Brushing Up the Years

I read the book Brushing Up the Years: A Cartoonist's History of India 1947-2004. This book is a collection of RK Laxman's "Common Man" cartoons, taken from a period of six decades, from 1947 to 2004.

The collection starts with portraits of Gandhi and Nehru. Then it goes through Nehru's governance, general elections, Indira Gandhi's "rule" over India and the Congress, tragedy of Janata governments, and so on. Along with each cartoon, there is a short commentary that gives a brief historic context regarding the cartoon. This was really helpful, but I felt that it should have been a bit more elaborate at times, and should have mentioned the leaders appearing in the cartoons, for readers like me who are not well informed about Indian politics.

The publisher's note says that the intention of this collection is not to "trace Laxman's development as a cartoonist over the years", but to "..showcase some of Laxman's most memorable cartoons, and place them in a historical context", so that the cartoons "..provide something like a running commentary on India's unfolding history over the six decades since independence". It is the political history of India that this selection portrays, even though there are few cartoons that relate to the social life of Indians. While going through the six decades of Indian political history in these 294 pages, we can see the game remaining more or less unchanged; It is just the players that are changing. And the common man hasn’t walked very far from 1947.

This book is neatly printed and bound in high quality paper, and looks beautiful. It is a collector's item.

In the Same Boat

I read the book In the Same Boat - Golden Tales from Bengal, a collection of twelve Bengali short stories written by various authors, translated by Gopa Majumdar. All the stories in this collection are narrated in a light-hearted way, with a gentle touch of humor in them, however grim their themes may be. The stories are translated nicely by Gopa Majumdar. I enjoyed reading this book.

The first two stories in this collection are Rashomoyee's Ruse and The Promise, written by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyaya. These stories were written in the pre-independence period, and probably belong to a formative period in the history of modern Bengali literature (I wish that the translator had mentioned the year of publication of all the stories). Rashomoyee's Ruse makes us feel as if it is a ghost story in the beginning, in which Khetramohan, the main character starts getting letters from his dead wife, threatening to kill him if he is going to marry again. In The Promise, Bhabatosh, the hero, wants to marry an illiterate and ugly girl, as he thinks such a wife would "stand in the line drawn by him" and obey and serve him like slave. He is firm in his decision until his mother arranges a meeting for him with an "ugly" girl at her home, where he finds a pretty servant girl.

The Bridegroom and Bama are stories by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyaya, and have the great writer's mark on them. In The Bridegroom, we see a man's strange attachment with a "pet" plant, and in Bama, we accompany the narrator in his journey to a remote Bengali village, through forests and wastelands infested with dangerous robbers and dacoits. These stories are followed by two from Bonophool, In the Same Boat and The Human Mind - I have read the second story in another collection of short stories by Bonophool.

The Actress and The Beginning are stories by Narendranath Mitra in which the central characters are women fighting with poverty. In the first story, Animesh Chaudhury, a film director, taking sympathy over the financial situation of his friend, offers a role in his film to his friend's wife Labanya. She just has to play the character that she is in her real life, that of a poor mother nursing her sick child, but Labanya is too embarrassed to act and Animesh had to change the plan and cast someone else, sadly. In The Beginning, Arati, the main character is having to take up a job, as her husband's salary is not enough to meet the household expenses. A woman going out for job was considered as disrespectable in the society those days, and hence her in-laws object her in the beginning. But her husband encourages her to take up the job. However, soon the in-laws find her money quite useful, but the husband starts developing an inferiority complex and looks at his wife's movements with suspicion. This brilliant story with excellent characterizations, was filmed by Satyajit Ray as Mahanagar.

Patralekha's Father and The Commander-in-Chief by Satinath Bhaduri are the grimmest stories in this collection, with the characters coming with dark grey shades. In Patralekha's Father, the main character is one who has a strange hobby of sending anonymous gossip letters to various people and then watching their misery and enjoying that. In The Commander-in-Chief, we see a materialistic woman unshaken by her husband's suicide after a quarrel with her. All she is bothered about is to save her face and to take possession of the money that her husband had saved. Both these stories are told in a humorous way that would make us look at these characters with sympathy.

The Gentleman and the Rogue and War and Peace are written by Saradindu Bandopadhyaya, and they are the most witty stories in this collection. The Gentleman and the Rogue is about a man in love, and the burning jealousy in him, while War and Peace is the narrative of a small incident in a naughty boy's life. The plots look like mediocre; But the simple narratives and characterizations makes these stories likeable.

Talk to Her

I watched the Spanish film Hable con ella (Talk to Her) today at CFD. The film, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, won the Oscar award for best original screenplay in 2003.

Loneliness is the theme of the film. Two men, Benigno and Marco meet at a clinic. Both of them have their girlfriends admitted in the clinic, in coma state. Benigno is a childish-looking young man who spent most of his childhood and adolescence taking care of his bedridden mother, and his life had been mostly confined to his home. He starts liking a student called Alicia coming to a dance school opposite to his house, but before he gets a chance to know her better, she meets with an accident and is admitted to the hospital in coma state. Benigno had been taking care of Alicia after that, and he works in the clinic as a nurse. He talks to Alicia imagining as if she is listening to whatever he speaks, and does things which she would have loved to do, like going for theatre performances, films, etc.

Unlike Benigno, Marco is a journalist, and he has traveled a lot. He was still recovering after the separation from his lover when he met Lydia, a bullfighter, for conducting an interview with her, and then he falls in love with her. She is attacked by a bull during a fight, and is admitted to the hospital where Alicia was also admitted. The two men meet with each other, and a friendship develops between them. Benigno teaches Marco the art of talking to his girlfriend, assuming that she is listening to him.

A scene from Talk to Her (Courtesy imdb dot com).

Most of the story is shown through flashback scenes, with sequences going to and fro in time and space. The film has brilliant characterizations, nicely enacted by all the actors. The technical department of the film is perfect as well, and Talk to Her is a different film, a memorable one.

Rajamanikyam

Watched Rajamanikyam, the latest Mammootty film, today at Sangeeth theatre.

All Malayalam films starring Mammootty have been big commercial hits in the last 2-3 years. Even idiotic films like Thaskara Veeran were hits. Rajamanikyam, directed by newcomer Anwar Rashid, also has been declared as a hit and it also follows the pattern of Thommanum Makkalum and Thaskara Veeran. The hero-worshipping scenes in the film remind of Rajnikanth films. Anwar Rashid, along with the liberal use of such sequences, adds few scenes mocking them as well, as if to pacify the Malayalee audience (like Mammootty asking his assistants whether he looks heroic enough, etc.).

Rajamanikyam is the story of Bellary Raja (Mammootty), an illiterate (just reached till second standard, in his own words) who works as a buffalo dealer at Bellary. When his stepfather Rajaratnam (Saikumar) dies, as per his will, Bellary Raja is assigned as the caretaker of his huge property and business for twenty five years. Rajaratnam had made this decision since his son born on his first wife (Manoj K Jayan) and daughter born on second wife (Sindhu Menon) have been fighting with each other for the property, and he wanted to settle the matter peacefully and also to "teach them a lesson". Bellary Raja reaches his stepfather's village along with his three assistants, played by Rehman, Bheeman Raghu and Salim Kumar. He takes charge of the property and the rest of the story shows Raja's efforts to bring unity in the family.

