Got up again at 4 AM, its so difficult. When I go back, I will sleep, put some light instrumentals and sleep, just sleep. Soon the excitement got into me, it was still dark outside , took the bike and on the road. Driving on an empty road in dusk is something to experience. Its there every day while I am asleep. There are many things like this which we just miss, while they are right withen our reach. And we complain about a monotonous life. When I get my cycle, I will try to experience this more often.
After about 20 mins we reached Hospet, most of the ATMs were not working, some without cash, so we pushed along, decided to have breakfast in Kostagi. Soon we caught the highways and the drive was as pleasant as it could be. We were quite fortunate to have very nice weather all through the journey, it was the in between kind of weather, not raining, overcast, not humid either, just perfect for a drive. Soon it was just the roads and the trucks , empty fields all around and we were maintaining a constant 70.
Reached Kostagi around 7 AM, after inquiring around a bit, Krishna restaurant seemed to be the place. For the last two days we didn't have a proper breakfast, so feasted on the Vada and Dosa and coffee. From Kostagi Badami took about 2 hrs, we didnt take the highway, so asked around a bit and finally we were there. On the way visited the Banshankri temple, offered prayers, these days I am getting a bit religious, felt good about it, confident about the journey ahead and off we went to visit the Badami Caves. The sculptures here are awesome, unlike Hampi where the sculptures lacked any emotions, here you can sense some personality on the sculptures, they had expressions.
The first breakdown, Sumeet's bike had a clutch problem, good that it happened near Badami, managed to fix that, took about half an hour though. We were running a little late by now, the initial plan was to start for Hampi by 2 PM max. It was about 12 PM now and we had two more places to cover. When you plan a trip like this, especially with bikes and all, you should always leave some legroom, cause breakdowns will and often happen. We were on our way to "Patta ******", on the way the bike didn't felt right, it was wobbling after some time it was apparent that I had a flat tire, I honked for the other guys to stop but they were a bit ahead, anyways they came back after some time, when they didn't find me following. Fortunately we were about 2 kms from "Patta*****", another 45 mins,the puncture got repaired and we were at that difficult to pronounce place. It was already 1PM, we gave ourselves 1 hr to explore this site have lunch and then return for Hampi.
This place was the site where the Chalaukiyans had experimented with different temple formats, The best of the lot was the Virupaksha temple, the carvings on this temple were the best so far. After spending about an hour had the jowar roti lunch, which was really good, besides we were hungry like anything. We finally decided we are going to visit Aihole and then return, the logic was, if we miss it now, we wont again come here for Aihole itself, so we will miss it forever. We planned to start for Hampi by 3:45 at any cost.
Aihole was a disappointment really, or maybe we were in so much hurry, just visited the Durga temple and frankly was a bit tired too. Sumeet in the mean time was following a cute looking girl who was traveling with her mom and dad. This fellow in between visits to the temple, managed to find out her name, She is from bellary, her father works in a hydel project there, exchanged telephone numbers almost managed to get an invite for diner with them.
3:45 and time to start for Hampi, for once our timing was right , after we caught the highway maintained constant 70 the 100 cc bike was really pushed to the limit, I have a Pulsar 150 and you really feel the 50 cc gap, wonder how a 220 cc bike would feel. The road was pretty good, except for the occasional potholes, which were quite big. When you are maintaining 70+ riding on a bike over a pothole is a bit risky, especially while nurturing a fracture injury. Sometimes you just don't have any options, trucks will not give way and push you off the road.
Anyways pushed along reached Kostagi around 5:30, had snacks again at Krishna restaurant. It started raining a bit, didn't look good at all , we still had around 60 odd kms for Hospet, thankfully the rain subsided. Through the whole trip I didn't have a helmet, I know its a stupid thing, but no other option really. Insisted on a helmet from the bike vendor, he got an helmet all right, which someone had mistakenly tried to clean with Kerosene. So it gave that constant stench , had to leave it back in Hampi. So without visors I had to put on my goggles and it was getting dark. Have to have to get a pair of driving glasses when I get back to Hyderabad. There were some hiccups, especially when it became quite dark and I had to take off the goggles. But we reached Hospet safely and from there Ravi drove to Hampi.
