The third and the last day of the family South India tour and the place that we/travel agency chose for the last day was both beautiful and filled with many photo ops places.
The day started off again with us having the regular breakfast and packing our backs for good as we were supposed to head to Bangalore that night itself after exploring some of the places in Coonoor.
My parents were astounded and pleasantly surprised to find out the color of the soil in South part of India. The place that we come from, we mostly see black soil, be it in the fields or the normal ground, so, I could see their curious faces after looking at this scene.
I think I took that shot from the moving bus – nice photography skills, right?
After that, we were showed the Military base that they had around Coonoor area. I found it amazing that they had their Military base in a tourist area like Coonoor. This time, I was pleasantly surprised. One more click from the moving bus.
And the place where we spent most of our time – Coonoor Tea Gardens.
This was like living a Bollywood movie for my Mom, aunt, and sisters. I remember when we stopped at these tea gardens, all the ladies of the group were so jubilant at the idea of clicking many pictures here, they were the first one to get off the bus and couldn’t resist the idea of hiring a professional photographer to capture these moments in memories forever.
The photographers were really kind and innovative with the type of poses they were instructing my Mom, aunt, and sister.
You can see here my Mom posing like plucking leaves from the tea trees and putting those into the bin that is strapped to her head at an angle. This is the traditional attire that the tea garden workers wear while plucking tea leaves and tossing those in the bins that you see on my Mom’s back.
Also, I couldn’t resist to grab the moment with my parents and I think, my sister, Minu Tai captured this picture. Standing there with my parents and talking about random stuff helps you to keep things in perspective and grounded. Plus, this brought back many memories when I was hanging out here with my Bangalore friends a couple years ago. Good times.
After clicking I don’t know how many pictures, it was time to head to the next stop and on our way to Dolphins Nose, we were treated with such a scenic view of the tea gardens in Coonoor. I didn’t know back then that greenery soothed me that much. Again me being philosophical, this is me not appreciating things when I have them, until the moment is passed.
And we reached the Dolphin’s Nose. Even after trying many times and helping by my guide, I couldn’t see the Dolphin’s Nose. Man, it was so embarrassing to be the only one who couldn’t see it. 😭
And that brings us to the last spot of Coonoor and the whole tour – Sim’s Park. I don’t think we visited this place during my last visit to Coonoor. I was glad that we chose to visit this place in this tour as it gave my parents some time to relax and quietly lie down on the grass, which they hardly get to do. You might have seen in the Ooty’s Botanical Gardens how they enjoyed just sitting on the grass and chilling and living in the moment.
And this picture below captivated me. I remember sending this to my then girlfriend and expressing how much I miss her since we were in long-distance relationship. Good old times.
And this was the last photo for the tour. This was our hotel lobby, where we were waiting for our bus back to Bangalore. We had our dinner at a nearby restaurant and were all packed and excited to finally head back home.
While clicking this picture, we were basically goofing around and making fun of each other to kill the waiting time. It was a nice trip and I will cherish it forever as the last trip I took in India with the family before heading to the US. Fast forward half a decade, enjoying these trips in India seems like a distant dream now.
With a few more days to go, we have one last spot in mind before my parents head home.
stochasticity 