Coonoor, a place I fell in love with
I don’t know how to swim, in fact I have aquaphobia plus whenever I have visited sea side, harsh sunlight always gives me rashes so this makes me naturally a mountain loving person. Living near Delhi for 10 years gave me ample opportunity to visit places like Nainital, Mussoorie, Shimla, Dalhousie, Kashmir. I also had privilege of visiting Alps in Switzerland and I absolutely loved whenever I got to spend time in mountains. If I can find a river in mountains, I need nothing else. I can spend hours at the bank of the river, just what I did in Pahalgam, when I had a chance to visit it last time in 2014. I can go any day and spend my full day just looking at the flow of the river. If I can get a book, what else I can ask for.
When I shifted to Chennai for my job in 2016, I have had the opportunity of visiting famous hill stations in south. They are no match to north india hill stations in height but offer much more mesmerizing look because they are greener. One place which I have fallen in love with is Coonoor, a quieter hilly town near Ooty, it’s peaceful, stunningly beautiful and it rains pretty often here.
I have found love in running since 2018. I wanted to visit places, which I haven’t and run half marathons there. I had never visited Mumbai so I went there to run a half marathon in Mar 2019. I had been in Chennai for 3 years but yet not visited the most famous hill station, so when I found out that there is a half marathon in Coonoor in Aug 2019, I registered myself for it and also somehow made my 3 colleagues to register as well. One in 10K and two in 5K.
We boarded a train from Chennai Central to Mettupalayam which is the nearest railway station for Coonoor. We got there at 7 AM and in next few minutes a toy train was to leave from just opposite station but we couldn’t board it as it had no toilet ;-), so we boarded a SUV and we got a pilot in place of driver. Somehow we reached Coonoor safely, though we had lost hope.
We had full day to ourselves and we did nothing other than sleeping. I didn’t even venture out for lunch, while other three did. In the evening we did go out to have a bit of snacks and find a beer. There was no one to give me company, so I settled with a solitary one.
Even though I said we need to comeback early as we can’t tire ourselves too much as we have an early morning run. But my friends didn’t heed me and a booked a cab for full day, which took us to Ooty, and nearby tourist places. We started early, around 9 and reached Ooty by 10:15 AM, where we fed ourselves at a nice, clean, self service restaurant. Though they were nice places to visit, but everyone realized by 3 PM that we have bitten much more than we can chew. We’re fully exhausted by the time we were back, by sitting full day in a not so comfortable car.
Next day we had a 5 AM start for our run. This was my first time on hilly terrain. I found out in my first minute that it’s going to be very tough. I finished slowest of all my 4 runs, in 2 Hour 41 Minutes. But what I witnessed during those 2 hour 41 minutes made me fall in love with this small place called Coonoor. It’s a breathtaking beautiful place with lush greenery. I loved it so much that I have been thinking of somehow making myself connected with the place, so I have a reason to return.
Idea is to buy a small property and retire there one day. Retirement is not that far for me now. I’m already in second half of my career and want to retire by 50, which is just 12 years away. My definition of retirement is different and doesn’t mean I won’t work at all; may be money won’t be the primary motive. So in that sense if and when I need to travel, Coonoor is well placed and is very near to Coimbatore which has international airport.
I’m sure life at mountains is tough and brings it’s own challenges, but now in this phase of life I’m more calm (my wife will surely not agree ;-))and ready to weather any challenges it brings for the peace and serenity it offers. Let’s see if and when this dream of mine, I’m able to fulfill.
