With this brief introduction to the Western Ghats I am going to explain why I decided to go for a blog on the Ghats.
The reason for this blog is very simple- I am a native of the Western Ghats.
Born and brought up for some time in a small factory town called Aravankadu in the Nilgiri Hills, destiny had it that I should remain all along the ghats to date. Except for the four years of my graduate study at BHU, Varanasi, the rest of my life has been along the Ghats. Having completed schooling in places like Aravankadu, Thiruvananthapuram and Coimbatore, my first posting in the Government of Tamilnadu incidentally happened to be in Ooty and Kotagiri in the Nilgiri Hills. Later when I quit and joined Syndicate Bank as Rural Development Officer, I was posted to Mananthavady (then called as Manantoddy) in the Wynaad Hills. While working in the bank, by sheer twist of fate, I was posted again and again on the hills. From Mananthavady in Kerala state I moved to Kotagiri on the eastern side of the Ghats. From there they moved me to Kollur in Karnataka, then back to Coonoor in the Nilgiris. For sometime I worked in Coimbatore where I stayed near the Maruthamalai Hills of the Ghats. In 1998 when I quit the bank and joined a private company I was posted to a place called Marthandam again on the Western Ghats! In 2007 when I quit this company too I decided to continue in Coimbatore at the foot of the hills of the Ghats. My house faces the Western Ghats and is flanked by a section of the Ghats on the North-west as well as the South-west.
Sun setting behind the Western Ghats. As seen from my house.
Photo by : U. Abhishek (my son)
Having been associated with the Western Ghats for the over five decades I have virtually fallen in love with the people, flora and fauna and as I have a lots to share, the best way , I thought, would be to blog. In 1998 when I opened my Yahoo mail account I found that my name uday was already in use. Without waiting for any other options I just added ‘wg’ to my name as ‘udaywg’ and went ahead with the registration. The words ‘wg’ stand for Western Ghats! My wife incidentally belongs to the southern part of the Western Ghats- Kanya Kumari District. My daughter was born in Mananthavady, Wynaad District and my son in Kotagiri, Nilgiris.
In the coming days I plan to post blogposts on my experiences and views on the Western Ghats in this blog. This being my first blogpost, I take this opportunity to inform all readers of this blog to feel free to leave their valuable comments at the end of each of the blogposts and if you feel like following my blog please join me as a Follower too.
