I spent 3 days in Hampi. 1 and half day I spent working on my laptop. All the hotels there have wifi. They have to, because neither Tata Photon nor Vodafone have connectivity. Its a heritage place and so the government hasn’t allowed any mobile towers there.

I was wondering what to explore when I eventually got free. I wasn’t sure I would enjoy random ruins. Then I came across some info about there being Kishkindha ruins in Hampi I was totally excited. Most of my generation has grown up watching Ramayana and Mahabharata on TV. No way I will miss a chance of seeing some ruins of this era.

So off I went to Anegundi a nearby village to see the ruins. I hired a moped (I have never driven one before), bargained however possible and drove off. The lovely moped guy bid me off saying ‘In case you have an accident or something give me your Mumbai address so I can claim money for the moped.’ 😀

It was quite exhilarating driving off like this, I don’t think the smile left my face except when big buses headed towards me on the highway. First place I went to was Pampa Sarovar – apparently some water kund where Rama n all must have halted on their journey.

There is a very old devi temple there. It was also the Sharad Poornima night and a marwadi family had come there from a nearby city. They come to this Pampa temple every Sharad Poornima to do the Satyanarayan Katha. I had a good time chatting with fellow Gujaratis. They might have been surprised to see me solo traveling & asked me whether I got scared. I told them that traveling in Karnataka is not scary as people are very friendly, despite language problems they help. Unlike Tamil Nadu 😉

I got free, delicious breakfast – awesome upma and buttermilk.

Anegundi is an interesting sort of village. I guess it was interesting because there wasn’t abject poverty. A lot of villages in India are in a state of obvious poverty and backward. This village did not seem that way. Interspersed were the ruins.

Read more in part 2: https://maproute.in/anegundi-photologue/

There is a powerful Hanumanji spot here at Anjaneya hill, read my blog on that here: https://maproute.in/powerful-hanuman-spot-anjaneya-hill-anegundi-hampi/