Penn’s work documents the high point of British Nilgiris, when Ooty became the Summer Capital of the Madras Presidency in 1870.  

Penn opened his ‘Ootacamund Photographic Room’ in Charing cross, where he displayed and sold prints and albums of the pioneering photos taken in the hills. He also documented the local people, culture and customs. Penn specialized in portraiture of people, properties and animals, both domestic and wild. He came to be recognized as a leading photographer with exclusive access to the Government House and the  Ooty Club.

Penn also supplied illustrations to various books including ‘Sport in the Nilgiris and in Wynaad’ by F.W.Fletcher, ‘Overweights of Joy’ and ‘Lotus Buds’ by Amy Wilson Carmichael,  ‘Ootacamund. A  History’ by Sir Frederick Price and ‘Castes and Tribes of South India’ by Edgar Thurston.  

Penn’s collections number in hundreds. The largest collection  is held in the Oriental and India Office Collection in the British Library, London followed by  The Royal Commonwealth Society, the Alkazi Collection in London, New York and Delhi, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

Penn’s great, grandson has published some of Penn’s works in ‘Ootacamund: A Photographic Record by A. T. W. Penn’ and ‘The Nicholas Brothers & A.T.W. Penn: photographers of South India 1855-1885’

Penn was an active member of the local European society and was a member of the Nilgiri Volunteer Rifles, a self protection outfit which came into force in the wake of the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

Penn returned to England briefly before returning back to settle down in Coonoor where he died in 1924. He is buried in the Tiger Hill cemetery.

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In 1962 he was appointed the Mexican Ambassador to India. The ‘Ootacamund’ was written during his tenure in India. Critics consider this poem as not just a travel poem but a deeper commentary on human-nature relationship.

“This poem seems to be about nature and how it doesn’t care a single bit about humans. The last sentence in particular made me think that wilderness does not care that we have learned to talk and communicate. It flourishes whether we are there or not- it doesn’t need anything but other nature. This world is not ours, and we shouldn’t treat it as so”.

Another critic writes, “In the very first stanza one may see that the speaker is searching for Todas. Todas are an ethnicity of people who live in the Nilgiris of India. It then goes on to describe the people and their homes. Because I believe this poem is about the loss of respect for the Earth and things wiser than you. The last line from this stanza that I think is interesting goes like this: “shines like the moon on an empty well” . When a well is out of water, it kind of means you’re screwed if that’s your only water source. Water means survival because you can’t live more than a few days without it, signifying a metaphor for the end of our days if we run out.

The next stanza really stands out as backing me up on my hypothesis of this poem being about how the Earth could not care less if humans survived and that it would keep on living without us, probably stronger than before. From my understanding, Miss Penelope seems like a metaphor for white people or maybe just the British. She says how India could be so much more, but we never put it to it’s full potential. The next few lines seem to point out how the crows still do not care a single bit that we haven’t put India to it’s full use. They are part of the Earth and don’t care either way. Even though the British are disappointed at the use of the goods in India, the real goods are the secrets that the elders know, Wisdom.

The next stanza makes me think of humans destroying forested areas and how this is a prevailing problem that needs to be stopped. Clearings are made by restructurings of forested areas, and thus termites try to build back what was already theirs. For this next paragraph, I am skipping the 4th stanza because it is short and doesn’t seem to have much significance to the meaning I find is suggested in this poem. First off, this is where the poem starts to have a more hopeful theme to it. “A vision on the mountain road:/ the rose camellia tree/ bending over the cliff”.  This image seems to bring out how we humans may do terrible things to our environment, but the environment will still function, just as a camellia tree can lean over a cliff for years without falling. The next lines describe in more detail how the tree is impervious to what we do. Trees represent the Earth as many other things in this poem do. The Earth does not need language, and does not get the same vertigo we humans get. It can function on its own, and human’s problems are minor compared to the Earth.

The last stanza seems to have a very uplifting ending because of its’ last line.  “The charitable stars/ not crushing- calling me” .I think “charitable” stars are referencing how the stars have wisdom, and could be charitable if only we could understand them and worship them. In the beginning I thought this poem had no meaning at all, but as I looked deeper it really stood out as something to show people that we need to save our planet.

