Rootless_Wanderer
Locked away in dark recesses yet the memory still lingers on
The love that died a slow death
It had bloomed like a sunflower in the spring sun
Survived years of autumns and winters
That one night destroyed it
They thought they would weather the storm
But this one blew them off course
Destroyed their moorings
Left them stranded dry and without the roof called love..
I know I know..its corny but the words would not stop :)
For years, they had danced perfectly together
Timing, style and rhythm all got down to a tee
They used to shock bystanders
With the way their bodies moved in unison
Swaying to the music
When did the break happen?
A mis-step here and there
When did he start jiving and she waltzing?
Then came that one last time
She moved as if she was part of him
Eternal lovers playing out their parts
He stared into those deep brown eyes
Knowing that the end was in sight
They walked away from each other
Not looking back
A slight hesitation at the final step
Remembering all the years gone by
I found her as I wandered
Lost in the shadows of an alleyway
In her red ghaghra choli
She razzle dazzled
Her red and gold bangles
Shiny lil diamond stud on her nose
Her red bindi struck chords
In my yearning heart
Her shy eyes refused to meet my gaze
A mystery in the making
I found her as I meandered
In the night time
An avenue with no trees
Neon and bright lights surrounded me
She smouldered and struck a pose
Her little red dress showed off more than it should have
Her glossy black eyes promised nothing and everything
She met my gaze head on without faltering
Just being herself – bold and uncompromising
I meet someone daily
She stares back at me with an unflinching gaze
Her brown- black eyes don’t hesitate
To put my flaws in place
She never stops loving me either
Encourages me every step of the way
I must learn to respect her more
Make her feel special
Not give in to the daily demands of life
It is time to make the change
Correct these errors
Stop staring at my reflection
Effect the transformation
Ripples of light shine through now
Just enough to let her out
The smile breaks through the gloom
They left for work after a lovely morning brekkie made by Kunzu – stuffed mushroom omelettes and pomegranate juice. Left to my own devices, I faffed, unpacked a bit and sat down to watch tele after millions of years :) Kim Basinger movie set in Africa caught my attention and I watched it till the lights went out.
Showered and left to do shopping. Bought my amma a lovely silk sari from Mysore Silk House on
N is a dear college friend of mine who moved to B’lore about 4-5 years back. I hadn’t seen her in a year or two so it was great to catch up with her. Went to Tangerine in Indira Nagar for lunch where I commenced to have lovely bifteck …yummy…We jabbered and caught up on college gossip. Dessert was waffles (absolutely divine stuff)
Having finished lunch, my plan was to go towards Blossoms, a book store opp. Amoeba on
Spent a blissful 60 minutes at Blossoms and if the clock and my wallet weren’t ticking I would have spent more time. Bought 3 books – yay! :) The Bourne Ultimatum is finally in my possession. Elmore Leonard’s 1st book I have ever read – Tishomingo Blues as well and this one called ‘Three Cups of Tea’ – which btw my dear reader is a brilliant book and I would highly recommend it.
Proceeded with an uneventful rick ride towards Koramangala where Sheri and Kunzu stay. We rested for a bit before going towards Firangipani – English pub interiors and nice whisky followed.
Went for dinner next door to Sahib Singh Sultan – had nice khana there. The interiors are like a train and nice ambience eet ees.
Got home and did sleep. Up 14th morning at 5.30 am to catch my Jet flight to Bumbai. Home beckons. My vacation has ended. New job awaits. Have had a brilliant 13 day vacation – visited so many place, met lovely people and had a blast. I am sitting in the flight and ending my travelogue. I hope to do more such trips and travelling alone has given me such self- confidence. Here’s to more such treeps :)
Brown eyed girl
Van Morrison sings
Memories come back
Glances and hot summer flirting
A bike ride quite not forgotten
Moonlit skies on warm white sand
A kiss soft and gentle
Smile lights my face
And stays there….
I really really wanted a coracle ride but it was nigh impossible as the ‘boat riders’ were away voting in their villages. Bloddy elections! So we saw Kondarama temple instead and then proceeded forward to the Royal Enclosure.
