Last May, my brother called me from Bangalore and asked me if we would prefer to go for a ‘farm stay’ near Ooty in India during our summer holidays this time. I knew he always came up with the best offbeat ideas for family holidays and this too, as ever, should be interesting enough. Frankly, with the soaring summer temperatures here in Kuwait which could almost grill a potato out in the open, the idea of a stay in a lush green farm sounded quite enticing. And with the adorable super active four year old son of my brother for company along with my eleven year old twins (son and daughter) it all sounded even more fun to look forward to!
So off we started on an early morning in July 2014 from Bangalore with all of us aboard a rented Mahindra Scorpio. Interestingly, just like in USA or Europe, these days even in India you can get these self-driven cars on rent. And this option turns out to be quite a bargain in comparison to hiring a car with a driver and we did not have to deal with the whims and fancies of an unpredictable driver. We were 8 members in all – my wife, our twins, my brother, sister-in-law, their kid and our Mother… Oops! and me, of course! Brother and me took turns on the wheel of the 4X4.
The route we followed was Bangalore-Channapatna-Maddur-Mysore-Gundlupet-Bandipur-Ooty which is a 6 hour drive from Bangalore. By the time we approached Channapatna, the kids were almost staging a protest inside the car for breakfast. They were clearly very hungry! So we did stop by at a nice restaurant and had a hearty South Indian breakfast with Idli, Vada, Kesar Bath and hot filter coffee. Right next to the restaurant were shops selling handcrafted wooden toys and artifacts for which Channapatna is well known for. The products are so attractive that no one can leave without buying a few items, young and old alike. There were even some handmade wooden wearable ornaments that the ladies just could not resist picking up. In these times of ever increasing popularity of eco-friendly living, such products even tend to be quite trendy and cool!
As we carried on down the road, neither could we pass by the town of Maddur without stopping by to relish their famed 'Maddur Vadas'! It is a savoury item made of rice flour, semolina and maida flour which are mixed with sliced onion, curry leaves, grated coconut and asafetida and fried as small patties in oil. So we did have our share of the hot spicy bliss and continued further with all of us packed onto the 4X4.
The drive through the Bandipur National Park, which is located right on the border on Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, was quite a scenic one with the road passing through the thick lush green forest on either side. It is a tiger reserve under Project Tiger and was once a private hunting reserve for the Maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore. We could even see some deer prancing about as we drove along. The kids’ were trying out pranks to fool everybody into seeing tigers as we passed by. As we could see, there were travellers and tourists enjoying their trip specifically to this destination. Maybe next time we will come and just explore this beautiful national park and you will get to read about it too!
Finally, by early afternoon we reached the town of Ooty and had lunch at a restaurant. And yes, we had to pull out our warm clothes by now as the temperatures were fast dipping as we climbed into the altitudes of Ooty. The drizzle that followed added to the chill. But we were simply loving it all! Having travelled from Kuwait, where temperatures had already soared to the 50s in Celsius, it just felt like heaven! Though the old world charm of the British era of this town seems to be waning with time, landmarks are still well maintained, specially the Botanical Garden, where we spent some time to relax after lunch and took some pictures.
Then came our last stretch to the farm where we had booked our stay for the next three days. It was quite a long winding road through the hills around Ooty. As we drove further away from the town, the sights turned more and more spectacular. You could see miles and miles of sprawling green meadows and farms on the slopes on the hills. But the roads simply became narrower and narrower while the trees and growth on either side of the road became thicker and thicker. This was the first time for all us to this place and we really started getting worried. Was it a good idea at all? Where was all this leading to? The area around looked more and more isolated from the town and human population. Then we reached a rusted sign that showed the direction to the parking place for the farm stay. It was a nice green, fenced compound with a small reception area that looked more like an army barrack than a holiday destination. Out came a smiling red-cheeked youth who welcomed us with warm greetings and pleasantries. His demeanour was very typical of the pleasant and warm-hearted hill people. Then to our surprise he told us that our vehicle cannot go any further from there! This was so because this vehicle will not be able to endure the difficult road ahead to the farm accommodation and that too in spite of it being a 4X4! Our fears simply couldn’t be withheld anymore. What now? Was this a good idea at all? The smiling guy asked us to relax and offered us some hot tea. He then told us that a special vehicle is on its way and it will be carrying us to the final destination. We waited with bated breath, but with a secret sense of pleasure at the adventure that was unfolding now! Finally, there it came. It looked like an old green Army Truck modified to carry passengers only. The smiling guy ushered all of us into the truck and he himself carried the entire luggage and loaded them into the truck. The mustachioed tough looking driver of the truck surely must have been an ex-army guy. We started seriously wondering what we would be doing for the next three days at such an isolated godforsaken place! We won’t even be able to go out to Ooty town easily if we ever felt like it!
Then there was that unforgettable ride on that truck. It was no less than a roller coaster ride, only with the difference that you are riding through a winding and undulating slushy muddy road through thick forest area! Frankly, this ride was crazier than the Dubai Desert Safari! We had to hold the railings on the seats real firmly to avoid being thrown all around! It took almost 45 minutes to reach the destination. But as the truck finally came to a halt and we disembarked…. We were rubbing our eyes in disbelief! The view was breathtaking! We were now atop a hill overlooking miles and miles of lush green hill slopes in all directions and a lake below which had a magical hue of emerald green. You could see the green patches of farming and meadows on the slopes all around. And right next to where the truck was parked was the quaint farm stay resort. There were rows of green roofed wooden cottages overlooking the breathtaking scenery. All the tiredness of the long arduous journey just melted away!
The charming lady in charge, dressed neatly in a saree and a professional blazer, welcomed us and led us to the reception and offered us some refreshing fruit juice. We noticed that the whole place was very tastefully done up in a ‘Wild West’ theme with the main reception hall and the restaurant looking like a ‘Saloon’ from those cowboy movies that we grew up watching. You could almost anticipate a gun-slinging cowboy entering any moment! A saloon used to be kind of a pub during those days of the ‘Wild West’.