World India Karnataka Hampi

____________Wanderlust____________ Hampi, India

Arrive in Hampi Dec 20, 2011

The day is drawing to a close and a cool pleasant breeze is providing a soothing feeling after an otherwise warm day. I’m sitting inside the Virupaksha temple, soaking in the atmosphere. In the verandah is an elephant with a bunch of kids huddled around. They are thrilled to feed it bananas. And as a reminder of everything mercenary today, giving the elephant a coin would get you a tap of the head with its trunk, a blessing. The foreigners are captivated by this. This is the Indian equivalent of dolphins doing tricks at Sea World. This is a desi angle with a religious twist. It’s been a very pleasant day so far. For the first time I’ve set out on a multi-day trip alone. I’m just loving the flexibility. The ruins of Hampi are mesmerizing. I try to picture the Vijayanagara empire was in its heyday, and cannot imagine what went through the minds of the invaders who pillaged this beautiful place. I reached Hospet in the morning and took an auto to Hampi. The auto driver dropped me off at a backpacker accommodation. I freshened up, grabbed some breakfast and wandering through the Hampi bazaar set off into the ruins. As I rested amidst the ruins, a Korean guy in his 20s asked me if I knew anything about this place. He tagged along and we explored the area together. The craggy hills strewn with boulders provided a beautiful backdrop to the once glorious palaces and temples. We hopped up the boulders, talking dryly about our very different lives. When you talk to a stranger, your inhibitions drop – you don’t care what they think about you and if they judge you. This sort of a weird kinship prompted him to open up to me. The kid talked about his goals, ambitions, love life, questions that intrigued him etc. Since I turned 30 yesterday, I feel like I’ve earned a right to call people in their 20s as kids. We talked about the universal philosophies that bind humans together. The highs and lows are very similar for most people, many of whom look very different on the surface. We acknowledged that life goes on no matter what. Our brief friendship lasted till lunch, after which we went our separate ways. The curd that I had for lunch was disastrous to say the least, and I would not eat at that restaurant for the rest of my stay. I took a nice siesta, relaxing in the balcony with faint rays of the sun warming my feet. Feeling refreshed, I had cup of tea at a roadside shack and wandered around the village. Life is such a mess that is should never be taken too seriously. Uncertainty brings in unease which breeds pessimistic thoughts, causing one to look at everything in a negative light. While reality is almost always better. People seem to focus so much on the worst case scenario that they very often lose out on what could have been. In uncertain situations, my professional training tells me to look at the expected value, and not the worst case scenario. Maybe this is not applicable to all scenarios, but many of life’s tough choices could be made in such a framework. I try to snap out of this cyclic thinking which seems to be taking me to the depths of pessimism. I land up in this place called Rama’s Rooftop Restaurant, and I overhear the owner of the place talking very cheerfully on the phone in Telugu, and that just lifts me up. Just like that, an innocuous incident helps me snap out of the thought loop. I urge myself to relax, chill, and not take anything in life too seriously – easier said than done.

Advertisement