Exploring Hampi

Exploring Hampi

Virupaksha temple has a big attendance on weekends and public holidays. The entry ticket is priced at less than five rs, could be two or three. As you enter it opens to a big courtyard followed by steps that take you to sanctum sanctorum.  The elephant marking its presence here finds it difficult to be on feet for long as it greets the visitors who shovel a coin or two. Bunch of bananas would be a better option and mahout instead of striving for coins should be induced to seek a better monthly compensation.

The temple and the courtyard is fairly clean and there is an order to be appreciated. Outside the temple on the left side there are other monuments to be explored and here a barbed wire circling the area and a steep fine for letting the waste accumulate should be tried. There are loos still people do it in open, some of which could be traced to those trying to provoke others. More you write about relieving in open, more such acts they make you come across.

After Virupaksha temple as you take the road opposite to it, after one km you come across a board indicating

Achyutaraya temple  (left)
Vitthala temple ( left)
Matunga hills (right)
Before the board comes Department Archaeology Museum  &  Heritage Photo Exhibition.

After board turn a little right and keep going straight. Go past Hanuman temple (Idol of Hanuman resting on a wall ) and this is followed by a rough stretch involving ascending and descending rock stairs. In a space of 12 to 15 minutes you reach Achyutaraya temple, inside has locks to different iron gates. Bit of grass here and there and more in plentiful display in the courtyard. Opposite the main iron gate door is the entrance/exit, the route normally taken by visitors. As you go out from this entrance/exit  there is a wide open field.
The board here says:  Located at foot of Matunga hills to the west this temple complex is known as Tiruvengalanatha temple. The temple got constructed by Hiriya Tirumalraja under Vijaynagara King  Achyutaraya   (1599-1544 A.D.)  in 1534 A. D.

As walk half a km there is another board giving directions to

Virupaksha temple (straight)
Achyutaraya temple (left)
Curtesan's street (left)

Few metres away there is another board
Yantrodharak Anjaneya temple (left)
Kodandarama temple (left)
Kampa Bhupa Marg (left)

Visiting Virupapurgadde

Visiting Virupapurgadde

Having stayed in Hampi for five days, Virupapurgadde is what i am told would be the best way to reach Anjanaye Parbat. From Hampi side started in a steamer at 11.14 reached Virupapurgadde at 11.17. Walked and reached Shree Achyutaa Shrama by 11.31. This walk is amidst rich paddy fields The bus station is also known as Aqua Duct. And also known as Sanapur lake. Walked from here , going past hanumanhalli, reaching Anjanaye Parbat at 11.59. Started from here at 12.09pm, first reaching Virupapurgadde followed by taking a steamer to Hampi. From the bus stand Virupaksha temple is not that far vis-a-vis the steamer stop that involves a fair degree of walking. And there are scores of other temples in the vicinity of Virupaksha including Jain and Gayatri temples.

Other tourist spots farway are Badami (caves), Aihole (a monument similar to parliament) and Pattadakal ( the architectural imprints of this place has reflections in different parts of the country).
While on a public transport to Hospet from Hampi met Bellary student  Ganesh, studying in St John's school. It is two hours ride from Hospet to Bellary, 60 kms separates the two and 350 kms is the distance between Hospet and Gulbarga.

Started from Hampi at 5.10 pm. As it ascends, the bus turns right and then left. There is No horn sign. On the way big rocks on either side is followed by a huge banana plantation on the left. Stoppages are Sasvikal Ganapathi on right side, Kodanayakahalli Cross, Kaddirampur bus halt, (here there is Sri Murugan temple)
As you come out on main road after Kaddirampur Cross, there is a board giving direction for Daroji Bear Sanctuary. Next stop is Galemmagudi.  As we go over Thungabadhra river, the following stops are
-New Malapanagudi
-Old Malapanagudi
-Vijayshree Heritage
-Saibaba temple
-Anantshayanagudi
-MP Prakash Nagar
-Bus station
-Railway station

Reaching Anegundi

Reaching Anegundi

Reaching Anegundi, it is Murthy who guides you to Vaibhava Guest House. This guest house is opposite sri raghavendra swamy mutt, anegundi gangavathi district koppal, karnataka.  In the vicinity is a map showing Anegundi  ticket office, craft shop & hoova cafe, banana fiber shop, elephant & camel stables, royal residential area south gate.