Mammootty in Rajamanikyam (Courtesy rajamanikyam dot com).

Anyway, the less said about the plot and screenplay of this film, the better. The whole film is of course built upon Mammootty, and the director fully depends upon him to save the film. And Mammootty comes up with one of his finest comic performances ever, talking in a funny way in the "Thiruvananthapuram accent", and showing some interesting gimmicks. The film is watchable just for his performance.

Stories of Ritwik Ghatak

Ritwik Ghatak, the veteran filmmaker from Bengal, had written poems and short stories before he started directing films. He continued to write stories even after he entered film field. The book from Srishti publishers has a collection of 17 short stories by Ghatak, translated by Rani Ray.

Unlike Satyajit Ray, story writing was not a "second love" for Ghatak, Sumanta Banerjee writes in the introductory note: "They belong to a phase in his life which could be described as that of his 'first love' ... Ritwik's short stories were an outcome of a brief sojourn during the intellectual odyssey of his." Most of the stories were written during the period 1947-50, and they throw light on the various facets of the great artist. Some of the stories have clear political statements of the author, who was a "fellow-traveler" of the Communist party. Stories like The Earthly Paradise Remains Unshaken and The Crystal Goblet are about the tragedy of Partition, and Eyes and Comrade have trade union struggles portrayed in them. Few stories look like narrations of dreams, and some of the stories, like the 3-page long The Tree, look beautiful with their simplicity. Many of the stories in this book make a good reading.

My favorite short stories in this collection are Shikha and Touchstone, both written in the form of memoirs. In Shikha, the narrator looks at an old, fading photograph of his niece, which had captured a brief moment in the little girl's private life, enjoying some eatables stealthily. The girl, in spite of being the only daughter of rich parents, had a pure, gentle and imaginative mind, sensitive to the human struggles, and she used to say that 'she would donate all her money to poor people when she grows up'. The narrator hadn’t been in touch with her for several years, and wonders how she would have grown up. However, he is disappointed when he meets Shikha after several years - now she is a sophisticated young lady who is married to a rich man, and has lost all her innocence.

In Touchstone, a classical singer remembers a performance he had given several years back, and about an admirer named Chandrakanta whom he had met with during that time. Chandrakanta was a strange man, with a secret mission in his life - to obtain the "formula" for bringing dead people back to life. He already had got the mantra and the recipe for the medicine; All he wanted was to go to distant places in the Himalayan ranges, and collect the ingredients for the medicine. The singer tells his admirer that his whole-life earnings wont be sufficient to meet the travel expenses, and this forces Chandrakanta to look for shortcuts for making money. After several years, the singer wonders what would have happened to Chandrakanta . He secretly wishes that his admirer would have found the ingredients for the magic medicine, finally. But a twist at the end of the story reveals the tragedy of Chandrakanta.

Shonar Kella

Today I watched Shonar Kella, Satyajit Ray's film based on his own story featuring the detective, Feluda. I have seen this film once before on television. This time I watched the DVD, and it was a better print with bright colors. However, the subtitles are arranged in a way that would really irritate a viewer who doesn’t know Bengali. At many places, subtitles are shown on the screen just for a fraction of a second and they vanish before we get a chance to fully read them. Couple of times, I tried rewinding and then pausing at the scene to read the subtitle, but I had difficulty in "catching" the subtitled scene even after several attempts which tested my patience.

Shonar Kella was the third Feluda story that Ray wrote, and the story in which he introduced the character Jatayu. The film is mostly set in Rajasthan. Mukul, a 6-year old boy living at Calcutta, starts getting memories of his "previous birth" in which he lived at a house near an ancient fort that he calls shonar kella (golden fortress). The news gets published in the newspapers and a set of crooks get interested in the story as they think that they could find some ancient treasure with the boy's help. Meanwhile, Dr. Hajra, a parapsychologist, also wants to study this case, and he takes Mukul to Rajasthan to see if the "golden fortress" in the boy’s stories would be somewhere in Rajasthan. The villains follow them, and Feluda and Topshe are to rescue the boy, and the doctor.

Andrew Robinson, in his book The Inner Eye (which is the finest book on Ray and his films that I have read) writes: "He (Satyajit Ray) felt it would be more interesting to let the audience know who the villains were at an early stage, but keep the detective guessing - 'so it becomes more or less like a Hitchcock story where you know who the killer is.' Character therefore takes precedence over plot...". Shonar Kella has several beautifully photographed scenes, and the acting performances of Soumitra Chatterjee (Feluda) and Santhosh Dutta (Jatayu) are brilliant and they perfectly match their images I had in my mind while reading the story. However, I felt that Jai Baba Felunath, Ray's second Feluda film, is a superior work.

North Karnataka Trip - III

Gol Gumbaz

We got up at 6AM on Sunday, and after taking bath, had a good breakfast from Kamat hotel again. At 8:30, we started towards Gol Gumbaz. We reached there within ten minutes, and a new tourist guide came towards us and introduced himself. He seemed to be very talkative, and very emotional about the monuments at Bijapur.

Gol Gumbaz is the tomb of Mohammed Adil Shah, who ruled Bijapur during the seventeenth century. It is 51 meters tall, and the central dome has a diameter of 37 meters, making it the second largest dome in world (the first one is the dome of St Peter's Basilica at Rome). Gol Gumbaz was constructed without using metal, and the massive dome is supported only by the walls of the tomb building. There is a mosque to the left of Gumbaz (our guide told that there would be one near any Muslim tomb), and an ancient building in front of Gumbaz has been converted to a museum by the archeology department.

Gol Gumbaz

Our guide gave us some background regarding the Gumbaz and the Adil Shahi dynasty. It seems several buildings in the city were destroyed by Aurangazeb when he invaded Bijapur, but the tombs and mosques were spared. Just like other Muslim tombs, the real grave is below ground level, and a symbolic tombstone is kept in the tomb building exactly above the real grave.

When we entered the tomb, what attracted me first were the echoes of human voices, which made it look as if it was a haunted building. The dome is constructed in such a way that any feeble voice would be echoed twenty one times in the tomb building. Our guide demonstrated this by shouting loudly and asking us to count the echoes, but I lost count after ten as the fading echoes got lost in the more stronger ones of the voices of other people who also wanted to experiment and verify the count. It seems, in an utmost quite atmosphere, even the voice of a pin-drop would be echoed and could be heard everywhere inside the tomb building.

There are four turrets at four corners of the Gumbaz, and we could climb up to the terrace of the building through the stairs inside a turret. This is a very difficult climb, as the stairs are steep and narrow. From the sixth floor of the turret, we could come out to the terrace of the tomb building. We could get a beautiful view of Bijapur town from there, and the remains of 10-kilometer long fort surrounding the town can also be seen. At one side, there is an opening in the dome, and through that we entered inside the "whispering gallery" of the tomb.

