Narthamalai & Tanjore

Sometimes it just seems crazy for one to be willing to go see some unknown, how much you crave for some sort of escape from human company, and rush to obscure places searching, searching for something that you know can be disappointing, might not even be there, and could all be a wild goose chase, but you still persist for that one good snap.

NO, this one wasn’t it, though I do like the emotions, the deepness, the character displayed in the same, I was talking more on the likes of this one.

 OR, this one.....

Was browsing for ruins on the net (apparently those are the only places that seem to attract me anymore, a passion for the ancient if you will, my psychiatrist words it differently though) in South India and chanced upon this one called Narthamalai someplace off Trichy. So with nothing else to do on a Friday night, the ticket was booked at 7 p.m., and the bus was duly boarded at 11 pm (not without the usual running at the last minute to the moronically out of the way Koyumbedu bus stand, which has become a sort of tradition now). The sleeper (yes, there was enough space to lie down) made good time to reach Trichy at 6 in the morning, booked a room with the famous VijEy hotels (yes, the brandname is with an E). A shower and a couple of idlis later (I know, I would’ve preferred some paranthas cooked by mom, but beggars can’t be ……) was out asking around the bus stand for some place whose name most people gawked at. Well I had to ask for the bus to Pudukottai (I’ve become adept at finally pronouncing these names right now), and finally I was seated in the bus for the 45 minute ride. The weather gods were gentle, as there wasn’t much humidity in the air, and the sun shining bright. No perceptible signs of a bus stand are visible to announce the small town of N (don’t expect me to write that name again and again).

The small crossroad bus stand is one I’m familiar with a lot now. Just a couple of lonely souls standing here and there, a dainty corner shop, and small country roads branching out as an offshoot in either direction to the main road. To be fair, there was more than one shop here, and the country roads were laid with tarcoal, even a small sign announcing a Siva temple somewhere down the road. The path is dotted with Banyan trees, with the nice vines hanging out, reaching out for mother earth.

 In the horizon through the trees one can see the various hillocks, nice hiking spot no doubt, easy slopes that a novice can traverse without breaking too much sweat. The small paths through the shrubbery are quite inviting, but in an unknown land, I prefer to stick to the main path. After a 2-2.5 km walk, there’s still no trace of the hill I was looking for; I decided to let go of the male ego (sacrilege, I know) which had hitherto stuck to its own superior sense of navigation based on the intensive study of the area on google maps (5 whole minutes to be precise) and approached the locals. Now, its never easy when you don’t know the local language, & harder still when you don’t really remember the exact name of the site you wish to visit (Vijayalaya Choleeswaram temple, you can see how it want easy for me to remember this one). Having satisfied both these necessary conditions, I proceeded to the usual dance of awkward 2 minutes of English-Tamil, complete with elaborate hand gestures and human emotions ranging from frustration to helplessness. 

I carried on the path I had seen already, and sure enough, there is the temple ruin hiding behind the gentle slope. The hilltop is no more than 200-300 meters long, but if you have stayed as well in shape as me, then you’d be huffing in the sun as well. The layered rocks are a treat to walk on, and with not a soul in sight (something tells me not many people come here), the land is for me to conquer easily. The wind is thankfully blowing, and already filled up with a couple of bottles of water, the going is easy.The base of the hill is laced with a few haystacks, reminding one that he is in the Indian countryside, a countryside where almost every thatched roof I looked at had a dish antenna, but the countryside nonetheless. On the walk up, you can also see the lotus pond, probably looks better when it’s raining, but the lotuses are still there. 

Midway through to the hilltop, there’s this small rectangular structure housing a small Ganesha statue. Beside this are small depressions in the hill which are filled with water, even without much rain. 

Incidentally, had seen a few pics on the net which showed the expanse before the hill occupied by a nice big lake, but in this weather all I see is a comparatively little watering hole, with the goats enjoying their bath. Was tempted to join the beasts, but the lure of the partially hidden ruins was just too good to resist. 

Once the rock formation slopes down a bit to the other side, you get the first full glimpse of this architectural beauty. Fine, it might not be as majestic as some others, neither is the artwork something over which wars would be fought, but it has something that simply cannot be described; nestled in a small pocket of the hill, it just gels in so beautifully with the surroundings, the stones on the temple mimicking the color of the hill like a silent chameleon over the ages, sitting mute right there, withering away with time.

Not a soul in sight I sat there to catch my breath, under the shade of the temple. Sadly its locked up, so all you can see is the façade, the Shiva cave in front is also locked up. Nice of them though to put out some of the statue remains, some looking like a weird sphinx, others just rows of animals I can’t really describe. The main structure of the temple is surrounded with 8 smaller shrines, and a nandi to boost. 