In Anegundi in nava vrindavan road you come across

- Shree Gururagavendra
- Nava Vrundavana darshini
- welcome general stores
- Vasavi Kirani & general stores
- sri ranganathaswamy temple

There is Axis bank ATM, a full branch of State Bank of Hyderabad and B V Xerox Centre
Anjani parbat is shown to be 3kms from here. Having reached the town a little after half past 12 on a Wednesday morning, the following three days were spent in the guest house. Taking a walk the other day you come across a man named Pampana, owner of banana and paddy fields. You come across Gagan Mahal, the board at the entrance reads protected ancient monument under section 3 of Karnataka ancient & historical monuments & archaeological sites and remains act 1961.
About three hundred metres from here is a board showing on way to river flowing. No 1 River cross to Hampi.

Further ahead is  a hanuman temple on left. This is followed by a board illustrating

-military barracks
-lotus pond
-ane salu
-elephant stable

A Home made from three rocks

Down the road there is cultural industries centre HWHAMA. And there is holy heart higher primary school. There are rocks big and bigger strategically placed on right as well as left on a road that leads to Hampi river. This road is not metalled but still very much useable.   There is a home covered with three rocks, one on either side and third serving as roof. This house is on the right side as you approach river.

Reaching river there are bamboo made round shaped boats, 12 of them, lying idle, not in use for the past three years as steamboats have made their grand entry. As for these round shaped boats, some prefer to call them tokra, they could be put to use at some point of time. By steamboats, i am told, it takes two minutes to reach the other side and from there it is about five kms by auto to reach Hampi.


Sri Basaveshwara ITI student is among scores of students i come across. Shrikar, pursuing a course from Govt Engineering college in Huvinahadagalli is another student. Employment is a big issue here and thanks to agricultural acumen, some sort of livelihood has been ensured.
Hampi sightings, i am told,  include Vithala Temple, Stone car (rath) and elephant stable. The three days in Vaibhava were ok. And here you did not come across occasions where they would place two to three men who would spit at you as you go past them. Or a public space where there are taps and you are washing your face, some would repeatedly come and spit even when your face is down and you are not through.  Or repeatedly indulging in same acts if they have to show the reach of their uniform.  Class four staff and those out to oblige them come handy to them.  At least in Vaibhava place there was a fair order. The stone chariot placed at the crossing is a landmark not to be set aside.
Taking a share ride to gangavathi from Anegundi. the ride is amidst green fields and provision cum preferrable stores. It took 20 minutes to reach Gangavathi. At any given point the attendance at the bus stop was large and connectivity to different places no less. The ride to Anegundi from Gangavathi  took 30 odd minutes,  And the ride had its share of plus and minus.

Reaching Hampi

Reaching Hampi

The bus leaves at 9.45, going past Bangalore city station and from here turns left. Goes past golden heights,
 rajaji nagar, sandal soap factory, yeshwantpur railway station. Here a metro runs elevated.  The tallest residential tower in bangalore (hoarding and place) is seen.
Further ahead is B'lore Ndamangal toll road We are on tumkur road, a board showing mangalore 360, mumbai 1000 kms

A board shows tumkur staight, jalahalli cross straight and peenya left. Going past peenya industry metro station, tirumala dhaba. The toll plaza comes at 10.40. At 11 am hubli 377 km, chitradurga 170 km and
at 11.08 tumkur is 35 kms. At 11.40 we come across HMT tumkur, at 11.50 we are in tumkur bus station. At 12.40 chitradurga is 91 kms , at 12.45 chitradurga  is shown straight 89 kms  and mysore shown left 172 kms. At 12.48 we reach emmerahalli thanda. At 12.50 we come across welcome to historical city sira board. At 1.02 we are on  tumkur chitradurga toll road and from here the road is quite wide. At 1.12 we reach tavakere, at 1.37 hubli is shown 252 kms. At 1.40 we reach hiriyur bus station where there is hotel tulasi prasad , shashikant the manager. Come across pradeep, tea maker, vijay another store person selling groundnuts.

