Today I took the entire day off and decided not to take the cab to sight seeing places in this city . I decided to go for a stroll instead but looking at the weather it would only be possible late in the evening when the town gets a little cooler .

The morning I spend having a long shower and then dived into a breakfast of idli and poori aloo , it was fun as I felt more relaxed having given up the idea of not venturing out too fare into the city . I also discovered the home made strawberry ice cream served at the hotel called The Cocoon , the ice cream as a delight and also very light I had more then four scoops of the damn thing and now I am hooked . 

The day went by chatting to my driver who was trying to get my other m mobile number working I have not been able to use my phone banking for weeks and that is irritating . As luck would have it my number is Vodaphone  and their are no service stations of the brand here , Medikeri  is where I am told I can get my telephone chip activated again . 

Late evening was a brisk walk across the many streets and roads of the city , I even managed to have a snack of dosa and coffee in the local caffe called The Sri Manjunatha Dosa Point . Took some pictures these are the kind of places local visit and dine in . The restaurant had a photo my ma Saraswati and it was very basic just fro the common folks of the town in seventy bucks I had a masala dosa and a large glass of coffee with hot water .

It does look like a hill station with lots of greenery around the town has many shops and stairs selling food and vegetables , there  are auto shops and shops selling steel and other construction material . But I see a little less foreign tourists here then I saw in Hampi .

Its reddish clay mud green coffee plantations tall palm and coconut tress the city of Coorg has its own vibe and texture that is unique to the city itself .

Although it is hot in the afternoon and the sun is out in full flow the air is dray and not humid so the heat does not feel so heavy specially while site seeing in the midst of the afternoon . I however mashed to walk across the road leading from my hotel . People are very laid back here and most shop keepers seemed to be dozing off .

The food has been good I have had the mutton curry and fortunately its as not very spicy or full of stinging masala curry . This couples with strawberry home made ice cream , that is all that I have needed in this city .

Got up late as usual today , I don’t know why that during my travels around the cities of Karnataka I have felt so lazy and lethargic at times . I just mated to stay in bed all day eat strawberry ice cream and enjoy mutton fish and rice . I didn’t want to go out again , not in the hot afternoon , not on the day of holi , today and tomorrow will rage the celebrations of holi in India and I will have to see it for the first time in Coorg .

Although the city has very tall and large mosques and churches it is still a Hindu  city steeped in the texture of Hinduism and its many rituals . The city is full of temples big and small , I am sure people will celebrate holi with lots of enthusiasm here .

As for me I spend hours catching up the latest news on YouTube.com , I also want to start reading a new book , let’s see if we can get to that .

Coorg has been a laid back experience for me I have not pushed myself much into exploring major placeless here , I do go for walks in the evenings and that gives me a fairly good idea of this city .

The transportation used by the locals is either an auto or a local bus service . It has many departmental stores , saree shops , gas station , I also enjoy the strawberry ice cream served in the city .

I spent the entire afternoon rubbing sandalwood oil all over my body I had got it in Mysuru and had kept some in my bag , this was the best time to try it on and I did rub a lot of it on my legs and thighs . A nice shower would be perfect after the oil massage.  I feel blessed at this point , got a lot of happy holi messages on my mobile and on Facebook it seems people are celebrating holi all over India although that doesn’t seem to be the case from my bedroom window I can see no holi celebration juts the normal slow traffic passing by , no banners or colours or crowds it was as if business was usual .

I am grateful for the holiday and the change I am just trying my best not to rush too much and not to push things let things just evolve organically . I think an open mindset and no expectations are vital tools of a good traveller . The ability to mingle in the crowd and then to stand back for a while away from all the hum drum of it all .

The dense forest area along with the lush green coffee plantations are the pride of Coorg . The tall palm and coconut trees gives the city its own unique picture postcard look .Its like a city straight out of Malgudi Day’s the famous R.K Narayan novel . It is laid back as if frozen in time , one can see the occasional mobile phone shop or an electronic showroom along with a garage but nothing more .

