A not-so-criminal evening

When I visited Visapur, I had no idea what was in store for me! My girlfriend and I were in Ahmednagar a few days ago and were supposed to leave for Bhopal the following day. However, as she was not well, we had to extend our stay by a day. Not knowing what to do in the time gained, she suggested we go visit her relatives in Visapur.

Located about 41 km to the south-west of Ahmednagar, this small hamlet of 550 homes would rather be easily overlooked by a tourist visiting Maharashtra or India. In fact there is nothing at all that would be of any interest to anyone. The village is quiet and is inhabited by a mere 2500 people who prefer to live a low key life against the hustle and bustle of the nearby metropolitan Pune. The roads were narrow allowing just one vehicle to pass at a time. The fields were barren as it was mid-summer and the sun was spitting fire all over. We reached a particular spot called Visapur phata on the Nagar-Baramati road and waited there as Dinesh (my girlfriend's distant cousin) was supposed to receive us there. In the few minutes that we spent on the crossroads, I took a look around. A small stall that sold tea and wadapav (Indian burger) on the corner, some old folks waiting for the state transport bus, a village urchin whistling his way with a bicycle-tyre, a malnourished dog cuddled up under the sparse shadow of a bush and a black SUV that had just approached! 'He's here, let's go', my thoughts were interrupted by Mau's call who went ahead to greet him. We got into the SUV and let me be honest on this, the breeze of cool air that brushed against my face the moment I got into the vehicle was nothing short of heaven! It might be a common thing for others, but for a traveller who is backpacking across India in the scorching heat of May mostly through unreserved bogies of the Indian railways and state transport buses, it was sheer bliss. One look from Mau and it was enough to understand that the feeling was mutual.

So we drove for maybe half an hour which seemed like 30 seconds in that air conditioned SUV (refer Newton's theory of relativity), had a sumptuous meal of chapati, rice, dal, cauliflower, chutney, pickles, papad, curd and Maharashtra's special aamras (smashed mango pulp) and lied on the sofa watching TV. That is when Dinesh came up with the idea of visiting the nearby jail. Yes, you read it right. Jail.

Turns out that he had some good relationship with the jail authorities and he insisted we take an awareness session of Swachh Bharat for the prisoners. Mau and I had been taking such sessions in schools, colleges, etc but taking a session in a jail was something we had never thought of, rather we had not seen an actual jail from the inside before that day! But Dinesh insisted saying that the jail superintendent is a progressive man and has been encouraging sessions of yoga, mental health, etc for the prisoners.

So at 4 p.m. we were standing at the entrance waiting for the sipahi (soldier), who had taken our message inside, to return with an approval. He came back in a few minutes saying we can proceed.

As I entered the premises, I noticed the old structure keenly. Probably built in the British era, it had a huge stone inscription installed with the names of the political prisoners of the Indian freedom struggle who had served sentences there. While talking to Mr. Patil, the jailor, I gathered some interesting facts about that place and also about jails in general. It was an open jail where the prisoners do not live in dark cells, but in barracks or dormitories. There were three dormitories each of the capacity of about a hundred occupants. We requested Mr. Patil if we could take a walk inside, and he agreed. It was a long bamboo shed with with a walkway in middle and mattresses lined up on both sides. Now, I was a little scared to enter. You might have seen a hundred movies and TV series which involved prisoners, criminals and jail sequences, but walking through that barrack although with an officer and two armed guards, was a little scary. The faces I saw in there were of murderers, rapists, extortionists and armed robbers. I was already terrified in my head and intimidated by their presence. My mind was partially recording things kept in the barrack and partially thinking of what am I going to say to them in the session. I saw some clothes hung on a string near every mat, a bucket and a mug, a steel plate which they probably used for receiving meals, some books and a harmonium and tabla too. Some prisoners were sitting, some sleeping, some reading newspapers, some, chanting shlokas mentally, but one guy grabbed my attention who was reading from a pretty fat book and making some notes. Mr. Patil told me that he was appearing for LLB! I was informed that the prisoners here get a fair chance of studying if they wish to and also of giving examinations. They can also bag good jobs after they get out of here and the government also makes a special mention in their criminal records that they have been released early on account of good behaviour. The prisoners who come here are the ones who have impressed their previous jail authorities with their good behaviour and continuous improvement. Very few prisoners in India make their way to an open jail where their remaining penance as of that day is reduced to half. For example, if a prisoner who has 5 years sentence pending is shifted to an open jail for good behaviour, he has to serve only 2.5 years there. Also the living conditions are better than a closed jail. They get to work in farms and are also paid fifty rupees per day as wages. The harvest is used as food for the jail and also provided to other jails across Maharashtra. They are allowed two calls of ten minutes each every month when they can talk to their families or friends but they have to do it in the presence of a sipahi who escorts them from their dormitory to the telephone kept near the superintendent's office. They are exposed to the outside world every now and then, there are sessions on yoga, music, activities and games of team bonding, etc that are carried out here. They have quarterly gatherings, cultural programs and performances within themselves. Basically, here they are prepared for the outside world so that they can lead a civilised life hereon.

