The Gardens beckon

It had been 10years since my last visit to Ooty,and memories came flooding as the bus reached Ooty. While waiting for a ride to take me to the YWCA[charring cross], my mind began wandering listening to the conversations floating in the air from the group standing next to me. They spoke about going boating, to a thread garden and then to Coonoor.

It was the month of May, Chennai was crazy hot and Ooty was so cool and windy… I knew i was going to love the 5days there… The room i stayed in was within walking distance from the gardens and so that was where i headed the 1st day… Grabbing a sandwich and coffee at Cafe Coffee Day, armed with my camera and wallet i made my way to the Botanical garden

This Botanical Garden was laid out in 1847 by the Marquis of Tweedale and is spread over 55 acres. Lush green well maintained lawns, rare tree species (like the cork tree which is probably the only such tree in India, the paper bark tree and the monkey puzzle tree – monkeys cannot climb this tree), a 20 million year old fossilized tree, an Italian-style garden bordering a clear pool, a vast variety of flowering bushes and plants in myriad hues (exotic and ornamental), fern house with a vast range of ferns and orchids, are some of the many highlights of this garden

The beautiful horse cart that stood at the entrance of the garden….

The infamous India Map….

I walked for nearly 2hours and i knew i had seen not more than 30% of the park, that is how vast this garden was….. There were people everywhere, some were wandering about, while others had plonked to rest their feet or grab some lunch. It resembled a picnic spot of sorts… Ofcourse not to forget the zillions who wanted their picture taken near every tree, pond and the various canopies… Was quite amusing….

The Tree stump that was over 300 yrs old…

These flowers reminded me of Master Shifu, the red panda from Kung Fu panda…

Hidden within was this quaint little building…

A pretty flower in the Glass house situated right in the center

The Three headed cactus as i call it..

As i was walking around the garden, a lady called me over asking if i would take a “picture” of her and her husband near a plant.. I obliged and did the same… She then went on to tell me how they were newly married and in Ooty for their honeymoon… A few minutes later, she stared at me as if waiting for a similar story from my end…

“I am actually here on work, and had a free day, so came to visit the gardens”i replied.. The husband was stumped- i literally saw his mouth gape open… “You have come alone? How.. Why…. “… Managed to wiggle out of there after muttering a few sentences, which i could see had them puzzled… Luckily, the phone rang and i escaped the eyes of the newlyweds!! 😀

People and their opinions

Places and their beauty……..

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