≈300km
After writing the Blog the enfield garage calls me pretty soon. 10.000.- rupees! What to do I think but tell to call back to think about it to make a position for negotiations. When I call them back 10 minutes later they say 10.000 – 15.000 rupees. I get the next rickshaw to go to their place to make the negotiations face to face. 10 – 12 we agree at the end and it will take them at least two days. What to do I think again – when I see the bike at the operation table I feel the tears in my eyes. I know the time comes closer every kilometer when we have to say good bye finally. It is planned to sell her in Pushkar… It can’t end like this, I am responsible for her health! I pay 3000 in advance and take their promises to give all their love to my baby.
On the way back to the hotel I decide to spend the waiting time with a trip to Hampi. The hotel is right next to the railway station so no problems. I make the usual concerts out of dinner and breakfast and take the train next day at 12 to Hampi. The 300km cost me 160 rups (2,2 euro) for sleeper class and little more than 7 hours. On the way I work a lot on my second song and sleep a little. I arrive in Hospet at 7.30. Some friendly guys at the train arrange a rickshaw to Hampi for a good price so I arrive in Hampi half an hour later.
But what was that? There was no more Hampi! Most of the buildings had been removed! Like whole buildings! There was bare ground with some leftover rocks where there had been buildings before! The music shop! My favorite restaurant! My barber! Bare ground! The people who had lived there where promised to get new homes a few kilometers away. But these have not even been started to be built yet. So most of the people live on the street and in the jungle now! What the fuck? Fortunately the area around the Megha guest house, where I always stay, still exists. Having some difficulties to find it in the leftover little maze of Hampi I use (like always) the gps to find my guesthouse.
And like always the owners see me first laughing about me staring at my handheld gps nearly passing them. I drink a chai with the owner talking about the things happening in Hampi. Of course I can sleep for free at his shop, no question. After I go out to eat and make some music. Soon I find a place and 5 minutes later I share a table with Dean who is playing guitar too. A few lovely girls clap their hands after our first song so we keep playing for a while. When I come back to the guest house they are already closing so just right in time. I prepare my bed and start writing when five minutes later my friend Mogli enters the room. We are both happy to see each other and have a long talk. Maybe he knows people who are ready to pay 50-60000 for my bike. He will call them tomorrow! Awesome I think, finish writing and go to bed. Being curios and afraid to see the leftovers of Hampi tomorrow at daytime.
I wake up pretty early when the first customers arrive at the chai shop. Loan , a beautiful girl from france with Vietnamese roots and her friend, Marizza from Switzerland who just arrived in Hampi… What can there be more beautiful in life than being woken up by two wonderful girls? We enjoy several chai together and then I go to the barber.
Garlis music shop is on the other side of the river now and I promised to the girls to show them around a little so I go and pick them up to take the boat together. While waiting for the boat I manage to slip in the shallow water of the river carrying all my stuff like guitar, camera, money, passport. I manage to hold up the camera but all the other stuff dips in the water for a part of a second. I am lucky enough nothing happens. The passport and my songbook are just a little wet – that’s all. We pass to the other side of the river and go direction music shop. On the way, when passing a thali shop we recognize we are hungry so we sit down. The food is tourist quality but Indian price – so at least a lot cheaper than the places around. The owner of the thali shop knows Garli and calls him on the phone when I ask for his shop. 5 minutes later Garli stops his bike in front of the shop with a big smile on his face. Of course he remembers me. We make a quick five minute jam session together and then I ask him for what I am here for.
He has. (!)When Marizza hears what we are talking about she tells me she might have some kind of connection to the builders of the original hang. She offers to help me to get one and I am happy like a little child. I came to Hampi for a fake hang which I will get and now there might be even a small chance to get a real one. I quickly eat and then nearly run to the music shop thinking about which scale I would prefer…. G major – that would be amazing.
When I enter the shop he is making music with two Russian girls. The first thing I see then is the Hapi drum. I take it out of the back and try it – its awesome! The sound is not to be described – you not only hear it but feel it in every cell of your body. I stay at the shop for more than an hour before we make a short negotiation about the price. Garli and I are brothers so he gives me a more than fair price and leaves me happy! The scale – well of course the only one (out of three) that was openly in the shop was a G major… Sometimes in india things just happen.
I go back home and show my new love to Loan who is waiting at the chai shop. Her friend is at the cyber café so we have chai and a long very deep and interesting conversation. When she says she wants to get a massage later I offer to give it to her. We prepare everything, go to her room and when I ask her about where she has a problem/needs a massage she says she wants headmassage. OK! I have never done this before… I know I can trust in my fingers and what they are doing when I stop thinking but still I am a little worried to try something completely new at a person I know a couple of hours only.
At the beginning its hard. I have to find out how to hold the head so she can relax and I still can give enough pressure to massage her head. A few minutes later it works. I found my position to sit and to hold her head. Its really an amazing experience and even the pain I have in my right shoulder since Verygoods treatment is gone after this massage. Loan looks very relaxed when I finish and when I ask her if it was good for her she tells me it was the best head massage she ever had. Even hours later she tells me that she still feels her crown chakra in a very pleasant way. This makes me very happy too and I thank God for my fingers several times. This evening ends with a nice talk with Dean whom I met yesterday. Unfortunately we have no time to make music as all the restaurants are closing at 10. Never mind I will probably meet him in Pushkar.
Picture update will be coming in the next post