The Queen of HillStations

The long weekend of August 15th was fast appraoching and we decided to go somewhere.. From among Ooty, Coorg and Pondicherry we chose Ooty at the last moment.. We couldnt get accomodation or travel tickets for any of the places and finally my aunt who is teaching at GoodSheperd's in Ooty arranged for our accomodation in their guest house. Still we couldnt get bus tickets to Ooty and finally Friday evening we decided that we will drive to Ooty..

We started around at 8pm from our house and reached Mysore around midnight.. Stayed at one of my uncles' house in Mysore and drove to Ooty from there on Saturday morning.. We enjoyed the drive through Bandipur and Mudumalai and spotted groups of deer and peacocks on the way..The 41 hairpin curves that takes one to Ooty is a scary drive with breathtaking views.. We reached Ooty around 11 am and made our way directly to the botanical garden.. From botanical garden we proceeded to the Rose garden which houses an amazing collection of 2000 varieties of roses.. From there we proceeded to the Lake View campus of Good Sheperd where our accomodation was arranged. Met my aunt there who took us to our room and then around the school campus. For me, with no hostel life experience, it was all very new but Anurag was finding it very similar to his Sainik school experiences.. The school is great but the site of 5 or 6 year olds staying in hostel is heartbreaking.. Its a place where kids are pampered with all that money can buy but parents seem to forget that money cannot buy everything. We joined the students and staff of the school for a dinner at their canteen.

Sunday morning we drove to Conoor where we went to Sim's park, where you can find some rare trees. We got some Rudraksha from the cleaning staff who was cleaning below the Rudraksha tree. Outside the park, while wondering where to go to next, we noticed the board of a tea plantation and factory nearby. We decided to go there. With a minimal ticket fare, they take you inside the factory and explains the process of making tea as you see it in the market from the tree leaves. For me, initially I couldnt stand the smell inside and had to come out to take some fresh air after entering the factory first time. Thereafter it was ok.

From Conoor we went back to Ooty via the Wellington camp and lost our way. From Wellington we ended up taking the way back to Conoor instead of Ooty and had to drive back once more. In the evening,we went for boating and then visited the thread garden nearby. The plants and flowers including the moses in this artificial garden made of threads are made with amazing naturality. We ended the day with a dinner with the kids of Good Sheperd.

Monday morning we started back from Ooty and reached Mysore by 10:30 for a late breakfast. On the way, we saw flaghoisting in front of a police station and were caught in traffic for around half an hour by the procession of school students in a small town enroute. We stayed for lunch at my uncles place and then started back to Bangalore. We were supposed to catch the 5:30 bus to Kerala from Bangalore that day but even after a frantic drive from Mysore, we couldnt make it on time and had to miss the bus and take another one which was started at 6:30.