Hampi trip

                    

                    Recently I went on a trip to Hampi. Or rather Hippies island, since we were in Hampi for like 2 hours out of the 3 days. We relived the trip through photographs, now let me relive this trip through words. I am going to try and describe certain moments in a novel way. Let me name the characters of this trip: Brilliant and Chill are my roommates, Chatterbox is a colleague, and Cinderella, Observant, and Gregarious are her roommates. I only knew Chatterbox, and the rest were unknown entities. So, here we go!

Day 1, 12 noon

Crossing the river

  

                    We reached Hampi at around 11 and after being disappointed by seeing the rooms available there, decided to cross the river and resume our search there. We needed to cross the Tungabhadra river and we would have been on our way. Two options: small round wooden boats or walk? Since we were all feeling adventurous, we decided to cross the river by foot(and I am still reeling under the consequences of that!). Two rocks, separated by 6 feet of water which must have been 4 feet deep. One rock in the middle, inside the water, maybe at a depth of 1.5 feet. This was the moment that started it all: Gregarious tried to cross, and she was holding Cinderella's hand. And Cinderella held mine. Somehow Gregarious crossed, Cinderella slipped, and I being featherweight, could neither stop her from falling in the water, nor myself. In all this, my phone got drenched. Luckily the others did not slip much and crossed the river without much fuss. But man, the way I slipped, I can still see it in slow motion, and it was definitely funny to all the audience. The funnier thing was, I was confidently directing other people to cross! We both were half drenched, but that was the start of the bonding among all of us. Good that it happened!

Day 1, 2 pm

Sitting on the swing

                    I have a weird fascination with swings. And this place, Nargila (which was a part of many stories :P), had beds on swings! I took full advantage of it. Resting on the swing, with people, making stupid plans and clubs(BFFFFFFF :|) and just talking and laughing, and most importantly, relaxing. Observant was on her phone clicking selfies at the rate of 10 per minute.  Oddly, it felt really satisfying. Nothing much special in that moment, but one I felt worth mentioning.

Day 1, 7 pm

Riverside, Under the stars

                    Me, Chill, Gregarious and Observant had some time to kill, and went riverside. The sun had set but the sky still had an indigo shade. We were in no mood to walk or cross the river and explore Hampi. Instead, we lay back on the rocks, and watched the stars coming out, one by one. It was a moonless night. By the tranquil waters, with a light breeze. We were watching stars peeking at us, from lightyears away. Such natural beauty cannot be offered by any city. The thoughts that come up while watching stars cannot be triggered by any event in an urban setting. You just have to get away from the din to enjoy such moments. And boy, did we enjoy them. Those 90 minutes spent stargazing were one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Day2, 11 am

Sanapur Lake

                    We rented scooters and started towards Sanapur lake. It was a good 6 or 7 km ride from our starting point. After reaching the lake and clicking like a million pics, we finally climbed down the rocks towards the lake shore. We just immersed our feet in the cool water, and were just chitchatting. Listening to people talk random stuff. Throwing water on each other. Singing old songs. Suddenly becoming silent. Listening to the sound of the birds. Feeling the warm breeze. Listening to our feet gently disturbing the water. Some of us went on a boat in the lake, but I wasn’t one of them. These were moments where you felt absolutely disconnected from your mundane boring world. You feel one with the place. No thoughts of work or home or whatever can disturb you. An absolutely wonderful feeling, if you ask me.

Day 2, 2 pm

Hanuman Temple

                    575 steps to the top. Already thirsty. No water. Sweltering heat of the merciless sun on our backs. Yet we went on. Taking a break at every 100 steps to enjoy the view. (Who am I kidding? To take a rest of course) When we finally reached the temple, some of us were absolutely exhausted. After quickly vising the sanctum we drank water to our hearts' fill, and tried to enjoy the view. But it was quite underwhelming. I mean, I did not enjoy it. We quickly came down and got back from there. I don't really know why I included this!

