Trip to Karnataka (5) THE GRAND FINALE

After the most uncomfortable night (try sleeping with the fear of falling off your berth in a BUS, and getting your nose squashed against a window) we finally reached Bangalore! Unfortunately the hotel where our friend was going to stay at (and we were going to use the shower and have breakfast) was quite a distance from where we had gotten down. Still an ‘autowalla’ agreed to take us there.

The cold morning air, a bad road and too much time in getting there was having quite an effect on my bladder. I do think I might have seemed a tad odd to the receptionist, who saw a girl run into reception, ask for the bathroom, and run off in search of it.

After leaving our luggage in the room, we went to have some breakfast. On the way we saw the pool. Big, with three water slides, a pool bar and water polo nets. It was decided that a swim was in order before we left for the city.

What a breakfast it was! Doughnuts (yes you read that right!), pancakes, fresh cut fruit, cereal…right I better stop. After breakfast, we played a little ‘table’ tennis. Thing is, it wasn’t just table tennis. I managed to bounce the ball off the floor, the wall, the ceiling and even the window frame before finally hitting it out of the window. A little game of one on one basketball followed. The court was absolutely gorgeous.

After a brief shopping trip to a nearby mall, Mom I and started off for the airport. We reached at one for a four PM flight. Three hours at the airport, especially a cool one like Bangalore, no biggie right? One hour passed, then another, then another half. Mom got up and asked a guy already troubled many times by us what was going on. He said the flight had been delayed till seven. And there was no other flight before that. Security check done, we visited all the shops, had some food and sat down and relaxed. I called up my best friend and described the airport to her. And then I saw Deepika Padakoune (yes I just wrote Deepika Padakoune). We finally left at seven and reached home at ten thirty. I had spent a total of seven hours at the airport. And thus ended the most fantastic trip one could ever have!

Trip to Karnataka (4)

We set off for Hampi, after a good night’s sleep. We persuaded the manager to let us keep our room an hour extra after the check out time without extra cost. Reluctant at first, he later agreed as it was a SBI account. It was another hot morning. We told the driver to take us to a nice restaurant for breakfast. He took us to a guesthouse where absolutely no one was bothered to even tell us what was available. Mom took out guide pages, printed out by a friend and told the driver to take us to a place called ‘Mango Tree’.

And what a place it turned out to be! Volcanic rock formations in the background, with a river running right in front of us! No chairs. We sat down on a cool floor, in the open air, under the cool shade of a mango tree. Steaming hot, soft scrambled eggs for breakfast for me!

We set off for the famous temples of Hampi. We thought it would be interesting to explore the rocky terrain filled with ruins before going into the actual temple. It felt like we were climbing for an eternity. Between the three of us we easily consumed around five to six litres of water.

We finally made it around all temples and went inside the main one just before it closed for lunch. Coming out a djembe caught my eye. After bargaining for about twenty minutes the price was bought down to five hundred rupees. A little bit of shopping for some bags, and we went into a ‘dhaba’ like place for lunch. Rice, ‘sambar’ (which I must say was nothing like the ‘sambar’ I’m used to! There were hardly any vegetables and it was very watery. No complaints though!) and a pickle cooked over wood fire satisfied the huge appetite we had built up.

 We ran into some students from  South America, Chile if I remember right. They could not enter the Elephant Stables, as the fee for foreigners was a two hundred and fifty rupees.Daylight robbery at it’s best. After visiting the famed Queen’s bath, and more temples, we returned to Hospet. After a long swim, we had our dinner in the only restaurant that was open, with crackers bursting at the door. We waited in the reception of our hotel for two hours, and another one and a half hour at the travel agency where the bus we were taking to Bangalore was supposed to arrive at.

Trip to Karnataka (3)

The third day. We started off after breakfast for Hospet, where we planned to stay that night. The roads were grimy and dusty. Barren land for as long as the eye could see. A traffic jam at a ‘dam’ slowed us down. The reason dam was in quotes in the previous sentence is because I couldn’t really see any water in it! It was quite funny how in Hubli flights had been cancelled because of fog and rains when just 2 hours away from it there was a drought.

Lunch at a massive bus depot, with lockless bathrooms of course! A box of chocolate cookies tempted me. Temptation won. I got back into the car 60 rupees poorer.

After lunch, we heckled with a pair of women selling oranges. ‘2 for 50 rupees is quite a deal’ they promised us. Seeing our raised eyebrows, they hastily turned away to serve another customer.

We made our way to The State Bank of India headquarters in Hospet. Thanks to Mom’s contacts, we had a guide to take us to the preferred SBI hotel. It was quite comical as we met the lady. As I got down to give her the front seat, she opened the back door and pushed herself in. Attempts at smothering giggles were made.

