Spice up your life!

Keen to enlist in the defence services, Juvekar, however, could not join the National Defence Academy due to health problems. Overcoming his initial disappointment, Juvekar found that the National Cadet Corps (NCC) formed the ideal outlet for his love of adventure and sports. He excelled atthese activities, winning the All India Best Cadet (Airwing )in 1980.

“I thought of `The Cubs Resort’ while still in college. I felt that adventure was sorely missing from the lives of the young, especially school children. They needed exposure to camping, trekking, mountaineering and similar adventure sports. It was essential to foster a spirit of adventure in them. Besides, as an Indian representative of the NCC to the International Air Cadet Exchange Programme, I had been exposed to organisation of such an activity club.”

In 1979, The Cubs Resort began as a voluntary organisation with eight of Juvekar’s friends pitching in as members. “I remember those early days very clearly. We had to go from house to house with pamphlets asking parents to let their children become members. We finally managed to enlist seven children,” he remembers.

“I think that our venture was successful because we never said no to anything. Instead of restricting activities to camping, mountaineering and trekking, we alsoincorporated netball, handball and sports of every sort,” he says.

The idea caught on and before long adventure camps began to be held every vacation – the summer, Diwali or winter holidays. Today, there are camps of differing duration, ranging from three days to a week, and different age-groups. “At the camps, the children learn from experience. Extensive training in camp craft is imparted, including physical activities, archery, rifle-shooting, mountaineering, survival and rescue tactics.” Even afternoons are taken care of, with activities like ship and aero-modelling, ham-radio-handling, kite-making. Evenings are devoted to community activities like cooking and singing together around a bonfire. And for the stout-hearted, there is even a `night out’ expedition when they have to fend for themselves. “This activity fosters a spirit of teamwork and camaraderie among the campers. They believe that they are alone in the wilderness while actually their movements are being closely monitored by ourinstructors,” says Juvekar, who is ably assisted by wife Meghana, the secretary of the club. Camps for aero-sports or water sports are also conducted. The club also undertakes an annual trek to the Himalayas.

“The separate units in the Resort, like Kruti, a rehabilitation project for the handicapped through which we would conduct camps for the blind and the handicapped, have now been merged. But we still continue to be associated with social service. Recently, we conducted a camp for orphans,” says Juvekar.

An expert para-glider himself (winner of the first Indian National Para-gliding Championships held at Billing in Himachal Pradesh in 1995), Juvekar also holds para-gliding camps.

And that is not all, Juvekar runs a roller-skating unit which operates in the evenings, in the premises of the Mahatma Phule museum on Ghole Road. Although his job as chief executive of a private firm keeps him busy, the club still remains Juvekar’s pet project.

Meanwhile, the crowd outside is getting impatient. Afterall, this excited lot is eager to take its first para-gliding lesson!