Seventy years ago almost to his day on December 13, 1950 a Douglas DC-3/C-47 Dakota VT-CFK of Air India crashed near Kil Kotagiri in the Nilgiris killing all 17 passengers and 4 crew. A military search party found the wreckage a whole week after the accident on Dec 19 inRead More →

Who is stronger ? Bengali or Madarasi Soldier ? A June  Ooty bet in 1835 !!! In June 1835 Governor General William Bentinck was in Ooty recuperating. Sir Frederick Adam, the Governor or Madras and Lord Macaulay were with him. Bentinck was staying in the present Ooty Club. Once, probablyRead More →

Gandhiji’s Nilgiri connections started in 1914 even before he was bestowed, for the first time,  the title of Mahatma by a journalist in 1916. Gandhiji returned from his eventful stay in South Afraica to India in 1914 and stayed in Tagore’s Santhiniketan. He first had a glimpse of Nilgiris throughRead More →

Ooty Centenary  (June 1, 1923) Ootacamund June 1. The following is the reply of H.E the Governor ( Lord Willingdon, who later became the Governor General of Canada) to the address presented by the Hill tribes. Members of the Hill tribes of Nilgiris, I thank you for your interesting addressRead More →

The reputation of the Nilgiris as a sacred mountain has been recorded in history. According to legend in the 18th century one glance at the Nilgiris hills would suffice to cleanse a man of all his sins. It was said to be the belief of the people in the surrounding plainsRead More →

144 years ago, this day, the Viceroy of India, Lord Lytton arrived in Ooty at 5.30 pm. Elaborated arrangements were made from the morning. A Triumphal Arch was erected at Charing Cross to welcome him. This was the first visit by a Viceroy of India. The entire European population ofRead More →

Ooty has more than one connection with Afghanistan dating back from as early as 1855. In that year a treaty was signed between the East India Company and His Highness Ameer Dost Mohummud Khan, Walee of Cabool to “respect the territories of the Honorable East India Company and never toRead More →

(Indian Medical Service began soon after the birth of East India Company in 1600. Surgeons were first appointed in ships carrying men and material to India. By 1614 a Surgeon General was appointed. The Bengal Medical Service was set up in 1763 followed by similar services in Bombay and MadrasRead More →

(The American Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865 between the Northern States and the Southern States mainly over slavery of the blacks. Ooty locals will remember the many wonderful westerns staring John Wayne, Richard  Widmark, Robert Mitcham etc on the civil war stories –  especially, the climax withRead More →