Gorkhas and Britain

Gorkhas and other non English people have been with the British Army fighting many wars for them. I read with some interest that these soldiers of fortune were mostly from the subcontinent and more of them were killed than the British themselves. The soldiers that survived had to fight the British Government for their rights and entitlement. War offshored one could say. And very convenient too. Fighting for Gorkha soldiers rights, recently, British Actress Joanna Lumley threatened to give up her British Citizenship and take up Indian Citizenship.

Would you do this?

Picture from www.hindu.com

I saw this extraordinary picture in the local newspaper, The Hindu. All this for a living? I really have to kick those political leaders who have put these hapless people at such great risk. I do understand that the infrastructure cannot cope with this kind of demand. But then the leaders, industrialists and people should do something to let people work with some dignity. This is almost along the same lines as the wilderbeast migration.

Mudumalai I

A wild tusker in the night
Indian Gaur

Monkey invitee to the party

Hanuman Langur with a baby

Mudumalai is about 60km from Ooty and the sanctuary has tigers, deers, leopards, elephants, Indian Gaur, hyenas, monkeys, etc. The whole place, like any other public place in India, is badly managed, but beautiful. We went on a night safari and even saw a wild elephant.

Ooty II

Visibility down to 10m or less

Thick fog

We went from Ooty to Mudumalai via Gudalur. The road downhill was mostly good. But the visibility was very poor to less than 10m because of thick fog. But there were idiots again who were driving real fast. Scary stuff.

Another wildlife sanctuary - Ooty I

Ugly houses amidst some beautiful meadows

Scary tree in Ooty Botanical Gardens

Ooty is also called Blue mountains

A rivetted bridge built in about 1920

We went to the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary since there was a chance we could spot a tiger and Radhesh wanted to chance it. The sanctuary wasn't very far from my residence, about 120km away, and up in the hills.

We had to go through Ooty which is a nice hillstation and much cooler than Darwin or Erode. Apparently, this was the defacto capital of the British in the South. Hence the place has many suburbs named after English suburbs such as Charing Cross, etc. The old houses are still around and they are typically English. Many tea estates still have the British touch. But the buildings of recent times are just ugly and are not befitting of the rest of the surroundings.

Driving is a nightmare in India and Ooty is no exception. You can see dumbos driving at 60k at hairpin bends with total disregard for their and others safety. Are they high, drunk, or just the lack of oxygen at these heights make them behave in such a atrocious fashion?