XV - Hampi

Lex and me finally managed to travel a little bit! There are so many places to see in India, this country is just so incredibly huge and culturally diverse. Getting out of the city for just two days felt really good, now we are looking forward to traveling more.

So, we went to Hampi for two days. Many people recommended seeing this place, locals as well as international people. Hampi is known as a place where hippies hang out and live, a place of beautiful nature and ancient architecture. And it's pretty much true: We did not have enough time to properly explore all of the antique buildings and magnificent landscape. The hippies that we saw, though, were pretty disappointing. I would rather call them hipsters - rich western kids that like to dress like hippies. There are a lot of those in Hampi.

Also, the place is super touristy. Everyone on every street corner tried to sell us something completely overpriced. When we got off the bus half a dozen rikshaw drivers urged us to take a ride with them, some of them even entering the bus. One of them followed us on our way through the city and he would not stop wanting to sell us a rikshaw ride. A meal in Hampi is about twice the price of a meal in Bangalore. Every major street has stalls selling overpriced souvenirs.

So, Hampi is definitely worth visiting. The nature and remnants of the Vijayanagara empire are truly beautiful. Just one tip: Go off season (between May and October). I have been told that it is cheaper and less crowded then.

Looking forward to more travels, hopefully to less touristy places that are just as beautiful as Hampi.

One can only imagine how beautiful this place must have been.  

The bathroom of the queen of Vijayanagara. I'd call it a swimming pool...

very detailed battle scenes on the walls of one temple.

Some of the ruins cover huge areas, it must have been like an immense enclosed living complex, almost like a castle.

Narasimha, the hindu god of protection, is half man, half lion. This is a ten meter statue of him.

A public swimming pool

A view on Hampi, with the ruins of ancient temples in the background. The greenish water in the foreground are rice fields.  

Beautiful sculptures, remnants of ancient glory.

An antique step well, used to gather water during the rainy season. 



 

 

        

XIV - Clothes shopping

Those of you who know me probably also know that I hate shopping. I really despise having to roam around the city kind of aimlessly, being surrounded by very pretty but very expensive clothes on the one hand and cheap but crappy clothes on the other hand. Selecting the wheat from the chaff is a huge pain in the butt whenever I go shopping in Germany. Only sometimes do I actually enjoy shopping with my friends – mostly to hang out with them, not primarily to buy clothes.

In India, though, I love shopping. There are so many pretty clothes in all sizes, colors, shapes and patterns, I simply cannot resist looking at them, touching them and buying them. Luckily, Indian clothes can be very, very cheap. Medium quality shirts (Kurtas) start at about 200 rupees (3€), so do comfy Indian pants and cotton leggings, which are usually worn with Kurtas. Higher quality Kurtas and pants come at around 350-400 rupees.

 Kurta, pants and shawl. A typically Indian outfit.

This is, of course, all cotton or cotton-polyester. Although silk is famously manufactured in India, it is really expensive here. So, I stick with the beautiful cotton clothes for now. They might not be as breathable but they sure are very comfy and light enough for the Bangalorean weather.

My new favorite Kurta :)

 

You may call me insane but I simply love Indian clothes and shopping for them, even or especially if it involves going to a very crowded market where people shout random prices at you from each direction and where there are so many stalls and people that you can hardly even walk.   

XIII – Working in India

Almost half my time in India is already over. Most of this tome I spent at work. Here are some of my thoughts. Of course, my insights as a recent graduate in her first full-time job are not suitable as a reliable and objective standard. But having worked multiple part-time and volunteer jobs in three different countries my observations could be at least partly useful to those who want to work in India.

On the one hand it might not have been the brightest decision to work 50 hours a week for my very first full-time job. A 50 hour week is normal by Indian standards, and yes, it is exhausting. The time flies by and I feel like I am spending far too much of it on work, especially when making about 1€ per hour. I know that money and workload are not supposed to be the most important factors in a job but they do make a big difference of how motivated I am to work and how much I dream about earning more money and raising my living standard.

That being said, I do like my job. Being part of a very young business is in fact very energizing and inspiring. I estimate the average age at BHIVE to be about 30 years, definitely not more than that. Another advantage of working at a young company that is still growing and discovering its possibilities is that I get to do a lot of things that I want to work on, things that I am interested in.

One example: Content writing. I have always enjoyed writing a lot. Although I was not very good at it when I started doing it on a more regular basis I became much better throughout the years. Today, I can proudly say that I feel confident to make myself understood in multiple languages, mostly English and German. My Russian and French could need a little bit of a polishing job J I love writing, I love to come to the point and to bring that point across to whoever takes the time to read it. My job gives me the opportunity to do this professionally, which is what I really enjoy about it.

I am curious as to what my future career will bring. Will I stick with content writing? What challenges am I going to face? Is work in the marketing domain in Germany going to be fundamentally different? Could I even make a living off of freelance writing? So many questions in my head when I think about my professional future. Only one thing is sure: My time in India will leave many traces – positive as well as negative.