We had missed the evening return bus to Hospet, so got an auto to Hospet bus stand. Had dinner after a long wait for the bus, got in, and the best sleep so for in a bus.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Hampi:Day 2, Aug 16th
Dragged myself out of the bed at 4 AM, Its so very difficult no matter how much of enthu you might have.Anyways we started towards Matunga hill.The idea was to get on top of that hill to catch the sun rise. After a short walk from the Hampi bazaar we were on the base of the Matunga hill, its a short hill but strategically located to get a commanding view of Hampi. There is a short flight of stairs infested with monkeys, was scared a bit cause of the camera pouch, it could easily be mistaken for some food. We were carrying some biscuits and the mokeys knew it instantly, they wont leave us without that, after a little struggle where we tried to be too smart, we left the biscuits with them and they didnt bother us after that.From the top of Matunga hill you can see the Hampi town the royal center and the sacred center, and the Tungabhadra river flowing alongside. But the sun rise was not to be experienced, cause of the cloud cover.
I was so tired at that point and there was such a nice cool breeze almost dozed off there. Then we started descending through the other face, the next target was Vithala temple. On the way there one can see the remains what possibly looked like an early irrigation system. On the way to the Vitalla temple sat by the bank of the river, near a place where there is a natural constriction, the river changes its course over there and makes a great deal of rumbling sound, possibly grumbling over the obstruction :).
Vitalla temple didn't disappoint, When you enter the temple the chariot is the first thing that you notice and you can stand there gaping at it for hours.I was not in a very good mood today, sad at wondering what this place might have looked like had it not been pillaged. And then there were all these tourist posing around, on a serious note we really have a population problem, there are way too many around and not many have the sense to be a little discreet, they will be so noisy and conspicuous.
By this time was quite hungry so started the walk back to Hampi, after searching around quite a bit, (Hampi really needs a decent restaurant) went to this hotel where it took ages to get our order. Filled myself with all kinds of stuff, went back to the guest house and slept instantly.
In the evening we visited the Virupaksha temple, you just cant miss the spirituality around these places, sat there for quite some time, just sat there, no thoughts nothing. Be aware of your being, and wondering whats the point in all these.Am I really just a bunch of chemicals? With these thoughts running around visited a bookshop, wanted to read the Vedas since I was a kid, its kind of strange, you scour the world , soak in all the stuff yet miss something closer home. It has to start somewhere so here I am. I am seriously planning to get into them, the world doesn't make sense to me at all.
Tomorrow we start on the bike trip to Badami, so got the bikes that night itself, had dinner an awful one and tomorrow I have to get up at 4 AM again !
Note to myself: Not to carry soaps in future trips, a shower gel is all you need and less of a hassle, and multi purpose. Also need to get a backpack where I can carry a water bottle.
I was so tired at that point and there was such a nice cool breeze almost dozed off there. Then we started descending through the other face, the next target was Vithala temple. On the way there one can see the remains what possibly looked like an early irrigation system. On the way to the Vitalla temple sat by the bank of the river, near a place where there is a natural constriction, the river changes its course over there and makes a great deal of rumbling sound, possibly grumbling over the obstruction :).
Vitalla temple didn't disappoint, When you enter the temple the chariot is the first thing that you notice and you can stand there gaping at it for hours.I was not in a very good mood today, sad at wondering what this place might have looked like had it not been pillaged. And then there were all these tourist posing around, on a serious note we really have a population problem, there are way too many around and not many have the sense to be a little discreet, they will be so noisy and conspicuous.
By this time was quite hungry so started the walk back to Hampi, after searching around quite a bit, (Hampi really needs a decent restaurant) went to this hotel where it took ages to get our order. Filled myself with all kinds of stuff, went back to the guest house and slept instantly.
In the evening we visited the Virupaksha temple, you just cant miss the spirituality around these places, sat there for quite some time, just sat there, no thoughts nothing. Be aware of your being, and wondering whats the point in all these.Am I really just a bunch of chemicals? With these thoughts running around visited a bookshop, wanted to read the Vedas since I was a kid, its kind of strange, you scour the world , soak in all the stuff yet miss something closer home. It has to start somewhere so here I am. I am seriously planning to get into them, the world doesn't make sense to me at all.
