An anniversary is always a special milestone in the journey of an organisation and it seems only fair that the people instrumental in running Della, its workforce all congregated in Lonavala on the 12th of June to celebrate this momentous occasion. Della celebrates its anniversary on the same day as the birthday of its chairman and managing director Mr Jimmy Mistry and the entire work force was at hand to wish the visionary yet another happy birthday.
And while an anniversary is always a happy occasion, this year Della did something even more special to accentuate its importance. It is now common knowledge that D.A.T.A. the Della Adventure Training Academy is opening its doors to eager and happy patrons who would want to train themselves in the art of survival when faced with a variety of complicated and potentially life threatening situations. D.A.T.A. is the concept and brain child of Jimmy Mistry who has for many years resonated to bring to the world this ground breaking innovation in experiential hospitality. With this in mind the theme for this year’s celebration was the launch of D.A.T.A. and the day was graced with the launch of the D.A.T.A. website.
It was delightful and invigoratingly motivating to see all the employees fitted out in their military kit with olive green and camouflage being the look for the day. Every one of them looked like a seasoned commando and more importantly an integral part of one happy family unit.
At Della they learn even as they work . The day suitably started off with a professional dietician Ms Geetanjali Ahuja who waxed eloquent about the importance of a balanced well defined healthy diet to counter the rigours of an over worked and hyper active urban work culture. The dietician was called on to educate about the dangers of not eating correctly and also eating at awkward hours, a very common flaw noticed amongst corporate custodians.
The next guest speaker highlighted Della’s commitment to its workforce not just towards a trimmer waistline but in fact towards a healthy mind as well. They were honoured to have amongst them Swamiji Amrut Vadan Das from Swaminarayan ashram who shared an insight into his health mantra with the entire staff.
Swamiji focused on three major habits ailing the corporate populace, healthier work life balance. His suggestions were as simple as they stand to be effective when practiced properly and diligently. His first instruction was to indulge in ‘Ghar Sabbha’ which loosely translates into having a discussion and dialogue with your family daily. His next suggestion was that instead of wolfing down meals at odd hours, people should consume them at a slow and relaxed pace, savoring each and every morsel. His last tip is probably one that in today’s urban climate takes the maximum effort to execute and that is to ‘net fast’ by abstaining from your phones and other gadgets completely at night to distress yourself.
The Della group was also delighted to have a rigorous yet informative training session by Arvind Nair on how to enhance your knowledge across fields and activities via the art of self-learning. Self-learning and the art to practice it is something that Jimmy Mistry himself takes very seriously and has in fact moulded his life around the phenomena. It was encouraging to notice eager, thirsty minds at work hanging on to every last word of the motivational expert even though the mood was often lightened by a joke or two punctuated by management and staff alike.
Now that all the guest speakers had had their turns, it was time to let the hair down and party. A host of enthusiastic and talented Dellaites came to the fore as they took the stage by storm with their cultural and musical variety performances. A most noteworthy and scintillating performance amongst these was the demonstration laid out for us by the ex-commandos of the National Security Guard and the Marines who are now instructors at D.A.T.A. One could not be helped but get enamored by the grit of their training and the deftness of the skill that they demonstrated. A love for the country is a topic close to the heart of Jimmy Mistry and that demonstration had Dellaites all beaming with pride and honour while they admired their sense of patriotism and duty.
While Dellaites reveled in the spirit of the occasion and danced long and hard into the wee hours of the night, it is safe to assume that yet another super successful year across businesses at Della was capped off by a deserving celebration which complimented and recognized the hard work and effort of the staff and management alike. It is now time to look to year 22, a crucial year in the scheme of the business landscape and the Della group hopes that every one of them will bring even more vigor and understanding to their duties to make it another super successful year, because at Della, as always, Dellaites do work hard but they party even harder.