All out of rock, don’t give a damn about love

It’s a sad life right now. After months of searching and downloading good rock songs, I have finally hit a lull. I’ve gone through a lot of the ‘greatest hits’, ‘my best 100 contemporary rock songs’ ‘1250 songs you need on your ipod’ and numerous other youtube videos. I’ve even ransacked my friends’ music collections, but I can’t seem to find any more good songs. I’ve seen amvs of animations, tv couples, serials, gone to that extent to just get that elusive 10 second music in the background that clicks, and then download it, but even that is a rare happening now. I can’t bear to listen to the same songs that I have now on my cell phone for about 3 months now. Even the ones on my laptop have been worn to rust. This is the one thing I do miss about my work routine, they had a great connection, and I had the headphones on all the time, with some radio station logged on, but at home that in fact becomes quite boring. Funny, how you like to cheat at work by doing something else, but don’t really feel like doing that same act in your spare time.
Anyways, as a humanitarian effort, I implore anyone who chances upon this plea, send me all the playlists you have, save my soul for another month or so.

A random walk down…..argghh, I forgot

Well, a few of my friends asked me where was the consistency in the blog posts on this site, one day I write about my travel, then my beard, the next about death, transvestites, etc. They complained that the posts were too ‘random’, to quote one of my dear friends. The simple answer is – there is no central theme to this blog, and there never will be, because it sort of enables me to put down anything, anything that comes up in my head. Now, if you have any problems living with that or following the flow of the next post, don’t. I know most of my friends don’t even require this advise, because they never bother to read any of my mails. Ahhh, the magic of the internet, you can ignore a person so easily, or use that mechanism called spam blocker. Makes you wonder how far we have come and how far we have left to go. Evolution , certainly is a beautiful thing, one millennium we were all fish breathing underwater, the next we are land based life forms, putting up structures called buildings, wearing clothes (I guess the alternative might not be rated pg13 nowadays). The beautiful sun that shines so bright letting us see without electricity in the morning, but not inside caves, its dark there, and a bit chilly too. But I guess it does get chilly in the deserts at night, that is where I’m heading next…
Now you see what you’ve done, made me forget what I wanted to talk about, but there is probably some point in there somewhere, don’t ask me to search for it and point it out, I’m too lazy to do that. Hmm, I’m thinking about ice cream now, but I’m sure you don’t want to listen to that.

P.S. – Keshav if you tell me this is a random post, I’ll block your e-mails!!!

Soap opera for the financial analyst

Now, I’m not a big newspaper reader, or have an above average ability to analyse matters, but the other day I was reading this article about the Supreme Court asking the 2 Ambani brothers (fine, for the sake of precision , RIL-RNRL) to seek arbitration regarding the natural gas issue. Now I might be wrong, but the reason the case came to the topmost level of our legal hierarchy might’ve been because a contract signed a few years back wasn’t acted upon, or the months of talks outside court didn’t help, or the lower courts and High courts’ decisions didn’t please the parties. But then again, I could be wrong. Isn’t it obvious, the smart and intelligent bunch of people comprising the bench of the SC found the obvious solution to the lingering problem of the billion rupee gas issue – its simple, fight it out between yourselves! What a pity, even the SC doesn’t want to interfere, and wants two parties (who split up a billion dollar empire ‘cos they couldn’t work with each other) to reach a solution privately, over a cup of coffee. Makes me think of all the pretty models who step on stage and give the same answer for any question asked; ‘how do you think the poverty problem could be solved?’ – ‘world peace’. The courts probably have too much on their plate, and don’t want such a petty issue (oh just a few millions) to disturb their peace of mind.
And if any of you asks me what I would do to settle this matter, here’s my solution – ‘world peace’!

P.S. - Puneet, i hope you don't sue me for plagiarizing the title you quoted, if you do, let's go for arbitration.

