The Nilgiri Woodlands Ootacamund

Who are you?<br><br>It&#8217;s a good question to ask yourself, and probably not something you think of every day. Do you know who you are? What makes you tick? Do you know why you make the decisions you do, and why your life flows in the direction it does? And are you happy in your skin?<br><br>Heady stuff for a Thursday afternoon chat over tea in the hills of Tamil Nadu. I was sitting in a cozy dorm parents living room with three principals of Hebron school, Rod Gilbert (1987-95), John ...

... he smiled) when his parents were teaching at Hebron. <br><br>I met groups of parents and staff and students in the Alumni room of Lushington Hall, a meeting and lounge space devoted to memorabilia, trophy cases and bookshelves of school yearbooks and texts. The parents were particularly eager to sing the school&#8217;s praises (&#8220;We wouldn&#8217;t send our kids anywhere else, frankly&#8221; and &#8220;I wish I could have come here&#8221;) but the highlight was our session with the ...

The road wound up into the hills and mountains and higher until it disappeared in the clouds. On either side of the twisting road were precipitous fields of tea plantations, forests of eucalypt trees, and settlements perched on the roadside overlooking the giant valley below. The Volvo bus lurched back and forth on the road, passing by a hair the oncoming traffic of other buses, trucks and many two-wheelers. A very young Bollywood mega star Sha Rukh Khan starred in a ...

I knew from the mountain drives in Malaysia that the next 2 hours were going to be a test of her nerves. Steep narrow roads and blind hair pin bends do not mix well with stiff old buses and Indian drivers. "Why don't you take a couple of your calmer downers Mum" I suggested, quietly thinking that I could do with popping one myself.<br><br>Ootacamund, known as Ooty, is an old Raj hill station situated in the Nilgiri Hills at 7500ft. The drop ...

... to escape the summer heat during their rule of India. Many hill stations remain popular destinations today because of their cool weather and natural scenery. Ooty was set up by the British in the 19th century as a summer headquarters of the Madras state government.<br><br>Ooty is almost 2,300m above sea level, and as we approached the hill, the rain got a lot harder. The drive up to Ooty is around 40km on narrow windy mountain roads ...

... far away at the bus. Lesson learnt&#8230;never keep edible food items visible to monkeys.<br>The ride back to Mysore was not as vocal, enthusiastic as lively as the trip from there. The ride through the forest reserve did not get us out of our seats for a look out for animals, many stole quick naps and others kept one eye on the watch for the time&#8230;. we were running a little late than ...

... cost 95rps (approx £1.20). I mention this for 2 reasons; 1 because Claire wants to know and 2 because I'm about to tell you about food rationing for the local population. As we got back to our hotel crowds of people were waiting outside the building opposite, on the wall outside the building were chalk boards with prices of things written in Hindi. So I asked the proprietor of the hotel what was going on. She told us they were ...

... the way was pretty horrendous, being a Saturday the world and his wife seemed to be heading for the Wayanad. Plus, everyone wants to say hello and ask us where we are from, so we were continually stopping to have chats with the locals. One of those conversations, fairly near the top of the climb, was with a car load of guys one of whom had a half full bottle of brandy and he was trying to get Dave to take a swig. We just hoped ...

... deer, leopards and tigers amongst others in search of some un-caged wildlife. We stayed in a very nice wooden lodge on the banks of the main river through the park which is where we saw most of the wildlife. We took a government run tour through the park but this was not up too much. A loud diesel bus filled with tourists is hardly the most covert of sightseeing tours but there were no alternatives. We did come across 2 groups of wild elephants plodding along ...