Hampi : My Life in Ruins

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It was an early December evening and I was waiting at the Tirupati station with my usual backpack and camera. Yes, I was on the way to Hampi from Chennai. Tirupati station is a melting pot for all the tourists and pilgrimages. Earlier, I took a train from Chennai to Tirupati as I knew that there wouldn’t be any train to reach Hospet from Chennai. I had options aplenty however decided to take the shortest but comfortable way by travelling in trains. Haripriya express from Tirupati departs at 8pm so I had it known that I had to wait in TIrupati for some hours. I placed myself in a corner of the waiting hall and was gaping at the crowd. Finally, my turn came up and I slowly walked past the busy ever crowded waiting hall towards platform no. 3. As per my plan, Haripriya Express would drop me at Hospet at 5 a.m, nest day and from there I have to get some local transport to reach Hampi which is just 19 kms away. Walking up early in the morning is a challenge. In my life I may have a lost a bunch of opportunities since I hate to wake up early. Same logic implied, I was not able to sleep at all. My ‘super thanks’ to Indian Railway that smoking in a train is an offence hence I was rather more disturbed and was counting every second.

Haripriya did a good job. I reached Hospet at 5 am. Hospet is a small town in Northern Karnataka and as expected the railway station was quite. At 5 am, before anything else, the first thing I was looking for a hot cup of tea. My eyes were trying their best to stay open. After small refreshment, I decided to proceed towards Hampi. It would really a waste of time if I had to wait for the buses start plying. As I walked out of the Railway station, I found a few ‘Auto rickshaws’ were lined up for the early birds. I picked or rather I was picked by one of them and settled for 19km distance for Rs.150/-. It wasn’t a bad deal at all. After crossing the ‘about to wakeup’ Hospet town, we went past through the typical Karnataka villages which took less than 45 minutes to reach Hampi. It was almost 6 am and as expected most of the hotels/home stays/guest houses were about to open the door. So finally I’m here which I have waited for past 10 years.

To say something about Hampi, I would suggest all my beloved readers to go through the map(attached). Without framing some geographic locations in your mind, it is impossible to see Hampi. I knew I exactly had 48 hours with me and had to use every bit of it. Hampi is called as the ‘City of Ruins’, yes the name has its justification. Temples/ruins/architectural monuments are everywhere. If you love photography then this is a heaven but if you don’t, hardly matters, there’s a plenty to explore. You definitely won’t find any luxurious hotel in Hampi. Most of them are small guest houses, depending upon your ‘pocket size’ one can opt any. I settled in ‘Tungabhadra Guest house’ for Rs.500 @ day (food excluded). Hampi has limited cell phone connectivity and I found my ‘Airtel’ network was feeble inside the hotel room. Nevertheless, all I wanted to have a quick nap for a couple of hours for my own best. The rooms in Tungabhadra Guest House were decent so I retired for a couple of hours as my eyes needed a patch before I put them under stress for the rest of the day.

‘Lunch Sir?’, I woke up with ‘hard knocks’ at my door.

‘Yup, coming in 2 minutes’, I replied.

It was already 1 pm, which meant I slept for more than 6 hours. ‘What a mess’, I lost half a day sleeping in my hotel room. I took less than 10 minutes to clean myself up. The restaurant was at the first floor. Before I dive into the streets of Hampi, I rather keep my readers informed that river Tungabhadra bisects Hampi in two zones. Precisely, ‘Vegetarian’ and ‘Non-vegetarian’ and more precisely, ’Liquor’ and ‘Liquor free zones’ , no, no there’s nothing to raise your eyebrows nor my sense of humor plays a trick here. Most of the ruins are on the left bank of Tungabhadra which is declared as the ‘Strictly Vegetarian Zone’ however if you have planned for a nice evening with a bottle of ‘Carlsberg’ and some smoking hot ‘Tandoori Chicken’, my friend you have to cross the river and go to the right bank and enjoy. I knew this drill beforehand so I settled with a ‘vegetarian meal’ for 60 bucks which I felt was worth paying for. I loaded my ‘calories’ as much as I could because my next pit stop would surely be for my dinner.

