Scars still remain on the hills of Nilgiris, or the Blue Mountains. The brown patches are not only testimony to the hundreds of landslides that killed around 50 people last November, but also of what over-exploitation and the real estate boom has done to the fragile ecosystem of the verdant Queen of the Hills. However, no one seems to have learnt anything. The administration is slow in taking action, though they continue to warn of stringent punishment for flouting laws. Ironically, many well-placed persons, VIPs and protectors of the law, have a piece of the pie. A key norm that is grossly violated is that houses should not be built on a slope 60