How I survived Hampi flood
Me and my friend were dying to get out of Bangalore and travel somewhere away from the traffic and our boring lives, somewhere we can connect with nature. But it was raining in most parts of Karnataka except for Hampi. What should we do then? Let us collaborate with a group so that they will help us travel even when it rains and we won’t miss out much, at least we would get the break we were looking for. We booked the trip, 2 days before the intended travel date with #PlannedTheUnplanned. Even the day we were about to leave from Bangalore, it was raining and the weather was dull and lazy, making us feel reluctant to go out anywhere. Still we gathered some courage and our luggage (one small suitcase and a small backpack) and rushed to catch the bus for our trip. The trip started with a very enthusiastic bunch of folks working in different fields and not necessarily from the IT industry for which Bangalore is generally famous for. Many of them tried confirming if it was safe to travel at this time, to which the team leads assured that it was perfectly safe. With little energy which we had, we tried blending with the group.
Day 1
Next morning, we reached Hampi but to our surprise we didn’t stay in a hotel/resort but stayed in a campsite which was both disturbing and exciting since we had never camped before in life. There was no network and yet we all rushed to charge our phones since we had to take pics of the upcoming events planned in our itinerary. There were big rocks mounted on top, under which laid our campsite. Hypothetically if there was an earthquake in that area the rocks would toggle down and hit our campsite. Reiterating my feelings from the beginning, it was both scary and exciting. We were told we can’t bathe since there was not enough time for it, we got ready in a rush and headed with the rest of the group members with our backpack.
Bouldering
We climbed the rocky hills to reach at a place where there were around 6–7 big round shaped rocks on top of a smooth yet rough terrain. We never knew what bouldering was. We were supposed to do rock climbing with our mountain climbing shoes that had the toe and heel sections bulged in a tricky way to give the foot an arch and provide a grip when we climb up. The shoes were not very comfortable when standing with them on a plane surface. But, when I tried climbing the first level of rock, I did it in one go. I focused mainly on putting the toes and the hand at the right place. I avoided touching the knee with the rock, and used my upper body strength to push myself up. In 2 minutes, I was at the top of the rock with 5–6 of my friends from the trip. Then it was my friend’s turn she didn’t want to climb the rock but I convinced her to try. As she climbed I guided her where to hold the rock. Slowly she also managed to climb and reached the top. She seemed really happy to have done that. The view from the top of the rock was just amazing. I didn’t want to come down. I just wanted to sit there peacefully. Eventually I came down after getting pics clicked which is usually my main objective in all my trips :P . Pics do capture the moment, and let you live the memories again. Getting down from the rock was also tricky. The trick was to not slide but make bulges, present on rock, your standing point using heels. After coming at a reasonable point which is low enough, we just need to jump down. Post that, I climbed the 2nd and the 3rd rock. After, I was just busy taking pics of the greenery and the rocky hills and our group. We came down to our campsite. We left to have lunch and travel further in our mopeds in a pair. We had a great lunch. One of the famous dish to have in Hampi, is the pancake. The hotel meant for dining was so comfortable with the mattresses that you can just lie down and have a quick power nap.
Post that we all went for cliff jumping. The water was a bit muddy. Ideally cliff jumping is recommended with a good life jacket and a responsible instructor. Since I was not sure about both, I enjoyed the waterfall nearby and clicked pics. Next time I would definitely do cliff jumping once I learn swimming. Even my friend knew the basics of swimming, but still she chose not to cliff jump and enjoyed the view with me.
Next, we all went for coracle ride which was an amazing experience. Coracle boats are small rounded, light weight boats and were big enough to carry around 8 people without any additional luggage. Our group of 18, took 3 coracle boats. The water was still and we all hopped in our boats. The coracle rider wanted to add to our fun so he started rotating the boats :D . We really enjoyed the ride and clicked pictures and videos of the area around in the rotating boat.
Next was our trekk on the Matanga hill. We climbed stairs, rocks and huge stairs cut out of stones and balanced ourselves on the slippery pebbles under our feet. Still we didn’t give up and kept on going up. We climbed around 300 meters of height in ½ hr or so, and finally reached the sunset point.
We saw the thin river flowing slowly, the lush green trees around and the rocky surfaces alongside. Suddenly it started drizzling and we witnessed a beautiful rainbow. Over all it was a pleasant journey till now. Slowly it started to get dark and we headed back to our campsite in our mopeds. One of our mopeds didn’t have a headlight. A 21 yr old girl was riding it. We stopped at places to guide them with our moped’s headlight. The roads had ups and downs and riding on the moped itself was an adventure on its own. After returning back, each of us had a shower and had dinner. Post that we played the Cabo card game. My friend and I were playing it for the 1st time and we were in 1 group. We were able to beat 2 teams out of 3.