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Charing cross is a elevated piece of flat land on the eastern end of Ooty valley at an height of 7244 feet above sea level.  It formed the eastern end of the promenade around the original Ooty lake and it was a seven mile walk from there to the other end of the lake and back.

The name was in vogue from the time Ooty was made a hill station in 1827.  Major Kelso who took over as Commandant of Neilgherries in 1830 wanted to have the native bazzar there while Sullivan opted for Kandal. As a compromise Main Bazzar area was chosen.

Being a swampy land not many houses came up in the area in the beginning. Once the lake was broken by causeways or bunds and the waters began to recede, houses and commercial buildings sprang up along the sides of the valley.

In 1835 it was still a dreary area where Lord Macaulay lamented that he was ‘tethered to half mile around Charing cross’. Explorer Sir Richard Burton who was in Ooty in 1845 called it ‘an unappropriate name conferred upon those few square yards of level and graveled ground with a stunted tree boxed up in the centre’.

By 1847, Dr.Baikie noted that ‘The Public Library is situated near Charing Cross where four roads meet’ indicating it was becoming a busy commercial area. The maps of the time show the area a ‘Cutcherry’ or a native meeting place. Shops, churches and meeting halls came up along what came to be called Commercial Road. The only house named ‘Charing cross house’ was owned by a certain Williams who ran a girl’s school at Shoreham.

Charing cross came into prominence and became the Gateway of Ooty after 1870 when Ooty became the Summer Capital of the Madras Presidency. The first Governor to preside over the summer government, Lore Napier was given a reception at the Charing cross on his arrival. Later, in 1876, Viceroy Lord Lytton was given a reception.

In 1902, Viceroy  Curzon, who was given a send off  at Charing cross made the famous statement that  he ‘came, saw, and was conquered’  by the charms of Ootacamund. The tradition of welcome receptions at the Charing cross continued upto 1959 when the Russian leaders                    ( Khrushchev   and Bulganin ) and Nehru came to Ooty.

The iconic The Adam’s Fountain was installed at the centre of Charing cross (where the melonxylon tree stood)  in memory of a very popular Governor Rt. Honorable William Patrick Adam who died within one year of taking office due to cancer at Ooty.  The fountain at Charing cross was inaugurated on May 29, 1888 by the then Governor  Lord Connemara  in the presence of a large gathering of the public.

Charing cross became a busy shopping centre after Wrenn Bennett, the popular departmental store in Madras  opened their shop in Ooty  around 1900.

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I left school in 1939. Europe was beginning to fall under the control of Hitler. It was obvious England would be at war against Germany. I was 18 years of age, so I knew I had to do something useful for the Country. I decided to become a nurse.

I commenced my nurse training in September. War had been declared. At the training, I joined the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service. There was a call for trained nurses to serve in England and Overseas. The Queen Alexandra’s Nurses were serving with the Army in India and other places of the Empire before the War. This Service had a long history developing from the Army Nursing Service established by Florence Nightingale in the Crimea.

At Bombay Station, we were all dispensed into various trains. I was posted with other Nursing Sisters to Secunderabad. The next day we commenced our nursing duties. The casualties were British, Indian, African and other personnel brought to Base Hospitals by train. After nine months in Secunderabad, I was posted to a jungle hospital in Mysore Jungle. Till the posting came we worked in the British Military Hospital in Bangalore.

There were Italian prisoners of war, who were captured in North Africa. They were very polite, but enjoyed hiding away from work. One day three of them had disappeared and after I found them told them to come back to the ward. In a chorus they replied “Madam, we do not make war, we make love”.

Eventually I received orders to proceed to Gudalur in Mysore Jungle. It was a memorable time. We stayed in Gudalur for five months. It was a small hospital with  Indian, Gurkha and English patients.  We were kept busy with various tropical diseases. We lived with the wild animals; there were many – monkeys, elephants, wild boar, snakes and tigers, but we never saw any. We slept beneath mosquito nets. A life that will never be forgotten and I frequently recall the wild life that lived in the jungle.

In January 1945 orders came that the Hospital was to close, and I was posted to the British Military Hospital in Wellington in the Nilgiri Hills.