First sighting of windmills at 2.30 and at 2.46 chitradurga is 2kms. At 2.48 Welcome to Chitradurga -  City of Fort. Decide to take a taxi as it would enable me to reach Hampi in time. Given the exorbitant demands, get into the same bus whose driver and conductor are in the worst frame of mind. Take the bus again at 3.15pm (Unlike this bus ride, the ride from TPT to Bangalore after few days was an illustration of being good to others). After having taken this bus at 3.15, it is at 3.25 for the first time hospet is shown on board 125 kms. At 3.40 bogalara comes. Come across a student going towards Kushidagi , more than 70 kms from Hospet. The entire stretch has a lot of green and  after 3.40 it opens to fields for the next one hour.
At 4pm hospet is 84 km. Finally we reach Hospet at 6.15. Reach Hampi in an auto at 7 pm. Begin from hampi at 7.20pm, reach Anegundi Hanuman temple Hampi at 9.20. The best way to reach Anegundi Hanuman temple from Hospet is to first reach Gangavati (33 kms) and from here it won't take that long. Taking a circuitous route through Kamlapur can be bothersome. If you are in Anegundi, it won't take more than 10 minutes by bus. The ascent to the temple begins at 9.30, reach at 9.45 and come down at 11.30 pm. There are roughly between 570 to 590 steps. 

Train to South India

Train to South India

At Nizamuddin station the other day about some months ago took a train ticket for Bangalore. As i got to a seat announcements were being made for different trains, chennai rajdhani, gondwana express, the departure of the latter delayed due to a technical hitch. A slew of coal laden wagons go past us. Kanniyakumari to delhi via nagpur is too delayed. Came across a man from Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, having settled here in 1979. There is a need for a fruit stall inside the station. As for a food counter, standard veg meals 45 rs, tea 26rs and coffee rs 31. Need for northern railway delhi division board to be properly highlighted.
The stay in this station during that month had all sorts of mischief makers. There is a need to rein in, otherwise they can prove to be an insurmountable challenge. Better visit the station when the train is about to depart than stay for long hours waiting for the train.  


Bangalore rajdhani leaves at 8.48, mathura comes at 10pm, agra 10.35. From bhopal it leaves at 4.50am, betul 7.58, amla 8.14, teergaon 8.55, pandhurna 9 am (all from betul to Pandurna stations fairly clean). Further ahead Darimeta comes at 9.07, open fields after 9.16, temkheda 9.17, katol, 9.27,nagpur 10.40, sindi 11.17, sewagram 11.37, nagri 12.10. varora 12.23, balharshah 1.05/1.07. Rains from balharshah onwards.  Ramagundam 3.05, raghavpuram 3.17, pedapally 3.22, uppal 3.56, kazipet 4.16 (IRTC canteen, crew booking cell, southern railway, scooter parking after station has huge collections). Split rains till Kazipet station seen.

Ghateskar comes at 6pm, SEcundarabad 6.28, from Prashanti Nilayam the train leaves at 4.15 am. Hills gave way to open fields at 6a.m. Odarpalli comes at 6.02 am, Dodaballapur at 6.10 am,  deboard  at this station. The station is great having a small old structure, not crowded.
Take a bus at 6.30, going past industrial estate, green stretch visible at regular intervals. Going past essar manufacturing, aradeshalli gate and nagenahalli. Reach yelahanka old town at 7.10. Before yelahanka there
is a huge yelahanka coach wheel factory as well as staff flats spread over a wide campus.Campus of this scale is a rarity. Meet a cooperative raju who guides me to a bus stand . Take a bus from Yelahanka NES,  go past new town and reach yeshwantpur at 8 am. Stay in Priyadarshini lodge. The stay is comfortable and the staff beaming with confidence.