Next we had a bonfire and played songs, rapid fire and danced. It was just amazing. We slept in the tent that night for like 8hrs and it was refreshing.
Day 2
Next day I was the only one who had the shower early morning. We all got ready for the day. I still imagine that I might have heard sirens but I don’t exactly remember when I heard them. I might have ignored it, not knowing what it meant and after seeing the localites not react. It was definitely a mistake and not just by me. None of the 18 people camping with us noticed anything. We were having idli in breakfast when I saw the nearby paddy fields slowly filling with water which I misunderstood to be a normal thing. I was feeling grateful that I got the opportunity to stay in the middle of nature surrounded by water… ohh what a fool I was! Our team lead told us to rush to a place where a surprise was planned. We followed where he took us and crossed the paddy fields and reached a place in the middle of the greenery.
It was a meditation session. I have always been a fan of the meditation videos with the sound of the wind, the water and the music played… It was like a dream come true for me. But tiny frogs were hopping against us from the field in front and the insects and spiders were following the same direction. Still we didn’t get the sign why these tiny creatures were fleeing. Within 15 minutes the water reached that place and we had to rush away from that place. By the time we headed back to our camp, it was flooded with water till knees. That day early morning the Tunga and Bhadra river dam had released around 2.5 lakh-cusecs of water because of which the area around Hampi was all flooded.
The flooded water could be filled with snakes, frogs, crocodiles and last but not the least all kinds of insects. It was too scary to get into the water more importantly because it was muddy and because nothing could be seen from the surface. Moreover the water level was increasing every minute. I formed a human chain with 2 of my friends and slowly entered the knee level water and moved towards the camp. Our team members were ready to flee from the campsite taking the same path back across the water. As soon as we reached the camp site, I found my loose luggage all packed up in a cloth bag, by my team lead since he wanted us to leave the campsite as soon as possible. After coming back through the same path full of water, we stepped on the main road, and dragged our luggage, to reach to a place where tourists were getting rescued by coracle rides. When we reached the site, we were standing after 200 people.
There were only 2 coracle rides which could accommodate only 6 ppl with their luggage. One round of coracle ride was taking around one hr. In 5 hours, they could hardly take around 60 ppl by the end of the day. So rest of us returned and rested in a hotel for lunch. All of us were so tired because of the mental fatigue, that we took a nap in those hotels (that were meant just for dining) . Even our travel lead did the same. Then he woke in the evening and searched for an affordable place to stay and booked a single room that could accommodate 6 ppl . We used that room for storing the luggage for 18 people and out of 18, 6 ppl could stay there and 6 slept in the place of dining and 6 stayed in tent around 500 meters away. Anyway the group leads decided that the next morning, we will leave to form a queue at 3:30 am, so that we can take the first place for catching hold of the coracle ride. That night’s sleep was not easy for me. I couldn’t feel that the plan to leave early morning was going to work. Till now my confidence in my team leads had gone down by a series of failed decisions taken by them.
Day 3
We woke up at 3 am. Everyone was rushing to freshen up. Then came my turn. When I went to the washroom, the wifi network was strong for a change. Since I knew this is the only reliable place where I can contact the rest of the world, I tweeted the @CMofKarnataka and @BJP4Karnataka to bring to their notice our situation that we are stuck in flood and if they can help in anyway. I don’t use twitter at all, I just had the basic understanding. I felt the need to tweet because of the fear of the risky steps our team leads were taking out of sheer stupidity. If not for the terms and conditions that I had blindly signed, this entire situation was enough to do some damage to them but why waste energy now. Nevertheless my situation was just like the phrase “Beggars are not choosers”.
In our helpless situation we blindly and when I say blindly I literally mean it, followed our team leads’ instructions. We couldn’t see where we are going exactly and what we were stepping on. There were no street lights but since we had no choice we followed. We tried confirming with the team lead if he was sure the coracle rides are going to come to the same place, the next morning and he was pretty affirmative about it. Couple of us had torches on and our 3 team leads directed us into the forest at 3:30 am Monday morning. We didn’t just enter the forest region full of reptiles, insects and leopards but we were also instructed to switch off our torches lest someone sees our torch and prevent us from entering the forest. We finally reached the end point or the place, further to which we couldn’t move ahead since the water had surrounded the place. We all sat on the road and waited for sunrise. In the mean time more than half of us dozed off on the road, in the middle of a jungle at night. One positive thing about this experience was it fulfilled my dream to lie down and sleep under the stars. All this happened randomly in a perfectly unplanned scenario and I have a thing for unplanned surprises. Call me crazy but experiencing flood was also one of them too, I will gladly check it off my list.
Jokes apart gladly 2 hrs went by, we all were fine just bit by a few mosquitoes and insects. Afterwards the other tourists started coming up to get in the queue. Since we were the first ones, no one from our group wanted the others to cut the line so one of the guys in our group started writing the names in sequence so that its fair. Our entire group was urging that all the other tourists follow the line. Slowly tourists came and joined us and the list had now more than 200 people on it.