It was a great relief from the intense heat in the jungle. The effects of our primitive life were beginning to show, however it was pleasing to be able to sleep without the mosquito nets and to have a good hot bath without fat floating on the top, as it had done in our jungle home. The Military Hospital in Wellington, South India, was a peacetime hospital, a hill station and our quarters were lovely and cozy. We had fires in our sitting rooms and we burnt eucalyptus leaves on the room fires. We were given fresh food and vegetables. It was a great joy to eat food which had not been cooked over an open charcoal fire. Tea and coffee are grown on the slopes of Wellington and Ootacamundoo.

Night jasmine filled the warm night air with a delightful perfume. I learnt to play golf and squash in Wellington.

The sick patients in the British Military Hospital in Wellington, South India, were chiefly convalescents sent from Base Hospitals in other parts of India i.e. Secunderabad, Poona etc. The soldiers had served in Burma and had been badly wounded both mentally and had limbs i.e.legs or arms removed or severe skull wounds. They were having rehabilitation treatment and it was rewarding work to see their progress.

On 8th May 1945 the war in Europe was over. We did not celebrate because the war in the East was still in progress. Then on 6th August 1945 we heard about the atomic bomb that was used. Japan surrendered on 14th August 1945, we were all jubilant because we would be going home to England.

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Around 1850s, Ooty was a happening town. Fashionable ladies formed the high society of the town. Dance and merry making went on into the small hours of the day. The demand for hi-fashion attracted Monsieur Julien Etienne to come from Paris, in 1859, and open a tailoring and millinery establishment, the latter being under the management of his wife. He is believed to have had his shop near Shoram Palace and was very expensive.  Later he built the house called Montauban, and carried on business there. Montauban is a missionary guest house now on the right side of the road leading to Rose Garden.

Etienne is said to have been an excellent tailor and died in 1868. The grateful  people of the town  named the longest and one of busiest roads in Ooty after him. Etienne, his wife Virginia Anne and their three sons are buried in St. Stephen’s church.

Millicent Pilkington ( 1872– 1960) travelled from Lancashire to India in 1893 and stayed four months in Ooty. Pilkington was the daughter of Thomas Pilkington, son of William Pilkington, one of the founders of the hugely successful Pilkington glass works at St Helens on Merseyside.

Pilkington  went out to India as part of what was called the ‘fishing fleet’: wealthy young women travelling to India in search of a husband from among the very well-off single young men that worked in the country. She didn’t find a husband on this trip, but did keep a very beautifully illustrated account of her travels. The album goes on to describe her time in very high Indian society, attending balls, parties, plays and other social events. She travels around a little, starting at Ootacamund and going to Wellington.

While at Ooty she stayed at Hotel de Paris and sent a  post card from there with a picture of the garden outside the hotel. To the best of my knowledge I cannot make out where was this hotel. Suggestions are welcome.

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There was first the selection of Mettucherry for the purpose by Sir Arthur Havelock (Governor) who did so after receiving a deputation of the leading residents of the town and discussing with them the claims and facilities of various sites. After Arthur left the country, two other sites were advocated, one at the Charing Cross and one adjoining the Hobart Park. The former by  Lord Ampthill (the new Governor) himself and the latter by Mr.de Winton, the Consulting Engineer.

Charing cross was preferred but soon objections to it were raised by the Collector and a plebiscite was taken which voted with the Collector. One of the objections was that it would need a reversing station at Burnfoot which would make it expensive when the line is extended to Gudalur.

In the meantime, the Collector and the Municipality  had decided to set up  a native town in Kandal. The native population which was  resisting tooth and nail the Kandal shceme petitioned the government to adhere to its order in favour  of Charing Cross.

But the  Government again, resolved to abandon Charing Cross and revert to Sir Arthur Havelock’s original choice of Metucherry. It was thought that this was final, and that Metucherry would  become the site of railway activity as the Municipality were  already considering steps for the acquisition of private lands.

Meantime Mr. de Winton discovered that the Metucherry site was too

limited and will not provide for a goods shed of sufficient dimensions to meet the exigencies of an expanding passenger and goods traffic,

and  proposed, therefore, that the terminus should be about a mile out of Ootacamund on the Coonoor Road, in the vicinity of the spot where the aqueduct formerly stood (near Nondimedu) and where he calculated that the necessary land for all railway purposes was available.

