A 44-acre 'destressing park' for executives

What began as a germ of an idea when Kamalkishore Sharma, a city businessman, visited Europe a couple of years ago, is now taking shape.

He purchased a 44 acre agricultural field and is converting it into a "de-stressing camp" for corporate executives complete with a swimming pool, squash and tennis courts, cricket and football ground and meditation centre.

"The idea is to offer a break from the stressed out, dog-eat-dog life of a typical corporate executive and also to a getaway fun kind of place for the family," said Sharma.

The field is only 16 km from Nagpur near the industrial area of Kalmeshwar and Sharma is already scouting for another much bigger piece of land to build on his dream.

"We are digging out a 3 acre pit for constructing an artificial pond and are also preparing two cricket pitches with a standard 74-yard boundary for playing the game," he said.

Sharma intends promoting the project to India Inc asking corporates to sponsor executives and their families at rock bottom rates "to interact with others in their line of work and exchange ideas as they have fun."

"The conjunctive rule is having room to move about, contemplate, rejuvenate and interact. Everything else is being built around it. We will have outdoor and indoor sports, a library, a cafeteria, meeting hall, meditation room, communication plaza and accommodation of various types. But all this is secondary. The basic aim is to provide space and opportunity to share time and life," explained concept director, Sheel Venkatesh.

Sharma has already invested upwards of a crore in the project and expects to be able to raise more finance "as and when required".

He is in talks with some big cooperative banks and has also explored the option of raising venture capital and the external commercial borrowing route.

"We are planning on holding the inaugural inter-corporate cricket match in September when the weather here is pleasant and then go from there," said Sharma.

He has spoken to some corporate "guests" and has found their response encouraging. "Imagine executives from ITC Limited playing a friendly match with their rivals in the market place, Godfrey Philips or those from Coke kicking the ball around with their counterparts from Pepsi. Maruti engaging Hyundai or Jet burning it off with Kingfisher. Anything can happen," Sharma said adding that such activity would not only help corporates appreciate each other, but also build team spirit.

"We can have motivational seminars or cut the psychobabble and just allow guests to laze around and do a bit of gardening if they will. They can bring their families and relax in any way that suits them," he said. Sharma is promoting the project as "E-Zone" and intends hiring out the grounds to local clubs as well.

"We will have coaching camps and schedule them in such a way that corporate bookings and local events do not clash. We are also looking at an alternative place nearby so that the project can be expanded and two or three matches can be held simultaneously," he said.

Venkatesh said that the project will also include a helipad though he doubted if it will be put to much use.

"If we had completed the project before Mukesh and Anil Ambani made up, we would have invited them here to play a game of squash and sweat it all out on the court. The helipad would have come handy," he joked.

This is the first such project being promoted in the region and though not linked to the new special economic zone proposed some 60 km away, could really boom if it caught the fancy of the corporate world. "I am sure it will. Just wait and see," said an ebullient Sharma.