To Wonder & Wander

I had never been to the south of Maharashtra in my entire life. Travel had always taken me north – until last month.

Hampi is a small village in Karnataka, better known in the mainstream for its ancient temple and ruins than its significance as a hub for climbers the world over. Along with Badami, it has a landscape that climbers would call a paradise. Hampi especially, is known for bouldering. To climb there, you don’t require any gear other than your climbing shoes, chalk bag and a crash pad. It is also a hippy town and to quote another traveler friend, Hampi is the where the Goan after-party takes place. This was the place I was headed to in December of 2012.

I was to unite with my climbing group directly in Hampi, after a brief stop over at Hyderabad. An overnight bus journey would take me from Hyderabad to Hospet where I would board a local bus that would drop me at Hampi, right across the famous Virupaksha temple.

After a wonderful stay with my friends in Hyderabad, I boarded the bus for Hospet at 9 p.m. My iPod playlist entertained me though the nine hour overnight journey. Around dawn, I tried asking the driver and the conductor about the drop-off location and the approximate time to get there. I discovered in that moment that they both only spoke Telgu, and not a word of either Hindi or English. Unable to comprehend their responses in Telgu, I repeated my questions in Hindi but failed to get a response. Fortunately, a fellow passenger who spoke Telugu took mercy on me and guided me until the I was dropped off at Hospet bus stand, where I could catch a bus for Hampi.

After a not-so-great night, the countryside around Hospet and Hampi, with its farms and coconut tress, felt wonderful. After about 30 minutes, I arrived at Hampi. Boulder-filled views welcomed us into this town.

However, my backpacking was yet to be over. Hampi is divided into two sides by the Tungabhadra river. The famous Virupaksha temple is on one side  of the river while the climbing area, where all the hippies stay, is on the other side.

I paid Rs. 50 to go from the bus stand to the ferry point in an autorickshaw (fixed rate) and another 15 Rs. to go across the river and finally met up with my group on the other side.

Hampi on this side of the river is filled with paddy fields, has hills strewn with numerous, huge boulders, with multiple hut-like resorts and loads of foreign travelers. It’s a relaxed place with narrow paths that don’t have tarmac on them. If you are looking for a quiet getaway from the madness of the cities and crowded hill stations, this is the place to go.  You can rent a bicycle or the vintage Luna (that 50 cc two wheeler that used to be a common sight on the Indian roads around 15 years ago) to explore around Hampi. Along with the quaint countryside, there’s also a lake nearby and a hill-top temple.

Our accommodation was at Gauthami Guest House. At Rs.200 per day for a twin sharing room, with a restaurant for lunch, dinner and breakfast, it offered everything we needed. We were happy!

It was mid day when we picked up rented crash pads from a shop and went to the bouldering area to warm up for the day. The area is called the ‘Hidden Cave’ and has boulders with climbing grades suitable beginners.

The rock here was all sharp granite. We mostly had crimps for holds. But the texture of the rock felt really good. We started with the simplest boulder problem and went on to attempt 3 more boulders before the sun started hitting us really bad. I learnt a lesson in hydration that day. I was plagued by cramps in my calves after topping out the first route and wasted almost an hour dealing with them. It affected my climbing as I tried my luck at the other boulders.

The session was fun but also a little sobering. We were realizing how different natural climbing was than our usual artificial wall climbing in Delhi. It was definitely more fun, but also more challenging. Hands were getting cuts and scrapes due to the high friction with the rock surface and sometimes, the height of the boulder would intimidate us. That session gave us a good idea of what Hampi had in store for us. With some satisfaction, some excitement and some apprehension about the days ahead, we returned to the base at about 3 O’ clock. It was time for some rest!

That evening, we rented bicycles and rode to Hanuman temple, which was situated on a hillock, about 2-3 km away from the main part of the town. I was riding after a really long time and being on the saddle was fun. Some exercise it was, for my bums! Emily was in a racing mode, forcing the rest of us into a good workout. This bicycle ride was certainly one of the highlights of the trip.

The sun had already set by the time we climbed the last stairs at the top of the hill. In darkness, we sat at the top, first meditating and later chatting away in the serene surrounding. Raman got some creative open-shutter photographs that evening and we returned to the hotel with a tired but satisfied body and mind.

