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birdsong, and at night, the noisy silence of
insects such as crickets, of night birds and the
call of prowling animals in search of prey.
In addition to providing a contrast with the
plains, the hills would also have been reminis-
cent of Britain and other parts of Europe, and a
substitute for returning home to England (Ken-
nedy, 1996). The vastness of the hills and their
untamed appearance was doubtless daunting
for some of the earliest visitors, though once at
hill stations such as Ooty, Coonoor and Yercaud
in Tamil Nadu, the gentle rolling scenery was
more evocative of the English Downs. Cool
temperatures would have been similar to those
of temperate Europe; hills draped in cloud and
mist would have reminded visitors of European
landscapes (Reynolds-Ball, 1907). When the
mists lifted (Fig. 1.4), glorious weather, rarely
too hot, would have evoked memories of sum-
mer days in Britain and Europe. Facilities and
accommodation on the hills were poor, virtually
non-existent in the earliest days of settlement
but the feelings of being close to nature would
have been some compensation. Being people
who were clearly adventurous (these early visi-
tors had undoubtedly taken considerable risks
by joining the colonial service or the army), the
joys of hiking in the mountains, of watching
both birds and animals and of hunting the
abundant wildlife would have been exhilarating
and a welcome contrast to daily life on the plains.
Another contrast would have been the
local inhabitants. In the south, many, though
not all the hill tribes were gentle people with
well developed subsistence skills, who lived
close to nature. British visitors to Ooty were
charmed by the Todas with their long hair in
ringlets (Fig. 1.5), their quiet pastoralism, and
their unusual and attractive beehive-shaped
huts. Some thought the Todas were related to
peoples of the Bible, inhabitants of an Eden
(Kennedy, 1996) and Fig. 1.6 reveals a 19th-
century representation of Ooty's hills. Here we
see Europeans gazing on a romantically con-
structed Toda family and their buffaloes - a
scene almost biblical in its form, of people in
peaceful harmony with nature. Similarly, on the
Shevaroys, the elegant manner of the Malayalis,
who would stride effortlessly for miles across the
hills, appealed to the European visitors, as did
the Woddas - stone masons with a gentle
demeanour and incredible strength. Both men
Fig. 1.4.
Mist-covered hills of Yercaud, Eastern Ghats. Source: author (2007).
 
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