| There
is something special about Ooty. The lush vegetation
and the lavender-blue sheen of the mountains offer a
promise of a summer of peace
LOCATION
Couched amidst those gorgeous blue mountains
of southern India, there is something special about
the erstwhile British township of Ooty. Year after year,
it draws tourists, adventure enthusiasts, honeymooners
and the film industry like bees to nectar. Sure, many
wise travelers believe that Ooty is a dumpyard, a degraded,
over-rated hill station, and so on. Nevertheless, the
wiser one will see how Ooty can soothe strung-up nerves
and become the backdrop for a wondrous holiday.
Ooty nestles in an amphitheatre created by four majestic
hills—Doddabetta, Snowdon, Elk Hill and Club Hill.
These hills are part of the Nilgiri ranges that are
really the meeting point for the Western and the Eastern
Ghats. But why the ‘blue’ mountains—one
would naturally wonder at the name. Do rest assured,
when the lavender-blue flowers of the famous Strobilanthes
cover the hills in floral profusion, it would be time
to stop wondering, for it is these funnel-shaped blossoms
that are the reason for the name.
Although signboards all around scream and beg to make
people call this 36-sq-km hill resort Udhagamandalam,
their pleas obviously fell on deaf ears. Ooty will always
be Ooty to everyone. As the blaze of the afternoon sun
gives way to a nippy evening, one can make his way towards
the nearby lake. This part of Ooty was once a huge bog
with a west-flowing stream. In 1824, the lower part
of the stream was converted into a lake. Though the
lake seems ordinary enough, what really gets the tourists
all excited is the warmth and buzz of activity in the
vicinity. There is a boathouse where rowboats and motorboats
can be had on hire. A Tamilnadu Tourism Development
Corporation venture, it remains open from 8 am to 6
pm. Sitting at the edge of the lake and watching the
sun dipping down to herald darkness, is a soothing experience,
to put it lightly.
The beautiful Botanical Gardens are, in a word, Ooty’s
milestone. Reaching the sprawling maze of greens and
blooms, up northeast of the township, one’s first
thought is of the incredible influence of British rule
in India. And these images, reminiscent of the Raj,
were all over Ooty. Not surprising, considering that
the hill resort as we know it now was founded by the
British, in the early 1800s, to serve as the Madras
Government’s summer headquarters. The Botanical
Gardens of Ooty, established in 1847, are much like
the typical, manicured and planned gardens one sees
so often. But the real beauty of the place is its plants—an
amazingly diverse array with trees, shrubs and herbs
of a mindboggling number of species. And the flowers
were really something to write home about. Was it the
altitude—Ooty nestles at 2240 m above sea level—and
the rarefied air, or the lack of polluted air that gave
these flowers an added shine and gloss? They smiled
from everywhere as one ambles about the lovely, spread-out
profusion. The fossil tree trunk that one sees here
is believed to be 20 million years old!
The great charm of Ooty is not so much the specific
tourist destination; it is, in fact, the long lovely
walks that it offers. Anywhere you go, the serenity
of the Nilgiris will be all around you. Specially the
strategic points from where one could either see Ooty
or the view all around, like Snowdon, Ketty Valley,
the Wenlock Downs and, of course, Doddabetta. Further,
one could hire a horse either near the boathouse or
at the Savoy—for a slightly more exhilarating
excursion in and around town.
Ooty is a haven for the seeker of sports, adventure
or otherwise—from hiking and riding to fishing
for trout and playing tennis and snooker. Then, of course,
there is the gorgeously scenic golf course tucked away
in the northwest almost straight across town from the
Gardens. Many avid golfers believe that the links of
the Ooty Gymkhana Club are among the best in the world.
Then there is the Race Course, in the heart of town.
Today, Ooty has shot up on the demand charts of the
Bombay (Mumbai) film industry, and with the southern
filmmakers already there, the resort faces quite a glut
of starry stuff. With a large number of popular hill
stations of the Himalayas snuffed out or made inaccessible
by violence and political upheaval, Ooty is now a hot
spot for the filmwallah. So you mustn’t be rattled
to find your peaceful walks punctuated by sudden crowds
and an outlandishly attired couple running around a
grove of eucalyptus tree.
The eucalyptuses are quite a part of the Ooty landscape.
They even fuel a small oil industry, so it is common
to find eucalyptus oil in the shops at Ooty. These tall,
lanky trees seemed much at home on the slopes around.
Many a traveler may feel that Ooty and the Nilgiris
lack the awe, mystique and drama of the Himalayas. One
can only feel sorry for the cynical traveler who failed
to catch the pulse of Ooty’s charm. More so the
Nilgiris. For the lush green serenity of these southern
hills of India would be difficult to find anywhere else.
A summer of peace and uncluttered, cool days is what
the Nilgiris offer, with their resonant echoes of a
rich and tangible Dravidian culture.
A CUP OF CAMELLIA
All along the hill slopes in the Nilgiri
Mountains, you will find that omnipresent, glossy, stout
bush with fragrant white or pink flowers and a melodious
name camellia (Camellia thea). Tea, brought to the Nilgiris
in the 1860s, is amongst India’s most prominent
plantation crops, what with the country being the world’s
largest producer, consumer and exporter of black tea.
This is perhaps why the slopes of the Nilgiris, all
round Ooty, Coonoor and the like, seem to have tea bushes
almost like a second skin.