Coorg known as the coffee and spice capital of India is a hill town 260 km from Bangalore and was merged into Mysuru District .  By the late afternoon I could not take it an more my room was now a boring den I wanted to get away from and I duly did , I took my taxi out into the by lanes and coffee plantations of Coorg . The city has mosques , temples and churches their is a sizeable muslim presence here as one can see women in burkha all the time , I did spot a few nuns as well . But half an hours into my journey I still could not see any holi celebrations inside or in the country side of the city .

The drive through the lush plan tress , water ponds and coffee plants was itself very relaxing . Coorg is hilly with winding slopes it gone up and down covered my green tress on either side palm tress , coconut trees all lined up in dense forests . By the early evening we managed to get to the Dubare Elephant camp . This was a water body and I could see bathing elephants from afar . I did venture in and managed to click an elephant bathing , there where people on boats some trying to get a dip into tiger watering hole itself .

My last stop was a spice store selling chocolate and spices , I got some coffee and sandalwood oil as well as I feel it is great for the muscles of the body especially the. limbs .  The way back took a while as we drove past coffee plantations being watered by jets of spray and water , that is the way they water coffee in this part of the world . I managed to stop over again and again and managed to get glimpses of country side life in Coorg and how people get by day to day in this exotic hill station often called the Scotland of India .

I had some local chocolate on my way back in the taxi I had done some shopping at the spice store . I managed to get a real feel for the place today indeed Coorg has been a lazy discovery .

My Karnataka Travels have started slowly but now it seems to be picking up some pace , I am headed fro Mysore and just got a call from Sonu a friend of Ravi’s my taxi for Hubli will be ready tomorrow by twelve noon and my hotel in Mysore is all Booked .I did enjoy filming the underground Shiva temple it had a water pond a stone Nandi statue  at the entrance itself .Their was an introduction video I shot with Ravi as we strolled around the place the boys busy with their banter .

It did take me some time to get into the travelling scene after all this was my first serious travel destination for over three years , due to Corona I had halted my travels completely . But now after a few lazy days I am getting back to my groove . It is important to pay attention to detail and things when you are site seeing . I think the more I focused on what was in-front of it the more involved I felt and the more enthused I felt .

A ruined city of multicolored stone and rock it did transport my mind to an era gone by , this place was a living civilization once now its just a ghost time washed away by time and age .For the locals this bustling tourist spot is great for business . Hampi also makes a lot of money through its bustling agriculture , it has the best water in the state and their are fields that get ample irrigation and water all through out the year , farmers can grow double crops and reap rich harvest on their cash crops which are much in demand . Hampi has good quality water and flowing streams .

“ The hotel business coupled with an eatery and guest house will do very well here , I am planning to buy a restaurant here I think there is good business there are so many tourists who come to this city , after all Hampi is a UNESCO protected site .” Ravi further informed me .

One has to take an entrance ticket to go into some of the sites but the rates are nominal it is not a very expensive city and a perfect place for a low budget back packer .

The Tungabhadra river around which this civilization once flourished and Hampi was built around this river which flows through this ancient land .  I did send sometime gazing at the river its current strong and bold it was a sight to behold .

With a heavy hair I bid farewell to this great city which bears testimony to a great civilization and Dynasty of the past . Seemed in the flavors of South the city and its people very glee fully welcome travelers from all over the world .

I was very keen to see the Chamundi Hills in Mysuru I had heard a lot about the place and the scared temple their Chamundeshwari Temple . The legend goes that the fearsome goddess Durga had slain the demon Mahishasura in these hills and the temple is dedicated to the goddess Shakti . Chamundeshwari is the protector of the city of Mysuru and is the mother goddess of the royal family .It I situated at an height of 3300 feet above sea level and is situated on top of the Chamundi Hills . One has to climb up the hill to get to the temple . I did just that with the help of my taxi driver who was also my guide , we took an entry ticket of Rs 100 , in which we also got a ticket through which we would get laddoo as Prasadam . I had to leave my shoes before entering , what was good that they had great clean toilet facility and shops selling pooja samagri as well . I took some flowers coconut and bananas as my Prasadam for the dirty . The doors of the idol would not open before three thirty in the afternoon and I had to wait patiently in the queue . I did manage to get some great shots of the temple with its entrance and capture the golden done of the temples filled with intricate carvings .

