Hampi travels-day 2

6th-

At around 1130-1200-we reach Hospet and haggle our way(me speaking in my accented Kannada, only to be replied back to in a very Jamaican accented English) with the autorickshawalaas to reduce the price of our travel to Hampi, and we finally , after calling up Rahul etc reach an agreeable price of Rs. 100/-.I am super excited –after more than 4 years of yearning to reach Hampi, I am just 11 kms away from there. And my eyes wait patiently, awaiting THE place I’ve been waiting to visit for more than 4 years now. And the place doesn’t disappoint me- I see stone structures in the far horizon..and I smile- I am home! These are isolated stone structures all over the place, just boulders strewn and piled one over the other to create something that is so artistic and beautiful…atleast to my stone-parched eyes. I’ve been yearning to come to this place to climb. Of course, my climbing will have to wait for yet another trip(s).

We round a place and are stopped for toll and there are some boys selling postcards and About Hampi books. I hand over the money to one of the boys and he shakes his head and says “I am Muttu. Hope you had a good journey” We are all very happy to meet him. He sure is one smart chap with slapstick, and yet diplomatic comments for everything and he’s only all of 18 years old!!! We meet the rest of the gang at the Hampi gate and walk through Hampi bazaar amongst stores and stores selling colourful clothes-kurtas and t-shirts and elephant pants ,bags ,jholas and silver jewellery as well!!! My excitement meter is ticking higher and higher!!! And we reach Akshat guest house to be greeted by the B’day girl, Ruhie, looking completely like she’s on a holiday!! We wish her and hear about her b’day cake and surprise etc The boys pick up their stuff and leave for their rooms. We freshen up. I wonder what to wear..all my clothes seem so HOT to wear in the heat, I settle for t he tracks and a t-shirt.(ALL my clothes except the t-shirts came back to Mumbai untouched).

We leave to shop and just see the place. We go to one of the shops and end up buying almost 20 pieces of clothes.!!!!!!People are so friendly , the streets are so very clean and the air is so unpolluted…I see a couple of foreigners walking around with crashpads..my eyes open up wide and the yearning swells up again..i search for Sk..he points out to another couple with bags-to show me my other fetish-backpacks!!:p

After our bout of shopping and mental notes of other things to buy provided we have the money, we finally head out to lunch. We go to a place at Hampi bazaar who doesn’t deliver momos even after an hour, so we leave the place and head to Chill Out. It is a really serene place ,with padded seating…and books by the counter. Akash picks up a book and and picks out an “interesting” story of a “One night stand” and starts reading out aloud and then slowly stops-I guess the content is not descriptive enough :p. Everyone is just lying , resting, ordering their favorite dishes. Our eyes go round when we see Vodka Pasta. Akash immediately changes his order and orders that. The food takes forever to come. It’s pretty decent. We then leave…we have an interview to do with Muttu. We go to the guest house-The DOP aka Meghna decide that the light isn’t good enough for the interview. We see another place with a terrace and a panoramic view of the Tungabhandra river and its banks beyond, the Virupaksha standing tall in the background..but well, its evening and the light is still fading…I go to search for some gift wrapping …I come back to find NOBODY…….and nobody around knows where they all have gone..i try calling these guys up- they don’t pick up. I proceed, therefore, to roam hither and thither about the lanes in the hope of locating them, wishing that I had a couple of bloodhounds to aid me in my task!!God damn silent mode!!I DON’t know the name of their guest house, nor mine..so much for being excited!!! Luckily after wandering around for sometime, I get network on my phone and get to where they are, at Netra guest house to find the interview set-up being done. Iit’s a nice yellow-chromish background…DHAM….one of the lights perched on its stand falls…well it’s a good omen someone shouts…everyone feels light again…..and then after a few more minutes of trying to get the perfect light and finally when the stage is set to shoot(Meghna is still cribbing about the output)……the electricity goes….and there goes the interview for that day. We schedule it for Sunday morning- Meghna is happy – that’s what she wanted- to shoot in natural light….we wrap up and leave for dinner. In the interim, we sit and discuss with Muttu the tentative schedule for the day of the shoot- so that we can schedule our schedules around it…..Go to New Shanti- which will continue to be our haunt for the next 2 days….After going through last minute details and all that, we mustv’e gone to bed at around midnight-apprehensive whether we would wake up at the appointed time the next day. I was afraid we’d wake up at all…(the next few days we’d be upping with the lark EVERYDAY)…