Walked and walked and it was flaming hot on top of that! For some reason, today was hotter than yesterday. We saw this
Then took a rick towards the Royal Enclosure. We had contemplated walking and a man on bike had said 1.5 km but I have come to realise distances in the South are a lot, with the locals estimating a different distance and time taken to cover said distance a whole lot differently from you. We saw the Underground Siva temple that smelled of pee. There were water channels flowing into the inner sanctum
From here we walked towards the
Decided it was time we made our way back towards proper Hampi. We started walking on the road and were posing for the perfect snap with the gulmohars when the bus going towards Hampi came barrelling towards us. Hopped on the bus and went to Mango Tree for lunch. Had curd rice and watermelon salad followed by Mixed Fruit juice..yum yum yummy..
Went back towards the rooms to rest before RG left. Time flew and well he left. I left almost within a hour of his leaving. Bus to Hospet cost 10 bucks and lovely scenery on the way. Noticed the Indians staring at the only phirang couple on the bus.
The whole day RG and I kept avoiding desis. Wherever desis turned up there would be noise, yelling, bloody mobile music turned on and talking loudly on the fone. We seem to be incapable of less noise or respectful silences.
The bus broke down at Hospet luckily some kms away from the train station. The phirang couple got down and decided to walk with me towards the train station. We started walking and I got introduced to Josh and Morgan in the process. They were from
We stopped by for a bite (thank God for that as el stupeedo train doesn’t have a pantry) and chatted some more. Very nice people and I hope we get the chance to meet again.
Reached station in time for the train and writing these words at my seat. Tomorrow is the last day of my vacation in
Three cheers to travelling alone in S.India – here’s to more of it (hic)
He was trying very hard to keep his distance. She would not let him go, her finger nails digging into his back. He pushed her away & sat at the edge of the bed. She waited for a minute, pursing her lips and sat up, the sheet falling off her body. She put on his tee shirt, it still smelt of him.
He didn't say a word - just sat and stared into nothingness. She expected the usual tantrums and empty words. She wanted him to hurl them at her so she could feel his pain and remain indifferent. He felt her need coming off in waves but didn't feel as consumed as before to repeat the routine.
Her sigh rented the air. She walked off to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. She stood there, her bare feet digging into the stone cold floor. He sat on the bed and waited for words that would never come.
The love died a very long time back. All that was left was the bleak emptiness of sex and the aftermath reeked of despair and pain.
I am angry and pissed off. I feel the futility and helplessness of it all. What is the f***ing point I want to scream at these people? How dare they come to my city and make it burn? Who are they - these people, who feel that they can enter, rape my city and die for some unknown (and I don't give a shit about it to be honest) cause...
I finished reading 'Once Was Bombay' by Pinki Virani for the 2nd time in the book's lifespan and fell in love with my city all over again. She brings my city to life through her interactions with its politicians, people and Bollywood of course.
She names Vijay Salaskar and there is one chapter on the underworld talking about him. I read about this man and how his wife prays for his safe return. Well now, there will not be a safe return for her husband except for his dead, cold body. Her children will not have a father anymore.
How does killing innocent people justify anything? Does the terrorist check if the person is Hindu/Muslim/white/black or f***ing blue before killing? I don't think the person is even a human being, just a target that is in the way of this f***ing cause.
I am blabbering now...but I am so upset about this..my city is not a battleground. Go fight battles where they need to be fought, should be fought. The Oberoi and the Taj are not battlegrounds and in my lifetime, I hope never to see a repeat of this.
I told my sister earlier, my generation didn't see the kind of violence hers does. There is too much of this senseless shit going on. I have become indifferent to it. This time, the famed Mumbai spirit is broken without a doubt and its going to take awhile for it stand and there is no doubt about that - it will stand, it will rise and it will crush anything that chooses to destroy it.
A friend put it quite succinctly - 'to think all we want to do is live a peaceful life, fall in love, have a few drinks, attend a few plays & bitch about work'. Not too much to ask for no?
