In 2022, the popular hill station - Ooty in the Nilgiris district of TN often called the ''queen of hills'', is completing 200 years of is existence. Unveiling of John Sullivan's statue at Ooty by the CM of Tamil Nadu Mr. Stalin in May 2022- marked the beginning of the bicentenary celebration that is said to last one long year. The TN government had sanctioned R.10 crore for the celebrations.
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| Ooty Stone House thehindu.com |
Above image: The stone house, the first building constructed by John Sullivan in the Nilgiris; in 1823............
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| Sullivan's stone house ''(Kal Bangala'') Ooty, TN in.pinterest.com |
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| Founder of Ooty John Sullivan 1819.chennaifirst.in |
Above image: Sullivan's 225th birth anniversary was celebrated on June 15, 2013. He was the collector of Coimbatore district under the Madras Presidency. It was in 1870, Ooty became the Summer Capital of the Madras Presidency and the first couple to arrive at the hill station were Lord Francis Napier and Lady Nnapier .............
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| Hill station Ooty location map, TN.tapioca.co.in |
The Presidency of Madras took over its administration of the Nilgiris region on July 22, 1799 soon after death of Tipu Sultan in the last Angelo-Mysore war at Srirangapatna, now in Karnataka. While under their rule, the British did try to explore the Nilgiris hills. The modern history of this place began with the discovery of the hill by John Sullivan, the then Collector of Coimbatore in 1819.
His first expedition to the hill included a group of several hunters, warriors, etc with camp gear.. His camping at Dimhatti near Kotagiri gave him a unique experience and quite satisfaction with the weather on the hills. After two years he bought a piece of land from the Toda tribe at Hothedge Mund (habitat of Toda). According one Dharmaligam, Hon. director of Nilgiris Doct. center, the land was part of an abandoned funerary hamlet of the native tribes.
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| Tea Estate, Ooty, TN.oomtventertainment.com |
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| Hill station, Ooty, Tamil Nadu. tripadvisor.ca |
Sullivan built the first ever modern stone house on June 1 of 1823. It was a red-letter day in Indo-British history and the history of the Nilgiris hill. Under the colonial rule, this date is considered the foundation of Ootacamund (Ooty) as the first ever hill station in the British Empire. Sullivan's settlement, congenial weather and serene environment made the British on the hot plains of India move uphill. Soon the missionaries moved up hill and built a small Catholic church. The stone house is now on the premises of the Govt. Arts college. On August 18, 1868 for administrative purpose, Nilgiris district was formed by the EIC's Madras Presidency. This hill station was the summer capital of Madras Presidency for 70 long years; Lord Thomas Monroe. was one the early occupant of this place. Countless higherups, governors, viceroys visited this place. English actor Richard Burton once visited this hill station decades ago.
On his own initiative, Sullivan developed the Ooty lake and there was a proposal to develop this area into a sanatorium. The lake was extended farther for irrigation and agricultural purposes, etc. Credit goes to Sullivan who introduced potato, cabbage and tea plants new to this area as the climate was conducive for their farming. To day tea and coffee are major crops and there are plenty of tea estates in the Nilgiris, some of them were once owned by the Europeans once. Nilgiris Tea is a famous one on the international market.
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| cloudy dat, Ooty, Flicker.com |
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| Nilgiris Mt. railway, TN youtube.com |
It was Sullivan's early expeditions to the Nilgiris that marked the legacy of British settlement in this part of the hills. The pristine hill with plenty of unexplored wooded areas over a period of time became a beehive for human activities that had begun to change the history and topography of this place.
Once a beautiful and lush green place in the past in the last 200 years it has witnessed many historical events, the most important one being the exit of the British in 1947 who had left behind school buildings, churches, military station, mansions built by them to serve their purposes.
Though Sullivan's discovery had a positive impact on the economy of this hill station, there is an undercurrent of criticism and disapproval by the a section of historians and experts interested in tribal welfare. When the British owners started developing tea plantations with workers from many other places, their intrusion in the tribal land impacted the tranquility and livelihood of Todas. Ecological destruction apart, at stake was the dynamics of the natives and their cultural ethos. They experienced expansion on their land, loss of wooded areas and soil cover. Some heritage lovers are of the opinion that ''when good things happen here and there bad things do happen and such negative aspects of the arrival of Europeans on he hills can not undo what benefits Sullivan had brought in. His singular achievements can not be overshadowed by other negative aspects. The present over-crowding, air pollution, deforestation, more housing, loss of habits of animals - all these have happened in the past several decades because of Man's greed.
Today the hill station barely survives hosting 3 million visitors every year, not withstanding the fact that it has taken a heavy toll on it due to ecological degradation, over housing and increase in population. Once a nice small quiet town, a green paradise with wooded areas near by for gaming, post independence, it has become a concrete jungle with poor town planning. In some places houses/buildings coming up on barren slopes are vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season with the loss of thick soil and forest cover. The town is literally bursting at seams.
Residents complain that the garbage dump at Theetukal is an eye sore and a grim reminder of better waste management Indiscriminate commercialization and tourist influx have an extra grip on the hill station. According to the INTACH- Nilgiris chapter the best tribute to Ooty town during the 200 year celebration would be preserving the environment of the hills'' Still it is not too late if the town planners with adequate funds turn this hill back to old glory - a place of serene and ambiance.
'Dirking drainage sanitation facilities, new infrastructure, well-paved roads, multilevel car parking, exploration of tourism to improve revenue - all these need to b taken care of as early as possible, towns people complain. Further, introduction of cable car facilities here will give a good boost to tourism and areas with cable car facilities across India attract lots of people and children. Such facilities in this place are relevant as we are celebrating 200 years of its discovery.
https://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2015/09/john-sullivan-of-east-india-company.html
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