The Day after rain

Little Chintoo, woke up early. He slid down from his cot on to his tiny legs. There was no trace of sleep in his eager wide eyes. The moment his chubby feet touched the floor, ''Ma, the floor is so cold; what happened when I was asleep? Did you wash it? Is it just like my skin feels cold after bath''.

Radha, his mother, smiled, listening to her son's start of his day long chatter. She hugged him and said, ''it rained yesterday, after you slept, chintoo baba; thats why the floor is cold.''

''Ma, why does it rain? How does it rain?'', Radha, considering that, Chintoo is too young to be explained the scientific reason behind the rain said ''God sends rains to wash the earth, the trees, which we could not wash, he takes the water from the oceans, invisibly, stores it in his overhead tank which he hides in the clouds and whenever required, he sends rain from a giant shower in the sky.It is so far away in the sky, that we cannot see it''

'' Ma, why dint you wake me when it rained. I would have liked to watch it'', so saying Chintoo, ran to look outside from his balcony. "Ma, look!! All the plants in the balcony have taken bath; the buildings are washed too.God has also washed our car. Everything looks so clean.Ma, why does not God wash everyday; just like you bathe me everyday.''

 Radha was surprised by Chintoo's question; she did not know what to say. She said ''Çhintoo, there is no enough water even in the oceans, to wash everything on earth everyday.So, when God feels that earth needs a wash, he sends rains.'' Chintoo did not look satisfied with Radha's answer. ''Ma, why dont we give some water to God from our tap, so that, he would be able to send rains everyday?''Chintoo, water from our tap is also provided by God, he gives preference to little boys like you''. 

Chintoo, stood watching from his balcony for a while, and said '' ma, from now on I shall never cry for taking a bath. All the colors, the green trees, the grass, the pavement, the buildings, our car, look brighter, after the rain. I like the frsh smell too; Ma, from now on, my favorite day is not my birthday; it is the day after rain.''

Radha realised the beauty after the rain, after looking through her son's eyes. Sometimes, a little soul stirring is required, to be able to enjoy the little joys of nature, which otherwise, people fail to notice, caught up in the hectic schedules of life. Radha was thankful to her son for that.She also felt proud, that her son is able to appreciate the beauty of nature, instead of being inclined to material things.

Showcase TV

Just a thought.. Actually, I dreamt of it... How would it be if our TV is a showcase when it is switched off and is a TV when on.. Well.. I dreamt that I could see all my curios and collectibles inside my TV, on display. The glass-was transparent when the TV is off and the objects behind the screen were visible. Once the TV is switched on, the glass became TV display.

I am not sure if this kind of invention is on it way, or is already invented. But just thought it is cool..No need to allocate space separately for displaying your curios and for TV. Both can be done at the same place. Hope something like this comes in future..Cheerios :-) 

Hampi (Vijayanagara) - The forgotton empire(Day 2)

The second day at Hampi started well, with Ganesh picking us at the Hotel at around 9.00 a.m. We had breakfast at a small hotel near the Kamalapuram Bus stand. The quality of the food was fine, the taste - ok, the price- reasonable. We bought water bottles there at MRP( they were sold at a premium in the Mayura Bhuvaneshwari Hotel). From there, we headed to the Vitthala temple. Vittala is a form of Lord Vishnu, and there  is a cult worship of Vishnu in this form. This temple was originally built in 15th century and later additions and enhancements were made.

Since this temple lies, not on the main roads of Hampi, and is sort of tucked away, one can ensure some peace and quiet here, as opposed to the other attrations in Hampi. We took a shuttle to reach the temple. Th path of sceneic beauty with boulders strewn on either side.We sat at the back with our backs to the driver, so that we could enjoy the ride. The shuttles are driven - mostly by women. 

Path to the Vittala temple-taken from the shuttle

Path to the Vittala temple-taken from the shuttle

View on the side of the path

Shop constructions - on the side of path

All along the path, we found some constructions, which were probably shops, in those days. We were dropped at the entrance of the Vittala temple, where we purchased a entrance ticket. We also learnt that the same entrance ticket could be used for gaining entrance to the elephant stables and the lotus temple - which were in the same compound.