This got translated into a day spent at Anegundi which is across the river from Hampi. But first things first, the tale of the breakfast. I ordered breakfast – omelette. RG comes to the South of India and orders an ‘alu paratha’. Badness idea of course. It didn’t taste too good. (This story continues to dinner where he ordered an OM Rice – they basically wrap the rice in an omelette and I ordered a tomato soup)
Took the motor launch and went to Anegundi. Please notice the bike perched on the boat..me and RG saw this and were like :O
On the launch the lil flo manning the boat asked is, ‘Where you from?’ RG replied Bumbai. Immediately he gave Rs 10 back (He had taken Rs 20 from us previously). At Anegundi, we took a lift from a commercial rickshaw till the
Climbed 575 steps to get to the top. Pooped as hell by the time we got there. Going downhill was obviously much faster.
From here we took another rick to Pampa Sarovar where a Laxmi temple was.
Another rick took us into Anegundi where went to the Craft Shop owned by Shama Madam to buy a jute bag and some lovely coasters.
Went hunting for
We entered this cave to meet this sadhu.
We did conversation with the sadhu for 30 odd minutes. He had been living here for three years according to Amma. He was from Guruvayoor and spoke Palakkad Tamil. RG of course doesn’t know Tamil so I was designated translator. He told us the story of the end of the Yadavas and
Walked back to the
Waited for about 10-20 minutes at the river to cross the banks to the Hampi side. Got back to the room and rested. Went out at 6 pm to look for a coracle ride. No coracles but nice tea at the usual tea spot near
Saw the
Went to the Mango Tree for dinner – we are short of options for dinner. The dinner incident with ‘
The last day at Hampi will dawn soon.
The night shimmers with promises
Flickering like a flame
Orange lit shadows
I writhe in passion...or is it pain
It seems a long time ago
The memory doesn’t faze me anymore
I look at it with virginal eyes
That night made me a woman
It scorched me with its intensity
It thawed me…
Yet I remain unfulfilled
I walk along paths that don’t lead me anywhere
Meandering stumbling
I search blindly
It comes to me
I have closed my eyes against the light which sears my very being
I will learn to open them softly gently
And walk again with peace
Since I had nothing to do decided to take a walk around and grab some breakfast. Had the biggest poori bhaaji’s ever in a long time. Managed to demolish 2 and half ones out the three the man gave me.
Then went for a walk around Hampi Bazaar. Amazing place where the people are still using the old structures for their houses & commercial establishments. Hampi of the present co-exists with the Hampi of yore.Visited the
Came back to find RG waiting. He apparently sent me a message which actually got to me the next day. The message read, ‘Come back, come back’ which I thought then was very strange considering he was with me :D Cellphone network is terrible here.
We had lunch together at ‘The Mango Tree’ - this lovely restaurant near the river. Simple khana but lovely ambience. Spoiled (perhaps) by two American types loudly droning on about the environment to their Canadian counterparts.
Lunch finished, we decided to walk around the ruins of Hampi. Saw the Monolithic Bull then walked up the steps to the Anjaneya temple (lovely sculpture of Hanuman here)
We then wandered towards what we thought was the Vitthala temple complex but RG’s aha moment here declared quite clearly that it was the Achutaraya temple complex.
Walked down the Courtesan’s Lane and then went hunting for the Vitthala Temple Complex which we found after an hour. Again beautiful carvings and we discussed if it had been carved there or been brought to the place put together.
Finishing this, we walked back to catch a nice sunset. RG wandered off to imbibe the view and I sat alone and watched the desolate rocky landscape with the breeze for company.
We got a cup of chai and ‘murmure’ – ‘
Got back to our rooms to find that the clothes I had hung out for drying were lying about. The basthurd monkeys had got to them and my pretty red kurta had disappeared into the oblivion. Totally sucks!!
Grabbed a shower and then went for dinner to Mango Tree. Used a torch for the first time in my trip. Ate dinner by kerosene light with the insects for company. Walked back to our rooms. We used the ‘cooler’ in our room in the night. RG tells me this is everywhere in N.India. It’s a cheaper version of the AC and does the job anyways.
Another day in Hampi awaits…