Ultimately, the station came up in the site originally proposed by the Consulting Engineer.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

The legendary Prithivi Raj Kapoor had no occasion to visit the Nilgiris but his illustrious son Raj Kapoor was in love with the hills. Once in the 1950s my father interviewed him for Sports and Pastime. When asked why he is choosing Nilgiris for his locales instead of Kashmir which is nearer to Bombay, Raj Kapoor replied, “You cannot get these locales anywhere. That is why I do not mind the cost”. He made some of his memorable movies like ‘Jis Desh Men Ganga Bahti Hai’ (1959) and ‘Mera Nam Joker’(1973) on the hills.

But the most memorable of them all was Sangam in 1964. It was Raj Kapoor’s first colour film. The film was shot in many places in the district but  notably at the Government Botanical Gardens.

My late brother Thiagu in his book ‘Misty Memoirs’ says, “When Raj Kapoor was asked about the hit number ‘Yeh mera ha prem pathr padhkar’, at the famous and sprawling McIvor’s  lawn, he revealed that when the  lyricist Shailendar penned this meaningful song, he (Raj Kapoor) had the Botanical garden in mind for its locale”.

According to a critic, Raj Kapoor was always fond of fall colors. He says, ‘If you are watching the movie, just wait for last shot of the Prem Patra song. When Lata start humming and singing last mukhda of the song and long shot of Rajendra Kumar and Vyjayantimala walking holding each other behind the trees is breathtaking’.  Vyjayanthimala also recalled in her memoirs,      ‘RK certainly had an ear for music. Playing Radha in Sangam was the ultimate role in sophistication with a modern theme’.

Vijayatthimala also recalled that RK created all those lighter moments in the other hit song, ‘Oh mehbooba’ shot in Ooty Boat House. Years later RK studious, when it was wound up, donated the boat used in the shooting to the Film Heritage Foundation.

Sangam broke new grounds in technique and technology.  The multicolour smoke that was used for the background of the songs was a novel experience for onlookers. But RK took extreme care not to harm the gardens. As my  brother recalled.   ‘During the picturization of the songs Raj Kapoor himself will clear up debris from the shooting spot after completing every shoot. Curious onlookers applauded very warmly this rare gesture. Accepting the appreciation with folded hands, Raj Kapoor, told the crowd that clearing the garbage was his duty’.

However, when the same Raj Kapoor was asked later why he did not have Ooty in mind for Bobby (1973) he replied with regret, ‘Where is Ooty, its charm had gone’.

In closing, I was also one among the huge crowed which gathered at the gardens to watch the shooting every day. While the shootings were on we used to be amused, on the sides, at a bunch of  plumpy youngsters (around twelveish, as I was then) who used to madly drive small car like things up and down the walkways.

Years later when I had to see Bobby after it completed 100 days my friend recalled that the lead actor, Rishi Kapoor, was one of the plumpy boys whom we had seen in 1964 in the gardens.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway was featured prominently in the film.  Of the famous train sequence, Mark Tully, the writer who accompanied Lean says, “This sequence of shots show the crew filming the Marabar Express as it journeys from Chandrapore to the Marabar Caves. In reality it is a repainted locomotive on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, that runs from Coonoor to Ooty. This location, one of the most scenic of the journey, is Adderley Viaduct. The Marabar Express is filmed crossing the viaduct at the moment when Dr.Aziz makes his way along the running board on the outside of the train to inform Mrs.Moore and Miss.Quested that they are nearly at the station for the Marabar Caves. Miss Quested is understandably alarmed to see him on the outside of the train (there are no corridors on this narrow gauge railway) but Dr.Aziz  shrugs off her concerns, boasting ‘Look, I am Douglas Fairbanks’. For younger readers, I should explain that Douglas Fairbanks was a popular American actor of the 1920s , famous for his swash-buckling roles in movies such as The Thief of Baghdad, The Three Musketeers and the The Mark of Zorro.”

The movie was also shot in the St.Thomas Church, Ooty. Of this Chetan Shah, who was one of the Assistant Directors says, ‘ We were to shoot a church scene in Udhagamandalam and had to make a decision whether to transport a crowd of 50 from Bangalore and arrange accommodation for them, or to wing it with local residents. Having studied in the Nilgiris for seven years, I was able to call my local guardians and other ‘uncles and aunts’ and mobilize a crowd. On the ‘recce’ (reconnaissance), David Lean wanted to satisfy himself that the crowd had the right look and so we arranged a get together at the Ooty Club where in a rare departure from his withdrawn and preoccupied demeanour, he had to socialize and express his appreciation of my resourcefulness.’

