February 10, 2025

Don’t Worry Be Hampi

After visiting the Virupaksha Temple on Saturday afternoon, we walk down a path, led by our tour guide, who shouts to us at the front, “we’ll pass two tigers on the way.” Looking ominously at one another we continue forward and we’re welcomed by beautiful rock formations and the Tungabhadra River. We’re not welcomed by tigers, but instead quite a few monkeys, which if anyone hasn’t already heard my spiel about my fear and distrust of them, followed by the question of if you’ve seen Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” than this my message to you— I’m not the worlds biggest monkey fan and my opinion won’t be changed anytime soon. I will say, however, it felt quite ironic to see one actually peeling and eating a banana earlier in the day outside of the temple.

Anyways, we make it down to the edge of the Tungabhadra River and we pile into a coracle boat. With 10 people per boat, we float down the river, discussing the eroded rock formations, making note of if something is going to bite our hands in the water, looking at the setting sun, admiring the river otters, and taking a fast and dizzying spin.

As I’m sitting in the boat, I’m also thinking about my personal connection to water. Whenever I say that I’m studying environmental engineering, the natural ask I get is, “so you work with water right?” And, naturally, I go “sometimes, but there’s so much more that goes into it!” I get the response, “oh yeah okay… I see” with some confusion on their faces to what I actually learn in class. However, they’re right, I do work with water and I quite enjoy it.

My work with Biome Environmental Trust these past weeks has specifically instilled a great sense of the specific needs for water in a smaller farming community. If it’s coming from on open well, a deep bore well, as filtered water, or a shallow bore well, they’re all essential to the farmers everyday lives. With Biome, we’ve been going into the town of Devanahalli and taking measurements, such as water level, depth, and elevation, of the open wells. Of the 50 something we’ve measured so far, we’ve noticed some in perfect condition being quite clean, while others are fully closed off, emptied of water and full of trash. Even thinking about the different ways people use water in the same town, makes me compare how different the uses can be across the world. While some use their water sources here for farming and sustaining life, other sources can help us connect with one another, especially if you’re on a spinning coracle.

On Sunday morning, I walk over to Kaladham, a museum and cultural center, nearby our hotel. As we wait for the opening of the museum at 10 we walk around the outside area, noticing interesting architecture, statues, and flowering plants. We find out that the museum might just open at 10:30 or 11 or whenever someone comes to open it. So instead, we head back to the hotel to sit in the sun, swim at the pool, and pack our bags to head back to Bengaluru.

As I’m sitting in the 7 or maybe 8 hour bus ride back writing this blog, listening to music, enjoying the changing view of the land around me, and thinking of all the moments in Hampi, I’m thankful for this experience and the connection I have to water. I’m also thankful that Kalli finally got to eat fried rice, we stopped to buy sweets and use the bathroom, and that no one’s had anything stolen by a monkey yet.

By,
Chloe