Sunday, January 9, 2011

UNFORGETTABLE !!!

HAMPI, at first when we all heard this name and came to know that we are going for study tour, all eyes had different kind of spark in them, all minds wondering about what’s it going to be like. Everyone started googling about the place, started sharing links, videos and everything that they got, on fb. And not to forget the amount of shopping everyone did.

The excitement was at its extreme point when “THE D-DAY” arrived. I had lots of train trips before but I knew this one was going to be a lot different. Going from S6 to S10, not sitting at a place even for few hours, gossiping, discussing about every stupid thing. No one slept even for few hours, there was so much of enthusiasm in everyone.

DAY1
It wasn’t a real great day. Just went around the place and explored it. My first reaction was, “Oh, this place just have stones and big boulders, what are we gonna study here.” At hotel, everyone was waiting for the night. Everyone had their own plans. Some planned to have a simple night out in their rooms, some went for night walks and some other was busy with their own “STUFF”!!

DAY2
From this day we were going to start the actual exploration of Hampi. As instructed, everyone was ready with their sketch books, note pads, etc, etc. The guide was saying something about the place, the history, and the monuments around. Some were listening; some were just too busy in photography. One peculiar thing that caught my eyes was different kind of arrangement in stones. When you see them, you really can’t figure out whether these stones are standing in that way on their own or somebody did that. “Oye Daru!!” I heard a voice from behind. I saw Gayathri calling me from not so far away. Then we all went all the way down to Virupaksha Temple. The moment I saw its hugeness, I was dumbstruck for sometime. It was almost lunch time by the time we completed exploring that area and we were left on our own to find a good place for lunch. Well to find a good place for lunch was a real tough job that day. Generally, there is no specialty about Hampi in cuisine. You get all kind of food in here; Italian, Chinese, and south Indian or what ever you ask for. The funny thing was we even saw a hotel serving momos, but didn’t risk tasting it!!!!

Next target on list was Vithalla Temple. This temple is actually famous for its “Musical pillars”. It was almost evening by the time we reached there. So unfortunately we couldn’t listen to musical pillars. But the guide showed a special thing, on one of the pillars of temple. It had a small carving which represented 3 things, a monkey jumping from one wall to another, a frog and a mother monkey helping a baby monkey to climb up.

Since it was getting dark, professors decided to call off the day. Everyone was looking tired at the time when they got in the bus, but when we reached hotel, suddenly everyone’s spirit was back. That night some people announced that Vinay is gonna tell some ghost stories to everyone. But we decided to be ghosts ourselves and scare everyone else and we actually succeeded in scaring some people. Thanks to Mahesh, Enid and some other people.

DAY3
From today we were left on our own to go around and explore every place and decide how we are going to do the work. So last night we decided to rent a cycle and that thing came to me as nightmare because I didn’t know how to cycle at all.

So at morning we all went to shops to rent cycles and on the way back to hotel I had to walk that 4kms stretch. But that time I noticed something that I didn’t feel like I’m at some other place, there was something about Hampi that made me felt homely over there.

Everyone left the hotel with their cycles and I was left alone, but I think that was real good thing for me. Today was completely my day. I started from Virupaksha, roamed around the place, did some sketching and it was already afternoon. So I decided to go to some hotel and have food. Fortunately, I found Anu, Sherin and Sajita there and when I told that I don’t have a cycle, Sherin started to jump beside because even she didn’t know how to cycle. So I thought of mixing up with these gals.

At evening I thought that today’s day wasn’t real exciting but didn’t know that a bad cat fight was coming our way at night. Well that night was really a controversial one. Many people had misconception about many people which were cleared later on.

DAY4
Keeping in my mind that even today I have to travel alone and on my own way I got ready, but thankfully Anisha thought of hiring a Luna and finally I got some relief. We both then started of from Vithalla temple and there joined everyone. Today we all were like that we will get to hear “THE MUSICAL PILLARS”. But we couldn’t because they were closed for renovations. People taking care of that place told us that they have been already damaged earlier while showing and playing for everyone. So now they chose to better shut it down. Since it was already breakfast time, I, Anisha, Gayathri and Unmesh planned to eat in a café at the back of the temple but we couldn’t find that place. But instead landed up at some river side so we thought of crossing the river and find a café on the other side of shore. The boat that we traveled in were not the regular ones but was in a ‘tokri’ shape.

When we reached on the other side it was totally different atmosphere from Hampi. It was simply like a small village. We found a small courtyard in which a family of four used to run a small café. But the food we had over there was the yummiest breakfast I ever had.

Then again we came back Hampi, and again started with roaming and discovering new things about the place. Again in afternoon, where to have lunch was a big question. And “MANGO TREE” was the ultimate answer. This place had the perfect atmosphere you require for peace of mind after a long dusty day or just to have the food. The landscape that you can get to see is simple awesome.
After that Darshan planned that we all will go to Tenali Rama’s Mandapa. And again the “gang of bikers” set off to a new place. Well this place is on a high mountain tip and bit difficult to find. But much to our disappointment we couldn’t succeed in finding that place and thought of giving it a try again tomorrow.

DAY5
Today was our last day in Hampi, so today’s aim was to have fun, fun and just FUN. Again we started from hotel to find Tenali Rama’s Mandapa. We found the correct way but to reach there was difficult because there was no perfect way to reach up till there. We had to make our way through bushes and wild plants. Finally we all reached there and when we reached we saw the whole Hampi and the view was simply beautiful. But we couldn’t go to the actual Mandapa because it was on a big stone.

Since it was the last day, we don’t want to leave any place unseen. So after lunch we all bikers set off for a bear sanctuary which was around 15kms away from the hotel. But by the time we reached there it started to get dark and bikes had very little petrol left. So we all dropped the idea of going inside the sanctuary. While coming back, I heard Mahesh and Kritika shouting something from behind but couldn’t really make it out. After sometime I felt that something was wrong with the bike. I told Siddharth to stop the bike and when I got down to see what’s wrong, “BOOM” it was a puncture. Well actually puncture didn’t scare me, what scared me was the isolated area. That place didn’t have anything around and not even network coverage in mobiles. I was completely clueless that how are we gonna make it to hotel. But then I saw Kritika and Nidhi coming back from other side. The moment I saw them I almost ran to them and hugged. Out of a gang of 10-12 bikers, only four of us were left. We all somehow made it to the nearby puncture repair shop. After getting it repaired, we all finally set off for hotel and around 7:30 we all reached hotel.

That day was actually the most unforgettable day for me. Day was fun as well as scary!!!
Since it was the last day we all planned for a night out but everyone was so tired that hardly anyone was awake after 1am.





Morning 7:30 sharp we all settled in bus to go towards our next destination “Bijapur”.

But out of all places, the most memorable one was HAMPI, for everyone. The best part of the tour was Photography, Late night walks, Ghost pranks, Luna rides, Fun and frolic and not to forget everyone’s favorite, “THE MANGO TREE RESTAURANT”!!!

As this was my first trip without my family, HAMPI will always remain the most memorable place for me!!!