The evenness of the odds in death

Yesterday I was just talking with my friends about whether they’d like to travel by a plane or by a ship. The jury was divided, but I realized that I for one would definitely like to fly if given the choice. It has nothing to do with the time saved, or seasickness. It’s a very simple reason – the odds of death are even. Now, if a ship capsizes, and assuming there are not any lifeboats, it’s a sudden and acute accident, then there are those lucky few who know how to swim, or atleast stay afloat till some rescue boats do arrive. This is obviously taking into account that there are no sharks in the water or the water is not frigid enough to freeze you to death in a few hours. I don’t know how to swim. I drowned in a swimming pool for a week before I decided to stay at the shallow ends of the pools, lakes, rivers, oceans, any water body I did decide to visit in my lifetime. So if I do happen to be on that ship that capsizes, then I’d be in the category of people who go down gasping for dear air. But, if I happen to be on an airplane that develops some major snag mid-flight, then the whole bloody thing goes down with the entire passenger list up in flames. The odds are completely even for every person in the latter instance, ‘cos some people know how to swim, but those b%#*&$s sure as hell don’t know how to fly.

Now that I have put this post down I can’t seem to remember why I started it out in the first place, so have a long life and fly, don’t swim.

To Be(ard) or not to Be(ard)

Fine, fussing over the length of facial hair may not sound like as big a conundrum as Hamlet fellow was in, but it still disturbs me a lot. It has been a dear wish of mine to grow an outrageous beard, but the total chaotic fashion of my whiskers seems to spoil it every single time. It all goes well for the first two weeks of not shaving, but just as one passes the 2.5 weeks mark, then the slings and arrows really start to jab. It is at this point that the skin begins to itch, and some part of the semi-beard hair start getting caught in the shirt collar. But slings and arrows of outrageous fortune I can bear, it is the utter disunity in the whiskers that disturbs me, every single hair deciding to go its own way, picking up any direction. Why can’t all of them just settle on the direction south and live in peace and harmony? But no, expression of individual freedom seems to the be the ultimate motive of each whisker, as it twists and turns north, east, west, any direction it likes. And this is the time that I woefully pick up the guillotine and chop each of their heads off. All the ladies must be glad that they don’t have to go through this mental ordeal, though some of them could take up arms against the fuzz, but, that’s subject for another time!
One of my friends has a gift offer for hair straightening at a L'Oreal parlour, wonder if that would work. Oh well, right now its time for me to stop scratching my cheek and head for trusty ol’ Gillette.

Belur & Halebidu - 5 Oct, 2009

Was a bit late in getting up and the idli-vadas don’t really count as breakfast in my dictionary, so picked up some fruits. It was 9:30 am when I boarded the Hassan bus, a traffic cop kind enough to direct me at the KSRTC bus stand. The bus left within 10 minutes, and was soon filled up as we slowly pulled out of the city limits. I settled in to enjoy the 156 km ride to Hassan, which I reckoned would take us not more than 3 hours (eventually ended up after a little over 4.25 hours to Belur). The people were really sensitive to the weather; I was in jeans today just to account for the coldness should rains come later in the day, and everyone had closed their windows. If it wasn’t hot enough that the people had to complement it with their total lack of deodorant knowledge. I persuaded my fellow rider to open the window somehow.

The going was slow as the road had a lot of slopes outside the city, and the bus was going slowly over these. There were a couple of 10 minute stops at some towns before the bus finally came to Belur at 1:45 in the afternoon. Didn’t see any bus stand, the bus had simply stopped for 10 seconds at a corner petrol pump, and I jumped out after confirming that it was in fact Belur. It had started raining just 15 minutes before I reached here, I don’t know how the rain gods keep blessing me only. So took an auto who charged me 20 bucks for the 2-3 km to the main temple – Chenakeshava. If one wants then they can also take the KSTDC tour from Mysore which takes one to Belur and Halebidu, costs somewhat like 500 bucks, but I really don’t like being told to hurry up and check out a place I like in an hour, so I chose to chart it out myself.

