Day 2 of our visit, we decided to check out the sights in Coonoor. The ride from Ooty to Coonoor is again a treat for the eyes. In Coonoor, we went to the Singhara tea-estate. It was a foggy day and the tea-gardens resembled the setting of a dream sequence song in our Hindi films, so much so that if I had seen a Madhuri Dixit or Priyanka Chopra prancing around, I don’t think I would have batted a single eyelid. J

 

Talking about Hindi movies, this is the only problem with Ooty. Its history is infested with incidents of bollywood movies being shot at some particular spot or the other. Our cabwalah was totally obsessed with showing off this knowledge to us. So, after every five minutes or so, when we would be immersed in beautiful thoughts inspired by the scenery around us, he would interrupt with ‘ Yahaan Roja movie ka shooting hua tha, yahaan Saajan ka shooting hua tha’ and so on and so forth. After some time, we had to threaten him with dire consequences like jumping out of the car the moment he came up with more bollywood information. He seemed taken aback at that and thereafter began to regard us a bit suspiciously. J

 

By the way, if you go to the tea-gardens, do not forget to taste the flavored tea that you get in the nearby stalls. They have different flavors like pepper, ginger, elaichi, chocolate etc. You can also buy the flavored tea leaves if you want to. The only problem is that when you come home and make tea using the flavored tea leaves, it never tastes like the one that you had at Ooty, even if you have followed the specifications religiously. Both of us did a lot of experimentation with the tea-preparation, but the results were far from satisfactory. Weird, isn’t it? J

 

The last place on our itinerary was Dolphin’s Nose, so called I think, because of the shape of the mountain. To arrive at this view point, we had to travel through some bad roads, but they didn’t strike us as too much of a problem because of the scenic beauty we were surrounded with. I felt as if we were driving through a dense forest and the words of Robert Frost echoed in my mind- ‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep…’. All in all, a great feeling.

 

Ooty also has some beautiful churches. We went to a nice little church near Charing Cross. Had a great time talking to the priest who told us that apart from the regular tourist sight seeing places, there are others which not a lot of people know about. He has promised to give us a list the next time we visit Ooty.

 

You know, when I tried to analyze why both of us  liked Ooty so much more than many other hill stations we  have visited in India, the only answer I can come up with is that Ooty has got the ‘right mix’. By this, I mean that it is a secluded and beautiful place, but it is not a place where you feel lonely. Even though it rests in the lap of nature, it has modern facilities, a lot of interesting tourists from other places and a lively market place, which together gives a great feel to the place. Whatever the reason, the moment we set foot here, we could connect to the place in a strange way and this makes us want to go back again and again and again….I think, ultimately we will buy some property here and settle down when we are 50 or so. What an idea! J