Days 39-41
We are currently preparing to leave behind the bizarre landscape of Hampi in Karnakata before heading further South on one of those dreaded night buses to Mysore. It has been a relaxing few days viewing the ancient ruins and gawping at amazement at the unlikely landscape.
The last night of the Ganesh festival in Goa was more revelry. More Ganeshes got launched to the sea, more fireworks and more Indian dance music was the order of the evening and the locals danced like drug fuelled ravers, although it seemed to be the exclusive domain of men.
Our early start the next morning brought us to Madgoan train station bright and early. The train launched its way up through the lush Western Ghats until we reached the Deccan. Once there as with our last visit a vast agricultural landscape awaited us. Maize and cotton were the main crops, but much of the land was being worked and in a landscape so vast I was amazed to see that it was being worked by animal power, two oxes and a harrow was favoured, no diesel engines required. Although they do have tractors here, and Massey Fergusons no less! I forgot to mention on our last excursion to the Deccan we passed through a region were these crops were dropped in favour of the most unlikely replacements; vines. I had actually heard that there is a healthy wine industry in India and of course it also claims to be making world class wines, before coming to India I would have had no reason to disbelieve that. Now I am in India, well, lets just say I am not sure that the Bordeaux Chateauxs need to be quaking in their boots quite yet. Its not that I have tasted the wine its just that Indians tend to amplify things that favour them quite a lot. A good example is the replacement of the phrase ¨very good¨ with ¨best¨ A typical conversation would entail ¨Goa is best place in vist¨. I might reply ¨What about Kerala, I hear it is very nice?¨ But this would be meet with ¨Oh yes, Kerala is best also¨. Try working that out in logical English!
With my nose in a book on the train journey a hand probing me in the side and a husky voice declared "Hey, give me the money" I looked up and give the square faced woman only a glare while another passenger quickly dug out a a few coins for the group of ladies. They strode off down the carriage and suddenly it dawned on me these were eunuchs. These were the out-cast cross-dressers of India society that perform certain rituals at Weddings and Christenings. Eunuchs or the Hijra are usually men but some may be of indistinguishable gender and are not usually castrated like a true eunuch. They are involved in prostitution and beg for money in exchange for not showing their bits, which must have been what they were up to when they passed us. Good job that our fellow passenger was on hand otherwise we could have got quite an eyeful!
Early this year my wife and I attended the Olympics in London and to shield us from the inflated hotel prices we were kindly put up by my cousin who lives there. One day we were walking towards London Bridge I spied a pub that I liked the look and sound of, it was named The Glad, after the British Prime Minister William Gladstone who tried at great political risk to give Ireland Home Rule. We entered and were soon exchanging life stories with the barman. He had an accent that I couldn't quite place but it turned out that he was Irish and had spent his Primary school days in Gibson Primary school in Omagh. His father was a Church of Ireland Minister and had spent a few years as Chaplin in the army Garrison in Omagh, they moved around quite a bit, which I presumed accounted for his strange accent. He also was keen to hear of our trip to India. He had been earlier that year and insisted that we should go to Hampi. Never hearing of it before we agreed, partly as we were looking for ideas what to do in India and because our new acquaintance was spoke so glowingly about it.
As the train got closer to our stop the crops were changing to banana plantations and coconut groves but more interestingly the landscape itself started changing, huge sandy coloured boulders started appearing. On our auto-rickshaw ride from the rail-head at Hospet to Hampi they were strewn everywhere, varying in size from suitcases to schools and occasionally forming huge mounds of granite laying next to and on top of each other in sometimes gravity defying poses. It was suddenly apparent where the Flinstone´s baby came from on our previous train ride to Aurangbad. We were in the home place of the Flinstones, Bedrock! I couldn't believe my eyes and every time my wife mentioned the rocks all I could say was "its totally bizarre". Science of course has its theory on the formations. Allegedly the wind blew the top soil from the rocks and exposed the granite bedrock. Then as the sandy wind continued to blow over the milena it wore the rocks down and gradually exposed fracture lines which made them crack into separate boulders. The sandy colour is actually rust as the rocks contain iron ore. Anyone that knows me will be well aware that I frequetly question scientific theory and well, to be honest, this one sounds rubbish. If this landscape existed in Ireland we would have had a much more plausible story as to how it arrived, involving giants and the like. I am quite disappointed in India, a place full of mythology and tall tales has not come up with a better explanation. I will let you judge for yourself from the photos.
The rock formation aside Hampi also has a human history. When the Islamic Northern Empires started to expand their lands south the Hindu Kingdoms had to band together or face defeat. Their alliance became know as the Vijayanagara Kingdom and their capital was founded as Vijayanagar on the current site at Hampi. The empire grew and controlled most of southern India and as a result the capital expanded and was built complete with Royal enclosures and Temples in amongst the boulders. Eventually it all came to an end when they were defeated by a confederation of Deccan Sultanates. Who, not content with victory plundered and razed the city of Vijayanagar to the ground. Today these ruins remain and in the intervening years Hampi Bazaar grew up between the ruins and the boulders. However Hampi Bazar is now also being razed as the area where the homes and shops is on is too close to the ruins and has to go in the interest of archaeology. In the worldś largest democracy hundreds of people who live and work here will be rehoused and where all the budget tourists will go, I don´t know.
