Ooty is all about Weather and Outskirts

The first day of my trip, as usual, turned out to be a big disappointment. I didn't come here with many expectations, but still everything felt below standard, except the WEATHER. Even that was extremely hot during the days. After travelling to several parts of India, I think I can now conclude that tourist places famous in a city, especially in India, often disappoint and the places that you find by chance turn out to be more interesting. May be mainly because these famous places attract a lot of crowd, which spoils the fun or may be due to a number of other factors. I don't want to analyze it in detail here, but do try this tip next time and let me know if you also experience something similar.

Below is a brief summary for those who are not interested in reading the details about all the places and my travel story. A detailed description of my experience with each place follows the summary.

Detailed Description of my experience

On our first day we decided to take a walk around the city and see the most famous places in Ooty. First one on the list was

Ooty lake and Boat House
First few things which caught my attention were muddy water and a lot of crowd, poor quality boats and dirty safety jackets. Not very encouraging! However, if you just want to experience the breeze in the midst of the lake, it could be a decent option. But whatever you do, you can't get romantic in that setting. It's actually good only for children and people who haven't been on boat before. They might have some fun here. There was one more thing that left my mouth open! There were no safety jackets for children as if their safety wasn't important at all. 

After a half an hour boat ride we went to the very famous Botanical garden.

Botanical  Garden 
This was even a bigger disappointment. I would say the Lalbagh of Bangalore is much better and even many gardens of Ganhinagar Gujarat. There was no proper description of any plants, trees, etc, as you would expect in a botanical garden. Neither did the flowers or garden as a whole, looked as beautiful as it should have been in view of garden's much hyped repute.

Botanical Garden

Rose Garden

The garden was OK but there were no roses. Do keep this in mind, if you are going in the month of April. Do not try to walk up to the rose garden. Locals say it is just one km from market, however, it was quite a long walk and that too uphill.

Rose Garden

After walking so much we had no energy left and hence we decided to call it end of the day. However, at 9:30 pm we came to know that restaurant at our hotel isn't going to serve a la carte and hence we had to go out again.

Chandan Hotel - Nahar Group's
The food was really good and was of the quality that many had recommended, however the attiude of the waiters was bad and even the service quality. Neverthless we ate well and slept tight.

I booked a cab for the next day to take us to Pykara lake and several other sight seeing spots on the route. We started with Doddabetta Peak.

Day 2

Doddabetta Peak
It is said that Doddabetta is the highest peak of southern India. However, after googling I found that it is second highest peak of Nilgiris. Any which way, the place was Crap! It is famous for the beautiful scenic views that it offers, but I couldn't see anything clearly from there and the place is not maintained at all. I could see disappointment on the faces of many people, but all were trying to enjoy the moment and hide the disappointment. Don't be deceived by the beautiful pictures that I am putting here, that's just my photography talent.

View from Doddabetta Peak

There was a telescopic tower at Doddabetta peak, which was the most crowded point at the peak. I was curious to see what they had to show, but after standing for hours that guy showed me only a rickety bus stand.  I will have to count the number of  times 'disappointment' has been used in each paragraph to quantify  my disappointment.

'Telescopic View ' Tower

Tea Factory and Museum
While coming down from Dodabetta peak we also visited tea factory and museum. In the name of Museum there are only some posters briefing about the history of tea. I don't know when did Museums become only a bunch of posters.

The process of tea making was something worth knowing and was really well explained by the staff there. This is definitely worth experiencing. Again the place isn't maintained well.

Chocolate factory
There was a place jnside the tea factory campus which was called Chocolate factory. A variety of chocolates were kept on display. My wife is very curious and hence she asked the lady at the counter about the process they use for chocolate making. She replied, we get chocolate bars couriered from Mumbai, melt the bars and mix the dry fruits. Thats all we do. Surprised, she asked again, so this means u don't make the complete chocolate here and she accted without any hesitation.

My wife was reluctant to visit the only place that we had missed in the city, i.e., Wax Museum.

Wax Museum
I am sure the guy who has done all the work and manages the museum would have put a lot of effort, but that alone is just not enough. The statues are far from real-looking wax statues. May be the museum has not been able to evolve with time as the museum is not funded by government. However, it is of very little concern to tourists. They want something that excites them, appalls them or makes them really happy.

That was the last spot in the city before we left for outskirts.

Pine Forest

On the way to Pykara, there was a place called Pine forest. I guess there wasn't any mention of the place in any of the tourist destination lists, but the drivers use to stop their vehicles at that place. That was the first beautiful spot I saw after coming to Ooty. We went down by the side of the road through the pine trees  forest; the  trees had the ground completely covered. There was a water body about 300 meters down the slope which made the view even more scenic. That marked the beginning of a good day.

