8
Ride the Toy
Train on UNESCO
Heritage railway
26 viaducts, 16 tunnels and tall olden bridges,
passing over rivers and streams, through lush
forest, model villages and tea plantations; it’s
no easy feat but the perfectly olden Toy Train
takes it all in its stride. The journey from Ooty to
Coonoor through misty highlands of the Nilgiri
(Blue) Mountains, at 2,600m above sea level, is
a highlight of my trip. Riding in a rickety oldfashioned carriage of a former steam train, on a
wooden bench, I push down my little window
to the cool crisp mountain air. The British built
this stretch of UNESCO World Heritage railway
in 1908. The journey takes in some of the most
exquisite highland scenes. Flashes of multicoloured model village homes break the mellow
monotony of undulating verdant tea plantations as far as the eye can trace.
9
Explore tea
plantations &
misty mountains
Driving to the top of an incredulous verge
jutting into the sky and scaling the clouds,
proves a hairy drive. 36 hairpin bends add to
the rollercoaster ‘experience’. Atop the ‘Queen
of hill stations’, the air is significantly cooler; a
reason that the British Chennai government
chose Ooty as their summer retreat in the
colonial days. Ooty has been declared one of
14 bio hotspots in the world and features an
array of wildlife. Watch out for the monkeys at
beauty spots. They’re unafraid. A carpet of tea
plantations blankets scenes for hectares, with
humbling visions of women toiling the fields.
At dawn, as the sun rises and peers curiously
through the mountains, shy at first, then
proudly glowing, the hill station warms to life.
That’s the perfect time to explore Ooty botanical garden, designed by a British architect from
Kew. The gardens also play host to a major
international flower show every May.
The annual Tea and Tourism Festival attracts
huge crowds. If tea is an interest, there are
several major tea estates lining the route from
Ooty to Coonoor; a stepped route of rolling hills
filled with tea plantations. Each estate picks,
processes and packages tea leaves, keeping it
a buoyant year-round economy, upon which
the region survives. I take a tour of Doddabetta
tea factory and museum, for a journey from the
origins of tea to its current live processing.
10
Absorb a ‘petit
quartier’ of
colonial France in
Pondicherry
Propelled to furious fame in the recent
Hollywood blockbuster, ‘The Life of Pi,’
Pondicherry’s French Quarter retains the
essence of the former French colony.
One of only few independent states,
Pondicherry’s French influence has remained in
all its faded splendour and glory.
This picturesque pocket of paradise attracts
Europeans and Europhiles, artists and actors,
hippies and yogis alike. A smattering of
ashrams, galleries, cafes and boutique hotels
intersperse pastel colonial mansions and
lovingly restored Churches.
Segregated by a storm water canal, French
‘Pondy,’ to one side, contrasts to Tamil Pondy,
the latter bustling with temples, frenetic
shoppers and the walled grand bazaar. In the
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