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55 Fiction Friday – The Gorgeous Lady

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
Hello People, It’s Friday again, and I am here with a 55 Fiction this time. Every one’s gearing up for the weekend, and might be taking little light at work (like me). 

So I got some sweet and simple and short for today. I know last evening’s post was looooong. But its only 55 words today. So go ahead and enjoy.




The Gorgeous Lady 

“You here often? This hour?”

“Yes. You?”

“No… just tonight… fun with friends…
But must tell you Lady, you look gorgeous”.

“Yeah? No one’s told that in a long time”

“Varun you talking to air?” yelled Raj

“No… her…”, said Varun pointing towards her

“Ohh.. God where did she go! It’s just a split second!”
Image Source: Deviant Art, Digital Art: Amor e Morte by LadyDarkRaven

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Linking this post for Write Tribes Festival of Words. Today’s prompt is 55 Fiction. I came to know about it only on Day 3 so You can find my posts from Day 3 onwards.
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Leave a comment below if you liked the 55 Fiction and you want me to write some more.


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Theme writing – Inspiration – Imposible is Nothing

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
Photo Courtesy: shadowness.com
I am attempting something new today. There’s fiction and then there’s revelation. It’s a little long than my normal posts 1750 words to be precise, but hang on guys, I think you will enjoy it. So read on.

***
That special morning was finally here. Guddu was up early and was ready before his usual time. He looked in the mirror and checked if he had brushed his hair properly, and if his shirt was tucked in. He was excited for this day.

Rinky entered the room and was surprised to see her little baby up and ready for the first day at the new school. She looked in the bright green eyes of Guddu and felt happy inside, Guddu was so pure, and he was so well behaved all the time.

“I can see someone is up already”

“Yes Ma, … I..I.. am ready too”

“And what is this? You have packed your bag also?”

“Yes.. I..I packed them”

“Ohh… good boy, now come let’s go for breakfast”

Rinky smiled watching her over-excited son, as Guddu broke into a sprint towards the breakfast table. She hoped everything will be fine with her little baby at the new school in this new city. Rinky was more nervous than little Guddu.

***

Guddu broke off from the tight hug of his mom and ran inside the school, his eyes lit up as he saw the stair case on two sides of the big corridor that led up to the classes on the first floor, and the lively lush green school ground lay beyond the corridor at the end, and it looked inviting. But Guddu had to climb the staircase towards his class on the first floor like he had done on the orientation day last week.

He ran up the stairs and couldn’t wait to get into the class and make new friends. As he reached the landing, he could see the classrooms on both sides and chattering sounds coming out of them. His eyes searched for IIIA and he spotted the classroom just a little ahead and he started walking towards the room. 

He was excited but there were these butterflies in his belly, he kept reminding, this is a new school and new people, everything will be fine. He entered the classroom, and smiled at some of the boys who looked at him.

“Hello, what’s your name?” asked one, while offering Guddu a seat in the same bench

“Rohit”

“New here?”

“…Yes”

Guddu and the other boys settled down as the teacher entered the class. Guddu was happy to be in this new class, the boys around seemed friendly with happy faces, not like the earlier school. He was so happy that dad got transferred to Mumbai from Pune. He felt he will enjoy this school.

Rohit waited anxiously for his name during the roll-call. He wanted to be attentive so that he didn’t miss telling ‘present’.

“Rohit Sharma” the teacher called out.

“Yes.. p..present”

It felt like a jolt when his name was called, but he was happy that it was over.

“Rohit Sharma please stand up”

After finishing the attendance call Preeti Mam, asked for Guddu again. He rose up slowly thinking why she would ask him to stand up.

“Class say hi to Rohit, he has joined our class from today”

Hello Rohit, came in chorus.

Rohit could manage a feeble hi to that.

“Okay Rohit, please tell us something about yourself”told the teacher
Rohit thought for a moment, this isn’t what he was expecting but he thought he might do it.

“My name i..is Rohit Sh..Sharma. I study in Bom..Bombay Scotti..ish, I love crick..cket, re..eadin, and m..my di..iidi, Ma & Pap..pa”

But before he could finish the boys burst out laughing. They looked at Guddu as if he was some clown.

“Settle down Class, I don’t want laughing”called out Preeti Mam

“Rohit is new here, Sanjay, Rahul, Jacob, you will be friends with Rohit. And now settle down for class” she said before turning towards the black board.