We spent a Monday (1st) sightseeing ruins, but for me they are in second place to those bizarre boulders. The highlight of the ruins for me was the stone chariot at the Vitalla temple. This chariot apparently at one time actually moved on the stone wheels. I don't think that it could have moved very far, not because of its weight as elephants were in abundance, but because between the stone axel and the stone wheel hub there aren´t any stone bearings! So as any engineer will tell you soon enough they would have had a pretty worn shaft and wheel and very lumpy ride.
I am pretty sure though that my wife's highlight was on Tuesday (2nd) morning when we went down to watch Lakshmi the Virupaksha Temple elephant get her bath. We caught her before she carefully plodded her way down the steps of the ghat to the river where we found her hanging around getting fed and we also duly obliged with a few bananas.
The rest of today we will spend killing time before the dreaded night bus to Mysore, to make matters worse Hampi´s single ATM machine isn't working so we have to wait until we get to the bus station before getting any money, which leaves our activities rather limited.
Back on the sporting front I see that Killkenny have no doubt bludgeoned (I didn't see, but I can imagine!) their way to another All-Ireland title after they beat Galway in the replayed final. Still thought congrats to Henry Shefflin on his ninth All-Ireland, a great hurler.
Also most of you have probably never heard of him but Kevin O'Brien must be one of the most famous Irish men on the planet. Don't know who he is do you? Well he is a cricketer and every single Indian seems to know who he is. The cricket world cup in Sri Lanka is currently at the semi final stages and its on every evening and the tip of every Indian's tongue. Although parts of County Tyrone are a cricketing hot spot my interest has waned somewhat since my brother and I used to watch test cricket on summer afternoons (No wonder my father used to go crazy at us when there was turf in the bog to be won!) Cricket in its 20/20 form is considerably more exciting than Test Cricket and I have also surprised myself with how much of the rules I still know. Any interest expressed in cricket to an Indian is met with "Kevin O´Brien best batsman" Last night though, even with a population of a billion to choose from India were put out of the tournament, and who progressed at their expense? Pakistan of course! This will rankle hard with Indians as they actually beat Pakistan earlier, but more so because of the sizzling rivalry between the two countries. We were treated to an interesting sectarian outburst from our waiter about Pakistan a few evenings previous. Ah sectarian nationalism infused with sport how could I ever get home sick in this country?
We are currently preparing to leave behind the bizarre landscape of Hampi in Karnakata before heading further South on one of those dreaded night buses to Mysore. It has been a relaxing few days viewing the ancient ruins and gawping at amazement at the unlikely landscape.
The last night of the Ganesh festival in Goa was more revelry. More Ganeshes got launched to the sea, more fireworks and more Indian dance music was the order of the evening and the locals danced like drug fuelled ravers, although it seemed to be the exclusive domain of men.
Our early start the next morning brought us to Madgoan train station bright and early. The train launched its way up through the lush Western Ghats until we reached the Deccan. Once there as with our last visit a vast agricultural landscape awaited us. Maize and cotton were the main crops, but much of the land was being worked and in a landscape so vast I was amazed to see that it was being worked by animal power, two oxes and a harrow was favoured, no diesel engines required. Although they do have tractors here, and Massey Fergusons no less! I forgot to mention on our last excursion to the Deccan we passed through a region were these crops were dropped in favour of the most unlikely replacements; vines. I had actually heard that there is a healthy wine industry in India and of course it also claims to be making world class wines, before coming to India I would have had no reason to disbelieve that. Now I am in India, well, lets just say I am not sure that the Bordeaux Chateauxs need to be quaking in their boots quite yet. Its not that I have tasted the wine its just that Indians tend to amplify things that favour them quite a lot. A good example is the replacement of the phrase ¨very good¨ with ¨best¨ A typical conversation would entail ¨Goa is best place in vist¨. I might reply ¨What about Kerala, I hear it is very nice?¨ But this would be meet with ¨Oh yes, Kerala is best also¨. Try working that out in logical English!
Early this year my wife and I attended the Olympics in London and to shield us from the inflated hotel prices we were kindly put up by my cousin who lives there. One day we were walking towards London Bridge I spied a pub that I liked the look and sound of, it was named The Glad, after the British Prime Minister William Gladstone who tried at great political risk to give Ireland Home Rule. We entered and were soon exchanging life stories with the barman. He had an accent that I couldn't quite place but it turned out that he was Irish and had spent his Primary school days in Gibson Primary school in Omagh. His father was a Church of Ireland Minister and had spent a few years as Chaplin in the army Garrison in Omagh, they moved around quite a bit, which I presumed accounted for his strange accent. He also was keen to hear of our trip to India. He had been earlier that year and insisted that we should go to Hampi. Never hearing of it before we agreed, partly as we were looking for ideas what to do in India and because our new acquaintance was spoke so glowingly about it.