Time was passing by, testing our patience. Even till 8 am there was no sight of any coracle. The water had moved forward towards the island and the place where we had formed a queue a day before was all submerged under the water, its scary when within 24 hrs such things happen. People were waiting , some were getting sad, some tired, and some started singing and playing guitar which cheered up everyone for few minutes. This is when I remembered the song played at the end of the GOT Season 8 episode 2 when just before the battle with the Night King they sing “Jenny of oldstones”. This also reminds me, no matter what happens in life your hobbies are the only ones that give you the biggest strength to handle tough situations.
After another hour, someone told us that motor boats were coming to rescue us from another point. The past 6 hrs of drama was a waste of time and energy, and we had developed a bit of mistrust in our team lead but all that mattered at that time was our safety. All of us rushed back to another spot where the rescue teams were testing to send boats across the flooded river. We could see a huge crowd with police constables on the other side of the river. We stood in the line but nope, that was not the correct queue again. Again we dragged our luggage for around 1 km and came to a point midway a paddy field where we were assured by the constable that people were getting rescued from that very point and we don’t need to go anywhere else now. It was a relief but on the other hand, we were in the queue again after 200 people.
This was the 4th time we had tried rescuing ourselves. In my mind I could only do some self-talk and give myself some strength and patience. After around an hour, the rescuers started preferring foreign travelers, kids and their families and elderly ppl who were to be rescued first by river rafting boats. Few of the tourists had lost patience and their desperation to save only their own life, was quite visible. Many people were saying lies just to come front in the line. There was one guy, who lied on our face that his girlfriend was at the beginning of the line and was wondering what she would do alone after crossing the river. Then, there was another girl who we saw accompanied by only 1 person, started lying that there were 2 more of her friends who were standing in front of the queue. Now it was time to be strict and tell these people to back off otherwise if you behave in a sane way with cunning people, you will be the biggest idiot in this world. There is a saying “Straight trees are often cut first”, it was quite evident. In 2 days I have seen people behave in an extremely friendly way to the exact opposite way. Its fascinating how situations test us in life, of how we behave or react. We waited in the queue hungry and tired for hours and hours. The queue hardly moved forward by 20 ppl, since many people had got in between. The localities were very helpful though, they came with cartons full of bread jam, water bottles and fried rice at different intervals.
Slowly we were moving ahead when suddenly we caught site of the boat which was transferring people and we realized it was not a motor boat but a river rafting boat. While taking the boat to and fro across the river, one of them got stuck in a half submerged tree. The 5 rescuers had come back from the opposite side to help. They got washed away since the boat lost balance with the force of the river. The other helpers were running along with the constable towards the direction of the flowing flooded river. We had lost sight of the washed away rescuers. This was a dreadful situation. That moment I just sat down, it sent chills down my spine and I had lost all hope. I didn’t know how to swim, and the life jackets were not that reliable. My gut feeling clearly said that I shouldn’t be boarding that boat since when the rescuers can’t be safe on it, then what are my chances. I started to sync in the reality that there was no escape currently from the island and I started to think about all my life events. Slowly I was chanting the only 4 line Mantra I knew, when I heard the chopper flying above us.
It was flying across the flooded region with a camera man taking our aerial video from the top. At that moment I had little hope from the chopper. I thought these guys will just make our video and leave us. But to my amazement, the chopper did come and land at the topmost nearby point. Around 30–40 guys were the first ones to run and reach the top of the rocky hill where it had landed. I chased them with 2 of my friends. We ran all the way back and started climbing up the rocks. I was wearing a pair of chappal and dragging my luggage on my way up against the cactus scratching against my skin but all I cared about was getting rescued at that moment. I am not a very good hiker, I started panting heavily halfway. Hearing me pant, an unknown guy dragged my luggage up, so that I can climb fast. I am so grateful to him.
Finally we reached the top. I couldn’t believe my eyes that we actually made it on time and the 2nd chopper was just landing. The chopper wings were rotating and the centrifugal force of the air around that area was pushing us away, opposite to the chopper and down towards the ground. We waited for a few minutes bent towards the ground, to understand this scenario and then gathered some force to pull up the luggage and hand it over to the IAF personnel in the chopper. It required too much of body strength to walk against the force and then IAF personnel gave me his hand and pulled me up the chopper. That was the greatest feeling of joy, relief and excitement. All the tourists were rescued to safe places by multiple rounds taken by the chopper. Finally we headed back to Bangalore by bus. One of our group mates always desired for a situation to come, when people can rescue him in a chopper, and yet another one got checked off his bucket list and nevertheless mine too :) . This duration of 3 days did restore my faith in humanity. I learnt to believe in gratitude and to appreciate my present.