Guddu sat down slowly, his world crumbling down around him. He couldn’t see the blackboard clearly even while sitting in the second bench. He could feel his eyes well up. The green bright eyes were wet as tears rolled down his cheek.

He could feel Sanjay, the boy seated next to him, giggling to Jacob

 “This Rohit stammers, so funny”

This is not what he had thought this school to be, he thought they will not be like the other boys from the earlier school. But he felt scared. He felt like howling.

***

As days passed by Guddu turned quieter, he only spoke when he was spoken to. He tried to be good to others, but didn’t like it when they bullied him, in class, over lunch, or even in the play ground. He felt all the boys were same. Boys at his previous school, in his colony in Pune all made fun of him. So what he took time in finishing his lines? But all of them laughed at him. He had thought the new city, the new school, new classmates, new friends will be different. But no, none of them were. All were mean to him, only people who loved him were his didi, ma and papa. They never made fun of him, they never laughed at him.

Rinky also noticed Guddu turning quieter by the day, she encouraged him to go out and play with other kids but he refused, he spent hours in his room playing with his hot wheelz cars. Rinky felt Guddu had a world of himself. She was getting worried; the poor kid was facing the brunt of the society for having speech disorder. She knew she needed professional help for his baby. She couldn’t let the bright kid to get disillusioned and lose his confidence.

Rinky searched in the newspapers, read magazines and went to the child specialist to find out how she could help her son. Doctor Rati, the child specialist, told her, these are common problems and with age it will become okay. But Rinky knew she needed to help her son now, before he went into a shell and it was too late for her to help. She came across a speech therapist with the help of a neighbour’s relative, and thought she should give it a try.

She took Guddu along and enrolled him in the speech therapy classes. Guddu met with kids from different backgrounds in Doctor Ramesh’s speech the class. Guddu for the first time felt, he was not the only person, who took time to finish his sentence. He was not the only one who had difficulty in pronouncing words. Doctor Ramesh was very kind, he was very patient, and no one here made fun of any one. They used to learn words, they used to have fun in pronouncing words in different ways. Guddu, gradually started enjoying these evening classes.

Guddu loved reading, he loved reading thrillers, mysteries and science fictions. He wanted to be like the heroes in the stories. He wanted to fight the evil and be a winner. He read out the books aloud. This one advice of Dr. Ramesh had helped him immensely. He read out the books loudly, so that he could hear what he was speaking. He heard how he was pronouncing. It became his habit. Every evening at the class everyone had their reading sessions and every one read aloud. Guddu progressed really well.

He was practicing his speech therapy for five year now and he was much more confident than before. Now in his seventh standard he made friends, and holds conversations. He thinks in his mind what he speaks, and within a fraction of a second he speaks the line silently in his mind before actually telling it. He practices speech therapy every day.

***

Guddu today has grown up to be a fine human being, he passed his Bachelors of Commerce with flying colors and had a scholarship from a US University. But he chose what he desired from his childhood, to quash evil and beat the mean guys, he has become a hero, a super hero infact. A hero whom Indians cherish, a hero who surpasses everyone, a hero who is loved by millions. He has grown up to be our own Greek God Hrithik Roshan.

***
Hrithik Roshan is not only my favorite actor/star/hero, he is also a very special person for me. I don’t know him personally nor does he know that I exist. But his life, his challenges and the determination that he has shown every time for all of those challenges is pure brilliance and his determination. In spite of being a public figure he never shies away from admitting the fact that he suffered speech disorder and he still practices speech therapy everyday for an hour. He inspires kid through his story to overcome this handicap. He is not only a super hero because he plays Krrish, like a true super hero he has donated two million rupees for speech and hearing wing at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai in his grandmother Ira Roshan’s memory.

He is the Greek God, the Sexiest man on Earth according to some magazine, he is a good man by nature and he has faced such extreme challenges when due to a spine problem, doctors had ruled out his possibility of dancing or acting ever. And look where he is. With a double slip disc he was at home resting and his waist went on to 36” and look at his physique in Krrish3 which he achieved in 10 weeks. Isn’t that what Super Heroes do? Overcome every challenge thrown to them.

But there is one thing which I can never forget; at an IIFA award function while receiving his Best Actor award he made a statement, ”If a person like me can reach till here, then impossible is nothing”.

