Ooty – A Jewel in Nilgiris : South India II

Waterfalls Abound

Ooty is the headquarters of The Nilgiris district and is one of the famous hill stations in India. Situated on one of the peaks of the Nilgiri Mountain ranges, it is situated at almost at the juncture of the range with the Western Ghats at an altitude of 2,240 meters above mean sea level. The word Nilgiris means the Blue Mountains. With nature’s splurge, Ooty is rich with coffee and tea plantations, trees like conifers, eucalyptus, pine, and wattle. It is a land of picturesque picnic spots and had been a popular summer and weekend getaway for the British during the colonial days. However, before the British, there were Todas, an aboriginal tribe who inhabited the region since ancient times. The British constructed the first railway line in the area and made it the summer capital of the Chennai Presidency.

Our first destination was the Dodapetta Peak, the highest peak of the Nilgiris and known as the peak of Tamil Nadu. We traveled for about half an hour to climb the roads towards this point and green slopes of the hills through the valleys abounded throughout the route to only become better from the top of the peak. The height of the location was enough in itself to give thrills and the breathtaking views of the hills were simply a cherry on the cake. There was a central viewpoint which provided a panoramic view around which, though good was confined to the glass walls. A short hike ahead the raw natural view was much more catching. Nothing beats a Chana zor garam (a snack) at this location. We spent some great leisure moments and then hesitantly decided to move to the next location. The next thing we planned to cover was the nearby tea and the chocolate factory – Dodapetta Tea Factory. This was one of the few factories which allowed tourists to get in and see the manufacturing process live in its operational environment. They had set up a good system to allow people to see how the famous Nilgiri Tea is made right from start to end.  There, the facility manager himself was present to explain the entire lifecycle of tea making from plucking of tea leaves to fermentation and segregation to packaging with a live demo from within the sections of the factory. He explained the details of the process along with a difference in various types of tea over a complimentary cup of tea made from leaves processed in the same factory. The slight chill and steaming tea with this flavor and fragrance was sure to put up a question – can we buy some of it to take back home. Well, the answer was yes, but that was for a bit later. While we are on the topic, let me list down the tea making process we could grasp. 

To start with, we had already seen plenty of the tea plantations on our way. A careful protocol is followed to pluck leaves from these gardens ensuring only matured leaves are taken to the processing. These raw leaves are first boiled in commercial boilers and then dried and further roasted in specially designed burners which ensure that optimum temperature is maintained for sustained periods. Once the leaves turn brow they are subject to fermentation through natural ways which continue for about 4 hours and leads to the production of a special enzyme. This is the same enzyme which is part of wines thought there the density differs and it takes 12 years of fermentation to get to that density. Post fermentation, the tea leaves are segregated based on size and quality using special rotators which use segmentation mechanisms. High quality large sized leaves have the maximum flavor and aroma and are best to be consumed as black tea as the inert form brings out the best of such leaves. Since India is mostly a market where tea is almost always prepared with milk and sugar, such leaves are mostly exported. For India, the tea dust is the major product which provides taste and color that suits local needs. They also prepared flavored tea by combining ginger, cardamom or masala with the tea dust.

Along with the tea production, the facility had a small chocolate making center where we saw how flowing chocolate paste was getting converted into freshly made mouthwatering desserts. We bought quite some tea and chocolates as souvenirs. Later we moved ahead to Botanical Gardens which were near the city. These gardens had well-manicured grasses and beautifully carved trees and hedges depicting various forms and patterns. It was indeed an awesome model of horticulture. There were many greenhouses to provide the right environment to hundreds of variety of plants and flowers spread over an expansive campus. This was definitely a place for interest for any botany enthusiast and though we appreciated the superficial beauty, a person really interested in this field would definitely find worth all the effort in maintaining such a huge garden. We spent over an hour there and then went for a quick tour across the nearby Rose Gardens. These gardens famous for numerous varieties of rose when on full blossom did play sort of spoilsport as it was seeding season and hence flowers were limited in numbers. We were starving by this point and hence we broke for lunch and Pakwaan Restaurant. The place had a decent spread with good food and nice ambiance and served good North Indian menu. We tried their thali which is economical yet provides enough variety over a 4-course meal.

Pykara Waterfalls

Looking at the trip ahead