Most of them empty, with the lone diya inside suggesting someone once in a while comes in and still offers homage to the deity. The poor temple has probably seen better days, but like most other places of old, its succumbing to the elements. The notice from the ASI does mention some work being done to restore it, but that's just what it would be RE-store, not preserve.

The wall partition on the outside overlooks the side of the hill, and provides a nice vantage point, sit here and gaze into the horizon for hours on end. Just a stones throw away are the other hillocks of the region, and the lazy slope of every one of them seems easy enough for even a novice to traverse. Have to try out all of these hills another day, maybe one that does not leave sunburns on my skin! The best part is to sit atop one of these hills, the one that has almost a vertical fall on one side, now that is a view.

Now that the temple complex had been explored, I soldiered on to get to the top of the hill, and rightly so. The top of the hill provides one with a really nice shot of the entire temple complex, have always been a fan of the aerial shots that can provide a view from the top, take in the entire scene in one full swoop, and not just the side profile of it. 

After a couple of shots from the top, headed down to base, stopping by here and there to horse around. The vegetation consisted of a lot cacti, big ones rather, and clicked one with a  human being for the perspective.The walk down wasn't that bad either, it was the walk back to the bus stop, filled with some stops to look at the local shops, and a lot of hydration. 

A couple of hours, a quick meal, a shower, and 2 bus rides later I landed up at Tanjore. This place wasn't really on my wish list, but had heard a lot of the big temple, and so decided to visit it as well. Well, the Brihadeeswarar Temple, or the big temple as it’s called did not disappoint. It was massive, with the conical shaped high rises making up for some pleasant viewing. Supposedly, it’s the biggest temple in India, and together with the other 2 Chola temples at Darasuram and Gangaikonda Cholapuram, makes up ‘the great living Chola temples’. 

The temple, made of Granite, is indeed a treat, there’s nothing too great in the sculptures in terms of artwork methinks, but it’s this simplicity on such a grand scale which seems to mesmerize one. The only harrowing ordeal was when I decided to visit the main statue as well – a huge Shiva ling (not to hurt the religious sentiments of anyone, but as a good friend of mine describes it “its just a d***”). That turned out to be 20 minutes of standing in a cramped column, sweating profusely with hundreds of devotees packed together shoulder to shoulder, and moving at a snails pace inside the not ventilated rooms.

With the experience over (I’m not a fan of the religious sites, or the activities) I switched over my attention to the murals on the inner side of the outer wall. The wall is lined with Shiva lings – all of which seem just a bit different, some a bit more circular than the others, but the paintings are the ones that catch my attention- though most of them are crumbling away from the walls, they still retain enough of their earlier glory, letting the passerby know that once the artists took pride in their work. I can’t really decipher the sequence of events that these paintings depict, to me they are just remnants of an era when man had faith, and probably also an imagination that should put the avatars and the likes to shame.

The outer wall of the main sanctum is peppered with different dance poses (Bharathanatyam, Wikipedia tells me), and details the pains that were taken to carve it out on the Granite.The smaller Ganesha shrine is another one not to be missed, well, there are quite a few other sculpted delights here, so just posting the snaps. The Nandi at the entrance is also carved out of a single stone, and the dark shade of stone shine out nicely in the late noon sun.

It was quite difficult to take in a photo of the entire main shrine without the hordes coming in the way, but I did manage to sneak in a couple with minimal human intervention, and as always a couple with the sun in the background providing the silhouette. 

With a nice set of snaps in the bag and a splitting headache from the heat, I’d say that was one hell of a way to spend a weekend.

Hampi trip - day 5, Oct 2 2009

Thankfully no rain today, but it was also my last day here. Went for a nice walk at 7 am along the Tungbhadra to take in the conditions, the river level had swelled up more than 5 meters from the day before, the ghat steps all but submerged. Quite a few people were taking a holy dip in the cold water. As I returned I saw that the cops had set up temporary shop in the building opposite my guesthouse as the road in front of the police station still had a lot of stagnant water, which had also entered the station.

