We are back from a trip to Hampi, which ranks high in my "Places marked for consideration of permanent settlement" list. I fell in love with it during my first trip there with my friends two and a half years ago and had jealously looked at all the European backpackers who had set up camp there for a couple of weeks to a few months, bicycling around the ruins with their Lonely Planet in tow, leading the life I had dreamt of for myself.
This time, I went with my significantly better half to show him this little town that had me thus besotted and to get his views on its qualification to the aforementioned list. Hampi effortlessly did her bit and I am happy to say that she's been given the thumbs up by the Mister too.
It is the way in which everything comes together - the history, the architecture, the abundance of places where you can sit down and have a splendid cup of tea, the friendly animals on the road(dogs, cows, cats sometimes) that, depending on the way you are hardwired, you come precariously close to abandoning any plans of a job and a career in your current field and turning over into a history junkie for life at Hampi. If the above list doesn't do it for you, one meal at the Mango Tree will at the very least, leave you with a slightly more positive outlook towards everything.
My back hurts a little from last night's difficult bus journey from Hospet to Bangalore and I have been slow at digesting all new information today thanks to all hopes of even a few precious minutes of sleep being chased away by the monstrosity that was the stretch of road for the first few hours of the journey. We are talking slowly today and have trudged through the day with difficulty but we have already promised ourselves one more trip to Hampi at the next possible opportunity.
(Photo by Trambak)
