Ooty - Queen of hill stations

On the road to Ooty there is a patch - quite a long one, of road where we drove more off the road than on it :-) as the roads were dotted with miniature potholes along the way. The road gave way to a smoother one after some time and the landscape became picturesque once again with huge sugarcane fields, coconut trees, lots of greenery and white fluffy clouds! We passed 2-3 small flocks of sheep walking idly in front of their shepherd, when suddenly our car went off the road and on glancing thru the windshield I saw the road being dominated by 6-7 cows walking aimlessly all over the road! This can happen only in India! :-) As we entered Tamil Nadu we drove straight into the Mudumulai tiger reserve - we did get to see wild monkeys and wild elephants but no tigers! As we drove through the tree lined road of the reserve, our driver narrated an incident he had experienced some months ago – he was travelling at night and a wild elephant suddenly came out from the trees and stood in the middle of the road. The rule of the jungle is that if you ever encounter a wild animal, stop and don’t move a muscle and that’s exactly what he did – for over an hour till the elephant decided to move on!

As we entered Tamil Nadu, after paying the relevant RTO taxes, our driver informed us of the other traffic rules in the south - did you know that private taxi drivers have a dress code? Different in each state? They have to be in white shirts and blue pants in Karnataka and in a white shirt with white pants in Tamil Nadu and the fine for not wearing either is Rs. 300 and Rs. 500 respectively!
We started our ascent onto the Nilgiri hills. The ascent proved to be an experience. There were 36 hairpin bends along the way! Few of them were very steep and at times I thought we would start moving backwards instead of forward! Half way up we suddenly saw a small fountain of water come up from our car bonnet (check pic!!) - our engine had got overheated! We stopped for a while and opened the bonnet - I did get to see an ambassador's car engine! :-) Because of our engine overheating we managed to have around 3 stops. At one of these, we encountered a cute stall displaying its wares of mangoes, cucumbers, small red plums grouped in small packets and never before seen really, really orange carrots - just like the ones you see in the cartoons! We tried out the cucumber n plums - both were extremely fresh and yum! As we reached higher n higher the climate became cooler and cooler. The air now had a nip in it and we saw locals waiting at corners for a bus in sweaters - we even saw a nice old uncle in a very old grey suit making his way up the hill!

We reached Ooty and our hotel - The Kings Cliff, amidst the cool breeze. Rows of brightly coloured flowers greeted us at the gate. Our footsteps echoed on the wooden floors as we made our way to the room where as we crossed the threshold we gasped with delight at the lovely sight in front of us - our room looked like it had stepped out of a Shakespeare play! It had a canopy bed and there was a fireplace too! And guess what? There was no fan in the room! :-) Our hotel had more surprises for us - there were 2 small chocolates that sat on our pillows and a bathroom so huge that it had two door to it - I am serious!! In the evening the main sitting room fireplace was lit and 2 young local lads entertained us by singing the latest and some not so latest English songs. All in all a lovely experience!

Mysore – City of Kings!

The Green Hotel – this was to be our destination for the next 2 days. In the morning as we waited for our guide to come we explored the palace which had been made into a comfortable hotel. As the name suggested the exteriors and most of the interiors were in shades of green teamed along with white! And when I say everything I mean it – right from the table cloths on the lawn tables to the small round tea pots which held our morning tea! The interiors were awesome with huge rooms and ancient furniture. We were put up in the Bollywood Room – yeah it seriously was called that… and it had pictures of old and new bollywood stars placed in cute abstract frames on the walls of the room.

Next on our list was the Mysore Palace - the official residence of the former royal family of Mysore. The sight of it took your breath away! It stood majestically and proudly surrounded by green lawns.

