F6-PEN PICTURES OF MYSORE AND OOTY TWO DECADES AGO-6

 

MY DIARY DATED 3-3-04—WE WERE IN OOTY- THE CLIMATE AND VEGETATION WERE DIFFERENT

PART TWO 

(1)

OOTY’S CLIMATE IS SO DIFFERENT 

Everywhere we could see green undulating meadows . The up and down  expanses had smooth slopes  . We were now in a top mountainous area with highlands with  sloping green carpet like meadows. There were  tea estates on the distant mountain slopes on other side of some valleys. We could see small clusters of tiled houses in green meadows.  We saw also small villages on the opposite hill sides. The roads there were seen at higher level than our road  for some time and were seen at lower level after some time! Even on our side, we saw below us  the road sections which we travelled earlier .The houses ther which we passed by half an hour ago  looked like  toy houses.

We entered Ooty town at  about 12 noon . We thought that Ooty  consisted of only   small sized  picturesque houses. But as our bus travelled further  in to the city  we saw quite  wide streets with  old tiled bungalows exuding  colonial age charm and resembling the tiled mansions in England . Our van slowly moved for a while after entering the main street. The street was not too busy and people appeared to move in a leisurely way . The reason perhaps is that most people go there to spend time leisurely forgetting life’s worries. Ooty  was summer retreat  for British European officials to escape the heat in towns and cities in India in hot summer months. Some modern  looking like piled concrete boxes lacked the charm of the old bungalows.

(2)

INTERLUDE DATED 25-7-26

Ooty  in Tamilnad is a  world famous hill station and is called Queen of Indian hill stations.It has many nice hotels and is the headquarters i.e. the  “capital” of Nilgiris district of Tamilnada state. The Nilgiri  hills are part of the western ghats of India .Ooty is near western extreme of central  Tamilnad and is 90 kilometers away from Coimbatore city.  After India gained independence Ooty  became a most popular tourist resort. There are big  hotels and costly residential schools.

The pleasant  green grasslands  and meadows  and cool  weather of high mountains make Ooty very attractive to tourists.In the mountain valleys there are vast forests  .For many centuries  it was just a high altitude grass land area where  tribal people lived . In 1860s the  English colonial rulers recognized its use for European people as a summer  resort to escape the heat of Indian plains. They built roads and constructed big residences  for their stay in  summer months .The cool weather in the area resembled the cool weather in England. Good all weather roads were constructed to   Coimbatore and other places. It was made into a municipality in 1860s for the convenience of the British rulers. Nilgiri district was created in 1880s and Ooty was  was  made the district headquarters town . Neat roads and drainage system and gardens etc were constructed in Ooty  .Big churches were  constructed.It became  summer capital for Madras Presidency in British ruled India.

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There is a picturesque narrow gage railway service Mettupalayam-Coonur-Ooty called Neelgiri Mountain Express. The railway track is only 1.7 meters wide  and uses only steam locomotives as in British days. The small train has just two or three bogies . In the mountainous area it has to move up  on rail tracks a little raised in one direction. So a very strong powerful  “rack and pinion” mechanism helps the engine and the bogies to move in a perfectly safe way. This rack and pinion system was used right from the British days . The trains have just two or three bogeys and resemble trams  and are called by local people as toy trains.The  mountain express is meant mainly for enjoyment of tourists visiting Ooty.

The  Mountain Express daily travels only about 50 kms distance at a slow speed of about 9 kmph . Up journey takes  about 4-1/2 hours and down journey  takes about 3-1/2 hours.It is linked to the main Indian railway system at Mettupalayam station with another train the Nilgiri express going upto Chennai city (530 kilometers away) capital of Tamilnadu.

(3)

SIGHTSEEING IN OOTY

 For European people of colonial times the cool weather of Nilgiris district was like the weather in England. There was another  town of colonial time fame near by. It is Coonoor, a  town about 20 miles from Ooty by road and at a lower level than Ooty. At both places  there were British colonial  offices and European style residences .The mood of travellers to Ooty ,like us coming   from the  hot plains,  is of surprise and wonder and amusement  seeing such entirely different scenery. We just leisurely roamed or sat on the cool tree filled green meadow land and chatted  wondering at the strange scenery.

We stopped near the Ooty lake quite near to the  shore. The driver/guide said we can  go on a small boat ride if we wanted . He said that all members of our group going sightseeing, shopping in the bazaars etc  should return and assemble and reach the van by 2-30 to go for  lunch.

We wanted  to take a  boat ride. It was very cold weather for us .We put on our sweaters.In the motor boat there were two other passengers. The boat ride lasting 30 minutes was very pleasant. The boat moved slowly along the coast of the large  lake  taking us very near to the grasslands near the shores of the lake. The sun was shining brightly in the sky but the weather was very cold! As we moved around in the lake we also saw many long   pole- like trees with branches full of thick clumps of leaves towards the top but pointing downwards.

After enjoying the boat ride we  walked for kilometer and sat  under a big tree . We sat for  perhaps a full  hour .  The environment here so different from the environment in our towns on the hot plains and plateu lands in Hyderabad area quite overwhelmed us. We talked to  people in English or  Hindi inquiring about the towns from which they came . My daughter clicked many photos of the Ooty scenes.  When we checked the time it was nearing 2-30 pm.