Tomorrow we start on the bike trip to Badami, so got the bikes that night itself, had dinner an awful one and tomorrow I have to get up at 4 AM again !
Note to myself: Not to carry soaps in future trips, a shower gel is all you need and less of a hassle, and multi purpose. Also need to get a backpack where I can carry a water bottle.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Hampi Weekend Day 1
It was a long weekend following the Independence day, the 61st. Long weekends have begun to frighten me a bit. What to do, I am quite restless by nature and spare time is something in which something needs to be done. As luck would have it happened to meet two freakos Ravi and Sumeet, these guys were planning to visit Hampi, and I just wanted to escape from the city so hopped in, they were gracious enough to accept me at such a short notice.
The frequency couldn't have matched better, right from the first meeting in Cyber Gateway I had a positive feeling, I knew for sure it would be perfect to travel with these people. No baggages, very open, excitable, confident I was really looking forward to this trip. After Mumbai and EMp75 403 flat this is the first time where I was on the same page as to what fun means.
So on 14th evening left early from office and took the bus to Hospet. Hospet is abt 9 hrs from Hyderabad and roads are in pretty good shape. Couldn't sleep in the bus, never been able to, but new place so no fatigue. From Hospet Hampi is an half hour drive and buses are frequent from the hospet bus stand. You travel for 9 hours and its a totally different place, India is so diverse, cant escape it. On the bus there were these group of kids coming back from Independence day celebrations from school and they were very chatty, you cant make out anything Kannada is very different from North Indian languages, its a bit intimidating I must say. Unusually, the kids were not shy at all, Ravi who is from Karnataka asked all sorts of questions and the kids did all the talking. All the girl kids had ribbons in their hair and apparently it looked like part of the uniform, they explained the color also is important, class 10th you get to wear red ribbons , 9th white ones and 8th green.
Reached Hampi, checked into a guest house, Rs 500 for a room seemed okey, the rooms were quite small though but attached bath was clean. Sumeet had got all the maps and the plan was to have some food first , then check out the ruins. Hampi has basically two areas of interest, the Royal Center and the Sacred Center. Day 1 we decided to explore the Royal center. Food is an issue here, but hungry we were, so managed. Then we rented out bicycles, rupees 40 per cycle per day.
Was riding a bicycle after a long time probably something like 4-5 years. And off we went the first place was Sri Krishna temple and then the Royal center, the ruins are spread over quite a large area, they are connected by a dirt road which makes it perfect to explore on a bicycle.
After seeing the structures you do get an sense of loss, what could have been so spectacular is now in ruins cause someone ransacked it. It was really sad to see some fine statues defaced, limbs missing, how could someone do that ? Humans are really a despicable lot they will go to any extent do anything and yet they will be the ones to preach morality, culture and what not. We are always so self centered so is our view of the world.
Was quite tired after the whole day, went for a walk along Tungabhadra, the river was quite swollen due to the rains and it was overcast so no moonlight riverside chilling out :(. Tomorrow morning had to get up early about 4 Am to catch the sunrise.
The frequency couldn't have matched better, right from the first meeting in Cyber Gateway I had a positive feeling, I knew for sure it would be perfect to travel with these people. No baggages, very open, excitable, confident I was really looking forward to this trip. After Mumbai and EMp75 403 flat this is the first time where I was on the same page as to what fun means.
So on 14th evening left early from office and took the bus to Hospet. Hospet is abt 9 hrs from Hyderabad and roads are in pretty good shape. Couldn't sleep in the bus, never been able to, but new place so no fatigue. From Hospet Hampi is an half hour drive and buses are frequent from the hospet bus stand. You travel for 9 hours and its a totally different place, India is so diverse, cant escape it. On the bus there were these group of kids coming back from Independence day celebrations from school and they were very chatty, you cant make out anything Kannada is very different from North Indian languages, its a bit intimidating I must say. Unusually, the kids were not shy at all, Ravi who is from Karnataka asked all sorts of questions and the kids did all the talking. All the girl kids had ribbons in their hair and apparently it looked like part of the uniform, they explained the color also is important, class 10th you get to wear red ribbons , 9th white ones and 8th green.