The temple was certainly worth the trip, exquisite carvings which kept me clicking regardless of the falling rain. I had read that this temple took more than a century to build, and i could see why! Even the pillars have different circular patterns, each one holding its own distinct feature. So many deities on the walls, of course I couldn’t name any of them, but I could make out the differences in the features in each one of them. Inside the main temple there is a large golden colored multi headed cobra, and lots of other statues (photography prohibited sadly). The central area inside the main temple has a ceiling of black stone carvings which could only be seen fully with the aid of a strong torchlight affixed on the ground. I stepped out into the rain clicking like a maniac all the different statues which certainly did hold me in awe. Outside the temple is a cart with wooden carvings which I found quite nice. Thankfully the rain had letup a bit by now, so I proceeded to the bus stand where I enquired about the bus to Halebidu and boarded it along with the locals.

The green field and the hills were certainly looking very attractive, but I was on a tight schedule here. The bus dropped me off at the Halebidu bus stand (its right next to the Hoysaleshawara temple at the end of the bazaar line in the town) 25 minuts later. Again, this place was filled with intricate carvings on the walls, animals, warriors, gods, birds, dancers, chariots, everything depicted in perfect symmetry. There are two large bull statues next to the main temple which look quite good. This place was a bit crowded as a group of foreign tourists had just landed with their tour guide. The temple compound also had a nicely maintained garden which had been washed with the rains in the morning. There’s also a small open air museum within the compound holding a lot of statues, no photography here too.

I enquired the shopkeepers in Hindi as to where the jain temple were, which was a further 400 meters onward, you pass a school on your right on this road, and get some glimpses of rural life with the small shops. The jain temple had big Buddha statues inside while I found the architecture on the walls and pillars not as impressive as the last 2 places I had just seen. The road was now passing between a light tree cover on both sides and was deserted, so I asked the caretaker if there was anything else ahead, he told me an old Siva temple, so I set out for it. I’m glad I did, its not visible from the Jain temple, and is about 300 meters away, situated next to a big pond. It was completely deserted at 5 in the evening, and I proceeded to take snaps of the various sculptures in this amazing temple. Met just a foreigner in this time who was backpacking across India, and seemed to have ventured out this far as well.

I finished all my sightseeing by 6, and started off for the bus stand. I got a bus for Hassan, no direct buses to Mysore from here. The bus started at around 6:30 pm, and the rickety 31 km road trip to Hassan took almost an hour. In the dark, raining environment, I asked around for the Mysore bus, and boarded the right one. My concern now was that the trip would take even longer than in the morning in the rain and darkness, and it’d be close to midnight by the time I get back to Mysore. I did not want to traverse around an unknown city at that time, without food in my belly! And to top it all there was a 20 minute delay as there was an accident on the road in front of us. Surprisingly the bus ran quite fast, and I was in Mysore by 10:20 pm only. I picked up a couple of fruits and pastries from an open shop just in case I couldn’t get anything to eat. The night air, mixed with the slight rain was quite refreshing, and I ended the day with a masala dosa at my room, thankfully still available this late!

Maybe a bit hectic, but certainly a place I wouldn’t have wanted to miss on my trip. The temples were nothing like I had seen before, and the journey, well I guess I live for it.

Srirangaptna and Mysore - Oct 4, 2009

Started for Srirangapatna at 9. My hotel guy told me that all buses bound for Bangalore pass through S’na. Got an express bus, 13 rupees for the 15 km ride, which takes half an hour. I got dropped at the S’na bus stop, the croosroads has two clusters on either side of the road – the one on the left has the mosque, temple, dungeons and obelisk; while the one on the right has the fort museum, Gumbaz and the sangam.