The view from the top of Hemkuta hill this time was quite relaxing with a sunny sky with a few clouds, but no rain, and a gentle breeze. I rested on the corner boulders at the top of the hill for more than an hour, few tourists passing by. Here I met Steve (name changed), an American I had met yesterday night at my guesthouse. Apparently he had worked with goldman sachs, before getting the pink slip from AIG as a derivative dealer. He had been traveling across India (Delhi, Agra, Jodhpur, Goa, Bombay etc) for a few months now. I asked him why he had chosen to come to India, to which he replied that he found it interesting, cheap to travel in and he wanted to search for spirituality. Strange, how people have to travel thousands of miles to a distant land to find spirituality, and that after having made millions with a firm that many were wailing over. And it also intrigued me that he liked Indian food, and was praising Delhi, my hometown, for the life it had. He preferred it to Goa and the other places he said. I let him know of the various places in Hampi that were worth a visit and the routes to take and took leave of the 6 foot, bearded fellow. He reminded me of another person staying at Gopi guesthouse I had met, Suraiya, a female from West Indies that had come and had made her residence here in India 10 years back. She had told me that she arranged meditational retreats for people all over places in India. Funny, I had never known that my country was such magnet for foreigners who decided to stay here, atleast I had not met some in person before.

I walked down to the start of the royal center about 2 km away to see whether the roads had cleared, they had to some extent, enough that you could wade through, but water was still standing in the fields next to the road. I also met Suresh, an IT chap from Bangalore, who was waiting for the sun to come out in full flow so that he could take a few snaps with his SLR. I directed him to the royal center as the road was fine now, and headed back to Gopi for a quick lemonade and light snack.

In the afternoon, I decided to visit Vitthala temple again, I had really liked that place. Walked past the bazaar and the monolithic bull and past Mathunga hill to the short hike that comes out at Achyutraya temple (this is a short cut if you don’t take a bike). Met a large group of Gujarati people who seemed to be lost, and asked me for directions to the main temple, so I directed them to Virupaksha (the only one still operational here). I carried on past Varaha temple and took the stony path this time compared to the mud path last time (I had worked out alternate routes out as well in my 4 days now!). saved me a bit of time as I came out right behind King’s balance after crossing a very small stream of rain water. At Vitthala I once again admired the chariot, but this time walked the outer compound as well close to the river, which I was not able to do in the rain last time. Most of it is broken up random structures, but offers a really good walk. I looked longingly at the Hanuman temple across the river which I was unable to cover this time around, next time I know not to come in rains.

When I came back I still had a couple of hours left before my train, so taught Kiran net music piracy 101, ‘cos, lets face it, no educated Indian should be deprived of the right to illegally download music from the internet! The guy had good taste in music, and wanted to download quite a few songs. I bid goodbye to the beautiful town at 6 in the evening catching the Hospet bus that took almost 45 minutes in the bumpy roads.

Definitely the craziest trips I have had, one of the most planned ones, except for the rains making it utterly unpredictable, certainly the most enjoyable, so this is one place that I definitely have to visit again, maybe in spring when there’s less water.

Hampi trip - day 4, Oct 1 2009

Rain again!!! At the morning breakfast I was alone as the guesthouse staff was busy cleaning the area for water. Kiran, the owner, told me that most of the foreigners had fled due to the rain. A German couple did come up (I met them later in the day at the Queen’s bath). Kiran introduced me to Nutella (some cocoa and roasted hazelnut spread) which tasted really good with the banana pancake, how did I miss this stuff so far?

Even though the rain was not slowing, I have the curse of the fidgety legs, so I decided to do the circular trip I had planned – from the town to the royal enclosure (about 3 kms), through the royal enclosure out the other end at Queen’s bath onto the Kamlapura road, further on to Vitthala temple (about 7-8 kms) and back through the opposite route from the monolithic bull at the end of Hampi bazaar, WHEW!!! All in all I guess it would be a good close to 15 km or more in all. Bold plan I must say, executin it on a bicycle on a normal day would’ve been hard enough, on a rainy day like this, well…..

I asked Veeru (one of the relatives Kiran, who also worked there) for a raincoat. He obliged me with one which covers the upper half of your body, so I set off with my bag tucked inside the raincoat. At the bike rental place the guy told me I was the first customer for a bicycle in 2 days, should’ve heeded his sarcastic warning. Pushed the bike up the 150 meter slope in the rain and started pedaling, past Krishna temple, disregarding the increasing downpour. The traffic was really scant now, when I reached The Shiva temple I was drenched fully, even with the raincoat. I visited the remains of the Krishna Devaraya palace next to the mosque, this time in the rain, and cycled inside through a muddy goat path to Hazararama temple. Met a foreign couple whom I directed to the places to see (already felt like a pro having been here only 4 days, had also advised a few people back at the hotel!). The rain played a big spoilsport as I wanted to take a few good snaps that I had missed in yesterday’s rains as well.

