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!
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