I decided to take the one on the right first. Seems I took a wrong route, a side route used by the locals as after 300 meters through light vegetation and small mud paths, I ended up bang in the middle of the Garden at ‘Daria daulat bagh’. I proceeded to the main structure, a light blue rectangular building which apparently houses some artifacts and old weapons, photography not allowed. I got caught here as the entry guard asked me for the ticket which obviously i did not have. So he directed me to the main gate 200 meters away at the other end of the garden. I proceeded to the gate but was too tired to walk in the sun again so took some snaps of the place and proceeded out. There are autos here that can be used to travel to other sites, I decided to walk it, not a good idea in sunny weather in jeans. I entered the other cluster of places on the opposite side of the road, about a km of walk this time around.

The first monument you hit is the Jumma Masjid, apparently still operational as a masjid today. The main prayer area was also open and I sat there for 10 minutes. The caretaker there told me he had to close as this area was only opened for the morning prayers, I looked at the carved white walls once again before going out. The caretaker was kind enough to let people know of the history of the place, and take their snaps. When I wanted to take a snap of his with the masjid minarets in the background, the poor chap shied away.

From here on forth on one corner you come to Thomas Immam’s dungeon, the whole area has maps so its easy to find your way, I took a snap of one of these maps and kept referring to it on my camera to make sure I did not miss any place. The dungeon also houses a small temple next to it which has a shaded area which I utilized to rest a bit. A shame that they have kept the outer wall area out of bounds of people visiting by means of wires, it would’ve been fun to walk on it to see the river (Cauvery I believe) running next to it. A further 100 meters on the road you come to the place where Tipu Sultan’s body was found, a small stone declaring the fact. Further on the road bifurcates as on the left hand side it leads to the Ranganathaswamy temple. I took this path to get to the temple, again no photography inside, outside on both sides you had the normal shops selling small stone deities and other stuff. I removed my shoes and joined the long line inside the temple compound after purchasing 2 tickets for 10 bucks. The going was slow, apparently because it was a Sunday, quite a few people from other states were also here. Met a coupe of elderly ladies who had come down from Bombay all the way here, as we chatted while waiting for our turn to see the deity.

Apparently the tickets I had bought entitled me to some sort of special pujaand were not entry tickets. I wouldn’t have even known had one of the priests not noticed me holding the pink piece of paper and called me aside from the masses. He started reciting prayers next to me for 1 whole minute, asking me questions, answers to which I obviously did not have. The only word I did recognize in his interrogation was ‘goutra’, to which I replied ‘Mann’, my surname (I believe my interpretation of even that word was wrong). The priest smiled and asked me in broken English if it was my first time here, I smiled back an affirmative. Then he handed me over a few flowers from the main statue’s feet, and I proceeded away from the impatient crowd. At another place inside the temple, I was again given the special 1 minute pooja, the other orange slip coming into play this time. I don’t really even visit temples when my mom pesters me to, and here I was having pujas done in a faraway town!

The heat was still a bit bearable as I clicked snaps of kids (and a middle aged guy!) swinging on Banyan vines, enjoying themselves inspite of the heat. Crossed over to see Colonel Bailey’s dungeon close by, seemed quiet a nice dungeon if you ask me, even though it was in the basement. Further on you have to cross the railway line to get to the obelisk. It’s a bit far away from everything, so did not see anyone else there. Situated on a small elevated mass, it’s almost on a corner where you can see the river bifurcating into two, and the rocks coming out in between the streams. I continued back, it was just 1:45 in the afternoon, so I decided to visit the Gumbaz at the other cluster as well. The auto chap charged 40 bucks (the returning journey cost only 30) from the bus stand to the Gumbaz, 3.5 km away. Small shops again dot the entrance to this tomb, where the bodies of Tipu and his family have been laid to rest. The white marble tomb has the usual beautiful designs that you can see on most of the Islamic structures. I paid my respects to the dead while looking at the exquisite designs on the door, walls and ceilings of the tomb.

