Ooty, a fantastic journey with the Todas

A friend suggested to go and visit Oothy, he said "he loved spending time with the Todas who are heritants of a really ancient nomadic culture", while a Maráthi doctor told me that "they were tough warriors who knew no fear"- so I was really curious to meet them. Only eight thousand people speak the Toda language nowadays. According to some anthropologist, they are the heirs of the ancient Mesopotamian culture - it also reminded me of the Ma'dans of South-Iraq whom I wrote about in connection with the Gandharan culture in my dissertation.

Nīlagiris are indeed 'blue mountains'. There are two options to travel to the hills - one is a locomotive that has been added to the UNESCO heritage as an extension to the World Heritage Site of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. The site then became known as Mountain Railways of India. Sadly I didn't know, so one more reason to return one day :) Travelled from Mettupalayam by car with a couple of Tamil ladies, they were really sweet. I was so impressed, and excited to see mountains again after the Up-country.

We shared a van, and I could make planty of blurred pics sitting in the front with the backpack in front of my legs.. well, rather hugging it especially by each turn :D

So this mountain range is twice as high as our mountains, above 2000m (highest peak is Doddabetta 2,637m). Looking all around there is a dense tropical forest, a real jangal, full of lians steep hill-sides and valleys. Monkeys sitting in troops along the road. Since huge portions of the Indian black tea is grown here, vast areas are covered by lush green tea plantations. I really loved to see Poinsettia (beware it is poisonous), it was striking to see half-one meter tall plants with sharp red long petals.

I spent a couple of days by the lake at a really nice homestay, unfortunately this cold weather (and I guess a four month continuous exhaustion) made me a bit weak and I was on the edge of becoming sick, but with the necessary rest all my power came back, and after 4 foggy days the sun also rose up (before I could measure the time based on the hourly growls of the nearby Dinosaur park).

Oothy has a Christian community, high school and the beautiful St. Stephen's Church. As I'm not baptised, usually not talking with followers, only with a few special friends who are open to discuss several topics.

The Bothanical Garden

Has the largest selection of roses, more than 300 hybrides. My plan was to visit the garden first and than to climb. In fact I had nothing but Google maps, and should have asked this lady at the entrance, where the village is, as tourists and young guys had no idea. So that was strange, but I took it as a challenge.

Just followed my instincts and climbed higher and higher, the air was so humid that I had to make some breaks. Some lovebirds were chit-chatting at the back of the garden, and I started to feel so pure energies. Of course between so much of plants it's normal, but there was something else - the journey led between giant trees.

Stepping between them I felt like an old gate opening. It has much to do with our ancient customs I wouldn't like to share here.

On the top the first thing one can discover is the old temple, and than an elderly man slowly walked towards me and started to answer my questions. He told me, that all together around a hundred and fifty people live in this small hill area here in Ooty. Their gods are the Buffalo god, the Sun and the Moon. Only the priests enter the temple, people pray outside in front of the building, women are from 10 feet distance, this is an old convention, nothing to do with their role. The hut temple is used when they have festivals in June and January when weddings and birthdays are celebrated.

“At this point I stood dumbfounded at the sight of an entire buffalo herd trotting towards me — they approached with a deep roar. I just stared completely freezed when suddenly they changed direction."

Ok that it is buffalo shepherd tribe, still.. just didn't expect the first meeting with these huge animals would happen so elemental and so sudden. A calf escaped, but a man suddenly got there, grabbed it on the tail, and swayed the escaped animal into the pen.

Their tiny little village was an intricately connected network of buildings .. it was very sweet. A hint of India, but something much more.. They still had the guest law. They kindly invited for a tea with buffalo milk, showed a seat and we started to talk. We had a mutual introduction, who is who in their family, where I am from, I showed my country on the map and showed some pictures about the Budapest, our lake Balaton, telling we have only 8-10 million people - they seemed to be not just deligthed to see these all, but naturally interested.

“I had an impression, that as all usually all people living in nature, they are quite humble, kind and balanced. Very much connected and blissful."

After this they have asked whether I would like to see their handicrafts - being a fan of folk art I was more than excited! They showed their works, and explained the preparations and the techniques. This embroidery reminded me not just to Nordic folk art, but many patterns were quite universal.. the things I chosed are actually still my favourite. You can check out yourself, they have a facebook profile, these are available.

After the embroideries we had some chit-chat, they were so amazing, we couldn't stop smiling and laughing. Their language reminded me like a mixture of very alternative languages from Dravidan (maybe it sounds weird, it was a bit like Portuguese, Russian and Mongolian.. I know it's weird. For sure it is very archaic). I would have liked to have spent days learning more about their culture and continuing to pay attention to their language, which is incredible that they don’t have any written form or literature - they just speak it. We changed contacts for pictures.

As the sun started to go down, I was better to leave. A married couple came up with a photographer - possibly they were scholars. To know more about other Toda tribes, and their lives, click here or here.

Road trip and football stars

Next morning as we kept exchanging pictures on this contact, Nesmudi, a son of one of the artisan lady wrote that he could show more of Ooty. I was more than happy to go on a full-day hike with them to the mountains - His bride also came, Sneha, are his brother, Alars. He also invited for a marriage function in December, hope I can come back, so beautiful pure souls (a wedding video - just to show).

You need to slide here to see Catherin Water Falls, Kothagiri. or Geddhehaada halla, Kallar river, Ooty

So riding the road again - full of insane happiness :D ... after travelling in the Up Country in Lanká, it was Ooty where I have realised that my soul finds immense peace in the mountains, and I will find such a place for my old days. This is just something you can feel, when a mountain calls, their songs during the night, it is uncomparable to anything. Once I climbed a mountain after sundown in Hungary, which was my home those times. It was full Moon, so everything shone in the forest almost like sunlight and all the colors were purple and grey. Inspirations just flew in the air in a form of a very ancient song which I never heard before.. Was one of the most magical night in my life.

Even in Thiru I heard so much calls from the Himalayas - not a voice or a thought, but a certainty, a feel of belonging, being part of them, and an instinct of purpose... but I was late because of winter has arrived already in November. The mountains can express what humans will we never will be able by words.. Of course I'm not the first one who ever had this observation. Many travellers, hikers, professional alpinist have reported this. So this feeling is so strong, when someone else experiences the same, and talks about, you start to have the same vibes again. Brrr... shivering.

So now comes the final surprise - percussion - got to know by the end of the journey - that these amazingly nice and lovely guys, are:

members of the National Football League - Alars, Aliyase Kuttan and their cousin also, Vinith!! Yayy!!

Oh, and by the way, they have degrees, and quite open minded and intelligent in many different topics, so seriously they are totally superstars in each sense. Never miss a bike trip with them if you like to ride.

Backwards on one of the bike the pick-up cord was torn, we had to swap places - which we had done before because of the weight distribution. I was a bit worried if we will manage. As it started to get dark and we ripped home on the bikes a huge fog descended on the road, I still remember the turns we did, and the stops we had to make. It got so awfully cold and not at all a fairy tale, took on my cap. When we got back to town, and we arranged the guiding things, invited them for tea and cakes, we were so frozen, was nice to sit in a confectionary. May we meet again.