A misty shower bath all day long with short sunny breaks to dry up our wet soles (souls too) and naughty blow of breeze to frisson the dampish skin was our story of trekking through Nilgiris this weekend. We were all set to visit this “less talked about” place which holds a history lost in the mists of time. A place colligated with Opium War.
Opium War was fought between the Britishers and Chinese in early 1800s to force China allow free trade, particularly in opium. The success of Opium War allowed the Britishers to arrest over 1,700 opium dealers and destruction of 2.6 million pounds of opium. These prisoner were taken by Britishers as slavish yes-men.
One such place was Kinnakorai – dense forest 60 km from Ooty. Legend has it that the first tea plantation was started here with help of these prisoners. There once stood jail for the execution of POWs. Standing on the oddment in the silence of jungle cry, the nihilist torment could still be felt.
