Thursday, March 20, 2003

The day before yesterday was Holi, a Hindu festival which has something to do with sping, but mostly seems to be an excuse run around covering each other in paint. Hampi is, all said and done, a pretty tiny place, with a little village clustered around the huge temple (in use) and the ruins of Vijayanagar. During Holi, the long main bazaar hosts a procession of shirtless local boys following a drum quartet and covering anyone who's not a policeman or an Indian woman in paint. I wandered around for perhaps twenty minutes, and came out purple, pink and blue, but many people were covered completely from head to foot in colour. Next door to me, one of the girls still has turquoise hair.

I'm leaving Hampi tomorrow evening for Tirupati, and I've really enjoyed my time here. The Shanti guesthouse is an ideal place to stay, as while it's basic, the communal atmosphere is, well, communal. I've met some of the nicest people here. I've also met the odd wanker or two - such as the English and French couple (paragliding landscape gardeners, 'just dying for a decent chardonnay', left after one day to find a 5 star hotel), and of course the lumpen groups of druggies and lazy ravers from Goa. The latter sit around for hours on end, talking about drugs (where to get them, the various effects they have, etc etc). They're all British, of course.

That's the minority, though. Last night, I sat on the stone bench on my 'balcony' with Jay, from New Zealand and Thomas, Swiss, teaching each other songs on my acoustic guitar. I find I get on with travellers - I think it's because they're, after all, similar people to me.

The weather is hot as anything, of course, though I do think that there's an informal sort of conspiracy between travellers - that is, we all agree that it's really too hot to do anything, as an excuse to sit around in the shade. Today, I plan to do just that, perhaps dragging my weary carcass down to the ruins to do another painting. Yesterday I attempted to sit on the bank of the river and paint, but I spent most of the time saying hello to various different Indians (mostly tourists) who noticed me. Sometimes I feel like I need a t-shirt saying:

Good name: John Bankier (J-O-H-N)
Occupation: None specific
Country of Residence: UK, England, Great Britain
Education: Degree (BA English, Hons)
Opinions about cricket: Yes, I agree that England did throw away their chances at the cricket World Cup by not playing in Zimbabwe, though I think they made the right moral decision. I'm personally rooting for India from now on, though I honestly don't see how they're going to beat the Aussies.
Feelings about India: Yes, very beautiful country. I enjoy it much.
Other comments: I am aware that my skin is very white.

I think that would cover pretty much 90% of all the casual conversations I have with Indians.

I'm feeling slightly guilty today, as I think I've involved myself in one of those tedious internet debates that I'm always getting stuck in the middle of - as often happens, someone emailed me about something I'd written on a website about a year and a half ago, which I now feel bound to defend even though it's an out-of-date argument... if I'm strong, I'll just delete their replying email, but of course I'll feel bound to read it in the vain hope that it'll contain a full reversal of their position, agreeing with me on every point. Then I'll reply and, hopping from Hampi to Tirupati to Mamallapuram, I'll become embroilled in a long argument that will span continents. It's really quite silly.

I think I'm going to have to tear myself away, now. I've found the one place in Hampi with computers that don't turn off every twenty minutes because of the power cuts (they have a backup generator), and they even have a usable connexion. But I think I'd better go and explore, or failing that sit around doing nothing, seeing if I can get Thomas to teach me the chorus to 'Norweigan Wood'.