Ooty - emerald in the Nilgiris: At 7440 ft., Ooty or Udhagamandalam (recent official Tamil name) in the Nilgiris (the Blue Mountains), is a sheer beauty and pride of the South Indian State of Tamil Nadu. Miles and miles of plush tea gardens, plummeting orchards, streets lined with green pine and eucalyptus trees and multi-colored floral diaspora give Ooty its sliced-out-of-paradise vista. The ersthwile Ootacamund (an obscure name for the sylvan beauty, isn't it?), is inhabited by the Toda tribes and the forested areas have a legion of wildlife, including the endangered Nilgiri mountain goat. What the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (Toy train) is to Darjeeling, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, is to Ooty - indespensable and inherent part of the Blue Mountains.