Reached Hampi, checked into a guest house, Rs 500 for a room seemed okey, the rooms were quite small though but attached bath was clean. Sumeet had got all the maps and the plan was to have some food first , then check out the ruins. Hampi has basically two areas of interest, the Royal Center and the Sacred Center. Day 1 we decided to explore the Royal center. Food is an issue here, but hungry we were, so managed. Then we rented out bicycles, rupees 40 per cycle per day.
Was riding a bicycle after a long time probably something like 4-5 years. And off we went the first place was Sri Krishna temple and then the Royal center, the ruins are spread over quite a large area, they are connected by a dirt road which makes it perfect to explore on a bicycle.
After seeing the structures you do get an sense of loss, what could have been so spectacular is now in ruins cause someone ransacked it. It was really sad to see some fine statues defaced, limbs missing, how could someone do that ? Humans are really a despicable lot they will go to any extent do anything and yet they will be the ones to preach morality, culture and what not. We are always so self centered so is our view of the world.
Was quite tired after the whole day, went for a walk along Tungabhadra, the river was quite swollen due to the rains and it was overcast so no moonlight riverside chilling out :(. Tomorrow morning had to get up early about 4 Am to catch the sunrise.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Episode 4:Into the death Zone
Camp 3 to Camp 4, 7900 meters, March 13 2006.
Mognes who is trying Everest without bottled oxygen is a mountaineering purist, he thinks the only way to measure yourself with nature is to use the body that he was born with. In the death zone, the extreme altitude shuts down digestion and the body consumes its own muscle tissue for energy.No one has ever survived the death zone for more than five days. thats where these guys are headed today.
Mognes after he reached the death zone, felt all the classical symptoms of the 'cerebral thing',he started mumbling, feeling light in his head . he had to turn back to Camp 3. He is in the early phase of Acute Mountain sickness, his lips have turned blue. He was doing so well till this moment. " Its not about this mate, its not abt this, You have got the heart of a fucking ox, You look after yourself in there mate, dont beat yourself up". Bottled Oxygen at this altitude will alleviate the symptoms but a full recovery requires two days at lower altitude. After chasing his dream for two years he has to leave it all back for now, for some other day.
They go past exit cracks then the mushroom rock, near the mushroom rock they change the oxygen canisters. First step and then Second step at -40 C.From second step its another 2 hour climb to the summit.Sometimes there is a waiting line for the summit, the window of good weather is what everyone waits for. So rush hour traffic when weather clears.Just imagine standing in a queue at 8300mts.
Terry and Bill are finally on the top, top of the world.Conquering Everest doesnt stop after a photo on the summit, 80% of all accidents occur while coming down.They started the climb at about 1 AM in the morning and now they have started their descent around 11AM in the morning. After being at the summit your adrenalin level goes down a bit and of course tiredness sets in. While coming down Terry has very cold finger tips and his career as a doctor depends on his hands.
Just facts cold,clean facts you cant stop thinking, and admire the capacity of the human spirit.
Mognes who is trying Everest without bottled oxygen is a mountaineering purist, he thinks the only way to measure yourself with nature is to use the body that he was born with. In the death zone, the extreme altitude shuts down digestion and the body consumes its own muscle tissue for energy.No one has ever survived the death zone for more than five days. thats where these guys are headed today.
Mognes after he reached the death zone, felt all the classical symptoms of the 'cerebral thing',he started mumbling, feeling light in his head . he had to turn back to Camp 3. He is in the early phase of Acute Mountain sickness, his lips have turned blue. He was doing so well till this moment. " Its not about this mate, its not abt this, You have got the heart of a fucking ox, You look after yourself in there mate, dont beat yourself up". Bottled Oxygen at this altitude will alleviate the symptoms but a full recovery requires two days at lower altitude. After chasing his dream for two years he has to leave it all back for now, for some other day.
They go past exit cracks then the mushroom rock, near the mushroom rock they change the oxygen canisters. First step and then Second step at -40 C.From second step its another 2 hour climb to the summit.Sometimes there is a waiting line for the summit, the window of good weather is what everyone waits for. So rush hour traffic when weather clears.Just imagine standing in a queue at 8300mts.
