Day 3 – Ruinous Ruminations
Sunday, 5 December 2010 Today’s Soundtrack: Payola$ - Eyes of a Stranger [audio:http://shambolic.com/blog/files/2010/12/05.-Payolas-Eyes-of-a-Stranger.mp3|titles=05. Payolas - Eyes of a Stranger] Planning 07:30 Spent a strange night of semi-wakefulness, with Eyes of a Stranger on permanent loop in my brain. The courtyard outside my room was lit with a fluorescent light that made me think it was always dawn. Twice I was bitten through the mosquito net on the foot. It was so painful and took so long to subside that I found myself working a huge, knife-wilding mosquito into my dreams. He was waiting for another crack at my toe with the patience of a master burglar. At Shanti Guesthouse the tourists are beginning to stir, and I’ve just heard the first horn honk of the morning. Since most of the rooms here are without showers, there’s been a fair bit of wobbly flesh on display as people stagger around with towels and toothbrushes using the shared facillities. Is it because the Indians have already been up for at least an hour at this point that they look so much better put together? Even though there is technically no booze in this town, the Westerners still look a little shellshocked at finding themselves awake and in Hampi. Seven o’clock arrives like the start of a race, and suddenly everyone is up and doing things - sweeping, honking, doing that really loud yogic throat clearing thing that sounds like a slow and painful death. It is a show of instant readiness. I too am a little shellshocked. My eyes have the shadowy look of an undergraduate at finals time; even after I’ve scrubbed off the soot from the road. Can it be that I’ve undone myself with a few too many nips on the whisky I’ve been using as a pothole countermeasure? I’ve got Ian to thank for that particular technique. So, it occurred to me last night that we were here eight…