To our delight, we found that even this hotel had a pool. Designed to look like the Queen’s Bath in Hampi, this pool was the best one I have seen to date. We frolicked around in the water, racing each other, scaring away a few guys who were learning to swim. Going to a restaurant for dinner was dangerous business. As it was just a day from Diwali, the people had already started celebrating, and the narrow streets were full of crackers. A yummy dinner complimented with Cola, made up for the walk.

Trip to Karnataka (2)

The next morning the real journey started. Rachel, Mom and I loaded ourselves into an Indica keen to explore Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal. (It took me a better part of the day to learn how to pronounce and spell these places.) Beautiful temples, badly maintained awaited us. The historians in all of us kicked in as we started discussing the architecture, acoustics, job opportunities created by the construction of the temples during those days and the life of the people in the different societies.
A climb up a trail into small hills gave us a splendid view of Badami’s lake, cliff and cave temples.

For lunch we had to literally hunt to find local food! ‘Hotel Venus’ had Chinese, north Indian, and if I remember right even Thai but nothing that the locals would have for an everyday lunch. Next was a joint where there was only chicken and beer (did I mention Mom and I are veggies?). We finally found a restaurant where there was a proper Badami meal.  I must mention the bathroom. Lock less and with a huge open window on the side, it inspired all 3 of us to make up a wonderful song, fondly nicknamed ‘The Bathroom Song’. It was supposed to keep people from opening the door and coming in, but friends now say that people must have been more curious and the chances of someone not walking in would have been better if we had not been singing!

Trip to Karnatak (1)

My journey of bathrooms which did not lock (aptly nicknamed) started on the 1st of November.  A 6 am flight had my father wanting to reach the airport at least by 3.30. I managed to delay this by at least half an hour. Having slept late the previous night due to numerous replays of the prodigious day I had had, it resulted in me waking up around ten minutes before our taxi was due. As it happens very commonly, our flight was delayed by one hour. Yet we reached Bangalore in good time and started our long journey now by car to Dharwad. For lunch we stopped at a local joint and my second lockless bathroom of my 14th year of life. Along with that there was also a huge window right behind me which faced another restaurant. Did I mention that the window had no glass? By 5 I was thoroughly bored. I had done everything one could on a car journey. Taken snaps, read, texted, called up friends, even some writing. My dad was fast asleep in the front seat, when a spectacular show of a sunset started. ‘Borrowing’ dad’s camera, I managed to get some great pictures! By 7.30 it was as dark as coal outside, and we had no clue where we were. Calling my mom didn’t help; it just confused us further. But finally we made it to the hotel in the middle of nowhere.  

the sunset :)

 The following day was quite lazy. I just read, wrote, watched some television and had a little swim. And when I say little I mean little! The water was freezing!! In the evening 8 of us went to a nearby hotel for their supremely appreciated ‘benne dosas’. Unfortunately for us it was closed, so we had to go to another one. It was an entertaining evening for me because along with the ‘dosas’ came true stories of a mother who had travelled from Poland to England during the Second World War. 

The Basketball Court

There was something eerily fascinating about seeing a drenched, partially illuminated basketball court at five thirty in the morning. I walked downhill towards it. There were a few girls with me who were talking amongst themselves, but their voices were a distant murmur. What I could hear clearly were the leaves rustling and the soft sound of the falling rain. The comforting smell of wet mud floated to me.

I could not resist. I sat down right there, on the road. Time passed. I had no idea how long I had been there. The sky slowly  turned from an inky dark blue to a warm, light pink. A beautiful ball of pale yellow appeared at the horizon.

It made me wonder why people were always in such a hurry. If only they stopped to admire nature…

Worlds!

She cant see him. But she knows the feel of his rough jaw, soft after a shave. She knows the texture of his hair. Soft, wild, unpredictable. Just like the man sitting next to her. Her friends tell her he has amazing brown eyes. She chooses to trust them. She knows his laugh. But most importantly she knows his voice.

That deep voice. Most people her age like rock/punk, but if he starts a romantic ballad, then even the guys can’t resist smiling. That voice guides her through life.
It tells her what she can’t see.

Their worlds are different, as they sit on a bench. He can see the birds, the grass, squirrels and swings.
She hears the chirping of the birds and the squeaking of the squirrels, and the swings creaking restlessly in the breeze. She can smell the damp grass.

She smiles as she remembers that night, an year to the day.
They had been sitting on the same bench, when he had asked her out. “I can’t see. I’m blind!” she had blurted out. “I don’t care…”he had gently whispered.
After that the bench had become a symbol of a mix of two very different worlds.