The Notebook: Longing for an Irony of Time.......Hampi

(The visual pleasure of the Journey can be enjoyed over here.)

"There is a third dimension to traveling, the longing for what is beyond. "
– Jan Myrdal

Riding is about more than freedom and adventure. It’s about a heightening of the senses. And no season has more to offer than this time of the year. The vibrant greenery of the fields that greet you around each curve, to that sweet smell of the soil after the rain; the riding season has arrived.

A week end followed by 2 breaks had already set a stage for my Bull’s first excursion since its purchase 2 months back. (Hey………this 2 seems so omnipresent).
New to the place, I had no preferences of any sort as for a destination coz as Robert Louis Stevenson quotes –

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move."

And with the Wanderers around, I was sure to get some experienced company to explore this country side.

The wait wasn’t very long when SreeKumar proposed a destination which I had promised myself to visit the day I read about it (in class 8th) – Hampi; Now reduced to The Ruins of Vijaynagar (We will come to it later). With the venue decided, the final arrangements were made at a quick meeting (my first with the Wanderers) on the Friday evening.

Fact – Bloddy Hell!!! I am completely clueless about the spares that I need to carry and Machismo is no game for an ordinary mechanic.

And the Journey Begins………..

Wanderers –

"The great difference between voyages rests not with the ships, but with the people you meet on them.” - Amelia E. Barr.

The Wanderer Enfield 1979 for the rider Sreekumar

The Wanderer Machismo 2006 for the rider Manish Saini

Fact - The difference in the age of the 2 Bullets is my age.

The ride there……

415 kms is quiet the sort of distance in the Indian context which can make ones drive as eventful as one can dream of. And ours was no different. Even before we could start we were lost J. Guided in the wrong direction we had to traverse around 60 kms extra before being put back on NH7 (Thanks to the AP road map I had bought the previous evening). But I guess we were better off by missing the rash and irresponsible traffic on NH7.

No sooner had we finished off our breakfast at Mehboobnagar and moved further that the beauty of nature started unfolding its wings. I can’t suppress my admiration for the omnipresent designer seeing the incredible unstable equilibrium of the huge rocks, all round our way.

Almost half way into the journey, we crossed the Krishna before entering Raichur and came across a riveting site.

The ingenuity of the architecture of this Thermal Power plant project on the border of the city is really worth an applaud.

A journey on a bullet without a problemo is an oxymoron (he he he….). The older bull had its odometer wire off the tire’s axle which we got repaired from what seemed to be the only Bullet mechanic at Raichur. (I guess this is the state of affairs in most of the cities across India)
Leaving the Thermal Plant city, I could see a huge black cloud rushing towards us from the West as we rushed towards Gangawati. However hard we tried to cross the patch which seemed to lie under the cloud’s impact area, we were unable to beat it. And this sudden burst of torrential shower which threw me from the centre of the road to the side walk separated the two riders which were to regroup again at Gangawati.

On rides like these, when for a long stretch you are all alone with yourself, you can’t resist being philosophical. Thoughts like life, death, purpose, dreams, achievements, losses, human nature, religion, God………all cross your head at one time or the other. It’s not the ride which wears you off; its ones own mind which continuously plays a tug of war of logic with itself which ultimately pushes you to take a break on the next crossing under the huge Banyan tree.

Fact - Refueled my Bull which by now has run 2500 kms and is running at an average of 43 kms per litre. Hard to believe but Sree’s 1979 Bull is still giving an average of 37 kms per litre.

By now we had already lost more than 2 hours of our journey and were now very eager to reach the destination. But the worst part of the trip was still to start from here on. The road from Gangawati to Hampi which is merely 70kms, is a riders nightmare with 53 speedbrakers (What the……..Is this road made for cycles or what?).

Fact – The complete journey of 415Kms has around 161 speed breakers.

The positive side was experiencing the real flavour of the beauty of the Tungabhadra valley. I simply could not resist capturing the coinciding of the human made beauty with the natural one - The Tungabhadra Dam

Hampi

Someone very rightly said “Your feet will bring you to where your heart is.”

Around 6:15pm, as we thumped passed the ruins of the Vijaynagar Empire, the moon light dancing over the remains gave us a peek into its glory. Man…….how eager was I for the sun to rise that evening. It’s been the place I had dreamt of visiting so many times and VOILA…..I was there now.

