Dispatches from the Nilgiris

Most people arrive in the Nilgiris for the weather, the scenery or the promise of a quieter life. Few realise that the hills have plans of their own. A gently amused reflection on belonging, unexpected transformation and the slightly disconcerting moment when a return to the city feels more foreign than life in the mountains.

Part social club, part village square and part time machine, thehill-station club remains one of the last places where people still dress for dinner, applaud politely at cricket and discuss rainfall with genuine enthusiasm. A gently amused dispatch from a world of bridge, whisky, local performances and enough old-world charm to convince a newcomer that he may have wandered into the final unpublish...

To the newcomer, the Nilgiris appears to be a single place. It takes a little time to realise that several entirely different worlds are somehow occupying the same stretch of mountain. In this episode, a recent arrival attempts to make sense of estate owners, tea workers, army officers and fellow immigrants, each of whom seems to inhabit a different version of the hills. A gently amused exploratio...

Every small town possesses an information network. The Nilgiris appears to have perfected the concept. A humorous dispatch about gossip, familiarity and the growing suspicion that everybody knows who you are long before you've worked out who everybody else is.

A city man moves to Coonoor expecting fresh air and good tea. What he doesn't expect is that nothing arrives on time. In the Nilgiris, there is no instant delivery, no same-day solutions and no rushing what refuses to be hurried. Power cuts, punctures on Sundays, closed shops and "we'll see tomorrow" become unexpected teachers. A funny, exasperating and ultimately revealing intro...