During his visit, David Lean stayed at the Savoy Hotel. My late brother Thiagu who interviewed him at the hotel says, “Lean came to Ooty in connection with the shooting of his last film, A Passage to India. The late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi personally extended her government’s cooperation to Sir Lean to conduct shooting in India. During the shooting at St Thomas Church heavy security was provided. I had the very rare opportunity to witness his directorial touch from close quarters.

Later while shooting in Coonoor railway station, Lean shared with me his astonishment and happiness about the captivating beauty of the Nilgiris in a brief chat. He also said he was satisfied in scouting locales that were similar to those described in the novel. During the month long shooting, the huge film contingent was particular in keeping the environment of their shooing spots very clean and neat.”

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

The movie met with mixed reviews but all were praise for the Nilgiri settings and the native  cast.)

One reviewer said, “Those of us who are old enough to have seen that Stewart Granger film entitled Harry Black and the Tiger were treated to all the essential ingredients of a typical tiger-shoot in Anglo-India — blazing sun and tall grass, sunburned Englishman and his trusty rifle, the ‘native’ tracker and his mysterious intention and finally the great black-and-yellow beast leaping.”

Another wrote, “As a boy growing up in the 1950’s, I was totally fascinated by Great White Hunters and exotic locations such as Africa and India. Stewart Granger was also one of my favorite actors, so this movie quickly became one of my most well-liked. My son was a missionary in India, and he felt the same way. The landscape and wildlife photography is exquisite, and the movie does a fine job of showing the people of India and their culture in a non-prejudicial way.  I particularly enjoyed the depiction of the relationship of Harry and his gun-bearer, Bapu (I.S. Johar), which appeared to be built on mutual respect and admiration in spite of the racial prejudice that I’m sure existed at the time between many of the British and the native peoples.”

But the New York Time reviewer was less impressed. He wrote, ‘Anyone expecting a rousing adventure yarn from such a title as Harry Black and the Tiger had better think twice before visiting the Paramount, where this Twentieth Century-Fox release opened yesterday’. 

But he was much impressed with the Indian (Nilgiri) setting and the native cast. He added, ‘While both the cast and the scope of the action are comparatively small, the scenes at a remote outpost, with deep, natural panoramas and glimpses of native Indian life, enhance the Cinemascope screen in good color.  Three native Indians, perhaps aptly, steal the picture right out from under the verbose British colonials. Frank Olegario and Kamala Devi do well briefly on the sidelines. But a chirpy, bright-eyed little man named I. S. Johar, as Mr. Granger’s faithful servant, has only to open his mouth to own the  picture.”

Image: Poster of the movie

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Robert Fellowes Chisholm was a British architect who pioneered the Indo-Saracenic style (a welcome mix of the Western and Eastern styles) of architecture in the Madras Presidency.

Chisholm was born in London  on 11 January 1840  and had his early education in the UK practicing as a talented landscape painter in London during his youth. He arrived at Calcutta and moved to Madras in 1865 when he was selected to design the Presidency Collage building. He was also appointed head of the school of industrial art. He went on to design the revenue buildings in the Chepauk Place, the University of Madras, especially the  Senate building and many others.

In later years, Chisholm also designed the Napier Museum in Trivandram,  the Lakshmi Vilas Palace  in Baroda and the Municipal Offices in Mumbai.

Chisholm designed the Nilgiri Library in 1865-67 and the Lawrence School main building in 1865-69. He also built the Ooty Post office and the adjacent Court complex. The Oriental Buildings opposite the Collector’s office was also influenced by his designs.

Chisholm’s earliest works were  basically European buildings, using as its sources classical western architecture, with minor modifications for climate and materials. His design for the Nilgiri Library was gothic style. A domed entrance pavilion is a common feature of Indo-Islamic mosques and was innovatively used by Chisholm in the Nilgiri Library. The post cum telegraph office complex was built on Gothic Revival style. The Lawrence school building was done in  ‘Italianate style with a tall campanile similar to the Osborne House of Queen Victoria on the Isle of Wight’.