Started back for Mysore at around 3 only, having spent a lot of time at the tomb. In the evening I ventured out again to see the Church and Palace lights. I took the circular walk around the palace as I came to the entrance gate. Here I found a lot of people, as I saw that they were infact entering the palace compound, at 7 in the evening. I was told that the entry was free, so I joined to take a closer look at the palace lights, what a stroke of luck! The palace visiting hours close around 6, but I believe that on Sundays, or maybe it was because of Dusshehra that they had opened the palace compound to the public at this time. The whole compound was filled with people from across the country and plenty of tourists, all clicking away at the beautifully illuminated palace. In front of the Palace, an army band was also performing various tunes, which continued on for the duration I was there. Seeing the lit palace from this close was a sight to behold, after being able to see it from 300 meters away only last night. Another day well spent, I tucked in at 10 after some random channel viewing.

Vellore - Fort and Sripuram Golden temple

I had to make myself sleep at around 10 in the night, or at least make the effort to achieve the impossible. I have a strange body clock, it refuses to switch off before 4 am. But I still tried to give it a go, the laptop switched off at 9:30, bathed at 9:45, hit the bed at 10. As is usually the case, the eyelids kept fluttering open every 5 minutes. I guess somewhere around midnight I was finally able to embrace sleep. If you thought I have trouble getting to sleep, getting out of it was an even bigger project; the dear body clock refused to switch off in the night, and also refused to turn on in the morning (if you’re think I’m talking of morning woody here, then I’ve got one word for you – dirty). The first 2 alarm bursts went unnoticed, but god bless the persistence of the third one, that finally woke me up. It never came to my mind to buy an alarm clock, the alarms in the cellphone were used as a normal proxy. Probably a good thing too as I can’t throw down the phone every morning to shut off the damn alarm.

Now this was going to be close, first up hot coffee, my brain doesn’t come out of hibernation till caffeine caresses it, ah lovely caffeine, can’t imagine a life without you. You can imagine the scene from the cartoons, where the animated character gets a bright idea, with the light bulb above the head, and the character’s face lights up with a bling, well the coffee hit is like that transformation for me.
Brushed, bath done in record time and checked the bag –
2 bananas, 2 apples – check (never leave for the unknown without proper nutrition to survive atleast a few hours)
A liter of lemon tang – check
2 nutrition bars – check (its chocolate, and nutrition combined, enough said)
Cap, shades – check
Sunscreen – CHECK
A magazine for the train journey – check
Wallet, cell – check

And I’m off, I reach the Kodambakkam station at 6:20 & watch from the far end of the station as my train ran past, no use running for that now, just have to wait for the next suburban one.It just so happens that I didn’t get one in the next 15 minutes, while I watched 2 return trains pass by. Guess Murphy spent a lot of time on train platforms too while he came up with his one liners. Finally I got my train for Park at 6:40, I needed the 7:15 out of Central, meaning I had roughly about 35 minutes to get to central, buy a ticket, & search for the Bangalore bound Brindavan express… Fortunately I had factored in a buffer of 10 minutes, the train ride took about 17 minutes, & I was in the ticketing queue at 6:55 AM. Never imagined that the general class ticket would cost 50 bucks, costs just about 13 Rupees for Gummidipundi which is also 2 hours away. I asked 4 people at the station, a cop, the ticket counter guy for the train, which just happened to be in the adjoining building at platform 6. I’m a lazy bum, but I broke into a sprint, darting past surprised passerbys, it was 7:10 am and I really did not want to miss this one as the next train would be at 11 only. All said and done, the train eventually pulled out of the station only at 7:40 am, so much for my Usain Bolt impression!

I’m the guy who would probably not even run to be on time at my own wedding, even if the betrothed decided to turn to the best man due to my delay. But this was a train, so there. I’m not a frequent train traveller, most of my journeys are on reserved tickets, so I was a bit lost on the station. I figured the coaches marked ‘UR’ stood for unreserved and joined the hordes in clambering onto one. A nice hot day, and I was at the gate again, watching the stations pass by slowly. The train took almost 3 hours to get to Katpadi station where I took a shared auto for 15 bucks that dropped me in front of the fort 3-4 kms away. I first visited the temple inside the fort, Jalagandeeswarar Temple to escape the sun. the temple architecture is quite something, with the pillars depicting a lot of different deities. Took a walk outside the wall around the inner temple compound, having a lush grass cover, felt nice to walk on. Inside the temple I found people lighting diyas at a wall, which had a rack with space for a lot of the, I paid 4 rupees and lighted a couple too. The temple building inside had the main deity (don’t ask me which) aroung which a circular path has various other deities carved out. Sat down in the small hall just next to this room for a few minutes with an old couple as I watched people carry on their ritual exercises.