He might be an inspiration for many for his physique, but he himself is an inspiration for many who are challenged by a hard truth called stammering or stuttering. And guys, like he would have said –‘Impossible is nothing’, and we all are super heroes who can overcome any challenge. The super hero is inside every one.
That’s him During the Inauguration of this special wing
at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai 

Hrithik Roshan with Dr. Ramesh Oza
Photo: Courtesy: Hindustan Times

Disclaimer:
1. Names used in the fictional story are close to reality, but the characters share no resemblance nor are the incidents real. They are inspired

2. While writing this post in the afternoon, I didn’t know who Hrithik’s doctor was, but while searching the net for a picture of Hrithik+Speech Therapy to go with this post, I came across this image where he is hugging Dr. Ramesh Oza who is the head of the Audiology & Speech Therapy at Nanvati, Mumbai. I read up little more and it seems he has been Hrithik’s speech therapist who treated him when he was 13-14. This is an amazing coincidence for me. 


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Linking this post  to Write Tribe ‘s Festival of Words, and today’s challenge was An Inspiring Story. I have joined in at Day 3 because I stumbled upon this site on that day. But better late than never!
Today on Day 5 I have to write about my own inspiring story, or someone who inspires me. There are two people who have inspired me to become a good human being. And Hrithik is one of them, so I definitely had to write about him. The other person is of course Sachin Tendulkar whose story is equally inspiring, who makes you a better human being.

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Book ReviewReviews

Book Review – Heart Sync (Book #3 of A Perfect Match Series) by Lily Zante

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

I had reviewed a romance fiction called The Proposal and told you how extremely overwhelmed I was with the story of Ethan & Nadine. You can read the review here. That was a free e-book on Amazon and I had downloaded it for a casual read. But I got so engrossed with the lives of Ethan & Nadine that I had to get the sequel to know what happened next. And I bought the e-book and finished it off in two sittings! Now The Proposal is the first book of A Perfect Match Serieswhich is followed by Lost in Solo which is a prequel to The Proposal. I was particularly interested in the love story of Ethan and Nadine so I skipped Lost in Solo and jumped into Heart Sync which is the sequel to the love story. Now let’s see where Ethan & Nadine head to.

The Story

It picks up from the end of the first book, Nadine & Ethan profess their love for each other and are an item. Nadine is the ambitious career woman who wants to scale the corporate ladder and she works hard towards her goals. She is dedicated and passionate towards her work, as she is passionate about Ethan. Ethan on the other hand is an artist and a metal sculptor, and being a stripper and a male escort has been his resort in the times of recession when he got laid off from his day job. In between the passionate moments with each other, various misunderstandings creep in. Nadine gets an opportunity to travel to Europe for work to set up their corporation’s new offices in Milan & Paris and it requires her to be away from Ethan for a month in Europe. Ethan isn’t too happy with the proposal and thinks Nadine is not serious about the relation and her career comes first before him. Whereas Nadine thinks this is the perfect opportunity for her and her career. Ethan also immerses himself in his metal sculpture work where he is growing and is getting good response from exhibiting his work.

Once back from Europe after a month Nadine finds out she has an opportunity to be in Europe for a year this time and finds the offer lucrative enough. Her relation with Ethan becomes almost a question where either of them don’t know if they are together or not. Ethan himself faces a family tragedy and is not able to give time to the relationship or Nadine, much like how he wanted to do, but is fearful in thinking if Nadine really loves him. But the passion for each other refuses to die out. He is on the verge of proposing but doesn’t get the opportunity because of Nadine’s career thoughts gets in.

After many a turmoil Nadine seeks what is it that she wants. Now does she want Europe, does she want Ethan and his love, will the career woman think a little different, you will have to read it to know it.

My thoughts

I had written in my earlier review of The Proposal that I almost fell in love with Ethan. Yes his character is so nicely etched that it feels real and very everyday life. And yes this book makes me love him even more, and for some points I hated Nadine for not understanding his feelings, for not being with him when he needed her most, or not trusting him. That happens when I get into the characters so much that I like thinking about them, or have a parallel story line in my mind.

There are many more things in the book which I’m not mentioning here purposefully, because I don’t want this to be a spoiler. But yeah it’s in the romance genre so it’s supposed to be mushy and romantic. I love the little things that are described so well like the gift Ethan gives her, when they decide to exchange gifts, or how he takes out his anger on Nadine’s ex-boss.