The sun was out and the sky was sharp blue the pictures came out well . A monkey tried to grab my bag in which i was carrying banana’s he was hungry and made a dash for it , luckily I managed to chase him off the bugger just got a piece of the polythene instead . A blind man came and stood in-front of me , he had a walking stick and seemed to be a regular at the temple . Soon the doors opened and I moved inside towards the central sanctum of then temple . I managed to crack the the coconut before I made a dash to see the idol . By now they’re where more people moving in and a crowd had swollen up . I took some pictures of the dicey dressed in pure yellow gold , as I was doing that I got a clip on my head by a police officer who instructed me to put my camera down , photography it seems was not allowed inside the temple . I duly obliged and then started to pray . I gave the flowers to the pujari who then gave me red tikka and red roses . Then as I walked passed the idol I also took the Agni . There was some one giving Ganga Cal as well to all the devotes .

As I came out I sat down for a while , it was then that another monkey spotted me and my bag which had some bananas the bugger made dash for it and this time he was successful . The monkey took the banana’s and started eating them right there . So as luck would have it my Prasadam was eaten by the monkeys of the temple .

The Chamundeshwari Temple is a Shakti Peethas and is part of the main eighteen Shakti Peethas

The main shrine was built in the 12th century by the Hoysala Dynasty . Ii took me around two hours to see the entire temple and other areas . I was happy and felt lightheaded for a while the prayers to the goddess had a great effect on my mood the whole day . I felt energetic and upbeat with an elevated mood all day . The visit to the temple was no doubt uplifting for me

I woke up as usual a bit late this was to be my last day in Hampi and Hospet , Ravi and his friends had promised to take me to Hampi they wanted me to see the Lotus Mahal , The Vishnu Temple , along with a view of the Elephant Stables and Ranga Temple . The sun was out and the temperature by noon had hit thirty-four degrees. I had a Spartan breakfast of toast and egg and then went on to take a long bath .

I waited for the boys to arrive and they soon did , we pushed off for Hampi which was about twenty minutes away , no need for a guide today as I had Ravi and his friends to give me company .We drove upto the Lotus Mahal a ancient building made out of red stone , it had walls filled up with water so that in the hot afternoon the queen could come and rest their in its room which would remain cool due to the water that ran through its walls and pillars .Hampi is a percent place for Hippies their where Russians and Israel tourists as well , all strolling around trying to figure out the various monuments that little Hampi a testimony to the ancient  Vijaynagar empire .

I had managed to grab an orange bar ice cream and also treated my friends with a lemon soda each , it was afternoon time now and the sun was out as we all meandered through the dusty monuments of Hampi . I spotted goats and along the wall of the Vishnu temple sat a goat herder. He had a stick in his hand as he kept an active watch on the goats .What excited me where the pillars and the carvings on the pillars , one of the temple walls was full of carvings each depicting a story from the Hindu epic Ramayana .

I also enjoyed taking pictures of the roofs of these monuments many of them made from red stone and brick .Then their was the Hazararama temple made out from brown sandstone its wall full of ancient carvings of elephants , dancing girls and even horses . The Elephant stables where another high point of Hampi . It is indeed an ancient and sleepy town , a land full of broken stone monuments still a testimony of a great empire that once existed here .”There are only three temples here where prayers are performed .” Ravi informed me . “ There is a a running water stream here as well a few kilometers from here we must stop there .” Ravi said trying to be the senior guide .