 

Day 2 started at 6 a.m. when we woke up with sour bodies. Nevertheless, we had started bouldering by 8 a.m. after a proper warm-up. Bouldering site for the day was Rishimukh – a huge expanse of a plateau that is strewn with boulders. A boulder ridden hill stands at one side of the site while dome of the Virupaksha temple is constantly visible on the other. We were accompanied by dogs (Goan cottage owner’s) and it was a delight to have the cute canines hang out with us for at least part of the day. We climbed 4 more boulder problems that day. Raman and Pravin tackled all of them successfully, while Emily, Suditi and I struggled on some of them. Day 2 went better than the previous day, now that we had gotten a good feel for the rock and were mentally ready. The crimps, the friction holds, the undercuts, the side holds – they were holding us well on the rocks. There were many other climbers around us, all trying to solve different boulder problems and constantly encouraging each other with “Allez”.  I had a good time climbing and clicking. The terrain was amazing, such as I have not quite seen in the Himalayas. The weather was pleasant and the sun did not feel harsh. We finished the session at noon and returned to the town (which was just 10 minutes walking distance away) for a filling lunch.

We had big plans for the evening. Renting bicycles, we rode to a lake about 4 km from Hampi. I was also able to convince Prakash to let me  ride his 500cc Royal Enfield for a short bit. Prakash, an IT guy who worked in Business Intelligence domain for 5 years, had recently quit his job in order to roam around India on his bike. He was travelling alone, sometimes even sleeping on his bike instead of renting a room. He had many stories to share and we were  happy to have his company for the lake ride.

The lake is actually a reservoir of a dam. Upon getting there, we didn’t waste any time and in 10 minutes, found ourselves in the water! We swam up to a rock, about 60 meters away from the shore, and kept diving and playing around until our hearts felt full. This was the best part of the trip for me. I loved being in water with my friends. We were exhausted by the time we returned to the guest house, but what a day it had been!

Day 3 was going to be my last in Hampi.  I was due to leave for Hospet/Hyderabad that evening. As a result, we had to wrap up our climbing session a little earlier. We bouldered at Rishimukh again. But my palms were in a bad shape by this time. It was painful to climb with torn skin, so I decided to focus on photographing Rishimukh, instead of climbing.

I went up the hill and was aiming for a huge boulder at the top of the hill. But half way up the hike, I realized there was no real trail to the top among the thorny planes and and bushes. Every path I took ended up being blocked by plants or unclimbable rocks. I traversed across the hill in search of a feasible route but to no avail. In the process, I got bitten by a honey bee, had my limbs cut even further by the thorns, and sustained a few slips on the loose soil. After a while, I had to give up. I found a another boulder where I was and thought it was a good enough vantage point for clicking pictures. From this point, I could see the vast expanse of the boulder-strewn plateau, with Hampi town below in the vale in some distance. The sun felt good on the face and I could see groups of climbers gathered around different rocks across the plateau. It felt like a holy congregation of sorts.

My trip was about to end. Three days of bouldering, cycling, swimming, clicking and having a great time with my friends was soon going to be over. After climbing during the day, we had spent most of our evenings playing cards, watching movies, and having fun conversations. It had been a lot of fun!

My experience at Hyderabad and Hampi had been pleasant, although I did experience the language barrier first hand. It had felt kind of difficult to roam around alone since I couldn’t speak the local language. I had to depend on fellow passengers’ generosity to help me out. Text on the bus boards was also not written in the Devnagri script, making things even more difficult for me.

I parted with my group after taking the last ferry at 5.30 pm. I then went to Hospet from where I was to board a Hyderabad-bound bus around 9.30 p.m. I had about 3 hours to kill in this little village in Karnataka, where people mostly only spoke Kannada. Again, I felt like an odd woman out at the bus stand, with my large rucksack and general attire. I also felt a bit insecure with the night’s darkness. I tried to move around and finally found a big hotel where I would feel safer and more comfortable. The next challenge was to kill another hour and half pretending to read while sipping on an expensive cup of coffee in the restaurant of the hotel. I did that successfully and finally settled into the bus journey for Hyderabad.