We, quite literally, stumbled upon this place after a day of touristy sight-seeing. We had seen the places every tourist saw – the temples, the ruins, etc., and we decided to walk around Hampi. We walked along the river, saw another set of ruins and climbed the hill. On the other side, lay the vast expanse seen here.

Of all the ruins, this was the most natural - devoid of renovations and modern props. The only place in Hampi where I felt the age of the place.

Finally, the day came to travel – to pick up my bag and do some traveling. It was serious travel after quite some time and was looking forward to this day. From Hyderabad, it was just the two of us, me and my friend, going to Hospet. We reached Hospet around 6:30 am – almost an hour behind schedule. But then, it didn’t really matter because we were waiting for another two to join us – Amir and his friend.

Hampi
As we were getting off the bus at Hampi, we were swamped by tourist operators and guides. It took some effort to get out of that crowd offering guides, hotels, and even books about Hampi. That was the first minute in Hampi.

Setting out and setbacks!
Soon we set off to see the ruins in and around Hampi. We walked to the nearest ruins – three temples. We walked around, went in – all the while clicking away with our digital cameras – thanks to the unlimited (almost) storage space! We came back to the entrance and my buddy began to set his tripod for his medium format camera – and there came the watchman saying we should have prior permission to use tripods. He said we can get permission from the Archeological Society. So, off we went to get the permission, only to be told there that they do not have the authority and we have to get the permission in Bangalore! However, they also said that we should be able to use the tripod in most of the places.

Going around Hampi
At the end of the day, we came to the river. Need to say, the steps aren’t the cleanest. I was wondering if the buffaloes and elephants use the steps to the river!

The Mango Tree and dinnerHaving heard a lot about The Mango Tree from people who’d already been to Hampi, I was quite curious to check it out. It wasn’t just about the food – I was told that the ambience and the view is great too. And, I wasn’t disappointed. If you really want to wind down when you are at Hampi, you should go to this place. And remember to sit outside (on the floor) under the tree – overlooking the river. You get an awesome view from that place of the river and the hills.

So, it was at Mango Tree that we spent more than 2 hours there – chatting, joking, getting to know each other, and, of course, relishing the food. It was the first time I mixed lime soda for myself! And not surprisingly, it bubbled over after which I learnt to be careful mixing lime, salt and soda. For me, that evening is filled with a lot of memories – plenty of little things… like Prathibha reacting to a cat as if it were a monster (am sure she’s not gonna like this:), Amir making us sit still for 30 seconds coz of the low shutter speed, sharing the food, trying to figure out if that white thing they served was mayonnaise or chutney, ….

Click here, for more Pictures of Hampi

May be, that raised the expectations – seeing those huge animals wandering around in that enclosed space – so close I began to wonder if they could reach out and bite!

And then, there were all the birds in enclosures so small, you feel sorry for them. Especially, it was quite a pathetic sight to see the bigger birds in such small enclosures. And, then, we came upon a peacock, showing off his feathers – though behind a fine mesh. I could think of nothing other than beauty behind bars!

There were so many birds – I only wish they were in larger enclosures and not-so-fine mesh cages!

Just as we were walking along the tiger’s enclosure, we came upon
a large group of travelers. Well, there was some political conference in Mysore and a lot of people had come from other states. This group, I presume, was one of those groups come for the conference – with the tell-tale white-n-white of political parties, they stood out wherever they went. Among them, were these two men with big turbans. I couldn’t resist a couple of pictures of them. They went together all the time, pointing at animals, talking to each other, watching the crowd. I wonder if they were aware of the fact that they were turning quite a few heads!

There was this gorilla which was showing off – was seated on a tree like he owns the place, watching over the rest and was yawning every few minutes! And, there was the contemplative Rhino hiding away all that strength and looking like one of the docile creatures you’d ever see.

After the usual fare of zebras, deers, and baboons, we were heading towards the elephants. There were a lot of school children walking around with drawing boards and color pens. When one of those kids came and asked where the elephants are, we guessed there must be some competition out there. So, we also headed off towards the elephants. Along the way, we came across this very noisy tree – now, the tree wasn’t noisy; just that, we had to walk a li’l further and get to the other side to see the bats on the tree.