The session went well. Mau and I spoke about the importance of keeping our surroundings clean, reducing the usage of plastics and the alternative options we can use. There were a couple of questions from them, which we promptly answered and I was kind of satisfied that they came up with those. We wrapped the session with our pledge and bid them good bye with a promise that they would ponder upon what was discussed and implement it when they re-enter society. While we were walking back on the verandah, I asked Mr Patil a question that was pestering me since the minute I entered the jail, "Since the atmosphere here is so lenient, don't they try and run away? I mean though they are going to be released from here in a couple of months, even a month's or a week's penance less would be a lucrative thing!"

"They don't even think of it in their wildest dreams! The reason being, if they run from here and are caught again, they have to start their sentence right from the beginning." Mr Patil said.

"That makes sense!" I smiled.

Dhanushkodi : The phoenix town

It was a major trade connect between India and Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka). A thriving town with a lot of business importance. Being the only point of contact between Ceylon and India, it had merchants and travelers flooding throughout the year. Located at the south-eastern tip of Pamban island, this town was once a beautiful place surrounded by water and a great market for fisheries. Nature was in abundance and anyone visiting here was bound to be astounded. Little did anyone know that the forces of nature would be the reason of the downfall of this amazing place and it would be reduced to debris in mere four days! It happened one fateful morning that winter. December 22nd, 1964. This is the story of Dhanushkodi, a town that sank all of a sudden to unfathomable depths and rose to life several years later. The Tamil Nadu government declared it as 'Ghost town' after the disaster, but after visiting this place and seeing the efforts of survival of the people here, I would preferably call it 'the phoenix town'..

Dhanushkodi is situated at the tip of the Pamban island in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is separated from Sri Lanka by the Palk strait. In 1948 the land sunk by 5 meters due to vertical tectonic movements in the earth's crust. As a result the coastline proceeded inward by 500 meters submerging a large amount of land. Dhanushkodi was a bustling town until the 1964 cyclone struck the northern coast of Ceylon and the south eastern tip of India. Such was the impact that about 1800 residents died and many more went missing. More than 400 fishing boats sank due to the massive winds that measured about 240 kmph and waves that accounted about 7-15 meters in height. The cyclone overturned the Pamban-Dhanushkodi passenger train killing all the 150 passengers on board. The Dhanushkodi railway station was never built again and till date you can see the remains of the platform, church and other structures.

It was considered as one of the most disastrous cyclones to hit Sri Lanka and a lot of aid had to be taken from other countries like Britain, Germany and the US to restore the life of the villagers. The reconstruction of the Pamban bridge was initiated immediately and was completed within 45 days owing to its urgency (a project that was supposed to be completed in 6 months). A road bridge was built several years later.

In 2006, the sea receded by 500 meters exposing the submerged land after almost six decades. Since then the town has seen few inhabitants who have built small huts using wood, hay and coconut palms. No permanent construction can be seen as this part is heavily prone to cyclones and tsunamis.

