Coimbatore

Coimbatore made its money on cotton. The black soil of the Kongu plains grew it, the Palghat Gap let the monsoon wind through to cool the mills, and by the early twentieth century the city had earned the name Manchester of South India. It still makes things — pumps, motors, textiles, wet grinders — and it still has the unhurried confidence of a place that has never needed tourists.

What it has instead is position. The Nilgiris rise abruptly to the north, the Velliangiri hills to the west, and the water from the Siruvani reservoir is famous across Tamil Nadu for its sweetness. Most visitors pass straight through on the way to Ooty. The ones who stay a day usually wish they had stayed two.

The most visited site is new. At the Isha Yoga Centre, about 30 km west at the foot of the Velliangiri hills, the 112-foot steel bust of Adiyogi — Shiva as the first yogi — was unveiled in 2017. Nearby is the Dhyanalinga, a domed meditation space consecrated in 1999, where you sit in silence. Older devotion is on the hills: Marudamalai, a Murugan temple on a hilltop at the city's edge, and the Pateeswarar temple at Perur, whose Nayak-period hall of carved pillars is the finest stonework in the district.

Kongunadu cooking is its own thing — less fiery than Chettinad, built on coconut, groundnut and small onions. Arisi paruppu sadam, rice and dal cooked together with ghee, is the dish locals are proudest of. Evenings are for kaalan, spicy mushroom fried at street carts, and the day starts, as it does everywhere here, with filter coffee.

Go to Isha in the late afternoon and stay for the light show at the Adiyogi after dark, then leave before the crowds do. Phones and conversation are not welcome in the Dhyanalinga; leave them at the counter. Kovai Kutralam falls are inside a forest reserve and the forest department closes them after heavy rain, so check that morning. And if you are going up to Ooty, take the toy train from Mettupalayam, 35 km north — the road will always be there.

Dress for temples rather than for the weather — shoulders and knees covered — at Isha, Marudamalai and Perur. The forests west of the city are elephant country, and the roads to Siruvani and Isha cross their corridors; drive slowly at dusk and never stop to photograph a herd. Carry a bottle; Siruvani water is worth refilling with.

Coimbatore is the doorstep, and the house is upstairs. Ooty is three hours up the Nilgiris — five if you take the rack railway, which you should.