Lily’s writing style is very natural and it’s very easy to read and visualize your characters. If you read these two books and not feel Ethan is really a wow person then I’ll be surprised.

About the Author

Lily Zante is a romance author with several romantic fictions to her credit. In between bringing up three kids she writes romantic fictions. I have become a fan and want to read the new book that she is working on. After my last review of The Proposal I had emailed her telling her how much I liked her book, and her reply was sweet enough. I wish we could get some more of Ethan and Nadine, and had communicated that to her as well, like some starry eyed girl! You can check out about her books in her website here.

My rating – 4/5. Quite high in my standards for a romance fiction, but I loved it, I loved The Proposal a wee bit more and so had rated it higher than this.  

The Kindle edition is available on Amazon.
Details of the e-book (from Amazon.in)

·         Format: Kindle Edition
·         File Size: 1809 KB
·         Print Length: 269 pages
·         Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
·         Publisher: Lily Zante (12 January 2014)
·         Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
·         Language: English
·         ASIN: B00GRKYOMW
·         Text-to-Speech: Enabled http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/31/x-locale/common/carrot._V138348791_.gif
·         X-Ray: Enabled http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/31/x-locale/common/carrot._V138348791_.gif
·         Price : Rs. 245.89 or $3.97

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This Book is my owned Kindle Edition, and is not a sponsored review. I try not to be biased while reviewing whether its a sponsored review or my own copies. The views are entirely mine.
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Linking this post for Write Tribes Festival of Words. Today’s prompt is Book Review. I came to know about it only yesterday so You can find my posts from Day 3 onwards.
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Book ReviewReviews

Book Review – Asura: Tale of the Vanquished by Anand Neelakantan

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
I had thought I had reviewed this book long time back. While going through my blog posts, I couldn’t figure this one out. And I realized I had started writing this review and then left mid way and completely forgot about it. How could I do that I have no idea. 

Apologies to Lead Start & the author from my end. I don’t know the reason for this memory loss, but looks like I did forget, like the other day when I left the pressing iron on for the whole day!


Anyways, let me get on with the book review. If you are born and brought up in India, you can never escape the mighty epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Mahabharata still remains a favourite story of all times for me, because of the grandeur, the complexity, the might, and for its distinct characters. And yes Krishna & Arjuna are my favorite characters of all time. I am no one to tell you whether the mythological characters were true, whether they lived here in this land and had magical powers, it’s on your belief system. But when you are just a reader, the characters itself are more than enough to keep you engulfed. [I have reviewed Arjuna by Anuja Chandramouli and you can read it here.] There are times when you need to come above the fact that these characters in our epics are gods or demons with magical powers, and think of them as men, as leaders, and people of flesh and blood and not people capable of doing magic. The author, Anand Neelkantan, takes a very similar stand in his book.

Asura the Book

Coming to Asura, this takes us back to Ramayan another mighty epic and shows us Raam & Ravan in a whole new light. It is the story of the Aryans & Dravidians and how they got translated as Devasand Asuras. They were all mass leaders – Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva became powerful and became the epitome of leadership because of the followers. Not necessarily always with their magical powers. Both of these sects – Devas & Asuras were conquerors clashing with each other at numerous times.

Ravana, the Asura, is born of a Brahmin father and a Asura mother. He gathers followers against Kubera, his brother, who doesn’t treat him fair and is ruling the Sri Lankan throne with Iron hands. He succeeds in it and becomes a powerful leader and conqueror. His might grows so big that he is able to conquer till the Himalayas. Sitais potrayed as Ravan & Mandodari’s daughter in this book. (Wait till you read more). Ravana, fearful of Sita’s fate bringing dark clouds of danger over his kingdom, sends her away to get rid of her. But she emerges in the kingdom of King Janaka, who brings her up as his daughter. [So that’s how it gets connected to our Ramayana]. And the story goes on to the ‘vanavas’, the ‘apaharan’ and the war.

Bhadra is a new character here who is a blind supporter of Ravana as a result of getting unfair treatment from the Devas. Bhadra becomes ruthless and goes on to build and consolidate the Asuracommunity which is based on physical force, ambition, killings (much like what you see today).

My thoughts

The author definitely has some imaginations. It is difficult to write a different situation to an already popular and religious scripture. The way he creates the society structure of the Devas and Asuras are amazing. As you think about history and the caste divided system of our society earlier, it feels like maybe that is what the situation was. The social ladder of the Devas became murkier down the order with untouchables and Asura society had a socialist stand.