Coin dipping phone stands

In Bangalore the best part is there are a huge numbers of coin dipping phones. You put the coin and speak, put more inside if the conversation is to stay longer. These coin dipping phone stands are a true humanitarian gesture. Came across a large number of vehicles of 80s make, plying with vigour and vitality. No nonsense ruling came to ban them as all old vehicles are not pollution emitting. Such rulings are bound to hurt the common man. This ruling from the national capital is meant to engineer defections from old vehicles and start showcasing their eagerness to have new vehicles thereby creating a law and order problem.

Sightings in Yeshwantpur

-Iyengar's bakery
-cotton zone
-adishwar
-divine public school
-smart collections
-prakash smart cafe
-sri manjunath fancy store
As you turn turn left, the other side of the road going towards railway station you come across

-sonu poultry farm
- singh travels & rest't
- sri venkateswara services
- vijaya bank
-navanidhi
 rooms available

- dawmit family rest't
- mythri travel agency
Near flyover on a board points to access
-makri circle straight
-srirampura a little right
-rajajinagar entire right
these points are next to navanidhi
Nearby are
-MF communications
-sri balaji sugarcane and juice centre
- bindu travels

Further down the road there are
-embassy heritage HMC compound
- greenery on either side
-christ the king church
-St Peter's Pontificial Seminary
-BHEL
-Property belongs to BWSSB
- panduranga ashram
- the fast food  paroto  point
- the Janata cooperative Bank
- canara bank

The stay in a city of South was for a little over two days, drawing strength from interactions across different segments. Huge number of TV channels including the one of the Middle East and one coming from the West came handy.

Visiting Maharashtra

Visiting Maharashtra

As you reached the national capital airport, you are greeted with the message, in circulation for over five years. Eleven point four million is our annual traffic,  more than the population of sweden. The plane meant for Mumbai begins taxing around 6.35. Going past fire station , a green stretch is seen, going past E3 09 (thick grass visible). Adjacent to the airport at 6.46 a train with seven coaches goes past us. The runaway is parallel to the rail tracks. After 35 seconds run, the flight takes off at 6.48. Safdarjung airport sighted after 1.40 seconds followed by Jawaharlal Nehru stadium after 1.50 seconds.

Turbulence and literature on board

At 6.53 less habitation and some agricultural space visible and this is followed by some turbulence at 7.02 and accumulation of clouds from 7.05. According to the literature on board, "meet bilai the man posted at srinagar. from serving tea at airport to airlines ramp assistant. The weather is still turbulent. Around 7.15 the sky clears for a while. From 7.30 onwards a clear sighting not possible. At 7.35  coming across a flicker of light followed by an announcement at 7.57 that we are at 26,000 feet, 11 miles from sea level, true descent begins from 8 pm. Between 8.20 and 8.30 turbulence again observed and from here it gets little stable,descending amidst clouds. Again from 8.42 to 8.45 turbulence seen and at 8.45 the first sighting of city lights. At 8.47 wheels come out, at 8.48 the traffic seen moving along sea road and at 8.50 the plane lands

As for Delhi Daily Airport, meeting Sunny Gogoi, from LD college in Gujarat, meeting a resident of france doing a job in chennai, the reminder coming from him that the contract has come to an end. Some working in Qatar and having come on a holiday is another state of engagement at the airport.

In the Delhi Airport in the waiting lounge after receiving boarding pass and getting stamped you come across

pavern england
episode
fabindia
swrovski
william penn
ethos ( ganesh creations)croma zip
hello coolers
bakery
Besides waiting lounge has toilet, spa, food court play station, kids play room , drinking water(drinking water next to a toilet looks odd), food market relay has candies, mineral water and a book section. The book section has business management, mind body and spirit, fiction non fiction current affairs and indian writing reflection. Well entering some of these stores, the attendants look at your fabric and the shoes to make out if you are eligible enough to enter their fiefdom. Staff of class 4 if properly motivated by them can show their tantrum by entering the ticket purchase counter of a state carrier and talking nonsense. Class 4 is the strength from where they draw inspiration.

Before waiting lounge there is a check in row a-b, check in row l-h, tel atm, toilets on left, hot tea 110rs, premium tea 125 rs, and just one pay phone centre.