Terry and Bill are finally on the top, top of the world.Conquering Everest doesnt stop after a photo on the summit, 80% of all accidents occur while coming down.They started the climb at about 1 AM in the morning and now they have started their descent around 11AM in the morning. After being at the summit your adrenalin level goes down a bit and of course tiredness sets in. While coming down Terry has very cold finger tips and his career as a doctor depends on his hands.
Just facts cold,clean facts you cant stop thinking, and admire the capacity of the human spirit.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Its simple really, put one foot in front of another :)
Russel Brice the expedition Leader briefing before the summit attempt:
"71 days for a 10 day climb, its pretty crazy a stupid game.Remember the mountain will stay here, we are mere mortals. The sherpas have life too, they have families and its not their job to die alongside you because of your ambitions. If I see, that thats gonna happen I am gonna call the sherpas away, will deal with that in the court later and you will die.Its not their job to die for you.Lets give it our best shot and lets be safe, Good Luck."
Lot of fitness that people bring is Mental Fitness. just get used to sufferring.
From North Col 23000 ft its a 4 day climb to the summit.Camp 2 the next pit stop is at 24500 ft. Solar radiation is brutal in thin air, climbers who breathe with their jaws open can sunburn the roof of their mouths. People who have lost their lives on Everest are still out there somewhere on the mountain. Its just too difficult to recover the bodies. I don't think they would complain, they died chasing their dreams and Everest as the final resting place is kind of romantic.
Whiteout : When unbroken snow falls from an overcast sky,unto snow covered ground its called the whiteout. On this night a Checz climber died after a fall on the south side. So far 4 sherpas and one climber since the start of the climbing season.
Mark Ingles (the double amputee) : "I am not equal to the other climbers but I just need to be equal to the mountain".
How can you turn back, its your dream, how can you turn back on your dream ? The price may be your life but you cant turn back, I don't think I can. But as Bret put it philosophically he reached the top of his mountain , its not Everest but he pushed himself to the limit and he is secure with it, fair enough I would say.
When You hear the statements above that singular dialogue from the movie Matrix rings in your head. You ask yourself which one is true, should I believe or shall I loose faith. Its a choice or is it ?
"71 days for a 10 day climb, its pretty crazy a stupid game.Remember the mountain will stay here, we are mere mortals. The sherpas have life too, they have families and its not their job to die alongside you because of your ambitions. If I see, that thats gonna happen I am gonna call the sherpas away, will deal with that in the court later and you will die.Its not their job to die for you.Lets give it our best shot and lets be safe, Good Luck."
Lot of fitness that people bring is Mental Fitness. just get used to sufferring.
From North Col 23000 ft its a 4 day climb to the summit.Camp 2 the next pit stop is at 24500 ft. Solar radiation is brutal in thin air, climbers who breathe with their jaws open can sunburn the roof of their mouths. People who have lost their lives on Everest are still out there somewhere on the mountain. Its just too difficult to recover the bodies. I don't think they would complain, they died chasing their dreams and Everest as the final resting place is kind of romantic.
Whiteout : When unbroken snow falls from an overcast sky,unto snow covered ground its called the whiteout. On this night a Checz climber died after a fall on the south side. So far 4 sherpas and one climber since the start of the climbing season.
Mark Ingles (the double amputee) : "I am not equal to the other climbers but I just need to be equal to the mountain".
How can you turn back, its your dream, how can you turn back on your dream ? The price may be your life but you cant turn back, I don't think I can. But as Bret put it philosophically he reached the top of his mountain , its not Everest but he pushed himself to the limit and he is secure with it, fair enough I would say.
When You hear the statements above that singular dialogue from the movie Matrix rings in your head. You ask yourself which one is true, should I believe or shall I loose faith. Its a choice or is it ?