I found this quite an interesting. But the book is huge. May be we could have kept some detailing on check. But then it’s the author’s prerogative to decide how much detailed he wants his story to be.

About the Author

Anand Neelkantan debuts with this novel. Asura also happens to be one of the best sellers of 2012. His next book is Ajaya which is also released now. From the corporate word to writing it’s a good change that he has made. He also writes columns in leading News dailies. You can read more about him in his website
My Rating – 4/5.It’s a very interesting read if you like mythology, and fiction
Book – Asura: Tale of the Vanquished
Author – Anand Neelkantan
Genre – Thriller
Publisher – Leadstart Publishing
Published in – 2012
Format – Hard bound
ISBN 13 – 9789381576052
ISBN 10 – 9381576052
Pages – 500
Price – INR 299

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This book was sent by the publisher Leadstart Publishing. These are entirely my own views and I try not to be biased while reviewing.
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Free Write Theme – Confused Thoughts

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
The morning drive was good, I love the speed the thrill in driving at 100-120 kmph, thank god for this Silk Board EC flyover. My playlist has only Hrithik Roshan and the 2014 US BillBoard and somehow I always remember the scene from this song “Khwabon Ke Parinde” from Zindagi na Milegi Dobara, with Hrithik looking million dollars with a serene look on his face. I can only think about him now I guess, this guy has an uncanny way of getting me weak in my knees every time I think about him, even now.


I like this easy day at work, in spite of it being March I am taking it easy today and am lost in my thoughts, whats apping, you tubing and don’t know what all I will be doing! Good that we have a cousin’s whats app group, still can stay in touch in spite of being in so many places. What all can Whats app do? Guess people should take it to the next level, like this Aadhar card thing, can we create a permanent number for everyone and then use whats app for everything? May be a possibility? Was reading about enabling voting through Whats app… if that happens I’ll be happiest. But how will they control rigging? I still didn’t get my voter id card! Some scam there as well I think. It’s long time that I applied here in Bangalore but no response. At least I got my Aadhar card done, thank god I received it last Saturday.

When did these sardar jokes become popular? And why so many sardar jokes? My whats app is flowing with the jokes. Poor fellows, but they are hilarious. How do the sardars take the jokes? I don’t find them like this, but a recent witty sardar joke just blew me off, need to check the facts actually.

The methi parathas of breakfast are making me burp, I hate this canteen food. How did they make black methi paratha, must have been old oil. Why don’t people have decent cafes around CBD which opens for breakfast? I need to go on a long drive, may be at the end of this month, there is a long weekend, maybe I need to plan to go somewhere, but where? We can go to a nearby beach? Will beach be ok in March April? Too hot I guess, what are the closest beaches to Bangalore? I know Pondy, Go Karna, Karwar. I need to Google, where to go, should I go to a beach or some hill station? I have not been to Yercaud, heard it’s nice, might as well have a look there.

I think I want to eat out this afternoon, I don’t want to canteen food again, sometimes its ok, but it sucks generally. Have to cajole some of my colleagues for a lunch out, I am sure they are carrying their lunch with them, ohh I have to eat something good today. Yesterday’s roll was good. How will be a shawarma for lunch?

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I have not got completely mad. It’s Free Writing. I did this for the first time, and now that I re read it for correcting the punctuations, I find it weird, is that what I have been thinking in last 15 minutes? Yeah weird but that’s what it is. I quite liked it, maybe I can do this more often. Learnt this form from Suzy and I found this challenge really interesting, so had to write it. Linking it to Write Tribe ‘s Festival of Words, and today’s challenge was Free Write. I am joining in at Day 3 because I stumbled upon this site today. But better late than never!
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road trip
TravelTravel Destination

A Road Trip from Bangalore to Coonoor – Wellington- Ooty

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
Bangalore is well connected with hill stations for a road trip. Coonoor Wellington Ooty road trip from Bangalore is scenic and beautiful.
This post contains sponsored links, but all thought, experiences, photos are mine. 
I was reading my own blog some days back for a change, and realized I used to write on so many things 2 years back when I had started the blog. I had started it with the idea that I should be able to write whatever I want, to hell with a niche subject/topic. Now I can see I have made it a book oriented blog more than a personal blog. Don’t quite know why I stopped writing in my Travel Section. Funny eh.. When you just delay things and forget all about it. We went on so many trips after my last Travel blog post and I have not written anything on them.
 
