Into the mystical city of ruins... Hampi!

If you really want to know why I went solo for this trip, suggest you give a read to this blog ‘Why Solo’, else you can continue below:

So on 17th March 2022, I finished office and reached home at around 6:40 pm, picked up my bag in haste, and left towards a city about whom people were quite fascinated (as I could see by their expressions when I told them about my plan to visit it), but at the same time, this was also a city about which I knew nothing! Except that it once was the capital of Raja Krishnadevray’s grand Vijaynagar empire, I knew absolutely nothing, heck I didn’t even know it was in Karnataka state until the very moment I booked the bus ticket for it, almost three days before the actual trip!

So yeah, I packed my bags, still quite trying to recall the reason why I’d booked tickets for Hampi specifically in the first place, I realized that a few friends had been there before me and due to their help I’d been able to book a stay beforehand, and it struck me that calling the stay owner and letting him know I’ll be coming tomorrow might be a good idea. So I has a call with him, left my home towards the pickup point, boarded the bus, and off I went… to Hospet!

Yeah, Hospet, because the buses don’t drop you to the actual Hampi, you de-board at Hospet, haggle with a nearby auto walla (the one who can speak the best Hindi out of the bunch) over prices to reach Hampi that can range anywhere between 200 to 500 depending on your bargaining capacity, and move towards the ancient city.

Well, the time I arrived in Hospet was special for a reason, you see actor Puneeth Rajkumar, who had sadly passed away the earlier year, the day before I stepped in Hospet was his birth anniversary, and also the release of his last movie James. Now if you really wanna see how fanatic and crazy some fanboys can be for their favorite actors, you should definitely head to the south at least once in your life.

Every nook and corner I could find was laden with posters of this great humanitarian actor, and the auto walla was telling me people even organized mass lunches and dinners in the memory of this amazing human! 

So looking all the way at those awesome posters which give kind of election vibes, I arrived at my stay which really was one hell of a beautiful place! Neat and tidy room, working switchboards and electrical equipment (trust me that’s a biggie), and most importantly, a diner with tables facing towards nature!

Feeling blessed to be there, I had my breakfast and left to rent a bike, which sadly wasn’t available, so I had to rent an electric bicycle! It felt funny to get on it at first, but seeing no other way to navigate as a solo traveler, I took the only option which looked feasible to me then and started on it. 

Now given this was the first solo trip and I really didn’t know where to go and what to see, I just wandered about. for around 15-20 kilometers. For 1-2 hours. And saw nothing. Just roamed about. Yeah. You read that right.

Finally, I thought, “Ram, let’s see at least one thing today”, so I parked the cycle out of the famous Virupaksha Temple, and went inside to pay a visit. I’d say it was here that my trip actually began…

Inside, I met a group of fellow travelers, all from Pune, who’d come on their second (some on their third) visit to Hampi. I'd have to call it my luck or destiny or magic or whatever to have stumbled upon these genuinely hearty people, for they offered me to carry on with them for the rest of the trip, which I happily agreed to!

It was only through interactions with them later that I got to know that the people I’m traveling with are really not ordinary folk, these are people who are doing really well at whatever they’re doing right now, but most importantly are really really good at heart!

I’d just like to take this opportunity to really introduce you to this group of friends, who quite literally adopted me for the rest of the Hampi trip:

To start with, Swapnil Karkhanis “Sopan” (the one who took this selfie), an amazing professional photographer, currently working on shooting the entire Raigad fort as a Project! You should, rather you must check out his Instagram profile here for some amazing pictures that he’s clicked!

Next up is Amol Sutar (the guy beside me), a certified trekker, traveler, and quite happening and alive person! He owns a trekking company “Sakha Sahyadri” which organizes treks on forts in and around Pune, if anyone wants to get in touch with him you should definitely go and connect with him over his Instagram profile.

Then this cheerful embodiment of hope and bliss in a human (the lady in the middle), Diksha Dinde. I don’t think I’m even capable enough to tell who she is, so I’ll just read out a few titles she has on her various social profiles, which you should definitely check out to get a bit of inspiration:

• National and state youth awarded - felicitated by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

• Have given talk as a speaker for TEDx - Josh Talks

• “Girl on a wing chair”.

Then Ashwini (the lady next to the lady in the middle), another super talented woman, oh and woman ‘entrepreneur’, she and Diksha together run a company called ‘the womanism’ that creates some very beautiful clothing and accessories, you should definitely check it out!

And Shantanu (the guy in the red t-shirt), a joyful soul who’s currently working over with Defense at Aundh electrical department, and has aspirations towards taking another government position via MPSC.

So yeah, this happened. Together we roamed around the famous Vitthal Temple (which also is a UNESCO World Heritage site),

Yeah, the famous chariot which has also been featured on the new 50 Rs. the note is inside the temple premises:

Then to the Hazaara Rama temple, which quite literally has the entire Ramayan carved over its walls, pillars, almost on all of it:

Then to the Queen's bath, I really don't think I need to elaborate anymore here as the name says it all:

Dasara Dibba:

Lotus Mahal:

Pushkarnis, a stepped well from medieval times:

Elephant Stables:

Ugra Narsimha Swamy Temple:

Every place had something unique to offer. Every single place.

I saw musical pillars in Vitthal temple - solid pillars carved entirely out of rock with every stone resonating sound of a different frequency (swar) and I just didn’t understand how this could happen! It was almost magical. No, it truly was magical, for I could find no other explanation!

Every monument I saw, every slab of rock I could see around, had some history associated with it. And at times that scene in front of me was something that didn’t even seem believable! Like how are these rocks balancing over each other? What kind of physics is really at play here?

This kept on happening so much throughout the day that by the end of it I was almost left wondering what was true, what wasn't, what was explainable, what wasn't, what was man-made, what wasn't, and so many questions, confusions, to which there were no answers! But even in that reckless state, where unexplainable things lay all around me, some weird sense of satisfaction, bliss, whatever you want to call it, it was there! The mind was constantly at peace, something I was madly looking forward to feeling.

I was left thinking maybe someone just decided to build this city so that future generations could come, pay a visit, and keep wondering how a bunch of guys with their manual tools, without any software-based visualization, did all of this, centuries ago!

Whatever it was, this city truly had much to offer than what my mind could grasp, and the only thing I was left with by the end of this day was awe towards the majesty of this ancient city's whole existence, and bliss for having found a few amazing individuals who simply didn’t let my solo-trip really be a “solo trip” anymore…

PS: Did I tell you I got to visit the flat in which some parts of the Marathi movie 'Hampi' were actually shot and got to witness what Virupaksha temple looks like right from the porch of that one? ;)

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