Chisholm was appointed Consulting Architect to the Government of Madras in 1872 and served from 1872 to 1886. He returned to London in 1902 and designed many famous buildings. Chisholm died on 28 May 1915  at the age of 75.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

Governor Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff had a road and a hill named after him. He is not to be confused with John Elphinstone, the popular governor of Madras and Bombay in the 1830 to 50s and a close friend of John Sullivan. This gentleman was a nephew of  that Elphinstone.)

M. E. Grant Duff was a Scottish politician, administrator and author. He served as Governor of Madras from 1881 to 1886. He was born to the distinguished British historian James Grant Duff.

Grant Duff was the one who created the Marina Beach in Madras in 1884.  On the naming of the beach, Grant Duff explained, ‘From old Sicilian recollections, I gave our new creation the name of Marina’.

He was a strong supporter of Dietrich Brandis in his reorganization of the Madras Forest Department and expansion of systematic forest conservancy in India. A species of iris was named after him, Iris grant-duffii. No wonder the Forest Dept came to be housed in the hill named after him  !!

He had four sons and four daughters. One daughter  Annabel was a poet, writer and high society hostess. She published her memoir A Victorian Childhood in 1932 including her recollections of Ooty.  She is famous for her quote, ‘I wonder shall I ever love any man, women or child as I loved Ootacamund ? Hardly !’

Mountstuart Hill was originally called Bombay Castle (not to be confused with the present Bombay Castle, which was originally called the Bombay House where Lord Elphinstone lived in1835). When Ooty was created a sanatorium both army officials from Madras and Bombay armies came for recuperation. There was a lot of one-upmanship between. The Bombay army men called their quarters Bombay Castle.

On the 16th April 1842 (today,  incidentally), a Government grant for this property was issued to Messrs. Framjee Nesserwanjee & Co., a firm of Parsee shopkeepers which had established itself some years before at Ootacamund. They built the Framjee’s Shop—‘a favourite lounge and trysting place of the old and young of Ootacamund society’.  The hill came to be called Framjee Hill.

Evidently, the sale refers to the northern slope of the hill. For on the southern slope the Office of the Commander of Nilgiris (now the old SP’s office) has been there since the 1830s.

By late 1850s the business in Framjee’s Shop was down and the partners were no more. It was tried to rent it out to  a hospital and later a hotel but nothing came out of it.

In April 1882 it was sold to the Government and two years later it was made an Army Head Quarters and named Mountstuart Hill. When the army men were found to be indulging themselves too much the Head Quarters were transferred back to Secunderabad in 1905.

In its hay days Framjee Pestonjee Bottlewallah, who came here with his father, Framjee Nesserwanjee, did business as bankers, general and commission agents, provisioners, spirit and wine merchants, auctioneers, printers, newspaper proprietors, livery stable keepers, etc. 

In 1869, the year of the only Exhibition held in Ootacamund, for Agricultural, Horticultural and miscellaneous produce, Mr. Framjee Pestonjee kept an open tent on the grounds of Stonehouse, where the Exhibition came off, entertaining all comers most liberally without respect to caste, creed or colour and free of charge….

After it was decided to shift the government to Ooty, Governor Lord Napier wished to build a Council Chamber for the Madras Government at Mountstuart Hill.  His Excellency offered Mr. Pestonjee Rs. 125,000 for Mount Stuart Hill and its accessories, but the latter declined the offer, asking instead Rs. 150,000 for it, which His Excellency was not prepared. The Council Chamber came up at Stone House instead. Much later the government purchased the   same property for only Rs.75,000 in auction.

However, a clause in the seller’s Will saved the Parsee Burial Ground just outside the property. That remains today the only Parsee burial ground in south India and contains the graves of the pioneer traders of the Nilgiris as well as that of Field Marshall Manekshaw.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

Image : Framjee shop : http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/f/019pho0000254s3u00068000.html

The last few years have seen the passing away of a number of legendary Badaga Bards like ‘Kerban’ Bellan, ‘Kallatti’ Basavan, ‘Kada Kambatti’ Bheeman and now recently ‘Thangadu’ L. Krishnan)

What is so unique about these songs? Charles Gover, a member of the Royal Asiatic Society says in his book ‘The Folk Songs of Southern India’ written in 1817:

“The Badagas are a musical race. They are always ready to sing; at birth, marriage, or death. But it is not only on such occasions that they sing.