Just recently a tar road from Rameshwaram to Dhanushkodi has been inaugurated and let me tell you it is one such wonder which I would strongly recommend to every rider and driving enthusiast. The patch is a 20 km straight path in very good condition and with the sea waves kissing the tar road from both left and right, it gives a great feeling of immense solitude. Unfortunately I was not driving when I visited Dhanushkodi, I was in the state transport bus yet I enjoyed it a lot. But I have promised myself to come here back in my car for a nice sunset drive. An ST bus will take you to Dhanushkodi from Rameshwaram in about 30 rupees and an auto would charge you anywhere between 500 to 1000 rupees (as of December 2017) depending on your bargaining skills. A statue of the State Emblem of India marks the end of the Indian land accessible by road. You can take a walk from here in the clear shallow waters, allow yourself to be relaxed by the 360 degree panoramic view of the ocean and taste some nice salty and spicy nuts but remember to be back at the statue before 5 pm as that is when the last bus departs for Rameshwaram.

I had the opportunity to interact with a couple of locals here and their willpower of survival amazed me! These people truly live life on the edge. We live in very safe houses in the cities and hence it will be very difficult or rather impossible for us to understand the complexities and the thought process behind living in such adverse conditions. Their sole livelihood is fishing and tourism. This is a highly recommended place if you are looking for some off-beat travel locations. Try and spend an entire day exploring the villages, the ruins, the lifestyle of the people and their attitude towards life. Interact with the locals and you will be blown by their stories.

Today, the irony is such that even these ruins attract tourists and I thank God they do, because by this means these people can at least earn their daily bread and butter.

Lepakshi temple : An unfinished dream

I am not a big fan of temples, but there are a few which catch my eye. The Veerabhadra temple of Lepakshi is one such wonder. Apart from having a hanging pillar (yes, you heard me.. it has a pillar which does not have any support at the base) in its 'ardhamandapam', the carvings and paintings vividly describe the artistic genius of its time. It is situated in Lepakshi which is a small town in Andhra Pradesh. The nearest railway station is Hindupur (about 15 km) and a bus or a shared auto can take you to Lepakshi in 10 bucks. There is only one APTDC guest house in the vicinity which only accepts online booking. Apart from that you can try your luck for staying in the nearby Saibaba mandir or the Anjaneya swami mandir (you cannot stay in the main Veerbhadra temple as it is a protected monument). Where I had stayed, is a completely different story!

We reached Lepakshi at 6 pm which is when the gates of the Veerbhadra temple close! We tried our luck at the APTDC guest house, but the bookings were full. There was no lodge or other accommodation apart from that. Dejected, we thought of returning to Hindupur where we could find some accommodation facilities. However, on total instinct, we just asked in a nearby house whether we could stay for the night and they let us in! The house was small, but they made arrangements for us to sleep on their terrace. And because we had sleeping bags and tents, that was not a problem at all! So out of nowhere, we suddenly had a place to stay very close to the temple which enabled us to visit the temple at daybreak.. and what a sight it was!

The temple gates open at 7 in the morning and let me tell you that is the best time to visit it. Very few or no people will be present at that hour and you will get a nice one hour to explore it and make good pictures without people photo-bombing your frames! 

History of the temple
The temple was built in 1530 AD by two brothers - Viranna and Virupanna of Penukonda who were governors under the reign of King Achyutaraya of the Vijayanagara dynasty. Penukonda, a small town which is approximately 40 km away, was the second capital of the Vijayanagara empire (after Hampi). 

Architecture
The temple is built on a huge rock called Kurmasila (tortoise hill) owing to the shape of the rock similar to a tortoise shell. It displays the Vijayanagara style of architecture, the same type of structures we find in Hampi. The entire area of the temple is prominently divided into three portions - Mukhya Mandapam, Ardha Mandapam and Garbhagriham. Mukhya Mandapam is the place where activities like festivals, dance and other programs were held. Ardha Mandapam or the ante chamber is the assembly hall inside and has a large chamber at the centre. The Garbhagriham is the place where the idol of the residing deity - Sri Veerbhadra (a fierce incarnation of Lord Shiva) is placed.

