Parks and Recreation

As you could see in yesterday's Blip, Ooty is a very English town. The English chose this place for its pleasant climate and aptness for growing tea in the surrounding hills. Pleasant climate in India means the temperatures on a sunny day won't exceed 25 degrees Celsius, but when clouds occur (not too seldom in the hills) temperatures drop to about 17-18 degrees. It's the cause for Ooty's nickname: jacket-on-jacket-off-town. It's also causing the locals to walk around in hats, scarfs and parkas, while the tourists are in shorts and t-shirts.

Another cute but slightly crazy thing about Ooty is its Botanical Garden. The climate obviously isn't too suited for growing grass, so the lawns aren't as lush and green as the English country gardens. What does the local department of Parks and Recreation do? Hire a group of about twenty people to fertilize the lawns 24/7. It was a hilarious sight: a pile of sh*t was put somewhere in a park and the park employees made a human chain to pass on the fertilizer to the last man. He skillfully spread it to every last part of the lawns.

I tried to capture it on camera but didn't succeed too well. While watching the hard work we got interrupted by numerous park visitors who wanted to take a picture with us. I got this shot in exchange for a kind of family portrait where J. and I are being surrounded by a huge Indian family. These two kids (who are freezing as you can see, may I remind you, in 20 degrees Celsius) were so cute and photogenic we didn't mind too much. After a while it got annoying though and J. and I rushed through the park like celebrities, ignoring potential photo ops. One of the weirdest things about traveling in Asia: you're never an anonymous spectator. You're the spectacle.