My Way On Highway: Day 45, To Hospet And Hampi

Desperately in need of a long sleep, woke up leisurely at 8:30 am today in Bangalore. A quick breakfast and breezy smooth check-out later, we were out on the road by 10 am to Hospet – our gateway to Hampi.

Windmills Of The Gods

My husband Tariq has driven us more than 7,500 kms by now on a varying terrain across Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The roads have been of all kinds – four-laned highways, broken paths, bumpy patches, narrow gaps and in Konkan Maharashtra we even took the ferry twice. It has been an incredible experience no doubt and I have done my best being a dependable navigator. And today’s destination brought us back to the present day buttery toll roads. The route we took was Bangalore – Tumkur – Chitradurga – Kudigi – Hospet adding to 368 kms that took us about 7 hours to cover. Lined up expansively by huge windmills, the landscape was an engaging one.

The Soil Story

The landscape in Karnataka is a dry and arid one. The second largest in the country, after Thar Desert, I am told. The red soil stands reminiscent of a volcanic past in the tertiary period and contrasts against an endless open sky presenting a beautiful earthy vista. The large granite and charnockite geological rock formations cannot be missed. Your only companions on the road are the many trucks that are busy transporting the minerals, laterite and alluvial deposits mined in this part of the state. Naturally, the vegetation is sparse and thorny in accordance. Spotted many sons of the soil ploughing the fields the traditional way by using a pair of oxen!

Rendezvous with Water

The MyWayOnHighway Road Trip has brought in the company of many dams both big and small like Idukki, Matupetty and Kundala. The afternoon introduced us to yet another one that goes by the name of Tungabhadra Dam. Tracing its roots to the Tungabhadra River, the dam is responsible for giving an identity to the otherwise humble town of Hospet. Of course, the World Heritage Site of Hampi has also done its bit by bringing Hospet to the world map. The water in the Tungabhadra Dam reaches its highest post monsoons. On 15^th of August, the water is released as a mark of independence and everyone comes from far and wide to witness the spectacle.

And That’s Why We Come Again

Tariq has been to Hospet and Hampi before in 2012 while this is my first time. He stayed at the Royal Orchid in Hospet then and had such a wonderful experience that the plush hotel was an obvious choice for us to stay at this time as well. By the way, Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha and Prabhudeva have stayed here too while shooting for Rowdy Rathore song in Hampi. Our booking was taken care of by MakeMyTrip (have your tried the super cool Mobile App?) and the staff was expecting us by the time we reached. After a warm welcome, we were taken to our lovely room that overlooks the swimming pool. Please note that we had driven non-stop so we were famished. The 24-hour coffee shop was able to rev up delicious burgers and sandwich pronto. Just couldn’t resist a power nap!

Meeting A Superstar

Once up we headed for the swimming pool which gives you the unique prerogative of enjoying a drink while inside the water. Yes, the bar stools actually extend to the counter on the sides from within the swimming pool. The water was refreshingly cold and the swim woke me up from my slumber. Chatting with the lifeguard, I got to know that none other than Puneeth Rajkumar was staying at the hotel and he was coming shortly for a swim. For the uninitiated, the man is a National Award winning superstar in the Kannada film industry and is the son of late Dr Rajkumar, the actor Kannadigas worship. One of his films, Milana ran in a PVR Cinema in Bangalore for one year! An extremely courteous person, Puneeth met us with his signature disarming smile and was all ears to know about our Road Trip. He is currently in Hospet as his new film Dheera Rana Vikrama is being shot in Hampi. Quite a crowd turned up outside our hotel this evening to catch a glimpse of their favourite actor.

Back from a sumptuous dinner at the hotel’s in-house multi-cuisine restaurant Echo, the delicious taste of Deccan Chicken and Roomali Roti still lingers. On that note, it’s time to call it a night. Catch you tomorrow!

(Photo Credit: Tariq Khan)