We where a group of four really humping around Hampi . I did manage to take some cinematic videos also which was cool the bright blue sky being my background at most times .The red dust and the brown and grey texture of the landscape had become my constant companion as I slowly turned away with my friends around Hampi . We took it easy and I for one was paying keen attention to the temples and how they had been built .

After our initial walk about it was mutually decided to head for the Evergreen Cafe for a late lunch . It was getting very hot I could feel the sweat on my face and on my neck. We stopped over at a running water stream Ravi wanted me to take a dip , but I just walked around the stream taking pictures . This was the coolest spot of the afternoon the gushing water and the green trees quite a contrast.

The Evergreen Caffe was some distance away and when we finally got their we were asked to remove our shoes before we entered which I reluctantly did . It had some great pancakes and falafel typical Israeli stuff along with fruit juice and lemon.” So I hope your will remember your friends when you leave the city tomorrow Anuj .” Ravi asked me . I smiled and replied ,” You know a true traveler never gets attached to the places and people he meets or travels too otherwise he will just stay and not travel further to other destination egger to meet new people and forge new relationships . As a traveler I can’t get attached.” I replied trying to sound philosophical. “Yes ! But you dare not forget us .” Ravi wanted me to stay back for a few more days , but my mind was made up I had a flight to catch from Hubli to my next destination Mysore . “ I will see if I can come back on your birthday maybe then .” I did not want to disappoint my hosts , they had been so hospitable to me all along .

Lunch was light and not very hot so I enjoyed it having watermelon juice all the while , desserts was caramel ice cream , topped with chocolate . It was light but I felt full, my hunger pan gas had disappeared . I would recommend the Evergreen cafe to others has well it has a very casual floor siting arrangements and you can even lie back on pillows to feel totally relaxed, plus it is much cooler as cool wind blows on the top half of the cafe . It has a good cafe owner and chefs who are very kind and caring I took a selfie with the owner he was thrilled to meet a Bollywood actor that too in Hampi .

I got busy showing the manager my YouTube videos and clips from my old Bollywood films like Rap ne bana di jodi and Jodi Breakers , they were all very excited . “ We will all miss you Anuj and I hope you will return again or we will come and see you in Dehra Doon as well .” Ravi was already feeling a bit nostalgic after all we all had spent a entire week together exploring the city and its ancient past .

The sun was beating down on us as it was four in the afternoon already after finishing our meal which also included fish fries and onion rings we got back into our cars heading straight back to my hotel aptly called Hotel Hampi .

As for me I cooled my self under the shower and had a long bath to cool my body down it was hot and I needed to be in the comfort of my room , Ravi and his mates where with me relaxing gingery with me in my room . “ We will arrange for a taxi tomorrow for Hubli , you need not worry .” Ravi was already to make my trip relaxing and worthwhile he was managing everything and that took a load from my head. The Karnataka Kaleidoscope Odyssey has started off well , I have meet friends and seen an ancient city and  a lost civilization  from so up close . The city cools up again at night the temperatures drop by as much as six degrees and one can wander off on the street after dinner that’s what I usually do just to get my digestion going . The temples of the city are a marvel to see and many of them remind me of the temples I saw in Sri lanka .

Now I say farewell to a city which has hosted me so well thought the week. I will cherish this visit and now share it with all my readers.

My Mysuru excursion was almost over, I had already negotiated a good rate with my taxi driver who was ready to take me all over Karnataka for sixteen days, from Coorg to Chikkamagaluru to Nandi Hills and then to Hubli all this for rupees seventy thousand. I was ready for it but not before I bought some sandalwood oil from a local shop this city is famous for its Sandalwood oil which is used for massaging the body and purifying the skin. I also slaved around a few mobile phone shops trying to get my sim card and to work. Then as we were all set to leave for Coorg my hotel called up and informed me that I still had to pay then twelve thousand rupees, we had to turn around to complete that transactions. The afternoon was hot and there was some humidity too in the air.