I parked the bike outside the king’s audience hall, surprisingly the king’s ministers and townfolk were absent, save for a few buffaloes and their herdsman. Took refuge under his umbrella as I clicked a few snaps. This is an open ground so took minimal time at the Mahanavmi dibba, the stepped tank, and the octagonal water pavilion, while running and hiding behind the small walls whenever I could. Cycled down to Queen’s bath and took off my raincoat, tee, and vest and tried to get the water out of all of them. Rested for a good 1 hour here, the wind had picked up as well, and I was feeling quite cold. The caretaker there told me that the bath is made in both Hindu and Muslim styles, which seemed to be true, with the arches all over and the lotus shapes on the ceilings at some places.

The road from the queen’s bath joins the Hampi Kamalapura main road, which after 100 or so meters has a small road towards the left leading to the Saraswati temple. After criss crossing through the buffaloes on the narrow path I reached the deserted temple. As was with most of the structures, the carvings at the gate top were in poor shape, but you could make out the Saraswati images on the pillars inside the temple compound. I shivered in the dark interior of the temple as I tried to hope for the rain to subside. Then I carried on further 200 meters on the small path (which was full of water by now) to the Octagonal bath. It was an solid Octagon structure placed in the in the middle of a small pool, surrounded finally by an octagonal pillared boundary. Since it had roof only over the pillared boundary, the wind and rain lashed from every direction. After a further 20 minutes huddled into a rare dry corner of the octagon, I decided that since it was already 3:30 pm, and the rains were still on in full force, so I could not carry on any further to Vitthala ( a wise decision finally, as the route from Vitthala to Hampi town next to the Tungbhadra had already taken on a lot of water making it impossible to cross on foot or bicycle). It was then that the bike also decided to join in the fun, the handle bar had come loose, and was swiveling back and forth making it very difficult to steer. I went back to the Queen’s bath, and stopped there to stay a little dry (sat in the bath to dry off!). My feet were wrinkled as I squeezed water out of my socks for the third time in the day.

The caretaker told me that they close around 5, it was almost 4:30 now, and the rain was still in full flow; great, I was still drenched, cold, hungry, and couldn’t complete my round trip, and was far from home. Did not see any tourists in the last couple of hours, seems none was as crazy as me. I wanted to avoid the bumps and slopes of the road inside the royal enclosure, so I ventured onto the main road to Hampi. Barely 200 meters on the road, I met with a big stretch of pool on the road. As I was coming down a slope I decided to zoom through, but as luck would have it the bike stopped in the water barely 10 meters on. I was left standing in 1 feet water, with the pool stretching atleast another 200 meters on. I was in no mood to wade through that as I lugged back through the bumps of the royal enclosure. I made good time as I came back to the Shiva temple in 25 minutes, considering the downpours and the mudholes. But here also I had to go through a feet high water pool, thankfully only for 10-15 meters. As I came to the bend beyond Akka Tungi gundu (the leaning stones), I was stopped by 2 cops on motorcycles. As I spoke no Kannada, they didn’t waste any time and pointed to the small bridge on the road ahead. I had crossed that same 3-4 meter long bridge less than 7 hours back, and it was only wet at that time, now it was filled with gushing water of more than 3 feet height! They told me in broken English that less than 10 minutes back a guy had been swept away with his motorbike at this place in the torrential current. There were a couple of rescuers trying to look for the poor guy, but even they were not venturing close to the middle of the current. As I looked on from 30 meters away, I could see that the guy was obviously a goner by now, the current was way too strong.
And this is when it dawned on me that I needed to get back to Hampi, as going back to Kamalapur 3 km away and booking another hotel was out of the question. I had the bicycle with me, and the thought of going through the 200 meter 1 feet deep pools on the road made me tired already. Then I met Ravi, another smart fellow who had ventured out from Hampi on the wrong day, and heading back there. He turned out to be a resident of Hampi and studying BA (History), aspiring to be a journalist. He asked a couple of villagers who had come to help the rescuers about the other route (which I obviously knew nothing of) going through a village and joining the Hospet Hampi road. The road over there was a little higher over the stream and hopefully was crossable. We took the right turn before the Shiva temple and soon came across the 5 meter long bridge over the stream. We stood and watched a couple of guys on motorbike get stalled in the middle of the knee deep water here (the current was a bit slower here and knee deep is much better than 3 feet). The moment I stepped into the water I realized the force of the current, my bike started to flow away pulling me with it, even in only knee deep water. So I had to carry my bike with me, slowly placing my feet firmly, and after a tiring 6 hours, in still heavy rain with a soaked bag, even the 5 meters was no easy feat. I took this moment to somehow click a snap with Ravi at this historic place!