I want this blog to remain the same – my place to write about anything that I want to. So now I am revisiting all the sections of the blogs and let’s see what all I can update. Oh yes, some more book reviews are coming up by the way.
 
I stay in Bangalore which is like a central point to Southern India. It’s very easy to visit any place from here. Road system is very impressive. (Though the road conditions in the city is far from being impressive). We took a Road trip to Coonoor-Wellington-Ooty in December. December is the month when you can afford to take leaves. People is the west are in Holiday mood and shuts down for a week and their counterparts (my husband) takes that opportunity to plan his leaves at this time. And for me, I take leaves when I am in a mood for leaves!!
 
We thought of driving down there our self but then thought it’s better to take a driver who knows the local language. Now it’s very important to know or have someone along who knows the language. Coonoor, Ooty & Wellington are all based in the Nilgiri District of Tamil Nadu at about 1850m above sea level. So it’s cool and pleasant all round the year and was delightful in December. Otacamund or Ooty as is popularly known is a very commercialized hill station with hundreds of hotels and thousands of visitors all around the year I guess. So we ditched the possibility of putting up in Ooty and instead chose to checking in, in a relatively quieter Coonoor.

Distance Between Bangalore and Coonoor

 
Coonoor is about 285 Kms from Bangalore and you can reach via road or train. And in case you are flying in the nearest airport is in Coimbatore which is about 100 kms away. But if you want to Enjoy this travel and you are in Bangalore I recommend you get in a car. The drive is scenic as you pass through Madur, Mandya and Bandipur National Park. In fact from Bandipur National Park it’s very close. There are other routes as well through Hosur-Salem and others but this one is the shortest route.
 
Like all other times we stopped for our breakfast at Adigas at Maddur on the Bangalore-Mysore Road. You should definitely try their Masala Dosa and Maaddur Vada. Whenever I’m on this highway I make it a point to have our breakfast here than in a McDonald or Kamat or CCD.
 
As you close Bandipur National forest keep your eyes open and watch the sides in the forest. If you are lucky you can spot an occasional wild elephant apart from the shy deer and over smart monkeys.
 
The drive is about 6 to 6 and a half hours and if you don’t take too many breaks then you should be able to reach by afternoon if you start early in the morning.
 
Staying in Coonoor
 
Coonoor is a relatively quiter hill station and not as commercialized as Ooty. We planned our short trip in such a way that we stayed in Coonoor and drove to Wellington and Ooty from there. Now it’s in the Nilgiri District and known for its tea, so what better than living within a tea garden. I had researched for some time for a good homestay near a tea garden or within a tea garden, and zeroed in on this place called SunValley Homestay , It is I guess the most popular homestay there, and you have to visit it to see this picturesque place. The moment I stood in our room’s balcony I was in love with the place. It’s situated on top of a hillock and you can see the tea gardens flowing down like rich velvet carpets. I can definitely recommend this place. [Note I have not been asked to do a review or something, I am recomending it because it is beautiful.] The picture below says it all, it’s taken from the balcony of our room. It was even better when its all covered in fog in the morning. Looks like heaven.

View from the room we stayed in. Lush green carpet of Tea Garden flowing down for
miles all together.
 
Enjoying Coonoor
 
One evening we asked the manager we wanted to go for a walk, where could we go. We were expecting he will direct us to a park or something, instead he opened the gates of the tea garden and asked us to take a walk down the hill through the tea shrubs! That was quite something. Only problem was he told us the previous evening a leopard had come on that very path and hurt their dog!! Indro is quite enterprising and kept telling me Leopard will come in the night not at dusk but you can guess I think what I was feeling then. I in fact carried a thick wooden branch, my little attempt to scare a leopard if it thought I could be his dinner!
 
Some one’s giving a cute smile in the tea garden, and I am praying a leopard doesn’t jump in. And you can see the homestay at the back
 
Okay, coming back to the trip part, if you are a trek enthusiast, you can go for various treks down the hills, I am not quite a trekking person, but I did go down the tea garden and enjoyed watching and cliking the ladies plucking the correct lea leaves, and also joined them for my bit of tea plucking. It’s quite a task being these pluckers, they literally walk up and down the hills through the narrow paths for plucking and then climb up all the way in some other hillock to deposit the leaves in the warehouse from where the leaves are take to the factory. I Respect.
 