Took a long walk on the fort wall, you get a good view of the hills in the distance, the bustling city traffic, and the moat filled with water around the fort. You can even walk ON the wall, rather than walking on the path inside it, which is what I tried. Had a small snack at the back of the fort beneath a big banyan tree which proved to be a nice resting place. There are not really many places to go down and explore, most of them filled up with heavy shrubbery now. I did walk through one of these areas, but it’s a bit of an exercise in itself, and doesn’t lead to any place exquisite. Most of the fort’s inside is now some sort of office area, or museum, or some institute, so I decided to venture out after the long circular walk on the fort wall.

Looked at the local shops before coming to rest at a big church some 400 meters from the fort gates. Here I asked a few locals for the directions to the Golden temple. So I took a bus from the bus stand opposite the church and in 25 minutes got dropped in front of the Sripuram temple. I had read that this temple has more gold than the olden temple at Amritsar, so decided to check this out as well. First, off with the shoes, deposit the bags, cellphone and camera at the place near the front gate. You can join special lines by paying 100, 200 and more amounts, I decided to go the common man’s path and joined the long free line. For the next 20 minutes you trudge along in a wire mesh bound path until they put you up in a room with chairs. Not just an ordinary room , this one has a BIG tv, fans, even ice cream and pop corn vendors inside it, and a restroom attached. If you’ve ever seen an airport hangar, it was like that, complete with the asbestos ceiling, and wire mesh for walls. The entire hangar was divided into 8-9 rooms of dimensions of roughly 80 feet by 40 feet each, and in one of these was I made to sit. And they literally locked the doors of each room, seriously lock and key! I was already deriding myself for coming here when I saw the board that said that waiting time was 2.5 hours, great! I sat in the room for another 25 minutes when they let the doors at the other end open, the crowd rushed forth and so did i. and once again in a long queue we trudged forth, but this time on side there was a wall. The weather thankfully improved, and there were strong winds now accompanying rains. The security at the place was quite tight, you had to pass through 2 metal checks before getting in. Now I finally landed on the star shaped path I had read of, with no walls on either side, just the asbestos roof above, and cobbled path below, I enjoyed the view, the garden maintained beautifully, lush green, flowers in the rows, and rain falling with overcast skies. I walked slowly as I enjoyed the rain drops hitting me from the sides with the wind, a mass of people stopping and sitting for rest as well. When you get to the main temple its an oval shaped path separating you from the temple with water pool in between. And as is the case in most temple, you can’t stand here for more than 10-15 seconds else the temple caretakers and other people start shouting at you. So you really don’t get time here to admire the amount of gold spent on the structure.

I looked through the small shops that were set up on the path selling puja preparations. It almost looked like a Clinique counter with the nice ladies behind the counter, and the wares displayed perfectly, and the setting was also similar. I paid 30 bucks to get a small book on the history of the temple, as they had no postcards, and this was the only thing which had snaps in it.Thankfully, it only took me less than 2 hours to visit the temple and the rain had toned down a notch, so I ate a boiled corn cob, and boarded my bus to the train station to get back to dear Chennai at 5 in the evening.