As no cameras were allowed inside the palace, we deposited the same at the counter and turned to find an elderly gentleman in a suit speak to us in broken English – “Madam, You want guide? I will tell you all about the history of the palace!” Imagine our surprise when we asked what it would cost us – Rs. 500/- for a group of 1-5 people! So we tried bargaining (yes, we women!!) and said that as we were only 2 the cost should be less.. but reached nowhere. We decided to go in ourselves without a guide. The palace can only be described in one word – AWESOME!! There were lovely intricate paintings on most of the walls and ceilings of the palace; the corridors had a slight musty smell which took you back in time and as we stood in the “Darbar” we could actually visualize ourselves sitting in front of the King and his ministers!

After a quick lunch, we made our way to our next destination. As we drove away from the main city, we stopped at a petrol pump to fill fuel – imagine our surprise when a lady attendant walked up to us to serve us! This was the first time I had seen lady attendants and there were 2 of them, at a petrol pump and that too on the highway!! Way to go ladies!! As we drove away, the greenery on either side gave on a feeling of serenity and peace – exactly what we wanted! Suddenly, I got a strong whiff of sugarcane and glancing around me I saw fields of sugarcane, with their long green leaves dancing in the breeze. As we passed through a village, the air was pure and sweet. The sights in the village that greeted us were plenty; men in dhotis sitting at a local pan beedi shop, a mother with her 3 children on the threshold of her hut, a lady pumping out water into a steel matka when we suddenly realised it was drizzling! The slight drizzle made the already pleasant atmosphere into a lovely chilly climate and to quote my driver – “AC ka climate hai!” As I looked at the villagers I saw a look of content on their faces, no visible hassles in life, a nice laid back attitude towards one and all – quite opposite to what I see in the city everyday!

Brindavan Gardens – the Musical Gardens was our final destination for the day. As we approached the garden gates the Cauvery River flowed majestically nearby as the huge walls of the dam loomed up in front of us. We reached there around 5.30 in the evening and our driver reminded us to wait till 7 when the gardens were lit up with different colours of lights. The gardens were beautiful with big fountains every few feet and small fountains along the pathway. The layout of the fountains midst the red hibiscus and pink bougainvillea made a lovely calendar picture! The gardens had been planned on a terraced layout and we walked right up till the last terrace where on looking back down we could see the beautiful garden and fountains below us. As we stood there we noticed an uncle on a bench clutching a pair of binoculars and glaring through them. A pair of binoculars at a garden??? Weird but funny!! Could not let it go without getting a picture of the sight! :-) As the evening turned to twilight and there was a sudden expectancy in the people at the garden and exactly at 7, when there was no sunlight on the horizon, the garden came alive with music and lights!! The fountains danced in red, blue and yellow lights, as they rose to different heights and everywhere one looked you could see the dancing water in the different coloured lights! Check out the before and after pictures of the same fountain we clicked as memories.

We returned back to our Green Hotel tired but happy that we had seen some of the most beautiful sights in the world!! Mysore – you are beautiful!

Clouds have shadows too..

After gaping at the new Mumbai airport, doing a quick check-in and quenching our thirst with hot cups of coffee from Café Coffee Day we made our way towards the security check-in counter. Though it was 6.45 in the morning, we had these stupid grins on our faces as we discussed our upcoming holiday with unconcealed excitement.

As our airplane taxied on to the runway, gaining momentum every second I glanced out to see Mumbai whizz past me. The slight lurch of my stomach heralded the beginning of my flight to Bangalore! The pilot wished us a pleasant journey - with a put on accent I must say! As Mumbai dropped from our line of sight I looked in utter awe at the fluffy companions near my window. The clouds caressed the plane and continued to give us company till we reached our destination. As we approached Bangalore the snow white effect gave way to glimpses of brown and green when I noticed the small fluffs casting small shadows on the landscape below. It gave one a very different feeling seeing clouds from above than below them. The shadows of the clouds gave a day and night effect on the landscape below which was a delight to watch! I even managed to get a pic of the plane’s shadow!! What was it about shadows that were fascinating me suddenly?? Dunno the answer to that one but it was a true joy to see them from way up above the clouds, above the hustle-bustle of everyday life, in the calmness of the clouds :-)

The “fasten seat-belts” sign blinked on and we braced ourselves for the touchdown at Bangalore airport. Our holiday had started!!