A life that was!

Dedicated to all the lady-spouses at ISB who have enjoyed and endured this last year!

Nostalgic it is….
But this is not a totally unfamiliar feeling. I was getting nostalgic about the first few days at ISB when many firsts happened. First time I stepped into the atrium, first time I went in search of the bookstore, first time I searched for a rest room in the academic center, first time I met my neighbor P, first time I met someone who was having breakfast by herself and the conversation sparked immediate friendship. Many firsts and everything took me back by a year.

In about a week from now I am going to be out of here. This is also not an alien emotion. I felt it exactly a year ago while moving out of our apartment overlooking Hudson and while we took off from the Newark airport with no return ticket. Yet what is different about now is that we have always known that this day would come and exactly when it would come. We always knew ISB was a temporary phase of life, and that we would have to say bye-bye to the beautiful campus, refreshing night walks, wonderful studio and all the nice housekeeping staff that made our living in Hyderabad so much more pleasurable.

What we did not know was that the friendships formed years after childhood, years after school and college would still mean something and letting them behind was going to be difficult. It has been an amazing year of forging new friendships, friendships of a different kind, with the kind of people that are from an entirely different culture and geography. Strong bonds of friendships are usually formed at the tender age of innocence or the confused age of adolescence. IMHO, most of the adult life relationships tend to be more business like and judgmental. But here at ISB, I was made to rethink my opinion as there was something common amongst us all spouses, something unfulfilled and some shared pain that made a lot of us feel connected in some way or the other. It was the first time for many of us to have so many married women as friends. It was not an uncommon event to share our pretty personal qualms with other spouses here.

The common vein was mostly the overworked husbands and of course the famous mother-in-laws. I am not sure how lasting these relationships are, but I am certain its one of a kind that rings a special point in our lives back in time.

Hampi- Fascinated & fatigued!!

Two days later, here I am still alive from a trip that was both exhilarating and exhausting. The journey started in high spirits. Ten of us cramped in a cabin of a train played mafia. Between the first two games, mafias and villagers got even and were well fed to a delectable spread of dinner with cuisines from across the country. When we did realize that the whole compartment save us was trying hard to sleep, we hesitantly closed the session for a short night’s sleep. A woke us up at the ungodly hour of 5 am and said that the train was running ahead of time. Amidst skeptical looks, foul breaths and empty water tanks in the train, we passed the most difficult 40 minutes of the trip cursing A.

Checked into our rooms; we had a relaxing morning coffee. Overlooking a scenic and rustic garden interspersed with little cottages, under a cool early morning sun that was still making up its mind to peep out or hide back in, we lived our life rich :) (Now, that’s a term I picked on the trip thanks to a certain Laadanandji) Soon after that, complying with Indian Standard Time, we were ready by 8am for a 7:30am call at the breakfast table. That’s the convenience of being in India eh?



Treating the tummy to steaming idlys, toasts and corn flakes, and indulging ourselves to a few quick shots under the camera, we left promptly for the day’s sight seeing. In the first stop, we saw a partly restored monolithic statue of Lord Narasimha. There is a Shiv ling next to it. I wonder if this was the age when Shaivaites and Vaishnavaites lived in harmony with each other.

As the sun ascended in the sky to scaring heights, we were sheltered in an underground temple that housed some more Gods. The guide narrated the story of Kannapa Nayanar – see pic.



Sun continued its ascension. And we continued to brave the heat. The Zanana enclosure- the harem for the royal and the dancing women housed a center courtyard where various cultural compositions were played for the amusement of the kings and the queens guarded by eunuchs on three watch towers around the area. Architecturally advanced, these open air courtyards had the effect of an Air Conditioned auditorium due to the water lines built within the structures.

Another interesting observation is the communion of Hindu and Muslim styles in these structures. Vijayanagara kingdom was really a religiously tolerant empire that employed a few thousand Muslim soldiers in its army. They were eventually defeated by an insurgency from within on the face of a rare unity of four deccan sultanates against the empire. For some reason instead of taking control of the region after conquering the army, they plundered and reduced it to a ruinous state which is only partly restored to this day.




This slew of structures though architecturally superior, was aesthetically average. The ornate designs and minute carvings were missing. One of the other temples, the hallmark of Hampi has musical pillars. Apparently, the carnatic swaras could be replicated by tapping on these pillars. There were also certain pillars that could create the sounds akin to an instrument. The highlight of the day was the sunset view. From the uneven rocks across the plain ruins we could see a brilliant ball of golden yellow slowly losing sheen and sinking for the day. The sunset I thought progressively sped as if in a hurry to flee from the throngs of people marveling in the spectacle.

In sometime, we were back in the resort for a dip into the swimming pool. Though it seemed like it was relaxing, the moment we got off the pool in the late evening, we realized we were really exhausted for the day. We had a fairly quick dal-chawal type dinner. I was probably asleep in less than thirty seconds after eyeing the bed.

The next day dawned early, but beautifully to a hubby-ordered chai on the verandah of an exquisite cottage with the most delicate warmth of the sun. This is such a simple and a primal pleasure that everyone could indulge in every morning, day after day. Yet we usually choose the cozy bed and a lazy sleep. I wonder why?



That day, we decided to be more sensible in our sightseeing escapades, so we settled for a visit to the Virupaksha temple followed by a slow and soothing boat ride across the Tungabhadra. The best part of the day was the ten of us taking an auto ride together with the men doing the acrobatics and women getting squeezed and cooked in the heat. Quite a bonding opportunity :D When the sun was directly above our heads and when the sun screens and water bottles were getting emptied at the same rate, we decided to call it a day and headed home to a game of Pictionary and random rants nestled in a cool room.


After sun down, A & I had our first experience with a camel ride and with Rajastani food. Both the experiences were unique and satisfying. Thus ended our two day sojourn to the heat capital of South India.

In these two days we managed about 1000 pictures from various crazy angles, permutations of people, and combinations of coolers and caps. Why compromise on our little treasured keepsakes?