The entrance view of Vittala temple

Vittala Temple is the most extravagant architectural showpiece of Hampi. The temple is built in the form of a sprawling campus with compound wall and gateway towers. There are many halls, pavilions and temples located inside this campus.

View from the entrance

View from the entrance

There is a kitchen, where the food for theceity(prasad) is prepared, there is a Tulasi mattam( Platform for Holy basil - which is worshipped in India). The highlight of Vittala temple is the stone chariot, which is almost used as iconic representation of Hampi.

The stone chariot

The Tulasi Mattam

The stone chariot

As mentioned earlier, the campus also houses huge pillared walls. The pillars are made of stone and are unique, as it seems when tapped correctly, produce music - the sapthaswara. However, now they are not open to public, since restoration work is being carried out and is it is a protected national monument.

Musical Pillars

Musical Pillars

 It seems in the pillared hall opposite to the stone chariot one of the queens of King Krishnadevaraya, used to do a dance performance, solely for the eyes of the king. The King, who is a patron of fine arts, was her only audience. This was ensured by securing the hall with curtains, held in place, by securing them in the specially made stone rings in the roof as well as the platform of the pillared hall. Privacy was created in the same manner for important official meetings too, It seems during monsoon, when it is raining, the water flowing through the design created an illusionary cascade.

Holes made in the platform as part of design to secure curtains

Holes in the platform as part of design

Ring in the roof corner to secure curtains

Ring - close up

Though many sculptures were ornamental, like the yalis at each entrance of the hall, sometimes with a rider on them, there were many sculptures that told us a piece of history. Our guide explained that, Yaali is a mythological creature, which was usually built at the entrance of temples. It has the body of a cat, head of a lion, ears of a rabbit, tail of a serpent and tusks of an elephant, making it all the more powerful.

Yali

Yali

Since, it is known that, King Krishnadevaraya was a connoisseur of fine arts, we found many dancing poses, accompanied by musicians playing various musical instruments. There were scenes from Ramayana, Mahabharata, Krishna leela, and from various other Indian epics.

Gopala with cattle enchanted with music from flute

Lord Narasimha killing Hiranyakashyap with His finger nails

Hanuman presenting the choodamani of Sita to Sriram, Laxman at side

Krishna playing flute

Krishna holding the Govardanagiri

Krishna with his consorts

Krishna stealing the clothes of Gopis

Not sure who this sculpture represents - May be Mandara from Ramayan, who is said to be a hunchback

We noticed stone carving to show  trade of  horses with Arabs, taming of elephants, elephant trade.

Horses purchased from Arabs - note the distinct Arab features

Horses being purchased

Taming and training of Horses

Taming and training of Horses

Unique sculpture - Bull from one side and elephant from the other

Train of elephants

We were also pointed to a more than 500 year old tree, by our guide with in the campus.

The old tree trunk

The ''Old'' tree

The remains of the township called Vittalapura can be noticed around this temple complex.

Market place outside the temple

part of the a temple in ruins

The remains of the township

Chinese??

From the Vittala temple we walked along the Tungabhadra river passing many monuments.One of them was the Kings balance. It seems, during auspicious occasions, the king used to weigh himself in this balance - placing himself on one side and on the other - gold, grains,or other valuables which he used to donate.

Kings Balance

The weather was, thankfully, pleasant-not sunny, slightly cloudy,with cool breeze. The tour on foot from the Vittala temple to Virupaksha temple..well.. in part two.

Hampi (Vijayanagara) - The forgotton empire(Day 1)

The place where diamonds and other precious stones were sold on streets, the place which had an organised market are when the western world was starting to walk, the place which is fortified by nature, with a river and hills surrounding it...that is the present day Hampi, the village, which was once in the middle of the flourishing Vijayanagara empire.

My husband and I love travelling and are always on the lookout for a chance to explore new places. We had three days in hand and wanted to use it effectively. Hampi had been on top of our ''places to visit'' list for quite sometime.So after our visit to Hyderabad, we headed to Hospet - the town near Hampi connected by Indian railways. We reached Hospet around 10.00 a.m. We had come to know from internet that the autofare from Hospet to Hampi is around one hundred and fifty rupees. When an auto fellow offered to take us to Hampi for the same amount, instead of quoting an exorbitant price and also looked sincere, we hired him to show around Hampi for three days. The auto took us from Hospet to our Hotel in Kamalapuram - the KTDC hotel Mayura Bhuvaneswari. 


