Hampi is one of those surprises that travel had
brought me. Last November I visited this magnificent landscape dotted with
ruins of Krishnadevaraya era. Those giant temples and complexes set in the
background of stony mountains is indeed a sight. Perhaps, the river Tungabhadra
brings in the additional glamour and it is always an enthralling experience to
sit in the banks of it in a local coffee-shop sipping simmering hot Indian
Espresso and engaging in a conversation with backpackers from all over the
world.
Indeed Hampi is one of those places where the
corporate-tourism had not yet set its foot, so there wont me much of advertising
pamphlets announcing walk-tours or Hampi-in-2hours kind of things.
The nearest railhead is a sleepy town called
Hospet. We reached there early in the morning after an overnight train-travel
from Bangalore
and then took an auto-rickshaw from Hospet to Hampi. We then took the state-run
ferry to cross the Tungabhadra river to reach the Hippie island of Viruppur
gadde. This small island formed by Tungabhadra is believed to be the nerve
center of kingdom
of Hanuman in the Hindu
epic Ramayana. In the contemporary sense, this island is more of a ‘Hippie
hideout’. The diehard backpackers choose this quite haven to abate their
hangovers of rave partying in Goa. The fact
that, we visited this place in lunar-eclipse night had also meant that there
were bearded god-men roaming with their saffrons and unfixed glares.
The next day, we rented a two-wheeler to visit
the Hampi ruins. The Virupaksha temple, The Vittala temple, the queens bath, etc
and then the rocks. The rocks here are quite different and these boulders give
a feel of lunar-surface. We climbed up the Matanga hill to see the sun sink
into the horizons which means we were quite late for the last ferry to Viruppur
Gadde. So, we took a coracle to cross Tungabhadra at exorbitant cost.
In my stay there, I felt that the beauty of
Hampi is more enhanced by the interaction between the locals and the foreigners
and the resulting cultural exchange. Owing
to the absence of packaged programs or conducted tours, most of the tourists
set to explore Hampi on their own meeting the locals. The diary of such
backpackers gets filled with experiences from People rather than that of the
place itself. The true sense of travelling, which is not just clicking
photographs, comes to the fore.
Perhaps, it reminded me of my encounters in Europe during my backpacking days, where I met scores of
interesting peoples in various picturesque places.
Hampi, I noted down in my journal, is a place
where one can easily understand different strata of Indian society without
getting bothered by the hawkers selling souvenirs. The tea shops (try ginger
lemon honey tea) run by locals gets visitors from Manhattan
to Mannheim, from Sydney
to Stockholm. This
confluence is indeed the beauty of Hampi.
But the happy part of the story ends here. The
tea-shops and Guest houses of Hampi are seen as encroachments, and the giant
bull-dozers have already started smashing these structures. The people of Hampi,
who earned their living working in such places, are now relocated (the new word
for ‘Deported’) to the villages around Hampi like Kamalapuram.
Those beautiful riverside cafes where the travelers
from all over the world converged will soon be a heap of dust. Those guest
houses where one can stay close to ruins will now vanish.
The project, when completed, would leave Hampi
only with the ruins. There would be no overnight stay possible in Hampi. One
has to stay in one of those posh hotels in Hospet, and should make a day trip
to Hampi.
Perhaps, I felt lucky that I had visited Hampi
when its streets were teeming with life, and its ruins were a stone throw away.
But with this drive, Hampi will become desolate again
