My first school days were in Ooty at the Breeks Memorial Boarding School,
1945-1950. It took nearly three days on the Bengal Nagpur Railway - BNR - from home in Vizag to reach
Ooty, stopping in Madras to catch the Nilgiri Express to Mettupalayam via Coimbatore and while we waited for the connection,
we all went to the zoo. The latter part of the journey from Mettupalayam to Ooty was by rack and pinion railway, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway. The railway has recently gained World Heritage status. Opened in 1899 to Coonoor and on a further 11.75 miles to Ooty in 1908, it climbs 4,000 feet from Mettupalayam to Ootacumund (known to us in those days as "Snooty Ooty"). The line has more than 250 bridges and 16 tunnels. The line's steam locomotives date from 1920 and were made in Switzerland. The line was featured in the 1984 film "Passage to India". The journey was slow enough (it took five hours) to be
able to leave the train and re-join further up the hill. Monkeys would
frequently come through the open carriages and raid any food you might be
eating! I have particular memories of a wonderful Miss Reeves and a feared
Miss Chaves at Breeks! The school year then consisted of two terms with
two months holiday at Christmas and a short break for summer. I cannot recall
how long that was, but it was too short to make it practical for the journey
home, and
in any case the summer heat in the plains was against it, so I stayed with family friends in Ooty.
So went my first five years schooling until, after sixteen years in India,
the family returned to England in 1950, my father having been asked by the
Indian Government to remain after independence in 1947, to make a smoother
handover. The name Ooty
is a contraction of Ootacamund,
which in turn is the British pronunciation of the Toda inhabitants' name, WOTOKYMOND, meaning a village. The Nilgiris, or "Blue Mountains",
are so called due to the blue haze which envelopes
the range with most distant hills of considerable
size.
The name Nila is known to have been used nearly 900 years ago since the King of the Hoysalas,
Vishnu Vardhana, who ruled from 1104 to 1141 A.D. seized the Nilgiris
Plateau. His general, Ponisia, recorded
this fact in 1117 A.D. with mention of the Todas. Ootacamund or Udagamandalam, (the Tamil version of the original name) rightly described
as the"Queen of Hill Stations" by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, now sprawls
over an area of 36sq km with a number of tall buildings cluttering its hill
slopes. It is situated at an altitude of 2,240 meters above sea level. Though the march of bricks and mortar has laid waste its thick sholas which
one saw in a bygone era, it still woos people from all over India as well
as foreign countries right through summer, and sometimes in the winter months
too.
An added attraction for the tourists to Udagamandalam is the mountain
train journey on a rack and pinion railway which commences from Kallar, near
Mettupalayam and wends its way through many hair-raising curves and fearful tunnels and chugs along beside deep verdant ravines, gurgling streams
and tea gardens. The scenery, as it unfolds during the trip, is breathtaking.
One can see a marvellous change in vegetation as one goes from Kallar to
Coonoor. At Kallar it is tropical and at Burliar, the next bus stop
as one
proceeds from Mettupalayam, it is sub-tropical. Near Coonoor,
it is humid with pines, blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) and cypress trees.
As we go from Ooty to Gudalur, the change in vegetation is striking.
What a splendid interaction between climate and vegetation! It is
therefore very appropriate that Mount Stuart called the whole road leading
to Ooty from Mettupalayam "one long botanical debauch."
The History of Ooty
This beautiful botanical paradise was first brought to the public eye by
John Sullivan, Collector of Coimbatore district in 1819. But prior
to this in 1812, the first Englishmen who were sent up the Nilgris by the
Collector of Coimbatore, were Mr. Keys, Assistant Revenue Surveyor, and
his Assistant, McMahon. They made their way via Dananayakan Kottai to Aracad and the existing village
of Denad, and penetrated as far as Kallatti, the lower level of North Ooty,
but never set their eyes on the beautiful valley in which Ooty lay. After
Keys' visit there was no further expedition until 1818 when J.C.Whish and
N.W.Kindersly (Asst. and second Asst. to the Collector of Coimbatore respectively)
went up by the Dananayakan Kottai-Denad route, crossed the plateau in a
south-western direction and descended by the Sundapatti pass from Manjakombai
to the Bhavani valley and then back to Coimbatore. The purpose of their
visit is not
known. In March 1819, John Sullivan obtained Rs1,100 (Rupees of those
days not to be compared with the present-day rupee) from the Board of Revenue
for laying a bridle path up the hill from Sirumugai to Kotagiri and its
neighbouring village, Dhimatti. The work was executed by McPherson in a
period of 2 years starting 1821. This was the only route to the Nilgris
from Coimbatore until 1832, when the first Coonoor ghat road was laid, thanks
to the then Governor, S.R. Lushington, who got the work executed by Lehardy
and Capt. Murray. The present metalled ghat road from Kallar
to Coonoor, a distance of 25km which has 14 hair-pin bends and a gradient
of 1 in 18, which facilitated carriage traffic from Madras to Ooty,
was mainly constructed by Colonel G.V. Law in 1871. It is gratifying
to note that the cascade
of the Coonoor river near Wenlock bridge on the Coonoor-Mettupalayam road
named after Law, continues to bear the same name. The Coonoor-Mettupalayam
road was extended to Udagamandalam, covering a distance of about 15km.
The Kotagiri-Mettupalayam road (about 34km long) which was 8ft wide to
begin
with, was widened to 17ft in 1872-75 with a gradient of 1 in 17 by the District
Engineer, Major Morant, R.E. and handed over to the District Board in 1881.
During the period from 1819 to 1830, John Sullivan's contribution, apart
from laying the route to Ooty, was that he built the first house, called
Stone House in Ooty. This formed the nucleus of Government offices.
Further, at his own expense, he conducted experiments on agricultural and
horticultural crops and in animal husbandry to find the most suitable crops
and breeds of milch animals for future settlers. After the magnificent task
of laying the road to Ooty, the British took up, around 1880, the stupendous
task of connecting Mettupalayam to Ooty by rail.
A Swiss engineer,
M. Riggenback and Major Morant, of Kotagiri road fame,
prepared an estimate of £132,000 for laying the rack railway and floated
a company called The Rigi Railway & Co Ltd. Since capital was not forthcoming,
Mr. Richard Wolley of Coonoor came forward to advance money on the condition
that the contract would be entrusted to Mr. Wolley by the Government of
Madras. The agreement between the two was signed in 1886, and the
company called The Nilgiri Railway Company came into being with a
capital of Rs25 lakh. Work on the line was started in August 1891
by Lord Wenlock, Governor or Madras, but the company was liquidated in 1894.
A new company was formed in 1894, and the work was completed in 1899 and
it was originally run by Madras Railway. Though the Nilgris formed part
of Coimbatore district, it was separated into an independent district in
1868. For a period of 13 years from 1830, it remained part of Malabar
district. This was to prevent tobacco smuggling from Coimbatore. From John Sullivan's days to this date, more than 170 years have rolled
by. Udagamandalam, considered a sanatorium and hill resort by the Europeans,
has come to be like any other district. The devastation was so much that
a ban on fresh construction was belatedly imposed by the Government.
Inhabitants of Ooty

