KOTAGIRI WITH KEYSTONE
WHEN WE DECIDE TO RIDE UP INTO THE NILGIRIS WITH OUR PUP, WE DISCOVER SO MUCH MORE THAN THE VERDANT PASTURES & ITS FLORA AND FAUNA- AN ENTIRE LIFETIME OF DEDICATION RECONNECTING US WITH OUR CORE
A hilly climb
As per tradition, we celebrate our marriage anniversary away from familiar territory.
It’s warm where we live, so definitely cooler climes were sought. And found.
We’d been yearning to visit a friend’s foundation in the Nilgiris- it’d been many years and our minds were quickly made up : Keystone Foundation in the Kotagiri hills- about time!
We had recently acquired a pup – Tookie, and leaving her with a sitter so soon, didn’t seem like a fair proposition, so we hired a cab and headed out; an eight-hour car journey didn’t seem like an impossible and treacherous thought.
It wasn’t we discovered. Tookie was an angel. We arrived after nine hours in decent shape, having stretched our legs by breaking journey five to six times for our pup. A win-win.
The route, as one would expect, was scenic- lush hillsides, dotted with homes of various dimensions. Every turn greeted our vision with unabated joy. Our hearts were full.
Townsfolk were riding up with enviable ease, not slow, not too fast. Our driver was young and cautious. We simply leaned into the sights, as did Tookie, who understood from our body language, that we were at ease.
Arriving at Keystone
A kind of stand-alone and vast property atop a hill with a great view of a Church (whose bells made me feel I was somewhere in Europe- even Vienna perhaps) and great, meandering hills across made for uninterrupted views from the property, and our room, in particular. The terrain is hilly, as expected and dotted with trees of varying heights and beauty. The rustling leaves, the colour of the buildings (a brick red) and the layout, all of it formed an instant pull. To come up from the heat of the plains, and ride into fresh air, laden with the perfume of greens, gently lulled us back into an earlier existence, as it were. Nature was at large- tantalizing and irresistible. Bubbling up from within us was this sentiment, that we had chosen the right place at the right time.
It being a Saturday, the guesthouse wore a deserted look, even so it was all perfectly warm and sweet. The cook and housekeeper had been asked to offer us tea and snacks, and dinner for later on. And we had all we needed.
Tookie had to be walked on a leash at all times because we were quickly warned to not step out after 7 pm- there were wild animals around and our little pup could easily make for delicious prey. We too, I suppose. She strained at the leash, wanting to be let free, to be allowed to gather all the smells that were coming at her, and make sense of where she was. I felt a bit like her- desiring for this day to not move further- for time to stand still and not have us return to a regulated life among concrete and tarred roads which blared and gleamed under an oppressive sun. But night fell, and a new day emerged.
The two days spent at the Keystone Foundation in Kotagiri were both uneventful and fulfilling. Apart from allowing ourselves to bathe in its aura of compelling work with the locals and its biodiversity conservation program, nothing more was required or asked of us. The absence of restlessness that comes from living in a bustling town; the honks of passing vehicles; the noise that is intrinsic to a town-dweller’s hearing, was totally absent. It allowed our spirits to reconnect with its core. It lent calm. I was looking for nothing but this quiet I understood. Always the journaler, I did not feel the need to record in writing, or read. The environment cloaked me in its unique language of love.
My partner was equally taken.
KODANAD VIEWPOINT
We also visited, on our second day there, a staggeringly gorgeous canyon-like valley of hills called Kodanad Viewpoint, located 18 kms east of Kotagiri, among tea plantations. It is well worth the visit- as the breathtaking valleys sweep you off your feet at 6500 ft. It’s called the Blue Hills valley, and the view of the undulating hills and plains would stir one hardened by urban living; make a poet of the silent observer.
That is about all we did when it comes to tourism and must return for more of the same.
The Foundation and its Ethos (beginning to Today)
Pratim, a childhood friend, had studied ecology and gone on to specialize in environmental diplomacy in Geneva with to UNEP, was a Rockefeller Foundation fellow at Bellagio, and a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at Cornell. He married his economist partner Sneh, who received the Nari Shakti Award and the Jamnalal Bajaj Award from President of India!
The third partner, John Mathew, did his Masters in IRMA, he is President of the Asia Board for International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements and is MD of Last Forest Enterprises Private Limited, a social enterprise which Keystone incubated. The three of them founded Keystone back in 1993.
Sneh is also advisor of Aadhimalai Pazhangudiyanar Producer Company, a tribal led company that Keystone has also incubated.
The land upon which we stood, had been bought in pieces and stitched together to become the Foundation as we now recognize it. Trees and shrubs were planted; a Conservatory for endangered species of plants was created, and a dedicated Botanist looks after it as she would her offspring.
This 30-year old Foundation has made immense progress since its inception:
a significant achievement this year has been getting Community Forest Rights declared for indigenous communities in Pillur region (Coimbatore district). It has been followed by meticulous mapping of forest areas.
In December, 2022, they held their first ever Nilgiris Wild Food Festival, organized by their sister concern.
Their program includes:
- Climate Change
- Biodiversity Conservation (water monitoring is part of it)
- Water & Sanitation
- Apiculture & Pollinators (conducting floral surveys & monitoring wild bee colonies)
- Community Well-being (one of the largest teams at Keystone, with focus on improving quality of life for indigenous and marginalized communities in Tamil Nadu);
- Networks and Alliances (a platform for learning exchanges, and solidarity along the lines of agroforestry)
- People & Nature Collectives (a living archive and repository of indigenous, ecological and cultural knowledge from the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve).
What moved us deeply was the commitment of Pratim and Sneh, to a lifelong partnership with nature, Kotagiri and its environs; each program involves the tribals and the villagers and how their traditional generational knowledge is being recognized, respected and scientifically documented. We listened and roamed awestruck, handheld through all the departments while every team member spoke to us with chiselled clarity about their work, and what they encounter and must undertake on a day-to-day basis.
Read their story at: https://keystone-foundation.org/our-story/
Having a taster of this place, we, who sit at the brink of the dusk of our life, were overjoyed to discover this land and its ethos. With a quiet promise to return to these hills that resound with ineffable joy, we made our way back to the plains full of ideas on how to reconnect with Keystone, how to make possible, a collaboration of a lasting nature.
Having had my schooling in Pondicherry, my connection with southern India had been established in childhood, and while Ooty and Coonoor are popular tourist destinations. Kotagiri isn’t on the list of must-visits. Pratim’s presence here, made it a tempting undertaking. We are thrilled to have chosen to spend our anniversary at this Foundation.
It would be easier to simply take a train to Coimbatore, and thence a cab or a bus here. The drive is long and therefore tiring.
Keystone leaves a lasting impression and what we both felt, unitedly, was that we are at a spot, which encourages us to take the time to ride into the hills over and over.
It is an interesting read. Looks very tranquil and the pics of kodanad view point are breathtaking. Tookie looks cute.
Beautiful lilting write up....musical and enchanting, involving all the senses ! You beckon one and all to visit this hidden gem. Loved the fabulous pictures of you all and Lil Tookie !