O for Ooty


Ooty Lake
Ooty is actually the short for Ootacamund. The official name is Udhagamandalam though. But it is best known as simply Ooty. It is the district capital of the Nilgiris district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 80 km north of Coimbatore. It is a popular hill station located in the Nilgiri Hills. Originally occupied by the Todas, the area came under the rule of the East India Company at the end of the 18th century. Ooty has been nicknamed the "Queen of hill-stations".

“Such beautiful English rain & English mud….Imagine Hertfordshire lanes, Devonshire downs, Westmoreland lakes, Scotch trout streams & Lusitanian views.” – Lord Lytton describing the idyllic beauty of Ootacamund & the Nilgiri Hills in a letter to his wife.

I had visited Ooty in the year 1997, when we were a part of an excursion trip. I have mentioned about the trip in my post C for Coimbatore earlier in the challenge. It was just a day long trip. I remember seeing the Ooty Lake from a hill top, later going boating there and visiting the botanical gardens. I also remember the tourist guide showing us various spots where many famous Bollywood movies have been shot. The botanical gardens is very vast and by the end of the visit, we were all quite tired out. The highlight of the trip was the lovely Pykara Falls.
Pykara Falls

 Botanical Garden
Mostly I remember the serpentine roads through  which our bus was traveling. Roads were not very broad then and the bus couldn't take a sharp turning at one go. On the return journey, several students got sick and threw up. Maa covered our ears so as to prevent our ears getting blocked due to the change in altitude. I have heard that the the roads are very good now and the journey much comfortable. May be someday I shall be able to visit the green meadows of Ooty once again and relive my childhood memories.

I am taking part in the Blogging From A to Z Challenge [April 2014].

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