We decided to skip the sixth mile as it was very hot during the day, and there didn't seem to be any restriction on timing. So we decided to see that in return.

We didn't want to go even to 9th mile in the afternoon, but the driver insisted saying it might get closed by the time we return. So we went in.

Ninth Mile
This should have been called Green Mile. It was a green hill offering a beautiful view than Doddabetta had to offer. I think it is also called shooting point. This is worth going and if the weather is good you might like to sit there for few minutes.

Next on our list was Pykara lake, but the driver suggested to take a detour and go to GLENMORGAN. He said it offers beautiful natural sights and has a very old british construction Rope way which is worth traveling 10 kms. We agreed to give him Rs 250 for police permission and 150 for diesel as he had asked. Though I knew he was lying about 250 for police permission, I pretended to genuinely believe in what he said. This was only because he has been making our tour interesting and didn't crib about anything at all. On top of it, he was providing us extra information whih was really interesting.

GlenMorgan Tea Estate and Power Plant
Glenmorgan power plant had an interesting steep ride which was about 104 years old; was designed and constructed by Britishers as the driver told us. I haven't bothered to check the exact history. The ride was used for transfering the staff only. The quality of their work still reflects in these equopments. The place also offered a good sight.

The Tea state was the most interesting part. The driver said, sir uiu can go and take few pica. We went in and found ouselves to be the only two in the plantations, surrounded by uniformly colored tea plants. The plantations were beautiful, with narrow walkways between.  We walked in up to about 500 meters. This was a perfect place for sightseeing and photography. The best we had seen so far.

 Pykara Lake & Fall

Pykara Lake

The other best, which I think would weigh equal to GlenMorgan Tea estate in its beauty, was Pykara Lake and Falls. This is picturesque lake spread over a very wide area, which also had a boat house. Though the rides were costly, the motor boat ride filled us with pleasure. I think the time between 5 to 6 pm was a really good time to go for such a ride. The sun was about to set and the whether had become really pleasant.

Sky @ Pykara Lake

Experiencing breeze on you face, especially in a serene and beautiful lake, when you are riding at high speed is an amazing experience. Must try!

Pykara Fall

Though we were a bit late for the Pykara Falls, but a little request to the gatekeeper worked. He allowed us on the condition that we will return in 10 minutes. The fall was as beautiful as lake, however due to safety reasons we were not allowed to go into the water. 

Sixth Mile and Way to Raju Chacha's Set

Sixth Mile Shooting Spot

That was not the end of the day. During our return the driver pulled over the car near the sixth mile shooting point. It was a good sight and was enjoyable in the evening.There was a narrow road opposite to the Sixth mile. 

Way to Raju Chacha's Set

On one side of the road were pine trees and on the other side the Eucalyptus.

All Eucalyptus trees were arranged in straight lines with approximately equal space between the rows. 

Walking along the road up to the point where Ajay Devgan had put set for his movie Raju Chacha was a walk to remember. 

Day 3

We were not very sure where should we go on the third day. Coonoor which is just 20 kms from Ooty didn't sound like a good option. However, in view of our indecisiveness with regards to other options, we chose to go to Coonoor. One important motivation was to travel in Toy Train. We had already tried one toy train from Kalka to Simla and wanted to cover another world heritage site in the toy train. We got a bit late because of the restaurant's food service. It was 8:35 am and we were told that train leaves around 9:00 am. We were yet to reach station, stand in long queue, buy tickets and board the train. Didn't seem to be feasible. This wasn't enough, so it turned out that Rickshavalas were on strike that day. Phew! The gatekeeper of hotel showed really sincere concern and managed to get a car to drop us at railway station and requested us to pay just 70 Rs. 

Toy Train from Ooty to Coonoor

We managed to buy the ticket and board the train in good time. The good part was for first class ticket you don't have to line up to board the train. That was the only privilege I found by spending 80 Rs. more over the 5 Rs. second class ticket. Otherwise the second class compartments looked much better than the first class ones. The entire route was green and had a number of tree plantations on the way which made the route scenic. It's worth going once, but don't buy first class ticket if you can stand up in queue for 10 minutes.

Coonoor

We had planned to go to two falls in Coonoor but the tourist guides said that one could be seen from very far and other has become a gutter. So we decided to not go at both these places and instead to Sims park. What a stupid park it was for the hype that was created about it in the market. Though we had bought a 4:30 ticket, we found it so disappointing that we decided to leave at 12:30 itself. I booked a cab for Avalanche lake from Ooty. We took the return toy train to Ooty and headed for Avalanche Lake.