Carvings and paintings
The walls and the pillars exhibit intrinsic carvings on them. Almost all the pillars have carvings of different deities, saints, dancers, musicians and people with different shastras. The pillars in the Ardha Mandapam have the sculptures of the fourteen avatars of Lord Shiva. There are also some three sided pillars which have images of three different people carved on them - nartaki (a female dancer), pakwaz wadak (a man playing a drum) and taal wadak (a man playing the chimes) thus depicting an entire mehfil (a musical performance) on one pillar. In the Mukhya Mandapam there is a large seven-headed serpent carved in stone with a shivalinga in front of it, an idol of Ganapati and some ruins of pillars and doors which look like an unfinished ceremonial hall. Virupanna had used money from the kingdom's treasury while the king was away. Upon the return of the king, he found that the treasury was emptied without his permission which made him furious and he ordered to blind Virupanna and the construction of the temple was stopped. Hence we can see the remains of this unfinished hall which would have been a grandeur had it been finished. The outer walls have inscriptions written on stone in some ancient languages. The ceilings of the temple have beautiful paintings depicting scenes from the Puranas, the incarnations of Vishnu, and the pictures of Viranna and Virupanna. The attention to detail of the costumes and the expression of the characters in the paintings is quite striking. A large monolithic structure of Nandi (Lord Shiva's bull) is located about 200 meters from the temple. It is adorned with bells and garlands and is said to be the largest one-stone-carvation of Nandi in India.

The hanging pillar
One of the pillars inside the Ardha Mandapam is completely hanging, i.e. there is no support at the base! You can slide a piece of paper or cloth straight under it and pull it out from the other end. 

Here is a short video which will give you a gist of the place:

https://youtu.be/_3BmaWkBxPg

Lepakshi is 15 km from Hindupur (the nearest rail head) and 12 km from Kodikonda (a town on the Bengaluru - Hyderabad highway). The nearest airport is Bengaluru which is about 100 km away. Lepakshi is considered as one of the wonders of India and is a must visit place if you are going to be in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

The Sanskrit speaking village

We all know Sanskrit is one of the oldest language in the world and it is known as the mother of most of the languages spoken in the southern and south eastern part of the continent today. But such is the reality that its use has been reduced to a mere few chants during some ceremony or puja. But have you heard of a village that speaks Sanskrit in their day-to-day life? Yes, even I was interested when I heard this for the first time. So I decided to pay this village a visit.

Firstly, Mattur is not the only village that speaks Sanskrit. It is one amongst a few others like Jhiri, Baghat and Mahad (MP), Sasana (Orissa), Ganoda (Rajasthan) and
Hosahalli (Karnataka). In fact Hosahalli is just across the river to Mattur and is often referred as a twin village to Mattur.

In ancient India, Sanskrit was known as Devawani (Language of the Gods) and the script was known as Devnagari (In the city of Gods). However usage of this language has been reduced over the years and today a lot of linguists and philologists argue that it is a dying language. I felt the same when I visited the village of Mattur. This is a small hamlet about 7 km from Shimoga city in Karnataka and it uses Sanskrit in their day to day communication. Sadly there are very few folks left who do so. My visit to this village was particularly a very enriching one on the origins and history of Sanskrit. Here, I pen down some of the knowledge I gained from certain learned gurus during my visit to Mattur.

Sir William Jones had once said 'The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than couldn't​ have been produced by accident; so strong, indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists.'

It is believed that Sanskrit, Latin and other Germanic languages, all emerged from one Proto-Indo-European parent language that is long lost today. While Sanskrit evolved to Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Punjabi; Latin (also a dead language now) evolved to Spanish, Italian and French. But all of them have an eerie resemblance and have come from that same Proto-Indo-European root.

In olden times, Sanskrit was considered to be a sign of social prestige and was taught only to the higher class people like Brahmins. If we take a look at history, we understand that Sanskrit speaking people were always well educated and multilingual. It was often used in rituals and scholarly communication and high class Sanskrit was maintained until the British period. Many Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages have borrowed a lot of words directly or indirectly from Sanskrit. Directly borrowed - tatsama words, indirectly borrowed - tadbhava words. Sanskrit has a major influence on Latin, Spanish and English too. For example, 'matr' in Sanskrit becomes 'mother' in English and 'madre' in Spanish. Similarly, 'pitr' becomes 'father' in English and 'padre' in Spanish.  and 'bhrata' becomes 'brother' in English and 'frater' in Latin.