Taking auto from airport

Reached Mumbai at 8.50 the other day. Took auto and the gentleman's persuasive behaviour was hard to resist. Took a room in Dadar star of cochin. After Siddhivinayak day, left the city at 3.45pm. Before that had meals from Sion, near a flyover. The airconditioned bus and the service wasn't much to write home about. It kept waiting for one passenger for over 40 mts. This shows the reach they have.  Reached Nashik at 7.45. Took a bus from Mahamarg bus stand. The bus stand was bereft of water and had poor lighting in the courtyard.

Reached Nagar at 10.30pm. Different sightings from window, inside hall were good. On a Friday left Nagar for Manmad. Reached Manmad at 6pm. Took a train at 8.10 pm. Reached Bhusaval at 10.20pm. On the way Nandgaon coming at 8.40pm, Chalisgaon 9.10, Jalgaon at 9.50 and Bhusaval at 10.20. As for Nagar even sighting from window is sufficient if the rush inside is huge. Chavdi and dwarkamai have their own plus points.As a policy one should not stay beyond a day and only if the environment is conducive one can stay for more than a day. Because outside the lodge they would take recourse to their old habit of placing four to five youths who would spit at every time you go past them. So better watch out when they can become temperamental. As for Bhusaval, the thick layer of pollution near the railway station and the bus stand has become unmanageable. Staff of a Private bank and a public sector bank were helpful.   Prem from Samadhan store, something to cheer about. Same was true of Sunil, caretaker of lodge and anil, the bag maker. The man selling fruits as you enter the station premises was equally good.

As for Nagar, prasadam centre was good and so was reading hall. If possible stay for a day and leave.      
After a day left Bhusaval at 12.50 am, Jalgaon coming at 1.30, Manmad 4.30, Nashik 5.15 kalyan at 8.20. The green space abound as you approach Kalyan.  Reached Dadar at 11.20. Left Mumbai after two days at around 7pm. Reached Delhi at 8.45.



Sightings in mumbai

-New passport office
-Adarsh Nagar Market, a local market

On prabhadevi road
-bengal chemicals bhawan

On Veer Sawarkar Marg
-gamman
-jalaram stationery and general stores
-tirumala medicals

Further down the road
-lady diana tailors and saree shop
-Maharashtra TV Centre
-Kamat Pure Veg
- A board showing kohinoor hall kohinoor Samundra  Ratnagiri
Kohinoor Square kolhapur
Kohinoor highway danolpi

In Agar Bazar dadar
-Shri stationery @ xerox
-TJSB Bank
-100 per cent pure marathi art shop
- kiran classes
as you leave prabhadevi road you come across our lady of salvation church

In Tambay Arogya Bhawan as i settle down, Lassi coming for 36 rs, laddu coming for 24 apiece.

Other sightings
- kwality dryers
- paduka
- titan
Reaching Plaza, a hoarding of reclining seats and new air conditioning. Take bus number 27, get down at khodad circle. Nearby are d damodar mithaiwala, star of cochin and sridevi restaurant. Rice and dal from sridevi restaurant is great. All in all the stay in Maharashtra was a mixed experience, mirroring the varying moods.

bus and train rides

rides to different states


Rides to different states in the past six months has had its share of comfort and consternation. If the train ride to a city in the South showed the poor side of seating arrangement, the ride back to delhi had fewer irritations, the latter lasting almost 48 hours. The ride from Bangalore to Hospet wasn't much to write home about; this followed with a bus ride from Seven hills to TPT again showing the rough side. It was the ride from TPT to the city of the South that showed fewer reflections of a disturbing presence. Goons they keep and make them show their colour when these department people are not productively employed. Any misconduct or excesses either in bus, train or a lodge shows the reach they have and the varying moods they are in. Rides all along have been mixed; some bordering on insanity and inhospitable environment.

Rides are akin revolving doors, exiting and emanating different spells of moody behaviour.  Bus stands and stations mirror the daily dose of life; heightened and depleted environment is governed by the perception they come across. Moods which the common man can't understand.