- The foundation of Vijayanagara Empire
- The history and the mythological story of Hampi
- Octagonal bath, Saraswati Temple and Chandrashekara Temple in Hampi
- Queen’s Bath, in Hampi
- Mahanavami Dibba, Hampi
- The Audience Hall and the Tanks and Baths of the Royal Quarters, Hampi
- Hazara Rama Temple, Hampi
- The Elephant Stable and the Guards room, Hampi
- The Zenana Quarters, Hampi
- Krishna Temple, Hampi
- Uddana Veerabhadra and the Chandikesvara Temple, Hampi
- Noblemen’s and Muslim Quarters, and the Underground Shiva Temple, Hampi
- The Monuments of Hemakuta Hill, Hampi
- The statue of Lord Narasimha and His never ending stories, Hemakuta hill, Hampi
- Virupaksha Temple, Hampi
- Kannappa Nayanar
- Malyavanta Hill, Hampi
- Vijaya Vittala Temple, Hampi – The Architectural Show-piece of Vijayanagar Empire
- Hampi Trivia
- Roaming around, in Hampi
- Coracle Ride on the river Tungabhadra, Hampi
- River Side Sculptures along Tungabhadra at Chakratirtha, Hampi
- A photo-feature on Ancient Kampa Bhupa Path in Hampi
These Hampi diary notes are not about any monument of Hampi. It carries snippets of some insignificant and yet significant discussions and observations, involving meals, people and monkeys.
Diary Notes: Life in Hampi
On the last day of our stay in Hampi, we got a road-facing room with a large glass window that made me enjoy the life around without intruding into it.
Modern Hampi has a mix of Hindu-Muslim population and one can also notice a mix of urban-rural population. Mornings are the best time to start fresh, with hope and energy. From the window, I enjoyed watching the kids going to schools, playing with siblings, moving around with friends. I also enjoyed the celebration of the diversity of cultures.
Hampi Diary: Demonetization – the controversy
While taking tea at a local tea-stall, I asked its owner about demonetization (as the newspaper’s were full of stories of how so many poor people are affected due to it) and its impact on him (as PM Modi implemented it around the time of our trip to Hampi), “Are you also badly impacted due to demonetization?”
He replied smilingly, “Not at all. In-fact these days there is no problem in getting change and I wonder where this petty-cash was hidden”. I smiled back as I know what he was talking about. After-all in those days every single coin mattered, even the money in the kids piggy-banks and any ten-rupee coin or a note found was a discovery and something to be spent carefully.
During those times I felt that even poorest of Indian folks are ready to take pains if it comes to cleanse the system. However, the final outcome of the exercise makes me sad, as collectively we defeated a good motive to clean the system.
Folklore about creation of Doodhtalai in Udaipur
It reminds me of the folklore famous about the origin of “Doodh-Talai” in Udaipur. It is said that once Maharana of Udaipur wished to have a talai filled with milk. He requested the citizens of Udaipur to put a brass-pot of milk in a Talai that was specially dug for the purpose.
He ordered all citizens to pour one brass-pot of milk before dawn, so that when he would look at it by the morning the talai would be filled with milk.
Now, all the citizens thought that as everyone else would be pouring a pot full of milk, so they can act smart. And they simply poured water instead of milk. By the time of dawn, the fact was in open, talai was full, but filled with water, no-one poured milk in that. We behaved similarly.
Hampi Diary: Lunch at Mango-tree restaurant
We decided to take lunch at Mango-tree, a famous dining place in Hampi. By the time we reached Mango-tree there was a big queue outside, but we were super-hungry.
The person at entrance asked us, “Sir, would you be ok taking your lunch sitting cross-legged.” I replied, “we would prefer that”. It was a ticket for early entrance.
Its an interesting restaurant to be; there was a carpet to sit and a table in front for the thali. There are masnads too to relax and lie down and this rest was needed. The ambiance was a hit for Tanmay and for lunch Tanmay always insisted to be there.
There was an Indo-Japanese couple sitting next to us, they were with their teenage daughter and a friend from Japan. The two girls were giggling all the time, perhaps they were connecting well with that style of taking meals. It was clear that they were thoroughly enjoying the place, food and Indians around them. Both of them were very pretty, after-all smiles on the faces enhances face-value.
Hampi Diary: Choice of a Simian
Another day, I forceed the fan-boy of Mango tree to try lunch at another place. We climbed on the first floor and ordered thali. We were taking our meal and suddenly an unexpected guest joined us.
He came, sat on the table along with us, and shared our thali. The only problem was that this uninvited guest was a monkey. We tried to scare it, but it made out easily that we were more scared of it than the other way round.
We stood quickly and rushed to the side, leaving all in the thali to it. I was in a fix as it was sitting close to my SLR camera; I wondered, “what if, it picks up the camera and try its photographic skills! Even if it does not pick, any wrong move might result in my SLR crashing down”.
The owner who probably knew how to deal with the unwanted guests, scared it away, but not before it rewarded itself for its daredevil act with a bowl full of curd.
Only then I realized that how lucky I was that our guest had gastronomical inclination and it was not suffering from desire to capture Humans around it and become a “viral-sensation in the monkey-world”. My camera was safe!
Hampi Diary: Search for a Catapult in Hampi
The restaurants in Hampi have to deal with Monkey menace and so in all restaurant we can see a person with a local handmade catapult. Tanmay is attracted by it and forced me to inquire about it in local shops.
A local resident overheard me and questioned “Why do you want a catapult for the boy? Do you want the boy to scare monkeys”. I replied in negative, “This is only as he wanted to have one, but I can guarantee you that I will not allow him to harm anyone”.
He replied warning me, “Sir, you don’t understand, but by giving a catapult to the kid, you are putting him in a danger. Monkey’s hate catapult as they are often hit by the stone from it. When they will notice a small kid carrying a catapult, they might attack him”. His warning immediately made sense to me and I complied with his suggestion not to have any.
I remember, when I was young, we used to make the catapults ourselves and used them for killing pigeons and other birds to test how skillful we were to hit our targets. Something that I hate now.
I noticed young kids in Meghalaya carrying catapults along with them for the same purpose. Probably, they also don’t realize that apart from the bad karma, they are also hurting a good source of income too.
Birding these days attract lots of tourists. Common catapult attacks have made the birds skittish and its difficult to spot them. These are losses over and above that all living beings helps in maintaining a healthy ecosystem.