The
Nilgris range, which is the junction of the Eastern and Western Ghats, was
christened Nilagiri by its inhabitants nearly 900 years ago, because of
the blue haze of clouds enveloping its slopes. Originally, it was
inhabited by Todas, Irulas, Kurumbas, Panias and Badagas. Of these,
the Todas, tall, fair and vegetarian buffalo keepers, have now dwindled
in number. The Badagas, who speak a mixture of Kannada and Tamil,
are said to have migrated from Mysore over 400 years ago. The Panias and
Irulas are confined to Mudumalai sanctuary. Though the Badagas were
essentially agriculturists, they are socially, educationally and even economically
advanced now. Even the Todas have taken to Government service. The
present population of Ooty is around 79,000 and is comprised of Todas, Badagas,
Tamils, Keralites and Mysoreans.
Trade and Industry
The
water supply for the city is from Parson's Valley. In order to augment
its revenue, the Ooty municipality has been permitted to levy a toll fee
on all vehicles entering the Nilgris from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
This ranges from Rs5 to Rs20. This, along with parking fees levied
at the Botanical Garden, the boat-house and Doddabetta adds up to quite
a sum. Tourists flock to Ooty during the annual flower show, boat races
and boat pageantry in May and for participating in horse races during the
week-ends of the season. Economically speaking, Ooty can sustain itself
with income from potato and other hill vegetables and tea. With the
spurt in tea prices in the world
market in the 1980's, tea
has usurped the place of the potato. As the slopes have been devoted
to tea, vegetables have come to be cultivated in low-lying areas and swamps.
The demand for agricultural and horticultural crops is bound to increase
in the years to come, so steps should be taken to rejuvenate agriculture
and horticulture. Horticulture here comes under a Joint Director of
Horticulture. Since cut flowers are in great demand in foreign countries,
floriculture should find a prominent place in schemes to augment the income
of cultivators.
Places of Interest in Ooty
The places of tourist importance in Ooty are the Avalanchi, the Western
Catchment, the Government Botanical Gardens, St Stephen's Church (1830),
Elk Hill, Doddabetta (2,623 meters above sea level), Snowden peak on the
Kotagiri road that commands a view of Mysore, the lake (formed in 1824 by
Sullivan) and the boat-house, Wenlock Downs, Parson's Valley, Kalhatty Falls
and Glenmorgan. The Mudumalai sanctuary lies at a distance of 36km
from Ooty. Of these, Avalanchi located at a distance of 28km from
Ooty is a nature lover's paradise. It is a lake surrounded by thick
sholas which abound in avi-fauna.
The Western
Catchment is about 20km from Parson's Valley, and it is a rolling
grassy down, interspersed with temperate sholas in valleys and depressions.
Glenmorgan lies about 17km from Ooty and there is a winch of the Electricity
Board to transport staff to the Singara power house. As the winch
glides along the slopes, the sight of thick sholas unravels. The Kundah
hydroelectric project completed in 1956, is also worth a visit.

And those who came here resolved to be Englishmen
Gone to the world's end, but English every one
And they ate the white corn-kernels, parched in the sun
And they knew it not but they'd not be English again
They would try, they would swear they were,
they would drink the toast
They would loyally petition and humbly pray
But over them there was another sort of day
And in their veins there was another - a different ghost.
Indeed, that Indian ghost still lives with me!

My memories of India, as posted on www.indiaofthepast.org |