Golden Bead organized a 5 day trip to Oootacamund - popularly known as Ooty - by Volvo on Sep 24th for the Elementary children. Here's an account of this fun trip by Rameeza.
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| Seeing the children off |
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| Start of a journey |
Day 1
We drove the 8 hours from Bangalore to Ooty via
Mysore, where we had a glimpse of the Mysore palace. Passing through the forest areas, the children were glued to the windows in their attempt not to miss any animals. They were fortunate enough to spot langurs, wild boar, peacock, deer and even some tuskers!
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| On the Bus |
After
Bandipur, we entered the
Mudumalai forests. The children were excited to see the 'Welcome to Tamil Nadu' sign and spent their time counting the hairpin bends along the way.
Ooty, situated in Tamil Nadu, borders the states of Kerala and Karnataka and lies in the Nilgiri Hills at an altitude of 2240m at the meeting point of the Eastern and Western Ghats. The Nilgiris or ' Blue Mountains' are among the oldest in India.
On reaching Ooty we took a cab to the
Nilgiri Matriculation School at Lovedale which was to be our home for the next few days. The place was cool and cloaked in green - a welcome change from the scorching heat of the plains which we had left behind - making us immediately reach for our warm clothes. After a good lunch, our eyes fell upon a beautiful rainbow that appeared over the trees to welcome us. After lunch, we climbed up the adjacent hill to a nearby
church where the children interacted with the local priest. Surprisingly, the children were quite calm in keeping with the church's ambience.We then set out on a long
trek where the children collected artifacts from nature for their botany study.
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| At the church |
Day 2
The next day we visited
Doddabetta (Big Mountain), the highest peak (2623m) in the Nilgiris which offers a beautiful view of the Nilgiri range. We had a magnificient panaromic view of the whole area from the
Telescope House. The children also stopped to buy bottles of bubbles here. Next we went to the famous
Botanical Gardens laid out in 1847 by the Marquis of Tweedale, then Governer of Madras. The gardens, spread over an area of 22 hectares on hill slopes at an elevation of 2400m is home to around 1000 species of plants. We enjoyed ourselves amidst the well maintained gardens and the rare and exotic flora. The children took a break from the flowers by rolling down the grass hills and getting themselves all muddy - something that they enjoyed thoroughly! Despite the dirty clothes, they still had the enthusiasm to shop for some plants at the gardens before we left!
We also paid a nostalgic visit to
Anita aunty's old school, where we met the principal and were given a tour of the school and hostel. The children played some
basketball and we enjoyed tea and snacks at the canteen. Later, we went to the
Tea Museum. We were met at the gate by the alluring aroma of tea. We saw how tea is manufactured - from when the leaf is brought into the factory for withering, rolling, drying and sifting - right until the tea is packed into jute bags for shipment. Then mmmm ... we each enjoyed a hot cup of tea - just perfect for the damp, drizzly weather! In fact some of us couldn't resist a second cup! All of us bought special tea souvenirs for our families back home. Next, we visited a
Chocolate Shop where they showed us how chocolate was made. We bought our favourite chocolate as well as some eucalyptus and greenwood oil before leaving.
Day 3
The following day we made a trip to a nearby
Badaga village. The Badagas are the largest indigenous tribe in the Niligiris living in around 400 villages in the area. Their origin is a mystery though there is a popular misconception that they migrated from Mysore as Badaga means 'Northerner' in old Tamil. Badagas are nature worshippers and have a unique lifestyle with strong social bonding reflected in the shared common walls of their houses.
Despite our being strangers, they welcomed us with warmth and open hearts. We were offered hot coffee and sweets like
Thuppadhittu. We were hosted by a Badaga lady who was the local village councillor, member of the panchayat as well as an agriculturist and home maker. We had an appetizing lunch of fresh vegetables and dried beans(avare udhakka). The children busied themselves
harvesting carrots and picking tea leaves. We left in the evening satisfied and with admiration for the Badaga hospitality we had enjoyed.
Day 4
The
heritage train of Ooty was the next big attraction. We walked down from the school to the nearby station as soon as we heard the train. We boarded and found that we had the whole compartment to ourselves. The children were fascinated by the tall trees that seemed to touch the sky, the puff and hoot of the steam engine, the terrace farms, the tea pickers - as we passed Wellington, Aruvankadu and Ketti stations.
We got off at
Coonoor and sat watching other trains go by. We stopped to talk to the
Station Master who kindly explained the working of the train and the token machine - with the help of a demo. He stressed how important coordination and discipline was in running trains and in all walks of life. Later we strolled around
Coonoor market, stopping to buy marbles and cakes on the way. We halted for a popular lunch of Noodles before returning to the train.
The Sports Master at Nilgiri school showed us his
vegetable farm and explained how cabbages, potatoes, cabbages, radish, etc, are grown. He also took us to a
green house where we saw different kinds of geranium. We learned that the geranium seeds were removed for medicinal purposes. Also chillies and different kinds of flowers were grown and exported. A lady showed us how to remove the pollen from the flower. Another interesting thing was how a hose was connected to each individual plant for watering. We also visited a
mushroom farm where we saw mushroom farming and loads of compost being packed.
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| School Master's house |
Day 5
On the last morning we went for an early morning walk, umbrellas in hand - we climbed steps and collected
bryophyta and fungi. Soon after our walk we gathered our luggage and headed to the train station. We took the train to Ooty and then the bus back to Bangalore.
All in all our trip was a very memorable one indeed!! Even though we visited so many places there was always time to enjoy the drizzle of the rain, climb hills, play football, race each other to find who was the fastest, chase trains, write journals and of course endless arguments with each other!
