On a Hampi hilltop...

The Hanuman temple is a temple in Hampi which shares its hilltop location with a large number of monkeys. Hanuman means monkey. However we were gently rebuked when we called this temple the Monkey temple. I am at a loss to know why, the subtlety was lost in translation. Myself and Aisling (just a friend) climbed to the top in the midday heat somewhere up near 40', stupider than everyone else but guaranteeing us the place to ourselves, the Sadhus and the monkeys. (More bad timing than inspired planning).

To our disappointment trudging up the last few steps we find a sign painted on a bit of rock before the temple saying no photography. Probably suffering vaguely from heatstroke I decided I'd take some anyway but just of the fields of boulders stretching away from the foot of the hill in every direction, not of the small temple. Suddenly a Sadhu (a sort of monk) appeared and I feared The Wrath Of Any God ( there are 3 billion in Hinduism apparently, nearly one each). He said the sign was just to stop people taking photos of the Sadhus smoking weed which just brought unwanted attention from the media. I nodded sagely not really following. He asked if we'd like to share a pipe.

Mrs O'Reilly: A fine mass, Father and a new bread of life if I'm not mistaken?
Fr. FitzSimon: Unleavened hash cakes, Bridie, fresh in from Tunisia.

So some people shared a pipe, not I, having asthma and all. They then offered us some sweet chai tea which had a special ingredient they said. Weed, I whispered to Aisling, nodding to myself sagely again, getting to grips with the shituation. I'm pretty sure its mint she says with touching naievety. We sat and chatted with these two Sadhus about their gurus, their gods and my head swam with the many names and the bad english. The monkeys wandered in occasionally to try and rob or cadge some food off the wily old men and each one seemed to have a name. Badu, the old one who our friends teased gently with a banana. Saddam, the bully who then came to rob Badu's hard-earned banana. I watched it all with wide open eyes and took many photos of these two fascinating men who'd renounced everything to live atop this hill. Well almost everything, apart from good company (not us obviously, but each other, their housekeeper, the monkeys, their 2 dogs and all the pilgrims), good food and drink, drugs, the internet (via a laptop), satellite tv (130 channels) and, as it turned out, mint tea.