As the train got closer to our stop the crops were changing to banana plantations and coconut groves but more interestingly the landscape itself started changing, huge sandy coloured boulders started appearing. On our auto-rickshaw ride from the rail-head at Hospet to Hampi they were strewn everywhere, varying in size from suitcases to schools and occasionally forming huge mounds of granite laying next to and on top of each other in sometimes gravity defying poses. It was suddenly apparent where the Flinstone´s baby came from on our previous train ride to Aurangbad. We were in the home place of the Flinstones, Bedrock! I couldn't believe my eyes and every time my wife mentioned the rocks all I could say was "its totally bizarre". Science of course has its theory on the formations. Allegedly the wind blew the top soil from the rocks and exposed the granite bedrock. Then as the sandy wind continued to blow over the milena it wore the rocks down and gradually exposed fracture lines which made them crack into separate boulders. The sandy colour is actually rust as the rocks contain iron ore. Anyone that knows me will be well aware that I frequetly question scientific theory and well, to be honest, this one sounds rubbish. If this landscape existed in Ireland we would have had a much more plausible story as to how it arrived, involving giants and the like. I am quite disappointed in India, a place full of mythology and tall tales has not come up with a better explanation. I will let you judge for yourself from the photos.
The rock formation aside Hampi also has a human history. When the Islamic Northern Empires started to expand their lands south the Hindu Kingdoms had to band together or face defeat. Their alliance became know as the Vijayanagara Kingdom and their capital was founded as Vijayanagar on the current site at Hampi. The empire grew and controlled most of southern India and as a result the capital expanded and was built complete with Royal enclosures and Temples in amongst the boulders. Eventually it all came to an end when they were defeated by a confederation of Deccan Sultanates. Who, not content with victory plundered and razed the city of Vijayanagar to the ground. Today these ruins remain and in the intervening years Hampi Bazaar grew up between the ruins and the boulders. However Hampi Bazar is now also being razed as the area where the homes and shops is on is too close to the ruins and has to go in the interest of archaeology. In the worldś largest democracy hundreds of people who live and work here will be rehoused and where all the budget tourists will go, I don´t know.
We spent a Monday (1st) sightseeing ruins, but for me they are in second place to those bizarre boulders. The highlight of the ruins for me was the stone chariot at the Vitalla temple. This chariot apparently at one time actually moved on the stone wheels. I don't think that it could have moved very far, not because of its weight as elephants were in abundance, but because between the stone axel and the stone wheel hub there aren´t any stone bearings! So as any engineer will tell you soon enough they would have had a pretty worn shaft and wheel and very lumpy ride.
I am pretty sure though that my wife's highlight was on Tuesday (2nd) morning when we went down to watch Lakshmi the Virupaksha Temple elephant get her bath. We caught her before she carefully plodded her way down the steps of the ghat to the river where we found her hanging around getting fed and we also duly obliged with a few bananas.
The rest of today we will spend killing time before the dreaded night bus to Mysore, to make matters worse Hampi´s single ATM machine isn't working so we have to wait until we get to the bus station before getting any money, which leaves our activities rather limited.
Back on the sporting front I see that Killkenny have no doubt bludgeoned (I didn't see, but I can imagine!) their way to another All-Ireland title after they beat Galway in the replayed final. Still thought congrats to Henry Shefflin on his ninth All-Ireland, a great hurler.
Also most of you have probably never heard of him but Kevin O'Brien must be one of the most famous Irish men on the planet. Don't know who he is do you? Well he is a cricketer and every single Indian seems to know who he is. The cricket world cup in Sri Lanka is currently at the semi final stages and its on every evening and the tip of every Indian's tongue. Although parts of County Tyrone are a cricketing hot spot my interest has waned somewhat since my brother and I used to watch test cricket on summer afternoons (No wonder my father used to go crazy at us when there was turf in the bog to be won!) Cricket in its 20/20 form is considerably more exciting than Test Cricket and I have also surprised myself with how much of the rules I still know. Any interest expressed in cricket to an Indian is met with "Kevin O´Brien best batsman" Last night though, even with a population of a billion to choose from India were put out of the tournament, and who progressed at their expense? Pakistan of course! This will rankle hard with Indians as they actually beat Pakistan earlier, but more so because of the sizzling rivalry between the two countries. We were treated to an interesting sectarian outburst from our waiter about Pakistan a few evenings previous. Ah sectarian nationalism infused with sport how could I ever get home sick in this country?
No comments:
Post a Comment