Traveler along hillside tracks will often hear the distant chant, the loud and sudden chorus, and then again the floating strain of the single singer, borne gently and like the reflex of some distant wave on the wings of the cool night breeze. Such echoes tell of Badaga merriment, and that at that moment a whole village-full of folk are gathered round some mossy stone, listening to and then joining in the song of a rustic Homer or Badaga bard who leads the resounding melody. Men, women, and children are there.

Even as they sing some man or maiden springs to the front and dances to the song, light and agile as a deer or, better still, a mountaineer, such as they are. Thus with song and dance the evening glides away.

It is not certain that civilization has furnished greater nations with better modes of enjoying the silvery moonlight tide. It is quite certain that few

nations can boast of better songs as far as words may go. They are rather songs such as the minnesingers trolled out—stories in poetry. More than ballads, less than books, they remind one, in everything but their morality and lack of appreciation of the beauties of nature, of Chaucer’s stories.

(For the literary savvy) Imagine, if it be possible, a Wife of Bath or a Merchants Tale that should be devoted to the wickedness of sin rather than to the pleasures of the flesh ; and then in dramatic character, poetic force, vividness of colouring and completeness of story, we shall get a Badaga song”.

Image : Late Thangadu L Krishnan at the ‘Mountain Rhythms’ organized by me in 2009 at Sullivan Memorial as part of a Trilogy, the others being ‘Music of the Mountains (at Music Academy) and   ‘Mountain Melodies’ (at British Council).

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image : https://badagasongs.wordpress.com/2014/12/10/49/

Given below are excerpts from a popular poem. Italians are now fighting the deadly corona with the same spirit of bravery).

The Poem is about the legendary Horatius Cocles who during a war defended a bridge alone, and perished in the waters.

“Haul down the bridge, Sir Consul,

          With all the speed ye may;

     I, with two more to help me,

          Will hold the foe in play.

     In yon strait path a thousand

          May well be stopped by three.

     Now who will stand on either hand,

          And keep the bridge with me?”

     Then out spake Spurius Lartius;

          A Ramnian proud was he:

     “Lo, I will stand at thy right hand,

          And keep the bridge with thee.”

     And out spake strong Herminius;

          Of Titian blood was he:

     “I will abide on thy left side,

          And keep the bridge with thee.”

     “Horatius,” quoth the Consul,

          “As thou sayest, so let it be.”

     And straight against that great array

          Forth went the dauntless Three.

     For Romans in Rome’s quarrel

          Spared neither land nor gold,

     Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life,

          In the brave days of old.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

The establishment of Ooty as the Summer Capital of the Madras Presidency in 1870 brought rapid developments to Ooty and attracted many Europeans who were in need of a place for gathering and entertainment. One of the businesses which thrived after 1878 was the horse drawn ‘Tonga’ service  which replaced the  grueling practice of native runners taking the mail at day and night. The Brownes made  a monopoly of the trade earning the sobriquet ‘Tonga’ Browne.

The Brownes had stables all along the route from Mettuplayam  with halts at Coonoor and Yellanalli. Their office was at where Shinkows and other establishments are today.

The Brownes were one of the biggest realtors of  their time  owning  among others Assembly Rooms, Lawley Institute, Simpson company     (which was their home), Clifton cottage,  Shoram  palace and Oriental Buildings opposite Collector’s office.

The Brownes were very active in public life. John, who was in the original Garden committee along with McIvor, was  known to swear fluently in Tamil and English.

The  Brownes built the present Assembly Rooms evidently in 1886 closer to where they owned several houses including their house. But the Rooms did not do well as it was found difficult to get performing artists and troupes. But regular fund raising events were held to help government hospital and other public causes.

The Brownes fortune ended with the death of Harriat in 1899 of cancer at the age of 52. Tonga Browne died three years later at the age of 59. Their only son, a popular veterinary surgeon in Ooty lived up to 81. Both are buried at St. Thomas Church, Ooty.

The Browne papers have been donated by their granddaughter to the Cambridge University archives.

An obscure road behind Assembly Rooms is named after Tonga Browne.

• Nilgiri Documentation Centre