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Everest Beyond the limit: Episode 2
Episode 2:Standing on the shoulders of the giants
people claim Everest, But Its the sherpas who are the first up there , they go in, lay the safety ropes to the summit, yet we never hear about them.One argument that comes instantly is what about intent?, its cause of these expeditions that the sherpas summit it, without expeditions these sherpas wont be going up Everest. I mean Everest was there, Sherpas were there. Yet it took an English survey to discover Everest to be the highest. It took a NewZealander to be on top and before him numerous other summit attempts. The sherpas never thought along those lines, they were happy praying to their Everest God, the Sagarmatha. The Sherpas look forward to the expeditions every season as a plump job.Its the Discovery Channel which produced "Everest Beyond the Limit", which told the story and to their credit acknowledged the job of the Sherpas. But its their story, there is bound to be bias.If you don't like it tell your story...
Truth can be quite inconvenient when dissected to its bare essentials, thats the way life is in many ways. The devil lies in the details and ignorance quite often is bliss.But then lets not be so cynical.These are teh characters who are going up.
Mogenes Jensen, is from Denmark a country with no mountains, his Everest training consisted of trekking 10 miles a day with 150 pounds of water as weight. He has chronic asthma and plans to do the summit without bottled oxygen. Wants to send out a message to other people sufferring from asthma that "even the summit of Everest is not out of reach, even without bottled oxygen"
George Borat: A 62 year Frenchman, had one of his cancerous kidney removed through his guts rather than his back to allow him to carry mountain gear and that was just 2 months back.
Mark Inglis: had both his legs amputated in an earlier summit attempt in New-Zealand and is now attempting Everest on carbon fibre legs.He is carrying a spare 'leg' cause one of his 'legs' broke during acclimatization climbs.
Tim Medvetez:had a near fatal bike accident. Now metal screws hold his structure together, He is 6 foot five and its a real pain to haul up that massive structure.He says "The doctors telling you that you cant do this cant do that, but thats what motivates me , someone says you cant do something".Well for me this is the essence of life, the spirit.
The summit attempt is now a go in 12 hours.Each step is an eternity, each breath a battle.
"Standing on the shoulders of the giants", the expedition members stand on the sherpas and I stand on top of the expedition members. You guys give me a lot of strength.
people claim Everest, But Its the sherpas who are the first up there , they go in, lay the safety ropes to the summit, yet we never hear about them.One argument that comes instantly is what about intent?, its cause of these expeditions that the sherpas summit it, without expeditions these sherpas wont be going up Everest. I mean Everest was there, Sherpas were there. Yet it took an English survey to discover Everest to be the highest. It took a NewZealander to be on top and before him numerous other summit attempts. The sherpas never thought along those lines, they were happy praying to their Everest God, the Sagarmatha. The Sherpas look forward to the expeditions every season as a plump job.Its the Discovery Channel which produced "Everest Beyond the Limit", which told the story and to their credit acknowledged the job of the Sherpas. But its their story, there is bound to be bias.If you don't like it tell your story...
Truth can be quite inconvenient when dissected to its bare essentials, thats the way life is in many ways. The devil lies in the details and ignorance quite often is bliss.But then lets not be so cynical.These are teh characters who are going up.
Mogenes Jensen, is from Denmark a country with no mountains, his Everest training consisted of trekking 10 miles a day with 150 pounds of water as weight. He has chronic asthma and plans to do the summit without bottled oxygen. Wants to send out a message to other people sufferring from asthma that "even the summit of Everest is not out of reach, even without bottled oxygen"
George Borat: A 62 year Frenchman, had one of his cancerous kidney removed through his guts rather than his back to allow him to carry mountain gear and that was just 2 months back.
Mark Inglis: had both his legs amputated in an earlier summit attempt in New-Zealand and is now attempting Everest on carbon fibre legs.He is carrying a spare 'leg' cause one of his 'legs' broke during acclimatization climbs.
Tim Medvetez:had a near fatal bike accident. Now metal screws hold his structure together, He is 6 foot five and its a real pain to haul up that massive structure.He says "The doctors telling you that you cant do this cant do that, but thats what motivates me , someone says you cant do something".Well for me this is the essence of life, the spirit.
The summit attempt is now a go in 12 hours.Each step is an eternity, each breath a battle.
"Standing on the shoulders of the giants", the expedition members stand on the sherpas and I stand on top of the expedition members. You guys give me a lot of strength.
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