Once during the spring of 2005, I had been backpacking to Ooty/Conoor. In one of my solitary sojourns, I decided to goto to Dolphin’s nose which on a clear day is supposed to give a clear view of the plains of Mettupalayam. I got down at the Conoor bus stand and took a rick to that place with the idea of coming back on foot and enjoy the pristine nature of the Nilgiris. As the rick snaked through the narrow streets, I could find the roads getting worse. In about an hour, lo behold I was in that place.
Dolphin’s nose is situated inside a private tea garden. The owners apparently decided to cash in on this popular attraction and had put up a couple of tea stalsl where you can both buy and drink tea. Nevertheless, the entire area was engulfed in a sea of green leaves and the air was filled with the smell of tea leaves. After this little digression, let me come back to the Dolphin’s nose itself on that day. Apparently I missed the prime time viewing slot, and the only thing I could see was the mist engulfing the plains in the distant background.
After a few minutes of stretching my iris and trying to focus on the distant objects, I came down and had tea at one of those tea stalls. Need less to say the tea was pretty refreshing and in such a backdrop of the mist slowly engulfing the tea gardens with the tea pluckers engaging in their daily chores, the tea tasted even more good. Meanwhile I was just beginning to moan inside about the arduous task of going back to Conoor town on foot and regretting that I had paid the rick and let it go.
Just as I was a little lost in my thoughts, I saw the tea bags carrying van coming my way. After a little bit of pestering, the driver allowed me in and said he would drop me on the main road while he was going towards the tea factory which was in the opposite way for me. FYI..the main road was at a distance of 4 km from the Doplhin’s nose. After reaching the main road, I got down and squeezed ten bucks in the palms of the driver and continued on my way to conoor main town. After walking for around two miles, I made a quick assessment of my vitality levels and realised that trudging on foot for another 9 miles will result me in having blisters on the foot for the rest of the summer. All this while there was not a soul on the road and I was beginning to wonder whether I had taken the correct route. I stopped near a tea stall for some more tea, what else?
Meanwhile I tried to stop a couple of buses coming along that way, but in futility. As I trudged along, a jeep came along and stopped near me. The driver asked if I wanted a lift to which I quickly agreed for a sum of 30 bucks, not a bad deal at that moment. I got up at the rear end and saw some 7 persons already sitting there. As the jeep started, the persons were very inquisitive about me walking alone on the desolate road. They asked me if I was doing this for world peace or something, but to their disappointment I replied in the negative and said that I just felt like walking for some distance. Quickly they introduced themselves and I did the same. They were 9 persons in total from Nasik(Maharastra) on a south India trip. They told about all the exciting things they came across and knowing about me being from Bangalore, they inquired more about the garden city. We soon were indulged in a friendly banter where each of them introduced himself. Pretty jovial bunch of guys I thought.
Maybe God was pretty angry with me aroud that time, because the jeep broke down with some 5 miles still to traverse. So we were left with the task of dragging/pushing the jeep uphill/downhill towards a garage mechanic shop. On the way, we saw both the sides of the road lined with tea gardens. A layer of green spread all over the area with the mist slowly beginning to cover parts of them- an experience I have never forgotten till date.
Meanwhile we came across a garage and the mechanic said that it would take another hour to repair it. So i paid my fare and bade adieu to my co-passengers and I soon got into a rick and made my way to Upper conoor bus stand.
That night as I was resting in my room in Reflection’s guest house, I was wondering about the famous lines from Robert Frost
“Two roads diverged into the woods, I took the one less travelled,
And that made all the difference…”