Kamalapuram is a village adjacent to Hampi. We had read good reviews of the Hotel in the internet. Hence, we had booked it. May be, once upon a time it was a great Hotel. But now..neither the rooms are good, nor the service. The food is also not that good. Our auto guy - Ganesh(that is his name), informed us that, all the people who come on daily tours( as arranged by KTDC) have food there, and it is one of the decent places in Hampi to sit and have food. The other being - ''Mango Tree''. I will explain about mango tree in my next post. May be because of the huge and exuberant crowd, the quality of food has deteriorated. The amount they charge for the food is high though.

Our Auto driver - Ganesh

We reached around 12 noon, and checked in. Upon enquiry, we were told that food would be ready in half an hours time. We did not eat since morning and were hungry. We took bath and came to the restaurent around 1.30, to find it crowded. We had to stand in a long queue to have the not-so-good food. After lunch, we were so tired, we decided to take a short nap and then explore Hampi. But we woke up only at 6.00 p.m. When we called Ganesh, he said, its best, if we see one temple today. So he took us to the Virupaksha temple.

Before I start describing the Virupaksha temple, let me tell you how I felt at a ceratin point on the way. Imagine taking small round pepples and making a heap of them, to form a miniature hill. Now imagine how that would look ten thousand times bigger, and that there are tens of hills of such kind surrounding you. Wherever you look, its hills of heaps of stone and rock. It was mesmerizing. Intimidating.Astonishing.I dont have words to describe.

The official entrance to the Vijayanagara city - Hampi

By the time we reached Virupaksha temple, it had started to become dark. We walked through the Hampi Bazaar, which was right opposite to the temple, to reach the temple. Virupaksha temple, is one of the oldest temples,where Pooja is still done - since it is still intact. 

Virupaksha Temple

We saw an elephant in the temple and giving a rupee coin, got its blessings :-). Virupaksha is a form of Shiva, whose consort was Devi Pampa - an avatar of Parvathi Devi. It seems she did penance to get married to Shiva. They got married at the place where this temple stands now. The serenity and silence of the temple was disturbed by a big crowd of school children, who raced to enter the temple, took a round, around it, and raced back outside. I feel, if students are being taken to some historical places, they should be educated of the historical importance of the place, the history behind it, so that they can better appreciate it. Better still, wait for some years, when they can really understand the beauty in the sculptures and not just look at them as rocks. No point taking them to a place, where they can neither understand and appreciate, nor enjoy.

You might be wondering why I have not posted any photographs of inside the temple. Photography is not allowed there. After the darshan, we walked out and climbed up the nearby hill to look at sunset. But being a cloudy day, we could not see the sunset. There were some rock mandapas on the hill and the view of Virupaksha temple from there was beautiful.

Virupaksha Temple at the background

Two storeyed structure at the background

Mantapas at background

One more mantapa

Small Temple like structure

Virupaksha temple

There were many more mantapas and temple like structures on the hill, which we could not see as it had become dark and also because we were shooed away by the security. We were surprised to see more foreigners as compared to locals in Hampi. If not for the huge mob of school children, they would have outnumbered us. We roamed in the Hampi bazaar for some more time, had idli and tea at a roadside hotel there and returned back to the auto.

The way back was very eerie. There are no street lights on the road connecting Hampi and Kamalapuram, and the huge structures, boulders and hills are intimidating. The only light to show the way was the auto's head lights. On the way for a minute, those also went off and we were enveloped in complete darkness. Anything could have happened. All panicking stories, which I read in newspapers passed through my mind in that minute. I felt safe only after we reached the hotel. So, we decided, we will not venture out of the hotel after 6.00p.m and, we will reach the hotel back before 6.00 p.m.

We had dinner at the hotel (no other option). But the dinner was not so bad. May be only buffet was bad, Ala carte was ok. Off to sleep. Look out for ''Day 2 shortly''.


P.S. - we had tried to book an auto before we started to Hampi, but could not find any in internet. People who wish to do so may contact Ganesh at his number 7829642384