Skip to main content

Help Hampi


Hampi is the site of many Hindu temples and is a beautiful spot set amongst hot rocks in a valley that makes you sigh with perspiration. It is here and now that the government has issued a 7 day notice to the residents of Hampi Bizaar closest to the famed Virupaksha Temple to vacate their premises. They have offered land some 6km from the township to the villagers on a rock with no running water or fertile land, away from the river that runs alongside Hampi and its famed temples.

Its biblical to build on a rock but the proposal to relocate these folks away from the river they currently frolic in doing their daily chores and enjoy relaxing beside seems baffling. If you are going to displace people (rehousing is not an option they are literally told they can move to the rock or make their own arrangements), shouldn’t you offer an equal alternative. Somewhere sewage systems can be made, electricity implemented to all homes, oh and how about some of that precious resource WATER. (I have downed 4litres a day since being here in the stifling heat so this is no truck in option!). Why make it more difficult for the everyday people who live in relative poverty already who now have to start again because of some decision from a group of folk in the capital. They have broad smiles and strong wills which would make you think otherwise but life is simple here and that is the charm of this community.

It seems against everything UNESCO should be working towards. I thought they were about the preservation of united nations environments not the complete disregard for human rights. I appreciate the need to preserve the temples, the relocation, all accept to be inevitable but if it is to be done, do it once and do it with respect and compassion for those who have to start again.

The people of Hampi have found an alternative piece of land to construct their village and with the support of the international community and pressure on the UNESCO committee this could become the more collectively acceptable answer to the relocation of the ‘New Hampi’. Please take the time to sign and share the petition to fight for the community’s relocation to fertile land and their future.

http://www.change.org/petitions/help-hampi-2

As the great Mahatma Gandhi said “Be the change in the world you want to see”

For all those planning a trip to India in the coming year/s keep abreast of the news of Hampi (LP will be very outdated in a year!) and where you can stay as all the lodgings will be relocated along with the locals. The new town will be where the heart and soul of the temples will be, not in their towering conical stone works of carefully carved gods and amongst the greedy monkeys. Make sure you support the people and visit the new town. 
Labels:
Location: Hampi, Karnataka, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The day I saw the Polish countryside

After taking a night stop off in Warsaw to ensure I got a speed train for 3 hours to Krakow I was directed to platform 3. I got on and 6 hours later I am still not in Krakow. But I have had the privilege to see the beauty of the Polish countryside. It’s lush and green. The sun is shining and my mood has lifted along with it despite missing a day in a city I have been fascinated by since my early days in London.  The rail roads are simple and the trains and the children squealing out the windows remind me of Hollywood films depicting happy children departing for respite from the war.  Again I have been a cabin this time with the same space as yesterday but with 4 seats each side. No-one deared speak to me today! The farms are orderly and attempts at growing hay in the wettest summer the Poles have seen in years are well underway. It seems simple here and its definitely very appealing. I can see why my Polish friends speak so happily of life in Poland. Or maybe it’s the news ...
2 comments
Read more

Hills of His Holiness

The state of Himachal Pradesh is one of mountains and rivers, winding roads and toy trains. Here are a few of the famous tourist highlights I enjoyed between 10 hour bus journeys! Shimla Famed as one of the great Raj Era Hill Stations where ladies of the Raj spent monsoon summers sheltering from the heat, I had to see this. In my experience this is anything but a shelter from the heat! On arrival you are deposited in a new bus station 8 km from the town forcing you to use either the public bus (R10) or a  taxi (R250) neither takes you to the top of town or even close to a hotel. So I opted for the R10 bus. They deposited me at the bottom of the hill. Porters were waiting at the bottom but how hard could it be? Hard. I walked for 3 hours in the hot sun with my 20+kg trying to find a nice clean hotel room, eventually ending up on the ground floor of Spars Lodge. You can’t open the windows due to monkeys so the task of finding a room in Indian summer season is hard. Really th...
2 comments
Read more

My My Myanmar

I have been touched, pinched, squeezed and had my back rubbed as I was sick. Myanmar is one phenomenal place which I have so much hope for. Hope for democracy, hope for development and hope for conservation, all in a gradual process without losing its authenticity. I have felt safe, with my large amounts of cash (remember no ATM’s so budgeting became a real past time of all travellers not just the “budget” ones) and in pilgrimaging crowds, in villages and on rickety hill top roads, travelling solo or in a crowd. Not once did I fear for my personal safety or that of my belongings. I had to stop myself on the first day from being so travel weary and closed. I had to trust. I had to open up and Myanmar may well have taught me one of my greatest lessons on my Big Adventure. captive in Myanmar There were moments of democratic desire, like an aged village monk carrying a bamboo log who stopped me to ask “Do you know Aung San?” to which I replied quietly knowing it was a very c...
6 comments
Read more