We now started out the roundabout 4 km or so stretch to Hampi in the rain, Ravi advising the very few motorist passing by in Kannada. He told me that the villagers said there was another crossing up ahead a km away and he would catch a shared auto after seeing me off there. I was really thankful that he was there, otherwise I would’ve definitely been in a soup. Now I was enjoying the scenery, watching the water stagnated in the fields next to the road, blood red in color due to the soil. Ravi also turned out to be a part time guide on weekends, and his elder brother Manju owned a restaurant in Hampi town. We crossed the 2nd pool easily as it was not too deep, and then parted ways, as he caught an auto. I thanked him and took his email id, promising to send the snaps I took with him. It took me another 25 minutes to navigate the slopes and et back to Hampi in the overcast conditions. I made it past astonished looks of bystanders, probably ‘cos I was the only tourist to have rented a bike that day (did I feel real special!). After a hot shower, the banana pancake and coffee felt like heaven. I was dead tired towards the end and ate a hearty meal at dinner as we looked on the news of the floods that had hit Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, severely damaging life and property. I had ample sunscreen for the sunniest of days, but I was definitely not prepared for this downpour and I believe I muttered a small prayer before dozing off that night.

Hampi trip - day 3, Sep 30 2009

I thought I heard rain at 5 in the morning, seems it wasn’t a dream as at 7 when I woke up it was raining heavily. I slept some more, hoping for the weather to improve, but it didn’t so I went to the restaurant (roof top, no less) to get my breakfast. Had a nice English one (omelet, toasts, salad, beans in red sauce and coffee, ah I was full). The air had cooled down considerably, and I had only my jeans as the warmest piece of clothing. The hills looked beautiful under the grey skies, but I was still nursing my hurt knee I had injured last evening roaming on Hemkuta.
When I couldn’t take it any more, I started out at 11:30 in the drizzle (note to self : have to buy an umbrella in my lifetime). Decided against the bicycle, would be too much with the knee and rain, so took an auto to the royal center, paid 50 bucks (could’ve haggled for 35 for the 2-3 kms).

Got off at the underground Shiva temple, which was partly underwater too now, making it difficult to go completely in. the overcast sky made it dark as well, but still you have to appreciate the structure of the temple and the surrounding garden, maintained quite well by ASI. Met a cop there who had retired from the army, after serving somewhere in Delhi also for some time. He was telling me stories of how the sandalwood artifacts from most temples were pillaged, and what remained was mainly the stony foundations. I dried myself for 10 minutes before pushing off on foot, denying the auto chaps (should’ve taken it, as by the end of it I was completely drenched, thankfully I kept my cell and camera in a plastic bag).

About 200 meters on I got to the mosque and band tower. Took refuge in the mosque, nothing much to see there, its in ruins (!), took in a few landscape shots from the 1st floor. Next up, 300 metres on as the road curves to the right is the Hazararama temple, apparently the Ramayana’s events are carved out on the walls here, I admired the small carvings on the inside of the walls, as well as on the walls of the main temple. I decided to give the paan supari bazaar opposite the temple a pass, as it was out in the open and it was still raining too much. I carried on to the Mahanavmi Dibba, an ‘elevated square platform’ jet black and brown with layers of carvings on the side, also climbed up to the top of the around 20 feet high structure to take a view. Close to this is the stepped tank, another attraction, and this one was quickly filling with water as well. Its like an inverted pyramid, with steps going down to the bottom. A long aqueduct still in place probably used to provide the water in yesteryears. I walked down the narrow steps to the bottom to take in a full view which was quite something (though it must be not more than 15-20 feet to the water level).

There is another long rectangular pool-like structure further on.
From here on the next structure is the queen’s bath, apparently the queen used to take a bath here, wasn’t too impressed, maybe earlier it had some jewels encrusted to make it more appealing. I decided to head back as I was tired, so waded through the narrow mud path off the road towards zenana enclosure (just a shortcut, or you can walk all the way back to Hazararama temple and turn right to zenana). I wasn’t sure where I landed up , but met a guard who asked me if I had taken a ticket at the entrance. I asked him “at the gates, right?” He said “right” and walked off. Okay, I did not exactly lie, I just did not know that I was already inside Zenana enclosure from a rarely used side road, and that there was an entry fees (anyway it would be something like 10-15 rupees)! I had apparently come up at the ruins next to the Elephant stables, a long building with separate enclosures where elephants were kept. Also took some snaps of the statues and artifacts inside the small museum next to it (there’s another one next to Lotus mahal, photography is prohibited in both places :)). The lotus mahal next door is a beautiful structure to admire, along with the tall watch towers at the walls surrounding it.
Outside the gates of the Zenana enclosure I found the first water vendor in the entire area I had covered (though I was carrying water on my person as well).