Mysore - Oct 3, 2009

Which country Saaaaar?
If I have to hear this sentence one more time, I’ll go mad, well, incidentally by the end of the trip I had reached insanity then.
The moronic family I had the pleasure of traveling in the night with, could not really fathom the weather. The rains had made the Celsius drop a lot, and they clicked on all the fans and covered themselves up with thick blankets! When I coudn’t bear it any more I dangled myself from the top berth and clicked off the fans, so there. I’m a very adjusting person, not very good at confrontations, so I did this deed in the stealth of the night when I was sure that everyone was fast asleep. As I was hanging almost half of my body down to reach the buttons to the fans, the father coughed, and the mother adjusted the blanket slightly; I froze in that precarious position. Okay, it wasn’t exactly Tom Cruise in MI, but it was a moving train, so it was a dangerous assignment!! I made sure that noone was looking, and then flicked the switches and in another second was lying back on my berth. I had expected to play on confusion, there were 5 of them, all asleep, and I was on the top berth, quite far from the switches, so the finger of blame could hardly be pointed at me, SUCCESS!

Had taken the night Hampi express, which tossed me at Bangalore at 6 in the morning, I had been warned it’s a bit chilly in the morning, no kidding it was. My connect to Mysore started promptly at 7, and the sleeper section quickly became almost like an unreserved one, with people piling in. I took my seat opposite a chap called Babu R, working with Seagate in B’lore. He was heading to Srirangapatnam to visit the Ranganathaswamy temple. He had been to Minneapolis and we traded stories of how cold US could be (funny how climate conditions always pops up into conversation everywhere). A nice, religious fellow who had been to both Rameshwaram and Tirupati. Babu told me that most people came in unreserved in the morning. We were criss-crossing between populated towns and field with standing water in them, but the bright sunshine did cheer me up after the last 4 days of rain.

Reached Mysore at 10 am, the air surprisingly mild, neither warm nor cold. Got sweet talked by an auto chap into lodging up at this hotel called Jayanag after I had researched to go to either Dasaprakash or Calinga. For 390 a night, you get a double room, with tv, and attached bath, no AC. I was .5 km from the KSRTC bus stand and was pleasantly surprised to notice I was bang in the middle of the road which had the Palace on one side (about a km) and St. Philomina’s church on the other (just over a km towards the other side). Took a bath, ate a masala dosa (!!), and changed into my shorts ready for exploring. Felt a bit weird to come back into the bustling city life after the quietness of Hampi, with the street hawkers on the roads selling their wares (keychains, memorabilia in shape of deities, combs, wallets, undergarments!)to the ATMs , the corner grocery shop and the traffic!

I always take a long walk whenever I reach some new place to take in the surroundings, get the street names, and other landmarks I can see. The place was full of silk and jewellery shops (the road my hotel was on had almost every shop selling jewellery, almost every!). Even at 12 noon the streets were filled with people, ended up at the wrong gate (apparently entry to the palace is open through only 1 gate of the 4) and walked around 3 gates before reaching the 4th and last one (phew, sunscreen my new love). You can take a tanga ride around the palace circle for 20 bucks a person which is a nice experience. I passed the big clock tower, city bus stand, and Corporation building before I joined the queue to get in. 10 minutes in the sun and 20 Rs later I was in. you have to remove footwear to enter the main building and the buggers don’t even allow photography! You deposit your camera inside the main gate to the right for 5bucks. A shame, there were so many beautiful snaps I could’ve taken out. There are free audio sets in English and other languages that you can pick up from the palace entrance that serve as a guide inside the palace, would be wise to try these. I passed and joined the horde into the palace. The first passageway is adorned with a few paintings as you pass into the ‘marriage chamber’ through a path circling ‘kusti akhada’. The paintings put on the wall in this room are beautiful, depicting royal processions, full with the elephants, horses, camels, townfolk, the royalty, palaces etc. In the middle of this room is an area about 15 feet in radius maybe, surrounded by bronze pillars going up to about 2-3 stories culminating in a dome. Look up here to admire the beautiful work on the tinted glasses, peacock motifs and all. As the circular route continues, you can see beautiful bronze and silver work (small stools, boxes, small statues with various designs) and paintings of royalties in another room.

