Sir Thomas Munro (1761-1827) was a Scottish soldier and an officer of the East India Company. He was the Governor of Madras Presidency from 1820 to 1827. A liberal and progressive administrator, Munro laid the foundations of the present revenue, police and educational systems. He originated the present Ryotwari (landRead More →
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), a Statesman and politician, was the Prime Minister of India from 1947 to 1964. He was an outstanding global leader of his time. Nehru described the Nilgiris as, ‘second England’ and did much for the its post independence development with far reaching schemes like the Kundah hydroRead More →
(England’s Legendary Prime Minister Churchill was brash, brave and bold. He was ambitious from his younger days. His first expression of his political ambition was made in Ooty) Having failed in his attempts to obtain a more exciting posting, Churchill sailed for India on 11 September 1896 and was garrisonedRead More →
(During the British time Ooty was the preserve of the Army, Coonoor was the place of ‘box wallahs’(traders) and Kotagiri was considered the centre of missionaries and intellectuals. Today’s nugget is about two Christian intellectuals who were not missionaries. On the other hand, they both converted to Hinduism !!) JamesRead More →
( The Lawrence School, Lovedale was opened on May 12, 1858. Many think that it was the legacy of a rich, old, bearded philanthropist. Far from it, Lawrence was one of the rare breed of Solider-Saints who served India. He is considered the builder of modern Punjab. He died asRead More →
(May 1 is the death anniversary of Dr Carl Roman Abt, a Swiss engineer, inventor and entrepreneur who was the founder of Nilgiri Mountain Railway. With all the fun and fanfare we have now with NMR, did anyone bothered to install a memorial for this genius? ) Dr Abt workedRead More →
( Imagine you have fought taken part in World War I and II and taken a prisoner of war and waiting for death. What would you write down? You Will ? Letter to your loved ones? Or your war tales? This forest officer of Nilgiris wrote about Working Plans forRead More →
(Krupabai Sattiyanadhan was a Hindu converted to Christianity before birth. She started a school for Muslims which is still running in Kandhal, Ooty. She was a doctor and a novelist who was the one of the earliest to write about women’s liberation. Her husband was the first India Headmaster ofRead More →
(In 1841 just before his departure for good from India, John Sullivan wrote to Mr. Brunton, Engineer of the Porto Novo Iron Works whether the copious Nilgiri waters can be tapped for power generation to develop the Coimbatore district. After visiting Nilgiris, Mr. Brunton reported, ‘that all the waterfalls he hadRead More →
(A contemporary of architect Chisholm, engineer Major Morant’s legacy in the Nilgiris is unparalleled. He was undoubtedly the Father of Nilgiri Mountain Railway. The roads, utilities and buildings he constructed still serve as proud lifelines for the district) Major and Brevet Liuet-Colonel James Law Lushington Morant of the Royal EngineersRead More →
( The iconic Nilgiri Library building and the Lawrence School main building, apart from many others which continue to add colonial grandeur to the Nilgiris were built by the renowned architect Chisholm who is more famous for the designing most of the colonial buildings in Chennai including the Presidency CollegeRead More →
(No matter how many it will finally kill or damage, Corona is bound to rewrite existing world order. Spearheading an alternative based on the Gandhian principles of Truth, Freedom and Health is a Dalit from Tamil Nadu in USA. Dr. Appadurai Shiva, a multi-expert and multi-tasking technocrat is taking headRead More →
Ever wondered what made Sullivan fixated on Nilgiris.Read More →
(“From China to Peru” was an old phrase meaning from one end of the world to another. The vastness of the world was beyond most human beings except for a few Great Explorers who dared to venture into the unknown with a sense of adventurism and a noble purpose ofRead More →