To demonstrate the specialty of acoustical system in the dome, our guide asked us to stand at one place in the gallery, and then he walked to a diametrically opposite point (It is 37 meters away from us). He whispered few words from there, and the voice reached us through echoes, and we could hear it as if through a telephone! Then we were given fifteen minutes to spent there and experiment the "wireless system" ourselves; Achchan wanted to try this out, and he walked to a diametrically opposite point and then talked something to us. However, we couldn’t hear anything as almost everybody were performing the "whisper test", and we could hear nothing but a crowd of echoes.

We climbed down through another turret, and spent few minutes in the lawn in front of the Gumbaz, taking photographs. Then, we went back to the bus. The next destination was the Jama Masjid.

Jama Masjid

The Jama Masjid was built during the sixteenth century by the Bijapur rulers, and it was later enhanced by Aurangazeb. It seems this is the largest mosque in South India. Our guide had shifted to Kannada by then, and I couldn’t understand much of what he spoke.

We spent just ten minutes at the Masjid, and then went to Ibrahim Rauza.

Ibrahim Rauza

Ibrahim Rauza was constructed by Ibrahim Adil Shah, the sixth Sultan of the Adil Shahi dynasty, as a mausoleum for his queen, Taj Sultana. But the king died before the queen, and he was buried there, hence the building was called Ibrahim Rauza. When Aurangazeb came to Deccan, he used Ibrahim Rauza as his residence. Unlike other tomb buildings, at Ibrahim Rauza, the tomb building, accompanying mosque and the front entrance are in nearly equal sizes and they all stand together to make a beautiful view. A vast lawn in front of the tomb enclosure adds more color to it.

Ibrahim Rauza

Our guide was very enthusiastic to give us few details regarding Ibrahim Rauza. He asked us to look at the tomb enclosure from three angles, by covering some parts of the view using our hands and fingers - From one place, the tomb building looks like Taj Mahal. The mosque, when looked alone, looks like Bibi Ka Maqbara, the tomb of Aurangazeb's queen at Aurangabad. The entrance of the tomb enclosure looks like the Char Minar building at Hyderabad. The guide also pointed us towards some architectural differences between the Mughal buildings and the Adil Shahi buildings: The Mughal buildings have semi-spherical domes whereas the domes in Bijapur buildings cover more of the sphere. The minars in Mughal buildings are circular, with diameter decreasing with height. However, the minars of Bijapur have octagonal minars that have a constant area of cross section.

Inside the sepulcher, there are tombstones of Ibrahim Adil Shah, his mother, queen and children. It seems this beautiful building was mostly in the ruins when the British discovered it during the eighteenth century, after which they renovated it. We could see concrete works and iron rings installed near the tomb building, as a means of protection for the old building. The doors of the tomb building are made of teak wood and metal, and they have some interesting carvings on it. Our guide demonstrated that the door still remains completely functional, by closing the door and showing that it closes so perfectly, without leaving any gap anywhere.

Malik-e-Maidan

From Ibrahim Rauza, we went to a part of the fort where a huge metal gun, weighing 55 tons, is kept. This huge cannon is made of bell metal, and it is 4.45 meters long. When touched, the gun would look cool even under the roasting sun.

Malik-e-Maidan, the famous canon of Bijapur.

Children playing on top of the ruined fort at Bijapur, near Malik-e-Maidan.

We were given only ten minutes at Malik-e-Maidan, and then we were asked to hurry up. There are several more monuments at in the town, but we didn’t stop at any of them. At none junction in the road, the guide pointed us towards one direction, where the ruins of an old building were seen. These are the remains of Barah Kaman, the unfinished tomb of Ali Shah. It was planned as a huge building with twelve (hence, Barah) arches. This ambitious project, if completed, would have become the eighth wonder in the world, in the opinion of our guide.

Soon, it was time to leave Bijapur, and our guide got down from the bus after a pretty long departing speech. It was around 12, and our next destination was Kudala Samgama, on the way to Hospet.

Kudala Samgama

We reached Kudala Samgama at 2. We first went to Kamat Upachar hotel there for lunch.

After lunch, we went to the Samgameshwara temple. This was the place where saint Basaveshwara sat and meditated during the 12th century, and it was also the place where the saint attained Samadhi. Behind the temple, the rivers Krishna and Ghataprabha merge together, and a vast expanse of water could be seen. Some of our co-passengers went for boating, but we chose to spend some time in the temple compound itself. At one place, there is a cylindrical concrete building that has a Shivalinga installed at the basement, which is below the water level. This is supposed to be the place where the saint Basaveshwara attained Samadhi. We sat near the temple for some time as it was very cool there. Drops of water come out through a small opening in the basement of the temple, which people were drinking as the sacred theertha.

A fruit seller in front of the temple chariot, at Kudala Samgama.

At 4, we were back to the bus, and our tour coordinator asked us to have some food from Kamat hotel itself, as there would be no decent hotel on the way till Hospet. We bought some bajjis packed, and had some tea from Kamat. Near the hotel, we could see the metal roofs of a huge building - It looked very much out of place in the nearby village surroundings. I had seen it during lunch time itself, and I was thinking that it would be the Samgameshwara temple. However, I couldn’t figure out what it was.

Sunflower fields under the evening sky made a beautiful sight on our return trip. We reached Hospet at around 8PM. Our bus stopped in front of a pathetic restaurant. I ate a dosa from there, and at 9:30, we started our journey back to Bangalore. We were traveling through the horrible Bangalore - Hospet road again, and at many a place we were thrown up from our seats when the bus passed through some gutter. At 5AM on Monday, we reached Bangalore.

North Karnataka Trip - II

Banashankari

We got up early on Saturday (November 5), at 5AM, as we were asked to be ready by 6. Hot water was available in the hotel, so we quickly took bath and checked out from our room. However, it was nearly 7 by the time all the passengers got ready and the bus started. Then, we were stuck in a traffic jam for an hour on the way. The bus stopped at a place called Kushtagi for breakfast, at 9. There was a pathetic restaurant in front of the KSRTC bus stand, and we took idli vada from there. The journey continued. Our next destination was the Banashankari temple.

The way to Banashankari was beautiful. The road was not so good, but on both sides of the road we could see unending farmlands, mostly sunflower. We rarely saw a house or any human being on the way. When we reached a place called Gajendragarh, a magnificent hill stretching to several kilometers became visible. Its top looked as if some architect had cut it off using a scale. Remains of a fort were seen on its top, at some places, but I couldn’t figure out which fort it was. After sometime, we could see a smaller hill, in front of the longer one, and there were caves visible near its peak, which looked like ancient ones.

A hill near Gajendragarh. There are caves near its peak.

We reached Banashankari at 11:30. Our guide asked us to visit the temple and come back within 20 minutes!

