Monday, July 03, 2006

Weekend and Hampi

At last......we were able to go on a small trip before classes at college start. Dad says that we've already visited Hampi before.......i was very small at that point of time....so we all decided to go ther again.....making this an indelible memory.

An overview..
Boarded the bus at 8:30 p.m.on friday night.
Saturday, 6 a.m found us in Manthralaya (surprising myself!!) .Feeling proud of having seen the river Tungabhadra is exhillarating!!
Reached Hampi at 6 in the evening.
Toured the site on Sunday untill 2 o' clock....illegally visited the Tungabhadra Dam.....the park there is indeed nice.

Travellers'

We had okay co-passengers.....but i definately expected more. Entire families had arrived...with their troupe of small kids. And the Marathi....Tamil folks....never even opened their mouths. I had to be content with speaking with mum and dad....but it got boring. Spent time pretending to be asleep.....or trying to enjoy the varying landscape.


Two need special mention. One.....the grumpy old woman......who cribbed, cribbed and again cribbed about everything. She acted oversmart.....with the poor waiter at Manavi......where we had stopped for lunch. Why do these astonishingly irritable women ever make an appearance...i do not know. And Keerthana......a six-year old....with innocent eyes.....her talk flowing endlessly. I did convince her that i was worth being spoken to. It took a lot of bearing and patience.

The Journey

It was hectic.....the Manthralaya part was bad.......spent the entire night...in a moving vehicle (I personally think that that shrine is truly not worth a visit......considering that it was about 18 months or so before i stepped into this one.) It reminded us of Shirdi......but the breakfast was far batter compared to the one at the latter. Drowsiness made my eyelids droop...but fate was not in my favor. Curling up in a suitable position...only to be jolted awake...obviously one cannot expect anything more in a reverberatory bus. The roads in Raichur cry for improvement. Humps which are four in number....helped me keep awake. Aren't humps basically function as speed-breakers....they have a new job......to remind people that daily exercise is a must!!!

Envy

How i envied everboby else??? Leave alone getting a few moments of sleep.....the initial part of it was so far-fetched. Seeing everybody taking a good, relaxing nap except me......left me very angry and dissapointed.


Hampe (the way it is pronounced in Kannada)

Comparing Hampe with Konark...... i initially weighed the latter. Konark left me in awe. But as dad said......Hampe is huge......really huge. Each temple complex is big. The Vijaya Vitthala complex left me panting.......where we scaled the compound wall......to see the Tungabhadra behind boulders......greenery peeping inbetween.

The Pushkarni...is simply super. Water canals here and there.......made us walk in a zig-zag fashion. Superiority in architectural planning left me blank.

The Mahanavami Dibba....The Lotus Mahal.......The Watch Towers'......The Water Pool....The Elephant Stables....... mammoth in size...... and a sight to watch.

Musical pillars...... Mridanga....Jalataranga....Damaruga....soothed our tired minds.......with notes that could be listened to forever.

Search

The first thing that came to my mind when i reached Hampe...was the novel that i had read long back. Trying very hard to recollect the name of the book....resulted in me not hearing the words of the guide.

This book......revolves around a plot in Hampe....which was the capital of the erstwhile Vijayanagar kings. It talks about the Hampe Bazaar...the Virupaksha temple...with such ease......the rich markets.....and the harlets left me in wonder. It talks of a mystery...spies...King Krishna Devaraaya. Will i lay my hand on it again??


Returning to Bangalore.....i was informed that college reopened a day later. Resting.....was all i did.....to comfort my rattled bones.....

Football never left us behind....or rather we never let go of it. It made us go wonkers in Hampe......with Brazil losing a game.





4 comments:

The 'Ekaangi' said...

I remembered our trip to Hampi 2 yrs back... we thought mebbe it was names coz of the 'n' no. of humps there....

From Hampi..we moved on towards Badami...at night...with me knowing the routes better than the driver (though it was my 1st visit)... the roads were filled with lorries carryin ores from 'mines'... we reached the KSTDC hotel @ badami at 2.am... and those hotel guys were still awake waitin for us... talk abt hospitality !!
We missed the TB dam but saw the Almatti dam (had to bribe the security guard)... and then went over to Bijpaur... it was a lovely trip !!

Shiv said...

Hampi...

ondhandhu kallu ondhandhu kaThey heLthaavanthey..so true !

After seeing many places here, I felt that we have places which are so rich in art,culture & architecture. And Hampi is one of them.

Isn't the musical pillars amazing, isn't the single-stone chariot awesome..how about the lotus mahal..incredible..

But still Hampi never gets the fame as it was supposed to get on world tourist maps..thanks to some slumber babuism and unprofessional way of handling it..

Anyways..I'm totally wiht you on that sleeping part in bus. I literally struggle to get sleep in bus when others slip as if they are on a comfy bed !!

So you recharged yourself with a trip..btw which book u r referring to??

mouna said...

bere kaDe yella oLLe facities ive gotte...ajanta dalli...u have tourism dept. hotels on the spot....with a shopping complex....where u can actually buy good reminders of that place.

aadre illi aa thara yenu illa....u can do whatever u want.. aa bazzar kooDa namma avenue road thara ide!!! to top it all...people from abrod flock here like mad anthe during 'season'

aa bookina bagge saakashtu tale keDisikonDe...in vain...i still cannot place the book....

Shiv said...

I agree dat there can be good facilities in several toursist places..but trust me there is so much scope for improvement.They can make the places so attractive.

I've literally travelled to every major tourist place in India barring North-East and most of the places, you feel pathetic.

Best example is Agra..I donno if u had been there.Is that the way to handle such a precious monument.One shud just check out the things before they land up in Taj.it is sorry state of affaies.I donno if it has changed in recent times..

I hate to make comparsion..but can't help.Few of the tourist places here are nothing spectacular as we have in India.But the way they have projected,the way they have marketed it..brilliant..