Ooty: Too Sweet
I unfortunately forget the poetic terminology for that repetition of vowel sounds in a line. Any Lit nerd out there?
Anyway, Ooty is so sweet and cute. Just hopped over there from Coimbatore to join my homeboys ShmAmal and Vivek in their south India adventure. It was good to see bay area folks, and especially Amal and Vivek, since i hadn't hung out with them for months (and Vivek years?) even back home.
Anyway, our first night in Ooty was more just hanging out, catching up. After dinner, we went for a drink at a local bar. We were nicely surprised to find a DJ spinning some good hip hop, and soon enough we were joining the 15 or so other young folks -- Sudanese and Indian pharmacology students (guys) and white (European and American, I think) backpacker women -- on the tiny dancefloor. We got invited to an afterparty at the Sudanese students' place, which was also tiny and pumping with music. Good dancing. Lighthearted. The house and the vibe was a bit West Oakland. Haha.
The next day was probably more of the quintessential Ooty experience. We took a 4 hour tour, including the Dodabetta peak, tea factory, and museum. The museum was interesting. It had a number of panels that talked about the history of tea, from its likely discovery in China ages ago, to its spread and popularity in Japan, and then later to the Netherlands and England. Apparently, there was tea growing wild in Assam (East India) already, but quite a few plantations were started in India by the colonizers utiizing Chinese tea plans. Later, they started to cultivate East Indian tea, and then after some time (delayed due to the dominance of the East India tea company. Learned a few more things about this huge topic of tea. Inspired me to pick up that book on the history of tea -- I don't remember the title, but I remember the book cover (that's the visual artist dominating my perception, which sometimes happens --"it had a creamy white cover with reddish title. I'd recognize the font instantly!").
The rest of the afternoon was simply childish fun. We hung out in the botanical garden, were Vivek and I got a chance to play a little capoeira, what with both of us being way out of practice. But it was fun for everyone to just do flips and other crazy moves on the grass. Then we joined all the newly wed honeymooners on the lake. We got a rowboat, and Amal got to work out his arms and chest and flash big smiles at probably-single women who were paddling along in their paddle boats. This carnivalesque experience was topped off with all of us taking a go at the mechanical bull (i.e., you try to stay on the bull). Haha. All the women cheered when I gave it a shot, as I was the only woman at the time trying it out.
Homemade chocolate, locally made oils, and a ride on the toy train ride through picturesque rounded hills made ooty all the more cute. I don't think it was so much the attractions there, though as much as the mindset that people go there with that makes the experience so cute. I had so much fun.
Anyway, Ooty is so sweet and cute. Just hopped over there from Coimbatore to join my homeboys ShmAmal and Vivek in their south India adventure. It was good to see bay area folks, and especially Amal and Vivek, since i hadn't hung out with them for months (and Vivek years?) even back home.
Anyway, our first night in Ooty was more just hanging out, catching up. After dinner, we went for a drink at a local bar. We were nicely surprised to find a DJ spinning some good hip hop, and soon enough we were joining the 15 or so other young folks -- Sudanese and Indian pharmacology students (guys) and white (European and American, I think) backpacker women -- on the tiny dancefloor. We got invited to an afterparty at the Sudanese students' place, which was also tiny and pumping with music. Good dancing. Lighthearted. The house and the vibe was a bit West Oakland. Haha.
The next day was probably more of the quintessential Ooty experience. We took a 4 hour tour, including the Dodabetta peak, tea factory, and museum. The museum was interesting. It had a number of panels that talked about the history of tea, from its likely discovery in China ages ago, to its spread and popularity in Japan, and then later to the Netherlands and England. Apparently, there was tea growing wild in Assam (East India) already, but quite a few plantations were started in India by the colonizers utiizing Chinese tea plans. Later, they started to cultivate East Indian tea, and then after some time (delayed due to the dominance of the East India tea company. Learned a few more things about this huge topic of tea. Inspired me to pick up that book on the history of tea -- I don't remember the title, but I remember the book cover (that's the visual artist dominating my perception, which sometimes happens --"it had a creamy white cover with reddish title. I'd recognize the font instantly!").
The rest of the afternoon was simply childish fun. We hung out in the botanical garden, were Vivek and I got a chance to play a little capoeira, what with both of us being way out of practice. But it was fun for everyone to just do flips and other crazy moves on the grass. Then we joined all the newly wed honeymooners on the lake. We got a rowboat, and Amal got to work out his arms and chest and flash big smiles at probably-single women who were paddling along in their paddle boats. This carnivalesque experience was topped off with all of us taking a go at the mechanical bull (i.e., you try to stay on the bull). Haha. All the women cheered when I gave it a shot, as I was the only woman at the time trying it out.
Homemade chocolate, locally made oils, and a ride on the toy train ride through picturesque rounded hills made ooty all the more cute. I don't think it was so much the attractions there, though as much as the mindset that people go there with that makes the experience so cute. I had so much fun.
posted by sylviashines at 11:23 PM
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