The Banashankari temple was built by the Chalukyas surrounding an ancient shrine, but presently only few parts of the ancient temple remain, and rest all were renovated during the 17th century. Adjacent to the main temple, we could see an underground temple dedicated to Shiva. But it looked like in ruins, and we didn’t enter it. In front of the temple, there is a vast pond called Harischandra Theertha which is considered to be very sacred. There are corridors with stone pillars and roofs around the pond. Unfortunately, there was not a drop of water in the pond, or else it would have made an even more splendid sight. I was surprised at this, as I had been hearing about heavy rains at almost every place in South India, and still it seemed like there was no rain at Banashankari.

Harischandra Theertha in front of Banashankari temple.

The heat was intense, and we had tender coconuts from a vendor nearby. Then, the bus started towards Badami.

Badami

Badami (Vatapi) was the capital of the Chalukyas during 6th to 8th centuries. Pulikeshi II was the most famous ruler among Chalukyas, and during his time the Chalukyan empire covered almost the entire South India. Under their patronage, Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole and Mahakoota flourished as centers of Hindu religion and art. After the decline of Chalukyan empire, Badami was occupied by Rashtrakutas, Vijayanagara rulers, and finally by Tipu Sultan - These are all the info that I got from an informatory board installed by the archeology department.

We were given an hour at Badami, and a new local tourist guide came with us to explain things. After taking the tickets, we started climbing the rocky hill where the famous cave temples are located. There are four temples in the hill; Two are dedicated to Vishnu, one to Shiva, and the topmost one is a Jain temple (which gives indications to the secular rule of the Chalukyan kings). The rocks on the hill, mostly red sandstone, look as if they are painted in red, and it makes a good sight. Several families of monkeys have made the hill their residence, and they move around freely everywhere.

Carvings inside the cave temples at Badami.

The cave temples have beautiful carvings in them. Some of them are amusing, looking like Hanuman from one direction, and like a woman carrying a pot from another direction. Each cave temple is in a different level, and we have to climb up to go from one to other, through stairs carved on the hill itself. Near the second cave temple, there is a pathway going up, to the top of the hill, where the remains of Pulikeshi's fort are located. The stairs in this pathway are very tall, each up to 2.5 feet high; However, visitors cant try climbing those stairs, as the pathway has been closed by the Government now.

From the flooring of a Badami cave - These point us to a lighter moment in the life of the architects.
They might have spent several hours playing games here, 1400 years ago.

The view of the landscape from the fourth cave temple is breathtaking. We could see a vast pond (it is called Agasthya Theertha, and was dug in the fifth century) on the other side of the hill, filled with dark green water. At one corner of the pond, there are two temples seen - One built in North Indian architecture style, and the other one in Dravidian style. On the other side of the pond, there are more rocky hills. It seems there is one more cave temple on one of these hills. An 18th century Muslim tomb is also seen near the banks of this pond (The guide explained in Kannada regarding whose tomb it was; but I couldnt understand that). The green of the pond, blue of the sky and red of the stones made an amazing blend of colors and the pleasant breeze made us feel that we should spend a whole day there. But we didn’t have even enough time to go near the pond. We climbed down, and then it was time to travel to the next destination.

We had lunch from a KSTDC Mayura restaurant at Badami. This was as bad as the one at Hampi, and I had a very bad meal from there. After the lunch, we got back to the bus and then we started towards Pattadakal.

Pattadakal

On the way to Pattadakal, we saw a board showing the way to Mahakoota. There is an ancient temple there, built in the Chalukya period, and it seems this temple is in the middle of a dense forest, and we can enter it only by crossing a small pool by foot. It sounded very romantic.

Temples at Pattadakal

We reached Pattadakal at 4PM. Pattadakal is the place where the Chalukyan kings used to be crowned, and they have built several temples in this area dating to 7th to 9th century. It seems Chalukyas were experimentalists in Architecture, and Pattadakal shows the peak of experimentation among their three sites, the first two being Aihole and Badami. They experimented with the shapes of roofs and gopurams, alignments of tiles, types of stones used, etc. The subjects for carvings are also selected imaginatively. There are not only images of gods and dancers, but there are stories from Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Panchathanthra which the architects have carved inside these temples. Some of the granite Shivalingas in the temple are so smoothly polished that they look as if they are made of metal. It seems the oldest monument at Pattadakal is a 3rd century mandapa that was uncovered by the Archaeological Survey of India in 1970.

A temple at Pattadakal

The archeological department has maintained this temple complex well and there is a beautiful lawn around the temples, reminding the temples at Halebid and Somanathapuram. The only temple which is still being worshipped inside the temple complex is Virupaksha temple, built by the queen of Vikramaditya II in the 8th century, commemorating the king's victory over the Pallavas. There are carvings inside this temple, in a script looking like Kannada, and it seems the names of the sculptors are mentioned in these inscriptions. A beautifully carved, huge idol of Nandikesha is installed inside a mandapam facing the Virupaksha temple. Interestingly, the pujari in the temple was a young boy wearing a lunki.

Views from Pattadakal temples

A river called Malaprabha flows behind the Pattadakal temple complex. We spent few minutes in front of the river, and then came back. It was 5:15 and the temples shined in the beautiful evening sunlight, making a wonderful sight. Our guide asked us to hurry up, as Aihole would close at 6, and we have to reach there before that.

Near the gate of Pattadakal temple complex, there was a large heap of fresh corn that nearby farmers had deposited. When we got into the bus, we saw that many of our co-passengers had one or two corns in their hand, flicked from the farmer's heap.

Aihole

Aihole (Aryapura) was the capital of Chalukyas until the sixth century, after which they shifted to Badami. It has a unique place in the history of Indian temple architecture, and it seems Aihole was the Chalukyan site for early experimentation in architecture. There are more than a hundred temples built at Aihole by the early Chalukyan kings from the fifth to eighth centuries. Most of them were Vaishnavite temples, and they were later converted to Saivite ones. Recent excavations have lead to the discovery of a pre-Chalukyan stone temple at Aihole, it seems - All these I learned from the board installed by the archeological department. It seems some of the temples were used as residence by the local chieftains after the Chalukyan period.

When we neared Aihole, we started seeing ancient temples almost everywhere, like small houses. There were few huts also in between, in front of which few village children were sitting and waving hands at the bus. We were to visit only few important temples inside an enclosed complex, protected by the archeological department. We reached there at 5.50, just in time. We ran to the ticket counter, bought the tickets and got inside. It was rapidly becoming dark, and we had only few minutes to have a quick view of the temples. At 6:30, the security guards started whistling, asking all visitors to go out. We sadly went back to our bus, and then we started our journey to Bijapur.

It was a tiring day and I slept nicely in the bus. I got only at 9PM, when the bus stopped in front of Samrat hotel at Bijapur. We were now 613 kilometers north of Bangalore, and almost near the Maharashtra border. We were allotted rooms in the hotel, and were asked to get ready at 8AM on the next day. There was a Kamat restaurant nearby, and we had a nice jawar roti meal from there, the first good meal that we had since we started from home. We slept peacefully.

