[ukderebail]

We decided to have a quick trip to Hampi after a gap of nearly 3 years. This was incidentally my fourth trip from 1977. We took the beautiful NH4 highway with our fuel tank filled the previous evening. The entire route upto Chitradurga is tolled. We ended up paying toll in the following sequence Rs 12, 15, 15, 45 & 45 upto Chitradurga Fort.




In between Kyatsandra is renowned place for Tate Idli, we stopped over for breakfast, the famous joint Ramesh restaurant was closed. We had no choice but to go for the second best one besides. Breakfast was steaming hot with limited options since we were the first customer. After breakfast we reached Chitradurga's Kallina kote, and we were blessed with slight drizzle.




Since we were travelling for the third time to Hampi, we had to discover something new apart from what we experienced last two times around. First pit stop was at Kallina Kote at Chitradurga. The first bad news both the memory cards of my camera seemed corrupt. It was constantly drizzling and the fear of batter discharging too was looming ahead. I took out the memory card and shot some pictures onto my internal memory. The first thing after reaching Hospet was to hunt for a genuine seller of memory cards. I enquired and found that R K Studio near Shanbaug Towers Hotel was the right place to buy an original SONY 4 GB memory card. But for the purchase of memory card i could not have clicked any good photos on my cell phone. Thank god.



The route which we took from bangalore is NH4 with a deviation to NH 13 from Chitradurga to Hospet. The road was bad in patches and dangerous pot holes and railway crossing we encountered enroute to Hospet. There is a treacherous pit on the railway crossing which does not have a speedbreaker too, it is just after Kudiligi, 20 kms before hospet. I nearly had a major accident, but managed to apply brakes on time. Thank god





When Robert Sewell published his treatise A Forgotton Empire in 1900, little did he realise that Hampi would be considered as a world Heritage site in 1986 ( first reprint of his edition was published ). The revival of the heritage destination has been slow and calibrated under Hampi Heritage area management authority act 2002 ( 16/4/2003 ). The biggest boost for the conservation efforts came from the Supreme court banning mining in this area. We notice the rejuvenation of the terrain and return of greenary around the hillocks at Hospet. I hope the ban on mines continue to maintain the ecology in the region and exports are banned and whatever mines are operated only for domestic consumption by NMDC only. Who knows that we may end up discovering another diamond mine in future ?



On december 11th 2010 around 26 battery operated vehicles have been introduced to visit Vijaya Vittala temple. The unique feature of this facility is that young girls are trained to drive the battery operated vehicle ferrying 14 persons at a cost of Rs 20 per pax for a return journey of 4 Kms. We were pleasantly surprised by this move, aimed at empowering women obviously. The reasoning given to general public that this world heritage should be protected from vehicular pollution, vibration and over crowding. Maybe a co-ordination is required to generate huge employment for the populace without crass commercialisation. India has never so far benefited from employment generation facility through tourism. This would be ideal pitch for the authorities concerned to extend touring of circuits vide battery operated vehicles.


Another big step the government had initiated demolition drive of shopping centres, guest houses, residence and eateries around Virupaksha temple. The construction of a new cable bridge across the Tungabhadra river was halted by the intervention of UNESCO, who had conferred the world heritage status to Hampi. The work started by Veerapa Moily govt in 1997 was almost completed when Junko Tanaguchi visited Hampi in 1999 and strongly recommended for removal of world heritage tag if the bridge is completed. Ironically the bridge collapsed on Jan 22nd 2009, wherein 8 workers lost their life. It would have marred the beauty of heritage site permanently. Instead a strong navigation on Tungabhadra river through ferries and launches would be ideal means of transportation from Anegudi to Hampi. It would boost further employment



Yet another big move contemplated by the hampi heritage authority is to undertake sound and light show, it would mean that the general public would be able to visit Hampi heritage structures during night too during summer vacations, otherwise the temperature is unbearable to visit during day time. We enquired with the organiser staff, who happens to be related kannada film actress Jayanti. They mentioned that work will be completed before Jan 2012.

A slow and steady reconstruction of the fortress is the biggest feature of revamp of Hampi, even though the entire 40 square Kms of the empire which lay in ruins after the battle of Talikota in 1565. This place would have been converted to Islamic domain but for the strong resistance by the local populace. The invaders migrated with wealth beyond imagination leaving behind destruction. Some of the photographs are displayed in the Kamalapur musuem prior to salvage operations speaks volume on reconstruction effort too.



The icing on the cake of this trip was that i was able to locate Krishnadevaraya's palace and purchase a book by Robert Sewell A Forgotton Empire Robert Sewell wrote in his treatise A forgotton Empire " I have little doubt that before very long the whole history of southern india will be compiled by some writer gifted with the power making the dry bones live, but meanwhile the bones themselves must be collected and pieced together, and my duty has been to try and construct at least the main portions of the skeleton "

[shajufx]

Derebail sir, good start from the man who has the entire info about places Hope to see very useful info about many other cultural/historical places around the state and even other states. Its the first time I know people in the images of a travelogue !!

