India

The annual Hampi Utsav (festival) starts from today and I am not going. I have been to Hampi many times before and it remains my all time favourite destination. I discovered Hampi in 1995 during a college trip . The Utsav was going on and the ancient Vijaynagar capital on the banks of the river Tungabhadra was completely colourful. The melange of tourists - foreign and domestic, the junkies and the folk artistes make this place special.The ruins, the temples , the rocks and the pillars have left an indelible mark in my mind.

Hampi is ageless. It even dates back to the days of Ramayana . This post is not about the story of Hampi, but about my tryst with this place. One of my favourite trips to Hampi was in 1999-2000 when I went there to cover the Hampi festival for a TV channel. It was a time when not many knew it was in the tourist map of India. The trip was very interesting for various reasons , one of them happens to be a man I met called Ceasar Baba .

He had come from Italy and he lived in Hampi for more than a decade. He spoke chaste Hindi and did not know much English. He took us to his little cave in the mountains , the entrance was a rock painted with a huge Shiva . He showed us his papers and passport and said he is not an illegal immigrant..although he shared with us stories of many ..including one “Meera” whom I will come to later.

Ceasar Baba willingly posed for our TV camera and allowed us to shoot him doing his usual routine. He gave us buttermilk and showed us around his humble abode which included a kitchen, a puja room, a small balcony/verandah and a bedroom with a makeshift toilet. All this on the rocks above a hillock . He had a roommate..a Scot who refused to speak to us. When we finished our shoot, we left Ceasar Baba and his Scot in a state of trance outside the puja room ringing the bell..

“Meera” according to Ceasar Baba was an illegal immigrant from Europe who came here as a tourist and then went on to be a travel agent.She befriended an Indian “swamy “and then lived in his ” hermitage” after his death. When the Indian authorities went to chase her away, she chased them with her pets - a couple of dogs and snakes.

We went to meet Meera, and I really had to shake my fear of dogs to get there.. A small creaky gate opened as the dogs barked away and there was a woman with long matted hair wrapped in a towel. And she had a couple of fangs as well..she laughed saying that was to scare people away . Unlike Ceasar Baba, Meera refused to talk on camera or allow us to shoot her or even take a picture..But she didnt chase us away with snakes and dogs ..

The most interesting people I met were Susie Lumsden and her brother , Paul who had come down from London and had made Goa their home. It was Susie’s 20th visit to Hampi as she knew every single nook and corner of the ruined town and every vendor as well. She was a familar face. They are bike enthusiasts and are ace riders. For a living, she brings foreign tourists to Hampi from Goa and they bike the entire route.

Needless to say, Susie became the “anchor” for one of my stories as it was through her eyes that I first discovered Hampi’s little secrets . I went there again and every time I go, the place becomes magical. The stories from the Ramayana, the rise and fall of the Vijaynagar Empire echo from these rocks.

My husband went there last year with his colleagues and some of the pictures here are from his collection. I have lost the footage and the pictures, and just a couple of scanned pictures remain to tell the story. I hope to be going there before this year ends .

About 70 kms from the twin towns of Warangal and Hanamkonda is a village called Palampet which is completely lost in the middle of civilisation. The journey is one of the best I have ever travelled and what is interesting is that there was not a single milestone that will tell me that I am on the right route. The reason I say this is that the 13th century Ramappa Temple in Palampet built by the Kakatiyas is claimed to be a tourist site and there is nothing remotely touristy about it. The lake which is just half a km from the temple is said to as ancient as the temple, created by the Kakatiyas as well. It is like an earthen dam which is about 2000 feet long and it forms a lake around the hills . And there is a lake shore temple there as well.

Here is a wild adventure this Deepavali. An elephant chase in Bandipur . Well,I am not going to post it here .Read more about this wild excapade in CLAY(Club Mahindra and You) a corporate blog of Club Mahindra where I am a guest writer. It is a great initiative by Club Mahindra which wants to promote travel , travel blogging and travel bloggers , so if you wish to be a guest writer , please do let me know.

Happy Deepavali to all of you..please have a noiseless Deepavali..The best thing I like about Deepavali is having an oil bath and eating a lot of “bakshanam” or savouries like murukku and mixture which are typically South indian ..and I love lighting lamps..Here are two traditional pictures, one from a typical Coorg home and another at the Big temple at Thanjavur which showcases the spirit of the moment.

A sneak preview into the historic past of the old city , Warangal. The fort built by the Kakatiya rulers in the 12 century. The four Keerti Toranas (gateways of glory )which symbolise Kakatiyas architecture still stand today in the four directions…More than 30 feet high, these stone gateways enclose many sculptures and pillars ..more on this in a few days


Pls do click on the snaps to see them in their original size

I am in the twin cities after almost a year and a half. My most memorable trip here was when I was here when I launched a media product here a couple of years ago ..and my trips gradually stopped after I left my job .The Charminar has always been one of my favourites and I strolled along the vibrant lanes of the Bangle Bazaar and shopped till I dropped..

Well, I havent had the biriyani as yet and I am off to Warangal today, an ancient town and probably the capital of the Kakatiyas who ruled here …one of my most impulsive and unplanned trips. I dont even have a roof tonight over my head and I need to figure that out once I get there ..see you next week and have a great Deepavali if I dont see you guys before that..

We were passing through this idyllic village called Mannavannur near Kodaikanal looking for a lake ..it was an agricultural belt and the terrace farms looked inviting..we did not see anyone and then in a green corner, we found four men “cleaning” the carrots they had harvested..the carrots were left lying near a small stream and the men would then do a little dance on them, rubbing them with the soles of their feet ,probably kicking them a bit as well and then packing them into little sacks that were later sold in the market..I did not have a video camera..so here are the pictures..



This post is dedicated to Jeevan who reminded me regarding the Kodai post..will be putting up a longer one soon

I am stuck at home as I am broke..no money to fly or stay in a decent hotel and all trains are running full.So am currently looking for sponsors and well wishers and good ideas to travel without spending much.I write for a living and so if any magazine or website out there wishes me to travel to Kerala or Kumbakonam in exchange for a story, I am game. Hope some resort or hotel owners out there are listening as well and will show me some hospitality in return for some publicity. This weekend has been particularly disappointing. Four destinations were planned and they all remained in the planning stage only . Next week seems to be going the same way . So, here I am sitting and looking at my old pictures and feeling nostalgic

Grams sold outside the Azhagar (Alagar )temple dedicated to Vishnu near Madurai . This is bought by devotees and served to the Gods.. I asked why and no one answered..

I did not travel anywhere in September . And October has been disappointing as travel plans were altered or canceled. I had already dropped out of two trips that were scheduled to happen this month and finally even today’s plans got altered - a simple day trip. But an impulsive decision at 12.30 pm this afternoon took me to the above mentioned destination, a place where I have been wanting to go for ages - any guesses

Update - The guessing game is over and the answer is simple..all you need to do is to click on the picture and it will tell you the location. This Nandi is also the tallest Nandi sculpture in the country. I am talking about Lepakshi…