If dreams were made out of stone

If dreams were made out of stone, it would be Hampi. There could not be a more apt description for a place so beautiful. A complete world in itself, Hampi is worth a visit.

Ok, so I’ve been prompted by my Dad’s e-mails to really put down this travelogue. His regular e-mails describing various trips inter-twined with his philosophical sways have been a source of inspiration for me. Nevertheless, given my limited capabilities to provide lucid travel accounts, I am going to count on pictures to help me.

Who – TCS Gang
Where – Hampi via Chitradurg
When – Diwali weekend

What one must carry - Loads of time, stamina and spare memory cards and batteries for your camera

Day 1: Chitradurg to Hampi and sightseeing

Early morning @ Chitradurg

Chitradurg to Hampi :-) No. We were not in this bus :-)
Reminded me of a clip from Veer Zaara...



First halt in Hampi – Pattabhirama Temple, Photographers delight !



Sun and shade ...



Quiet proud of myself for having clicked this one :-)



They welcome us to their world... quiet literally!




One of the many magnificient pillars







Clicked this one when we are roaming around aimlessly ...

Queen's Bath - One of the more famous sites. Unfortunately it is in a pretty sad state. Thanks to all the graffiti!

Posing around :-)

After having posed, she asked me to show the preview of the snap ...Yeah ! Way to Go :-)

Entrance of Underground SHiva temple

Ok. Group posing this time !

Elephants' stables

Captured this stunning piece @ Royal Enclosure

Few more of the Royal Enclosure

Day 2: We decided to view the sunrise from Mathanga hills. Mathanga hills are supposed to be the one where SUgreev took refuge.

Ya got up at 4 A.M and trekked up the rocky hill. All we were equipped with was one single torch amongst 5 people. In the dark we could hardly see what we were treading. A little below the topmost point we were accousted by a group of monkeys. But little did we realise we were invading their territorry.

The top of the hill was a small temple. Again it had only the pedestals and missing idols - as is the case with many temples in Hampi.

Clicked this one through one of the columns -

Changing colours in the sky -
As the sun spread orange across the palette

Shiv found some company as we waited for the sunrise. Later we realised the hill had loads of such oversized centipides

Few more as we wait for the sun ...

Finally ...

Yea...that is the height we were sitting at. Got to see some interesting structures from the top-

And then we were attacked by a group of monkeys, whose territory we had encroached ...

Rubaroo roshni ....

Time to give back :-)

The black faced monkey .... remember those from Ramayan ? Btw, check out his eyes-

After a sumptuous breakfast we walked around the vibrant and colorful Hampi bazaar -

Virupaksha temple @ the end of the bazaar -

Some more experiment with the sun and light

One of my favourites. Clicked @ Ganesha temple of course :-)

Some more ruins ...

Ok, this one is just for the gags :-) Check out our poses ;-)

This is what we were really trying to do - Rock on pose :P

Quiet a sight ...

One of the few Gopurams we saw that were not destroyed by the Moughals. Most others we saw had beheaded figures.

The famous Stone chariot @ Vithalla temple. The chariot originally had horses [made in stone ofcourse :-)], which were destroyed and have now been replaced by elephants [not visible in the picture]

Swayam Shri Ram aur bhakt Hanuman :-)

These school going kids earn some money for themselves on Saturday's and Sundays

Temple opposite to Sugreev's cave. You would be surprised to know that Sugreev's cave was the only place we saw which actually had a pujari.

@ the entrance of the watch tower -

Top of watch tower -

A little before sunset. Clicked @ Hazarram temple

The external walls of Hazarram temple, all depict various scenes from Ramayan.

Outside Diwan-e-Aam

Love is in the air :-) Models - Sheetal and Sachin;

Candid picture

Hahahaha. No comments :-)

The sacred bath -

Atop a platform where the king sat and watched various celebrations :-)

Day 3: Return to Bangalore

Visit to Tungabhadra dam on our way back -

Sunset @ Chitradurg-

Ok. This post is No where close to my Dad's e-mails . This can only be a photoblog. No more.