There is some building here (some directorate official something) which has a lot of interesting statues of different deities which have been put on display and can be photographed. I took my time at this place to look at the different types of stones that the nandi was carved out in, the shades of black, grey, browns, and even a pale green. It was almost 4 by the time I reached the Shiva temple again, no autos in sight in the rain, so I walked back the 2 kms to the Hampi town. The rain had slowed down considerably and the nice green cover next to the roads was refreshing. I also managed to catch ‘akka tangi gundu’, 2 large boulders leaning against each other just next to the road past the royal center.

Just roamed near the Tungbhadra the rest of the day to relax a bit, and admire the red color that the river had taken on now with all the soil. Checked out the different apparels at the shops also, and picked up a dragon logo tee for myself!!

Hampi trip- day 2, Sep 29 2009

Had a nice omelet in the morning and rented a bicycle at one of the many shops in the main bazaar renting out one (this one happened to be owned by a relative of my guesthouse’s owner). They charge 40 rupees for the day. It had been years since I rode one, so even getting to the end of the 500 meter long bazaar with scant traffic turned out to be an exercise. I was ready with sunscreen, water, cap, and dressed in my shorts, as the sun was out bright at 9 in the morning. I did not injure anyone so far as I turned left onto the mud path before the end of the bazaar towards the river. I’d explored it a bit last evening, so I knew where to go.

Had to drag the bike at some points (there were quite a few) where the stony path next to the river became not too easy on the bum or there were steps. After 15 minutes of huffing and puffing I reached the coracle (that’s circular boat) point just before Achyutraya temple. I rode through Courtesan’s St, which now was about 400 meters of cobbled path lined up on both sides by pillars, seemed as if I was in a parade (the cavalryman riding his metal steed) being overseen by the king. The really good point about this temple was the area it covered, not much, probably about 50% of a football field, but built so that it seemed spacious. I locked the bike outside and took a walk between the inner compound and the outer wall. Here I took one of the many opportunities in the day to take off my shirt and get some shade, as I was sweating profusely (by the end of the day I reckon I had downed about 4-5 litres of liquid).

I passed the small puddle of water 300 meters on from Courtesan’s St (the St has Varaha temple at one end, and Achyutraya on the other) to join the 10 minute mud road (5 on bicycle, there’s slopes). The rocky path sloping at some points surrounded by various ruins was a nice setting. After quite a few rest stops, I got to the Vitthala temple, hitting first the King’s balance, a 4-5 meter tall two pillared structure at the start of the Vitthala temple complex. I carried on past Vitthala as I wanted to cover some more round before taking a long rest at Vitthala temple. The road past it ends up about 1.5 km down into one towards Kamalapura and another towards Hyderabad (? Not sure of this). There are 2 Mantapas on this long stretch, but nothing much to see there, except, another pool type structure at Kuduregombe Mantapa. Saw quite a few people in buses and cars pass by this road on to Vitthala temple (for those who don’t want to hike across the opposite route from Hampi town). I took another break and did some mountain climbing onto a deserted temple away from the road and sat in the shade there.

The Vitthala complex ticket costs, if memory serves right, about 10 rupees entry fees. I took in snaps of the famous stone chariot preserved quite well in the temple. The temple had been described as a nice work in architecture and I could see why, minute designs on the walls, to complement the ones on the pillars, and ceilings were a sight to see.

An aside here, there seems to be no purpose of rain, at least for me. True, it does lower the Celsius, but it also makes the sites, most of them out in the open, quite difficult to get to. The stones become slippery, and add to that I can’t use my camera to capture al this beauty, was missing some really good shots now. The rain that came made me stay for almost 3 hours inside the Vitthala complex, and I couldn’t even ride the bike back in this rain. The main concern was the loss of time, I had built in some waste of time into my sketchy schedule, but I hate sitting around when there’s so much to explore.(unless I’m really tired or want to take in the beauty of the place while resting). After waiting till 4 pm, I decided to risk it back in the drizzle now (never have bought an umbrella, dunno why). On the way back I took refuge in few of the ruins I had seen on the way, I could also see the ancient bridge across the river (it was now only a row of pillars in the river), while in the distance was the Hanuman temple atop Anjeyanadari hill, with its white row of steps also visible, quite enticing.

