The Hampi Side of Life

Imagine walking through lush green paddy fields, living in a shack beneath a coconut grove that faces incredible rock formations and just chilling out without a care in the world.

Welcome to the other side of Hampi (Karnataka, India); A land of peace, music, adventure, freedom and nature.

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. - William Shakespeare

Nature always wears the colours of the spirit. - Ralph Emerson

If you think that this is heaven, you have seen nothing yet because, the next image is that of the shacks right in the midst of a coconut grove. That's where we stayed. The photograph was taken while we were rock climbing.

View from the rocks.

On the rocks.

The view from the ground was not bad either. The shacks we stayed at reminded us of Goa. They were comfortable, very reasonably priced and had an amazing vibe to it. It was such a feel-good place that getting out of there was a task.

Hammocks!! a laid back life.

It's places like this which slow down time.

Hampi is known for its temples, rocks and ancient structures of the lost days. According to Indian mythology, the monkey God, Hanuman was born in Hampi and the structures were from his time.

The Queen's Bath.

View of the outside world from inside the Queen's Bath.

These structures have the entire Ramayan mythology depicted on its walls.

The temple elephant is apparently over 100 years old.

Hampi is divided into two parts by a small stream. One side of the stream contains most of the temples. While the other side is a relaxed land filled with tourists from across the globe. The easiest way to cross over is by boat which is what we did. The second side of the river is actually known as "The other side of Hampi" even in the addresses of the shacks there.

The boat ride.

The journey to the other side.

Relaxing at a small pond got us experimenting with water reflections of structures overlooking the water and we loved the outcome. It's not always how well an image is captured, it's how differently it is.

At the pond.

Sketching in water.

A real water painting?

Ripples in clear water.

This inspired a friend of mine to pose everywhere she went and we ended up creating a portfolio.

It was our first time at Hampi and we performed a music gig there. There is a tiny shop containing the widest collection of musical instruments I have ever seen. Instruments were from different parts of  the world including Africa, South America, Australia, India, Sri Lanka and more. You can jam there and take the instruments to your shack for free and drop it off the next day.

The African jambees, thunder drums, rattlers, shakers and more.

Diggeridoos on the ceiling. They are Aboriginal wind instruments.

After jamming with the store owner, he asked us to play a gig for the opening ceremony of a new resort a few kilometers away. He arranged for a tempo traveller and off we went playing music at the back of the vehicle through the dirt roads while picking up random people on the way.

Travel Jammin'.

View from the tempo.

On the road again.

Girls contemplating jumping in.

The relaxing restaurants have great food. Mostly European and Middle Eastern. The shacks are laid back and the waiters do not bother you until you call for them. Most shacks have interesting psychedelic artwork to keep you company.

Chilling at a shack.

We came across wannabe Sadhus(preachers) who earn their living by posing for pictures with tourists and collecting money from them after that.

The part which I missed out capturing on camera is the night music sessions at the shacks where random people come together, create music and have an amazing time. People join in if they want to and some just relax and enjoy the music. We were a part of the music scene that night and loved every moment of it. It was beautiful to see so many unknown people of different ethnic groups and countries bonding over music. It was a powerful experience which made us realise that differences are socially created and we're all one. It was at that moment when we were all engrossed in the music that we forgot about our cameras and mobile phones and thoroughly enjoyed the moment.

Who wants gadgets in a place like this anyway?