organic farming to cultivate vegetables and fruits for meeting the requirement of guests.
Since 1985, Toshali Resorts has taken up the responsibility to conserve the rich bio-diversity of Balukhanda Forest Reserve around the resort which makes way to the beautiful Balighai beach. Toshali maintains the cleanliness of the beach and ensures safety for the visiting people by employing local life-guards. Awareness drives for local villagers have been organised by the resort on beach cleaning, safe disposal of garbage and maintaining ecological balance in the region and to impart training on hygiene, nutrition, sanitation. A school in the village of Nagapatnam near the resort has been adopted by Toshali Group where deserving students from under-privileged families are given special tuition classes. The resort has also organised heath camps by sponsoring mass immunisation and vaccination programs for nearby villages. Also the resort has made a special provision of a free ambulance service for any medical exigencies for all villagers in and around the local vicinity of the resort. Educated villagers from nearby locality are often trained and recruited by Toshali Resorts for various jobs related to housekeeping, maintanence, kitchen, gardening etc.
Organic compliant
Toshali Sands is accredited as Organic compliant for product & area by Vedic Organic Certification Agency in accordance with requirements of India’s National Programme for Organic Production Standards (considered equivalent to Council Registration ( EC ) No. 834 / 2007 & Swiss Organic Farming Ordinance for plant products originating in India). A Green House has been erected and organic fruits and vegetables are grown in abundance to provide quality food for guests. The resort boasts of more than 1600 coconut trees, a huge variety of fruit bearing and ornamental trees and rare species of medicinal plants and ayurvedic herbs used for various therapies in the resort’s spa. Proper garbage segregation, disposal & recycling system along with effective rainwater harvesting methods has been introduced & maintained. As per the energy saving drive and adhering to Green practices, measures such as ban on use of plastic in the resort premise, usage of recycled paper for guest services, installation of energy and water saving devices in all guest rooms, use of battery operated car for resort to beach traveling, usage of solar water heating system, and table cloths made of organic cotton have been initiated and strictly followed. The soil conservation and treatment of plants as well as trees from various ailments are done by the use of traditional green methods with the help of earth worm, cow dung, neem and herbs.
The resort has also become the proud custodian of preserving and promoting age-old traditions of folkdance and folk art some of which are on the verge of extinction. The traditional Gotipua dance of Puri which is the earlier form of Odishi has got immense encouragement from the Patra family, who not only organise special performances for various Gotipua dance troupes for their guests in the resort but also sponsor them to perform across various cities. The artisan village of Raghurajpur is being entrusted several times to decorate the resort interiors as well as various large scale wedding events taking place in the resort. Ethnic food festivals are organised at Toshali Sands frequently to promote local cuisines among guests. Odisha’s local cuisine is also promoted by including the items of the traditional cuisine in the regular restaurant and in the In-Room dining menus. Every guest is briefed about the local cuisine while they are placing order of their meals. Once a week, the resort arranges a cookery show for the resident guests where the items of the local cuisine are prepared in front of the guests with description where recipes are shared with the guests along with the ingredients thereby spreading the flavour of Odishan delicacies worldwide. A dedicated space has been allotted for the students of world renowned sand sculptor Sudarshan Pattnaik to carve out theme based sand sculptors on various occasions. Also Toshali has adopted few weaving villages in Jajpur district of Odisha where they provide financial and technical assistance to poor weavers to develop their products, market them and earn livelihood.
By carrying forward the legacy of enhancing the standard of life in rural India, promoting local culture and conserving Mother Nature, Toshali has carved a niche for itself as a Corporate with a Cause.
