Wandering alone in Karnataka - Part 2: Exploring Hampi!

Hi Guys,

To read Part 1, click here (The Start)

Day 2 – Jul 31, 2016

After finishing my breakfast at Mango Tree, I was all set to start my exploration!

A bit about Hampi here – Hampi is one of the biggest ruins that you will see in our country. Hampi was the capital of Vijaynagar empire which is of the key kingdoms in India around 14^th-16^th century in India and had the famous Krishnadevaraya as one of the kings. The city was established in the southern banks of mighty Tungabhadra River amidst Rocks and Boulders. The city has been constructed with Rock on Rock. The ruins are spread across 29 sq. km of Area and is a UNESCO Heritage site. There are around 85 key marked monuments and numerous unmarked monuments here.

Though I had seen a lot of maps on Hampi, nothing stayed in my head for the place is humongous. I started with Virupaksha temple which is the centre of Hampi today. It is a huge temple that was built across various phases starting from as early as 5^th century when the Inner Sanctums are said to be built. The outer structures and towers were built by the Vijaynagar rules around 14^th century. The temple's entrance tower is majestic at a height of 50m and 9 tiered. It is a still a living temple and visited by numerous people from surrounding villages every day. The mainy deity is Lord Shiva. The temple was so crowded when I visited the first time. Then I headed to Tungabhadra River which borders along the temple. The river is huge, was flowing full with monsoon waters and so scenic. Had to admire the stone steps that were constructed centuries ago to access the river and also the height prevents the flooding of river.

Virupaksha Temple

I came out of the temple and got a Local Map from one of the sellers and as soon as that happened, many Auto drivers swanked around me saying that they will take me around the full of Hampi. I was in no mood for that. If you are running short of time, Autos are the best option to roam around. They charge around 600-800 for a full day which is till 4 pm. After dissuading them, I climbed on the hill that is on the left of the temple. Also known as Hemakunta hill, the hill houses a few temples including temples for Lord Ganesh, Hanuman, Jain temples, a two towered entrance and a Sunset point. The first time I climbed, I had no idea where to head to and climbed down half the way.

Atop the Hemakunta Hill

Jain Temples on Hemakunta Hill

Then I headed straight from the temple and started following a trail. The trail was along the Tungabhadra River and was filled with boulders. It led to Kodandarama temple which is a small living temple. The priest outside advised me to go ahead and there are lot of places around. So, I started walking and after sometime I was roaming all alone with no idea of where the trail leads. As I was wondering of turning back, met a group of tourists coming from the other way. They advised me to go ahead as there are lot of interesting places.

Tungabhadra river along the trail

Ahead was an interesting place known as King’s Balance where Kings used to weigh themselves and donate to the villages around. Going ahead I striked upon the famous Vittala temple complex. Vittala temple is currently a ruined temple, but is known for the famous Stone Chariot. An impressive Chariot made completely of stone is constructed facing the temple. The entrance to the temple is Rs. 30 and can be used to access Lotus Mahal too if accessed on the same day. On coming out I figured out, there is an easily accessible way to the temple on the other side with a road connecting Hampi to the place (but that is at least 8 kms away from Hampi).

Vittala Temple

The famous Stone Chariot

Then I followed back the trail and as I reached Kodandarama temple, there was Chaos outside. A cobra had entered the temple and it was crawling around. A few Cows were coming by the way and they were threatening the Cobra and people were threatening the cows to get away. It was quite a scene. I headed to see the Monolithic Bull statue and then tried climbing the Matanga hill, but then stopped after 30-35 steps as I saw no one around. As I came back to Hampi Bazaar, monkeys were running all around snatching anything edible from people. A child lost her banana and her mother lost the flowers that decorated her hair. As I was clicking photos of them, one monkey snarled at me. I closed my camera, kept it inside the bag and rushed to Mango Tree for Lunch and it was already around 3 pm. It started raining as I was having lunch.

Monolithic Bull

One of those mischievous monkeys

After rains, I went back to room and then headed again to the Tungabhadra river. As I was sitting on the banks, the rains arrived again. This time it was quite scenic to see the rain spreading from west to east and how people figure out arrival of rains and cover the shops. And the rains meant an end to my explorations for the day.

To be continued...

To read Part 3, click here (Reminiscence of Vijayanagar Kingdom)

To read Part 4, click here (Hampi - Dudhsgar - Margao - Murdeswar)

Happy Reading!

Wandering alone in Karnataka - Part 1: The Start

Hi Guys,

It has been sometime since I took a break and went somewhere on a trip. After a few failed plans, I decided to go on a Solo Trip somewhere. But the question was where to. My first instinct was to go somewhere north of Delhi. Then after some pondering and considering the low budget in mind, I switched over to Karnataka which some of my friends had been insisting me to visit. Karnataka has so many places spread over, so again I had to circle down upon a few.

Taking clues from the trip we had planned (and cancelled) last December to Badami and Gokarna, I thought of expanding the list. I wanted to loop in Jog falls and Hampi. After doing all research over the internet, the final list was completely different considering all the travel options I had. The final plan was to spend some time extensively in Hampi before moving to Udupi and covering a couple of places en-route.  I had made bookings just a month earlier and to my surprise, I got confirmed train tickets for all the places. Guess, due to monsoon the tourism at all the places are at a very low.