Processed tender leaves and leaf buds compose the tea
of commerce. This agro-industry flourishes on the hillsides
of the Nilgiris and experts say that tea growing at
a higher elevation would have a flavor superior to that
growing at lower heights. This flavor and distinctive
character of the popular beverage is from essential
oils and alkaloids present in the plant. But then, all
this is after a long manufacturing process that is carried
out in industrial units on the plantation itself or
nearby. From harvesting to curing, rolling and fermentation,
to drying and grading, the process is delicate and tedious.
There are minor variations depending on the kind of
tea being produced. The delicacy of the job of picking
‘two leaves and a bud’ is perhaps testified
by the fact that pickers are always women or children.
And so, it is the camellia bushes, with their sheen
and gloss that green the Blue Mountains, providing raw
material for a huge industry and employment for many
in the land of the Strobilanthes.
AROUND OOTY
Ooty has the singular distinction of
having many places around that are worthy of a visit,
or sometimes even a halt. Heading east from the southeast
of Ooty will take one to Coonoor and Wellington, two
very beautiful townships. Coonoor, though small, had
much to boast of Sim’s Park, Lamb’s Rock,
Dolphin’s Nose and generally pretty landscape.
Wellington, of course, is a typical army township, clean
and smart. Coonoor may easily charm one enough to stay
longer, with its lush, tea bush slopes and attractive
British houses.
About 28 km from Ooty, towards the east, is the 26-sq-km
Kotagiri, incredibly picturesque, amongst the first
townships of the British and a great place to visit.
From Kotagiri one can even proceed to the Kodanad View,
Catherine Falls or Rangaswamy Peak, all famous for their
natural beauty.
The famous Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, 67 km from
Ooty, stretches over 321 sq km. Traveling to Ooty from
Mysore and Bangalore, one passes the sanctuary with
its dense vegetation crowding the banks of the lovely
Mayar River. Herds of wild elephants, or lone tuskers,
a great variety of birds, cats, snakes, and deer are
known to live in these cool, dark jungles of the Nilgiris.
Ten kilometers out of Ooty is the great Doddabetta
Peak, the highest in the Nilgiri chain of mountains.
Doddabetta stands at 2623 m and if your trip is made
on a clear day visible all around you will be Coonoor,
Wellington, Mettupalayam, and Coimbatore. If it’s
an exceptionally crisp day, you might even see Mysore.
Avalanche, Upper Bhavani, Mukurti and Pykara are all
places that are near Ooty and must be seen for their
scenery. The reservoirs at Avalanche and Upper Bhavani
are excellent waters for angling with the rainbow trout
in particular abundance. All these places have an attractive
mixed landscape of forests, shola-grasslands and tea-filled
slopes.
Finally, for the scientifically curious, en route to
Avalanche from Ooty is India’s largest radio telescope.
So also the Hindustan Photo Films in the Wenlock Downs,
the only factory of its kind in India, manufacturing
sensitized photographic materials.
THE NARROW TRAIL
This is a journey nobody should miss.
A journey where you jostle with unimaginable crowds
and squeeze into tiny coaches, a journey where you feel
you can actually reach out and touch the elusive Nilgiris.
It starts at Mettupalayam, 46 km southeast of Ooty,
where you board the Blue Mountain Express that gets
pushed by an engine instead of being pulled!
When you hear frequent references to the Ooty mountain
train, you would somehow conjure up Lilliputian images
of people sitting in orderly, storybook fashion. That’s
sure mistake, for this small train of the Nilgiris couldn’t
be more full, with human forms oozing from every pore!
And if you still harbor rosy images, try clambering
on from Coonoor where it stops en route to Mettupalayam.
This is a precious travel tip, mind you.
But once you’re on, it’s heaven. The overpowering
Nilgiri landscape has the ability to make you oblivious
of the human ocean around you and the greenery is bliss.
It’s a memorable 4–5-hour journey, so don’t
miss it for anything.
IN THE WILD
The region is a treasure of wildlife,
with some animals even native to these southern mountain
ranges. There is that deep-voiced Nilgiri langur (Presbytis
johnii) with its shiny black body and yellow-brown crown.
The Nilgiri langur happens to be one of the five langur
species found in India and Sri Lanka. These langurs
of the Nilgiris are often found in the sholas, which
are amongst their favourite haunts. It’s in the
sholas that you can also see the lion-tailed macaque.
The shy, timid and hard-to-spot Nilgiri tahr (Hemitragus
hylocrius) also has its home in these blue mountains.
This animal has pride of place in being the only wild
goat to inhabit any region south of the Himalayas. It
has a short coat, dark yellow brown in color, and prefers
to inhabit craggy regions above forest level. The Nilgiris
are home to a great variety of carnivorous animals like
tigers, panthers, jackals and hyenas. Elephants, wildcats,
civet cats, giant squirrels and mongoose are also part
of Nilgiri fauna. The Nilgiri marten, nightjar, hill
mynah, and golden oriole are some of the region’s
avifauna. In essence, this range of mountains harbors
a massive diversity of animal life.
GETTING THERE
Coimbatore, 105 km from Ooty, is the
nearest airport. Indian Airlines has flight to Coimbatore
from Bangalore, Cochin and Madras.
The Blue Mountain Express to Ooty is from Mettupalayam
(47 km). Mettupalayam can be reached from Coimbatore
by the Tea Garden Express.
All important towns of Tamilnadu, Kerala and Karnataka
are connected to Ooty.
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