Day 2, 7 pm

Under the stars again

                    Me, Chill, Observant and Gregarious again went riverside to lie down under the stars. Well not exactly. We came back from trying to cross the river, and decided to lie down on the same rocks that we used the previous day. The only difference being, we were joined by Cinderella. Again gazing at the stars. Man, I can do this all night long. And it seemed everyone was doing the same. Someone started playing music softly, and we sang quietly. Cinderella and Observant being good dancers started dancing. Observant is a good dancer of the classical style, while Cinderella seems like the master of all. It was actually nice to watch someone do some new actual dance moves instead of the usual party moves. I don’t know about others, but I was really enjoying those moments.

Day 2, 1 am

Bonfire

                    At 1 am we went to a bonfire hosted by the same restaurant in which we spent the evening eating, drinking, singing and dancing. And we sang and danced again. With the same people. And it was still fun! The great thing is we didn’t click pics at all. Everyone was so busy having a good time, they didn’t take pics. I felt truly relaxed, and was enjoying the moment completely. Chill was sleeping, but the rest of us were having a wonderful time. I can't seem to describe that feeling! Not going to say anything more.

Day 2, 4 am

Bonfire again

                    I got up at 4, saw beds empty. I went out, saw Chatterbox and Brilliant waiting for the others. I don’t know about these two, but I was petrified. They went out together, and their phones weren't reachable. If you have heard or read bad stories, this is probably the worst time to remember them. So, me and Brilliant went out in search of the three in the chilly night, where there were no streetlights. Only moonlight. I went to the bonfire place, where there was no one. I went to the riverside, where  I couldn’t see a thing. I guess it would have been futile on my part to search that area, and just before I went ahead to search anyway, I came to know that everyone was back, tired but safe, and fast asleep. That was when I felt a huge sigh of relief. Before that moment, I was so frightened, and my mind being very creative didn’t help much. But I also knew that nobody had done anything wrong. But my fear was logical right?

Day 3, 12 noon

Paddy fields

                    After having a questionable breakfast, we had nowhere to go, and nothing to do! So? So we go shopping. By "we" I mean Observant, Gregarious, Cinderella and me. Not that I had anything to shop. After finishing their shopping, we still had a lot of time to kill. Someone got the idea to enter the paddy fields and sit in the shade. Can you believe that I have never been inside of a farm before? This was actually my first experience at a farm. And I wanted to enjoy it. Photo sessions were in progress, and I wasn’t a part of it. I was just sitting under the cool shade of a coconut tree, listening to the distant calls of birds, feeling the slight breeze, and watching the water flow through the bunds, and wondering with amazement how much hard work goes into this. That moment was incredible! Words cannot do justice to it.

Day 3, 6 pm

Sunset

                    We went to the sunset point to watch the final few rays of the mighty sun fade away, only to be replaced by the cool moonlight. Upon reaching the top of the hillock, we were being told by the police to get down immediately! No way. We stay hidden among the rocks, making no noise. Clicking photos. By the time, we felt it was time to come out and watch the sun set, it was too late. We missed it! The residual rays painted the sky in a multitude of colors, but the spectacle was lost! That was the hilarious part. We go up to watch the sun set, and miss it. While coming down, we did see some interesting stuff. Rock climbing. A Japanese guy was playing an instrument that resembled a flute, but was quite big, and it was costing him a lot more effort to play it. A great way to end the trip.

Day 3, 11:30 pm

Departure

                    We stand at the bus stop. The bus is approaching. That jolts me back to reality. Shit! Back to Hyderabad! Mundane life. Nothing new. The three days flash past my eyes. But with a heavy heart, I resigned to the fact that the trip had ended and we were going back. I had an absolutely wonderful time. I met some new and interesting people. I enjoyed a lot. I made up a lot of quotes as well :P Once the trip ended, I knew that I was going to relive it through words. And it gives me a lot of pleasure to be able to write about it. Though it did take me an awful lot of time to finish these 10 paragraphs. I tried focusing on the moments and emotions and people, rather than the usual descriptions of a place. I even named people accordingly! Hope we get to travel a lot, see more places, meet new people, and have loads of fun!

Until next time!