There a 4-5 ways to explore Hampi. Since all the ruins are in different locations, it is difficult explore all of them by walk. Bi cycles are available for Rs. 40/- @ day which obviously the cheapest mode. Gearless mopeds are also available for Rs. 100/- day which come with 2ltr of gas (initially). Auto Rickshaws and Taxis are also available but they settle with as far as you can bargain for. I spent couple of my school years in Bi-Cycle so it was the time to revive my old skill. I picked one and immediately went for my first stop towards ‘The Town Center’. I had planned for the nearby places for today however the ruins which were miles apart from the town center, I kept another day for them. I thought rather getting into the details of each and every ruin, it would be better to give an exclusive list what I have explored in two days.

Day 1 : (from 1:30 pm to 6:30 pm)

Town Center

Krishna Temple

Zeenana Enclave

Virupaksha Temple

Horse Stables

Jain Temple

King’s Place

Lotus Mahal

Elephant Stable

Watch Towers

Treasury Building

Guard’s Quarter

Water Pavilion

Sister’s Stone (while returning to my hotel room)

There’s so much to see, it would be great if you keep at least 3-4 days in Hampi. After riding bi cycles for hours, I had to take a stop. I decided to end today’s ride at Sister’s stone. Perhaps I witnessed the most beautiful sunset of my life. I returned to my hotel room around 7pm. Mr.Sun left for the day a couple of minutes ago. I decided to spend the rest of the evening chatting with the folks of ‘Tungabhadra Guest House’. I was nervous as tomorrow would be the last day in Hampi and I had so much to cover.

Next day, I woke up early at 6am and decided to start my next phase. I had the bi-cycle guy informed that the same ‘horse’ should be ready and available for the next day. He was there. I knew that I had kept the long rides for today so decided to start accordingly.

Technically, Hampi is divided into 5 parts which are as follows.

1) Royal Enclosure

2) Danaik’s Enclosure

3) Noblemen Quarters

4) Zennana Enclosure

5) Buffer Zone

As yesterday, I managed to cover most of the places in Zeenana Enclosure, Danaik’s Enclosure, so today decided to start with buffer zones and a few left over from Noblemen Quarters and Royal Enclosure.

I started with Mahanabami Dibba, Queens Bath, Hazari Rama Temple, Guard Barracks, Public Barracks, King Audience Hall, Undergorund Chamber. I had to take a guide for the Mahanabmi Dibba. In Hampi, if you have map with you and have some prior research about the history of the ruins, you may not need a guide or any direction. All the places have proper ‘marks’ on how to reach and you need to follow them blindly.

After covering most the Noblemen Quarters and Royal enclave, I took a pit stop and came back to my hotel room for lunch. This is a problem in Hampi, apart from the main town center you don’t have any option for food in any of the ruins except some snacks and water. After a break for about an hour, ‘The Jack hit the road’ again. I knew that I had to paddle about 5 miles to reach Vitthala Malaya Temple, King’s Balance and Saraswati temple which are indeed the most attractive amongst the ruins. After a sweaty paddle for about 2 hours, finally around 4 pm I reached at Vitthala Malaya temple. Indeed, it’s a beauty. This temple has a wonderful history. When the invaders reached Hampi, they had everything for demolition however they had this temple left. Local priest had a very interesting story for me. This particular temple has ‘musical pillars’ which means striking the pillars at a particular place with a particular force, the pillars generate a sound which resemble some musical instrument. So when the invaders about to arrive at this temple, they heard drums beating from a far away distance which made them feel a there was a garrison of soldiers waiting. They decided to detour and that why this temple has been untouched still. Surprisingly, most of the crowds gather at the stone chariot near Vithala Temple posing for their own lenses. I spent some time here and then went for the King’s Balance which was just merely 50 mts away from the temple. Walking further, I reached the bank of Tungabhadra. Yes, in past 36 hours this was my first meeting with Tungabhadra. The name itself is more than sufficient to fall in love. Actually, it’s a twin river, Tunga and Bhadra. I had to rush in as my prime stop to witness another beautiful sunset from Hemkuntha Hill was pending still. I paddled pretty fast and finally reached Hemkuntha Hill around 6:00 pm. Mr. Sun was all set to leave for the day. Suddenly, I found a French couple at the backdrop of another historic romanceful evening. Love eternal, so does Hampi. Every street, every ruin has some or the other ‘tragic history’ of love,sacrifice and hate. My journey ends here. I had a bunch of takeaways from Hampi but all I missed ? A walk in the ruins with my sweetheart. Will meet you here again.

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