One tip though: When you have plans to write about your travels, always shoot with more importance to the place and structures than faces Latter is a personal collection !

[ukderebail]

Originally Posted by shajufx

One tip though: When you have plans to write about your travels, always shoot with more importance to the place and structures than faces Latter is a personal collection !

Thanks Shaju for the tip, i would definitely keep in mind, i don t have the benefit of DSLR like you though. Some compromise is in order i suppose, let me get feedback from others regarding a unique style of presentation. The in depth coverage i have been uploading in my blogspot, you can check out the same INDIA BACKPACKER

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by ukderebail

... i don t have the benefit of DSLR like you though........a unique style of presentation....

For travel coverage, a point and shoot is more than enough as we always shoot everything in focus. These days even my mobile cam is surprising me with wonderful output. You already have a unique style of presentation. The volume of information that comes through the lines is not a common thing to find.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by ukderebail

Thanks Shaju for the tip, i would definitely keep in mind, i don t have the benefit of DSLR like you though. Some compromise is in order i suppose, let me get feedback from others regarding a unique style of presentation. The in depth coverage i have been uploading in my blogspot, you can check out the same INDIA BACKPACKER

Umesh,

Great pics even without DSLR!! Keep it coming.

OMG!!! you are the same Umesh Darebail of India Backpacker blog. The other day i was looking at your post on Uchhangi fort. I never realised it though i have been reading many of your posts. I went to Bandalike after seeing your video which was awesome!!! In fact i quoted your video in the thread by Vignesh on Cambodia.

[ukderebail]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Umesh,

Great pics even without DSLR!! Keep it coming.

OMG!!! you are the same Umesh Darebail of India Backpacker blog. The other day i was looking at your post on Uchhangi fort. I never realised it though i have been reading many of your posts. I went to Bandalike after seeing your video which was awesome!!! In fact i quoted your video in the thread by Vignesh on Cambodia.

Thanks Fauji, for your compliment, many a times we miss the bus since we are not corporate identity to be associated. I am happy that you are regular reader of India Backpacker. I have tried to maintain the same profile picture in all the forums i am associated that is the only common thread. Of course i agree with you that without DSLR too one can post pictures, but there would be a compromise on the quality. I tend to make it up with historical research and folklore though.

[Night_Hawk]

Originally Posted by ukderebail

We decided to have a quick trip to Hampi after a gap of nearly 3 years. This was incidentally my fourth trip from 1977.

Hampi is ever captivating and mesmerizing place. Nice narration and good pictures. I visited Hampi in April'2011 and planning to visit again in winter. The battery operated buggies are a good initiative in terms of protecting the fragile heritage structures.
Thanks for sharing .

[mobike008]

Nice to see a Hampi Travelogue just a few days after my return to same place. I was there in Hampi from Sep 2-Sep 5 ( were you there around the same time?) and stayed in Malligi in Hospet

Also great information about the background and historical data which we got in limited account from a guide whom we hired who turned out to be a cheat

Look forward to rest of the travelogue

[Statement]

Great location for a Travelogue. Hampi.

Also what I am impressed at is that when most of us write a Travelogue(if at all we write one), it would be about us and what we did at that place. Yours is surely different, its about the place , its details , its history and surely good about of research. Great going Sir!

Please keep it it coming, along with tons of research details about the history of Hampi and Krishnadevaraya. Lets refresh our history!

[ukderebail]

[quote=mobike008;2498175]Nice to see a Hampi Travelogue just a few days after my return to same place. I was there in Hampi from Sep 2-Sep 5 ( were you there around the same time?) and stayed in Malligi in Hospet

We stayed at Hampi KSTDC hotel, which is renovated and very peaceful. We were there on 31st and 1st, maybe we crisscrossed

With regard to the rest of the travelogue, i have my own blogspot, if you would like to know indepth regarding the history and mysteries of Hampi please go through this link INDIA BACKPACKER . Since it is my first travelogue i don t want to be accused of posting irrelevant stuff.

Originally Posted by Statement

Great location for a Travelogue. Hampi.

Also what I am impressed at is that when most of us write a Travelogue(if at all we write one), it would be about us and what we did at that place. Yours is surely different, its about the place , its details , its history and surely good about of research. Great going Sir!

Please keep it it coming, along with tons of research details about the history of Hampi and Krishnadevaraya. Lets refresh our history!

Well most of my detailed travelogues i have penned in my blogspot INDIA BACKPACKER. Unless a good lot of Team Bhp members approve i don t want to post it here. Already some fingers are being pointed out regarding some of the posts, so in reality i am testing the waters

With regard to Krishnadevaraya i have dedicated a special post on occasion of his 500th year of coronation as a King, please do check out http://indiabackpacker.blogspot.com/...adevaraya.html