10 Jan 2012

Udhagmandalam.

I had been to this lovely place-hill station as we all like to call all cooler places situated on hills-from Matheran to Shimla, and now even Karjat, as a child. And now after almost 25 years I visited it again.

Ooty- The queen of Nilgiris as they call her is undoubtedly blessed with natural beauty just like many many other places in the rest of India. The tea plantations reminded me of my vacations in Munnar and Coorg- Another two lovely places. The drive to these tea plantations took me down the memory lane to Beatenberg, Interlaken which I had not so long ago.- winding roads, a light drizzle, some mist, and nature in abundance. I remember us driving down every day from Beatenberg in the hills to the Interlaken town. And now it felt like I was having my own ‘Switzerland moment’ right here in India. However my excitement almost ended here. Besides some of the breathtaking views, the lovely toy train that goes from Ooty to Conoor I was totally disappointed with the rest. The roads were bad, the so called places of touristic attraction were anything but that. All of them were dusty and dirty, any structures anywhere were in a dilapidated condition, old and rusty. The honeymooners and all others were littering about shamelessly oblivious to the fact that that the very reason that has brought them this lovely place would be destroyed by their carelessness.

What did impress me was the ban on plastic bags which was strictly followed by all shopkeepers, even the vegetable vendors. Unlike in Mumbai where for every 2 rupees worth of curry leaves, the educated –liberated woman too continues to ask for a plastic bag!- as if it is her birth right. Or the ego of the man with a fat wallet is terribly bruised when he is told that he’ll have to shell out 5 rupees for a bag. He immediately stops fidgeting with his phone, scratches his chest in an attempt to show the gold that he’s wearing, slams his fist on the cash counter, raises his voice, first abuses and then orders the cashier to give him the plastic bag and charge him whatever! Such is our love for the carry bags!

Anyway, a little away from Ooty is Pykara. And the lake here is clean and beautiful I much enjoyed the boatride here. Another unforgettable experience was spotting a tiger in the Madhumalai Tiger Reserve. Besides the Tiger, we also spotted a few other animals and birds including the wild Indian dog, Dhole and the wild fowl. Here again what was frustrating was the amount of noise the mini bus that we were in – the official carrier of tourists visiting the park, made. It could give anyone a headache. To add there were mobile phones ringing. We actually had to order people to switch off their phones and also shut up! It was quite surprising that amidst all of this we did actually spot the Royal Bengal. Poor soul he must’ve grown used to our lack of ‘Safari- etiquettes’.

Anyway I felt quite ashamed at the plight of the Queen of Nilgiris. I wish our people understood that the cleanliness about ‘phoren’ that they so admire would no longer be a dream for India if……