It was a Journey amidst history, which I preceded with no expectations. No planned agenda or research was done , prior to taking this trip. It was a three day weekend getaway that we decided to take, which coincided with the holiday weekend of the Indian Independence.
No planning meant ,a couple of my friends who were on this trip already knew the place well. Hence on the 12th of August 2009, we booked the bus tickets and decided we’ll take this trip.
13th of August was complete madness , woke up at 9.00 in the morning , Binu my colleague was supposed to meet me at Croma , to pick up my new camera ( Nikon D60), I was super charged even though I slept at 3.00 am in the morning .
The plan was to pack my stuff, and leave from work, which believe me I promptly did. However Fate had chosen its own plan for me and the others on this trip. I decided to take my car, so that I could get it serviced while I was out of town and would not need it.
All of Thursdays was lost between getting works done and at last I was all set to leave, had my brand new Nikon, and everything else I thought I might need on this three day vacation. When a big barrage crashed on my head, a certain someone who was supposed to come with us on this trip was stuck with work and needed time.
Anyways, time passed by quickly, but the person had not finished yet, we kept pestering him to finish and he kept saying 5 minutes, which passed to hours and it was almost 9.30 pm when we finally left office. He drove super crazy fast through the Bangalore traffic.
We made it to Sneha’s house in record time, and she quickly finished packing and we then waited for the taxi to pick up, but it never came as scheduled which added to the intensity of this whole trip , anyway s when it did come , I called the cab company and gave them a piece of my mind and how badly they are rendered their service .
At last we picked the boys up on the way and made it to the bus station, spent a few minutes smoking and hit the bus which had just arrived. So there we’re looking for our seats and guess what we see, two cute French boys … wala!! This journey was going to get a bit more appealing. One of them was way too excited and did make conversations even before we got settled. After exchanging some pleasantries and information, we retrieved our tired bodies to la la land with hopes of a relaxing weekend away from the usual Bangalore life.
The journey through the night was bumpy but I could not care less, it would soon be over and I would be in a land I never knew before. when morning came , we had reached our Hospet, the next bus was at 7.00 am , hence it was a Hour an wait until we reached out final destination . Morning in south of India always starts with Filter coffee, and that what we were looking forward to. The sweet strong smell of the caffeine drove us to the nearest Dharshini (a resto, which serves south Indian breakfast treats). We perched ourselves in the available seats, the group had just gotten bigger, we were six now.
Friday 14th August 22, 2009
Bus from Hospet to Hampi took us 45 mins.Quite a bumpy ride and to add to the fun, we had found ourselves the last seats . I could not wait to get my camera out and start taking pics. So Harish and I started this whole thing about taking pics were ever possible.
As the bus drove in the Hampi town, it was breathtaking, the entrance to the town was amongst ruins and one can see the huge dome of the virupaksha temple with intrinsic stone carvings. It was supersonic, like a out of space feeling.
The crowd was a healthy, mix foreigners and locals. My heart beat faster with every step I took , I was here, a place I had no expectations from or knew very little off it was saga of forgotten Land , an exclusive part of history of a great empire which had once flourished and Fallen at the hands of the enemies . what more could I want from life. It was my first beautiful experience with Hampi and it was only the beginning.
First Stop, Breakfast time, the most important meal of the day, New Shanti restaurant run by one Mr Elango who I came to meet only a few minutes before I left, a very friendly gentlemen. The restaurant offered quite an elaborate cuisine. So after ordering ourselves big breakfast. We ate and made small talk. After relaxing, we made our way to the river which apparently sources the commuting from the main Hampi town to the other side where private guesthouses and resto’s that cater to all the back packers and weekend guest much like ourselves.
Before I left , I did have some of my good friends tell me about places I should visit , and hence the first pick was Mowgli Guest house , which I had heard so much about , they had the best rooms possible and a good hangout just under the Tamarind tree, which gave the place a bit of a drama.
After much bargaining which btw the French friend (Augustine ) was successful , and much thanks to his “lonely Planet “ guide book they were carrying , we struck a deal for three rooms at 300 buck a night. So we all got settled in , took a cold shower, and gathered under the tamarind to tree to set out to complete the day one Agenda , site seeing , Frankly I hate site seeing , but this I tell you I don’t regret . it was almost lunch time ,and Veeresh wanted to eat at a small resto, which served North Karnataka cusine , and hence it was the Ranju Best Khanavalli which attracted his attention , after a good meal or rice , sambar and all that good stuff , we head out to our first spot .
We Visited the : Achyutaraya Temple/Tiruvengalanatha Temple, Yeduru Basavanna, Vittala temple, Tungabhadra River, Uddana Veerabhadra temple , Virupaksha Temple.
The last boat leaves the main Hampi Bazaar at 6.00 pm and hence we had to make it back to the Guesthouse in time on the way we stopped at a resto near the river called “funky munky” mush like its name , it was cool place to hang out and have some chai and relax . After about an hour we made it back to the Guesthouse which was a short ten minute walk, stopped off at a store where we bought some amenities which we thought were much needed, like a small torch, mosquito coil etc.
Guest house was full of buzz , with crowds gathered under the tree relaxing and enjoying beers and food , however we decided to go to another place which appealed a bit more to us , and that was when we found laughing Budhha , a cool join which served good food and a cozy place to relax . The trick to finding a good place to sit, go there by 7.00 am and the place mostly is all yours.
Hence the first day in Hampi was a success, loads of beer complimented the food we had ordered and the company was rather very interesting. All of us shared experiences and jokes, laughed very loud , got some dirty looks from people, but enjoyed the whole environment and after a light buzz in my head , I was happy to be there , to be alive , and enjoyed every moment that god granted me .
The following two days were as enticing as the first , second day was no site seeing, but time for some physical activity hence we climbed a small hill strewn with boulders , it was an amazing climb , the boys were very active and so were the gals , The fact that I have not done this in the past 6 years did not affect me one bit , I was there trying my best to make it to the top , and believe me , the scene was breathtaking from the top , it could spend my life up there and stare at the beauty of it all , god did put his heart and soul when he created earth , the colors of nature just came alive and entangled each other to produce an enchanting and glorious opera .
The third and our last day turned out to be a bit of a confusion, one of us had to meet a couple of friends and set out early , but the others could not keep up to the time as discussed and the group kind of got parted . Anyways that did not stop us all from doing what was planned , the person left alone did some exploring on his own and we did the same , and this time it was on bicycles another forgotten hobby of mine , first important task was to find the right bike , which I did and then we set out , little did realize that my bike had no bell and I had to scream out loud when people came in front of me at the bazaar , it was so much fun, I could hear myself saying side side side side in true Indian style .
After a long exhausting ride and some more sightseeing we came back to New shanti where the staff was kind enough to keep our luggage while we went exploring. We came back and met with the lost lamb and had some refreshments and relaxed until Dinner time, and at 7.00 pm we went to Mango for the last Dinner in Historical city of Hamper .Mango Tree, turned out to a fascinating restaurant, The entrance was through a huge Banana Plantation, a small path led us to it, they served only vegetarian food and was set up in a very village style seating, right under and enormous Mango Tree. I found out that it’s been there for the last 23 years. It turned out to be a quite, yet fun night, I was happy hanging out with like minded folks.
When we got back to new shanti, our exhausted and exhilarated bodies were ready for a nightcap , Our amused yet quite thoughts knew that we were only 6 hours away from the reality of a city life , none of us in our hearts wanted to leave ,yet we knew we had emails to write , problems to solve , Dam’s to build , find efficient fuels to burn , hence we took our backpacks , jumped in to an Auto and made it back to Hospet to await the ride which we did not really look forward to .
