roadtrip!

    This is a short description of the hampi trip we had few days back.
    We took a train from Bangalore to hampi in the night, we had a nice chat in the train on the way. We reached the place at around 8.30 in the morning. We were hungry – literally. All of us pulled ourselves to a roadside hotel which we wouldn’t have dared to enter in blore. poori-baji and bonda - We hogged.
      Everything tastes so good when we are hungry.
      We reached the hotel nearby. The place was amarapura if I remember it correctly.  It’s a govt tourism dept hotel. Pretty neat. As usual we bargained over the prices and took two double rooms. We managed to get ready within 11 and left. We decided that we will take a ride on cycles – eco-friendly way.
       It was a 4 km drive from the hotel to the main place. But there were ruins all over the way. Abandoned temples. Destroyed idols.  I am not sure as to why they plundered like this. They would have just taken all the money and left. May be its religion!
       There were a lot of foreigners roaming around seeing this place. Local people are capitalizing on this inflow of tourists. People were selling fake coins, cheap kurtas for high prices etc.
        I saw that internet has penetrated this place also. They also offer to write CDs etc.
         It was already late when we left. It was pitch dark and we had no  lights to see the road. We just went on. The best part was when some vehicle with light came from the opposite direction. For a few seconds we could not see anything. Anyway it was an unique experience.
         I recommend this place for a visit for a week atleast.
      

The world famous stone chariot. The chariot that never moved. Myth goes like this – people used to rotate the stone wheels whenever the god was being worshipped inside the temple. 

beautiful

it was a bright day with blue skies when we were out on cycles to explore hampi - most ideal for taking photographs. the sky is the best background for any picture. here is a construction which i believe is a watch tower which has sustained the attacks through the centuries. a silent spectator. 

rocks and rocks everywhere

no wonder the kings took this as their capital. the city is full of rocks - big and small and a river runs through it which practically made it diffiult for the enemies to attack this place. the place is ideal for a retreat from the normal buzz of bangalore. may be i will spend a month or more here in this place some time in the future. 

a good blueprint

almost all the buildings in hampi have ben reduced to this state. thank god that they did not dig up the basement. they just burnt.
for prospective builders - check out the plans here. may be u will get a good plan which u wont get with the architects. :-) 

endless temple

From this angle it looks like this temple does not have any end. As if it is reaching the skies and to the gods. Somehow human beings always have nurtured the concept that gods live in the skies!! Always looking up to god

the elephant

One of the many mutilated elephants. But there is an interesting feature in this. If you strike the elephants belly with a stone you will get a metallic sound. The guide told us that in the earlier days the sound could be heard as far as 3kms away!!

the well

the hampi people had an excellent drainage system in those days. and look at the asthetic sense they have in building their wells. i think they had an affinity for geometry. this well was discovered in the 1980s and the acrhaelogists were dumbfound.

platter

can you make a wild guess as to what this is ?? this is an ancient dinner plate!! interesting ?? i wonder how much the people used to eat in the old days!!

the lotus mahal

the lotus mahal. looks beautiful. i appreciate the indian govt's efforts to keep the place clean. the speciality of the building is that it is very cool even if it is burning hot outside.

nice piece of architecture

this picture looks neat right ? coz it has so many colors in it. blue sky, green grass, the gray building, the red plant and of course mother- earth. this building used to be the place where elephants used to be tied. the story is that this building was spared as it was built in islami style of architeture and the invaders were muslims. otherwise hampi is just ruins

krishna

sri krishna in one of his various adventures. the tale goes like this - near to where krishna lived there used to be a lake where in a poisonous sniper lived and it used to release poison into the lake. so whenever the cattle drank from this they used to die.
so krishna took a dive into the lake got the snake out of it and danced on it. he eventually killed it and saved it. there are many tales like this about him. and interesting too.