hampi festival days or as close as i've come to being molested in public

we arrived in the "laid back" town of hampi a few days ago--we didn't realize it at the time, but this was a special time to be coming to hampi... it was the second day of the annual hampi festival--a three-day extravaganza that involves singing, dancing, and celebrating hampi's unique history as the former royal seat of india, all this surrounding the beautiful temple ruins that were all lit up with psychedelic lights. when we found out about the festival we felt lucky, we were excited to experience the beauty of the culture and all that. what we didn't count on was about 2 million indian boys and men from surrounding villages, who have quite possibly never seen a white woman in real life, and who were stoked on the possibility of taking advantage of the choked streets surrounding the stages. i have never been so poked, prodded, followed, grabbed, or groped in my life--and i cocktail-waitressed for years down by the board of trade. it was seriously pretty traumatic. we did get some good photos, (we were brave), but it's too bad we didn't get a chance to experience the beauty of the cultural festival--i can't help thinking how different it would have been if we'd been men.





what you would call a brodeo--this seriously happened in a matter of seconds while we were standing outside an internet cafe

yeah, they're all trying to get a photo of some white girls.



this was the crowd on the way to the second stage


there was some singing and sitar playing at the second stage... you'll have to trust me on this one


camping by the second stage



this was where kristen got shoved. hard. by an old lady in the crowd.


this was about as close as we got to the main stage--it got real grabby, we were linking arms for protection and solidarity, but there were too many teenage boys and middle-aged men with creepy wandering hands, and eventually we had to head back, but not before i threatened to cut a guy, (who probably didn't understand any english other than "hi!", "camera?", "backside", and the requisite "coming from?").






an effigy gets wheeled by on a wagon


it was almost worth all the terrifying harassment just to get this picture of a stone cold....tiara wearing dude? .....almost.


it seems so much less scary during the daytime.....
today most of the crowds have returned to the surrounding villages, and it's a relief to be able to walk around without being accosted by horny dudes. the town itself is quite peaceful and quiet. tomorrow we are going to a sunrise tour of the ruins.