The day began early, very early. I went to see the sunrise at,
wait for it, sunrise point. Santosh had told me to be ready by 5:15 am. I,
being me, was up at 4:30 am and ready by 5 am. It was pitch black and windy and
cold when we left the warmth of the hotel. The 2 kilometer drive to the sunrise
point was one of the longest drives of this trip. Thoughts of all the things
that could go wrong came to my mind and I had to fight the negativity and force
myself to enjoy the adventure.
And boy, was it an adventure! We reached the base of the
point, a Lord Ram Temple, in 15 minutes. It was still dark, so dark that the
moon was shining bright and if one thought of doing it, one could count all the
stars. Santosh led me to the temple where two pujaris were doing a path of
Ramayana. I was informed that in that temple Ramayana was read without a break.
Two pujaris each, read in three shifts, through the day and night. The
experience would have been truly divine if they sang/read in tune.
Unfortunately, they read like others accuse me of singing. It was almost a
torture to wait for other enthusiastic travellers to reach the base point and
the light to break. After listening to the Ramayana for a little more than
half an hour, another auto arrived at the temple gate. Santosh and the other
driver exchanged notes and it was decided that we could begin the climb with
the help of the torchlights installed in their mobile phones.
The climb was a mini-adventure in itself. We had to climb a
way, which was made of huge boulders with smooth surfaces. Finding a foothold
on those boulders would have been a task even during broad daylight but doing
it before dawn was a nightmare for me. I somehow managed the climb without hurting myself and found the perfect
spot to see the sun rise from behind the hills. We still had another 20 minutes
of wait before light started to creep in. The experience of watching a sunrise
is always special. My thoughts continuously went to back to the month of March
when I was in another part of the country watching the sunrise with my
friends—Anky, SKT, Sangy and Titu. The joy that the first ray of lights bring
were no different today. I saw life spring into action before my eyes.
By this time, the number of tourists on the hilltop had
increased manifold. The birds had woken up and were giving their morning calls,
and in the distance I could see farmers beginning their morning rituals.
Surprisingly, only foreigners had made the effort to wake up early and climb
the top. There were no other Indian tourists apart from me. I noticed that most
of them were carrying bunches of bananas. I thought to myself, ‘They might want
to eat the bananas before breakfast. What an idea! I should have bought some for myself as well.’ But to my horror, the bananas were for
monkeys.
While light had filled the entire sky, the sun was nowhere
to be seen. Meanwhile, a troop of monkeys ascended on the hilltop. To begin
with the tourists were giving a single banana to one monkey at a time. Then a big one
came and decided one was not enough for him. He snatched the entire bag and
went down the slope. And then I saw the most foolish woman ever. Like really,
EVER! She ran behind the monkey and tried to snatch the plastic bag with the
bananas. Almost an hour of waiting for the sun had passed by then. I had lost
patience and decided to go back to the hotel.
Santosh complied. As we were driving down the hill, I
spotted an orange sun. I squealed, I kid you not, and asked him to stop the
autorickshaw. I was out of the vehicle with my camera around my neck and bag
negligently left behind in the autorickshaw. I saw the best sunrise from that point. It
was a big orange ball of fire. I was alone on a big boulder with my camera and
no one to disturb me. Santosh parked his autorickshaw and came carrying my bag. He insisted to click a couple of my photos with the orange sun in the background, 'Memories hona maangta naa madam!' I had to oblige.
Then we went back to the hotel for breakfast. The second leg
of the day began with Santosh taking me around to see more monuments and ruins.
Since it was a Saturday there were a lot of students, from the nearby areas, who
were also out exploring the Hampi ruins with their teachers. Most of these kids made me feel like a
celebrity. They would start with a shy smile and a wave. Then they would
proceed to say, ‘Hi!’ When I responded with a smile and equal enthusiasm, they
practiced their English with me. One asked, ‘What is your name?’; one more
asked ‘what is your father name?’; another wanted to know, ‘Where you come
from?’ When I gave them answers, they enthusiastically
shook my hand. One asked to pull my cheek. I saw so much love in the eyes of those children. It was a wonderful experience and worth travelling alone. I
figured that had I been with friends, the kids would not have approached me.
Since I was alone, they found it easier to talk to me, request me to click their photographs and share their joy of being able to speak in English.
I think celebrating five days on the road like a celebrity
was the best way to celebrate.
There was also a cherry on top! I saw a Kannada film shoot
in progress at a temple today. I was told that the film being shot was titled
Charlie. And the hero was a Kannada superstar. So now I am looking forward to watching
the film when it releases.
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