The humbling at Hampi

It has been troubling my conscience that I have not made the effort to not put up this post, what with taking notes during the trip among other things. A post about a movie review on this blog owing to the sheer lack of contributions is the final nail in the coffin. I am thankful for the same to have awoken me and put out this post.

At around 8 in the night on 11th December, Thursday, I heard Sameer screaming across the corridor for someone to get water bottles along. I accused a group of people leaving this place to explore the world outside without inviting me along. On reaching Sheki's room shortly after, my hunch proved right with the guilty party leaving half an hour from then. After a short debate with myself and quickly stuffing in clothing and a bedsheet, I intruded their plans with my inclusion.

The guilty party in question here was headed by the capable expedition leader Sheki, and also included his pals Rushil, Sameer, Bala, Nishkarsh, Alankar, Mota and now, much to their helplessness, me. We set off on a bus to Hospet which was to reach the next morning. Nothing eventful happened on this trip save a traffic jam delaying our arrival by a few hours. A local bus from there took us to Hampi, already giving us a taste of its awe inspiring splendour on the way.

We successfully gatecrashed into two adjacent rooms of our choice and hired bicycles for flagging off our exploratory endeavors. The day ended with a visit to a few nearby monuments and Bala's lock going bust on him; not to mention the frustrated cursing and failed rudimentary rock-lock breaking attempts that ensued.

Thats the seven of us... Alankar below. Sheki features further below, whom we have to thank the one above for among other things

Notable Quotes

(In the context of the famous musical pillars of Hampi - Stone pillars reinforced with metal to produce musical notes when struck)

Vhora: "Talk about heavy metal music."
Bala: "This is more on the lines of alternative rock."

We woke up early the next day(Saturday) and five of us left on a trek to a nearby hill for a panoromic view of the ancient city. (For the uninitiated, Hampi was the glorious capital of the Vijayanagara Kingdom, now largely in ruins, awe inpiring nevertheless.) Atop this hill, a breathtaking sun rise awaited us. This magnificent experience of viewing the glorioius capital was complimented by a glass of steaming hot chai at the top. The view also gave us our first encourter with the sheer vastness of the city. There were ruins on every side, far as the eye could see, Palace Foundations, Market Places, Baths, Temple courtyards, Public Performance Stages to name a few. A staggering sense of realisation as to how much time and effort was needed to construct a city of such grandeur with mere rock, chisels and bare hands dawned upon me. This feeling of awe only built on us wherever we went for the next 2 days. Each of the innumerable sites situated there was a masterpiece by itself.

Lunch on the second day was had at the Goan Farm, an eatery situated across the Tungabadra river, far enough from the holiness associated with Hampi to be free to cater to non-vegetarian and alcoholic interests. The meal, rather reasonably priced, lived up to everybody's expectation but mine. Why it did not shall be made clearer in lines to follow.

Imagine a city filled with these!

Notable Quotes

Bala: "Eiffel tower is shit compared to this place."

(At the marketplace which was a brothel in its day)
Sheki-: "This is the place where they sold human whores!"

(On the trek, pointing to traps between huge rocky boulders)
Your's truly: "If you fall into one of these, you will die for life."

The third day saw us checking out of our accommodation and proceeding like the other two days on more exploratory quests. By now we had realised that it was absolutely impossible to finish an exhaustive visit to this place in just 3 days. The third day was somewhat of a finger in the eye in comparison to the other two because of the crowds that a festival had drawn in. Something interesting that I have not mentioned so far was Nishkarsh's encounter with a blood brother who was delighted to see his brethren in a land so faraway. This turned into instant displeasure of equal magnitude when he realised that Nishkarsh was on the search for something (..ahem) outlandish. (Grass doesn't grow too well in the deserts of Rajasthan)

Captain Sheki in his element

Notable Quotes

Sheki- "For every book in Deccan there is a library in Lucknow."

We then proceeded to catch a bus to Hospet from where we had a booking to Surathkal (or so we thought). The bus mentioned above happened to be extraordinarily crowded. Rushil got into a scuffle with some local thug resulting in his giving up of his seat and Sameer's, the latter's whose was beside two white chicks. (I also failed to mention the huge number of foreign tourists that visit Hampi whom Alankar was very optimistic on getting lucky with)

Finally, when it looked like our saga was coming to an end, we realised our tickets at Hospet were wrongly booked. Our only alternative was a Grameena Saarike (Village headman's) transport bus, 2 hours later. This is where my problem with an aforementioned lunch got rather out of hand. The mashed potatoes that I had had that day, had had my stomach in all sorts of trouble by then. (...a tribute to the .... had had had had had..... sentence, whose discussion had had Bala pissed). The journey took us a few kilometres into the middle of nowhere, where it looked like it was coming to a dastardly end (for me because my upset stomach needed emptying real bad!). Luckily (and miraculously might I add), we managed to get back on course with an empty bus but for us. Our fellow passengers, who were rather numerous before the little problem had lost hope and sought other means of travel. In the nick of time, we reached the Hubli bus station where I sought salvation at a public toilet which was bad, but not something the seventh hostel block toilets hadn't prepared me for. (Hail the unexpected merits of those mind, bowel numbing experiences)

We reached college early the next (Monday) and life presumed as before save the eternal etching of this fabulous trip's memories in our minds, after expressing our sincere gratitude to our captain, Sheki.

Conclusive notable quote

(After clicking 656 photos through the trip)
Sheki: I am tired of clicking photos.