Ooty UNTRAVELED | Don't Miss Out On This Slow Walk For A Delightful Ooty Travel Experience

Ooty UNTRAVELED | Don't Miss Out On This Slow Walk For A Delightful Ooty Travel Experience

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Because it's a slow walk people tell me their stories also Everytime I felt that... What if I can get down and walk all the way You can try I think they look nicer than they taste... Someone like me will not be able to get in I think and how about me? I think I can easily Yeah easily The guy has changed the world Okay then show me your hand? Yes.. Really? Yes.. and....

so when we were children in school, we used to do this I always love hearing such snippets I think now we have the train OK I'll take you somewhere else and then you'll come to know the meaning of... One Two Oh there's some hidden meaning behind this Yes, there is there is... Nevertheless but atleast even the trailer is good enough Yes! To me Ooty is more of a nostalgia than a holiday destination 15 years ago, when I moved to Bangalore then this was the first place I visited and that is why even now Ooty or rather Nilgiris as a whole... is a reminder of a lot of happy nostalgic memories Those light rains...

clouds coming in through the windows... hills covered with tea gardens... Heritage trains passing through tunnels... and vintage colonial bungalows But as Ooty started getting over commercialised my interest in it decreased and other destinations around here got me more interested But in my opinion any tourist destination best reveals itself if you're willing to explore it with a local and when this website called 'Amble with Anne' caught my attention I couldn't stop myself from rediscovering Ooty So if today you are ready to see some unheard stories and hidden corners of Ooty then... let's go So like I was telling you there are very interesting plants here So, you can see the...

Broom and you can see the Hyacinth and Oh! Here you can see.. the mock strawberry also they're really pretty to look at.. Is it edible? Yes... but quite tasteless you can try I think they look nicer than they taste...

atleast... there's no taste but it's a bit juicier, it's not completely tasteless When we were children my sister and brother and I Our mother moved to Ooty we were in boarding school here So our mother moved to Ooty and every weekend... she would always say "Go out and walk, go out and walk" Anywhere? Anywhere, yeah...

and so we used to live very close to the lake in an old house and we used to walk across to the church this is St. Thomas Church and we used to wander around the graveyard that was a big pass time of ours and the other thing was walking to Fern Hill because we used to go to the Fern Hill Palace and mother would join us later and we would either have dinner like an early dinner and then walk back But this used to be your route? This is, yeah... while coming we used to walk this way and then there were lots of fruit trees around also so we used to pick all those fruits which was very annoying for my mother because she used to always say dont steal from other people's trees you know I will buy you a fruit but then we never listened to her We did a lot of walking so I'm not a great trekker or anything but I like to walk and I like sort of history and looking at the plants and telling stories and chatting with people It's because it's a slow walk people tell me their stories also you know... So, it's like an exchange and it's very nice When you live in a quiet place like this it's nice to meet people... Sure See even these plants here, they're gorse these bushes are gorse bushes, the spiny ones yeah, the yellow one with spiny needles and there's a story that Scottishman who lived here went home on a holiday came back with a lot of seeds filled his pockets and walked on the downs just throwing the seeds, you know that's why they are everywhere as far as you can see You know, I feel the thing with these folklores are more often than not, they're not true but I mean, I still enjoy hearing about them yeah, that's true of course, it can't be one man's doing I'm sure the seeds would have come from Scotland.. what if he did it every Sunday, different places...

the guy has changed the world I must say yeah, he has changed Ooty anyway but yeah it's always... I always love hearing such snippets Oh, the train's coming I think now we have the train Walking with Anne is relaxing and adventurous at the same time Her calm demeanour amusing anecdotes and vast knowledge of Nilgiris made this walk both educational and delightful So this railway line, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites One of 3 mountain railways in India the other two being in the north and... the line came upto Coonoor in 1898 and it was only in 1908 that it came to fern hill and then upto Ooty It is one of the slowest trains in Asia the average speed is 13 kms per hour and it is one of the steepest lines it is the steepest railway line in Asia I've done this a bunch of times last I did it was in Feb, this year itself and before that I've done it a couple of times and I really really enjoyed it, I loved it but...

Everytime I felt that what if I can get down and walk all the way and I'm so happy that I'm actually getting to do that Oh a little bit.. not all the way Nevertheless, but atleast even the trailer is good enough Yes! So, this one's fern hill? Yeah, this is fern hill This used to be the old station it's no longer in use Now, it is a railway guest house I think out of.. there were 13 stations I think, but if am not mistaken only 9 of them only are... operational now... In each of my train journeys I always used to see such beautiful houses and wonder who were staying there but it's the first time I actually know who lives there in one such house as this one belongs to a friend of Anne small joys in small places You know I have a thing for... colonial architecture A lot of people say that why do we have to remember the British past and what they did to our country but I don't know see I'm just appreciative of the good things that they've done and such stations you hardly find anywhere like a cute little place See on the looks of it even though it's just beside a road but still it looks in the middle of nowhere it's quaint and nice no...

and lots of movies have been shot here I'm sure on this track the famous one is ofcourse the hindi movie Dil Se... By the way, I forgot to mention Anne that one more famous series was also shot here You might remember right? No? OK, let's refresh some memories Ladies and gentlemen once again it has been proven that travelling with Abhishek is just.. not that intolerable just a little bit less intolerable because it was his idea to come here to this beautiful station of Lovedale I told you earlier as well that.. I know it's a slow train but what if I could walk on these tracks and now I am doing.. See that's why I say if you wish for something the nature will conspire and make it happen the universe will let it happen let it happen in some way or the other After the railway line hike Anne took me to another gem hidden in plain sight That's the point in spending some time with a local because only they know such places that we could never find There's a Toda village nearby and we've come to the Toda temple and Toda is a name of tribe? It's a name of tribe..