Ananthabhadram

Watched the new Malayalam film Ananthabhadram today at Sangeeth theatre. This is the first Malayalam film of director Santhosh Shivan, and in an interview with him, he told that his intentions was to make a film "highlighting our rich culture and traditions", that will make us feel as if we were "going to a story that our grandparents told us when we were young". He doesn’t want to call it a horror film; "It’s about black magic that exists even today", he says. The film is based on a story by Sunil Parameswaran, and is photographed by the director himself.

Santhosh Shivan has succeeded in creating the imagery of a grandma's tale. The old tharavadu, complete with nalukettu, ponds, kavu and lush green surroundings, forests, mysterious caves beside the waterfall - all are picturized well by the director. Chenda has been used extensively in the background music, reminding of Kathakali songs, and it provides an excellent support for the visuals. Manoj K Jayan gives an inspired performance as Digambaran, the black magician, for which his physique might have helped a lot. I cant think of any other Malayalam actor playing that role. Kalabhavan Mani as Chemban also gives a good performance.

However, the director disappoints us frequently, starting from the very first scene which shows a flashback of Gayatri (Revathi) telling her old stories to her son Ananthan. Even though this is a very short sequence used as a backdrop for title scenes, the artificiality of Revathi's narration irritated me a lot. Then there are the scenes of Ananthan's (Prithviraj) homecoming, and his meetings with relatives and villagers. It is now Prithviraj's turn to irritate us by talking to the illiterate villagers in English, and it looked like the director or actor (or both) were confused whether he should play a comic role or a serious one. Characters like Maravi Mathayi (Cochin Haneefa) further dilute the atmosphere, and it is only towards the end of the first half that Prithviraj's character settles a bit. Kavya Madhavan tries to repeat the role that she had played in Meesha Madhavan; But she does a good job. The film tightens after the interval through few nicely edited sequences, but disappoints in the climax.

A scene from Ananthabhadram (Courtesy www dot anandabhadram dot com).

There are five songs in the film. The "pinakkamano" song is picturized beautifully, showing Kavya posing as women in various Ravi Varma paintings. I only wished that she hadn’t become so plump and looked like a minukku character from Kathakali. The song "malamallalooya" is sung by Kalabhavan Mani and is good to hear. But my favorite song was "thira nurayum", sung by Yesudas.

Ananthabhadram is worth watching for its brilliant visuals and music. However, I don’t think it meets the expectations raised by the director.

North Karnataka Trip - I

Journey to Hospet

I didn’t have much expectations regarding the KSTDC tour package. I had earlier talked to one of my colleagues who had gone for a 1-day tour conducted by KSTDC to Shravanabelagola, Belur and Halebid. He had told me that the KSTDC people would take us to the places on their bus, and ask us to go and see around and come back to the bus within short time. That way, they squeeze more number of places to the package, which would look attractive to the people; But actually we will end up feeling as if we just saw a collection of photographs from the places.

Our package was also not different - They have eight places included in it: Tungabhadra Dam, Hampi, Banashankari, Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole, Bijapur and Kudala Samgama. They call it a 5-day trip, but it is effectively only a three day tour, as we start from Bangalore on Thursday night, and reach back here on Monday morning. The travel, accommodation and tourist guide charges are included in the package (Rs. 1650 per person), and the rest have to borne by us.

We started from home on Thursday (November 3) 7:30PM. Deepavali celebrations were still going on and I was a bit scared that a cracker would fall on us any point of time while walking through the roads. We got an auto-rickshaw from Nanjappa Circle and got down at Corporation Circle. The KSTDC office, called Badami House, is near the circle. We reported at the reception office and they told us that the bus would reach at 9. There were several people waiting there for their buses, and it looked like KSTDC tours were very popular. Achchan was anxious that we won’t be able to see much at Hampi, as there would be a big crowd there, owing to the annual cultural festival called Hampi Utsav that is held there every year during November first week.

Our bus reached Badami House at sharp 9. That bus was to be our home for the next three days. We boarded the bus and found that it was a decent one, with enough space between the chairs to stretch our legs, etc. At 9:30PM, the guide Mr. Iyer, employed by KSTDC, came into the bus and introduced himself. He gave a brief overview of the itinerary and then the bus started.

The bus halted at Kamat Upachar hotel on the way near Tumkur for dinner. I remembered taking meals from there during an earlier trip to Dandeli with my colleagues. This time, we had brought some vegetable biriyani packed from home, so we had that, and went to the hotel for a tea.

Our first destination was Tungabhadra dam, which is near Hospet. I had noted in a map that a national highway runs between Bangalore and Hospet. But the state of the road was pathetic and we felt like we were going through some rough farmlands. I couldn’t get a wink of sleep. It was quite dark and I couldn’t see anything outside. At one place, there were several windmills installed on top of a hill, and the electric lights blinking on their peaks were getting reflected on their rotating blades, creating interesting patterns. From distance, I couldn’t make out what it was, and I kept on making guesses. Somewhere in the early morning of Friday, I got a bit of sleep. When I woke up, I could see the sun rising outside, and felt the cool, fresh, pleasing air coming through the windows of the bus.

Tungabhadra Dam



Tungabhadra dam, TB Dam as it is called, is built across river Tungabhadra, and it is just few kilometers from Hospet. The driver parked the bus near the dam and we all got outside. The time was 6:15AM and it was still pretty cold there. Our guide told us that we should go and visit the dam and then come back to the bus within an hour. We could hear bells ringing and Venkatesha Suprabhatham sung by MS Subbalakshmi coming from some distant temple.

At the gate of TB Dam, we were welcomed by a puppy! It seemed as if the puppy was just expecting us, and he lead us towards the dam enthusiastically. He didn’t seem to be very healthy, and after walking for five minutes, he got tired and lied curling on the road wherever it was standing. We gave some biscuits to the dog and then walked forward.

Visitors are not allowed to walk over the dam. We climbed to a small observatory near the dam - The view of the dam from there was amazing. I could see nothing but water in the horizon. Other than the sea, I haven’t seen any other water body before which was as vast as that. There is a model of the dam kept inside a room there, but it was covered with a tarpaulin, so we couldn’t see it. We climbed down and walked back. On the way there is a small bridge that takes us across a water canal, to a nice garden. Boards indicate that there is a musical fountain and a deer park nearby, but we didn’t have time to watch all that as the allotted time of one hour was already over.

As we walked towards our bus, near the gate we saw the puppy again, sleeping peacefully there. It didn’t seem to notice us.

Some passengers were yet to come, and the guide was becoming restless. By 7:30, all reported back, and we proceeded towards Hampi.



Mayura Bhuvaneshwari

If we have to fully appreciate the works of Kannada authors like Shreekrishna Alanahally, Kuvempu and Shivarama Karanth, we need to travel through the villages of Karnataka. Unlike the villages of Kerala, I guess the Karnataka villages might be very much as they were several decades ago, as I could see no signs of "modern" developments in the area. Vast fields of paddy, corn, wheat, sugarcane and vegetables spread to several kilometers between each country homes. Houses were of three types - Huts with palm leaves for roofing and walls, middleclass houses with un-plastered walls made of bricks and tiles roofs - they have a certain kind of open verandah covered with iron nets -, and large houses with padippura and tall haystacks in their front yards.

