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Having missed a planned trip to Hampi last year, I was keen to get there this winter.
I wanted to explore, laze, chill, just stay by the river, get up the boulders, just watch the world pass by and mutely watch the sun rising up the hills majestically and then make his way down the opposing hills in the late hours of the day. No tours, no sightseeing, no hopping from place to place, but just be.
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I jumped in, when opportunity came by to do just that. And while I was there, made a plan to stretch a little further to Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal. And then while I was at these three places, managed to spend a quality half day at charming and calming Mahakoota - a quiet temple village.
River, boulders, evening sun, remains of the past and an idyllic today
We started on a Friday night on a ksrtc bus. Time and again I have said in this blog that journeys are something I enjoy the least about travel. Add to it the fact that I don’t manage to get much sleep in a moving vehicle, be it a bus, train or even airplane, doesn’t help much. We talked for a while and then made an attempt to sleep. The ‘attempt to sleep’ continued till early hours in the morning, until we were pretty close to Hospet. And then we suddenly found ourselves stuck in a traffic jam along with a huge pile of mining trucks. Early hours is when I somehow managed a bit of slumber, and besides that, all that traffic jam must have made me feel at home - just like Bangalore, it was! And just when I fell asleep, we were at Hospet and it was time to get down. If only the jam had lasted longer! Add to the sleepless night, my friend insisted that I slept well through the night, despite my saying otherwise. So lucky that I am, I have with me people who can do everything for me, and even decide for me if I have managed to catch shut-eye! That relieves from pondering the entire next day if I had managed to sleep well at all! And just in case someone I meet in the morning asks customarily if I had slept well the previous night, I can just point them to check with my friend - another job escaped from!
But this journey was much better than the one I made previously, on my way to Thadiyandamol. We had two front seats for this journey, just behind the roaring engine, and across the aisle to us sat the bus conductor. This conductor guy would interrupt our chatter once in a while asking us to be quiet, starting politely when he said that the first time, and his face making expressions of otherwise inexpressible pain during further interruptions, supported by a tone that kept getting more impolite each time. He had a point indeed about incessant chatter in the middle of the night, but what puzzled me is how he zeroed in on our 10 decibel blabber while being blissfully unaware of the 100dB holler from the ancient engine. My guess - his ears would have developed sophisticated filters over years of bus journeys, while at the same time developing extreme sensitivity to the slightest sound in 5 mile radius around him. I did hope that Philips or Sony get to hear about these ultra-advanced noise filters he has, and buy his ears for a big price for further research. The good thing - if they convinced him to sell of his ears - is that it would then help people in 5 mile radius around him to have their conversation undisturbed. Even better, he can give up his job with his new fortune and start travelling in the passenger seats, without feeling duty bound to bother anyone any more!
Digressions apart, we reached Hampi around 7.30am and checked into an exorbitantly priced guesthouse. Exorbitantly priced guesthouse because every place that did not charge exhorbitantly was already taken up by people who came before us. May be next time when I am here, I should consider arriving before the people who came before us. Then on, with all the logistics problems addressed, it was four pleasant and unhurried days spent in Hampi, oblivious to rest of the world, and oblivious to the dates, days and hours.
Continued at The Days in Hampi
Good yaar !! Pleasant and unhurried 4 days - worthy trip.
Good blog.Great Snaps. Loved reading abt the trips as i am also interesting in travelling.
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