The driver seemed to be stupid in comparison to the Day 2 driver who was really intelligent and had a really pleasing personality. Anyway, he took us to Avalanche which was about 28 kms. 

Avalanche Lake

Avalanche Lake

As we reached near the lake, we were stopped at the check post. The driver and the check post guy had some conversation in local language. The driver translated and said, to go inside you have to hire a 1200 Rs. vehicle and then they will take you for a Forrest Safari. I was shocked that why this wasn't told to us by the tour manager in the beginning itself. I said, we never wanted to go for a Forrest safari. We just want to go to lake. However, he took a stand that we can't go. I somehow explained to the check post guy and he agreed and said you can go up to the lake, but return soon. Language becomes a big barrier when you go to the interiors of Tamilnadu. Now the stupid driver said, you can't go near the lake and asked us to see the lake from approx. 300 ft height. This was getting really bad. Now my frustration started coming out. I was really angry at the driver, but had no other option but to see lake from that far and return. It looked very big and beautiful but the fact that we can't go close to it and there is no route to reach close to it ruined all the pleasure. 

We stopped a passing by forest vehicle and asked the driver directly if we can go near the lake. He said, yes of course. That was a relief. It was now confirmed that driver was an as_ h_l_ and was trying to fool us as he wanted to return home quickly. However, now I had decided that I am not going to leave him till 10 at night, until I board the bus. 

Avalanche Lake

The route was covered with trees and was not easily visible. We went down the hill and reached near the lake. The nearer we went the more beautiful it became. Now this is a place that gave me feeling of an exotic tourist destination. We spent about an hour there and took some pics and sat in silence experiencing the serenity and beauty of nature.

Next we went to Emerald Dam and Avalanche Dam. They both are on the way back and just 1-2 kms apart. Again the driver was reluctant to take us to Avalanche Dam and gave us a number of excuses. However, I pushed him and we visited both the places. They were both worth visiting. Photography wasn't allowed at these sites and hence I respected their privac

Had dinner at Nahar's again and then the driver dropped us to Bus stand around 9:00 pm. 

KSRTC bus is really good and we could make it to Bangalore in just 7 hours. While going to Ooty I went by Greenline travels bus; the service is good, however I liked the KSRTC bus more because it was a Volvo, semi-sleeper, took 3 hours lesser than Greenline and I had to pay 300 Rs. less, per ticket. 

Jaipur,Rajasthan

My next trip was to the state of majestic palaces and beautiful deserts - Rajasthan, which started with the Pink City, Jaipur. We reached Jaipur at around 10 am and went to my friend's house, who is native of Jaipur, in half and hour. After taking few minutes to refresh ourselves, we hit the road in a decent car. It is good to have a car with you in a hot place like Rajsthan, where accessibility by means of public transportation could also be an issue. Dipin - the local friend gave us a very good guided tour of all the places.


Hawa Mahal:
The next day we visited a few great places in Jaipur. Hawa Mahal is as beautiful as I had always known. Hawa Mahal meaning the Palace of Winds is truly amazing and you get plenty of air wherever you stand inside the palace. This architecture made of red sandstone was constructed in 1799 during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. The design of this palace resembles the crown of Lord Krishna, a Hindu God. There are total 953 windows known as Jharokhas in this palace.

Jal Mahal:Jal Mahal is another tourist site which is positioned in the centre of the Man Sarovar Lakein Jaipur. Jal Mahal meansWater Palace. The architecture again deserves appreciation and the location of the palace itself attracts tourists.

Amber Fort:
We moved to the Amber Fort after that. It is almost 11 km drive form Jaipur. The fort was built during the period of Raja Man Singh in 1592. The fort was named after Amba, the Mother Goddess. The fort is made out of red and white sandstone.

The most beautiful part inside the Amber fort is the Sheesh Mahal (Mirror Palace) which is known for its walls and ceilings decorated and engrafted with innumerable colorful mirror tiles. You can also go for an elephant ride to reach the top of the fort and enjoy the classic view of the city from there.

City Palace:
After visiting the Amber Fort we went to the City Palace of Jaipur. This is the palace where the royal family of Jaipur still resides. The City Palace was built during the reign of Maharaja Jai Singh II. Inside the City Palace, there are several building s and gardens, the buildings include Chandra Mahal, Mubarak Mahal, Ridhi Sidhi Pol and the Diwan-E-Aam and Diwan-E-Khas. Chandra Mahal is the palace where the Jaipur royal family lives.