Our accommodation was provided at Hotel Mayura Bhuvaneshwari at Kamalapuram, near Hampi. During our journey, the bus passed through Hospet, and after sometime, we could see a vast lake on the right side of the bus, with the morning sunlight illuminating its surface. This was an artificial lake called Kamalapuram tank, dug by the Vijayanagara rulers five hundred years back, as the main source of water supply for Hampi. This tank used to feed water in various tanks inside the royal palaces, through underground canals covered with stone slabs. This amazing water supply system is almost well preserved even now, surpassing any track record of the Government of India.

Kamalapuram is a small village, and it looked like Mayura hotel was the only decent(!!) place available there for tourists to stay. This hotel is run by KSTDC and it is situated in a vast compound (since land would be pretty cheap there, probably). The hotel actually looked neat from outside. But when we opened our allotted room, we were taken aback by the stink there. I felt that the bed covers were unwashed for years, and the floor was dirty. The bathroom looked okay, fortunately, and we could get plenty of hot water from a tap outside. We brought hot water in buckets and finished our bath. There is a restaurant in the hotel and we had idli and uppittu there - That was the only thing available there.

At 10, we all got into the bus and we started towards Hampi.

Talarigatta Gate

Hampi was the capital of Vijayanagara empire for around two hundred years starting from the mid-fourteenth century. The empire saw its peek during the rule of Krishnadeva Raya, during which it extended almost to the entire South India, and Hampi gained the reputation of one of the greatest cities in the world during that time. Hampi was an ideal place for a capital, as the hilly terrains filled with thousands of huge boulders and the Tungabhadra river make the city almost impregnable. Krishnadeva Raya was a strong ruler and a great connoisseur of arts, and almost the entire city - spreading to 26 square kilometers - is filled with temples, statues and other artworks carved in stones. The city was destroyed by the Muslim rules in 1565 after the battle of Tallikota, in which Vijayanagara was defeated by the combined forces of four Muslim Sultanates. The city is now covered with ruins - any place we look at, we could see some ancient temple, mandapa or some carving on a stone.

Villagers relaxing in front of the sacred tank called Lokapavani, near the Talarigatta Gate

There used to be a fort covering the royal enclosure at Hampi, and the remains of the fort are still seen. Our bus passed through a gate called Talarigatta Gate, which is an opening in the fort. The gate is too narrow, and is just wide enough for the bus to pass through. The bus proceeded further and after five minutes, we reached the ancient Vitthala Temple. This temple used to have an idol of Krishna, but presently the idol is not there and the temple is not used for worshipping. The temple was built under Devaraya II, and improved by Krishnadeva Raya and his successors. In front of every temple at Hampi, there used to be a bazaar or market, and the remains of the 945-meter long bazaar is still seen in front of the Vitthala temple. The sacred tank called Lokapavani is situated at the end of the bazaar.

Vitthala Temple

The KSTDC brochure had told that we need not pay any money to the tourist guide who accompanied us, as he is employed by KSTDC. However, our guide's role was only that of a "ticker checker" cum travel coordinator and he had "outsourced" the guide's job to local people. He collected Rs.60 from each of us towards fee to the local guides. Our guide to Hampi was a middle-aged man who spoke mainly in Kannada and occasionally in broken English. In front of each monument, he would say, "Most Important - Go and enjoy"!

A view of Anjanadri from Vitthala temple.

Before entering Vitthala temple, our guide lead us to the back side of the temple and gave us some background regarding Hampi. From there, We could get a view of Tungabhadra flowing behind the temple, and several hills nearby. All these hills have legends associated with them, and the guide told us briefly about legends associated with Hampi. One legend says that the ancient kingdom of Kishkindha is close to Hampi, and Hampi is the place where Sugreeva fought with Bali. It seems Hanuman was born in a nearby hill called Anjanadri, named after Anjana Devi, Hanuman's mother. Hemakuta hill is associated with the legends of Shiva and Parvathi, and Malayavantha hill is the place where Rama stayed when Hanuman went to Lanka in search of Sita. Mathanga and Rishyamooka hills are also nearby and they are mentioned in the Ramayana. On top of Anjanadri, there is a temple and we could see it as a white spot on its peak. I wished to climb to it for having a view of the Hampi landscape, but I knew that it wont be possible in a packaged tour.

At some distance from Vitthala temple, we could see the ruins of a stone mandapa called Purandara Dasa mandapa. It seems this was the place where the poet sat and composed Carnatic classical music. We can also see ruins of a stone bridge near the mandapa that goes to the other side of Tungabhadra.

King's balance

Our guide lead us to a kind of archway called King's balance. This was the place where the Vijayanagara kings used to perform thulabhara, weighing themselves against gold and precious stones, which were later distributed to Brahmins. There are few ruined mandapams (they are seen almost everywhere) and a Jain temple near the King's balance. We spent just five minutes there and by then the guide had started making a fuss that "we don’t have discipline", etc., and he wanted us to hurry towards the Vitthala temple.

Carvings on the gopuram of Vitthala temple.
I think these were recently restored by the archeological department.

At the Vitthala temple also the story was not different. The guide wanted us to just follow him like children going behind their teacher during a school picnic, and just listen to him and see what he shows us. He even had a whistle which he blew every now and then when he noticed some of us going out of order. I was easily fed up with the guide, but we didn’t have any option but to follow him. I decided that at some point of time I should come to Hampi alone and see the places according to my wish.

The first thing that would attract a visitor in the Vitthala temple is the stone chariot. This is an intricately carved image of the wooden chariot used for temple processions, and there are only three such chariots in India, the other two being at Konark and Mahabalipuram. This chariot is not made in a single stone, but the amazing engineering work of the Vijayanagara architects makes us feel as if it is monolithic.

Left: Stone chariot in front of Vitthala temple. The broken front gopuram of the temple is also seen.
Right: A pillar in the sabha mandapa

Inside the temple complex, we can also see the kalyana mandapa, utsava mandapa and sabha mandapa. The sabha mandapa has several pillars carved out of single granite blocks, with several small pillars carved on it. They produce musical knots when tapped, hence the mandapa is also called swara mandapa. It seems great musicians used to sing together sitting inside this mandapa during ancient days, each facing a musical pillar, accompanied by classical dance performances, which the king used to view. There are several beautiful statues on the pillars; Unfortunately, many of them were mutilated by the Muslim invaders during 16th century.

We walked around the temple for a while and from the southern side of it, we could get a good view of distant hills and the river. The heat was intense (Bellary district, in which Hampi is located, consistently reports the highest temperature in Karnataka state, and I remember reading in the weather pages of newspapers that "Bellary is Hottest" etc. always). We were feeling thirsty already, and bought tender coconuts from a vendor nearby. Then, the guide gave us signal to get into the bus again, and we started towards Virupaksha temple. On the way back, near Talarigatta gate, the driver applied a sudden brake, and we all started looking out through the windows to find out why the bus stopped. Somebody told that a snake was lying on the road, getting stuck in the tar that melted under the sun, and it was struggling to escape it seems. Some people got down from the bus to watch the scene, but by then the snake had managed to get rid of the tar and had disappeared in the nearby scrubs.

