I visited Hampi, once the capital of the Vijayanagara empire, recently. I alighted at the Hospet railway station after having a darshan at the Lepakshi Temple.
I asked an auto driver there whether he could take me to the hotel in Hampi in which I had booked a room online. He gladly consented and promised to drop me near the gate to Hampi as further journey of vehicles was forbidden. We reached the gate by 2.30 am and I showed him the address of my hotel. He told me that he was not so sure about its exact location and advised me to walk along the road on the right. He promised to come in the morning for a ride to places of interest there, gave me his mobile number and went back. Latif was his name.
I began to walk slowly along the right path searching for the hotel board. I could see the magnificent Virupaksha Temple gopuram flooded in lights. Not a single human being was around and I walked a long way alone along the empty road having failed to find the hotel.
Then I saw a man sleeping under the open skies. I decided to wake him up and enquire about the hotel. As soon as I called and woke him up, a herd of gigantic dogs baring their canines suddenly ran towards me barking ferociously and I retreated, frightened. Fortunately, they turned back and I escaped their wrath and hurriedly ran back.
I returned to the temple gopuram and sat there on a bench without knowing what to do. I called the hotel phone number many a time, but nobody attended my call in the dead of night. Sitting there on the bench, my mind meandered to the thought of the Sultanates that plundered Hampi after the Battle of Talikota, in which they killed the then Vijayanagara emperor Aliya Rama Raya. I felt as if the furious hounds were the reincarnations of the sultans and I was the descendant of the slain ruler.
I returned to my senses after some time and remembered about Latif. I called him and told him about what happened. He promised to come there as quickly as possible. After some time he came and took me back to a hotel in Hospet and I slept there. Latif came back around 10 am, took me all over Hampi and told me about the history of each and every place there. I can never forget that gem of a person, Latif.
Ajithan C K
Email: ajithanck@gmail.com