The route back in the rain was quite enjoyable now that I think of it (though at that time, it was some work, going up the slippery rocky slope, or thru the water logged mud paths). Met a chap at the coracle point who used to come here every year for the last 15 years from Bangalore. He had his own firm and found it peaceful here, while leaving his family in the bustling Bangalore. He told me of the various other places to see as well, the history of the place, we talked for almost an hour enjoying the river breeze and the rain, and the constant company of the monkeys (who tried to snatch my bag the minute I opened it and strayed 2 feet off!).

All in all, I managed to see the places I had intended to see for 1 day and was satisfied to get back to my guesthouse, take a hot shower, eat dal makhani and chapattis (J), climb a part of Hemkuta hill in late evening, and get back to bed at around 10, tired and happy.

Hampi trip - day 1,Sep 28 2009

First time in an AC chair, not bad ‘cos it was just a 3 hour journey from Chennai to Tirupati. The only problem being the constant bickering, all the f%#@* families, and what’s a travel without the constant wail of a child? Seems as that is what forms the goal in an infant’s life – eat, poop and wail ceaselessly. Anyway, the AC section proved to be a relief from the heat. Generally I prefer not being on my seat while traveling via a train, but I decided to rest for a journey that was undoubtedly going to be really tiring.
If you’re looking for even a moment’s peace or quiet in an Indian train, surely you’re better off wishing for utopia. The only time that stillness prevails is when its late at night, and everyone sleeps, leaving the train’s humming fill the void, so the afternoon has to be put up with as it is. Can’t really sit in the AC for too long, have to get to my favorite place, the coach gate, where you get to enjoy the breeze on your face, a little bit of sunlight and the hills, some green some rocky barren masses, passing slowly by. They probably have witnessed a good number of trains go by everyday, standing firm at the same place. Each of these hills just seems to be begging to be scaled, each unique in some way, whether it’s the one with the conical giant rock at eh peak, the one with the slow, lazy slope angling up for a mile, or the one that would hold a mountaineering enthusiast’s attention.
The train was on time at the Tirupati station, the station absolutely bustling with people, seems as though its one of those big pilgrimages (maybe it is!). I chose the least crowded station and sat down to kill the 2 hours till my connect to Hospet station arrived. A beggar came down and sat next to me on the bench & tried to engage me in conversation. I utilized the old stony face, deaf ears as the poor chap kept on blabbering in broken English about money. There’s a large number of needy people here, but an equally larger populace trying to simply con you. Finally the train to Hospet arrived, but I was supposed to be on Rayalseema express, and this was Haripriya express. A passenger enlightened me that both trains were the same, the last few coaches being Rayalseema. So I trudged to the end of the train to find that my coach was in fact in Haripriya itself! Again I lugged my backpack 8 coaches to the front, waited for a TC to come by and confirmed that I was in fact in the right coach. Oh joy, now I was hungry, so gulped sown the 2 bananas I had bought.
Woke up at 5 to see light rains dot the Hospet skies, a couple of big factories in the distance spewing smoke. There is one thing about public transport, it won’t try to cheat your socks off. The first auto I met wanted to charge 150 for Hampi (I later got to know that that is in fact how much they always charge). For the 14 kms, I asked him if I took a shared auto, he refused saying he didn’t work o that basis, so I asked to be dropped off at the bus stand. And he picked up a couple other people for the 2 km trip, so much for the non sharing principle! The ride from Hospet to Hampi in the bus was quite nice, the weather had cooled down, my fellow passenger told me (from Hospet the buses ply about 20-30 minutes to Hampi, just board the one with the ‘Hospet-Hampi-Hospet’ sign in front, it leaves from #2 platform). I took the bus even after all the touts’ cajoling as I had researched it (ha) and it cost me only 10 bucks to Hampi. The bus was hardly full (meaning only 20 people standing and noone hanging at the gates for dear life). Outside Hospet city limits, you could see a couple of ruins hidden away in the fields. Once at the Hampi bus stand I was again hot by a barrage of touts, maybe it’s the backpack, the shorts, or the slightly lighter brown skin color that I have than everyone here that instantly alights the touts’ tourist meter. I wanted to feel the difference of entering an earlier civilization (or the remains of it) but was instead hit with internet cafes at every fifth shop (every fifth shop, even if they had like just 2 PCs set up). I was baffled at being constantly asked ‘which country friend’, this from people of my own country!
I usually keep my ego close to my heart, so no asking for directions, so what proceeded was that I wandered for about 25 minutes, passed Virupaksha temple and the bazaar thrice in search of the guesthouses the names of which I had written down.