The journey to Coorg would be a three-hour journey almost hundred and fifty kilometers. I was ready to fall asleep but for the air conditioning inside my taxi that kept me awake. We did stop over at a very local eating joint, it was very traditional and food was served on banana leaves. I gave company to my driver and enjoyed dosa and rice on banana leaves. I ate like a local man and that was fun.

We managed to reach my hotel aptly named the Cocoon in the hill station of Coorg but before that we had to cross a wild life sanctuary, which had elephants and wild buffalo’s roaming around and also ponds and streams. Coorg is known for its coffee and is a chilly growing area. It produces the best chilly powder made in India.

I took my taxi guy along as usual and headed down the coffee plantations of Coorg their is a Tata Coffee factory in one of the plantations here as TATA is a major player in coffee. We drove through small villages and even a dense forest area. Coorg is very green full of tall palm trees and chilly plants. The primary colours of Coorg are green and red mud a texture prevalent in many of the village huts and walls.

We kept driving through and finally arrived at Abbey Falls this is a huge more then fifty meter fall which is situated on a hill. I took my entry ticket of Rs 40 and walked right in. You have to walk quite a distance on steps to get to the fall. It was quite a site but I have seen bigger water falls. Non the less I took pictures of the falls along with the huge splash it made.

Their sheer shops selling Khajur wine and Lassi, it was hot and I gulped a lassi down. The journey back was fun too as I tried not to fall asleep all along. Today was my first big day out into the city. Its peaceful and very green no wonder Sam Manikshaw spent his retired life in this city.

It also has a touch of Islam and Muslim culture as their where two large and splendid mosques in and around the market place and I can hear the azan prayers from my room in the evening. Their are shops and hotels all along and the place can be covered in a bus or an auto rickshaw.

So far I have enjoyed being in Coorg and also the collar weather during the evening and especially the night.

I have been now on the road for over three days and there has been much for me to talk about. The flight to Bangalore was easy and relaxed there was a stopover in Jaipur in between and then the taxi rides from Hubli Airport to Hampi. I slept most of the taxi journey as Ii was hot in the afternoon, unexpectedly so as we are still in the month of February. I was soon to raise that the hotel I had booked by the name of Priyadarshini Inn was very far away almost a forty-minute car journey from Hampi, this I was informed by my friend Ravi who was my host in Hampi and Hospet. After spending one night at Priyadarshini, I decided to move out it was a very uninspiring side of the city only a few shops and a few hotels. It was best for me to move out which I duly did and Ravi and his work mates drove me to Hampi Hotel near the Hospet Railway station. But before that I had the opportunity to visit Ravi’s office and also enjoy lunch with his friends. Ravi is a civil engineer and supplies construction material to the city which Is also a big producer of iron ore and raw iron. It has the biggest iron mill in the state run by the Jindal’s and most of the city’s economy is run by the steel business along with tourism, as tourist from Asia and Europe throng to Hampi to see its ancient ruins and temples which bear testimony to the Vijaya Nagar Dynasty going back to the thirteenth century. The ruins of its capital city, its temples and horse stables are what many explorers come to see.

I quickly took a room in the Hampi hotel and after sharing a beer with my friends I decided to enjoy the food of the city I ordered a chicken biriyani and fried prawns along with a mutton curry. It was very hot and spicy and the masala made my mouth water and tears exploded in my eyes, it was that bad the chilly. This was my first observation of the city and the local Karnataka cuisine. My verdict the food is very hot and I had to gulp Gulaab Jamuns to get the spice off my tongue.

From the hills of Dehra Doon I was suddenly transported to the hot plains of Karnataka and into a bowls of a dusty place, full of duty brown fields and irrigation canals, I could even spot a wind mill when we were driving to my hotel. The city is also blessed and irrigated by the VeerBhadra river which cuts through its land. I took a quite stroll around the city but the thing that struck me most was the Hospet railway station which has a very unique architecture they call it Hospet Junction, and then I walked around the freedom park favoring the mood of the slow night traffic. The city has an efficient auto rickshaw service and also a few buses that run across its many roads, one of the other attraction is a large mansion of a local politician.

