..Back in time to the ancient temple town- Hampi

A beautiful pot pourri of history, culture, food and people, Hampi is indeed a backpacker’s paradise. 

Period.

Last year around this time I visited Hampi with the Blueberry trails. From Mumbai, a 15 hour bus ride to Hospet, followed by a quick auto rickshaw ride, you reach this ever-so-laid-back destination.

For me it was love at first sight. <3

The lazy river, the women on the ghats, the colourful boats bobbling up and down, big boulders and rocks scattered carelessly, I could feel a lazy smile steadily creep over my face.

Hampi is divided by the Tungabadhra river, and to reach the other side, Virupapur Gadde, you need to take a boat. We stayed at Shanti cafe, which was one of my highlight of the trip! Really, how many times have you woken up on a swing, with swaying green paddy field across and a flowing river beyond? Me, never! If chilling is your agenda, this place it is. Just walk down to the open cafe, order a continental breakfast and plonk your bottom on the gadda for as long as you want! *sigh

But chilling apart, I had to see Hampi. So all geared up, we pass through the Hampi bazaar to see the symbol of Karnataka tourism that resides in the Vitthala temple. The most important temple in Hampi, it encloses the iconic stone chariot right in the middle surrounded by other stone shrines. Ancient stone temples are a ubiquitous part of Hampi, so talking about each of them is impossible. But apart from temples, one thing you cannot miss here is a Coracle boat ride back to the main bazaar. Swishing around in the cool water, with beautiful rock structures (man-made and natural passing you by), the ride is unbelievably calming. 

Around the Hampi bazaar you can hire mopeds and then ride around wherever you want. And believe me, this is the fun part! After some more temple visits (Lotus Mahal, Elephant’ stable, underground Shiva temple, Queen’s bath etc.) and we reached the gigantic Monolithic Nandi. But more gigantic than that was the number of stairs that led to our next temple complex. It was a long trek uphill but once you reach the top comes into view the complete temple complex hidden amidst the banana and coconut plantations. *phew ...I felt like an explorer, straight out of a tomb raider movie, except I was still catching my breath! This walk and the heat literally took my breath away. (*Caution- Carry water all the time)

Perfect set for a Tomb Raider movie

On the other side of the Tungabadhra is Anegundi, the original capital that was said to be the erstwhile Kishkinda, the monkey kingdom from the epic Ramayana. Nearby is Anjanadri hill, the birthplace of the Monkey god, Hanuman. 

Anegundi, unlike Hampi, is less commercialised and hardly untouched. Huge boulder and open paddy fields comprise the landscape and provide a perfect opportunity for bouldering or climbing boulders without any equipment (*Caution- you need to be seriously flexible, fearless and crazy to do this!).

Well after my fellow travellers did some climbing, we sped off towards the water canal to cool off.

And Whoaaa....what a sight that was!

Blue water, blue sky with huge grey boulders...the perfect composition to the end of a perfect sojourn....

*SPLASH!!!

A day in the 'City of Joy'- Calcutta

Nobody gets up early in Calcutta(Kolkata). So I start my day by around 10 AM when the city is just about stirring and kick starting. My agenda for the day- Shopping & Eating!(it isn't called the 'City of Joy' for nothing!

•  To start with hop into one of the yellow taxis..
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•  Ask him to take you to New Market aka Hogg Market via Victoria memorial
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• Reach New Market- a shopper’s paradise
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• Get into New 'New' market side and shop for shoes till you drop. Bargain well and you can get shoes for as cheap as 400 bucks, really nice classy looking ones too! *Trust me*
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• Take a break and head towards Nahoum’s bakery, the 111 years old Jewish bakery in Calcutta

• Order some cakes and chicken puffs while pushing the crowd away with your elbows
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• Roam around the tiny lanes until you find Chamba Lamba- a Tibetan trinkets store established in 1958.
  
  
  

• Owned by Tshering Yangki, here you can shop for silver and semi precious stone jewellery
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• Then make your mom pay for it...
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• Once she has paid, distract her with Calcutta’s famous kathi roll(two Double chicken Double egg roll in my mom’s case) 
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• Sit tight and eat while you watch the art of making this gluttonous piece of beauty....
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• From here take a tram and walk down twards Prinsep ghat
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• Here you can watch the train go by, sails past by and vehicles zoom by as you stand and just chill until dusk disappears into the night 
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• Take a taxi again to Park street, again via Victoria memorial(because this monument is just so beautiful) 
  

• Go to Bar-B-Q, Park Street and dine on some fantabulous Chinese dinner. And be very happy about it, because it is worth it!(be prepared for a long wait to get your seat)
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•  Before heading home, stop for a quick roadside matki masala chai 
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•  Head back home, again via Victoria memorial, because...... you know why! 
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Jimmy Choo shoe VERSUS Quechua Hiking Boots

I admit, I love the smell of new shoes and I am a perpetual shoe-o-holic!

My current shoe count is about 30(no apologies) and I have shoes for all occasion. Stilettos for parties, boots(flat, platform, heeled) for the winters, jhootis for the Indian attire, flats, pumps & loafers for daily wear, formal sandals for office, flip flops for all those beachy trips, sport shoes for my once-in- a- year trip to the gym or walks etc.

Sometimes when I flip through a fancy lifestyle magazine and see Jimmy Choo shoes, I swoon over! But a quick glance of their price... and hello reality! Did you just say that those flimsy sexy shoes cost 10k!  Sure I would love to own a pair but no I can never get myself to buy shoes that are THAT expensive.