Day 1 – Jul 30, 2016

I had dumped all the necessary things into one trekking rucksack, thanks to my roommate who lent it for the trip. The first leg was to Hampi any my plan was to take Lalbagh Express to Bangalore and then catch Hampi express from there. It was pouring in Bangalore and the city was all over in the news. Two hours into the journey, rain started lashing and it was becoming gloomy. The train started to slow down. The stop over time between the two trains was a mere 25 minutes, but my hope was that the stop over time was 1 hour if I get down at Bangalore Cantonment station. Luckily the train picked up pace was on time (happened to be the only train that arrived on time at destination in the entire trip).

Hampi Express also arrived on time at Bangalore and the train was filled with a layer of water. Passengers carrying heavy luggage were facing a tough time. I fell asleep soon and got up at around 6.45 am ready to get down.

Day 2 – Jul 31, 2016

The train was just chugging into Guntakal station to my horror. We should have reached here by 4.45 am. So, I got back and fell asleep again cursing my bad luck. Finally, the train reached Hospet (now called Hosapete) by around 9.00 am, a delay of 1 hr 50 mins. I went outside and lot of Auto Rickshaws were calling out passengers for Hampi which is 14 kms away from the station. Ignoring the Auto drivers, I waited to catch a Bus to Hampi.

Hampi - A view of Virupaksha temple

After waiting for 15 minutes, an Auto driver approached me again and said he will take me to Hampi for 100 bucks as he had go back there. I was OK with 100 Rs for a 14 km trip. So, I got in and as we started off and went half a km, a bus with signboard ‘Hampi’ was heading to the Railway station. Still, I was content with the Auto. The driver's name was Rama Li and he was saying this is Off Season in Hampi and most of the guest houses would be empty. If you come directly, you can get one for Rs. 450-600 which otherwise goes for double in peak seasons.

I had booked in ‘Laxmi Heritage Homes’ based on reviews in TripAdvisor. After getting a few deals on ClearTrip, the cost of room came to almost Rs. 600 per night. The place is not as comfortable as a hotel room, but it is good enough for a nice stay. The owners of the place are really hospitable and make your stay good. My observation was that it is mostly foreigners who stay up at these guest houses. If you are looking for a full-fledged comfortable Hotel, you need to stay at Hospet and travel to Hampi which will take around 30 minutes. After getting ready at around 11 am, I headed to Mango Tree Restaurant for Breakfast (only good restaurant inside Hampi) and was all set to start the exploration.

To be continued...

To read Part 2, click here (Exploring Hampi)

To read Part 3, click here (Reminiscence of Vijayanagar Kingdom)

To read Part 4, click here (Hampi - Dudhsgar - Margao - Murdeswar)

Happy Reading!!!

Indian Startups - When Business Ideas are imitable...

Hi Guys,

There was a nice little pamphlet in today’s newspaper that was an advertisement for a new intra-city logistics service started in Chennai. I was wondering how many similar services have been launched in the past one year. I can remember seeing advertisements of at least two similar players.

Almost all the new start-ups in India have been facing the same issue – Imitations. During my MBA, 0ne of my professors concluded his Strategy course saying,

‘Strategy is something that will differentiate your business from competitors providing superior Value Proposition to Customers over a sustainable period of time’

In short, if a Competitor can imitate your strategy, then it is not a strategy in itself.

For starting a business, Ideation is important. You have a good idea which can get customers and make money – Investors will pump in money. But today, I guess it is enough if you can take someone’s existing idea and pitch in quoting less competition in the field and enter into a direct cost war with your competitor.

Eternally, the companies says that acquiring a customer is important. It is all about deals, cashbacks, acquisitions and sales at any cost. But, I am not finding any of the companies providing superior service to the customer, creating relationship and making efforts to retain the customer.

If you look at any of the newer business areas that has emerged, you can find a minimum of at least two players or sometimes as big as ten players trying to catch the pie. You have Ola-Uber fiercely competing and providing deep discounts to customers and big incentives to drivers. If you consider any of the aggregator services – let it be Food Aggregators (FoodPanda, Zomato, Swiggy, etc), Grocery Aggregators (Big Basket, Grofers, PepperTap, etc), Hotel Aggregators (Oyo, Zo, GoIbibo, etc), the strategies have been more or less similar. One players enters the business. A few imitations are born. The discount war begins. Cash burns and you end up in a Catch-22 situation.

One of the key lessons taught in Strategy is that reducing your price is that last thing you need to do and that too when all other cards are exhausted. Most of these players seem to have only one card with them and that is the Pricing. Sometimes, I do wonder if these players are too myopic and are not thinking out of the box to attract and retain customers.

It remains pretty much the same with the big Daddys out there – Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal. But, one significant thing I find in ecommerce business is that these players are trying something to retain the customers. From my personal experience, Amazon has been trying to provide a great customer service and by treating customer as the king, they are making significant improvement in the market share.

Ultimately, I do wonder if many of the founders really have the passion to become the next big thing. Most of the Investor’s money goes into filling the pockets of founders (as remuneration) and to Customers as cashbacks and discounts (You know, it has been ages since I paid my Phone bill fully – Thanks to PayTm and Freecharge).

Happy Reading!