Just looking at this picture, I want to travel to Lovedale. It is one of Tamil Nadu’s better-kept secrets. A tiny hill station in the Nilgiris of 2,300 people. One stop before Ooty on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway that’s been chugging up the Blue Mountains from Mettupalayam in Coimbatore since 1907. The toy train passed through 16 tunnels, crossing 250 bridges, and making 208 curves along the scenic mountainous route of the dense and misty Shola Forest. The landscape is wild and rugged. Lush grasslands and
narrow valleys. Waterfalls and tea plantations. Charming hill station halts along the way. Coonoor and Wellington. And Hillgrove and Runnymede, which you and I haven’t heard of before. The train laboriously huffed and puffed its way up the Western Ghats of Southern India. Joyously blowing its whistle. Then slowing down for a sharp bend in the track and the low blue building of Lovedale Station was suddenly visible among the trees.
The five-hour journey terminated in time for lunch. At the station, vendors selling Madras Filter Coffee and Pesarattu Dosa. Both steaming hot. Lovedale is a one-horse town. A village of quaint colonial cottages leftover from the Raj, a prestigious boarding school with a century-old Gothic church, a police station, a tiny post office, and a bank
(SBI, not your HDFC, Axis, or ICICI). Some tiffin rooms serving South Indian cuisines are close by. That’s all. Staying options are not posh. A few private guesthouses. Budget, is not a luxury. Honeymooners go there for the peace and understated charm of
Lovedale. Its natural beauty and climate are made salubrious by India’s two monsoons. Tourists come from Ooty, 5 km away, bored of the hustle and bustle of the Queen of Hill Stations. They come to see the school. Hoping to hear the last of the great pipe organs surviving in the country in the Church of Ascension on the campus. It is our third Lawrence School of military-style education. Established in 1858. Sanawar (1847) was first. And Mount Abu (1856) after that. I will take the Nilgiri Mountain Railway to Ooty. Then drive down to Lovedale, Wellington, Coonoor, Hillgrove, and Runnymede. Hopping from one hill station to the next as we do at pubs on Saturday night.
About Mark Manuel
The above thoughts/content has been proudly copied from the wall of Sir Mark Manuel. Being interviewing almost every role model of this country and going stronger each day. Mark Manuel is a respected Mumbai editor, writer, and columnist.
With over three decades of journalism in leading publications. This includes the Free Press Journal, Times, Dainik Bhaskar, Mid-Day, and Afternoon. He is famous for his brilliant pen interviews. He himself is a TEDx speaker.
Further
His interviews have been featured in several leading media houses. They include the Hindustan Times, Huffington Post, BBC, and Network 18. Almost every famous person has been interviewed by him in the country from Mother Teresa to Muhammad Ali. His first book is just out. It’s titled Moryaa Re! It is a crime thriller that is perhaps the country’s first police procedural. He began his career covering crime. And in a tribute to his experience and knowledge of this beat.
Several distinguished officers of the Mumbai Police and its Crime Branch collaborated with him to make this book possible. Amitabh Bachchan wrote the forward in a statement of friendship for Mark Manuel and admiration for his work.
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