However today, excluding a few towns like Mattur, the use of this ancient language has diminished.
I had the opportunity to interact with some kids in the local school and their proficiency with Sanskrit amazed me. They learn Sanskrit as a first language, Kannada as second and English/Hindi as third. Many of their parents are Sanskrit scholars who have traveled far and wide for lectures and sessions. The principal too is a highly respected man in the village and is a very learned and humble person. After our session with the kids, he offered us to join the students for lunch. In rural India, parents are not much keen on sending their students to school. Hence, this ritual of offering mid-day meals to students evolved to encourage the parents to send their kids to school. We had a simple but delicious meal of sambar-rice and curd, thanked the staff and kids and left for our journey ahead.
These close conversations with the kids, teachers, headmaster, Sanskrit scholars and gurus gave me a deep and enriching experience and I also learnt a lot about our country and its historical importance related to the ancient languages and their evolution.

With a bunch of memories in my pensieve and the satisfaction of seeing a different place and meeting some really interesting folks, I picked up my sack and moved toward my next destination.

The chronicles of KA35 : Hampi, Bellary

When I returned home after my last visit to Hampi, the feeling was an incomplete one. Three years from then, I was craving to come here once again. I wanted to submit myself to the serene beauties of the amazing structures once again. Hence, it had to be the first destination of our ambitious trip - Bharatvarsh!

This place has a lot of mythological as well as historical importance associated with it. It was here, on the Hemkuta hill, that Lord Shiva accepted Parvati as his wife after being impressed by her tapasya. Parvati is also called Pampa and the river where she worshiped Shiva came to be called as Pampa river (now Tungabhadra). The Sanskrit word Pampa transformed to the Kannada word Hampa which later became Hampi. Kishkindha, the place where Ram and Laxman met Sugreev and his army, is nearby too.

Somewhere around the 1300s north-central Karnataka was ruled by the Hoysala and Kampili kingdoms until Allauddin Khilji and Mohammed Tughlaq raided them. The Vijayanagara empire rose from the ruins of the Kampili kingdom and Hampi was the capital. They built temples, mahals, shrines, housing and shopping complexes and expanded the empire for 200 years until a coalition of Muslim rulers ransacked Vijayanagara, beheaded the king and set the city on fire. Among the kings who ruled, Krishnadevraya was the most powerful and just king and people of Hampi remember him even today as a hero. His reign was the golden era of Vijayanagara.

There are several options for commuting in Hampi - auto-rickshaws, taxis, bikes or bicycles. The first day we hired an auto-driver who showed us 5-6 temples. But I was not satisfied with that, especially when you have about 1600 structures around you! The next day, after a terrifying two-kilometer walk in the dark from Lotus temple to our room, we had no choice but to rent bicycles. We were here for about six days and I enjoyed every bit of it. The main attractions of our visit were the stage we stood on at Hampi festival and the cleanliness pledge taken by 2500 people, the Hampi public school where we took a small session for the kids, the cleaning drive of Ganesha temple premises and the visit to Malyavanta hill for sunset!

Best places to eat in Hampi include Mango tree restaurant for a multi cuisine meal, Venkateshwara for a quick budget meal and Moonlight restaurant for a nice South Indian thali, but none of these match the idlis of Chanda! You can find her in front of Virupaksha temple between 8am to 10 am daily with her chants of 'Hath rupaye naak idli' meaning 10 rupees for 4 idlis.

We  met a couple of interesting people in Hampi : Claudie from Italy - who had every inch of his body inked and two stars planted inside his forehead, Utsamma - the caretaker of Chandikeshwari temple, Ranjit - the guy from whom Priyadarshan Jadhav's character is inspired in the movie Hampi, Christina and Andre - a brother and sister pair from Israel, Mariana from Italy - who was promoting Swachh Bharat with her colleagues from Bangalore, Aditi and Tilak - a couple from Kothrud (Pune) who were very excited to meet Marathi people in Karnataka, Naresh - an Englishman of Gujarati origin who had cousins in 12-15 countries and a cousin in every continent and ofcourse our host Malli - who had traveled the length and breadth of India!

It was a very diverse experience with a lot of culture exchange and I will cherish every bit of it..