Hampi

The Tungabadhra dam near Hospet was our next stop. Colli wanted me to make a special mention of the dam in the blog.

The dam is breathtaking. It must be close to 2 kms wide and is the biggest dam in Karnataka. It is one of those places that people don't take notice of until someone like us makes it popular. The campus is very clean and well maintained unlike some of the other dams I have been to. It also houses an amazing park, where light shows are held once in the morning and once in the night everyday. Artificial water bodies, mini bridges across them, flower beds, green lawns, exotic trees, deers in enclosures and a few other animals whose names I can not remember; these ancillary attractions were in themselves good enough for a picnic spot.

Note: You can buy gooseberries at the dam

I have always said that anyone who can survive driving around the Meenakshi Amman Temple at Madurai must be considered to forgo driving license tests. The ride itself is good enough to qualify him/her for an expert driver. The same goes with Hospet. Or, I must say that this is one level higher than that. Cars, bikes, bicycles, men, women, children - they come in all directions at you. There is nothing like driving on the left. You drive where there is space. To reach Hampi, one has to drive through Hospet. And so we had no choice but to drive through it.

One of the perils of meandering where the car takes you is that you are not fully aware of the places you are going to visit. Though you are exuberant at seeing things you have not imagined to see, you are grossly under prepared for the place. At Hampi we were totally lost for time. We had an evening and another morning for Hampi but the place deserved atleast 3 days.

Miles and miles of ruins - that is Hampi. Temples, towers, pathways, ponds, public baths, private baths; its stones everywhere. The entire range of adjoining mountains must have been dug out to build the city and it is a pity to see it all knocked off because of the savage will of a conqueror. Jealousy could be one reason for the rampage - who would imagine such intricacy in artwork and complexity of structural design at such a time. The city is vast and you would only be doing yourself a disservice to try wrap your trip in a day. We did that, but we will definitely look to revisit it again.

Do's

Stay in Hospet and travel to Hampi everyday
Try not to eat at Hampi. If you want to know why, try a meal there
Have loads of space in your memory card
There is a hillock quite close to the ruins. Do an early morning trek. One can have a bird's eye view of the entire city from there.