Some sightseeing places that I can remember were visiting Lamb’s Rock, Dolphin Nose and Lady Canning’s Seat. From Lamb’s Rock you can actually see stunning tea plantations. People go trekking in these places as well. But the best place that you can enjoy in Coonoor apart from the tea gardens is Sim’s Park which is their botanical garden. It’s a massive park with thousands of well maintained trees and flowers. Chilling out on the park lawns with a book and spotting lovely birds is a great experience.
Some little fellows were caught in the lens taking a nap near Lamb’s Rock
 
 
Coonoor to Wellington
 
We stayed in Coonoor for 3 Days so had a lot of time to visit different places. Indro’s grandfather was in the army and was posted in Wellington for some time. His mom was in Wellington in her childhood, and we have heard her stories. So we definitely wanted to check this place. This little town of Wellington houses the DSSC or the The Defence Services Staff College, and also is a cantonment town under Madras Regiment. It’s a quiet place and you have to actually drive down the place without wandering much because most of the places are restricted areas and only for army personnel. But like all other cantonment towns, it’s clean, methodical, and peaceful.
 
 Coonoor to Ooty  
 
I had been to Ooty as a child and really didn’t remember anything about it. So this time though I was revisiting it was all new to me. Ooty is really picturesque and has a long histry dated from the Hoysala times. You can Google more about it. I don’t want this post to be on history of the place. Ooty is like a day trip from Coonoor, its about 1 hour drive depending on the fog density of the day.
 
Though it has become commercialized thanks to all the Bollywood films it still has some beauty about it. People travel to far off distances to enjoy nature’s beauty but then we only destroy half of it. Now Ooty is extremely crowded, with people thronging any place of interest and guides trying to get the better of you.
 
When you are in Ooty you definitely have to visit the rose garden, botanical garden, the lake, tea factories and Doddabetta Peak.
 
The Government Rose garden is a massive garden where they have several species of roses. We were lucky to be there in a time when there was some flower festival going on. So we got to see lovely roses. If you love photography then you can spend an entire day there.
 
I don’t know the species but this bird looks cute, we spotted this one at the Rose Garden
 
And of course some beautiful roses
 
Ooty’s Botanical Garden is probably the most famous botanical garden in India. It’s a 22 acre botanical garden and I was surprised to see its maintained pretty well. It’s maintained by the Gov’t of Tamil Nadu (that’s why surprising). Walking through the well laid out flower arrangements was serene. I just wish it never allowed people to do picnics there. But somehow people end up enjoying there and litter the places, which I dislike like anything.
 
The Botanical Garden, Ooty
some of my favourite clicks from the Botanical Garden, Ooty
Again I don’t remember the species but looks very interesting, Ooty Botanical Garden
 
Ooty Lake is too crowded and you can go for a boating. We went there because that’s what everyone does that. It’s just about ok and the water is dirty and littered. You can give it a miss if you want to.
 
We had a great time at the Doddabetta Peak. It’s the highest peak there and you can see the entire town from there, which makes quite a beautiful scene. But the most amazing part was visiting the Tea Factory and going through the entire process of making tea – as in processing tea leaves. It’s quite a huge process. They serve you some special tea during this tour which is amazing. You can buy various kinds of tea from their store, some kind of tea is available which reduces blood pressure if you have high blood pressure. I don’t know about the authenticity but saw people thronging to get their hands on that. I obviously went for some cardamom tea, that special tea they were serving, and of course some green tea for myself. 🙂
 
So here you have, Twinkling Tina twinkling atop Doddabeta Peak watch tower and that’s the valley behind
The Tea Factory tour is good
 
Can you see the processed green tea leaves on the conveyor belt?
 
On our way back it was another experience all together for me. I hate driving through hills and hate the bends with equal gusto. And if you also have this hill sickness syndrome like me, please ask the driver to avoid the road with hair pin bends. The road we took brought us to Bangalore earlier but I had to survive 36 hair pin bends. And they were horrible. Every second I felt like throwing up but somehow managed to avoid the embarrassment. Having a lemon with you in these conditions always helps. 🙂
 
So that was one road trip to remember, actually I remember more because it was my anniversary trip!
Okay that was a long post, hope you guys will enjoy.
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Disclaimer, all photos used here are my own clicks unless stated otherwise, and I have exclusive copyrights on them. I would appreciate if they are not copied, and if you want to use please give the credit. 
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