The Hanuman temple was where I spent my evening marveling the statute of Hanuman Ji. But the afternoons would get quite hot, thus I decided to make two trips to Humpy and cover it over two days. I even managed to enjoy a local street lunch off chicken rice and onions form an outside stall for thirty rupees only.

It was on the third day that I got hacked my website anujtikku.com got hacked by hackers who seemed to be pissed off that I had written a book on the Shraddha Walker Murder case they were pissed off with me that I had spoken on Love Jihad in the book. The anonymous hackers also left a message as a screen saver on my blog “You have been hacked “Anonymous. The hackers had left a message also that Anti Muslim posts on Love Jihad will not be tolerated. It was a direct threat. This was the first time in seven years of blogging that I have been hacked like this all my data had vanished and my payment gateway was dismantling through spy malware. They had done a good job and someone must have spent an hour doing the entire job and then posting the message. I got in touch with my blog team members and asked him to look into the hack and contact our hosting guys to get the site back and running. But the word from my blog team was that it could take four days to get the site back and even then a lot of the past data would not be completely retrieved. “Get a fire wall around my blog site and see that this doesn’t happen again, also catch the guys who did this hack, their IP address and see if we can fuck their system. “These where my instructions to Vivek who is the team lead for my blog.

Great I seem to be controversies child, my book Shredding Shraddha was on the hit list of Muslim Jihadi’s. My site seemed to be hacked from somewhere in Russia, although it could also be someone from Turkey my team is still trying to figure that one out. It took them a whole two days to get the site up with some data, there is still work to be done on the payment gateway system which was totally made redundant by the hacker’s malware program. These Jihadi’s had done a hit job on my website trying to sabotage my book launch on the Shraddha Walker murder case.

Although it was pain me being hacked I was enthused by the fact that my book had made a sudden impact, their where people who were reading my dark shit and even getting offended by me. That means that I do have some loyal readers out there, that kinda encouraged me a lot. Getting Hacked in Humpy wow! What a Start to my Karnataka Adventures. I had already started making waves travelling to and fro on the streets just watching the locals go by their daily chores. The street walls are littered with famous movie posters of the top films from the state. A famous star in the state just  died while doing hectic training in the gym. Puneeth Rajkumar a Kannada Cinema Star was the youngest son of Dr Raj Kumar who was a superstar himself. Puneet’s posters where all over the place his pictures with a garland where on every road, they really miss him it seems.

The heat was another thing that I have felt, so lethargic throughout my trip in Hampi, thank god for sugar cane juice and salted lassi that kept the heat away. I would Start my day be twelve noon after a hearty breakfast of toast cornflakes and poori aloo. The hotel taxi would take me to Hampi the main site the cost Rs 2400. A fifteen-minute car ride and we would arrive at the Vijay Nagar ruins. I would get a guide for another Rs 2000 and the rest was taken care of, I walked across the ruins taking pictures, the most exciting part was being blessed my Laxmi a famous female elephant who blesses everyone who places a Rs 10 note on her trunk. The pictures where fun and my guide would keep blabbering on about the beauty of the place and how the kings had built it over the years. I would often put my headphones on listening to music just following my guide. Till I came to the banks of the VeerBhadra river and the VeerBhadra Temple. At times stopping to have some sugar cane juice, that was one way of getting some walking done through the day, my walking had dipped considerably this week, I need to get that back on track.

Hampi did remind me a lot of the Angkor Watt in Cambodia the dusty lanes there is so much of the colour   brown in this city. The locals are very friendly one of them even bought me a ten-rupee entry ticket to the park.

