Overview of the trip

The name of our interim “Temple Town Tales”, itself, was a brief about whole course and what exactly we were supposed to do when we reach there. I got the connection between these eventually.

Initially, before actually heading to Hampi, we had different lectures, games and activities for a week that helped us to develop a mindset about the trip. We got know about how our research approach should be. These activities included visiting temples nearby, knowing the history or stories behind it, introducing ourselves by telling history of our respective families etc. These activities turned out to be fun as we all started to know about each other and bonding. Apart from the faculty members, our group had one more accompanist, Eduardo, who had come from the US, and was qualified and experienced in photography. He told us about his projects and how can one use the medium photography in storytelling.  

Before going there, each of us had researched a tab bit about the place and had a rough idea about what are they looking forward gain from the trip. As for me, I just wanted to explore that place and find out what Hampi really is, wanted to look at it in every possible aspect.

Roaming around Hampi was our first task to do for the first two days. We peregrinated around Hampi to see main places over there like Virupaksha temple, Hemakuta hill temples, and monolithic structures and so on. Next day, we went to see a village nearby called ‘Anegundi.

First two days of the trip were over and now it was time for us to venture on our own. Explore Hampi with our own perception. That was scary at the beginning, but eventually that became our daily routine. I had never experienced visiting a place and absorb its essence completely in. Spending as much time as you want at any place you like, talking to people you find interesting were the things I would have never done if I wasn’t allowed to do for the study. It was a thrilling experience for me. Every day, I was finding something new. I would try to relate it to my research topic. I began my journey by peeping into the history of the place and connect it to the people living presently there. That is because I feel that knowing the past helps you understand why present is like this.

I attempted to look at that town beyond its religious importance and known as a tourist place. Before that usually going to temples was restricted for me to only see the temple, appreciate its beauty and importance and worship there. Contradicting that, in this journey I hardly remember joining both hands in front of the god to pray. I was more curious about what is happening around the temple.

For our evening discussions, one of our facilitators Narendra used to tell us about talking to strangers. How one can learn about lot of things just by having a little conversation with strangers. Looking up on the internet, searching through books is an easy way out. But if you talk to a person that connects and that can be never forgotten. I tried using conversation as a medium for the source of information. And I found out that I do not personally face any problem with talking to strangers. I can make them feel comfortable and make them talk about things. Although I talked to very few people, but I could listen to them carefully and understand what THEY have to say, not just bombarding my opinions and questions on them.

At the end some people started recognizing me and referred me as a local which was kind of overwhelming for me.

A kind of a downer I feel throughout the journey would be that I never allowed myself to sit back, relax and enjoy whatever is coming. I was constantly engaged thinking about my research topic and how things would work out if I do them in some different way, how to put up all together, how to find sources.  I think stressing upon that made me miss out the ‘the doing nothing’ fun. That probably was one more thing that I learnt from this.

Summing up, Hampi expedition has been an enriching, learning experience for me. Surely it was not a leisure trip but I had fun exploring something new. Also living together for 8 days in an unfamiliar place as a team or group helped us to create a bond between us. At the end of the trip we all knew each other till some extent, I can say that we know each others strengths. This expedition gave me a different perception of seeing a place. It gave me an informative eye-vision to look around the environment. Now I can try to understand things which are not only on the surface but are at the core.