There were quite a few elephants out there – frolicking in the open space. Of all animals, they seemed to have the most freedom. In fact, you could walk into the enclosure -if you could ignore the ‘Do not cross this point’ board placed there. While elephants were wandering about, this side of the fence, children were immersed in their paintings.

After spending a li’l longer, watching the elephants, it was time to get back. On our way back, we came across another enclosure full of baboons – one naughty little one was so active, we just stood there watching him play

And, that was the morning at the zoo! Well, in some instances, I thought the Hyderabad Zoo a lot better – more space for the animals, not very far from our viewpoints, well maintained. My gripes about the Hyd Zoo remains though! How can I forget the way people behaved – growling and barking at the animals!!! Well, that is another story… another day…

For more pictures of my visit, visit my album

With the long weekend approaching, I was raring to go someplace….and we (Llewellyn and myself) started off with the Parade Grounds, Secundarabad. For what? Well, it was Republic Day and we went to see how it is celebrated Hyderabadi style. We walked to the grounds after parking nearby, clicked a few pictures, watched the parade, watched the crowd,… then Vishal joined us and we headed towards Shamirpet lake. By the time we reached the lake, it was mid-morning – it was a sunny day – not the best time to be walking around the lake…after a few pictures, we made a move …. It was a nice and quiet place…wish there was some shade…

We went further down the road hoping to come across some interesting place…we were out of luck…so, we turned around and returned to Hyderabad, finished our lunch at Secundarabad and went to Durgam Cheruvu – a nice lake near Hitec city with a restaurant named ‘Something Fishy.’… wonder if they catch the fish from the lake!!! It is a great place to relax – to just sit back and watch the birds, the duck colony (the Quackers family!), and the patterns on the water left by the frolicking fishes… Quite unfortunately, AP Tourism allows motor boats – which left quite a jarring note in the otherwise peaceful place…and ya, how can I forget to mention the family that turned up a little later – they either wanted the whole world to know their story or they considered each other deaf!

In spite of these, I did enjoy the afternoon there – thanks to the birds. As we were leaving, I fould a little boy fishing…and were they getting hooked!!! I didn’t have to stay long to see his catch!

That was the end of day 1 – January 26

The next day, I left around 6am and we headed towards ICRISAT, missed it, and found it on our way back. The place was beautiful…a lovely place – with mist rolling in…it was a wonderful early morning walk – feeling the warmth of the sun chase away the chillness of the morning…

After breakfast, we went towards Golconda, where Imtiaz Bhai joined us, and then we headed to Warangal. I would rather call him the ‘illustrious’ Imtiaz Bhai…oh my, I’d never forget his running commentary…thanks to the fact that he grew up Warangal, we got to know all the places en route – and also, the places you’d reach if you had turned left or right, instead of heading straight to Warangal! Even after all the stories I’d heard from Llewellyn, he didn’t fail to amuse me… in fact, by the end of the day, I was finding it hard to listen to him with a straight face. Once we reached Warangal, we got to know all the colleges, theaters, hospitals…and how can I forget the excitement in his voice when he took us by the hospital where he was born! I really wonder what would it be like…and how will I react if I go there after more than 2 decades…will I be excited and thrilled, the way he was….I don’t know….I don’t even know if I would ever get to that place again…

After a sumptuous lunch – now, if I could eat 4 pooris and rice with all the curries, curd, and sweet that came along, you got to agree …it was a good meal…. – we visited the Thousand-pillared Temple. Though I didn’t find so many pillars…with quite a few on the ground marked with numbers that seemed to fit a puzzle….’Renovation,’ said Imtiaz Bhai…

From there, we went to the Warangal Fort….a lot of ruins…and as if they weren’t ruined enough, one could see them ruined by the people. It was quite disheartening to see the lack of maintenance, to see the carvings chipped away…

By the time we left Warangal, it was 8pm… and it was past 11pm when I reached home… exhausted but excited…excited about the way I’d spent this weekend…instead of sleeping through my weekend….