Udhagamandalam (
Ooty): Called the‘queen of
the hills stations’, picturesque,
Udhagamandalam, better known as Ooty is the most popular hill
station in the south. Along with kotagiri and coonoor nearby, Ooty
is famous for its rolling hills covered in pine and eucalyptus
forests and its coffee and tea plantations.
Near the borders of tamil nadu, Karnataka and kerla, Ooty was
mentioned in the madras gazette of 1821 as ‘wotokymund’.
It had been inhabited by toda tribal people who lived in villages or
‘munds’ consisting of a handloom of huts. Historically, this is the
area of the toda, the tribal people whose belief systems and
practices centre on the buffalo. Today only about 1500 toda
remain,their cone-shaped shrines prominent throughout the hills.
In the early 19th century, the british established Ooty to serve as
the summer headquarters of the madras government. Until about two
decades ago Ooty resembled an unlikely combination of southern
England and Australia. Now tourist development has totall
transformed ooty, but it retains a certain appeal. Life is relaxed
here and touting and haranguing is less prevalent than elsewhere.
