South India - Tour
Attraction
Ooty Hill
Station
 Ooty-the queen of hill
stations is also known by the name Udhagamandalam. It is situated at an altitude
of 2,286 m. The population size of Ooty is 87,000. Ooty sprawls over a large
area of winding roads and steep climbs. With its rolling lawns and salubrious
climate, Ooty has become the most important hill station in South India.
Nestled among the hills of Dodabetta, Snowdon, Elk Hill, and Club Hill
in the Nilgiri ranges, the history of Ooty dates back to about 900 years when it
was ruled by Vishnu Vardhana, the Hoysala king from AD 1104 to 1141. The city
also finds mention in the writing of Jacome Ferico, the first European to visit
this place in 1603. In 1799, this hilly region came under the control of the
British East India Company. The British established Ooty to serve as the summer
headquarters of the Madras government. A government house was built and keeping
in tune with the English lifestyle, the British set up cottages and clubs, with
facilities for tennis, golf, and horse riding. With the establishment of
numerous tea estates in the subsequent years, Ooty made its presence felt in the
tourist map of India.
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Places to See
Raj
Bhavan: Built by the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos in 1877 when Governor of
Madras, in the style of his family home at Stowe. The Government House, now the
Raj Bhavan, is superbly positioned on the Dodabetta Ridge to the south-east of
Ooty and is approached throught he Botanical Gardens. The grounds are very well
maintained and open to visitors, though the building is not.
St Stephen's Church: Northwest of Charing
Cross, the small gothic-style St. Stephen's Church was one of Ooty's first
colonial structures, built in the 1820s on the site of a Toda temple. Other than
this, red-brick, a quasi-gothic structure - Civil Court, and the Club (dates
from1830) are also interesting to see.
Kandal Cross: 3 km west of
the railway station is a Roman Catholic shrine considered as the `Jerusalem of
the East'. The cross erected here is a relic of the True Cross brought to India
by an Apostolic delegate.
Government
Museum: It was set up in 1989, with a view to provide educational benefits
of the museum to the residing and visiting population of Nilgiris. The museum
has items of tribal objects, district's ecological deatils and representative
sculptural arts and crafts of Tamilnadu. Admission is free and timings are 10.00
a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and 2.oo p.m. to 5.00 p.m. It is closed on Friday, second
saturdays and National Holidays.
Botanical Garden: A little way
northwest of Charing Cross, the Botanical Garden (daily 8 am - 6.30 pm.) laid in
1847 by gardeners from London's Kew Gardens, consists of twenty hectares of
immaculate lawns, lily ponds and beds, with over thousand varieties of shrubs,
flowers and trees. The Annual flower show is held here every year during the
month of May. There is a wood hut at the top of the garden from where a
panoramic view of Ooty can be had.
Ooty Lake: It was constructed
between 1823 and 1825 throught he initiative of the collector, Mr John Sullivan,
as an irrigation tank. The lake is about 2.5 km long and between 100 and 140 m
wide.
Getting There
Air: Nearest airport,
Coimbatore is 98 kms away. Cochin airport is 250 kms away and Bangalore airport
is 276 kms.
Rail: Ooty has a miniature railway connecting it with the
lowlands. The railways starts at Mettupalayam (46 km from Ooty), north of
Coimbatore, and goes via Coonoor to Ooty, enroute affording some spectacular
views of the precipitous eastern slopes of the rain-forested Nilgiris.
Road: There are frequent buses for Kotagiri and Coonoor. Ooty is
coonected by bus service to Coimbatore, Bangalore (via Mysore), Chennai,
Kanyakumari, Thanjavur and Tirupati.
Garden City Bangalore
According to local folklore the present name
Bangalore, derives from 'Bendakalooru' or the town of boiled beans, a narne
given by Veera Ballala, a king of the Vijayanagar dynasty, who having lost his
way in the forests Was given a bowl of boiled beans by a kindly woman here.
However that may be, the founding of the city is traced back to 1537 and it has
seen the rule of the maharajas of Mysore mainly.
Amidst all this hectic activity, the city offers
itself as an ideal base to explore the fascinating and culturally rich state of
Karnataka. Visitors will find the ruins of the once powerful Vijayanagar empire,
the sculpted wonders of Belur and Halebid, the awesome mausoleum of Bijapur and
much more within easy reach.
Mysore Palace
The Mysore Palace, built is Indo-Saracenic
style with domes turrets, arches and colonnades, the palace is a treasure house
of exquisite carvings and works of art from all over the world. The tastefully
decorated and inticrately carved doors open into luxuriously decorated rooms.
The palace has now been converted into a museum, which treasures the souvenirs,
paintings, jewellery, royal costumes and other items, which were once possessed
by the Wodeyars. It is said that the palace displays the largest collection of
gold items, quantity wise. The Durbar hall of the palace has an ornate ceiling
and many sculpture pillars which are said to have been painted with gold.