 I finally managed to find the guesthouses (they’re all in one big cluster just when you turn right down a small alley past the right of Virupaksha temple at the end of the Bazaar). I turned in at Gopi guesthouse, apparently its budget AND has hot water throughout the day! To a northie in South India, even before winters, this was a bit absurd, but believe me, after 7-8 hours of hiking on the hills, I didn’t want to get out of that hot water. They charge 300 per night, it’s a twin bed, so would work out to 150 per person. I didn’t check out the others, but they’re all quite close to each other and the river.
Had a bath and went to Mango tree restaurant, suggested in some blog. The setting was quite beautiful, you went upstream along the Tungbhadra for a little over a km, then turn right at the restaurant sign.

You pass under a lot of Banana trees (should’ve named it banana tree, would’ve made more sense), and are made to sit quite close to the river, nice breeze and a really good view. I was famished and was delighted to see paranthas on the menu, promptly ordered an aloo parantha, and out of the local cuisine, banana parantha. The waiter placed in front of me something, I wanted to ask what it was. If you’ve eaten a ‘poori’, then increase the thickness about 5-6 times, & put inside chopped (not mashed, chopped into BIG pieces) potatoes. I should’ve been careful when it said ‘POTATO parantha’ on the menu card! Finished almost 75% due to the hunger, and waited for the banana delight. Same stuff, but surprise, surprise, banana pieces inside (40 bucks for this!) For a nice touch, there was a honey bottle (the bottle was an Indian whiskey one with the labels removed, and hopefully honey inside).
I decided to start at Virupaksha as it was the closest, bloody charged me 50 rupees for the camera! Its one for the few temples still operative here. Had some decent carvings on the temple walls, wandered around for an hour till 11, then hiked up to Hemkuta hill bang on the left of Virupaksha. Always carry some water with you as the trip dehydrates you, what with the sun, and the hill climbs. As I climbed up I got a clearer picture of the surroundings, with the bazaar, the river, the road out of hampi, and all the green area extending to the other side of the town. There are quite a few old structures on Hemkuta hill which you can explore, and the boulders next to them also provide a nice touch as you can go on clicking snaps as long as you wish. I decided to proceed after resting in one of these old ruins to the other side. As you come down on the opposite side of the hill, you come out at the ganesha statue and onwards to the Krishna temple. I spent more time in the ‘krishna bazaar’ opposite the temple as the ruins there with a long line of pillared path and a small pond offered a better calling for me, plus there was no crowd there. Then I moved on to the Ugra Narsimha statue about 200 metres from the temple and the big Badava Linga statue next to it. From here on I moved back as this marks the border on this side of the first cluster of places I wanted to see. Headed back to the hotel and had some sandwiches, had a nice shower and rested for about an hour.
It was about 5 by the time I started out again; I wanted to see the scenery from the much higher Mathunga hill at the opposite end of the almost 1 km long Hampi bazaar. Took in the bunches of foreign tourists thronging the place as I reached the monolithic bull statue at the end of the bazaar, the statue is about 10-15 feet tall and sits at the foot of Mathunga hill. I asked a cop for the direction and started the deserted path up the hill. The path had steps half of the way and at some places you had to walk through rocks and shrubs, till you reach the final few steps which are on a slanting boulder, and a bit tricky. I’m not a big fan of heights, but I had spent almost 30 minutes huffing up the hill, so I carried on. Once up I realized that there was another 7-8 metres up that the temple was located, I had no intention of taking the curving route on the hill side to visit a temple, so I sat there and caught my breath for the next hour! (even though I might not be the fittest person, the climb up was a bit exhausting). You could see the temples, the bazaar, the bus stop, Hemkuta hill, the river, the achyutraya temple on the other side, and even farther on towards the ‘royal enclosure’. I sat there as I watched a couple of local lads go up the big boulders to the top of the hill, no way was I going to try it if I’m alone here.
As it happens, I had landed at the time of dusshehra, and in the night, the Virupaksha temple had a huge procession. The foreigners were happily clicking away at the sights they normally get to see in some Indian documentary. The lights, the huge statue being carried to the temple and the accompanying festivities, the dhols and trumpets going at full blast as well. Even the hotel I was staying in had locals coming in every 2 minutes to greet the owner and offering leaves (this, I was told was a symbol of good luck). And would you believe it, I was the only Indian tourist at the dinner tables, there was a German couple, a few Americans, and other foreigners, but just me poor Indian! I slept off at an early 9 to work off the weariness, after off course, a nice hot bath. Day 1 - lots of walk, and not bad places as well.