Passing on you come to a room with silver bordered big glasses and thrones, be sure to look at the ceiling and doors to look at the intricate designs.
Still circling the akhada you come to the other side where a big gold palki is there which is now sometimes used in religious ceremonies (how I wished I could click snaps here). A couple of cannons are still standing right outside this passage. Onto the first floor now as you come to beautiful paintings and statues of various Indian deities in a big chamber overlooking the open grounds in front of the palace. Spent a lot of time looking at each of these, as you come to area where the royal dignitaries and other members and guests used to sit and observe the parade from. The view from here is surely princely, the huge ceiling extending onto the front has amazing paintings, absolutely beautiful, gods, sun signs, temples, everything mixed with the curving designs. Still on the first floor you pass through the big Throne chamber where the king used to sit, the throne a dazzling gold, and high enough that on the side there are a few steps to get to the cushion to sit on (the king was literally above everyone else). The doors to this room have beautiful white design on brown base (or was it black?) covered with glass. Passing out you get to see the big full silver doors in a small room. Outside the palace museum there are a couple of temples, did visit one, but nothing of note that interested me there. There is also an elephant and camel ride if you care to take one. I collected my camera and proceeded to take snaps of the only things I could, the Palace outside compound.

Came back for a snack to the hotel and rest a bit and headed out to St. Philomena’s church, the tall peaks of which I could see from my hotel roof. It was pleasant to see big, functioning church, temple and mosque within a km of each other in this area. At 6 in the evening the church looked nice in the evening sky, with tinted glasses and the brownish grey walls provided good photo ops (no photography inside the church, i shamefully did click a couple). I sat in the church for half an hour just looking at the statue in front after which I headed fort to the basement where there is another statue, (don’t ask me which) and a donation box with a tube extending down. There’s an area for lighting candles; the caretaker asked if I wanted one, I shook my head, feeling guilty at following a religious process when I don’t believe in it. The walls here are set with big 2 feet by 1 feet black stones on which the names of big donators is etched. Passed through a 50 metre tunneled passage with the numerous names on the black walls, the light at the end coming from the opening above gave a surreal feeling. I’m not a religious fellow, but strangely, walking through that dark path, all alone at that time, surrounded by so many names which I felt with my fingers along the way, into the light; well you had to be there to experience it yourself.
Returned back to the hotel, good thing that most people here understand Hindi, which is quite convenient for me. I headed out for the third time in the day towards the palace. I stood in awe of the illumination that adorned the palace outline in the night, even the Chamundi hill in the distance looked beautiful, with its dark mass bordered with small lights.

Day 1 fruitful enough, time to rest, and, oh yes fried rice (don’t even think of trying chapattis).

The Lad(ie)s of the night

Now when I used to work, sometimes I used to be at office really late at night. I’m sure most of you can empathise with that, a single guy in his 20s, you have to love work then. And inadvertently, I would be walking the 2 km from my office to my flat at weird hours like 2 or 3 in the morning. Now, this in a city where 10 pm is considered late and by 11:30 pm, everything is dead silent on the roads.
It was on one of these days (or nights, take your pick) that I was walking home at around midnight when I came to the bend at the main road that turns towards my building. Now this is an area that has a couple of big trees that provide much needed shade during the daytime, but at nighttime, it makes it a bit spooky. I saw a guy standing with a bike talking to a lady with a nice figure (fine it was obviously a prostitute; at this time, at a deserted location, they won’t be negotiating their next date). I looked away to give them their privacy, not like I could see their faces in the dark anyway. But as I passed them I swear I distinctly heard 2 male voices! Now unless I was imagining things or the guy was a really good actor with a weird habit of talking in 2 voices, there was definitely something fishy here. I could not help but turn and look up to their faces, and I’m telling you the truth I have completely stopped looking at females in this city from that moment on.
Scarred for life, I just wanted to share this sweet experience with the rest of you, hope you buggers also suffer as I do now!!!

P.S. – Thanks Niladri for suggesting the title.

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.