Ooty

Being in Bangalore for more than 3 months now, I had heard much about Ooty as one of the most sought after hill stations of southern India, and desperately wanted to be there. But still the perception of a hill station in my mind was that of huge mountains around, as the ones I had visited earlier were in the mighty Himalayas. I never expected Ooty to have all this, but all this was about to change. Ooty had its own charisma settle down on me, and I found this place more beautiful and scenic than many hill stations up north.

Finally one day we all unanimously decided to set out for a weekend trip to Ooty on the last weekend of May. We were 5 people - myself, my wife Suchi, Kapil, Polly and Sawy. We inquired around for cabs (both self driven and driver) but it was turning out quite expensive. Finally we decided to take my car (Swift VDi) to the trip, and this really cut our expenses to a great extent. Now one thing decided, still one to go for... the accommodation. We tried our best to get at least some decent hotel, but every time had to hear "NOT AVAILABLE" as this was the peak season. But when god's with you no one can stop you. I had dropped a booking request on some website, and luckily got a response from them just a day before we planned to leave. Finally we got accommodation in Hotel Charring Cross. It was expensive, but still acceptable since at least we got the booking!!

So we started from Bangalore quite early at 4AM, but got lost on the way due to diversions/construction on the exit route to Mysore road. With very few people around to ask at this time of morning, we tried out instinct and somehow finally hit the Mysore road at 5AM.

The first tea break was after crossing Mysore, and then a breakfast break just before Bandipur National Park. We had some really unwanted stuff in the breakfast (since that was the only thing available there!!) and then started again. The road from that point to Bandipur (approx 10-12kms) was really bad... I should better say it did hardly exist at some places!! But then on, it was almost good and we could cruise at greater speed to cover for the lost time. There is huge forest cover from Bandipur up to the foothills of Ooty. This place is as a whole called the Nilgiri Bio Reserve. We spotted some deer (in fact plenty of them), elephants, peacock and wild boar while passing through the forest.

We took the short and steep (I mean really steep) hairpin bends (total 36) route to Ooty from Mudumalai, the other route being almost double the distance and somewhat bumpy too!! I've driven a lot on mountains across Himachal and J&K, but this route beats most of them, the car had to be pushed mostly in 1st gear all along the some 16-17 km stretch. But it was worth it... the scenery and the 'on the top' feel you get... it takes all frustration out of your head. Finally we made to Ooty at around 12PM, got our rooms and had lunch. Outside it started raining very hard so no question of going out. Stayed back at the hotel and got a good 2-3 hours sleep. Got up, and it had stopped raining by then. Went straight to Ooty Lake, but astonished to see the long queues for boating. Finally got the tickets after almost 1 hr and it was worth it. Had a gala time at the lake, first boating, then ride on the toy train and finally hot pakoras. The day ended with dinner at a pub just below our hotel.

Next day got up late and after the breakfast went to Doda-betta peak, the highest peak in the area. The rush was mad, but the view was amazing. Stayed there for sometime and then continued towards Conoor. The view around this road was just wonderful, tea gardens on both sides was a great sight. It was just so much green... aaahh. But god had some other plans for us... it started raining heavily on the way, and we could not get down at Conoor, and continued back towards Ooty. But driving in the rain was a different fun story altogether :-).

Got back to Ooty and headed straight for lunch to a Punjabi Dhaba just opposite the lake. The rain had stopped by then and we started our backward journey after lunch. At the turn towards hairpin bends, we were stopped by police and had to take special permission to follow that route. The policeman asked us to avoid that route stating it was too dangerous, but we insisted going back from there only thinking we came up easily, so will go back easily too. Somehow he agreed but asked us to drive in 1st/2nd gear only. But the real shock was still to come. We had just covered 7-8 hairpins and I smelt burning rubber, and then brakes almost stopped working after sometime. I stopped immediately, came out and saw what was least expected. The brakes had become very hot and were literally fuming and had lost their grip. Had to wait there for almost half an hour to get the breaks cool down and then started again. Then on had to take 3-4 breaks and car driven only on 1st gear to be under control till we reached down. Rest of the distance was covered in much less time and we made it back to Bangalore in almost 7.5 hours.

The journey was real fun, and the place was just AWESOME!!