The walls of the palace are painted with pictures of the Dassera processions and
these paintings are painted in such a manner that from any angle you can see the
procession coming towards you. The royal throne of the Wodeyars is displayed
during the Dassera festival.
The palace was originally built of wood, which got burnt down in 1897 AD and was
rebuilt in 1912 AD.
Marina Beach, Chennai
It
is an interesting sight to watch the sun going down and reflecting boundless
waters of the ocean. As one watches the gentle retreat of the sun into ocean
spreading red and blue colors, it makes one sentimental and makes everything
else in life seem trivial. Such is the power of ambience that surrounds the
Marina beach that it provokes the subconscious mind to think.
Located on the eastern side of Chennai, adjoining the Bay of Bengal, Marina
beach is the second longest beach in the world and has a wide sandy foreshore.
This beach is counted among one of the longest beaches in Asia. Though bathing
and swimming can be dangerous, as the undercurrent is very strong, even then
people come for swimming here. In the evenings, the beach is virtually a fair
ground with various kinds of entertainment and food stalls lining the beach.
The very name of Marina brings before the eyes the images of golden sand, good
surf and a shimmering clean blue sea and this is what is Marina beach in a
nutshell. Its 12-km long stretch was made beautiful by the wonderful facelift
given by Governor Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff in the early 1880's.
Tourists flock to the beach to explore natural sandy beauty and take a
leisurely stroll on the spacious promenade and in beautiful gardens, near by.
It has acquired a South Indian aura with vendors hawking wares ranging from
shell and glass baubles to kites and fruit juices. The Marina, however, is
large enough to accommodate all visitors as well as the hawkers and is often
the venue for important state functions.
Prime Attractions
Some of the most beautiful buildings in Chennai such as the University of
Madras, Senate-House, Chepauk Palace, Presidency College, P.W.D office and Ice
House are located on the beach drive. At the other end of the beach is the new
lighthouse. In between, sentinels on the promenade, are several statues of
Tamil scholars and two splendid bits of sculpture- the Victory of Labour and
the Mahatma Gandhi.
Aquarium: Close to the Marina beach is the aquarium, which has some of
the most exotic collection of tropical sea fishes and fresh water fishes. 
The
aquarium gives a chance to have a closer look at the aquatic life. The Ice
House, which was used to store ice brought from Great Lakes in North America,
is south to the Aquarium.
Anna And MGR Samadhis: Situated on the beach, the Anna and MGR Samadhis, which
are the memorials of the most popular, former Chief ministers of the state,
attract good crowd everyday.
Reaching There
Air: Chennai has an airport with both domestic and international
terminals. Regular flights connect Chennai with the major cities within the
country and also with countries like USA, Singapore, U.K, etc.
Rail: Chennai is well connected by rail with the important towns and
cities within and beyond the state.
Road: State transport buses and private buses connect Chennai with the
major towns and cities within the country. For local transportation local
trains, city buses, auto rickshaws and taxis are available.
Backwaters of
Kochi, Kerala
A historic icon of Kerala
majestically poised on one side of the backwater, and mushrooming symbols of
modern day living on the other. The picture of the month is from the backwaters
of Kochi, which shows an interesting face-off between the traditional Chinese
fishing nets and a series of modern day concrete space, with the backwaters in
between as mute witness.
The
melting sun has painted the horizons in orange and crimson hues. Clad in the
soft warmth of the golden yellow rays, the placid backwaters reveal the
effervescent nature in all its true glory. At a distance, the dark silhouettes
of the coconut palms are seen dancing to the rhythms of the gentle breeze.
Chakram,
Pathanamthitta
,
Kerala
The
Chakram (Wheel) made of wood is used to move water between paddy fields
and water channels. Once used widely in the paddy fields of Kerala, this
traditional method is a rare sight these days. The one shown in the photograph
is from the district of Pathanamthitta in Kerala.
Usually operated by men by sitting on bamboo polls, the wheel is peddled to the
accompaniment of songs in a uniform rhythm filled with varying emotions of hard
labour, hope, fortunes and the many ups and downs that forms part of a farmer's
life.
Thrissur Pooram
,
Kerala
'Thrissur Pooram' or the
festival of festivals as it is rightly called is undoubtedly one of the
prominent insignias of cultural Kerala. The charm and elegance of this festival
is attributed to the undying spirit of the people. The occasion of 'Thrissur
Pooram' is a cultural cauldron of Kerala where one can witness the colours,
sights, sounds and the participation of the people at its best.
Thekkady Wildlife Sanctuary
,
Kerala
It is oozing with serenity, yet
exudes the ambience of a fairyland. This is one of the unforgettable sights at
the Thekkady Wildlife Sanctuary, where Mother Nature rapidly changes its garb
according to the time of the day. Here, you would easily lose awareness of time
as the ever- changing vistas completely take control of your senses.
Ashtamudi backwaters
,
Kerala
Catch a glimpse of one of the
many splendors of Ashtamudi backwaters. As the boatman gently dips his paddle,
without disturbing the prevailing calm, the ripples spread out gently in the
shimmering golden hue of the sun.