Photos:-

Jaipur

Kankariya lake & Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Asharam

Ahmedabad has seen some rapid development on the infrastructure front. From the airport, I took a taxi to Gandhianagar. For me it was a stunning experinece to see around the atmosphere and greenary,and I wanted to get a first hand feel of it before heading to work. I planned to visit to Swami Nanayan Temple especially for the light and music show in the evening.Then Monday came and as a routine headed for work.

I had plenty of time to move around Gujarat, espically on weekends, over a period of 8 Months.I planned with my friends to visit Kankariya lake, we took bus from gandhinagar to RTO Circle form where we will get BRTS bus directly to Kankariya lake,What this means is the bus goes across the city in a dedicated lane, avoiding any traffic that may be plaguing the other general lanes. At the face of it, the scheme looked good to me, as I reached my destination in just about 35 minutes. People had contradictory thoughts about it, which is always the case.

Kankariya lake & Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Asharam

I wanted to visit Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Asharam, which is roughly on the other side of the city for me (Kankariya lake). I took a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), bus from Kankariya lake till RTO (this was the complete route). I took a rickshaw till the Asharam and spent about 1 ½ hour in the lovely place. One gets a unique feeling moving around the areas where stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave amongst others had roamed ones. Many of our independence struggles’ movements were also formulated here. The Asharam was well maintained.

Gandhiji’s own house drew the most crowd and so did his private room. One may stand and wonder how brilliantly the layout was planned, even during those days. As there were some gates to the banks of the Sabarmati river, which provided the Asharam with continual water supply. There was also a man who was weaving cloth (khadi) on the famous ‘Charkha’ outside Gandhiji’s house. The best part I liked was a school that is run for underprivileged children within the extended premises of the Asharam. Though Gandhi ji left us long back, but what he left behind is still taking care of hundreds or even thousands. I spent some more time moving around and then left.

Before leaving, I bought a few souvenirs for my house, including a lovely enlarged picture of Gandhiji, post cards and key-chains.

Photos:-
Gandhi Ashram
Kankariya lake

Travel and be happy

There is an old saying that there is a time in everyone's life after which they start loosing interest in their profession, routine activities and almost everything else. Everything seems trivial, and it becomes difficult to find motivation to participate in any activity. The wiser man may start questioning the reason for his existence. So did I!

I started asking questions to my inner-self: what is the reason that I am working days and nights even when I am not happy? What is it that I would like to do in life? What can keep me happy? After carefully considering for few days or may be even months, I realized that traveling to beautiful places, admiring the beauty of the nature, participating in adventurous activities, eating/cooking good food, keeping people around me happy, remarkably boosted my happiness. Now, though I have identified activities which make me happy, I don't have time - limited leaves. So, will I be compromising my happiness for the mundane activities of life? No, of course not! I might not have the answer today, but I have several alternatives in mind; the feasibility of these alternatives still need to be evaluated.

In the interim, let me share with you how traveling makes me happy and can do the same for you. Though it may sound trivial, but nature's fresh air and greenery can really reawaken your energy and enthusiasm. You can't imagine this unless you have experienced it before. So don't underestimate the power of this simple activity.

Watching beautiful birds and animals, playing with some of them or even running after them, can put back a broad smile on your face. Listening to the chirping of birds, the sound produced by a fish in the still water, enjoying the fragrance of flowers may become an amazing experience and even the time of your life.

The adventure of traveling itself and the surprises on the course add spices to your overall experience. Moreover, I can say that I get to learn a number of new things about life, about myself and about nature while traveling. So guys, try it! This might work well for you as well.

In addition to this, recently I had read an intriguing research report which stated that spending your money for experiences is a better choice for buying happiness rather than spending your money on products which may give you short term happiness. In short, travel and see for yourself!

Abu Dhabi

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries." - Aldous Huxley

I never thought that my first international experience would be with UAE. I went to Abu Dhabi along with my office colleagues to attend an international conference organized by IAEA.

About Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi was a beautiful place, far better than I had expected. We got down at the Dubai international airport and took a taxi to Abu Dhabi. There were tall buildings on both sides of the road and the quality of infrastructure was far better than I had ever seen before. The selection of colors, architecture, cleanliness, and well-maintained structures must be the reason for my first impression. 

Yas Marina Island

We spent 4 days at Yas Marina Island which is famous for its formula one racing circuit. The circuit is considered to be one of the world's most technologically advanced circuits. Besides this, the architecture of buildings at the Yas Marina Island was unique; the island was surrounded by artificial body of water and natural greenery which added to its beauty.

Yas Marina Circuit

I wasn't sure about getting time to visit the circuit, but luckily we had one dinner party in the building which was part of the racing circuit. 


