Hand grenades and mortar attacks!

Couldn't think of a title so wrote something that sounded exciting to draw you in to reading...

Great news last Thursday evening as I got a tv complete with cable channels installed! Unfortunatley no live rugby but there's cricket and movies. Part of me is sad at my dependence on the tv for entertainment, as opposed to cultural things like reading books and going for walks, the other part of me is excited at stumbling across an Indian version of He-Man. Happy days.

Plus, the tv guy had not only installed the tv, but also got my washing in for me off the line as well. Now that's customer service. NTL could learn a lot (ruining my front wall with their clumsy drilling).

On Saturday - oh no, wait, Sunday actually - I was at work on Saturday - Sam took me to see John Sullivan's bungalow. I've just realised that it doesn't technically meet the definition of a bungalow, but that didn't occur to me at the time. JS was an early pioneer, the Englishman who "discovered" the Nilgiris. JS brought a lot of change: roads, new fruits and vegetables, and so on. Of course not all of the change was for the best, but on the whole it was, and JS was a benevolent and compassionate person who fought for the rights and increased welfare of the local communities, and as such is much appreciated in these parts. And he had a cool house.


Here's a picture of Johnstone square, the centre of Kotagiri. I'm not sure who Johnstone was, or perhaps it was even John Stone. Who knows. Answers on a postcard please. The Kotagiri Green Shop is located here, one of the retail outlets where Keystone sell their organic produce. I bought some tasty veg and some healthy amla (gooseberry) candy on Sunday arvo.

After that Sam and Senthil took me on a walk to see some local waterfalls. The scenery was stunning, amazing views in every direction. They told me of the wild animals that abounded - elephants, bison, leaopards, panthers - but unforutunately we saw none. On the other hand we did see some more MONKEYS. Dem pesky monkeys, dey do get ev-ree-where! At one stage I walked out on a narrow precipice to get a better view of the falls, and suddenly behind me there were about 8 monkeys blocking my path back, and monkeys climbing up the cliffs on the other three sides of me. It was rather sinister, but I managed to make my escape, pausing only to take a snap of this she-monkey with extraordinarily large nipples.