The weariness of the 10 hour drive seemed to drop off as we entered the ‘Hampi Dwaar’. Unlucky to be a bit late to go across the Tungabhadra into the Hippie Island, we checked out into the cozy Ranjna Guest house and soon checked out the small Hampi Bazaar.
Interestingly, no ‘Proper’ restaurant, hotel or eating joint can be found in this tourist’s heaven. The Bazaar is with dotted with a few Dhabas, the cook of which is the lady in the family of the owner. But take my word these dhabas offer cuisines would make one leap off the floor for such cusines one would get only in specialized restaurants in big cities (and ohh my my……few of the dishes were simply amazing……check out the clips).

Fact - A decent accommodation in Hampi can be easily availed for 250 to 350 Bucks depending upon the tourist traffic. Best time to visit would be between October to March.

The Exploration -

Virupaksha Temple, the Centre of the city, around which the Bazaar has come up has an awe-inspiring Gopuram, the trademark of the south Indian temples. The architecture inside is quiet ordinary as compared to other monuments. I believe that the possible reason might be that this temple was for the public of Hampi because the King’s palace was at some distance from the place. And there were other more beautiful temples around his living place.

Fact - Sree very rightly pointed out that in any place of historical importance, its only the temples which have survived till date while everything has been razed to the ground either by the invaders or time. And Hampi is no different.

Exploring Hampi on foot would have been fun given the beautiful weather. But due to lack of time we were devoid this luxury.
The picturesque location of Vitthala temple just takes your breath away. And the beauty of the temple is an icing on the cake. No wonder, the sculptors chose to suffuse music in every stone of this place (the temple has its uniqueness in the musical pillars).

Fact - We were ENJOYING the RUINS. An Irony which only time can create.

One finds himself at loss of words in front of these beautiful temples, palaces, Baths or the huge sculptures; but the most magnificent thing of the place lies within the ASI museum in Kamlapur – The Plan of the Vijaynagar Kingdom

Almost 2kms the kings complex, the Tungabhadra (Lifeline of Hampi), act as a natural guard while on the two sides the huge rocky mountains eliminate any sort of surprise from the enemy. The only attacking zone lay right infront of the complex which was guarded by 7 walls. And to capture a glorious and well guarded kingdom like this…..boy………..what an army would it had been? Sitting over the side benches and discussing the layout with Sree…….i just wondered what a devastating battle it would have been man!!!

Fact - In Hindu Mythology, Hampi was Known as Kishkinda, the kindom of the monkey kings Bali and Sugriv.

The Journey Back -

Tired of the day’s escapade, back in the room ..And……Voila…..we made another discovery of the day.

Fact - On Reliance phones you cannot set alarms if there is no signal and both of us had a reliance connection only.

But luckily both of us woke in time to reach Gangawati by 8:30 am.
The drive further towards Raichur became a beauty with light showers now and then and the sky completely covered with clouds in the middle of the afternoon.

An exchange of the Bulls on the way gave me a peek into the power of the 79’ model over which I had laid my hands for the first time. On the other hand, Sree had only one word for mine – ‘Remarkable’. A Bullet enthusiasts since late 70s, he was almost overawed by the improvements that Enfield has come up with in the new generation Bulls.

Fact - Bullet Machismo (my Bull) won the TNS automotive award for the best cruiser bike in 2004.

If you have driven a Bullet, you would realize that Bullet does a make a difference to your personality. The Bulls Personality is like someone who has the real ‘Power’ (metal as well as Physical). With Power, responsibility increases and unarguably majority of the Bull riders have lived upto it. Undoubtedly, one can see his confidence levels go up with the Power, and synonymously with Bullet.

After handing up my Bull to the Afzal in Raichur again, we went down to grab a bite around two squares away. On the way back to the workshop, a traffic police cop stops us and seeing recognizing us as tourists (seeing the Andhra number) tries to pull us into a trap to pay him a bribe. I am sure it wasn’t Sree, it was the Bull that stood there and took his stand against the cop. Soon, as people gathered, he took to his heals.

Fact - With a Corruption Perception Index of 2.9, in 2005 India is ranked 88 among 158 countries surveyed by Transparency International.

Full credit to the Rain Gods for making it a day worth registering in our diaries for us. And 3:30pm, back on my bed I was having my lunch exploring sites to fix a date with the next destination. But for now, my Bull needs a small service visit to get it back in shape for the upcoming exploit.