The guide/driver took our van  to a  nice  hotel. It was a long building in long compound and the entire  front verandah was covered with sheet glass screens fixed in strong sliding frames and long thick curtains now pulled aside .The hotel was situated on a picturesque street on a high  green meadow.  other  nearby streets(or wide foot paths) were situated  some at a higher level and some at a lower level adding to the picturesqueness of the place.The inner  rooms six  in a row were nice ,each  sufficient for a small family group . There was a huge  mirror  in each suite filling a whole wall. In the long   verandah were  sofas  and glass topped tables with nice flower vases . The service was modern and costly. We had  an unconventional meal --- masala rice with lots of cut  raw vegetables,tasty curries, tomato ketchup and fruit jam.

After our meal we were taken in the van to another nice place. It was  the famous  Botanical Gardens with many species of European cold weather plants. The guide advised us that we should all reassemble  by 4-30 pm sharp as our return journey would start at that time. We  saw  exquisite plants and   brightly coloured flowers in the botanical garden . My younger daughter was busy taking photos. The weather was getting colder and we got a feeling that it is time to start on the return journey.

The students of a local convent school   were assembling at the bus stop in front of their school and  some were walking to their homes/hostels. Many local people, perhaps  working in the fields and tea gardens, were also returning. All were wearing woollens for protection  from the cold. We saw some  European people  also in the crowds .

We  went to the main street to make some purchases. My daughters purchased hand bags and some little black wood artwork. By 4-30 we returned to the  van. We found that the two European ladies and the two couples  from Kerala and  Gujarat  who travelled with us from Mysore did not turn up . Perhaps they were stopping at Ooty. Other passengers came in minutes for journeying to Mysore  and the van soon filled.

(4)

WE LEFT OOTY AND ENTERED THE FOREST REGIONS

In the downward direction  it was again a four  and half hour journey The van started travelling  through the winding  sloping roads  at steady speed. We saw  on the way two old fashioned British style  tiled bungalows with  spacious compounds. There were  two or three big trees .What a beautiful sight I thought. We saw another wonderful  unbelievable sight .In the distance on the  hill side the picturesque colourful Nilgiri Mountain Express was gliding slowly majestically. We missed riding in it  because of our tight travel program. Again the  very big valleys which we passed on our upward journey now appeared   as we were  coming down from the mountainous area.

The van was moving steadily and carefully as it was  a mountainous region with many hairpin bends on the roads . The drivers are experts used to driving on these routes. Now I was seeing a cluster of poor people’s houses. Such poor people’s homes also exist in Ooty ! Again the hair pin bends started. Now all these hair pin bends in the road were pointed downward . By travelling each bend we were going down hill. And there were about 35 such bends. As the van changed direction abruptly while turning around  a bend  our bodies  too were being tossed a  little this side and that. The children and even elders  enjoyed the tossing motion and would laugh aloud.The driver most expertly negotiated the bends in an easy  manner. The journey was  frightening too.

The cold became  less. After an hour or so the heavy cold completely disappeared and weather became normal. In the downward journey  the van took a slightly different route and we  passed through the  Mudumalai forest sanctuary . A good  number of wild animals were coming out from the depths of forest and coming into view. We saw a  group of small spotted deer, the large bodied sambhar deer, a small group of three elephants ,large number of monkeys  etc .The bird chatter too was loud now and then. we travelled for almost an hour through Mudumalai forest . We travelled through a small area of adjoining   Bandipura sanctuary also. Here too we saw  small groups of wild animals  coming out in the cool evenings . We saw elephants, peacocks ,antelopes and monkeys . Here too  we travelled for about one hour  and finally  came out of  the hilly and forest areas entirely and reached the  roads in the plains.

We came into the ordinary world where  life moved at normal pace. The weather was a little hot. What an unbelievable change from the shivering cold in the highest regions of Ooty to the  hot weather  in the plains  within hours same day !

(5)

WE ENDED A MOST WODERFUL JOURNEY TO THE HIGH HILLS

 The big red disc of  evening sun was visible. All around there were the familiar agricultural fields and  villages and the  coconut groves . We travelled for almost two hours through these rural scenes!  We saw from our van several  temples in the villages and towns through which we passed. For our tired minds the sight of temples gave great peace of mind and great spiritual joy. The villages and towns here resembled the  villages and towns in  our state. The same type of  rural folks and similar houses and huts . only the huge coconut groves as seen here in every town and village would not be seen but a solitary coconut tree here and there.

 At about  7-30 pm  the van stopped at a way side town for us to take tea. Around 9pm we entered Mysore city and after travelling through many streets reached our hotel at 9-30 pm. I thanked the driver/guide  for his patient  and helpful way  and for his expert driving.

We got meals delivered to our hotel room . Our program schedule was prefixed and has to be followed. We switched on the TV  discussing next day’s program. Tomorrow we were to visit Brindavan gardens and visit some famous art emporia. We decided that we should rise at 4am  tomorrow  as the  famous  Brindavan gardens  was in outskirts of Mysore and was about 20 kilometers from Mysore bus stand. We would  do some  shopping in Mysore city in the famous emporia . But we were too tired and fell asleep early.