When the British came here they found 5 main tribes here I'm saying main They were the Irulas, the Kotas, the Badagas, the Kurumbas and the Todas but of all these tribes the Todas were the one's that really... they considered them the primitive picturesque and all these tribes, their way of life was symbiotic So they depended on each other Agriculture, Pastoral, Musicians, Hunters, Gatherers like that and you can see it's in the shape of a rainbow also.. and they have a very... where's the door? The door is down there you have to go upto it to see the door it's usually just foot by a foot that's it? Yes! Someone like me will not be able to get in I think and how about me? I think I can easily..

Yeah easily.. Even after visiting Ooty so many times the walk opened a new world for me I must say that Anne has an oustanding talent in scouting beauty and assimilating information about the culture and history of this land and it's people This was simply the most refreshing and exotic view of Ooty So, this church was built on 1867 More than 150 years old Yes... yes... But it's not the oldest church in Ooty the St. Stephens is much older and it was only after there the graveyards started filling up then there were more members in the congregation that they decided to build another church here called the St. Thomas Church there are also several commonwealth war graves and I am only going to talk about two of the graves This is the grave of Josiah Goodwin and he was a journalist and stenographer to Swami Vivekananda So when Swami Vivekananda went to America for the World Parliament of Religions he went and he gave a lot of speeches and his disciples wanted his speeches to be recorded So, they put an advertisement in the newspaper for a stenographer and Josiah... he answered the advertisement Vivekananda spoke fast and he spoke extempo and he was the only one who could keep taking notes yeah... the stenography

so he was really good at that he became a sort of disciple himself and he followed Vivekananda on his travels and then eventually to India and it is said that he didn't take any money from Vivekananda he didn't take a salary but when he came to India he began to work at the Madras Mail which was a newspaper in Madras he came to Ooty and after a game of cricket in the rain he caught a fever and he died at the age of 27 So this is one of the graves with a story So, this is another interesting grave as you can see it is the grave of William Patrick Adam who was a Governor General of the Madras Presidency it's made of Aberdeen granite and it was brought from Scotland and he was from a place called Blair Athol and Blair Athol is also famous for something else which maybe you know Not sure Whisky single malt it's got a well known distillery With the same name itself? Yes... yes see there are many interesting wild flowers here and when we were children... let me show you this one yeah... the yellow one it's common name is the lady's purse purse? lady's purse? yes and you just pick it like that and show me your hand Really? yes... and... so when we were children in school we used to do this so I just wanted to show you something here this is one our initiatives the Nilgiri Mountain Art's initiative is the name of the trust and a couple os us, three of us actually got together and started this we've put up these library boxes there are 5 of them presently and we want to put up more and we put them up in different parts of town in bus stops...

and outside shops... So basically it's just an initiative where books are kept in this box and everyone is free to come and take a book and if you can you can leave one but if you don't have a book to leave you take as in? if you wish you can take home? yeah you can take it home so this way atleast... I mean... there must be many people who want to read but are unable and there are not many book shops here so we thought... and lots of people have books that they no longer read so we thought this was a good way to... sort of circulate the books such a neat initiative! and these are the kind of places especially the small towns you would find people people would be waiting for the buses and imagine such a...

also it's got a beautiful view which is all covered in mist now See, I dont mind this view at all... Oh you don't mind this? not at all All I am missing right now is a cup of tea and I think yeah, we've got our own study space or a reading room out here in open and the thing is we've written in Tamil also so we hope to have more Tamil books Okay all these boxes are sponsored we've asked our friends and they sponsored but I am quite intrigued by the name 'One, Two" What does that mean? Yeah, Library One Two Okay I will take you somewhere else and then you'll come to know the meaning of One, Two... Oh, there is some hidden meaning? Yes, there is, there is... Sure So remember I was telling you at the Library One Two that I would show you the name... why the name... So this is Gallery One Two and it was started couple of years ago it was actually a disused municipal toilet a public toilet and it was in a very very bad condition and...

I am part of a volunteer group called The MOB Project MOB? What does it stand for? the MOB Project is the... Make Ooty Beautiful so it has other things, MOB also means you know what... So we were walking past this way and we say this disused and very dirty toilet and then we approached the municipality and the municipality cleaned it up in the sense like just removed all the pots, and the urinals and all these things and gave it to us and so then we just went around town asking people for donations and we got the lights and the... the wooden picture rail and everything...

all with no money, just by asking people and so it's been running for two years We started with... we have open mics and then we have some talks Offcourse during the lockdown we were shut to me you know... it's the ititiative, it's the thought that counts we have some discussions and talks and we tell everyone I mean everyone's welcome and can come here and we have these open mics like songs or music, poetry something like that I can't even believe that this was a municipality toilet and that too a disused one and abused one yeah totally because we have I mean... come to think of it We have such spots everywhere in India That is true and we always pass by them and complain but... See that 's what I call, it's not about...

it's not just about... waiting for others to do And this photography exhibition is the story of 20th century portraits, yeah... yeah... studio portraits, yes and I don't know... a bunch of these photographs they remind me of the photographs that we have at home of our parents' wedding it's exactly like... like that

so then when we started we were wondering what do we name it we wanted something that was like easy and quick and... easy to remember also then there were 3 of us we are the ones who mainly do most of the work here and then... suddenly the idea of One, Two came because it was a toilet you see No. 1 and No. 2 yes, yes So, Gallery One Two and now Library One Two Anne is a gifted story teller and it's her personality that adds a special flavour to this walk As I say often that it is a matter of giving a little time to some place. and then we will ourselves see that the place reveal itself in an endearing way Fom now onwards I will visit Ooty to only be able to Amble with Anne... once again

2022-01-29 11:51

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