Virupaksha Temple

Our bus took us back through the road in which we had come to Vitthala temple, and soon we reached a junction from where a road would lead us to Virupaksha temple. But, the road was blocked and police officers were standing there diverting the traffic. It seems some Government officials and ministers were coming to attend the Hampi Utsav, hence the road was closed for other vehicles. So, we had to take an alternate path. This took us in front of the Kamalapuram tank again, and a Muslim tomb and a mosque, which the secular kings of Vijayanagara had patronized, it seems. Within ten minutes, the bus reached Virupaksha temple. There was a big crowd there and several vehicles were parked there. We saw an arena set up for wrestling competitions to be held as part of the Hampi Utsav, and the guide told us that women would also participate in these competitions.

Virupaksha temple is the only temple at Hampi which is being worshipped even now. Pampapati or Virupaksha, the deity of the royal persons, is being worshipped here. It seems this is the most ancient temple in Hampi, and the first reference to the place describes it as a small shrine of the seventh century. A temple was constructed at the place and it was enhanced by various dynasties who ruled the place from that time. It later flourished under the patronage of Devaraya II and Krishnadeva Raya, who built a ranga mandapa (painted hall) in front of the sanctum sanctorum. The front tower of the temple is tall and looks magnificent.

There was a queue inside the temple, and it took some fifteen minutes for us to get the darshana. Behind the temple, there is a place where we could see an inverted shadow (?) of the front gopuram, it seems. I couldn’t exactly figure out what it was. There was a big rush there for getting a glimpse of this, and I decided to skip this view. In the temple complex, there was a person who was making some interesting music with a peculiar instrument and asking for donations from people. I liked this music. It looked like a war-cry that is heard in the Mahabharata television serial.

We came out of Virupaksha temple and then our guide asked us to take a narrow pathway that was going up towards the Hemakuta hill, to the right of the temple. On one side of the pathway we saw a small house where it looked like the entire family was working on cleaning up a large heap of green chillies. Amma said that it might be for making bajjis and selling during the evening. I felt water coming to my mouth as chilly bajji is one of my favorite snacks. After some time, the pathway ended and then we climbed through steps carved on the hill. Soon we reached a small gopuram through which we entered a slope in the hill. There are several small temples on this slope, belonging to the Vijayanagara and pre-Vijayanagara periods. Two of them looked special with their marked difference in architecture - They had a kind of stepped roof which resembled the temples of North India.

Few meters to the east of Hemakuta hill there is a Ganesha temple (it is not being worshipped now). Inside the sanctum sanctorum, there is a nearly 5-meter tall statue of Lord Ganesha, which is called Kadale Kalu Ganesha (gram seed Ganesha). It is called so, because this idol is the bigger than a counterpart, Sasive Kalu Ganesha (mustard seed Ganesha) which is nearby. I couldn’t take good photographs of the big Ganesha because of poor lighting conditions.

We climbed down from the Hemakuta hill and reached an open space near the vehicle parking space. Some free meal was being distributed there, and the hot rice and sambar looked very inviting to us, as it was meal time and we all were hungry. We waited there for ten minutes, but we couldn’t find our tourist guide! Then he suddenly appeared from somewhere, and gave us a discourse about the importance of following discipline and timelines during conducted trips. It seems we were supposed to go Sasive Kalu Ganesha from Hemakuta hill, and he was searching for us everywhere. Anyway, we walked to the smaller, 2.4 meter Ganesha statue that was installed in a stone mandapa, and then sat under a tree there for sometime.

More Temples

Next destination was Balakrishna temple, built by Krishnadeva Raya to celebrate his victory over the king of Kalinga. It seems he brought an image of Krishna from the Kalinga country after the war and installed it in the temple. The idol is not there in the temple now, though.

Left: Ruined gopuram of Balakrishna temple.
Right: Lakshmi Narasimha statue.

Out driver had brought the bus near the entrance of Balakrishna temple. We got into the bus and a five minute drive took us to a place where the famous Narasimha statue was situated. At this place, unlike at other monuments of Hampi, there is lot of vegetation and less of rocks. From the main road, we have to walk for a minute through an untarred pathway and then we will reach the Narasimha temple, installed by Krishnadeva Raya.

The 6.7 meter tall statue of Lakshmi Narasimha is located in a closed chamber. The massive statue is carved out of a single stone, and it is a fine example of the skills of Vijayanagara sculptors. Next to this temple, there is yet another enclosure called Badavilinga temple, where a 3-meter high Shiva Linga is installed. This idol is also carved out of a single rock, and the board in front of the temple mentions about the legend that this temple was installed by a poor woman.

Royal Enclosure

We got into the bus again, and proceeded towards the royal enclosure, inside the fort. We had got used to Hampi by then, and I felt it like a very common sight to see some ancient temple in any direction we look at. Near the royal enclosure we saw an underground temple. Our guide pointed us to it, but the bus didn’t stop there! At another place, there were two huge rocks leaning against each other - an amazing trick of Mother Nature. These rocks are called Akka Thangi Kallu (Sister Stones), our guide explained. Soon, we reached the Zanana enclosure, the residence of the queens.

This enclosure has tall walls on all four sides. Watch towers are installed at various places on the walls. It seems the King was the only male person who entered the Zanana enclosure, and the servants, attendants and people on the watchtower were all women. Inside the enclosure, there are several important buildings. The royal treasury is located at one corner. Next to it there are the basements of two palaces, for the two queens of Krishnadeva Raya. Only the basements of these palaces remain now, as they are made of granite. The palace was built mainly of wood (including sandalwood), and it was burnt during the Muslim invasion, it seems. The archeological department has maintained the Zanana enclosure well, and there is a nice lawn in front of the queen's palaces.

Lotus Mahal

Next to the palaces, there is a building called Lotus Mahal, which still remains intact. The king used to come and sit on top of this two-storied palace and enjoy the gentle breeze during summer. This building features a combination of Indian and Islamic architecture, with the pillars and arches constructed in Islamic style, and parts of the roofs in the style of Hindu temples. It was because of the Islamic look-and-feel that this building was left untouched by the Muslim invaders, it seems.

A closer view of the Lotus Mahal - Parts of the watch tower can also be seen.

The royal elephant stables and guards quarters are nearby. These buildings also show a combination of Indian and Islamic architecture. There were several plastic chairs arranged in the ground in front of the elephant stables, and electric bulbs were also installed. Our guide told that these were for the Hampi Utsav programs, which were to be conducted at several stages. He advised us to come to the elephant stables in the evening and watch the programs there.

