Travel Journals VIII Snapshots of Hampi
The most difficult part of travel writing is keeping pace. I decide to post one entry and six other things happen that are equally worth recording. so I'll try something different.....1) Landscape
Hampi's landscape consists of giant boulders balanced atop one another in ways that defy ordinary gravity. they seem to be placed deliberately. Legend has it that these rocks were thrown as weapons in the heat of battle by Hanuman and have stayed there since. When you are here, The angry monkey-god theory makes a lot more sense than any rational explanation involving erosion.
2) Temples
Today I decided to rent a bike for the princely sum of 40 rupees (roughly $.85) the sturdy fixed gear mountain bike that i wound up with would be mine until sundown, which i estimated to be more than enough time to see all the temple ruins on this side of the river. (picture sort of an odd combination of Indiana Jones and Pee Wee's big adventure) My delusion lasted precisely as long as it took to get a decent map. there are literally hundreds of temples palaces, bathhouses and other interesting bits of architecture strewn across the scenery. after about an hour on a bike in the arid semi desert of Hampi they all start to look exactly alike unless something extraordinary sets them apart. I started intent on remembering the names and distinguishing features of everything but soon realised that even my checklist idea wasn't working . for the most part i have only a vague notion of what i saw. it should be really fun to show people these photographs!
3) Laksmi
Working in the Virupaksha Temple, the main temple in Hampi, (it is the largest and oldest.) I met the new love of my life. Laksmi is 20 years old, beguiling, adorable, coquettish and a creature of supreme beauty. Her job is to bless temple visitors with a "kiss". The way it works is this for a small donation of money or fruit, Laksmi will lay her trunk over your head (I did mention she was an elephant, right?) in benediction. Days in Hampi are begun and ended with Laksmi's two daily baths in the river. these are always well attended and her trek to the water from the temple are a beloved ritual and are followed closely by her many admirers
4) Top of the World
Overlooking the Bazaar is a tall hill with a small temple atop it. this is the highest point in Hampi. The climb to the top takes about an hour on stone stairs that at times seem to have been placed accidentally. The view from the flat roof of this little red and white temple is truly extraordinary. you can see for miles and it really gives you the full scope and majesty of the bygone empire. as i stood on top of one of the monuments of a bygone era surveying the surreal, majestic landscape and the remnants of centuries past, i could not help but reflect that the batteries in my camera had just died and all those extra batteries i had packed were sitting about two miles away in my guesthouse.
5) Another Paradise
Garden Paradise is a guesthouse overlooking the river and some of the better rock formations. it has the same casual attitude about the difference between inside and outside that you'll find in a lot of Indian buildings. the main restaurant/courtyard area is shaded by the limbs of an enormous mango tree. just after i had checked in, I decided to sample the breakfast fare. as i reclined sipping my chai and leafing through my copy of "Birds of Southern India", Mahindra casually sat down beside me. Mahindra is possibly one of the coolest people you could ever meet. He is 25 with Bollywood good looks an a deep soothing radio quality voice. his job at Garden Paradise seems to primarily consist of relaxing in hammocks and chatting with people. we discussed local fauna for a while, pointing out examples as they happened by (a few days later Mahindra would show me an adult violin mantis, one of the strangest most supernatural looking insects in the world). During the conversation, the racket of sunbirds, bee eaters, coucals, orioles, tiny palm squirrels and various others suddenly became so loud in the branches overhead we couldn't speak for a few minutes. this was the moment i knew that i picked the right place to stay.
6) Here There Be Children
Indians as a whole do not have the same social barriers as westerners. your average Indian thinks nothing of approaching you out of the blue and asking your name, nationality, and gross annual income. they would be very surprised to find out that you found this intrusive. Really all they are doing is satisfying their natural curiosity. For the most part, this openness is quite charming once you get used to it. they want to know about you, shake your hand and possibly take a picture with you (I am in more random Indian photo albums already than i could ever hope to keep track of!) where's the harm? The problem comes when you are in a public place, like a historic temple possibly just admiring the stonework, possibly doing something as eccentric and foreign to their culture as sketching,(mostly Indians pretty cool about this. they will ordinarily just stand directly between you and your model to better see your drawing and make encouraging comments.) and a group of children discovers you. Indian children seem to only travel in packs of three or more. like all children, they are more exuberant, less inhibited versions of adults. they will run right up to you, beaming ask for your name, ask your nationality, ask if you speak Kanada, ask if they can have your pens, ask for you to take their picture (they don't seem to care whether or not you're in the picture or that they can't get a copy of it) shake your hand at a bare minimum of two times per person. i should also mention that the questions occur at least once per child no matter if they heard the answer already. before running off to find more children to show you to. living in a small town i always believed i knew what it might feel like to be a celebrity, but now I'm certain of it. this is why as soon as i sight a well groomed school group in their immaculate uniforms with their bright eager faces heading toward me, i politely and discreetly flee like the wind. there are never less than 60 per class!
7) Kumar and Ravi
My instincts seem to be calibrated exactly wrong for India. I always seem to make eye contact with the most rabidly eager Bazaar clerk or unconsciously nod towards a auto rickshaw driver that is eager to drive at the slightest provocation. fortunately in these situations I've become very good at saying no firmly but politely and there never seems to be any hard feelings afterwards. the most dramatic miscalculation in my recent history was when i was about to walk up the hill towards the highest temple. at the base of the hill, i spotted a couple suspicious looking characters lurking in a pavilion at the top of the first flight of stairs. i stiffened my back and tightened my grip on my walking stick, and marched forward, wholly prepared to defend myself from an imminent mugging.
Kumar is a patient soft spoken man in his early forties and a father of three young children. he sells hand-carved stone trinkets to tourists to make ends meet but he really is a temple sculptor and teacher. when he found out that i was a sculptor too, he insisted that i come work with him after I'd seen the temples on this hill. when i returned, he had laid out a cloth for me to sit on, a small block of limestone and his own chisels rasps and sharpening stone. He sent Ravi off to order us some lunch. Ravi is a impish little man in his early twenties.He has some nebulous connection to Kumar that I haven't entirely worked out and is a freelance marijuana salesman. in spite of his well cultivated persona, he is scrupulously honest, and when he found out i didn't smoke has been very discreet about his business in my presence. he likes to tease me about the fact i got suckered into giving a baksheesh (gift or bribe depending on the context. in my case it was an attendant in a small temple who told me there was a photography fee. Ravi finds this endlessly amusing ) by trying to trick me into agreeing to give him money. i doubt he'd accept it, though. neither he nor Kumar have ever asked me for anything but to pay for my share of lunch, or to return tomorrow. i have been going to visit them for the past two afternoons. Kumar has given me a few gentle pointers on working with stone and his brother's phone number in California (apparently sculpture is a family trade). he also says he has a few spare chisels he wants to give me. I really enjoy my afternoons with these two men, sometimes chatting and sometimes just working quietly in their company. it is partly because of this time and partly because of the weird, beautiful setting that i find myself falling in love with stone again.
8) Tomorrow
This will be my last day in Hampi. i feel i could easily spend a year here and still not see everything. Tomorrow morning i think i will cross the river to see the Hanuman temple. I especially want to do this because it is, predictably enough, swarming with monkeys. These monkeys are sacred and have no fear of people. They feel perfectly entitled to rifle through your bags in search of fruit and to attempt to steal your camera. All one can apparently do in retaliation is calmly and in the gentlest possible terms persuade them that it's a bad idea.This sounds about as effective as reasoning with a sugar-addled toddler. This ought to be a blast! I can't wait to see what kind of drawings i come back with.
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