There were a number of internationally famous hotels at the Island. We stayed at 'Hotel Park Inn'. The view from the hotel was superb. There was a swimming pool in front of the balcony and a number of umbrellas were provided along with sun bathing chairs. The end of the boundary wall was the beginning of a ground blanketed by lush green grass. Even their grass and trees were more beautiful and elegant. 

View from Balcony of Hotel Park Inn

There was one important thing that I had observed during the visit. The quality of almost everything was far superior to that in India. Even the Lux soap gave better foam and fragrance and I could feel the difference as it treated my skin very gently. To share few more: the quality of air, the types of vehicles running on the road, the quality of service at the hotel, the quality of their food, the amount of money people earn there, and many other things made me feel that I have been missing something good for last several years of my life. 


There are 2 sides of every coin. If there were several good things, there were many restrictions as well. You can't get too romantic there on the road or in public places and must maintain the decency/decorum without any public display of affection  (PDA) of course. There were several other restrictions. So depending on your life style, it could be a good or bad place for you.

Mahudi - Jain Temple, Gandhinagar

This Sunday, 13 May 2012,  I went to Mahudi - a famous Jain temple near Gandhinagar. Though I do not like visiting temples, I enjoyed going there early morning. I am not an atheist, neither am I very religious. I just believe that there is some power, present somewhere. capable of doing things which can't be explained by science. Even if there is no such power, still, I believe, I am getting a chance to practice the discipline of faith. Sometimes you can do things which under ordinary circumstances wouldn't be possible, but you do make things happen just because you had faith. However, I think, you don't need to go to temples for this.  There are other reasons I do not like to visit temples:

1. Temples should be a place where you can find peace. On the contrary, our temples are crowded and very noisy. You need to rush to see the face of the god and run, because there are many others waiting in the queue.


2. Secondly, we always go to a temple to ask for something. Even god will understand your selfishness one day. Better live with what he has given, and accept what he has to offer without asking. Sometimes by asking for something you may miss a bigger opportunity which god was planning to offer you; instead he may choose to give you something of your choice to respect your prayers. 


Anyway, I went to temple, because my father wanted me to. I went there just for the long early morning, i.e., 5:00 pm ride.


How to reach there?

Sign Board @ about 38 kms

Route to temple is pretty simple. Go straight from Gh-0 circle of Gandhinagar towards Pathika. After about 38 kilometers you will find a sign board with 'Madhudi' as text on it, showing arrow to the right hand side. Take right turn and keep driving for almost 4 kilometers. You are there!


About temple
I found the temple very similar to other Jain temples. The temple is famous for Lord  Ghanta Karna Mahavir. The structure is white from outside and you can notice very fine carving work done on the marble roof and columns. There is a counter just at the left hand side, after entering from the main gate, from where you can buy sacred food for god which is called 'Sukhadi'. It is made up of wheat flour and clarified butter. An interesting story about this sacred food is that you can't take it outside Mahudi. Or you shouldn't take it outside Mahudi because it is believed that doing so may bring bad luck to you or something bad may happen to you.

The temple is beautiful from outside. There is one bell hung on a tall tower. Staircase is also provided to reach to that bell. It is believed that your wish may come true if you get up there, ask for the wish and ring the bell. There is no harm in trying.

Temple outside view (L). Bell Tower (R)

Most importantly, the road to temple is beautiful, surrounded by fields of grains, mangoes and many beautiful trees. 

Crops in the middle picture were there few months back, but they have been harvested now.

We could not stop ourselves and went into a mango farm. We thought we will take permission, but then no one was there. We picked 2 mangoes from the tree and started running to leave the place before someone spotted us. We had just reached the gate and someone came from the other side of the road and said 'please stop'. You will have to pay for these mangoes. You can't take anything from here without our permission. These were the words of the gentlemen. Though we got caught, it was fun! 

Adalaj Step Well

Adalaj step well is approximately 6 kilometers from Infocity Gandhinagar. I had strong aversion for this place. Though I had never been there,  mere description of the place led to such feelings. This Sunday, 06 May 2012, one of my cousin had come to visit us. He didn't want to go to any mall and wanted to see other things. Megha suggested this place as it was close by. 


We went there in the evening around 6:00 PM. We could easily find the place. It was surrounded by a vegetable market. There was no place to park the vehicle. I wasn't expecting much crowd, however, there were a lot of people. Still it was very hot outside the building, but we could feel a water-body nearby after getting into the building. Though the structure didn't look good from outside, it was still beautiful from inside.

I could take one video of the place. This will, hopefully, give you an idea of what it is about.

My recommendation: I am not an appreciator of the work done on stones, but I can say, the structure as a whole is beautiful and it is worth going ones iff you are nearby.