But then one day, while at Decathalon, I saw these hiking boots at the Men’s section, and my god, it was LOVE at first sight! I bought them immediately and they are till date the most expensive shoes I have ever bought; a 9000 buck QUECHUA men’s hiking shoes. It is the costliest, sturdiest, handsomest shoe I have ever possessed!

Price apart let me tell you, they are totally worth it. Since I purchased them, I have been on two treks, one to the Tigers nest Monastery in Bhutan(7 hours trek up and down) and to the Double Decker Living Root bridges in Meghalaya(9 hours trek down up down up etc), but these shoes have been the most comfortable thing ever. It doesn't slip and I am not scared of twisting my ankles while clambering over some rocky trails. They have been my real support and you know they look good too! I have seen guys letching and drooling over them! *True story*

So if ever, at gunpoint, I am asked to choose between any Jimmy Choo kind of shoe or a Quechua boot, it will definitely be my expensive hiking boot!

Comic: INVICTUS- A tribute to Nelson Mandela (1918- 2013)

A revolutionary, a leader and an inspiration, Nelson Mandela’s death was a great loss for everyone the world over! He will be remembered as a man who led by example and showed us what is meant by facing your fears and still going on strong with courage and an indestructible soul.

He was the true INVICTUS!

Today I learnt that Nelson Mandela and me also have something in common, our favourite poem; INVICTUS- by William Henley. I first read this poem about 2 years back through one of the post by zenpencils(http://zenpencils.com/comic/william-ernest-henley-invictus/). Since then it has continued to inspire whenever life knocked me down.

My joy knew no bounds when zenpecils(one of my favourite comic artist) made the adaptation of INVICTUS(one of my favourite poem) into Nelson Mandela’s struggle(who is one of my favourite personality).

I totally loved the adaptation(complete justice to the man) and I am sure anyone who reads this would love the poem as much as I do!

R.I.P Nelson Mandela

For the LOVE of Music, Driving & Camping

“....Gonna travel, gonna travel wild and free

I’m gonna pack my bags because this great big world is calling me”

I am bobbling my head while singing this Elvis song along in my head and smiling happily! Finally I am making good use of my weekend. Most of my sat and sun weekend is spent in sleeping, cleaning, shopping or clearing any kind of back log. And a weekend trip had been long overdue!

The weekend seemed promising, filled with overnight camping and some fantastic music under the star lit sky, and was I excited!

This driving trip was organised by the Blueberry trails in association with Mahindra Adventure as their travel partner who gave a bunch of Mahindra vehicles (3 Quantos, 2 Boleros, and 1 Scorpio to be precise). These vehicles brimming with nearly 20- 25 people as excited as me set off for the weekend away.

As the car rocked and rolled on the hilly track towards our campsite at Phansarai, the sun was just about setting behind us. Far from the maddening city, this was just what I needed!

As we rolled into the camp site, there was this slight nip in the air and soon enough the camp site quickly envelopes in the night darkness with only the moon shining above. *Perfect*

Surrounded by the massive rock face on one side and a 50 m drop on the other side, the site is snugly placed. With no electricity, the only lights are the solar lamp in each of the green neon tent against the black shadow of the mountain. It was surreal.

Photo credit: Letscampout

Before we could get cosy into them, we were sent on a short night trek. Ready with our sweatshirts and a torch in hand, we head off. This didn’t seem like such a great idea at first (especially because I don’t like walking much and the camp site looked so tempting), but then after a few steps into the trek, I realized, it was a good idea to pump some blood into my cold hands and this was also a chance to know other people in the trip. Soon I was engrossed in listening to Raghuram uncle who had completed the Mansarovar trek earlier this year (mind you, it is a hard trek which is at an altitude of 15, 000- 18, 000FT) or Anuj from Pune who shared his love for wildlife photography or my tent mate Rajvi, a lovely young girl who spoke about financial marketing which I only pretended to understand. This is why I love travelling; you get to meet such interesting people.

Before I knew it, we were back at the campsite but this time there are more lights. The makeshift stage set for the music got everyone all dreamy!

Soon it was time to raise the spirits and pass on the plates of bar-b-que chicken and potatoes.

On a high note, we cosily sat around the two musicians, Sidhharth and Arjun. It was the recipe for the perfect evening, cold starry night, strumming of the guitar and some awesome people for company. From some original compositions to solos to some Pearl Jam, the evening just got better.

As we drifted into the night, I looked around, it didn’t seem like we were all just a bunch of strangers who had just met for the first time today. Everyone had shared a piece of themselves. In some weird way, maybe just for today, we did feel connected.

For me the night didn’t end here. After the after-party, when we sleepily slipped into our tents, little did we know that we would catch no sleep. The winds had gotten wilder and was pounding our little tent wall, like it was the prelude to some scary storm! The whole night the tent walls went *Thub Thub Thub* and kept me and my tent mate awake and wondering if others were going through the same. Between the howling winds we did hear the rhythmic sounds of someone snoring, rather loudly, well someone did get some sleep after all!

By morning, everyone was out and dying for a cup of chai. Sober and sleepy, we all had successfully made it through the rough night. In retrospect, the tent was a brilliant experience. Times like these makes me feel grateful for the roof above my head and a pillow to hug onto. Soon we were all hugging goodbyes and piling into our cars and making plans for our next weekend out, hopefully together.

A BIG wet snoogly nooch to everyone who made the weekend so awesome!