The main attraction is the river and the elephant I also enjoyed the Narasimha statue which was very interesting and also very imposing. I also managed to circle around the Ganesha Statue which was carved from a single black stone a large Ganesha illuminated from natural day light.

The Guide would again start to chatter away telling me about one historical fact after another about the place. But my stamina would soon run out and I would pack up from the day after a short excursion.

In two trips I managed to cover over sixty percent of Humpy, its temples carved of red stone still remain entrenched in my mind. Most of Hampi has a vivid blue sky line with monuments made from red and yellow sand stones. Most structures have pillars with carvings of elephants, horses and deer. There is also a giant shiva linga and how could I not mention the sun dial, there is also a sun dial in one of the temples. The local are friendly everyone understands English the local language is in Kannada and so are all the signage’s in the city.

As I had said earlier the primary colors of the city are dust brown yellow and red the canals are river have a hue of emerald green in them and the dark blue sky does give Humpy its distinct look and flavor. The afternoons are sunny and dry I would often stare at construction workers going about their job in the day as most people strolled the sidewalks of the city covering their heads with shawls, cloth and large straw hats. The foreigners where all in their hats and sun glasses. Keenly enjoying the view and exploring the relics of this ancient city. The Hospet railway station has a splendid rail line and a railway signal as well and I would often walk past it in the evening.

I got up late today it was almost noon and the sunlight hit me flush on my face as I opened my eyes gingerly, it was noon for sure and I could hear the traffic through the open glass window of my room. The sun was out and I could still hear the clatter of construction taking place mourned my hotel. I realized that I had asked my friend Ravi to come over for lunch, so it was important for me to start my day however lazy and lethargic I felt. It is true the afternoon heat has made me slow. Soon Ravi arrived with couple of his work mates, his lovely daughter was in toe. “You know that Indian flag post it is the tallest flow post in India.” Ravi pointed to a large flag post almost three kilometers for the hotel. It according to Ravi was the tallest flag post carrying the Indian flag, now that was a new revelation for me, man one does learn new things when one is travelling.

We sat down with a few beers and snacks, the boys wanted to unwind and sat down for lunch along with a gossip session, all my guest had been living in the city for over a decade and where almost like natives of Hampi. I was happy to get all the first-hand information on the area, Ravi also promised to take me for his own private tour of Hampi in his car tomorrow.” We have spent simple life here, but one has to work luckily the steel business gives the people here some employment and there is always some construction work or another going on in the area “Ravi explained as we all drink beer and had masala peanuts.” Two things that are distinct here is the afternoon heat and the chilies and masala in the food it’s just too hot for me to handle but I am sure you guys are used to it.” I told the Kannada boys.” Yes, but we are sued to it, we don’t have a night life here so we all get together for drinks and dinner most evenings that along with music and movies that’s are only entertainment.” Ravi said trying to acquaint me with what life here in this city is.

I managed to catch up with a walk around the city and managed to walk past the bus depot, there was a local bank and an outlet of Reliance Fish selling daily grocery there was also a medical store. The basic amenities of the locals are meet fairly by the commodities sold in the market place.

On the pavement I saw an old beggar woman having tea she had lost most of her teeth, she was laughing at me and staring at me with her piercing green eyes, it was light to behold she was dark old and frail but her face shone brightly. I decided to do a tit for tat and made facial gestures to her, of my own, I would move my cheeks form right to left or puff them. The beggar woman would laugh and make faces at me. Just a minor distraction on my daily walks. It’s going to be khichdi for dinner as well it seems, I just can’t handle a hot spicy curry not in Karnataka at least. For me I have been saved by the prawn and chicken fried rice as Chinese food is not that spicy.

The nights are dry and aired and the temperature is about 28 degrees, I was told by Ravi and his friends that Coorg will be much cooler as it is near the mountains and hills, they insisted that I go to the Chamundi Hills as well. They have been fumigating the hotel all evening trying to ward away insects and mosquito. My lonely walks are my only solace and the only way I can lose myself in the streets of Hampi.