It was 2:30PM then. Our bus took us back to the hotel for lunch. On the way, we saw the beautiful Hazara Rama temple, Queen's bath and a tall stage called Mahanavami Dibba on which the King used to sit and watch the Dasara festival. We also saw the remains of the royal palace. Just like the palaces of the queens, only the basements, made of granite, remain now. The palace building made of wood was destroyed during the invasion.

It would need at least a week to see all the monuments of Hampi, our guide told. Since our stay at Hampi was only for a day, we just had a glimpse of some of the important places, that’s all. We got down at the hotel and the guide told us that we can have our lunch and take rest till 4PM. At 4, they were to take us to Virupaksha temple again, and we were free to spend the rest of the day as we wished.

Pushkarani

Lunch at Mayura hotel was as pathetic as their rooms. My wife saw a waiter inserting his fingers inside his nose, and I discovered a fly in sambar, so both of us stopped the lunch halfway. We were back to our rooms at 3. We had around an hour with us, and I wanted to see the beautiful octagonal stepped pond called Pushkarani which has been shown in several Hindi and Tamil films.

I had earlier asked the tourist guide about Pushkarani and he had told that it is nearby. To get more details, we went towards the security guard in the hotel. Looking at the khaki trousers and shirt of this old man, somehow we got the impression that he might be knowing Hindi and English. So, we asked him where the "octagonal tank Pushkarani" was. He told us that the "tank" was on the first floor of the hotel and hot water would be available only in the mornings till 9AM. My wife got this idea that we could ask him about the pond where films are shot. The mention of the word "films" looked like giving some clue and he became enthusiastic. He told that there are theatres at Hospet. My wife was about to show him a photograph of the pond in the tourist guide and ask him where it was. I prevented her as I just wanted to escape from him; So I asked him where the "museum" was. "Oh! Mujiem!", the poor man came out with us and happily gave detailed directions to the museum (which, I had earlier learned, was at five minute walk from the hotel).

We decided to find the way ourselves, and started walking. I had a Hampi tourist map and looking at that I made a guess regarding an approximate route to the pond. We reached a junction where few police officers were standing. We asked one of us regarding the tank, and he gave us directions. On the way, we could see little children moving with heaps of grass on their head. It didn’t look like there were any schools nearby, so we guessed that the children at these places would be joining their parents' work very early in their childhood. We walked for few minutes and then saw a board showing ways to the queen's bath, Mahanavami Dibba and Pushkarani. It was in fact on the way in which we had traveled in the morning. We entered a large complex where there was a ruined temple called Chandrashekhara temple. However, we couldn’t locate the octagonal tank. An old woman was coming towards us, and we showed her the photograph of Pushkarani and asked, "elli?". She pointed her hand towards one direction and then wanted to know from where we were coming, etc. After giving her the answers, we walked further, and reached the Mahanavami Dibba - Still, no clues regarding Pushkarani.

We sat for few minutes inside the abandoned Chandrashekhara temple. There were no tourists coming to this temple, and it looked like nobody usually enters this temple. It was nearly 4, and we had to get back to the hotel. So, we sadly walked back. We were just on time at the hotel, but there was no one else in front of the bus. The driver came only at 5, and we regretted hundred times that we hurried to the hotel and missed Pushkarani.

Hampi Utsav

Hampi Utsav is the annual cultural festival organized by the Government of Karnataka. Artists from various parts of the state come to Hampi and present their programs during the festival. Our bus took us near the Virupaksha temple and the guide told us that we could go anywhere and report back at 9:30PM, when the bus would take us back to the hotel.

Going to Pushkarani was ruled out, as it had become dark. We decided to go to Virupaksha temple and watch some programs of the Hampi Utsav. Our co-passengers in the bus went in various directions, except for an old lady who joined us.

I wanted to climb to the Hemakuta hill and get a view of the sunset. But, by the time we reached its peak, sunset was already over. The view from there was brilliant, but it was becoming dark. We climbed down and walked to the Virupaksha temple. The old lady, who was walking with us, went inside the temple, but we decided to go for a walk in the Virupaksha bazaar, the marketplace in front of the temple. It was very much crowded with people who have come to watch the Utsav programs. Four hundred years back, the bazaar used to be the place where gold and rubies were sold. Now, they sell handicrafts and food items there. A series of eateries have been setup on one side of the road. They all looked like temporary arrangements, but their name boards mentioned that they are "recommended by Lonely Planet tourist guides". We had coffee from one place. In front of this restaurant, a lady was frying chilly bajjis. Amma and me were really tempted by its aroma; But I was a bit sceptical about the hygiene aspects. Then we saw people coming and buying hot bajjis directly taken from the pan and served on newspaper sheets. I couldn’t resist the temptation further, and bought four bajjis from the lady. It was delicious.

We wanted to sit in a relatively calm area, so we walked for some distance and reached near the statue of "Kadale Kalu Ganesha". There was a stage arranged there and some dance programs depicting the story of Shanthala was going on there. We climbed to a rock to get a better view of the program. A voice called us from behind. We saw an entire family - it looked like a poor one - was sitting in the darkness behind, and I think they had found that comfortable place quite early and made a temporary home around that. We moved away so that their view was not disrupted.

After some time, there was an interesting incident. A man wearing silk kurta and pajamas came straight to us and started talking to Amma in Kannada. Amma thought that probably he might be a distant relative who had migrated to Karnataka, and tried to recollect who exactly he was. By then, the man turned towards me and then started talking in English. It seems he was from All India Radio and had come to cover the Hampi Utsav program. "Tell me what you feel about this program in few words. It will be broadcast in entire Karnataka state!", he told. I told that I didn’t understand even a bit of the programs, and was not the right person to comment about Hampi Utsav. He walked to the next person.

A small rocky hill was nearby. We climbed to it and took rest for some time. It was only 8PM and we had plenty of time with us. We ate some snacks we had brought along with us and tried to fully grasp the essence of the "present moment" - A day before, we were in Bangalore, and now we are sitting on a rock under open, dark sky, at this remote village. Great many kings might have walked through the pathway in front of us, and many a war might have been fought there for this city.

Hampi Utsav - A drama program

After some time, we decided to go back to our bus. There was a long line of vehicles on the way. Near the bus stand, some exhibition was going on and we had a look inside. Most of the stalls were targeted towards farmers. We spent some time in front of a tractor, and the man in that stall thought that we were interested in buying that. He gave us few pamphlets which Achchan received with a serious face expression, and then we walked away. A stage was setup near the bus stand also, and some ballet program was going on there. We spent few minutes watching the ballet. There were plenty of mosquitoes, and it was becoming unbearable to sit there.

At 9, we got into our bus and slept there. I was half asleep when the driver came in and started the vehicle. We reached the hotel at 10. None of us were feeling like taking dinner from Mayura hotel. We asked for tea, but they told they had no tea there. We bought a bottle of mineral water and went to our room. Even though the beds were stinking, I slept easily and peacefully.

First Post

This is my first post in blogspot.

I have been on LJ (www.livejournal.com/users/ratheesh) since 2001, and am now wondering whether I should move to blogspot.